Hall of Fame (Previously-featured albums/episode log)
Season 2 (2019)
Season 2 featured albums (2019).
Episode 1: Perhaps You Deliver this Judgement with Greater Fear than I Receive It by Crusades (July 5, 2019)
Gag host name: The Juror without Indemnity
Crusades (2010-2018) were a melodic-hardcore band from Ottawa, Canada. Featuring members from pop-punk ensemble The Creeps, Crusades channeled a heavier sound inspired by hardcore music. Their most defining traits include harmonic vocal work, sardonic, yet poetic lyrics, and chromophobic album-cover designs. Judgement was the band’s sophomore effort that also served as my introduction to the group.
Trivia: The band’s name is alternatively stylized as CRVSADES. Until the mid-second millennium, the Latin alphabet commonly used V to function phonetically as the sounds we would identify today as V and U. (Side note: This is also why the letter W looks like two Vs and not two Us.) The style choice is not just a gimmick: Judgement, as the bands describes, is “A meditation on … Giordano Bruno,” an influential astronomer and spiritual freethinker of the late European Renaissance era who is considered by some a scientific martyr for his then-controversial views on science and religion.
Episode 2: First Demo Tape by Minor Threat (August 23, 2019)
Gag host name: The Straight Edgelord
Minor Threat (1980-1983) need no introduction to punk veterans. For the uninitiated, the brainchild of Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson is considered a legend in the punk community, particularly in regards to being one of the progenitors of the hardcore movement of the early 1980’s. They were one of such several bands located in Washington D.C.
Minor Threat were known and are remembered fondly for their abrasive sound and raw, yet insightful lyrics. Despite the band’s painfully short lifespan, they managed to churn out a new phenomenon, the straight-edge movement/subgenre. The legacy doesn’t end there: the two aforementioned co-founders also brought to light Dischord Records. The cleverly-titled label distributed other seminal hardcore punk bands from the D.C. area. MacKaye went on to form the equally-as-notable post-hardcore supergroup Fugazi.
Trivia: The members of Minor Threat were good friends of fellow hardcore icon Henry Rollins (S.O.A., Black Flag). MacKaye made reference to Rollins (then Henry Garfield) in a song by his first outfit, The Teen Idles, with the quote “Thanks, Henry!” from the song Teen Idles.
Bassist Brian Baker went on to play for other influential bands such as Dag Nasty and Bad Religion.
Episode 3: Seeing Things by Shades Apart (July 12, 2019)
Gag host name: T̨̢͞h̷̀͘͠ȩ҉̧͠ ̵̧̛͝H̴̶҉a̸͏̛͠l̷̡͟͡͡l̢̛͜u̕͞c̶̢̡̢i͜͡͝n̶͢a̧҉̶͞t̷̵͡o̢͡͏͜r̀͡͡y̵͢͜͢ ̴̧̛́H̸̕a҉̢͠҉r͡b̀҉́͞i̢̢͘͟͠n̴̶̸͜g̷̨͢ȩ͡r̨̧͟͜ ̵̢̕͢͟
Shades Apart (1988-2003; 2012-present) are a New Jersey emocore trio. After a slew of album releases from the late 1980’s to early 2000’s, the band broke up in 2003. Following their reform nearly a decade later, they’ve released two new singles: “Thread” and “Darkside.” Despite not having released any new material in several years, the band continues to perform on occasion.
Trivia: With several years of experience and releases under their belts, Shades Apart employed the legendary Bill Stevenson (Black Flag, Descendents) and Stephen Egerton (Descendents, ALL) to produce their 1995 LP Save It. The album contains one of their most popular tracks, a cover of the 1960’s hit “Tainted Love.”
Episode 4: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys (July 26, 2019)
Gag host name: 17LH
Dead Kennedys (1978-1986; 2001-present) are considered nothing short of legends in the punk community. In contrast to most other punk bands of the time, the Kennedys didn't take themselves quite seriously. Their satirical lyrics bled pure irreverence yet genuine opprobrium of common topics such as racism/prejudice, religion, police brutality, politics, and censorship. Jello Biafra often refocused his ardent laments towards the punk scene itself and its unwillingness to accept such censure.
Not unlike some of their contemporaries, DK played with their sound as time went on, which grew more experimental with each release.
After releasing their third album in 1985 the band became the focal point of a controversy based on the inclusion of explicit artwork in their LP. Because of the complications associated with the resulting lawsuit, Dead Kennedys disbanded in 1986. Biafra later found himself the defendant of another lawsuit brought against him by his former bandmates. Biafra was found guilty in this civil suit and many rights of the band went to the plaintiffs. The two parties have not been on good terms ever since.
Trivia: In 2007 the band released the unauthorized* Milking the Sacred Cow. Temporarily filling the vocal role in the early 2000’s was actor and Dr. Know vocalist Brandon Cruz.
I wonder how long after the band officially disbands for another band called “Dead Dead Kennedys” to crop up?
*According to Gelatin Biafra (Naturally flavored!†).
