Red & Black - "Prepare To Die" Music Video

The second Red & Black music video is finally available for your viewing pleasure! This brings us one step closer to our 'music video demo', to be expected Summer oh10. The music video demo will have music videos for all the demo songs in actual watchable quality (rendering videos for youtube makes them look like shit), our skate video, and bonus footage. This video was filmed at a Halloween party/late night skate sesh. Enjoy.

Rocket Attack - Demo 200666

I love Rocket Attack. Rob once referred to me as the unofficial fourth member; of Zack, Rob, and Tanar I'm probably the only one who looks back on the band with a smile. Unfortunately I no longer have a copy of the Rocket Attack cd demo but here is the 200666 and 1/2 demo (it has one less track than the demo and three tracks from the 7" that never got put out). Rocket Attack in its existence only released two cd demos along with a t shirt some stickers, buttons and a tape. I still have the mp3s from the first demo so I just included those in the link as well as the track left out, "Dooooom". Plans were made to release a 7" which I will put up the tracks to later but the band broke up. They carried on into 2007 with Brian on drums but couldn't do it. I jammed with Zack a bit and learned the songs plus some new ones but it was pointless to carry on; the spirit was dead. I just remembered, there are also live tracks on Dead Air (the first band to play it) I'll put up. Rocket Attack was very much an Olympia band in that every show was a blast. Circle pits carried in an american flag, ordering the crowd to do pantless circle pits (which somehow always worked), and games played during songs like 'steal the shoe'. Rob would tell people during songs that clocked in at under a minute to steal the person's shoe next to you. Usually the whole room would try to steal each other's shoes, sometimes one person would be targeted, and other time's Rob would be targeted. Rocket Attack as a band was just fun. Some songs were written with Rob just making noises. After that was recorded everyone would laugh and try to decipher words from the meaningless verbal garble. Songs like "Antwon" were created in this fashion. There was also beef between Rocket Attack and another band that will remain unnamed [and no I'm not talking about the joke beef between dying days]. Rocket Attack as a fun and childish band approached this beef, of course, in a childish fashion; putting stickers on the people's vans and challenging the band to a 'live show off' which they [the other band] declined. Rocket Attack was also the first band I ever want on tour with and boy was that hilarious. Throwing up jellybeans in Clint [Acts of Sedition's] lap, all night Tijuana escapades, Disneyland adventures, food poisoning, barfing in Tostinos bags, Walker chugging 40s in the back of the van, getting bullets waved at us, and matching dinosaur tattoos among the highlights. Rocket Attack marks a very fun time in Olympia and once more reinforces the 'goofy-band' aspect of Oly; basically just doing whatever you feel like and making it a band. Enjoy.





Also, here are demo lyrics (the demo never had any but Rob typed em' up):
1. Caveman

Speak loud. No stick.
Mediate with my words, hear the voice without war.
Who are you to de-evolve the human race for respect?
(Use) both hind legs (and) move along.
CAVEMAN DON'T SPEAK HE USE BIG ROCK.

2. Office Death

You will think you feel at home.
You realize you're all alone.
Try to make it up with pics, of your stupid fucking kids.
Office space holocaust, the drone grows and dies in his grey box.

3. Cut In Half

I love this place with the open door.
No fucking stage just the hard wood floor.
We are equal here, We are all equal here.
No drugs, no booze, no fights, no attitudes.

4. Alex Murphy

Shot in the head, they thought he was dead.
Brought back to life. He'll get his revenge tonight.
Alex J. Murphy! AKA Robocop!
Shoot them ask them later,
shoot them ask them later,
shoot them ask them later.
Robocop will kill!

5. Yams

*you have to figure this one out yourself.

6. Rocket Attack U.S.A.

Rocket Attack U.S.A.
Rocket Attack U.S.A.
Rocket Attack U.S.A.
Rocket Attack!

7. Bill Pullman Falls to Earth

Welcome to Earth... BITCH!

