Photo by: Gray Muncy

What’s up everybody? This is the In Effect roundup/year-end review for 2017. We promise there will be no lists of our favorite albums here as we'd rather try and hit what we saw in the world of hardcore in the year 2017. Now with that said, hardcore is now more than ever a global thing. What Riz from UniteAsia.org experiences over in Hong Kong may be totally different from what a Philly area kid might have seen, or what a guy who hits summertime festivals all over Europe may have experienced to say Freddy Madball who tours all over the planet with his band experiencing many different things. Everyone… and I mean EVERYONE has a different take on things... they all see different things throughout their year and this is the In Effect Hardcore edition. Collectively we get a lot of music submitted for review each year, we hit a fair amount of shows, and we do our best to sift through it all and try and shed some light on the bands that we feel deserve a little more exposure. Hopefully you like what we got coming up for you right now and maybe you catch an article or two that may have slipped past you during the course of 2017… 

Lead photo by: Gray Muncy with graphics by: Bas Spierings and John Franko.

 

2017 HIGHLIGHTS... IN EFFECT HARDCORE STYLE!

On October 1st there was a tribute show held in NYC's Tompkins Square Park to remember Warzone frontman Raybeez who passed away on September 11th, 1997. The show featured the likes of Regulate, a reunion from Shutdown, Fireburn, Kill Your Idols, and to end the day, a set of Warzone songs performed by members of Warzone with special guests sharing the mic to sing Warzone’s classics. Tompkins Square Park has the deepest of deep roots within the NYHC scene and to get a couple of thousand people to come out to the park on a Sunday afternoon to check out some great hardcore punk is a beautiful thing. RIP Ray, this scene will not let your memory fade away. Click HERE to check out In Effect's coverage of this show.

TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK CROWD GOES OFF. PHOTO BY: RICH ZOELLER

 

BLACK N BLUE BOWL MAY 21, 2017, NYC

REST IN PIECES @ BNB BOWL 2017. PHOTO BY: PETE GREGORY

Black N Blue Productions were the people behind the Raybeez tribute but that was not their only major show of the year as the 2017 BNB Bowl brought the ruckus featuring a reunion by Rest In Pieces at NYC's Webster Hall. Before this show Rest In Pieces had not performed together since the early 1990's and there was a lot of juice in the room on this day. Other big names who performed at BNB 2017 were Indecision, Gorilla Biscuits, Token Entry, Terror and Maximum Penalty. Webster Hall has since closed for renovations with no reopening date in site leaving the location of the 2018 edition somewhat of a mystery at this point.

Click HERE to check out In Effect's coverage of this show. 

 

MAXIMUM PENALTY @ BNB BOWL 2017. PHOTO BY: RICH ZOELLER

 

FIREBURN BURSTS ON TO THE SCENE...  PHOTO BY: JOE CALIXTO

2017 saw a lot of cool things happen in the world of hardcore punk… but what may have been the coolest was the introduction of a new band from California called Fireburn who feature a bunch of guys whose albums you probably already own from their previous efforts. Their style leans heavily on Bad Brains’ influences and they had one of the biggest (and deserved) buzz’s of the year. Their debut EP has just 4 songs, they’ve played only a handful of shows and before the start of the summer their name wasn’t known outside of their own rehearsal studio. A new single is on the way in February and hopefully their debut full length will be not far behind. In early November In Effect called in to a Fireburn rehearsal and caught up with Todd Youth and Israel Joseph I for an insightful interview to one of the hottest up and coming bands on the scene.

Click HERE to read that interview. 

 

KILLING TIME CELEBRATES 30 YEAR ANNIVERSARY. PHOTOS BY: JC PHOTO MEDIA

Congratulations is in order to Killing Time who celebrated their 30th anniversary as a band with a show on November 24th at Brooklyn Bazaar. There hasn't been a new release from them since 2010 but it is still good to know that they will pop up on a prominent show or two throughout each year. Sharing the stage with Killing Time on the night of the 24th was Outburst with their original singer Brian. First time in a long time. The photos above were taken by JC Photo Media and show Killing Time (and friends) at that November show. 

