See Hear Now!

 

        I was lucky enough to work in 1990, for about 10 months, at what was undoubtedly the world's only store dedicated exclusively to fanzines, a 'lil emporium called SEE HEAR.
        The store was located inside a 300 sq ft basement on 59 east 7th st in Manhattan's rapidly gentrifying (at the time) East Village. I'd first heard about the place when Greg Ginn's post Black Flag outfit, Gone, played an "in-store" concert there. I missed said gig, but I can't imagine for the life of me how they fit more than 12-15 people down there, band included.
         I got to know the owner, Ted Gottfried, through selling my fanzine there & spending countless of hours just perusing every publication like it was some kind of public library. I don't recall exactly how I got the job, probably because I happened to be there just at the moment when someone quit & decided to apply for his position. I had no retail experience, my last job had been as a foot messenger, but my connection to the current HC scene is most likely what drove Ted to hire me. Ted's background was the South Florida HC/Punk scene from the early 1980's & whatever was happening by 1990, scene-wise, was passé for him by then.
         I thought I was bought in to keep him informed on current trends in HC but it was I that got the education. Working there exposed me to all the under the radar influences that helped shape underground culture then and now. Everything from Robert Crumb comics, obscure B-movies, Body Modification pioneers, Apocalyptic Cult Leaders to outsider music like unhinged 50's Rockabilly/60's Free Jazz & Proto-Punk pioneers from decades past.

 

                                                      
           Apart from myself, the store's other sole employee was a DC to NY transplant named Reuben Radding. He'd grown up in the capital's HC scene, even playing in a pre-fame Dave Grohl related outfit called Dain Bramage. Reuben had a stellar taste in music, always making these detailed compilation tapes to play in the store. One in particular sticks out: Goblin's 'Suspiria' soundtrack on one side with Sun Ra's 'Space Is The Place' Lp on the other with a couple of James White & The Contortions tunes to fill up the remaining space. Still the perfect mix-tape in my opinion. I'll always remember when Nirvana's breakthrough song came on the radio in '91, Reuben turned to no one in particular and said: "Man, that Dave's gonna be a millionaire" & went back to reading some Jazz publication. 

 

                                  
      I met tons of legendary performers & writers during my tenure there, some highlights:
- Patti Smith coming down to sell us an unopened batch of her Seventh Heaven poetry books that'd she unearthed.
- Blasting some Gangsta Rap while Thurston Moore waited impatiently outside the door for me to open up.
- Meeting Nick Tosches at a book signing we held, hell of a writer & super nice guy.
- Talking to Twink of the legendary Proto-Punk band The Pink Fairies & having him autograph my copy of his solo lp called 'Think Pink'.

- Taking a picture w/Joey Shithead & Randy Rampage of DOA when they made the cover of MaximumRocknRoll.

      Seeing legends like Allen Ginsburg, Richard Hell, David Peel, Ornette Coleman, Handsome Dick Manitoba, Cecil Taylor, Legs McNeil etc.. come in on a regular basis was incredibly exciting. These pioneers of the whole 1960's-1970's counterculture were all unique characters that represented a NYC that's sadly, for the most part, vanished like subway tokens.

      I got let go in 1991, mostly due to me being chronically late. I was trying to juggle school full-time & also got way too involved with running a co-op record store some friends and I started. In a way it was for the best because I went back to being a regular customer, just going to See Hear with no retail obligations to worry about. Ted kept the store going until the early 2000's when he got some investors together & opened a new location on St. Marks that was about 4 times the size of the old one. I liked the new space, as it meant a hell of a lot more room to carry cool stuff, something the old store sorely lacked. Doing bigger & better meant a lot more headaches: higher rent, bigger staff, the need for security to be on the lookup for shoplifters. A lot of old customers complained of the loss of intimacy in the new space. That location soon folded & I heard Ted tried to make a go of it again on a smaller scale, but for whatever reason, that didn't pan out.

         I haven't seen Ted for a long time but always think of him & the store whenever I go down 7th street on my way to play chess at Tompkins Sq Park. His unique vision helped expand & turn on a whole generation, myself included, to an alternative view of popular culture & for that I'm forever thankful.

                                   

Down the stairs of the old See Hear location in 2013

                                     

Endnote:

My old co-worker, Reuben Radding, is not only a talented musician & astute music lover, he's also an accomplished photographer. A book of his Street Photography is being published by the end of the year, check out his site & pre-order one!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/apparitions-new-york-city-street-photographs-by-reuben-radding

 

 

 

 

Victor Venom & Sacrilege NY

   Victor "Venom" Dominicis was a founding member of Sacrilege NY. He's played in Nausea, Reagan Youth, Hellbent, Damage Kase, Chaos UK & currently leads the surf combo Coffin Daggers.
Parts of this interview were used on the booklet of the Sacrilege 1985 Demos Lp.
http://wardancerecords.bigcartel.com/product/sacrilege-ny-1985-demos-lp



Victor outside CBGB's 1984.

