photos by Helena Van Leirsberghe & Jeff "STRESS" Davis

Gorilla Biscuits needs little in the way of introduction for fans of hardcore. When they were ready, a pair of horn players came out and played the intro to "New Direction." This was an awesome touch, definitely better than playing a sample. After the intro, as the first few guitar notes to the song rang out, pandemonium exploded on the dance floor. In addition to "New Direction," the Biscuits played a wide selection of their most popular songs including "Standstill," "Good Intentions," "Sitting Round At Home," "High Hopes," and "Cats and Dogs," among others. They also managed to find time for two covers: "Do Something" by CIV and "New York Crew" by Judge. Anthony Civarelli partly dedicated the song to Mike Judge, who was in the audience, but Mike declined to perform the song with the band, much to everyone's disappointment.

Watching Gorilla Biscuits play, you'd swear it was 1991, not 2011. Every song sounded great, and the whole band was full of energy. For their last song, "Start Today," Civ invited the audience on stage to sing along: "There is no barricade here. There are no bouncers here. Trying to control something that should not be controlled is impossible. That is what this is about. You cannot control a tiger in the jungle. You cannot control gorillas in the jungle. We are the animals here. This is our jungle, so for the next two minutes, the stage is yours, the floor is yours, act like the fuckin' animals you are."

The audience took his words to heart, and quickly swarmed the stage, nearly overwhelming the band. They played on, as people crowded around them and flew over their heads. Surrounded on all sides, Civ relinquished the mic to the audience. Walter, who abandoned his guitar, climbed on top of the drum set with his microphone to play the harmonica part, and sing the final chorus with the audience." [Verbicide]

Gorilla Biscuits headlined the Black & Blue Bowl back on May 28th at Webster Hall. We'll have more pictures of the whole show coming soon, but for now check out more pictures, videos and the setlist from the reunited hardcore band's set (confirming much of what is written above), below...

Continue reading "Gorilla Biscuits @ the Black & Blue Bowl (pics, video & setlist)"

words by Klaus Kinski, photos by Meghan McInnis

Trapped Under Ice would like to share a song with you...

You know the NYC hardcore scene ain't what used to be when it has to be emphasized as a main bullet point on the H2O show flier that the event will feature no barricades! When it comes to hardcore, I thought that went without saying. At least, it should. But I guess since our ever-wussified show-going culture evolves, lots of people expect to see barricades at a hardcore, metal, or just plain aggro-music show. But enough of my griping. H2O played two NYC proper 15 year anniversary shows. Night one was February 20th at Gramercy (pics adorn this post) and night (or should we say day) two took place at the Knitting Factory (on 2/21). The show at the Knit was a 3pm doors, all ages, sold out event. That is the one I attended.,

When I got there at 6pm sharp, H2O was literally walking on stage to perform what would end up being a 54 minute set. The set was packed with the classics and the crowd (which was hardly all ages) (unless 20 - 30 is considered all ages), was physically into the band from song one. A steady stream of stage diving and not-nearly-as-violent-as-the-old-days moshing stayed at a pretty consistent pitch throughout. The Gramercy crowd was lucky enough to get guests Lou Koller of Sick of it All as well as Anthony Civarelli (Civ), but sadly this was not the case at the Knit. Over all the show was a lot of fun, but now I have my sights set on the sold out Agnostic Front original line-up reunion happening at the Bell House on Friday 2/26.

More pics from the Gramercy are below...

Continue reading "H2O & guests played Knitting Factory & Gramercy (pics)"

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

Pictures and the setlist from Gorilla Biscuits' set at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, continued below...

