Żegota - Movement In The Music

When people in 2021 say, "Gee whiz, where was the punk resistance during the Trump adminstration?", like a goddamned DIY band is going to organize people like Pete Seeger did, they're probably looking for something like Fat's "Rock Against Bush" compilations. Which, you know, fine, gotta give the kids at the Hot Topic something to listen to. It's better than nothing, right? But, to tell the truth, I prefer my aural resistance a lot crustier, more abrasive. Something like Greensboro's Żegota.

This was John Ericsson's new band after he left Catharsis, another outstanding political HC band from the late 90s. Named after the Polish Żegota Council to Aid Jews, there's no confusion where they were coming from politically. The final track on this, their first record for noted hard left label CrimethInc., is titled "Open Disobedience; Bold Resistance". They were pro-bikes, anti-cop, pro-organization, anti-melody, pro-hollerin'. It's a perfectly good soundtrack to Food Not Bombs, Black Bloc, and chaining oneself to the doors of an international bank.

I'm not certain why I never owned a copy of this up until last year, but when I came across a copy in a Half Price Books "fill a shopping bag for $20" sale, I couldn't pass it up. Its digipak is printed on recycled material, doncha know? It's weird and jammy and dirty and smells funky and it makes me want to run thru a brick wall to punch a Proud Boy. Viva la resistance!

Discogs

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Trial By Fire - Ringing In The Dawn

Trial By Fire was one of those hardcore bands that came out of the Wilson Center scene in WDC around the turn of the new millenium. Kevin from Majority Rule played bass; Jason, who was the only non-Kane brother to play in Turbine (who did a split with M.J.), sang and played guitar. Colin and Mike were DC hardcore kids who'd round out the lineup. They go on to do more things: Mike would play drums in the Loved Ones and Dark Blue after heading up to Philly; Colin would help start Cloak/Dagger with his brother Aaron, Matt from Majority Rule, and Colin K. and Jason from Count Me Out. They played fast, political songs of a type that paired well with the likes of Strike Anywhere and Propaghandi. It was whip smart and danceable so of course I loved it.

It was, of course, a "big" deal when they ended up recording with Brian McTernan at Salad Days and releasing what'd be their only record on Jade Tree. They'd burnt fast and bright since their demo had come out the year before; now they'd essentially be filling the same spot as the beloved but disbanded Kid Dynamite on Jade Tree's roster. But they didn't last very long. If memory serves (and it's fading fast), they would themselves break up within a year.

And that's the way it's gone for most of punk immemorial. You get a few years, play some shows, put out a demo and hopefully a record, and you split up. Maybe you get lucky and someone remembers you 15 or 20 or 30 years later and says, "you should check this out." So here's your Sunday wake up call.

Discogs

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Crisis Of Faith - Land Of The Free

"Never be afraid to take a wag," is my mantra. Rarely does my instinct not pay off with something worth listening to.

I'd had the "Short, Fast and Loud Vol. 1" comp on my wantlist for a while, and I recently saw one for a fair price. I was almost ready to pull the trigger. Now, I've learned that I feel a lot better splitting the cost of shipping across multiple items; it's a lot less weird picking up German grind CDs when you're not adding the full price of bringing it in from Japan. Better to just throw in that Painkiller record, or a couple of quasi-bootleg cassettes, so one can justify the cost of postage. Anyway...

I come across "Land of the Free" in the seller's list. That it's on Lost & Found jumps out at me first. There's a lot of hidden gold in their archives, some of which still hasn't been reissued. I inspect further, noting they were on a split with Chokehold. Things are looking better. And the price is right: $6, and its all mine. Who am I to say no? I smash that "add to cart", and within days, it's in my hand. Thanks, knotmusic, for scratching my itch.

Six bucks got me some rather competent Canadian political hardcore from the early 90s. This is a prime, fourth band on a five-band bill at ABC Rio, bang-yr-head hardcore band, a far cry from more moshy contemporaries. The songs here hail from their aforementioned split with Chokehold, a self-released (?) 7" from the same year, and a song from a very random comp, where they were joined by Moss Icon, Culture Shock, and TVTV$. The 90s, man. Guitarist Adam Payne looks to be the only member of this trio to still be making music. It looks like he relocated to Vancouver at the turn of the millenium, and has put in time with the likes of the Bonitos and Bishops Green.

Discogs

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