Give me some background on Sacrilege’s beginning: how did you meet Adam Mucci, who the other members were & when did the band start?

 All that stuff happened really fast. Sometimes when I think back I’m really shocked at how much happened in such a short time. The whole history of the band is like a year & a half. We started Sacrilege in 1984, don’t remember exactly how I met Adam, probably from going to shows when he was in Agnostic Front & Murphy’s Law.

He was also in Rat Poison (pre-Warzone) right?

 I don’t remember them! Adam was going through all these stages when I met him. He went from the Skinhead thing to this ’82 British Punk look & that morphed into a total Peace Punk thing. This is right around the time I joined Reagan Youth. I was hanging out with him plus Tim & Clay (Sacrilege drummer & singer) & whoever else was around back then.

Where were Tim & Clay from?

They were originally from Virginia Beach. I joined Reagan Youth & went on tour with them cross-country. A little before that, Adam had like freaked out, sold all his stuff & said he was moving out to California. He sold everything, took a sheet of acid, hopped on a Greyhound bus & just left. I went on with Reagan Youth across America & when we got to San Francisco, Adam was out there. He was like living on rooftops out there & wanted to come back to NY.

Was he playing in a band out there?

He was playing drums in this band called Almost Human? I think it was with 2 girls, a song of theirs appears on the P.E.A.C.E. comp. Actually Barely Human was their name. Adam is not on that recording, we wasn’t into  living in SF & wanted to come back to NY. Reagan Youth wasn’t everything I envisioned it was going to be. So I said “Well, why don’t we make a band when we get back to NY?”. Sure enough, when we both returned, we started Sacrilege up & it progressed really fast, did the demo & started to play out.

How many shows did you play all together?

I don’t know, it’s hard to say, maybe 7 to 10 total.

I know Sacrilege went up to Montreal with Reagan Youth, how did that come about?

We went up there because this guy was doing a thing called Connection 85, trying to connect the Montreal & NY scenes.

He did a compilation Lp with that concept right?

Yeah, we weren’t on it but SCAB, Vomit & The Zits, Krakdown were. We just went up to play a gig & that was a fun adventure.

Was Sacrilege a conscious decision to be different from other Punk/HC bands in NY at that time, by going in a more Discharge/Crucifix direction?

When we started the band, NY at the time was in a weird state. The Skinhead/Nazi thing was starting to get popular. When I got into the scene, it was more Punk Rock, HC/Punk you know? To me HC was HC/Punk. All these people in the scene were becoming dumb skinheads. We were a bit isolated, we didn’t have a clique or group to be around with.

No bands that sounded like you guys in NY?

There was nothing like us going on at that time. It was a bit strange in that sense. We weren’t exactly accepted, that’s what I’m getting at. Adam had been a Skinhead in Agnostic Front, so we were tolerated, like a stepchild kind of thing.

 

You had also played in Hellbent & Damage Kase previous to Sacrilege right?

I was in Hellbent while it lasted, for like 6 months, before starting Sacrilege. Damage Kase was a dumb High School cover band, mostly Motorhead songs. No recordings exist of that!

How big was the Discharge & UK bands influence?

That’s what we were into. I never liked American HC. I only liked Black Flag & the Dead Kennedys, but not into most USHC bands, especially not the whole straight edge stuff.

Were you going for the whole bullet belt/spiky hair look?

Oh yeah, absolutely! Total textbook example, we were one of the few people doing that stuff in NY.

After you did the 9-song demo in early ’85, how did the deal for the 7” with an Italian record label come about?

The Italians in that band I Refuse It were going to put it out. An Italian girl was in NY for the summer, hung out with us & when she went back home started writing to us saying “yeah, we’ll put your record out”. We recorded 4 songs from the demo for a 7’ ep, got hung up on the cover art & dragged our feet on it. Adam did get test pressings & I heard them only one time, thought it sounded good. Clay quit the band & we got his friend Fish to sing, but we never finished the cover design, Then Tim quit & they both went back to Virginia Beach. The record went into limbo & it was never finished.

The label didn’t want to put it out?

Since we never finished the artwork, they got stuck holding it. Adam was dealing with them & everything just drifted apart.
The cover we are using for the Demos Lp is the same 7” artwork?

