Grand Mal - Binge Purge

From Grand Mal Bandcamp

Moving to Baltimore in 1994 synched up nicely with my budding education in punk and hardcore. It was easiest to get into Dischord's releases; every record store had Fugazi and Jawbox records in them, and it wasn't tough to throw some well-disguised cash into an envelope, shoot it down to Beecher St., and in a few weeks open a box with an Ignition 12" and a Hoover CD inside. As I worked my way through the catalog, I ended up snagging copies of "Flex Your Head" and "State of the Union", both of which gave me a checklist of older DC bands to check out.

So I hear Government Issue for the first time, and start seeking out their other records, which is how I learned about Fountain of Youth Records. Despite only being in existence for four years from 1983 to 1986, Fountain of Youth released a lot of really killer records that existed outside the borders of the Dischord orthodoxy. One of those releases that I've grown to love 1985's "Binge Purge" from Grand Mal, a DC punk band with a hard deathrock edge to them.  I feel like this is a strong East Coast counterpart to Christian Death, circa "Only Theatre of Pain".

"Binge Purge" is one of those hidden treasures that you can still turn up for $10 or less. It's easy to see why this record is unjustly overlooked; Grand Mal split up around the time this 12" was released, with members moving on to more recognized bands. Malcolm Rivera is probably the best known, as he'd go on to play guitar in the Velvet Monkeys and Gumball, as well as come to notice as a prominent historian on the subject of 8-track tapes. Joe Aronstamn and Marc Lambiotte would move on to start Holy Rollers, who put out a trio of underrated records with Dischord during the late 80s and early 90s. Meanwhile, the rhythm section of Don Diego and Linda LeSabre would split off and found Death Ride 69, a pretty great goth/industrial band whose second record got reissued in 1999 and played a ton by my girlfriend at the time.

Originally, I had planned to post a link to my ripped copy of "Binge Purge". But in the course of looking for performance pictures, I discovered the Grand Mal Bandcamp page. So I'd suggest heading over there and downloading this. They've also posted up the Würm Baby demo from 1982 ("Apologies" comes from that session) and a live set from 1984 featuring some songs they never recorded in a studio. Let's face it: you're probably due to do something productive with your day. Go check it out.

Get it on Discogs

Bandcamp