8. Antwon

You're a fucking donkey kong,
I deal with you all of the time!
You're tall! Good call! A wall!
You're a fucking donkey kong,
You're always eating pork chops DIEEEE!

9. MTV

I wanna be on MTV so I can kill Carson Daly,
I wanna be on MTV so I can kill Carson Daly.
M - T - V.

10. Ten Percent Juice

All natu(ral), all natu(ral) All natu(ral),
all natu(ral) All natu(ral), all natu-raaaalll.
Raspberry peach juice drink! Snapple! juice.

11. Friday Night Fight

They came that one night
They said there would be a fight
To grab whos near and drink away any fear.
They came with bats and knives, we came ready to fight.
Outnumbered 3 to 1, (all it took) was one punch.
Everybody run because the cops are gonna come!

12. Pure Delusion

Words and music originally by Crossed Out.

13. Dooooooom!

Your ideals are not mine.
Live your life I'll be just fine.
Worry about problems with our time.
So many hours wasted on your own life.
Think of something good for mankind.
Do this. We will follow.

This is also mentionable:


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White Wards - Sometimes I miss my dad...

The [official*] sophomore release of Olympia's own White Wards. Initially I still liked the first tape better but now I find myself listening to this one a lot more often. Coupled with the craziness of the numerous White Wards shows since the beginning of the new year, this tape makes for an intense listen. The new tape demonstrates a bit more creative musical patterns and 'off-the-wall'song ordering ('build-up to nothings', abrupt tempo change-ups). "Cough" and "Not Human" stand out to me to be the most interesting and gnarly tracks with only three old demo tracks "Wide Awake", "Bowing Down", and "In Shit" renamed "Mama Said". Some tracks seriously remind me of Cold Sweat ["Black Arms"] but, honestly, the White Wards tracks are more interesting to me. There also seems to be a bit of metal 'sabbathy' influence in tracks like "Not Human" and of course Ginn-esque soloings and riffage. Layered in guitar feedback, the noisy hardcore that is White Wards stands out to me more than other contemporary bands of their musical styling. If you like noisy hardcore that isn't just hype check it out. White Wards is working their way up to recognition quickly with a S/T 7" coming out soon on a new label, 'Lowlife' records (not Mike's Olympia skateboarding company). A lot of Nightmare on Elm Street was being watched prior to the release of this tape so enjoy the opening sample. I have a few tapes, more are available directly through Joey (joeymora23@gmail.com), and some are available, along with Red & Black and In Debt, at Sorry State. Unfortunately the lyrics are more difficult to read than the 'Timebombs' lyrics so good luck. The 7" insert is much easier to read so look forward to that. Fond memory: I was filling in on drums for White Wards at the Sixes record release and we covered 'Grim Reaper' by Siege... in its entirety. At first those who knew what it was laughed but after some time, along with everyone else, people just got bummed. Joey even played a Trombone. Not quite as cool as a saxophone but it's all that was available.

*A demo was recorded in the summer that was not released. It was most of the tracks on this tape but they were a bit sloppy. The vocals are nuts but musically it's a bit rough around the edges.







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Stop At Nothing - Demo 2004

At the time of its inception Stop At Nothing was pretty much the only hardcore band in Olympia. Although this demo doesn't quite 'do it for me' as much as the previous demo post, with the exception of "Stand By Me", I really like the songs. The songs on the demo seem 90's 'youth crew' influenced with some contemporary flare (sometimes a bit too much melody, see "Stand By Me".) Stop at Nothing was my little brother's favorite contemporary hardcore band when he went to shows so I've always enjoyed it. My brother stopped going to shows in 2006 but it hasn't hindered my making mixes for him to try to get him to come again. On top of this all the members involved still go to shows, are in bands, etc. with the exception of Bryce. Steven, James, and Matt are still quite active in the hardcore scene starting bands and booking shows furiously. Steven is the founding father of

OURSOUND.

