Buoyed by the popularity of the Focused and Unashamed records, Tooth and Nail slapped together a compilation called Helpless Amongst Friends as a way of showcasing the burgeoning Spirit Filled Hardcore scene. The effect on my young mind was dizzying. Tooth and Nail had been an exciting label - JR2 and I were talking the other day about how there was kind of the OK Soda effect going on - the marketing was cool, we thought they got us, so we bought it all and didn't always stop to consider whether the soda tasted good or not. So I was automatically excited by this comp right away, and then here were all of these bands I had never heard of, young bands, from all over the country. I pored over the photos, seeing kids as young as me playing shows in churches, gymnasiums, and wherever else they could.
Essentially, the same hardcore punk epiphany experience some kid might have had somewhere in America over a decade earlier with the release of Flex Your Head, only most of these bands were still together by the time it came out.
I wish I still had a physical copy, because there was a lot going on in those liner notes, including Brandon Ebel waxing defensively about the Christian hardcore bands and how (and I'm paraphrasing from memory here) no Huntington Beach record label was going to shut them down. Which Huntington Beach record label he was referring to was totally unclear, and what I didn't know at the time was that there were scads of hardcore labels with an HB address to choose from. Always a fan of a good scandal, I've wondered about this story ever since. I believe this is also one of the more prominent places wherein Tooth and Nail spelled hardcore with a hyphen, so there's that.
What was interesting about this compilation was that it was intended to be (and is remembered as) the Tooth and Nail hardcore comp, yet has a number of bands that maybe don't fit the bill stylistically. We'll get to that, as I suppose the best way to go about tackling something like this is to go systematically through the track list.
1) Bloodshed - So-Called - At first, due to the recording quality and chugga nature of this song, coupled with the pictures in the sleeve that suggest this is the youngest band on the compilation (and I'm relying on a very faulty memory here, as I haven't seen said pictures in well over a decade), it would be easy to write off Bloodshed's effort here as amateurish formulaic hardcore. There's certainly plenty of that to be had on this album, but a closer listen reveals that Bloodshed knew what they were doing, showcasing complex rhythms and Snapcase-esque guitar harmonics. As the band progressed, their sound landed on the more emotive end of the hardcore spectrum. *This track's entry was once far more eloquent before having been lost forever due to bad robots.
2) Focused - Reign Forever - Speaking of bands that would travel in a more emotive direction, Focused is back with what would become their trademark work, "Reign Forever," a song that previewed the sweater-pounding work that would appear on The Hope that Lies Within while reworking "Forever,"one of the more memorable tracks off of their debut, Bow. This time it's got a powerful introduction that serves as an affirming manifesto of faith, before launching into the song proper, which is both recorded and played better this time around. Thankfully the problems with the drumming and the vocals that plagued the first record seem to have been worked out, leaving listeners with a solid mid-nineties jam that's almost eight minutes long. In my opinion, with the exception maybe of "My Blood" from The Hope that Lies Within, this is Focused at their best.
3) Mend - Token - This is terrible, and it isn't really hardcore, but rather some kind of weird take on bluesy grunge rock that would probably be popular with fans of Helmet or Tool, but only if they were super-duper high. *This track's entry was once far more eloquent before having been lost forever due to bad robots.
4) Mr. Bishop's Fist - You're Stolen - Bass distortion is a wonderful thing. Mr. Bishop's Fist were a three-piece from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, of all places, and featured a young Jonathan Ford (who would later go on to be in a bunch of bands, including Roadside Monument, Unwed Sailor, and Pedro the Lion, among others). What's great about this song is how noisy it is, and how it doesn't really seem to care about following any sort of hardcore rules, as evidenced by the weird Threadbare-esque free jazz intro. What follows is heavy, pissed, and irreverent, you know, in the way you might expect a Christian hardcore band to be. Below is a rough video exemplar for those who might be curious.
