Check this out - a clean, nice, quiet sampling of spanking new hardcore from across these United States, courtesy bandcamp.
Vice is a band from Staten Island and proof that hardcore not only lives, but it's still angry as all get out. They have a full length album "You Made Us This Way" available on their bandcamp page -- twenty visceral, gripping tracks, with lyrics that rail against everything there is to hate, yet still celebrate what nerds like me call the cathartic, redemptive power of rock'n'roll. Vice will play anywhere, anytime, and can be contacted at vicehc at gmail dot com. Here's Vice's stats:
BASS RIG: James Nappo
750watt Line6 bass head
2-15 Mesa Boogie cab
Fender American Jazz Bass
LEAD GUITAR: Dom Manzi
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier head
Boss Noise Suppressor pedal
Boss Chromatic Tuner pedal
ESP-LTD EC-400 guitar
RHYTHM GUITAR: Mike Scotto
Carvin V3 guitar head
Boss Chromatic tuner pedal
ESP-LTD EC-1000 guitar
DRUM SETUP: Tom DeFelice
Tama Superstar Hyper Drive 4 piece kit
Zildijan cymbals: 20" ride, 22" ride, 14" high hat
Tama Iron Cobra double bass pedal
Silver Fox drum sticks
Next up is Strike to Survive, hailing from the opposite side of the country in Northern California. They're going to be digitally releasing two new tracks this coming Friday, but loyal CNQers will get to hear one of them here first! It's called "Obsidian" and it's blistering, solid bad-assery -- as is its b-side, "Vapor Eyes."
Strike to Survive will begin a US tour at the end of the month and will be sending me a flyer/listing of the tour dates -- once that's in hand I'll post it to CNQ. I like to bug people about what they play. Timmy from Strike to Survive says, "As a guitarist I play out of a Mesa boogie dual rectifier and our bassist rocks a Mesa boogie 400+. Our other guitarist plays a twangy fender strat through a fender music man guitar amp. High volume and low gain."
Empathy is HC from Nashville. You can purchase their new album, "I Had A Million Thoughts In My Head, on their bandcamp page. They bill their hardcore as "honest and aggressive" and I think that's a spot on description for "I Had A Million...". When queried about their stats, Michael from Empathy says:
"For the record, we used a Peavey 6505+, a Mesa Dual Rectifier, and a Blackstar Ht-40, and an Orange Bass Terror for bass (amps). We used an Epiphone Les Paul Custom with GFS P90 pick-ups, an Esp LTD H-1001, and the bass is a modified Squier Jazz bass with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders in it (also with 250k pots and an orange drop compactor in it, as well as a Leo Quinn Badass 2 Bridge). Our drummer used a custom 70's Gretsch kit and Zildjian cymbals."
Last but not least is Direct Effect, from Orlando. These guys bring it on their 2011 Forget the Rest 7", released on Get Outta Town Records a few months ago. Their most recent effort, a three song demo called Sunburn, is a scorcher (punny, I know, but I can't help myself sometimes.) The band is Andrew Hagiwara on guitar (playing out of a JCM 900), Christian Padron bangs on a custom Resurrection drum kit, "with a pork pie little squealer snare and zildjian cymbals," he says. Jeff Fonseca does vox and Jordan Shroyer plays bass out of an SWR amp.
They're in the process of re-recording the Sunburn demos, along with 3 new songs, which will be their next release. They will be on tour from July 27th-Aug 13th with This Routine is Hell, from the Netherlands. Check out the dates here.
