Just a killer proto-Warped Tour sampler, featuring a shit-ton of bands from the Asian Man roster, as well as some from the pre-Fall Out Boy Fueled By Ramen lineup. The standouts include lead-off batters Slapstick, who by 1998 were mostly remembered outside of Chicago as being the band that spawned Alkaline Trio and the Lawrence Arms, the aforementioned A3, J.Church covering E.L.O., and Discount.
But, for me, revisiting this 24 years later, what hits me hardest are the lesser-remembered offerings. I recall how stoked everyone was on Link 80 in 1998, seeing them as the heirs to Operation Ivy. I was always excited to see the likes of Slow Gherkin, Johnny Socko, or Animal Chin on the back of a compilation; you knew if was going to be goofy and danceable and just a hell of a lot of fun.
It was all happening so far away from Baltimore at the time. The Fest wasn't a thing yet; the Misfits Of Ska tour hadn't been organized; if anyone hit the mid-Atlantic, they were playing weird, out-of-the-way towns because spaces like CCAS or the Sidebar were still in the future. But we had this, and it was most good.
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