NEWSLETTER 005
07/13/21 - NICK HERRMANN 1
You know what it is - slightly off schedule but still more consistent than JJ’s newsletter. Continue below for information on ALMIGHTY WATCHING tapes, an interview with real deal North Eazt Metal™, VOMIT FORTH, and the usual rambling and bullshit you've come to expect.
SCHEME REPORT:
If you were at the Philly hardcore BBQ you mighta seen the tape that validated ALMIGHTY WATCHINGs existence...they’ll be up on the internet for sale and maybe streaming in a week or two. In other AW news, after months of being cooped up in their New Haven recording studio and blowing the Scheme budget, yesterday AW has finished recording their debut offering, Doubtless. More info on that soon; with shows back in action, expect them to start playing out in the North East.
SCH-002 is out to press now, keep your eyes peeled to the email in the coming weeks for more information, it’ll be available here first and will go quick. We dropping that ish quick and dirty, fuck a rollout.
SCENE REPORT:
The hardcore scene was alive and well the past two weekends - take a peep at the first ALL DUE RESPECT show in Philly, complete with KILLING TIME and BREAKDOWN covers in their glory:
Our corroborators at STREETS OF HATE put up a new issue of their zine and a 12” from Wilkes Barres’ WILD RED. You can order that here if you’re a real one.
Dead At Birth, Kyles other venture, did a split one page zine with Amusing Musings for the Philly BBQ, view that here: Dead At Birth one pager for the Philly Unity BBQ, you can read it here:
KYLE’s PLAYLIST:
DIE 116 - Discography (Shout out Dave Murphy)
SUN KIL MOON - Benji
STRENGTH FOR A REASON - Blood, Faith, Loyalty
THIN LIZZY - Jailbreak
ALL ELSE FAILED - Discography
ALBIN’s PLAYLIST:
JOE COFFEE - When The Fabric Don't Fit The Frame
TYRANT TROOPER - Insane Sickness
THE KILLS - Blood Pressures
CHUBBY AND THE GANG - Coming Up Tough
BLUETIP - Dischord No 101
KOYO - Drives Out East
Listen to these songs and others here:
Somewhere Below 14th & East: The Lost Photography of Karen O'Sullivan
Came across this randomly and didn't hear much word about it besides it being posted on the Somewhere Below IG - it's Jimmy G, Stigma and Uncle Al from MURPHY'S LAW going through the Somewhere Below 14th & East: The Lost Photography of Karen O'Sullivan book that Radio Raheem released two years ago.
You have the aforementioned, s/o to Stigma drinking red wine, essentially providing audio commentary like directors to the book, making notes and observations about the photos featured. The three will make you both laugh and sad; as they reminisce about their youth, all of the different personalities and characters of the LES, the times they had, the people that have sadly passed and everything in between.
To me this video is the equivalent of fast food bag fries - I was stoked to read and consume the book, but now I got this extra content I didn't expect on top of it all that enhances the experience? Perfect.
An interview with VOMIT FORTH
The first of a two part interview with the lord of Coram, Nick Herrmann. Real fans may know him as the head of the BTK Recordings A/R department, the nephew of a member of CRACKED ACTOR or from his portrayal of George Little in the 1999 film Stuart Little - however, the average person would likely recognize him from his time behind the kit in VOMIT FORTH.
This Friday, VOMIT FORTH is appearing on a live stream presented by Maggot Stomp (CTHC) and St. Vitus, alongside UNDEATH, MOURNED, STABBED and OXALATE. You can get a ticket for the stream here; continue below for the interview.
First off: what's bracken? What's the last record you spinned while cruising in the forklift?
What's good - I was bouncing back and forth between some CLUE tapes and LEFT FOR DEAD.
What came first in your life: punk, metal or hip-hop? Do you remember what band or artist first resonated with you in each respective genre?
Metal for sure. SLAYER was kind of the end all be all for me in terms of discovering aggressive music. Everything from that point was compared to whatever they did. I wanted to check everything they spawned and everything that influenced them, and one of the most vivid details I remember about that "discovery" point in my life is Jeff Hanneman's guitar having that "DK" sticker on it. SLAYER directly put me onto DEAD KENNEDYS; and to this day Plastic Surgery Disasters is one of my favorite records from that period of my life.
On the other side of the coin, hip-hop was something that was just always around me, whether it was by the skate videos I was watching or the people I was kicking it with. Everything about the culture intrigued me: the music, watching people paint, catching videos of b boys breaking but, the WU were really the first ones that got me FULLY Immersed (to keep it short). That energy and vibe on records like 36 Chambers and Liquid Swords hit me the same way a lot of the other aggressive music I was into at the time hit me, shit was just being channeled a different way. It wasn't all about the high-energy joints either, at times it gave me a deeper understanding of rhythmics and what it meant to lay back in the pocket and lock shit down, as a drummer, the exact opposite that everything else I was listening to made me want to do.
What was your entry point to hearing underground music, skating or something else? What was the first show you went to? Any funny stories about that early time of your life when you first got immersed into various subcultures?
I don't really remember there being a specific moment where I discovered underground music, but there was a definite progression for me looking beyond what was just being pumped out on the radio. Some of the skate videos I was watching when I was younger were definitely subconsciously putting me onto shit I hadn't heard before but the realization that there were ways to find music without some large conglomerate deciding for you that THIS was what you were supposed to be listening to really drove me to find the most obscure shit I could find. My entry point was really that drive to dig through whatever was in front of me to find what I was looking for.
I didn't know EXACTLY what It was I was searching for, but I knew the more I sifted through, the more dope shit I'd find. I was finding magazines like Manaics that would feature EVERYTHING that was going on in the underground and that was definitely a BIG gateway to me for finding more obscure-type music. In the SAME issue you could get interviews / write-ups on BRUTAL TRUTH, BENEDICTION, CAR BOMB and FULL BLOWN CHAOS. Those magazines definitely kept me from boxing myself into ONE thing and definitely carried themselves with more of a DIY attitude than a lot of the other publications out there "dedicated" to this type of music. I was thirteen when I was at / played my first show on a local level (Bada-Bing / The Riff). It was a Fight Back show that one of the older kids I was in a band with at the time got us on. Couldn't tell you a single band that was on that show, but being at a show with no barrier and no stage for the first time like that kind of flipped a switch in my head and those bigger tours that would come around started to appeal less and less to me.
You dropped a promo earlier this year for your band VOMIT FORTH - what's the plan for the rest of the year? You got a full length coming so give us the rundown on it: how many songs, where you gonna record it, who's doing the art, etc.?
As of right now it's just finish writing this record and getting it recorded. I can't give too many solid details about the record because shit been changing day by day. But the records called Seething Malevolence and Evan Perino at Shellshock Audio's going to be recording it. I don't know if it's going to be announced by the time this comes out, but we will be doing a full US November into late December at the end of the year.
What made you choose to cover BRUTAL TRUTH for the aforementioned promo? I remember speaking and there were some other possible bands you were gonna cover for it - what were they?
We just wanted to do something that we felt like we could warp into some shit that'd sound like us. We all love that BRUTAL TRUTH record and when the idea to do Ill Neglect hit it kind of just felt right. Ran the track back once it shit clicked. We're actually doing another one of the ideas we were throwing around real soon so I don't want to give it away yet.
Part two in the next installment...