Circle Jerks

Formed in 1979 by Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson, the Circle Jerks combined the rebelliousness of the Sex Pistols and Ramones with the aggressive athletic elements of the surfer/skateboarder crowd from Hermosa Beach. This coastal city just south of Los Angeles ignited the initial explosion of hardcore bands. Including bassist Roger Rogerson and drummer Lucky Lehrer, the band recorded their debut album, Group Sex, in 1980 on Frontier Records. Containing 14 tracks, the songs ranged in length from 1:35 to 27 seconds, taking the hyper blast of punk to the next extreme. With the release of the album, an appearance in the documentary film about L.A. punk The Decline of Western Civilization, and their incendiary live performances, the group's stature was assured in the budding hardcore community.

Their second LP, 1982's Wild in the Streets, continued the intensity while injecting a humorous slant into the music by covering '60s pop hits "Just Like Me"/"Put a Little Love in Your Heart," applied with their slamdancing aggression. The joke was expanded on Golden Shower of Hits, their third album, released in 1983. The second time around they tackled "Along Comes Mary," "Afternoon Delight," "Having My Baby," and "Love Will Keep Us Together." Golden Shower also marked the incorporation of a few longer songs that hovered around the three-minute mark, including "Under the Gun," "High Price on Our Heads," and "Rats of Reality." At this point the band took a two-year break, which found Hetson joining the newly formed Bad Religion, taking on guitar duties for both bands well into the next decade.

In 1985 the Circle Jerks returned with two new bandmembers, Keith Clark on drums and bassist Zander Schloss, releasing the metal-tinged Wonderful album on the Combat label. The group's new approach received mixed reviews, as their hard and fast thrash was slowed down and replaced by an explicit hard rock thump, which carried over to their next Combat release in 1987, VI. The band kept a low profile into the '90s, with the only Circle Jerks record being the 1992 anthology of concert performances titled Gig. By 1995, the band released its first new studio album in eight years, Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities, their major-label debut on Mercury. A highlight among the 12 tracks was a cover version of the Soft Boys' "I Wanna Destroy You," featuring a truly odd vocal appearance by Circle Jerks' fan Debbie Gibson, who would sporadically show up at gigs and perform the song with the band!

By 1996 the years of rough touring caught up with the bandmembers and once again they went on hiatus. Morrisin particular had been plagued by serious health problems, including a back injury that forced him to wear a brace, colon and stomach problems including appendicitis, and a 1999 diagnosis of adult onset diabetes. Since Morris had no health insurance, benefits were held to curtail his enormous medical bills, allowing the now dreadlocked lead singer to begin recuperating. In 2003 Morris was well enough to play live gigs with his spoken word jazz-punk ensemble Midget Handjob, and also tour with the Circle Jerks and the Rollins Band. An appearance on the Henry Rollins' orchestrated benefit album Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three would bring Morris full circle with a performance of "Nervous Breakdown," a track he initially recorded in 1978 with the first incarnation of Black Flag.

Biography by Al Campbell

Circle Jerks Discography

Kaaos

Kaaos was a hardcore punk band from Tampere, Finland. Formed in March 1980, they were one of the first hardcore punk bands in Finland to release a record (the first being Rattus, at a time an ordinary -77 style punk band), and though their lineup has changed frequently through the years, the band is somewhat active thorugh the years. Only the band's guitarist Jakke (who later became the vocalist) remained as the original member and grew to become the center figure of Kaaos.

Jakke died on 29 November 2007. He apparently died of alcohol-related causes at the age of 42.

Kaaos has been described as having "the trademark Finnish 80s sound, fast buzzsaw thrash riffs, reverby vocals, all over the place drumming, and plodding bass."Their music defined what HC punk means for Finns and their EP "Totaalinen Kaaos" released on Propaganda Records became one of the bestselling Finnish EP records ever. Two years later the band released the LP "Ristiinnaulittu Kaaos" on Barabbas Records that was also quite successful.

While their early songs became known to be focused on the local authorities (the police) they always criticized not only the government, but also how different beliefs and religions are used to justify war and the suffering war causes. They also sang about day to day violence they had to meet on the street as punks in their day and many other personal topics, yet keeping true to the anarcho punk view.'

Jakke started out as a guitar player in a band called Porttikielto according to his own words back in 1978. They played a gig or two at the early Tampere punk club called "Safety pins", which was the place where more better known and legendary Tampere punk

bands like Eppu Normaali,  Sensuuri and Karanteeni started from. According to him "we would laugh at the hippies who tried to `get with it` and we would keep the teddy boys away just by our numbers. No problem"

Later on "older" punks from the band Nivelreuma asked him to join a new band called Amiraali Nelson, named after Admiral Nelson and the brand of beer named after him which was popular at the time. This band went on to record one song on a compilation album called Kolme vuotta myöhemmin ("Three years later") in 1980.