†This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.⁂
⁂ Bottom text; punkers rise upαßδ
αßδThis line is intended to be encoded in the Impact typeface; the ESCD website may not have been able to complete this design as desired.
Episode 5: The Meltaways by The Meltaways (July 19, 2019)
Gag host name: The Drip-Drop Jester
The Meltaways (2014-2017) was a short-lived post-punk/hardcore act based out of New York City. Following a demo dating back to the summer of 2014, the trio released more music in 2016 and disbanded during the succeeding year. The band never released a full-length album.
Trivia: The Meltaways have another self-titled release that they bequeathed to the Bandcamp lords only a few months after this one. The other one has one too few songs to be eligible as a featured album.
Which one do I think is better? I don't know, I haven't listened to the other one yet.
Episode 6: COMFORT IN THE DISCORD by THE HOLY MESS (August 2, 2019)
GAG HOST NAME: THE FAT DISCORD RECORD PLAYER
THE HOLY MESS (2006 - 2016) WERE AN ALTERNATIVE/PUNK BAND FROM PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. AFTER RELEASING A RESPECTABLE CATALOGUE OF THREE STUDIO ALBUMS AND A MULTITUDE OF EPS, THE BAND BROKE UP IN 2016.
TRIVIA: PUNKNEWS WRITER RICKY FRANKEL STATED IN HIS REVIEW OF THIS ALBUM, “OBVIOUSLY, THE BAND ISN'T GOING TO STOP, BUT WHETHER THEY ADD A NEW MEMBER OR REMAIN AS A THREE-PIECE … I CERTAINLY WILL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO [THEIR NEW RECORD]...” THE BAND BROKE UP ABOUT A YEAR-AND-A-HALF LATER WITHOUT RELEASING ANOTHER FULL-LENGTH.
Episode 7: Quote Unquote by Quote Unquote (August 9, 2019)
Gag host name: The Butterfly Unit Deputy
Strange Notes gives a warm welcome to its first bona-fide featured pop artist: Quote Unquote (2012-present)! Though dismissive of our punk MO, this release was far too astounding to not have taken a featured slot.
Originally from Indiana, the band released this self-titled EP which served as the duo’s debut in 2013. Since then the band has relocated to California and self-released multiple singles and EPs on a regular basis. The host without a name is still holding out for a full-length album.
Trivia: I discovered this band after searching for a bit from the comedy show Impractical Jokers. In the bit, one of the members of the comedy troupe was forced to sing a song in front of an entire baseball-stadium audience. That song was called “Butterfly Crime Scene” -- the title mimics that of one of tonight’s featured album’s songs. Though disappointed that the video wasn’t a cover of the infamous song, I was pleasantly surprised to find a mind-blowingly impressive album behind it.
Episode 8: 2016 Demo by N.E.G. (August 16, 2019)
Gag host name: The Ne’er-Do-Gooder
N.E.G. (“Nothing’s Ever Good;” 2016-2017) was a hardcore/d-beat band from Phildelphia, PA. According to Anti (formerly known as Jimmy), a popular underground YouTube hardcore-music aggregator, its members were alumni from contemporary projects such as Burp and Lip Service. With a total of three EPs, the band disbanded after only two years of existence.
I would like to give a shout-out to Anti, as I originally found this album through his channel the day it was uploaded. You can find his YouTube channel here.
Trivia: The band has two completely different songs with the same name. However, they are not eligible for Homonym Hymns because of their title. It was the only song from this album that we did not play.
Episode 9: Death from Below by The Palatines (August 30, 2019)
Gag host name: The Pithy Punk Pariah
The Palatines (2016-present) are a skate-punk band hailing from the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Having released their first album in February 2018, the band is set to release their second EP Vacation to Helheim this September with a follow-up to this record in 2020.
Trivia: I found this band through the digital grapevine. Someone described the act as a smooth blend of face to face and Teenage Bottlerocket -- two of my top-ten punk bands -- so I knew I had to give this album a listen. The comparison could not have been any more accurate.
Season 1 (2018)
Season 1 featured albums (2018).
Episode 1: Revolutions per Minute by Rise Against (July 6, 2018)
Episode 2: Fix My Brain by The Marked Men (July 13, 2018)
Episode 3: Warning Device by Teenage Bottlerocket (July 20, 2018)
Episode 4: True North by Bad Religion (July 27, 2018)
Episode 5: Masked Intruder by Masked Intruder (August 3, 2018)
Episode 6: I Don't Want to Grow Up by Descendents (August 10, 2018)
Episode 7: Silent Kill by Radioactivity (August 17, 2018)
Episode 8: Protection by face to face (August 24, 2018)
Episode 9: Inhumanistic by Mind Spiders (August 31, 2018)
Episode 10: Season 1 Special, Part 1 (September 7, 2018)
Episode 11: Season 1 Special, Part 2 (September 8, 2018)
Episode 12: Season 1 Special, Part 3 (September 14, 2018)