Yeah, that was supposed to be the front cover of the 7”. Clay drew that, after he quit, it remained unfinished. A lot of stuff was happening really fast in those days. This was all probably in a matter of months & then it fell apart; well it morphed into Nausea.

We’ll get to Nausea in a minute! The 2^nd  Sacrilege demo, recorded at Bolt Studios, is more in a Metal direction, why is that?

That was because Tim & Clay started listening to a lot of German Metal that was coming out at the time, the real raw early stuff like Sodom. None of those bands could really play, so it was barely Metal, don’t know what to call that music. It was loud & obnoxious. I liked Venom & that stuff seemed like a natural progression.

Good segway into why are you called Victor Venom?

That’s because of a Venom piece on my jacket that I wore for like forever. The main thing I didn’t like about that 2^nd demo we did at Bolt Studios is the singing. Clay was trying to do the Metal style vocals & he really wasn’t cutting it.

Did you ever play those songs live?

Nah, I don’t even remember them. It was just a studio thing. We were probably hoping that would be our next phase, but everything fell apart then.

 

Moving on to Nausea. I know a couple of Sacrilege songs, like “Fallout”, became Nausea tunes. Which other ones?

Well, “House the Homeless” from Sacrilege became the template for the Nausea song “Smash Racism” which later became “Here Today”, same riff. “Productive Not Destructive” is another tune that was carried over from Sacrilege. I can’t remember which Sacrilege song became “Right To Live” in Nausea. “Fallout” of course & just various riffs & ideas were carried over.

“Fallout” seems like it’s the song that stayed pretty much the same in both bands?

When we started Nausea, that was the 1^st tune we jammed on & when we started playing out; it became a staple in our set. Nobody really remembered the Sacrilege stuff. Here’s another thing: We were going to change the name of the band of the band to Nausea towards the end. We found out that there was UK Sacrilege & another one from Vancouver. That was one too many Sacrileges. I came up with the name Nausea. Adam was cool with it but Tim was like: “I’m never playing in a band with a name like that” & this is coming from a guy that wanted to be know as Vomit! Those guys left NY after the band broke up. Adam was losing interest & he joined Raging Slab.

I think he played in an early incarnation of Raging Slab & appeared on a compilation cut?

Yeah, that sounds about right. I took the good concepts of Sacrilege & used them for Nausea. This guy named John Guzman (John John Jesse) was the biggest Sacrilege fan, he interviewed us for his fanzine called “Living Free”. He must have been like 16 yrs old. Don’t remember how we met him, one day he started hanging out with us & started printing our lyrics in his ‘zine. This is before he became known as John John Jesse. So when Sacrilege fell apart, I wasn’t too thrilled with joining Reagan Youth again. John was trying to start a band with Neil Robinson & this kid Brian who was also friends with Tim & Clay. He was playing drums, this guy named Kemo played guitar & it was going nowhere. One day we were hanging out & I said let’s jam. John had the basics for 4 songs & had 4 songs that I brought over from Sacrilege. It seemed like a “you got your peanut butter in my chocolate” kind of deal, an easy transition.

Why do all the flyers of the band that I’ve seen always spell Sacrilege differently?

Well, the proper way is without the D or edge at the end. If we ever spelt it wrong it was because of pure retardation on our part & whoever did the flyers messed it up too.

Whatever happened to Tim & Clay?

They moved back to Virginia Beach & that’s the last I ever saw of them, dropped off the face of the earth as far as I know. I think they dropped out of Punk Rock & moved into a more Metal direction.

Anybody ever asked you Sacrilege throughout the years?

Not really because it was a bit of an obscure kind of band, it was really short-lived.

When I made you a copy of my Sacrilege demo, you hadn’t heard it in a while right?

We were looking for it for years; I hadn’t heard it or had it for ages!

I got my copy off your old college buddy Big Marlon in 1987.

That’s another thing; I’m convinced Adam had the masters to the original demo, who knows how many generations ago that is. Like I said, as soon as it was done, it was out of sight & out of mind. I just focused on my next project.

What do you think of revisiting all this stuff now?

I like it because it was one of those things that never got finished. Nausea ended up being what we tried to do with Sacrilege. When Sacrilege was around, we felt like we were alone in the wilderness. About 6 months after Nausea started, the whole Squat Or Rot scene started. Not that we’re taking credit for that, but there were a lot of people that were disenfranchised from the scene. A lot of them felt that there was no place for them if you weren’t a Skinhead or a HC Straight Edge person.  They said: “Hey, we’re not alone”. Bands like Public Nuisance, A.P.P.L.E., Apostates, Insurgence plus others all of a sudden came out of nowhere & started a scene outside of the HC scene.

I’m sure you are aware of the whole D-Beat tag. You guys seemed to be ahead of the curve by doing that style in 1984.