5) Clay - Maggots - Clay had a pretty large regional following in the midwest, hailing as they did from Illinois, I believe. Jim from Clay would later go on to form Veranderung (discussed elsewhere, and stylistically much different). Clay played a brand of hardcore not entirely unlike Mr. Bishop's Fist in that they were kind of doing their own thing, and there was a lot of noise and a lot of anger, but I think ultimately for me they didn't do it quite as well and were a bit more forgettable. All the same, Boot to Head Records later put out a three-way split with Clay, No Innocent Victim (NIV) and Overcome.
6) Crawlspace - Stench - I remember seeing Crawlspace demos floating around way back when, and think maybe my roommate had one... I also seem to remember that dudes from this band went on to do something far more interesting and well-received, but I can't for the life of me think of what it is. Geez, great blog this is. Anyway, this is mid-tempo hardcore with some serious hessian elements. The vocal delivery at times sounds like Mark Salomon from the Crucified, at other times sounding more like that douchey guy in that shitty band on your local hard rock station. Go figure.
7) Time and Again - Satan - "He is my enemy! / He is my enemy!" This is so bad. It's like what you might come up with if you'd heard exactly three hardcore songs and decided to start a hardcore band. Oh, and if you never practiced. I can't believe this got released, it's so sloppy. These guys really don't like Satan.
8) The Blamed - For You - I think it's safe to say that The Blamed were never really a hardcore band. Their first record, 21, was pretty straightforward old school punk, before personnel shifts yielded a slower, more pensive punk rock sound on Frail. "For You" is pretty emblematic of that shift, and while it's decent in a sort of Offspring/Bad Religion/Punk Goes Lollapalooza kind of a way, it seems kind of out of place on this compilation. Below is the Blamed at Cornerstone 2012, with "For You" featured partway through.
9) Blenderhead - Cesspool - I feel similarly about this Blenderhead song, except for how I feel like it is incredible. I've never really known how to describe these guys - Punk rock? Post-hardcore? - and luckily it doesn't matter. You'd think, nearly two decades later, I'd have some kind of reference point, but it's tough. I think the closest I can get is the all too obscure .30-06, a band nobody's heard of, unfortunately (hey JH, can we do some revisionist history on those guys and make them Christian so we can cover them?) So, to recap, Blenderhead was a wonderful band, well-deserving of all kinds of blog ink, though I'm not sure what this song is doing on this compilation, other than filling it out, especially as it is also taken from their full-length, Prime Candidate for Burnout. Here it is below.
10) No Innocent Victim (NIV) - Won't Back Down - Oh, wow, I didn't know Sick of it All was a Christian band.
11) Unashamed - Down South - So much energy, so much shredding, but it's weird...with Focused, Unsashamed was basically one of Tooth and Nail's two flagship hardcore bands at this point, and this is the kind of production they get? I wonder what this could have sounded like if it wasn't all awash in a bunch of cymbals and distortion buzz. This, by the way, was the Christian hardcore anthem for unity in the community - "God make us one!"
12) Centerpoint - United We Stand - What's kind of awesome about this song is that Centerpoint is using their platform to speak out for social justice, in this case tackling racial equality. I always thought Christian hardcore bands could have done more of that, instead of singing exclusively about their faith, but now I sound like one of these lefty Sojourners types. Anyway, this could be better. These guys were from Southern California and I get the sense that they were fairly important in that early Spirit Filled scene, but this just isn't all that good.
13) Never Alone - Lost - The internet seems to think that maybe this is Jeff Jacquay from Unashamed's old band. I don't know. I do know that it's not good, and that it feels like filler.
