Things have been pretty inactive here, I haven't been updating the site or the radio player much but I see that there is always a steady amount of visitors to the blog so thanks! I started a new job and don't have access to a computer all day like I used to. We'll have some new stuff in the near future for you to download as well as some new interviews and such. For now, here's some news for you:CROWD DETERRENT will have a new EP very soon. One more song needs to be finished and the new material will be released. This material sounds much more like their earlier material (Demo through Blood and Family era). I sent a message to Dave to try and get the original 1997 demo (which NO ONE seems to have) so I can hopefully post it here for download in the near future in a re-mastered form. Crowd Deterrent will be returning to Japan in Fall of 2011.
CREEPOUT will have some new releases: their split w/ Integrity will be released in the US on A389 RECORDS so keep a lookout for pre-orders on that. Their full length has been out in Japan, I think a US release is pending. The Lords Of West Tokyo may be back in the US again next summer.
RACE RIOT will have a new record hopefully by the holidays or early 2011. If you don't have the Race Riot demo, make sure to download it here: Race Riot "Crew Life" Demo
ULTIMO BEATDOWN posted some new songs on their Myspace, there is a new version of the classic FEELINGS ad well as a new jam called MENTAL PRISON (which is in rotation on the Hard Ass Radio player as well). Check it out here: Ultimo Beatdown My Space
In other non-band related stuff, Samoan Rob of Crowd Deterrent has opened a new location of his Tattoo shop DEFIANCE TATTOOS in Canfield, OH. Check out their facebook here: DEFIANCE TATTOOS
Keep on keepin on. More new stuff soon!
dcore and punk shows in the basement staring in 1999. The basement was dark, creepy, and covered with graffiti. You walked in to the shows from the back alley (which regularly had stolen/chopped cars, gutted and sitting on blocks) and down a creaky hallway (watch your step... you might fall through one of the holes) and as you approached the stairs to go down, you saw in front of you the infamous "THIS WAY TO HELL" sign on the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Once you got down there, you saw walls covered w/ graffiti and blood (the "Blood Wall" was a wall where you would rub the blood your wounds, usually head wounds), and often you'd see a giant rat (or rats) scurry away. Sometimes the floor was covered in water (or even sewage) because the pipes leaked or got broken during a show. The poles that supported the ceiling were wrapped in barbed wire. Displayed proudly on the wall were crude weapons like baseball bats w/ nails through them and axe handles wrapped in barbed wire... and they looked like they had been used! All this was what you saw before the show even started!
y such a dump at the time, here's a few of the bands that came through and played Hooligan's: PITBOSS 2000, KILL YOUR IDOLS, INDECISION, BLANKS 77, 25 TA LIFE/COMIN CORRECT, RUN DEVIL RUN, REACH THE SKY, ONE LIFE CREW, PROBLEM SOLVER REVOLVER, MUSHMOUTH, DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR, DONNYBROOK, and many many more. The shows often featured skinheads running around w/ ski masks, and people wielding machetes. Straight Edgers and drunks moshed side by side, mowhawked punks and varsity jacket wearing hardcore folk smashed one another on the dancefloor. Age, style, race... none of that mattered. If you were into underground/angry music, you loved the shows at Hooligan's.
(Pic below: 25 ta Life) T
he shows went on for about 4 or 5 years, then they died off. there was a "final" show featuring CROWD DETERRENT, DONNYBROOK, INTERNAL AFFAIRS and LOSING STREAK. The show was disappointingly uneventful until the final band, Crowd Deterrent played... then the place erupted into a frenzy of punks, skins, straight edges, and any kind of person you could think of moshing, stomping, kicking, swinging weapons, throwing fireworks... just what everyone had expected form the get-go. It was a fitting finale... although there was one more event at Hooligan's, the Crowd Deterrent "Down To Throwdown video was shot there.
racters that worked at and hung out at Hooligan's could fill a novel, but I just wanted to focus on the shows. It was a place where there were literally no rules. You could do whatever you wanted. It was truly a wild place which was not for everyone... many were too scared to even attend a show there, even if a band they liked was playing. I can recall bands that I booked to play there, and I would tell them to watch when they got into town, and to not turn off the main roads if they got lost... they would tell me "yea yea yea... we're from Brooklyn! We can handle it", and then when the same band pulled up to Hooligan's, they looked at me in astonishment and sd "What the fuck kinda place is this??? Is our van gonna be safe here? It looks like someone drove a tank through this city!" and I replied " I dunno... you're from Brooklyn... you tell me".
