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
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