In early 1980 Jakke "threw out some of the older people" and renamed the band Kaaos ("Chaos"). The shift was to make sure that no new wave type of influences or people in the band would be allowed. Although Crass was already an influence, hardcore as such was not so at that point. However, the band started to play faster and more chaotic and adopted the studded leather jacket, spikey haired and mohawked image many would emulate later on quite quickly. At this time, this was unheard of even in the Finnish punk scene which was in the midst of evolving from "punk" into new wave into corporate "Finnish rock". This harsher sound and look was just not something anybody expected or wanted.

In the fall of 1981 the group recorded a split ep with Cadgers (who later evolved into Riistetyt. Their side of the ep, though re-presses might omit the name, is called "Kytät on natsisikoja" ("Cops are nazi pigs") featuring song of the same name, which has been a Finnish hardcore classic and a definitive song of the genre ever since. However, Jakke who is considered the legendary vocalist of the band does not sing on the song or on the recording. He will, hower, play the guitar.

After many line up changes, which were to follow the band until the end, Kaaos released "Totaalinen Kaaos"-ep which is, by many considered to be their finest release and which is in Finnish punk culture one of the most definitive records of the "82-hardcore" style of Finnish hardcore, named after the year this and some other classical Finnish hardcore punk records came out, all released by local independent labels. At this point, Kaaos also became to be known outside Finland mostly because of tape trading and for the fact that their releases were sold and traded abroad. However this did not help them back home. Gigs were scarce and their next release Valtio tuhoaa, ei rakenna ("Government destroys, not builds") was not released until the nineties.

In 1984 the band released their only real full-length album, Ristiinnaulittu Kaaos ("The crucified Chaos.") and a split lp with Terveet Kädet, although Terveet Kädet later made a point about never wanting to play in Tampere because bands like Kaaos rejected their too "humorous" lyrics, preferring to sing more about topics related to anarchism. Since Terveet Kädet has played in Tampere later on, this feud might have been settled.

They also recorded their "last" ep, Nukke. ("The Doll") Which was released eight years later. At this point the sound of the band had perhaps evolved to a point that Jakke and the bass player Nappi formed the band Kuolleet Kukat which had a style more in the vein of Amebix and post punk. They released one ep and recorded one ep more, before also disbanding. Then re-surfacing in the nineties to record new material, then dispanding again. In the late nineties and early 2000 Jakke and Nappi also had a band called Positive/Negative which played more straight forward, crust influenced anarcho punk.

In November 1999, Kaaos played a show in Lepakko, the former squat in Helsinki where they and many other legendary early hardcore had shared the stage in the early eighties. The gig was the very last gig before the building was demolished to make wave for an office building for Nokia. Even though the band shared the stage with such contemporaries as Riistetyt, Appendix and Terveet Kädet, the "original line up" did not manage to play well and was considered a "novelty act" at best and a "disgrace" by those who saw them. Despite all this, the gig was a starting point of a revival of many old school Finnish hardcore bands, even to many who did not play there that night.

Kaaos came up with a new line up that after doing a split ep with Svart Agression and some compilation tracks, put out the mini-lp Ismit ("isms"), which was a very mature release, delivering the Kaaos sound but not trying to update much to the "crustie" style they missed out on themselves but also helped to influence.

After playing and touring, this incarnation of Kaaos also deteriorated. The last gig Kaaos ever had was at the release party of the book "Parasta lapsille" in October 2007 in Tavastia. This was again with the "original line up" that was not allowed to rehearse, so what was heard was mostly embarrassing. In the end of the show, Jakke also gave a long speech nobody could hear since he did not seem to realize the microphone was cut off. He died in his sleep a little over a month later.

Source: Wikipedia

Kaaos Discography

Negazione

Negazione was a hardcore punk band based in Turin, Italy during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Formed in 1983, they were one of the most important bands of the hardcore punk scene in Italy at the time, alongside Raw Power, Wretched, Declino and Indigesti.

Among the many groups that in the mid-80s animated the Italian hardcore punk scene Negazione were among the most original. Born in Turin in 1983 by the union of Guido "Zazzo" Bailer (vocals), Roberto "Tax" Farano (guitar) and Marco Mathieu (bass), their line-up would always include these three members, with a continuous rotation of drummers.

Their career began officially in 1984 with the publication of the tape Mucchio Selvaggio , a split cassette with Declino, which was followed by the EP's Tutti Pazzi (Subvert, 1985) and Condannati a Morte nel Vostro Quieto Vivere  (self-released, 1985). These recordings are punk, vulgar and unrestrained, which still gave way for an emotional intensity that would continue to be their trait.

The style of Negazione found it's ultimate expression on the LP, Lo Spirito Continua (De Konkurrent, 1986), thought of as one of the best Italian rock albums of all time. Departing from the path of minimalistic punk, the group are found performing more articulate songs, with sharp changes of tempo and an atmosphere found more often in more "musical" genres. For example, the title track opens with a soft guitar arpeggio that picks up speed until it flows into thrash punk intensity, constantly broken up by mid-tempo changes.  The album stands out in a scene dominated by brakeneck speed riffs and hysterically screamed vocals.  Contributing significantly to the success of the album are the lyrics of Bailer, able to speak to the disillusioned youth whilst at the same time remaining lyrical, angry, poetic and vulgar, cynical and epic.