 

25 TA LIFE REUNITE AT THIS IS HARDCORE WITHOUT RICK HEALEY.  PHOTO BY: SAMUEL ORREGO

OK, who even saw this one coming? In late March the This Is Hardcore Festival unveiled their lineup for their annual 4 day fest which takes place in Philadelphia in late July. The name 25 Ta Life was a big surprise to see and the fact that former members recruited Fury Of 5 frontman “Stik-Man” to be their new singer replacing Rick Healey (who had been the face of this band since the start) was probably even a bigger surprise. In our May 2017 interview Fred and Seth of 25 Ta Life talked about the band’s plans on moving forward without Rick. Read that interview HERE. Rick has since refuted things said within the interview and has asked In Effect for an interview to tell his side of the story. Coming (possibly) in early 2018. The This Is Hardcore Fest continues to be the king of hardcore fests in the US. The 2018 edition will reshape to a 3 day event and is scheduled for July 27th, 28th, and 29th. Our friend (and great photographer) Rachel Wass has been putting out these “recap” videos for a few years now mixing in live and candid footage from the fest set to Rock ‘N Roll songs making for a fresh vibe. This year’s version is just short of 9 minutes long and can be watched by clicking HERE. In addition to Rachel’s work is the great effort put forth by our very own Josh Derr who put together a 17 plus minute video randomly interviewing everyone from show goers, to the bands performing, to the guy behind the whole This Is Hardcore Fest... Joe Hardcore. Check out Josh’s video by clicking HERE

 

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Back in March In Effect put out an article that turned out to be our most popular one of 2017 and centered around the origins of some of the most popular band names in hardcore punk. We came up with a list of names we thought were cool and then tracked down the people behind the names to get the back story on how they came to be. We even tracked down various people throughout the scene to get their take as well. Click above to check it out! 

 

SICK OF IT ALL ON THE 2017 WARPED TOUR, JULY 8, 2017. PHOTO BY: RICH ZOELLER

Sick Of It All once again represented the hardcore music scene as part of the 2017 Warped Tour which ran from mid-June through August 6th and hit basically every parking lot in the United States. With over 100 bands taking part and around 70 playing the date that I saw them (July 8th, Long Island, NY) it has to be hard to stand out and make your mark with so much to take in at these massive events. Each day bands are in a time slot lottery of sorts where they can go on first at 12 noon or be the headliner on their particular stage much later in the day. Bands are grouped together to a stage and play day after day in their group while other bands follow suit on their stages in similar fashion. Hats off to the SOIA boys for their never ending dedication to our music scene.

 

REST IN PEACE DAVE FRANKLIN

2017 started off rough for fans, friends and family of the band Vision as their singer Dave Franklin passed away on January 5th at the age of 47. On April 2nd a benefit show was held at the Asbury Park (NJ) Convention Hall and had an all-star lineup that included H20, Killing Time, Breakdown, Burn, Leeway, Sheer Terror, an unannounced set by Agnostic Front with Supertouch singer Mark Ryan on vocals and of course a Vision tribute set with the band performing their songs with guest singers on vocals. Click HERE for In Effect's coverage of this show. Rest In Peace Dave. Above photo by: Ken Salerno

 

IN EFFECT'S FATHER'S DAY SPECIAL 2017

Father’s Day 2017 saw In Effect drop a pretty popular article where we sought out 28 different “hardcore dads” and asked them a set list of questions which also included candid photos of everyone with their children. The hardcore dads we interviewed included ones from Madball, Billy Club Sandwich, Underdog, Sick Of It All, Outburst, Search, Two Man Advantage, Maximum Penalty, Agnostic Front, All Out War and more! Click the above image to check it out. 

 

SEARCH MAKES AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT.  PHOTO BY: JC PHOTO MEDIA

NJ’s Search got their start in March of 2016 and by February of this year they had already released their debut 6 song 7” on Revelation Records. Not bad for a bunch of “old hardcore guys” who previously have been in bands like Mouthpiece, Floorpunch, Turning Point and Hands Tied. Back in February we caught up with Tim McMahon and Ed McKirdy for one of the band’s first interviews. You can check that out by clicking HERE

 

MUSIC RELEASES & MORE!

The way hardcore has been documented has taken a big step forward in recent years with an emphasis on quality. 2017 continued a trend over the last couple of years that sees film documentaries and books about our sub-culture becoming more and more common. The New York Hardcore Chronicles Film by director Drew Stone came out in May and was a prime example of this as they crammed as much pre-1990’s NYHC history (with a sprinkling of the current day) into this very well put together 2 hour film. Books by Agnostic Front’s Roger Miret (“My Riot: Agnostic Front. Grit, Guts & Glory”), Freddy Alva (“Urban Styles- Graffitti In New York Hardcore”) and Tony Rettman (“Straight Edge: A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History”) show that there is a growing demand for hardcore music content beyond small DIY zines, websites and the like. In November Ian McFarland’s “The Godfather's Of Hardcore” documentary (which is the most in depth look at Agnostic Front’s Roger Miret and Vinnie Stigma you will ever see) made its big screen debut in NYC as part of the DOC NYC documentary festival and should be out at some point in 2018.