14) Strongarm - Count the Cost - I suppose we could have already spent some time talking about South Florida's own Strongarm, since their 1993 demo had made enough waves that I remember listening to a friend's copy over and over again all the way up in Minnesota. Things happened fast for those guys, so the chronology is a little blurry, but I think it goes like this... first the demo, then the comp track, then the Division 7", then the Trials 7", then the Atonement full-length? Does that seem right? Anyway, it doesn't matter. What matters is that Strongarm was really, really good, and only got better. The songwriting was super interesting, the playing superb, and everything was really high energy. More than any band before them, these guys really knew what they were doing, and only got better as time went on. While other South Florida bands like Shai Hulud (who shared members, oddly enough) got more attention, Strongarm was always the very best of those bands. All that and no description of the song - weird timings, mosh parts, build ups, sing-alongs, it's all there, and it's all awesome. This is easily the best song on this album. Here is a terribly shot video of Strongarm playing it live. I think I used to know the guy in the rasta hat.
15) Payable on Death (P.O.D.) - Coming Back - I guess P.O.D. was Jesus' answer to Rage Against the Machine, only not as good. I could never get into these guys. "He's comin' back! He's comin' back for me and you!" Yikes. Here it is, as featured on their album, which they went ahead and titled Snuff the Punk:
16) Outnumbered - Truth - This basically sounds just like the Blamed song from earlier, before going into a lame-o predictable hardcore direction. Would anybody really have cared if the record had ended with Strongarm? These guys were from Huntington Beach, surprise, surprise, and had connections to a bunch of other bands, which maybe means I should give them a pass, but I just can't.
So, there you have it. Lots of clunkers, but some real gems, too, and isn't that the way compilations go? Am I the only one who remembers Indecision Records' Guilty By Association comp? That thing wasn't Christian, but had some real stinkers on it, too. I do think this comp and the other releases that came out at the time might have led some Christian kids with no ties whatsoever to the hardcore scene to think they knew a thing or two more than they did, but as these kids were likely teenagers anyway, they were bound to think that about something or other, right?
* * * * * * * * *
1) Bloodshed - So-Called - At first, due to the recording quality and chugga nature of this song, coupled with the pictures in the sleeve that suggest this is the youngest band on the compilation (and I'm relying on a very faulty memory here, as I haven't seen said pictures in well over a decade), it would be easy to write off Bloodshed's effort here as amateurish formulaic hardcore. There's certainly plenty of that to be had on this album, but a closer listen reveals that Bloodshed knew what they were doing, showcasing complex rhythms and Snapcase-esque guitar harmonics. As the band progressed, their sound landed on the more emotive end of the hardcore spectrum. *This track's entry was once far more eloquent before having been lost forever due to bad robots.
2) Focused - Reign Forever - Speaking of bands that would travel in a more emotive direction, Focused is back with what would become their trademark work, "Reign Forever," a song that previewed the sweater-pounding work that would appear on The Hope that Lies Within while reworking "Forever,"one of the more memorable tracks off of their debut, Bow. This time it's got a powerful introduction that serves as an affirming manifesto of faith, before launching into the song proper, which is both recorded and played better this time around. Thankfully the problems with the drumming and the vocals that plagued the first record seem to have been worked out, leaving listeners with a solid mid-nineties jam that's almost eight minutes long. In my opinion, with the exception maybe of "My Blood" from The Hope that Lies Within, this is Focused at their best.
3) Mend - Token - This is terrible, and it isn't really hardcore, but rather some kind of weird take on bluesy grunge rock that would probably be popular with fans of Helmet or Tool, but only if they were super-duper high. *This track's entry was once far more eloquent before having been lost forever due to bad robots.
4) Mr. Bishop's Fist - You're Stolen - Bass distortion is a wonderful thing. Mr. Bishop's Fist were a three-piece from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, of all places, and featured a young Jonathan Ford (who would later go on to be in a bunch of bands, including Roadside Monument, Unwed Sailor, and Pedro the Lion, among others). What's great about this song is how noisy it is, and how it doesn't really seem to care about following any sort of hardcore rules, as evidenced by the weird Threadbare-esque free jazz intro. What follows is heavy, pissed, and irreverent, you know, in the way you might expect a Christian hardcore band to be. Below is a rough video exemplar for those who might be curious.
