Wiccans-Tour Tape

I have no clue how many of you actually read through this blog and gander through my posts, but if there are (or if you know me in the real world or through my social media platforms) you will know without a doubt Wiccans is one of my favorite bands. From the first time I saw them play in a smoke filled forest with a homeboy in a devo hat on acid firing roman candles at them to a few nights ago when they played during an arctic blast of a thunderstorm in Fort Worth I have never seen this band play a bad set.

Back in August I had thought that I had done the impossible and had a complete discography run of their material until Payton and Harpal both informed me I was missing two pieces of the puzzle; the 2012 Tour Tape and the tape edition of Field II. Both of which I was assured would be next to impossible to obtain. Fast forward to last friday, in my excitement to see Wiccans play a hometown set I had posted a song from Skullduggery (the dredging "Third Estate"). Former guitarist, Daniel Zeigler, now a crystal loving Buddhist Monk sent me the audio to the tour tape (with a winky emoji mind you). The tour tape is a hidden gem and something I am very grateful that Daniel sent me, for it contains three songs, two Field II demos and a song from the group that has never been released anywhere else. 

But a bit of history on the tape from the mouths of Harpal and Adam; released for an early 2012 tour before Field II was even properly mixed, the release was limited to 17 copies and spread through the midwest. The aforementioned exclusive song is entitled "Negative Space" and was intended for a compilation (what comp I do not remember.) but by the time Wiccans had sent in the track the comp was full. Plan B was to put the song on Field II but the group felt that "Negative Space" did not fit in with the rest of the record, therefore the song was confined to this tape. The other two songs are "Telepathy" and "Psychic Mirrors", demo versions recorded before the Field II sessions and played much faster than their album counterparts. 

Once more I would like to thank Daniel Zeigler for sending me this hidden gem. The tracks were one big lump when they were sent to me, for this DL I have separated them out. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD

Wiccans-Demo (2009)

At this point if you do not know of Wiccans, you are fucking up, leave this blog go find an MP3 for Field II and immerse yourself in the psychedelic hardcore madness. If you do then I present you with this gem. This is the first set of Wiccans recordings from back in 2009. Put out by British label "Eat a Book" I have been long scouring the web for these songs (I own the two separate versions of this tape myself but I wanted the world to hear this without having to hunt this bastard down). 

The tape for the most part is the Teenage Cults Mini-LP with some songs from Skullduggery sprinkled in, but all this raw, muddy fierceness. Interesting bit of trivia is that the song from this tape "Drop Out" would later mutate into the song "Ephemera" on 2011's Skullduggery.

But the point is, if you want to hear a bit of North Texas punk history then download now.  

And in better news, Wiccans is working on a third LP, get stoked.

Chainchomp-S/T Tape

Grab your denim jacket, bust out the whips and chains and prepare to fucking slam. Chainchomp was a short lived band from Denton, Texas (only lasting about 5 months). Made up of former members of Meaner Demeanor and Bokonon, a revolving door of drummers (including Miles of Two Knights and Johnny of Innards) and Payton Green of Wiccans/Video/Glowgod this band was a powerhouse live. 

Music here is hard hitting punk like you like to hear in this new day and age and the intro to this tape is probably still one of my favorite intros in this new wave of Hardcore. Payton Lower's maniac vocals in a frenzy over the chaos what is the music. Just hit this already.

I remember seeing just about all of this bands shows (with the exception of the Sin Motivo tape release) and remember people going hard for them every time (I took a thumb to my left eye moshing for them one night). Sadly the band fell apart in June 2013, with only Daniel and Payton Green coming out and still making tunes. While Chainchomp has never been officially declared dead there is hope for one more show one day, until then go nuts.

The Sentenced - Demo

YES!YES!FUCKING YES!!!

The Sentenced are a band from North Texas comprised of current and previous members of Wiccans, Sin Motivo, Breakout, Truth, Night Crimes, Video, and Execution Tax. If that doesn't get you riled up already then I don't know what is wrong with you. 

