Saturday, November 26, 2011

SOMETHING REALLY OFFENSIVE

Something Really Offensive (S.R.O) played straight up hardcore punk in the Orange County style of the Adolescents, the Vandals, D.I. etc. This is their 1985 demo and it's full of rude, crude party punk tunes about (but not limited to) getting drunk, getting into fights and puking beer. The song "Acid Rain" seems to sober the tape up with something of an environmental message, but really it's all about songs like "Beer Upchuck" and "D.U.I." Mix that with surfy guitar solos and that perfect 1-2-1-2 beat and you got yourself a Hawaii hardcore classic.

DOWNLOAD

Hawaii Scene Report - Maximum Rock N' Roll March 1985

This is the first scene report from Hawaii published in MRR, written by Lance Hahn in 1985.

Lots of bands on here I have never heard of that probably never recorded, quite a shame.
Apparently there was another published in the 90s...If anyone has a scan of that, I'd love to put it up on the blog.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

THE SQUIDS

Another important band of the early 80's punk scene in Honolulu was The Squids. The Squids actually leaned more on the side of new wave, not in a Knackish skinny tie way, but much more in the mutant rock style of Devo, the Suburban Lawns or the B-52's. Lots of faux Farfisa and angular bristled guitar jabbing, with catchy songs to boot- the song "Tourist Riot" is the best song off their self titled seven inch, leading-off with a trancy synth line and detailing a nightmare fantasy of locals at war with the toursit population, leaving singer Beano Shots to scream "Ah, fuck it! I'm gonna move to New York city!" The other tunes show a lot of variety for just a four song single, from the ska tinged "Rio" to the Venturesish surf guitar instrumental "Love Theme From Surf Boy", while ending with the rattling guitar explosions that punctuate "In." They were a fun sounding, kitcshy group with lots of bright pinks and cheesy leisures suits to match the quirky day-gloish music. It was also reissued, for a 20th anniversary 7 inch in 2001, put out by longtime local punk label Hawaiian Express, and copies are still available through their website. Another interesting factoid about the Squids is that Beano Shot's son Matty also became involved in the Hawaii punk scene later on with the bands The Ex-Superheroes and Vax.

DOWNLOAD
BUY THE REISSUE SEVEN INCH HERE

THE FUCKIN' FLYIN' A-HEADS


The Fuckin' Flying A-Heads are probably one of the oldest, most out-there and uncatergorizable bands in the whole spectrum of Hawaii punk, who have been recently brought back from the netherrealms to reissue reality. Their sole seven inch "Swiss Cheese Back/Watching TV" is complete mindfuckery of the highest caliber, drug punk from head to toe, and Hawaii's only nearest comparison to the art terrorism-nihilist void of Flipper or the Electric Eels. To me, it sounds like a Hawkwind riff dragged through some punk mud, recorded with a broken mic, mixed with a tinkertoy soundboard, and the tapes dunked in a bleach and water solution.It's monotonous mutated music, which is a compliment, mind you, and while the seven inch is an endurance test of patience and attention, it's an unltimately satisfying record if you're a fan of noxious noise.

The FFA were freakish music nerds (read: fans of Frank Zappa,Blue Cheer and Funhouse-era Stooges) who were eager to buckle expectations, be confrontational, noisey and cause a general ruckus. Like most freaks in the late 70's, they found an open door via punk rock. The single was recorded live at a sparsely attended show in Pearl City, at a now exinct place called the Leeward Theatre in January of 1980. After running out a paying crowd with their churning psychnoise, they decided to take it to the next level and piss off/confuse the record buying public by releasing a 7 inch of the event. The record barely sold, not only because of its contents, but because store owners were hesitant to sell something with the word "Fuckin'" in the title. Apparently, Rough Trade bought some copies that circulated in their UK stores, as well as to some California record shops, but that was the extent of it. Good luck finding it in any record shop in Hawaii; I've yet to ever see a copy in any used shops or thrift stores. The band soon relocated to San Francisco, tried their hand at getting gigs at fledgling punk clubs like the Mabuhay Gardens, where they were told by Dirk Dirksen himself that their music was "Too intense- it will likely cause a riot." They played a few gigs in the Bay Area, before the member's other musical and drug commitments effectively dissolved the band. Their singer Eric Ishii passed away from leukemia in Dec. of 2000 but their music lives on with the reissue of their seven inch by De Stijl records.

DOWNLOAD
BUY THE RE-ISSUED SEVEN INCH HERE
VICE MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Friday, November 11, 2011

CRINGER




For this first post, I figured it’d be fitting to start with a rarely heard recording by Cringer, who are probably the most internationally known punk band from Hawaii. Cringer was led by Lance Hahn, a punk from Waianae (for non locals: Waianae is a working class rural part of west Oahu and sort of notoriously rough) who supposedly was the first guy in Hawaii with a Mohawk. Lance had been in other local bands such as Scarred For Life and Hypo-Depression before forming Cringer in 1985 with the remaining members of Scarred For Life, with Lance on guitar, Gardner Pope on vocals, Dave Carr on drums and Ed Tarantino on bass. The demo below was recorded by Hahn at Kamehameha High School, where he was attending at the time and it’s a pretty descent recording considering the equipment they probably had at their disposal. Eight songs full of catchy hardcore punk with a fun and furious energy that I'd compare closely to maybe a less hyper-active but more rockin' Descendents. Plus there's a cover of Madonna's Burnin' Up (Hey, it was 1985, give 'em a break).

Cringer was only in Hawaii until around 1986 when the band moved to Los Angeles and eventually the Bay Area, where after a few lineup changes, demos and 7 inches, Cringer effectively became J-Church. J-Church were a well-loved band and cornerstone of 90s punk, producing countless singles and LPs through the next decade. Lance Hahn died in 2007 after a series of health complications in the last few years of his life, but remained tirelessly active touring, writing new songs, putting out albums as well as a writing zine and an all encompassing book looking at the UK anarcho punk scene that he drew so much inspiration from as a young punk.Lance Hahn was so incredibly important to the DIY scene and its really amazing and cool that he came from Hawaii.

Cringer Wikipedia
J-Church Wikipedia
DOWNLOAD