OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

Seriously, I can't really think of anything I want form a hardcore band that OUTSIDE LOOKING IN doesn't deliver. They got the breakdowns, they got the crucial and desperate lyrics and the delivery to back them up, they are from a place that none of the cool kids give a shit about...and they fukkn rule. Hardcore punk from Chico/Redding. California...so good. You need this band, but I might need them more than you do.

LIVING OR EXISTING

It's another disheartening night // On the floor there was nearly a fight // From tough guys throwing their fists // And not giving a shit who they hit // I see people throughout the hall with cliché minds // With uncritical thoughts // In each corner there's a social click // I can't help feeling that I don't fit in // I don't feel moved or inspired // I feel like I'm existing on another dead night // The music rings in my ears but doesn't move my heart // The lyrics stand tall but the actions fall short // Too much of what we've fought against lives at the shows // At times I can't help but feel the disillusion grow // Tonight is another night that lays stagnant // Leaving me feeling burnt out and alone // Tonight is another disheartening night // Leaving me feeling burnt out and alone // Stagnant. Burnt out. And alone.

ICKO SICKO

 

Shit exploded up in Northern California last decade, and I was not-at-all low-key obsessed with the crop of DIY hardcore bands coming out of Chico and Redding. The bands seemed....untainted somehow. Honest. You can scroll these pages for some of the bands and anecdotes that fueled my obsession, and then click on ICKO SICKO - I missed them in the moment, but I'm glad I have them now. 

DYSPHORIC

CHAIN HEX

 

Whatever I said about Chico and Redding? Yeah, same shit about Santa Rosa. 
There was a hot minute when I was like "damn, I wish I lived here" because the freaks were just os....well, they were fukkn freaks. Then I thought about the commute.

PANIC ROOM / AD NOXA

GORILLAXMONSOON // VEXED

GORILLAXMONSOON spend the first 90 seconds of this split with a one riff intro that creates a mountain of tension that you just know is going to come crumbling down on you, and even when it does you aren't quite prepared. After an intro that features a gutsy five second silence and a fist clenching yeeoowl, they launch into five tracks of killer 'crew incarnated as devastating heavy hardcore. The breakdowns, the backups, the chugs, the determined falter in the vocals...it's all there, but GORILLAXMONSOON are none of the posi hardcore that those elements might imply. Pissed, desperate and brutally honest, these five tracks are real. And then GORILLAXMONSOON hand the torch to their neighbors in VEXED and the reality gets dark in a hurry. That desperation fades into depression, and the grey area comes out in the music as much as the vocals - which is saying a lot, because the vocals give me chills. Five minutes of crushing, blasting hardcore/pv sandwiched in between four minutes of painfully slow riffing, the VEXED side of this tape is a really dark counterpart to the already dark flip...none of these kids are fucking around, and I would love to hear more from both. And for those keeping track of the places where all the good bands come from, GORILLAXMONSOON are from Chico, California, and VEXED are from up the road in Redding. 

GORILLAXMONSOON // VEXED

BURIED

A 27 minute swarm of sound masquerading as blackened doom, Redding, California's BURIED crank out a depressing slab for their aural debut. Droning guitars swirl around faint black metal riffing and distant howls, a build up to the funeral doom pace that drives the cassette's final movement, an 11 minute exercise in dissonant dissatisfaction. The more you let The Only Promise in, the heavier it is.

THE ONLY PROMISE

AFTER THE FALL

 

Brilliant late '90s metallic screamo/hardcore from Redding, California. AFTER THE FALL fits the genre mold perfectly, and I can only imagine what the band could have become if they had existed for more than a couple of years...of course, I can only imagine what a lot of things might become if they lasted for more than a couple of years. Thankfully, New Knee dropped one hundred extra copies for new century ears back in 2021...I am grateful.

AFAKSAAKAN

CELL BLOCK

The (way) Northern California scenes in Chico and Redding have been killing it the last few years. VEXED, OUTSIDE LOKING IN, CRIMINAL WAVE and a host of others have been churning out punk and hardcore in the oft overlooked dead zone between the SF Bay Area and Portland...and it's time to stop overlooking. Add CELL BLOCK, dreary and lazy vocals clash with an affected guitar that lumbers awkwardly through distortion, settling into a comfort zone behind the rhythm section. It fits nicely under the "goth punk" umbrella, though at times ("Half An Hour" for example) CELL BLOCK are really just goth...but most notably they don't really sound like anyone else, and that's a huge plus. You can probably guess what bands they celebrate, you can probably guess what people will compare them too....and I'll just keep listening to "Bedroom Floor" and that damaged guitar, and I'll keep smiling. 

EIGHT

INITIAL SHOCK

Had a great conversation in Sacramento about the outlying California cities that constantly fly under the punk radar. I hatched a plan with Sarah Kirsch a few years before her death to embark on a Lost Cities Of California tour: Redding, Chico, Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Merced, Fresno, Bakersfield, Victorville...these places all have fukkn scenes, even if they are small ones, and they always have. There was a DIY space in Hayward until a couple of years ago, Santa Rosa killed it earlier this week. CAPITALIST CASUALTIES are from fucking Rohnert Park. Cue INITIAL SHOCK: while Livermore is technically a suburb, 40 some odd miles is a hell of a haul when you're a teenager, so it makes sense that these kids would have to be relatively self sufficient. This demo dropped in 1989 and suffers from some of the stylistic trappings of the time, but the vocal snarl trumps the occasional slap bass, and nine tracks of unknown suburban hardcore might be exactly what you needed today.

INITIAL SHOCK