Reality Check - No Love For The Underdogs demo

The Polish hardcore scene has been going through a resurgence as of late. There are a ton of great bands coming out of Poland, such as Iron To Gold, Desperate Times, Outbound and Last Dayz, and also a number of labels making sure these bands are released on tape & vinyl. Reality Check plays heavy up-tempo hardcore akin to bands like Terror, No Turning Back and such. Good stuff. They contacted me (and other blogs) about putting their 2011 demo up for download. Since doing this demo they appeared on the excellent 'Very Cool & Very Core' compilation 7" from 2012 which showcases 6 bands from the current Polish hardcore scene, including some of the aforementioned bands, as well doing a 7" called 'The World On My Shoulders' in late 2012. The compilation 7" was released on Poland's own Ratel Records, and the EP was released on 2 other Polish labels, Elephant Skin Records and Last Warning Records. So if you want a taste of the current Polish hardcore scene, check out Reality Check and the other bands, and the labels. There's some pretty good stuff coming out of Poland, so give it a chance.


Reality Check - No Love For The Underdogs demo

Sharon Tate's Phoetus (S.T.P.)

Sharon Tate's Phoetus, or S.T.P., started in 1983 during the formative Boston hardcore years. But they didn't last too long and late 1983/early 1984 they broke up again after a couple of members quit S.T.P. to form Deathwish. In 1989 original members Chris Jordan (vocals) and Cliff Truesdell (guitar) reformed S.T.P. and their style transformed over time from their old Boston hardcore roots to a slower and more riff-based style of hardcore, with great results. This reformed band did 3 recordings, two in 1990 and one in 1991. The 2 recordings that were done in 1991 were released as the 'Sick Plus Three' demo and the 'Hate Is The Move' demo, the 3rd recording was never released in full as far as I know, only partially later on. In 1994 the band split up.

In this post I've compiled all the S.T.P. releases I know of, and have, that were released with songs taken from the aforementioned 3 recording sessions. In 1991, Germany's Lost & Found Records released 4 songs from the 2nd demo as the 'Hate Is The Move' 7". In 1992 a self-titled S.T.P. 7" was released on Boston's Finest in a single run of 500 hand-numbered copies. Boston's Finest was a label run by Chris Jordan and S.T.P.'s bassist at that time, John Kozik, and the 7" had 2 songs on it that were taken from the 3rd recording session. In 1993, Lost & Found re-released the 'Hate Is The Move' 7", only this time as a CD with the full 'Hate Is The Move' demo on it, as well as 2 additional songs taken from the 3rd recording session, one of which was also on the 7" on Boston's Finest. For some reason Lost & Found renamed the band Stomp That Pussy on the cover of the CD, as opposed to S.T.P. on the 7", even though the band had never used that name for themselves (their crew of friends was called the Stomp That Pussy crew). Finally, in 1995, Taang! Records released 2 more S.T.P. songs on their 'Boston Hardcore 89-91' compilation which were both taken from their 1st demo. If anybody has their full 3rd session recording somewhere btw, I would love to hear it!

Members of this band (all line-ups) would end up in bands such as the aforementioned Deathwish, Slapshot and Anal Cunt. Also 3 members are no longer with us, 2 due to an overdose and 1 committed suicide. R.I.P.

S.T.P. - Hate Is The Move 7"
S.T.P. - s/t 7"
Stomp That Pussy - Hate Is The Move MCD
S.T.P. tracks from 'Boston Hardcore 89-91' compilation

Time's Up

Here are 2 7"s by the New Jersey band Time's Up. They were around in the mid 90s. After doing 2 demo's sometime around 1993, which I don't have, they managed to do 2 7"s which I posted here. As far as I know that's all they did, I'm not sure if they even appeared on a compilation? The band itself isn't too well-known, but guitarists Chris Rascio and John Adubato would play in Burnt By The Sun after Time's Up folded (Adubato forming BBTS and Rascio joining later), and Burnt By The Sun was awesome. Time's Up isn't quite on BBTS's level, but they were pretty damn good still. Creative, off-beat & dissonant metal/hardcore with fairly straight forward shouted vocals.

The first 7", 'At Ease', was released in 1994 or 1995 on Happy Days Records. Happy Days Records would also release Endeavor' '...Of Equality' 7", with Mike Olender on vocals, who would later on do vocals in Burnt By The Sun. The second 7", 'Discernment', was released on Chainsaw Safety Records in 1996. It is more complex than the first 7", and has got some pretty sick parts. The first 7" is great, the second 7" is even better. So give this band a shot, you won't regret it.

BTW, sorry for the shitty quality of the 'At Ease' rip, my vinyl copy is in pretty rough shape. I did what I could to clean it up a bit.

Time's Up - At Ease 7"
Time's Up - Discernment 7"