The Sentenced came into existence last March playing their first show at a Taqueria at about one in the mourning. People fucking lost it and since The Sentenced have been a favorite of the North Texas scene. Primal Hardcore in the vein of 86 Mentality, and written with moshing in mind. It's hard to listen to this tape and not want to wreck your surroundings. 

False Form is about to drop this gem soon, and I've heard hints of a possible 7" release forthcoming. But until then snatch this up now, soon enough you'll find yourself chanting along with this group of babes.

OUT FOR BLOOD.

GAG - THIS PUNK SHIT IS COOL AND ALL BUT I HOPE I AM ROB ZOMBIE BY THE TIME I AM 28

Goddamn that title is a mouthful. But I digress, Gag is a band from Olympia, Washington and are a flagship of this new wave of hardcore. Filthy, scummy sounding vocals juxtaposed over harsh feedback drenched tunes, this record rips. On the subject of the vocals, I have to say god damn, those are some gnarly fucking vocals. You see he uses a delay pedal (What brand/model, I do not know) but the effect it has on his voice is perfect.

I heard this band for the first time seeing them at Chaos in Tejas, and I liked them so much I missed the first fifteen minutes of Bolt Thrower's set to run up the street and see these guys a second time in the same day. I saw them again a third time when they ventured north and played a post Chaos show in Denton with Hoax. 

Gag is soon returning to Texas and beyond next month, they're doing one hell of a tour on their way to Not Dead Yet in Toronto. So do yourself a favor and see them in your town and get this and their 7" records they have out. But until then here's this little LP to hold you over.

CONSIDER THE SOURCE - ARE YOU WATCHING CLOSELY?

Let the outright fangirling begin. 

A few years ago when I first stumbled into the music scene a couple of friends continuously name dropped a band named Consider The Source. They came to town early on in my days in the DFW scene but I wasn't able to attend due to suffering from a car accident two days prior. So I gave them a spin on youtube and realized how bummed I was that I had missed them that March eve. But lo and behold I was informed that in June of 2011 they would be returning, even more thrilling was that they were playing in Denton on the night of my 18th birthday. But life has funny ways of making things happen my friends. I missed Consider The Source again for a second time that summer, due to an accident that occurred in West Virginia while my family and I were on vacation. Later that summer one night while I was playing minecraft with my friend Alex he decided to give the album "Are You Watching Closely?" a spin. Prior to this point the only CtS material I had heard was from their third album "That's What's Up!", an album phenomenal in its own right, no where near hooked me quite as much as "Are You Watching Closely?" got me. 

I ordered a copy from the local record store and it didn't come in until early October of 2011 and the rest of that year and up until this point now where I am typing this out, I am still utterly in love with this album.

Consider the Source is a hard band to pin down on what they play, they have prog moments, jazz, metal, sci-fi, funk, and even middle eastern moments in their music. It is literally all over the place. But what separates Consider The Source from a good chunk of prog and jam bands is that they do not sacrifice technicality for clever songwriting. There is not one boring moment on this album, the trio shift through moments of serene beauty to moments of pummeling force and back again. The most prime example of the CtS sound would be the second track "(Good Point) Wandering Bear" where in the middle of the song comes out this phenomenal slap riff on the bass and the guitars just begin to shred. 

Consider the Source comes through DFW about once or twice a year, most every time playing in Denton. I finally caught them in April of 2012, to date this is the only time I have seen them and literally the best band I have ever seen live. If you aren't into prog or any sort of music like that, give this album a shot. If you like this for the love of satan go buy this and see them. They do not let down. 

JAM IT!

ACHTÖNE! - S/T

And now for something entirely different. Achtöne! were a band from Denton that were around for a couple years and then dropped from the face of Earth. The band's sound was easily described as Psychedelic Post Rock, and is some seriously chilled out tunes. 