Yeah, we were one of the earliest “D-Beat” bands. We were copying Discharge, Disorder & Chaos UK plus those Swedish bands like Anti-Cimex. They (Anti-Cimex) should get the credit for D-Beat, even though it wasn’t called that back then. I think the Minneapolis guys in the late 80’s named it as such. There was Appendix & Anti-Cimex. They were the progenitors. We were the first East Coast D-Beat band: that was our thing, that’s what we were into.

Bring us up to date. What have you been up to these days?

I’ve been doing Surf music for the past 10 years. After Nausea broke up I joined Chaos UK & did that until I got deported from England. I wasn’t playing music for a while until I started this Surf band called the Coffin Daggers & now all this Punk Rock stuff is popping up again.

Any talk of a Nausea reunion?

I saw Roy the other day. I think him doing Amebix  for the past couple of years has inspired him to play Punk again. John (John Jesse) Guzman is around & Al has resurfaced so we’ve all discussed the possibility of doing a new record.

Is Amy involved? I heard all these rumours about her throughout the years, they range from her becoming a doctor to a stripper?

Amy wants nothing to do with Nausea. She has Doctor’s career now so the stripper rumour wasn’t true, she is  a Doctor! The one about her being a Republican & hanging out with George Bush hasn’t been corroborated yet. She’s at George Washington University hospital. When we did the Nausea anthology, the guy that put it out wanted to give her some money for it. She wouldn’t take it, she was like: “If I take it, I’ll be investigated” & all this shit. Any reunion we do will be without her.

OK! Thank you for the interview, anything else you want to add?

When I think about it, it seems like a lot of stuff happened in such a short period of time. I always looked back at it like: “Well, it didn’t quite pan out, but it was a stepping stone to something else”. I’m happy that this is coming out now. Back then, it hadn’t come to fruition yet, it wasn’t fully formed. The ideas were there but it wasn’t the right cast of characters. Thank you guys for bringing it all back.

Check out Victor's current band:
http://coffindaggers.com/

Victor holding the Lp in 2013.

 

Spiky Hair & Bullet Belts in NYHC

             These are the liner notes for the recently released SACRILEGE NY 1985 Demos Lp. A split release on Radio Raheem & Wardance Records. Big thanks to Chris Minicucci & Rich Warwick for making this record possible. Pick it up here: http://wardancerecords.bigcartel.com/


Spiky Hair & Bullet Belts in NYHC 

            1985 was a weird transitional time for the hardcore scene in NYC. A lot of the original class of '82 bands were either in limbo, had disbanded or were heading into a more crossover metal direction. The Revelation/straight edge scene and second wave of NYHC bands were a year away from fully exploding. Along comes Sacrilege, formed in late '84, and their aim to couple Discharge-inspired sonic fury with a peace punk aesthetic. Bassist Adam Mucci's previous tenure in Agnostic Front gave them a safe pass from skinheads, and along with guitarist Victor Venom, previously in Reagan Youth, they recruited 2 Virginia Beach transplants and Sacrilege was born.
           Their confrontational style of spiky hair, Crass/Flux Of Pink Indians stencils on jackets and military fatigues give voice to a totally separate group that longs for a band of their own. They played less than a dozen shows & imploded by late 1985. 
One can only guess how they would have fared as their sound & style laid the foundation for the parallel Squat Or Rot scene that sprung up during the late 1980's. Victor would take several Sacrilege songs into his next project, Nausea, the most notable being Fallout, which became the signature Nausea tune as heard on the Revelation Records' "The Way It Is" compilation LP. 
          The nine short, sharp cuts from the Don Fury sessions and the six howling, primitive metal workouts from Bolt Studios, both recorded in 1985, bear witness to an overlooked band that provides a missing link to the development of hardcore punk in this rat cage of a big city we know as New York.
Freddy Alva 2013

Follow them on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sacrilege-NY/350517188400201      

John John Jesse, Tim Copeland from Sacrilege & Adam/Laura from RAF Punk outside CBGB's 1985.