Without further ado, here is the download link. A small piece of an older Olympia.



Lyrics
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In Stride - Demo 2004

...reminiscent of a time when Vancouver, BC was characterized by much more 'mosh'. This becomes apparent in such tracks as "Still Trying", "What You Meant", and "Over and Over", ironically, some of my favorites on the tape. Many look down on bands of this time (early to mid 2000's) in disdain based on the pretense of having 'moved on' to things more creative, abstract, etc. I, however, still enjoy it quite a bit. Although most bands in this period have just faded away, In Stride has stood the test of time for me. This could be because of Chad's lyrics. Also, each subsequent release got better and better. (The next tape after this is awesome, yet not as good as the 7". Unfortunately I have no idea where my copy went, I think it's somewhere packed away in my mom's garage along with most contemporary hardcore stuff I've held onto. When I find it I'll put it up.) Also, thanks to Adam of Red & Black/Thumbs Up fame for letting me borrow this tape. I don't think I ever had a copy of this tape, then again it was 2004, and at 16, I was buying pretty much any demo hardcore related that played Olympia. At the time I never thought that bands of this genre could be ungenuine or have nothing to say; this is something you quickly learn growing up in a hardcore context and also touched on in the tracks "Bombs Away" and "Number 44". Off tangent: The vocals are much more gruff on these recordings and the music a bit less creative but In Stride was growing as a band. As a demo, this tape is awesome. I'm still listening to it today.



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Lyrics.

Insubordinate - Demo

While the rest of the contemporary hardcore world was concerning itself with message boards, labels, mass distribution, fests and the like, Insubordinate was doing what their name implies; not taking part. To describe the band as 'fun' would be an immense understatement. Through its duration as a band, Insubordinate played numerous guerrilla shows, wrecked a nightclub, shot off fireworks at fests, and basically just made shows fun. In a time when Olympia had virtually no hardcore punk bands the four-piece that was Insubordinate held the torch.
This demo tape was Insubordinate's first release with artwork by yours truly. The songs on the tape are about a variety of different subjects ranging from scene politics, general discontent with authority figures, national politics and economics accompanied by a nice little musical interlude to carry us through. I can't count how many times I've listened to this tape but I love it. On the tape is the original line up consisting of James, Ian, Brando and Ryan. Ryan later moved to California and Sean Naito of Trainyard fame took his place.



One of my fondest memories (pretty much ever but mostly concerning music) is when Insubordinate wrecked the Vault. The Vault is a bar/nightclub in Olympia that hosts 'foam parties' and many other mid-life crisis and college dweeb predicated events; all things that hardcore punk has nothing to do with. In 2006 the dudes from Tacoma were trying to get a venue off the ground that became known as 'The Viaduct'. In order to raise money for the venue they booked a benefit show in Olympia. It should be mentioned that we didn't know this was a benefit show. Getting it shut down was not out of any sort of spite for the Viaduct, albeit we would have wrecked the show even if we had known it was a benefit because it was at the Vault. I'm not sure why they didn't just network through Olympia hardcore patrons to get a show but whatever the reason fate had it the show would be at the Vault. Before the show began it was already decided the venue was going to be destroyed. Necessary preparations were taken and the fun was set in motion. Before the show everyone walked around the venue looking for things to throw, destroy, etc. Insubordinate began setting up and you could feel the tension. To add to the ridiculousness of the night Insubordinate started with a cover of "Sugar" by System of a Down; as soon as the first note was played things went fucking ape-shit. All at once things exploded. Boxes upon boxes of glossy vault foam party fliers were tossed from the balcony along with industrial sized bottles of ketchup, mustard and an entire side of ham. Wrinkled newspapers stuck to everything as someone dressed in the alligator suit (I forget who it was) opened up two guitar cases full of water balloons and began hurling them. It looked like it was snowing garbage. So much was flying through the air constantly it appeared everything was suspended there. Everyone covered in ketchup, mustard and soaking wet pushed forward among the confusion to sing along with James, donned in a rasta wig, to System of a Down lyrics. Robert (of LQD NLZ, Mondo Aggro fame) jumped off the dancing cages to pull down the enormous vault banner hanging above the stage. It took a while but security began to react. The power was cut leaving everyone chanting "IN-IN-INSUBORDINATE" over stand-alone drumming. People began getting tackled by security guards. Robert was full on nailed by some huge burly guard but escaped long enough to run outside, turn on a fire hose and throw it inside while spewing out water. The crowd as a collective picked up as much gear or important items as possible and bailed out the door. We all met back at the Wiener Shack, recounted the hilarity and then proceeded to be held at gunpoint by 11 police officers that night (unrelated incident). Easily one of the best days of my life. I always wondered why the Viaduct was weird to us and it wasn't until recently that I put two and two together; "Oh shit, we wrecked their benefit show". Hey man, that's what happens when you book a show at a bullshit club. Olympia doesn't talk it, we live it. Enjoy da tunes, and read the lyrics.