5) Clay - Maggots - Clay had a pretty large regional following in the midwest, hailing as they did from Illinois, I believe. Jim from Clay would later go on to form Veranderung (discussed elsewhere, and stylistically much different). Clay played a brand of hardcore not entirely unlike Mr. Bishop's Fist in that they were kind of doing their own thing, and there was a lot of noise and a lot of anger, but I think ultimately for me they didn't do it quite as well and were a bit more forgettable. All the same, Boot to Head Records later put out a three-way split with Clay, No Innocent Victim (NIV) and Overcome.
6) Crawlspace - Stench - I remember seeing Crawlspace demos floating around way back when, and think maybe my roommate had one... I also seem to remember that dudes from this band went on to do something far more interesting and well-received, but I can't for the life of me think of what it is. Geez, great blog this is. Anyway, this is mid-tempo hardcore with some serious hessian elements. The vocal delivery at times sounds like Mark Salomon from the Crucified, at other times sounding more like that douchey guy in that shitty band on your local hard rock station. Go figure.
7) Time and Again - Satan - "He is my enemy! / He is my enemy!" This is so bad. It's like what you might come up with if you'd heard exactly three hardcore songs and decided to start a hardcore band. Oh, and if you never practiced. I can't believe this got released, it's so sloppy. These guys really don't like Satan.
8) The Blamed - For You - I think it's safe to say that The Blamed were never really a hardcore band. Their first record, 21, was pretty straightforward old school punk, before personnel shifts yielded a slower, more pensive punk rock sound on Frail. "For You" is pretty emblematic of that shift, and while it's decent in a sort of Offspring/Bad Religion/Punk Goes Lollapalooza kind of a way, it seems kind of out of place on this compilation. Below is the Blamed at Cornerstone 2012, with "For You" featured partway through.
9) Blenderhead - Cesspool - I feel similarly about this Blenderhead song, except for how I feel like it is incredible. I've never really known how to describe these guys - Punk rock? Post-hardcore? - and luckily it doesn't matter. You'd think, nearly two decades later, I'd have some kind of reference point, but it's tough. I think the closest I can get is the all too obscure .30-06, a band nobody's heard of, unfortunately (hey JH, can we do some revisionist history on those guys and make them Christian so we can cover them?) So, to recap, Blenderhead was a wonderful band, well-deserving of all kinds of blog ink, though I'm not sure what this song is doing on this compilation, other than filling it out, especially as it is also taken from their full-length, Prime Candidate for Burnout. Here it is below.
10) No Innocent Victim (NIV) - Won't Back Down - Oh, wow, I didn't know Sick of it All was a Christian band.
11) Unashamed - Down South - So much energy, so much shredding, but it's weird...with Focused, Unsashamed was basically one of Tooth and Nail's two flagship hardcore bands at this point, and this is the kind of production they get? I wonder what this could have sounded like if it wasn't all awash in a bunch of cymbals and distortion buzz. This, by the way, was the Christian hardcore anthem for unity in the community - "God make us one!"
12) Centerpoint - United We Stand - What's kind of awesome about this song is that Centerpoint is using their platform to speak out for social justice, in this case tackling racial equality. I always thought Christian hardcore bands could have done more of that, instead of singing exclusively about their faith, but now I sound like one of these lefty Sojourners types. Anyway, this could be better. These guys were from Southern California and I get the sense that they were fairly important in that early Spirit Filled scene, but this just isn't all that good.
13) Never Alone - Lost - The internet seems to think that maybe this is Jeff Jacquay from Unashamed's old band. I don't know. I do know that it's not good, and that it feels like filler.