                                          

This Music

                     
           I recently had the good fortune to publish a book, written by my old friend Lewis Dimmick. It's a 66 page tome with personal anecdotes of growing up in NYC & being into HC/Metal in the 1980's. Unlike other books about said subject matter, this one is not filled with facts & figures, it's focus is more of a literary approach to capturing a particular moment in time. He accomplishes this by using eloquent prose that at times reaches haiku-like levels in economy of delivery & precise wording with poetic sensibility. I could go on trying to describe it, but why don't I let the words speak for themselves. A huge debt of gratitude to Sean Taggart for drawing such an incredible work of art for the cover.The following is a couple of excerpts from the book. If you like what you read, please pick it up here in full:
http://wardancerecords.bigcartel.com/product/this-music-by-lewis-dimmick

EXCERPTS:
    
Victim In Pain III
           An explosion rocks the Lower East Side of New York City. Manhole covers blow clear. Rats scatter through the streets. The bursting intro chord that begins the title track to Agnostic Front's Victim in Pain never fails to jolt the system.
           It's raw and dirty, as New York City was back then, not slick and polished, as New York City is now, as hardcore records are now.
           It's genius songwriting, though the playing is ordinary; it's clear that what made it onto vinyl is the entirety of the band's capabilities; it's clear they possessed exactly what was needed and no more, which is to say that on this record they achieved the maximum outcome possible with what little they had; they took what little they had and shaped into greatness.

Going Off
            Walking to the Pyramid Club, I bumped into Jules, the singer for Side By Side. The conversation came around to the fact that Side By Side needed a bass player. I offered my services. "Do you go off when you play?" he immediately asked.
Did I jump around a lot when I played? That's what he was asking.
Did I jump high in the air when I played, pounding the air with my fist?
Did I make psychotic faces when I played, demonized by the music's fury?
Did I scream lyrics when I played, scream them straight down the crowd's throat?
"Yea, I go off" I said. "You know, if I feel it, if the music moves me".
One look at me and I'm sure he could tell I did not go off. I was shy and pudgy, fearful of dramatic movements. which tended to make my flab jiggle.
We went our separate ways at The Pyramid Club and never spoke again.

This Music
   This music that amplified my life
   This music- this art that
   survives death, opposes death, that is
   the furious opposite of death.

   This music. These roots. This tribe.

   I walk through my silent house
   this music in my body.

                            

The man behind the words.

     
Follow This Music's page on Facebook for details on the upcoming event for the book in NYC.
https://www.facebook.com/this.music.nyc?fref=ts

Original cover sketch by Sean Taggart.

   

Trash Metal In The Year Zero

                    There is a particular vibe of anguish & desperation found in Metal/HC/Punk recordings from South America in the 1980's. Peru's Curriculum Mortis released a demo in '88 called "Sentencia De Muerte"(Death Sentence), that stands among the most vital testaments to an era that most people do not remember or wish to forget.
                   I wrote the following liner notes to the recently released vinyl Lp reissue (only 500 made) of said demo, on Ultra-Sonido records. The 7 songs, clocking it at 30 minutes or so, manage to encapsulate a decade's worth of a dark chapter in the country's recent history. The obliterating trash metal attack slays everything in its path, bearing witness to a whirlwind maelstrom of events & a generation caught in its clutches.

Pick up the Lp: http://ultrasonido.bigcartel.com/products
Curriculum Mortis Page: https://www.facebook.com/curriculummortis
Play the demo: http://soundcloud.com/curriculum-mortis/sets/demo-i-sentencia-de-muerte-1/

Lp liner notes:

                 "Life in Peru during the mid-1980's was a cauldron of simmering tensions threatening to push society over the edge. A Maoist inspired insurgent group promised to level the country into a killing field, Khmer Rouge style. The state's security apparatus responded in kind, through a scorched earth policy, a catch-22 scenario of killing the patient to cure the disease. Teenagers growing up in the capital of Lima had few outlets to channel the overwhelming dread of those times.
                  The worldwide Trash Metal explosion coupled with the more extreme HC/Punk sounds provided a source of inspiration; a way to exorcise the doom & destruction via the creation of their own apocalyptic noise. This wasn't easy, in a country with limited resources: a lack of equipment, indifferent studio engineers, frequent power outages, antagonistic adults/peers & the all-too real possibility of being "mistakenly" shot by the army or the police.
                  It is to Curriculum Mortis credit that in spite of all these obstacles, they succeeded in creating such a vital document. The title of the demo, Sentencia De Muerte, takes on a morbid literal meaning. End times were here; society would either be destroyed or irrevocably altered during the year of zero. The pummeling rhythm section, howling guitar riffs & the agonizing vocals reflect dark days. Listen closely & you'll hear the executioner's song heralding the end of this life/death sentence"
Freddy Alva 2012

Original 1988 Demo

                                        

LP reissue in 2012

Reunion show Sept 6, 2012

                                            
                              

OXIDO: Vibrational Metamorphosis

              
            I recently got a chance to work with my friend Richard Nossar's band, Peruvian Psych/Doom merchants DON JUAN MATUS. A split 7" was just released with legendary 80's Lima Metal/Hard Rock band OXIDO. There's not too much info in english regarding OXIDO, so I decided to write up a brief history along with some questions answered by guitarist & founding member Javier Mosquera.
Pick up the split 7" here, only 300 copies pressed.
http://wardancerecords.bigcartel.com/product/oxido-don-juan-matus-split-7