Little Dreamer (We Bite, 1988) was not as effective. Although the style was the same as the previous album, the creativity behind each song was inferior. Even the albuns best moments, like Il Giorni del Sole, proved to be much more predictable previous efforts.

Even less inspiring are the EP's 1989: Behind the Door (We Bite) and Sempre in Bilico (We Bite). The anthology Wild Bunch (We Bite, 1989) was a collection of the band's early recordings.

100% (We Bite, 1990) proved to be Negazione's swan song. A mixture of the melodic punk of Bad Religion and the grunge of Mudhoney, the record was released at the wrong time:  too late for the alternative public, too early for the mainstream.

The lukewarm reception with which the was album was greeted this album decreed the break up of the band in 1992. Vocalist Guido "Zazzo" Bailer joined Peggio Punx , guitarist Roberto "Tax" Farano began collaborating with Fluxus whilst bassist Marco Mathieu took to music journalism, working for publications such as Metal Hammer and  Rumore.  

Source: Wikipedia.  Biography by Piero Scaruffi, translated by Besatt.

Negazione Discography

Gauze

The original plan according to Shin, the bass player, was to play as fast as possible. They attempted to give the impression of playing fast without actually playing fast. The first Gauze recordings are the tracks from the City Rocker compilation LP with features other New Wave bands and Gauze doing 10 songs. They covered Discharge’s "No TV Sketch", but the song title is "Anti-Machine". They released 1984's Fuckheads LP on ADK Records.

Equalizing Distort was released in 1986. They released the Genkai Wa Doko Da (“What’s the Limit?”) LP in 1989, and in 1991 they played a 10th anniversary gig, where they played three sets covering the 3 periods they had gone through in the last 10 years. They played 51 songs over these 3 sets. In 1996, they began a US tour, though it lasted just three shows - a fourth was scheduled, but was cancelled. They played at Gilman St. in Berkeley, at the Bomb Shelter in Minneapolis and in Chicago at the Fireside Bowl. They also recorded songs for a 7” that came out on Prank a little after this, while they were in SF.

Their 12” Kao O Aratte Denaoshite Koi was released in 1997 (translated as “Go wash your face and come back” - a Japanese expression used after someone is physically beaten by someone else).

Gauze is a long-running and (relatively) prolific group. They’ve released five albums through 2007, though it should be noted that these "albums" never run more than twenty minutes in length.

When I was first getting into hardcore, Gauze was the only Japanese band that anyone knew about. Hilariously, almost every Japanese record reviewed in Maximum Rocknroll would be compared to Gauze, however crazily dissimilar they sounded. 

In fact, Gauze is a terrible frame of reference, because they don’t really sound like anyone else. The only comparable group is maybe Infest, not so much because they sound identical, but the frantic pacing and outlandish vocals share a "sensibility," as they say. Almost all other fast, decidedly unmelodic hardcore runs together, but these two bands are crisp without being over-technical, catchy without sacrificing speed, and aggressively raging without any trace of metal attitude. 

Gauze isn’t an ideal "gateway" band into Japanese punk. One could trace the various members and side-projects of Death Side, in much the same way that a jazz novice can move outward from Miles Davis' sidemen—but Gauze’s is a closed universe. Their influences are obscure to me, even now, and their aesthetic, while baffling, is less over-the-top than, say, G.I.S.M.'s., who once threw an x-ray of a blowjob on an album cover.

Gauze was well known for reasons that made a lot of sense before the internet. Not because they were accessible, musically, but because they had a record on an American label, Prank Records. In 1996, Gauze "toured" the US, playing a handful of shows in far-apart cities, and recorded a six-song EP while on our beauteous shores. 

Even in Japan, where their live sets are essentially "workshops" for new material, Gauze plays rarely. For their 25th anniversary show, they recreated each album meticulously, switching to antiquated instruments and equipment in order to perfectly recreate a sound. This is cutesy when the Cure does it, but strangely moving when Gauze (only slightly younger than the Cure) blast through 50 songs in a single night.

Gauze's idea of hardcore is not sophisticated. It is a blunt instrument. There are no guitar solos, no frills: simply high-speed, tuneless ranting. Unlike much Japanese hardcore, it is not "big." Gauze blows you away, not with 200 Marshall stacks and a fuck ton of dry ice, but through expertly honed riffs and pneumatic precision. The simple goal appears not to be so much to entertain the audience as to outlast and overload them. In the great tradition of punk's antagonism towards its audience, this may be the most subtle and cruel approach of all.

Source: Wikipedia.  Biography by Ben Parker

Gauze Discography