I remember catching them once at Rubber Gloves on the recommendation of a friend of mine (mainly as something to do, the fuel pump was out on my truck and I was dying to go see Creamers at 1919 but alas that didn't happen). That was a very chilled out show for the most part, but I remember Achtöne! being phenomenal that night and buying their CD.

The band's sound is a very good representation of their live sound, very smooth, very jammy and at times having some very Pink Floyd esc moments (A Falling Canyon And Green Grass in particular). And a definite shout out to the bassist of this band for holding down these monster grooves on this little EP.

Soon after the release of this EP, Achtöne! put out one more single this time adding vocals to the frey. While not bad in any sense, it didn't seem to have the same atmosphere that this EP had. Not long after the single hit bandcamp, Achtöne! broke up. Copies of this CD are still lingering around Denton, Recycled Books for one has about six copies of this discounted down to $3 a piece. But if you feel like giving this a go right now you can download it here.

COMPLETELY FUCKED/INNARDS - TOUR 2011 TAPE

A split tape from two North Texas locals, Completely Fucked was a Powerviolence/Hardcore band and Innards is a Skramz band both hailing from the Fort Worth area. Innards many of you will know, due to the fact that they are the best band and dudes in the world and one of the foremost Skramz bands on the map. They have gone on to do many other splits with bands like The Reptilian and put out a monste of a LP called "I've Lost Everything".

Completely Fucked on the other hand were initially known as Prognosis Negative but were forced to change their name to Completely Fucked due to the existence of another Prognosis Negative. About the time of the name change they put out a tape and named it with their former band name. The Prognosis Negative tape was a speedy little endeavor with 11 Songs in 8 minutes. But with this tape Completely Fucked offered up a much thicker sound, all of the instruments sounding thicker and Ramón's vocals sounding lower than the previous tape. 

This would be the final release for Completely Fucked before they split up mid-2012 with Al and Phil continuing on with Special Guest and Jeramy and Ramón going on to do Sin Motivo. 

A great split from two solid North Texas bands, the tape has been gone for about a year or so now, but you can download it here.

SMEAR - DEMO 2013

It seems like in North Texas every time you turn around there's a new band sitting there raring to go. Smear formed at the start of the summer of 2013 and played their first show August 24th of that summer. Blunt and to the point is the name of the game of this trio of dudes. I'm definitely interested to see where this band goes from here. But give it a go for yourself and jam their demo now.

Something worth mentioning is the guys in Smear make up two completely separate bands as well, the pop punk band Fairbanks and the Joke-Powerviolence band ATWHC. 

EXECUTION TAX - DEMO 2011

Execution Tax was a dirty Punk band from good old Denton, Texas, USA. Formed sometime around 2010 in the infamous, and now defunct house venue, Lions Den and disbanded in June 2013. The band has been described as blackened punk or as one person referred to them as "If Hellhammer suddenly went punk". The one certain thing that I remember of Execution Tax was how catchy the riffs that they wrote were. After seeing them the riff to their song "Strider" (which is on this demo) would be stuck in my head for the rest of the night. 

I remember seeing them several times through early 2012 on most punk and metal shows at the Lions Den but the band quickly went dormant after the tenants of the house moved. Before they broke up Execution Tax played 3 more shows, one at Rubber Gloves in Denton with Spectral Tombs, another soon after at the short lived Tapatio Studios in Dallas with Long Knife, and the final show was a post-Chaos in Tejas show with Nerv from Iowa at Bruiser's Dojo in Denton, Texas. 

Before their separation Execution Tax put out two demos in 2011 and 2012, the ladder of the two is still available for streaming on their bandcamp. But you can get the 2011 Demo here.

Also to be noted members of Execution Tax have also been involved in these other North Texas projects; The Sentenced, Chainchomp, Meaner Demeanor, Mean & Ugly, Kid Prison, Dark Forces, Final Club, and Glowgod.