          OXIDO started in 1982, founded by 4 teenagers growing up in Lima, Peru. Taking their name, meaning Rust in english, from Judas Priest's cover of Joan Baezs' "Diamonds & Rust". They are heavily influenced by the hard rock sounds of AC/DC, Van Halen/Kiss. The idea is to make a band that combines the dark vibe of Black Sabbath, the potency of Deep Purple/Led Zeppelin & the romanticism of Uriah Heep. First rehearsals consist of acoustic guitars, plastic drums held together with cellophane & rotating musical chairs. By 1983 the line-up has solidified into Fernando De La Flor on vocals, Javier Mosquera on guitar, Jorge (CoCo) Cortes on bass & German Vegas on drums. Their live debut later that year, at a 20-bands festival, lasts approximately 20 seconds due to time constraints. The band continues playing alongside a wide variety of bands, like the Punks in LEUZEMIA, Commercial Rockers FRAGIL, Jazz fusioners MADERO JAZZ & the reformed 70's hard rockers PAX. They go into LOS SHAINS/PAX guitar hero Pico Aguirre's studio to record demos that end up being broadcast over a local Lima Rock station. Towards the end of '84, their vocalist leaves & is replaced by Reynaldo "Culebra" Linares. His magnetic stage presence & potent vocal style is soon overshadowed by increasing dictatorial demands like only singing songs he wrote & insisting the band wear matching outfits onstage, something the other members vehemently oppose.
          In 1985, the band parts ways due to divergent views on musical direction, some opt for a heavier sound & others want a more progressive rock style. They soon dissolve & form new bands according to their chosen musical path, but not without first influencing a whole new generation of loud/heavy sonic purveyors, like the Tuesta brothers, who would go on to form MASACRE & kickstart the Heavy Metal scene in Peru.
Flash forward to now, OXIDO are back in 2012 with new recordings/concerts, but I'll let guitarist Javier Mosquera fill you in on the details:

                                          
When did the band dissolve & why was nothing released until now?
      The band parted ways in late '85. Nothing came out on vinyl in those days because it was very difficult & expensive for us too record anything. We had all just finished school, no one had a job & live appearances were minimal. A lot different than today's readily available recording technology. We did do some (poorly) recorded demos & when we started doing better ones, through experience gained in the studio, we were already breaking up.

The song on the split 7"(Angel De La Muerte) is an old song, when was it re-recorded?
      The song is from '84. I think Coco Cortes should remember the exact date, since he composed it. We re-recorded it in march/april of 2012 & finished the mixing when Coco came back to Peru for a concert of his band, MAZO.

You guys are considered the pioneers of Heavy Metal in Peru, what do you think of that term?
      I think that the pioneers of Heavy Metal were MASACRE. We played a heavy basic rock style with some Metal elements thrown in on the later songs we wrote. I think we were more in line with being one of the first bands that picked up the legacy of such Peruvian greats like PAX & TARKUS, both heavy rock bands from the 70's. There were few bands playing that style in those years ('83-'84) & we were lucky to play with some heavyweights from the rock scene. Credit goes to people like Hector Cobos, who booked concerts for us with such diverse bands as LEUZEMIA, TV COLOR, PAX etc..

Oxido in 1984

                                          
What other groups did you & the other members start after Oxido's breakup?
       When we broke up, Coco Cortes started POLVAZO & GRAEL. He later played in TORTURA & KRANIUM & lastly formed MAZO. Myself & the drummer started the progressive Rock band ERA. I then joined DHARMA & ORGUS for brief periods. I formed ALMAS IMMORTALES next & then joined progressive outfit APULUZ in '89-90. Me & the singer launched Oxido in the mid 90's with Giovani Viale on drums & later 2 members of MAZO (Julio 'Naka' Almeida & Billy Astete) replacing German & Coco, but for various reasons, discontinued in '98. I then formed an experimental project called PROTOZOARIO & then lastly started EL VIEJO in 2002, that band lasted until 2011. Oxido played again in 2000 with the bassist of EL VIEJO, Jose Mejia. We've been recording & playing out  as of late with all original members except for Coco Cortes, who's been replaced by Orlando Del Carpio from the band RULA.

Do you feel that Oxido is part of a Rock n Roll tradition in Peru, starting with bands like LOS SAICOS in the 60's, TARKUS/PAX in the 70's & you guys in the 80's?
        I think that, without planning it, there came to be a dry spell of hard rock in Lima. We were part of  the beginning of a movement that got stronger as the years went by with bands like ORGUS, MASACRE, JERUSALEN, MAZO, KRANIUM, SACRA, DHARMA & many more.