Lyrics
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Trainyard - Demo

Here it is ignoble browsers, the Crème de la Crème of all that is music. Aside from just predicting the Obama election and oncoming alien invasion, Trainyard took the brunt of the Olympia hardcore scene in 2006. At a time when the scene consisted of basically Insubordinate, Nervosa and Sex Vid, Trainyard took the reigns and guided Olympia music in an unheard of direction. I know, shameless self-promotion, but it's fucking true. Up until that point I can't think of any Olympia band that has sounded anything like it. Some may say that it's a good thing nothing has sounded like it and that Trainyard is stupid, others may praise and enjoy it and still many are indifferent. The former of these are usually people who do not enjoy fun in any way shape or form.



Trainyard is easily the most fun band I've ever been in. The group of people is perfect and said party always has a great time together. At its humble beginnings Ian Bracken sought me out to jam because we both enjoyed late 80s NYHC and metal. Although we didn't have too much of a particular influence we were going for I seem to recall Ian often citing Merauder as an influence for some of his songs and I had pushed for a blend of a contemporary hardcore feel similar to No Warning. Fortunately it turned out sounding like neither, it took on a life all its own.



Originally Josh Simpson of Ancient Head infamy was going to sing but Ancient Head stole him from us thus spawning the Ancient Head Trainyard beef (which in actuality was never real except to one person who shall remain unnamed). Without a singer Ian recruited Adriana to the team seeing as she also shared similar musical influences. Ian soon decided to switch to doing vocals and his brother James of Insubordinate and Crazies fame hopped on guitar; a perfect candidate seeing as we practiced at his house. Conflicts of interest occurred when a myspace was created and James left the band and Bob took over temporarily. After a very long break the love of Trainyard's life Sean (of insubordinate fame) joined on the six string filling a void that was long expanding in the heart of the Trainyard collective. A Canadian tour and many shows are now beneath our belt despite the fact that we have never had merch and have never released anything aside from a demo. We've been what could be innacurately described as recording for a record for over a year. We'll see what happens with that.
As far as it goes now, we are back on the map. Our Osiris D3s are laced up and JNCO jeans frayed to perfection. Below is a link to the 2007 Demo and two tracks recorded for an Oly Comp that never got used. Without further ado, some words from Ian:

"Trainyard stands for many things. A lot of focus on the lyrics is related to being yourself and thinking independently from your peers, the media, and authority figures. Lyrics are about everything from politics, individuality, sexuality, drug culture, and authority figures. Trainyard is definitely not afraid to take an offensive or satirical stance at things that people hold very dear to their hearts."

Musically, Trainyard writes whatever we feel like writing, sometimes to a humorous extent. Rather than pigeonholing ourselves with a music writing hardcore formula, we pull from everyone’s individual musical interests in the band creating a musical style that cannot be mimicked.



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