Continue reading "Gorilla Biscuits @ Fun Fun Fun Fest - pics & setlist"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Sick Of It All - "Take The Night Off" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sick Of It All - "Borstal Breakout" (MP3, Sham 69 cover)
DOWNLOAD: Sick Of It All - "Relentless" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sick Of It All - "Scratch The Surface" LIVE (MP3)

Sammy Siegler of Rival Schools (and CIV) @ at Irving Plaza (more by Tim Griffin)

Legends of NYHC Sick of It All, will headline Gramercy Theater on June 20th with Bane, Inhuman, and Capital. Tickets are on sale. Full SOIA dates are below.

Besides the SOIA show, Bane and Capital will also join forces with Crime In Stereo, Have Heart, The Agent, Backtrack, and Naysayer at Europa in Brooklyn on April 26th. Tickets are on sale.

In other news, Lou Koller (SOIA) collaborated in 1995 on Set Your Goals, the now out-of-print debut by CIV. Back in October 2008, we found out that there was some movement on the CIV front:

CIV [has stayed]... great friends and since we own our masters, we've been kinda stupid in that we haven't made it available. Since we broke up in 1999, our music has been out in any kind of organized way... digitally or anything. So I think we might put together a discography and just package it up really nice... we've got tons of content and photos... b-sides and videos. I think when that comes out, we will probably have an opportunity to do some shows, nothing on the level of a full tour or anything, but it could be fun. -[Sammy Siegler, Oct 2008]

Now comes word that CIV will release Solid Bond: The Complete Discography on May 19, 2009 via Equal Vision Records. According to Spinner, the 43 song 2CD comp will get "the box treatment". As hinted above, and again in the Spinner piece, CIV may do some shows to accompany the release. We'll keep you posted.

In other classic NYHC news, HR will headline day two of the Underground Revolution Fest at Gramercy Theatre in May. Reagan Youth, Kraut, Blanks '77, The Allstonians,Hub City Stompers, and many many others are also on the bill. Details and all dates below...

Continue reading "Sick Of It All dates, CIV discography release & the Underground Revolution Fest 2-day NYC lineup"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Rival Schools - "Take One For The Team" (MP3)

"So yeah, I draw the line at Quicksand". - Walter

Walter Schreifels. Sam Siegler. Two names of a very select few who defined a sound and a movement in the late 80s and early 90s, New York Hardcore. Building upon the zen-like teachings of prophets with names like HR, MacKaye, and Raybeez, Walter Schreifels and Sammy Siegler cut their teeth in the blooming NYC scene with the legendary Gorilla Biscuits, Youth Of Today, and Judge, as well as Side By Side, and Project X.

Quicksand and CIV, as well as MTV support, multiple LPs and music videos followed, culminating in the reunion of the two Youth of Today bandmates in Rival Schools. Sam and Walter formed the band in 1999, with their lone LP United By Fate coming in 2001. The band split the following year, scrapping existing recordings that were believed to be the basis of the new album. Six years passed, and Walking Concert, Nightmare of You, Head Automatica, and solo work followed until early 2008, when Rival Schools announced their reformation. The announcement was followed by festival dates in Europe, ultimately leading to a handful of US shows.

Which leads us to NYC... The band have lined up a pair of shows at Maxwells and Mercury Lounge in early November which sold out quickly, but the band have also agreed to headline the free BrooklynVegan day party at Knitting Factory on Oct 25th! In part one of their first joint interview ever, we poked and prodded Sammy and Walter about their past & present projects, the old days, and blow-up dolls...

Continue reading "an interview w/ Rival Schools (Walter & Sammy) (part 1)"

GB/CIV @ CBGB (more)

I almost forgot to mention that that the special guests at the Black and Blue Ball happening at Studio B in Brooklyn this weekend are/were supposed to be CIV and Gorilla Biscuits.....which is probably a good thing becuse when I first saw it, tt was 100% confirmed in a Black n Blue Productions MySpace blog post, but that has since been deleted and Punk News is now reporting that Gorilla Biscuits are probably NOT playing. It is suspicious that the Black n Blue Ball still has Gorilla Biscuits listed as one of their top friends though. Either way, tix at the door (and Agnostic Front)