Oxido/Don Juan Matus Split 7" 2012 (Wardance/Basilica)

                                                        
There's a CD coming out with all your old songs right? Are you playing out & planning more recordings?
        Yes, that's were we're at. We have 7 songs finished, 3 more to go plus record 2 in a better fashion & re-arrange a couple of more. We are playing out & plan to organize a concert in a couple of months.

How did you get in contact with DON JUAN MATUS? Familiar with their material?
        Yes, I know their stuff: heavy psychedelic vein. I played on a couple of songs with them. I got in touch with Richard Nossar/Manolo/Joaquin from DJM, who played together in those days.

Javier Mosquera: "(Metal/Hard Rock) is an alternate universe that allows a vibrational metamorphosis".

                                        
What are you up to these days in Peru?
        I travel throughout the country doing topographical ground surveys, getting a chance to see a bit of the eco-biology. Also, trying to organize concerts with people related to the bands. I thank you & the guys from DON JUAN MATUS for promoting our material & also Hector Paez, who's supported us with recordings/rehearsals & facilitates in all aspects our work with Oxido.

What does Metal/Hard Rock mean to you now?

       It's an alternate universe that allows a Vibrational Metamorphosis.

                                           

Thank you for the interview Javier. Rust never dies!

-Freddy

Upcoming concert in Lima, September 1st. 2012:

                                      

Javier, German & Coco

                                           

Newspaper clipping of 1985 concert

                                                                                

                                            

                                       

                                 

                                            

   

    

Tutti Pazzi!- My Top 10 Italian 80's 7"s

                                    
       I caught Raw Power at my 1st ever HC show in 1985 @CBGB's & I've been a rabid fan of Punk/HC from that boot-shaped nation ever since. There's something about the way the Italian language, or its english pronunciation, that fits raw HC/Metal & Oi! like a glove: larynx-straining vocals over music threatening to derail at any given moment, were the most extreme sounds to me, long before the advent of Grindcore/Black Metal & what have you. This is a list of stuff that I consider the cream of the crop from that era, people that follow these sounds will know the records like the back of their hands (& then some).
         This list is aimed at someone that has, at best, a passing familiarity with these incredible gems that have stood the test of time. Apart from a couple of personal comments for each record, the music will do all the talking, anyway you can find info about each particular band on the web. Speaking of which, most of these 7"s are available for download on the best music blog around http://www.goodbadmusic.com/
There is also a wonderful site, filled with tons of info on bands/labels/zines. Done by people that were there during those halcyon days, check it at:
http://www.lovehate80.it/
Another great resource, not in english, but has downloads to just about every Italian band:
http://www.accaci.org
         So pop open a nice bottle of Chianti, lay out some al dente pasta w/Marinara sauce, blast the tunes & manga to your hearts content.


SHOTGUN SOLUTION- "Shotgun" Ep 1983.
   I've sold a lot my records over the years, but there's no way I could let this puppy go: killer vocals, squealing guitar leads, insane subject matter (the song IKYCIMF is about a serial killer: I Keep Your Cunt In My Freezer) an over the top delivery make for a crushing ep. The back cover's great: 4 leather-clad punk/metal looking guys standing on a doorway (The Colosseum?)

CHAIN REACTION- "Gabbie" Ep 1985.
  A furious 6-song gem that makes the best out of its zero production values, like most Italian HC ep's from that era. Proof positive that all you needed to come up with a scorcher was laser-like intensity of purpose, an incredibly angry singer & top-notch song-writing. Modern HC bands would do well to look to this as a blueprint/inspiration, but then again, you can't recreate such spontaneous brilliance.

                              
NABAT- "Scenderemo Nelle Strade" Ep 1982
   OI!, the bastard child of punk, was (& is) looked on unkindly in some quarters, the undeniable power of the tunes shines on this ep. These Skinheads from Bologna formed in 1979 & after various line-up changes managed to put out 2 7"s, an Lp & tracks on the classic TNT: Skins & Punks comp lp. I always loved their hard, classic sound comparable to the best British Oi! bands like Criminal Class, 4-Skins & The Oppressed.

                                  
NEGAZIONE- "Tutti Pazzi" Ep 1985
  The title of this post: Tutti Pazzi, meaning "everybody crazy", can be found in this electrifying ep by a band that many in Europe credit with kick-starting the Hardcore explosion due to their relentless touring across the continent, spreading the loud & fast gospel. I was lucky to catch them in NY in 1990, even though by that time they were going in a more melodic rock direction, they still played the older stuff with conviction. The first 2 7''s & their side of the split tape w/Declino were compiled in the 90's as the "Wild Bunch" lp, but all their stuff is incredible: a singer that invokes Void/Die Kruezens vocals at their prime plus a band that can actually play their instruments, all the while not letting that get in the way of conjuring up raw & primal HC.