 

As far as music releases 2017 showed a lot of promise for the future as brand new bands and bands still on their way up the ladder checked in with some releases that ranged from solid to amazing. On that list includes Higher Power from the UK, Search (NJ), Scarboro (NY), Silence Equals Death (NJ), Mindforce (NY), The Eulogy (CA), Touch (Hungary), The Last Stand (NY), Break Away (VA), and more including Fireburn out of California who we mentioned earlier. 

 

THE IN EFFECT MIXTAPE RETURNS FOR 2017!

OK, the 2017 In Effect Mixtape isn’t a real thing but rather a collection of cool songs that we feel would make for a cool compilation of sorts. Click those blue hyperlinks for each band’s music!  

 

01. BREAK AWAY- “DISSAPEAR HERE”, “CROSS MY HEART”

02. REALITY SLAP- “BLAZE”

03. BLOODCLOT- “UP IN ARMS”

04. THE VIRUS- “BREAKDOWN”, “BOMBS FOR CHILDREN”

05. EDGEWISE- “CHOKED OUT”

06. HIGHER POWER- “CAN’T RELATE”

07. METH BREATH- “INTRO/NOTHING FROM US”

08. PSO- “TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN”

09. DECLINE- “CONTROLLED MINDS”, “EULOGY”

10. TOUCH- “GROWING CONCIOUSNESS”, “OUT OF THE VOID”

11. SCARBORO- “ARCHANGELS”, “WATCH YA BACK”

12. ONE STEP AT A TIME- “ENOUGH”, “BE KIND”

13. MIRACLE DRUG- “WAR WITHIN”

14. SEARCH- “BETWEEN THE LINES”

15. POWER TRIP- “EXECUTIONERS TAX” (SWING OF THE AXE)

16. SILENCE EQUALS DEATH- “PEACEKEEPER”, “HOPE”

17. ALL FOR NOTHING- “MINDS AWAKE, HEARTS ALIVE”

18. HANGMAN- “COMING TO”

19. THE EULOGY- “LAST DAYS”

20. ALL OUT WAR- “BURN THESE ENEMIES”

21. THE ABDUCTORS- “FIGHT AS ONE”, “KOFTW”

22. REBELMATIC- “THE WOES”

23. MINDFORCE- “THEY JUST WANT WAR”, “STORM ABOUT TO BURST”

24. FIREBURN- “BREAK IT DOWN”

25. LET RAGE!- “TIMMY’S DOING DRUGS”

26. THE LAST STAND- “THIS IS REAL”, “STILL BLEEDING” 

 

AGNOSTIC FRONT ON THE 2017 PERSISTENCE TOUR.

PHOTO TAKEN AT THE LONDON FORUM ON JANUARY 29TH BY: AGA HAIRESIS

Other notable happenings in 2017 was the departure of Brian “Mitts” Daniels from Madball after being their guitarist for over 16 years, Poison Idea officially breaking up after being in the game for 35 years. The unfortunate passing of Eaten Alive guitarist Max Moya (as well as Eaten Alive’s breakup shortly after), and the passing of former Corrosion Of Conformity singer Eric Eycke… (“Eye For An Eye” LP). Indecision guitarist Justin Brannan ran for and WON the election to become the new City Council Member for Brooklyn, NY’s 43rd District. Richmond’s Friend Or Foe broke up, NY’s Pissed Off Radio Show decided to close up shop, and Night Birds (NJ) and King Ly Chee (Hong Kong) announced some indefinite hiatuses. District 9 got back together (again!), and after releasing 4 EP’s over 3 decades NY’s Burn released their debut full length (“Do Or Die”). Murphy’s Law and Agnostic Front keep rolling along and each played a lot in 2017. Power Trip, Comeback Kid, Terror, Bloodclot, Integrity, and Backtrack all put out new music as well. There was no shortage of hardcore in the year 2017 as new releases seemed to come out everytime you blinked an eye. 

 

New bands that either got their start in 2017 or started to make some noise in 2017 included:

Crazy Eddie (NY), Kind Crew (MA), None Above All (NY), Done Deal (PA), Let Rage! (CA),

Surface Report (CA),  Dear Furious (CA), Berthold City (CA), and Dagger (Hong Kong).

 

Bands that put out music videos in 2017 that caught our attention included: DepartedBreak AwayMiracle Drug, Dagger, Reality Slap, Power Trip, Corrupted Youth, Iron Reagan and many more including Municipal Waste's "Breath Grease" which is a must watch by clicking the image below.  

 

HARDCORE 2017, OUR FAVORITE PHOTOS...

CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR MORE INFO OR WATCH THE SLIDESHOW...

 

ATTACK OF THE FLYERS... 2017 EDITION!