14) Strongarm - Count the Cost - I suppose we could have already spent some time talking about South Florida's own Strongarm, since their 1993 demo had made enough waves that I remember listening to a friend's copy over and over again all the way up in Minnesota. Things happened fast for those guys, so the chronology is a little blurry, but I think it goes like this... first the demo, then the comp track, then the Division 7", then the Trials 7", then the Atonement full-length? Does that seem right? Anyway, it doesn't matter. What matters is that Strongarm was really, really good, and only got better. The songwriting was super interesting, the playing superb, and everything was really high energy. More than any band before them, these guys really knew what they were doing, and only got better as time went on. While other South Florida bands like Shai Hulud (who shared members, oddly enough) got more attention, Strongarm was always the very best of those bands. All that and no description of the song - weird timings, mosh parts, build ups, sing-alongs, it's all there, and it's all awesome. This is easily the best song on this album. Here is a terribly shot video of Strongarm playing it live. I think I used to know the guy in the rasta hat.
15) Payable on Death (P.O.D.) - Coming Back - I guess P.O.D. was Jesus' answer to Rage Against the Machine, only not as good. I could never get into these guys. "He's comin' back! He's comin' back for me and you!" Yikes. Here it is, as featured on their album, which they went ahead and titled Snuff the Punk:
16) Outnumbered - Truth - This basically sounds just like the Blamed song from earlier, before going into a lame-o predictable hardcore direction. Would anybody really have cared if the record had ended with Strongarm? These guys were from Huntington Beach, surprise, surprise, and had connections to a bunch of other bands, which maybe means I should give them a pass, but I just can't.
So, there you have it. Lots of clunkers, but some real gems, too, and isn't that the way compilations go? Am I the only one who remembers Indecision Records' Guilty By Association comp? That thing wasn't Christian, but had some real stinkers on it, too. I do think this comp and the other releases that came out at the time might have led some Christian kids with no ties whatsoever to the hardcore scene to think they knew a thing or two more than they did, but as these kids were likely teenagers anyway, they were bound to think that about something or other, right?
* * * * * * * * *
Stay tuned! Up next in this ongoing walk down Christian hardcore memory lane...Six Feet Deep! Strongarm! Sophomore releases from Spirit Filled Hardcore Heroes Unashamed and Focused! Overcome! Zao! Your requests!
And seriously, the deeper in I get into this rabbit hole, the more bands there are, and the harder it is to get everything straight. Anyone with any idea of a timeline on this stuff is encouraged to get in touch. Anyone who might be able to get me in touch with any surviving members should consider their encouragement doubled.
Just listened to this one all the way thru for the first time in a long while. Some good, a lot of bad. I'm wondering why you left out songs #1 and #3? I thought #1, "So-Called" by Bloodshed, had kind of an interesting sound. However, #3, "Token", by Mend, was more of a regular rock or grunge song than hardcore.
ReplyDeleteI think best song is a 3 way tie between Mr. Bishop's Fist, Strongarm, and Blenderhead.
Crawlspace changed their name to Everdown and put out a couple albums on Tooth and Nail. I thought that stuff was too slow, sludgy, and dull to be interesting. However, the guy in the center of the group photo, Mark Fields, (who sang lead vocals for them at one time, but not on this cut I don't believe) was in an excellent Boston straight-edge band called Proclamation. Too full of SXE slogans IMO, but their album TAKEN BY FORCE had a killer sound...
Chris, I'm also wondering why I left those off, especially since I definitely wrote them... not sure what happened but will do some sleuthing and hopefully repost and/or remedy the situation.
DeleteFixed, by which I mean I tried to recreate the missing parts from memory. Oh well.
Deletewww.discogs.com for timeline.
ReplyDeleteBrian Gray was in Mend.
LOL I have to respond only because I do in fact still have a copy of the Guilty By Association comp. I actually marked the songs I liked on the record sleeve with a pen, so I'd know not to listen to the other ones. Classic!
ReplyDeleteI actually really like the Outnumbered track, if only because it captures the whole feeling I had at the time of being up to my ears involved in that whole spirit-filled hXc thing... how times change. Agreed that the Strongarm track owned this comp. What a great band!