                                    
BULLDOZER- "Fallen Angel" Ep 1984
    Italy also had a great metal scene during the 80's, with bands like Fingernails, Schizo, Ghost Rider, Necrodeath & these guys, with a mid-tempo killer blend of Motorhead/Venom metal-punk, years before that (marginal) sub-genre was coined. The artwork & lyrics scream classic dark metal subject matter, but I always loved the flipside to this 7", a song called "Another beer (is what I need)". Proving that killer riffage & inebriation go hand & hand the world over. Bulldozer are still around & have put out tons of records throughout the years.

                                    
RAW POWER- "Wop Hour" Ep 1985
   My original inspiration for getting into HC a lo Italiano. I rushed to the record store after seeing them play & picked this bad boy up. In hindsight, this ep is a great midway point between the raw insanity of their '83 demo & the in your face brutality of the classic"Screams from the gutter" lp. The image of seeing them in '85 is indelibly etched in my memory; they came out looking more like a Van Halen cover band, with silk scarves, guitarist wearing spandex pants/huge hair & then they proceeded to destroy the place. Not giving a rat's ass about what a HC band is supposed to look like, letting the sonic fury speak volumes. I got the chance to revisit that experience in '98, before their guitarist & founding member Giuseppe, sadly passed away. Wop hour forever.

                                      
BASTA- "Non posso soportare questa sporca situazione" Ep 1983
      This Oi! 7" always reminded me of the classic split lp by Combat 84/Last Resort. The menacing air of barely contained aggro fits the simple yet brutal tunes to a T, the singer's profile even looks like Last Resort's Roi Pearce on said lp. Other great Oi! bands from that era are Rough, Dioxina, Hope & Glory, Youth, Cani,  the aforementioned Nabat & during the later part of the 80's, bands like Asociale & Klasse Kriminale took up the Boots & Braces banner with gusto. Check out the great Bootprints Across Italy comps.

                                    
CHEETAH CHROME MOTHERFUCKERS- "Furious Party" Ep 1985
        I consider CCM, along with Raw Power & Negazione, the holy trinity of Italian HC. I love everything they did, from the raw recorded underwater feel of the "400 Fascists" 7", the split lp w/I Refuse It & their masterpiece, the out of this world "Into The Void" Lp. I just missed them when they played NY in '86, years later I became good friends with this guy from West Virginia, Java Dave, who drove them across the USA during that tour. He had nothing but good stuff to say about them: down to earth guys that lived & breathed the HC ethos, but became possessed once they got up on stage, with a manic singer who's antics earned them the tag "The Italian Germs".

                                  
UPSET NOISE- "Disperazione Nevrotica" Ep 1983
         I picked this up in purely based on the label's Rome address printed on the back. It's a smoking 7" with the guitarist playing some cool harmony leads parts interspersed among the galloping trash. One can hear the crossover yet melodic direction that bands like Negazione would go on to during the later part of the 80s, their split 7" with Warfare is amazing as their '88 lp on TVOR.

                                    
WRETCHED/INDIGESTI- Split Ep 1982
          This list would not be complete without the inclusion of Wretched, if Raw Power, Negazione & CCM are the holy trinity, then Wretched are like the primal, original Godhead source & shit. The energy of the out of control maelstrom contained on their 7"s & 12", could power a large metropolis. For added measure, I included the killer split with Indigesti who, on this recording, sound like the ideal adolescent HC band trashing around on their instruments, with a sound that could have easily fit on the classic US "Flex Your Head"comp.

                                    

   These are my essential 10 platters, but tons of other 7"s could have been on here like the ones by Kobra, Stigmathe, Rough, Declino, Putrid Fever, Peggio Punx, I Deny, Nerorgasmo, Shocking TV, Fall Out, Reig, I Refuse It, Bed Boys, Underage, Rappresaglia, Cani, Disperazione, Upside... not to mention classic split ep's by Impact/Eu's Arse, Warfare/Upset Noise, Irah/Stalag 17...
   Ok, what the hell, I have to include 1 more to my list, the granddaddy of Italian punk: the Hitler SS/Tampax split 7". This record has reached cult status due to its inclusion in the Killed By Death series. It's sloppy, raw, offensive '77 punk that laid the groundwork for the insanity to come. Thank you for reading & I say this with no political connotations whatsoever: FORZA ITALIA!!