Depression -

Depression formed some time in 1982 in Melbourne, Victoria, on the East coast of Australia. Smeer, who had been playing in the early Australian punk band The Desert Rats, met up with two locals called Liddy and Spike (no, not the girl from Degrassi). After only a short while, Depression started to play regular shows at "The John Barleycorn Hotel". After about a year of playing there, Depression began playing at "The Seaview Ballroom", a venue which became a mainstay of the Melbourne Punk/Hardcore scene. Around this time, the Dead Kennedeys toured Australia, and talks between the band and Jello resulted in Depression being part of the legendary Welcome to 1984 compilation on Maximum Rock'n'Roll Records.

After being approached by Phil MacDougall of Reactor Records (Perdition, Vicious Circle, etc.), the band went into a studio and recorded three songs for $120. These songs, "Money Chain", "Soldiers Never Cry" and "World Leaders", became the Money Chain EP and the first record for Reactor Records.

In 1985, the band went into a "good" studio to record material for a full length. Hassles with printers and not obtaining the sound the band wanted resulted in a delayed release for Depression's self titled LP. Despite the delays, the record was one of the most important for the band and the Reactor Records label.

November 1985 saw the release of the band's next full length, Australia, Australia. Again on Reactor Records, this album recieved good reviews in the US and UK. Things were looking up for the Depression/Reactor partnership.

However, in 1986, Phil's reluctance to finance an overseas tour for the band ended the relationship and Depression and Reactor parted company. However in 1988, Depression appeared on the famous Not So Lucky Country double LP on Reactor Records. In the meantime, Depression headed in a more metallic direction, releasing the Ultra Hardcore, Mega Heavy, Punk, Metal, Thrash live album, the Thrash Till Death album and finally in 1989, the Hardcore History album which was made up of demos and early cuts.

In 1989, Depression called it a day after mixed reactions to their later work and differences within the band. Depression were one of the most successful Australian Punk/Hardcore acts from the era.

DISCOGRAPHY

Releases

MONEY CHAIN 7" (Reactor, 1984)

DEPRESSION LP (Reactor, 1985)

AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA LP (Reactor, 1985)

DEPRESSION/GASH split LP (Flipside, 1985)

ULTRA HARDCORE MEGA HEAVY PUNK METAL THRASH LP (1987)

THRASH TIL DEATH LP (Cleopatra, 1988)


Reissues

HARDCORE HISTORY 1982-86 (1989)


Compilations

WELCOME TO 1984 LP (MRR, 1984) "What a Strange World"

THE HARDCORE HOUSE tape (Hardcore House/Reactor, 1986)

APATHY... NEVER! LP (Over the Top, 1986)

OVERSEAS CONNECTION LP (Double A, 1987)

THE NOT SO LUCKY COUNTRY 2LP (Reactor, 1988) "War and Freedom"

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cch223/australia/depression_main.html




Available at Missing Link Records

Depression
www.missinglink.net.au


Yep. Believe it ! Melbourne's highly regarded exponents of mad Punk Metal Thrash get the full blown Reish treatment from the band's original label Reactor Records, and it's a corker ! This Depression CD features a whopping forty tracks which takes in their debut 7" 'Money Chain' from 1984 along with their killer 26 track LP from a year later, and their Lobby Loyde produced 'Australia Australia' 12" and Three previously Unreleased 1982 Demos !!! which is a real added treat. Add to that a 14 page booklet jam packed full of photo's, liner notes, handbills, and more & it's the best twenty two bucks you're gonna drop all friggin' month ! Get an earful of Smeer, Spike, Liddy, Danny,Daz & Sham and relive all those tracks you may of had on Vinyl way back when, or discover a bit of local Punk History for the first time !! $1.50 postage anywhere in Oz, $5 Overseas Airmail (click here) -Depression

SIGHTS & SOUNDS -Featuring members of Comeback Kid, Sick City, The Getaway and Figure Four

Featuring members of Comeback Kid, Sick City, The Getaway and Figure Four, SIGHTS & SOUNDS is vocalist/guitarist Andrew Neufeld, drummer Joel Neufeld, bassist Matt Howes, and guitarist Adrian Mottram. With members spanning across Canada, they would meet as often as they could in between tours and commitments with other projects to write and record their songs.

Taking inspiration from bands like Mew, The Police, Foo Fighters, Lifetime, and Sigur Rós, SIGHTS & SOUNDS is a blend of rock, punk, and pop. Yet SIGHTS & SOUNDS is also about more than just music. It is a celebration of friendship and passion. “The inspiration for the songs comes from life experience, current events, literature, poems and from reflections on the human condition,” explains Adrian. Matt Agrees, “We have no restrictions with the song writing. We take songs in any direction we want.” The result is a sound you can only find through the creation of music with no strings attached, no pressures to succeed, no expectations to live up to. It is the sound of pure fun. “The EP was an absolute riot to produce”, tells Adrian. .

SIGHTS & SOUNDS TRACK LISTING
1) RECONCILE
2) NIGHT TRAIN
3) FOUR DAY WEEKEND
4) LEE'S ON FRIDAYS
5) THE ONLY TIME
6) PART TWO
www.myspace.com/sightsandsoundsmusic

Reconcile

MEATLOCKER

www.myspace.com/meatlockerhc


About MEATLOCKER Three London based Australians start a hardcore punk band. They cannot find anyone to sing, as London is full of pencil necks with limited mental capacity and absolutely no taste. These 3 Australians look to the embittered, economically decrepit North of England, and sure enough, they find a singer with relative ease. They record 12 songs at Mutiny studios in Bradford. For those who have never been to Bradford, Imagine a large, diseased, truncated penis dissected longitudinally. Imagine the contents of said appendage spilling over into a city’s water supply. Imagine if said city was Bradford. Production of the record was put on hold for a number of days as 2 people died under suspicious circumstances in the very building the band was recording in. The band plays 3 off the cuff gigs in Manchester, Leeds and Bradford. The 3 Australians return to Australia. CD out now on Trial and Error and vinyl version available through RSR records. Full Australian invasion this Winter. Another record is not out of the question.

Contains members of VOORHEES, WALK THE PLANK, EXTORTION, THE COLLAPSE, WITHIN BLOOD, HITLIST, ULTIMATUM.

GUANTANEMO BAY CITY ROLLERS

on Test Subject Records

www.myspace.com/theguantanamobaycityrollers

Influences - Peer pressure, well calculated marketing campaigns and mob mentality.

MAYLENE AND THE SONS OF DISASTER.

A few clips you should take a look at :

WHITE MALE DUMBINANCE / MASS TRAUMA

White Male Dumbinance 'Forced Vengence' 7" and White Male Dumbinance / Masstraum& a 'Split' 7

Ok, two fresh releases on that Missing Link Records from two New South Welsh bands. White Male Dumbinance from Newcastle offer up the majority of the serve with their debut 7" Forced Vengeance and one half of a split 7" with Sydney's Masstrauma who's Adoration Of The Devil's Ass 7" on Endless Blockades that came out a bundle of weeks ago is also a killer little disc of wax well worthy of punishing your ears.

WMD play fast, pissed off power-violence for fans of Infest, Crossed Out, Spazz etc. members have also done time in some killer bands in their past (and present) such as Arms Reach, Life.Love.Regret, The Dead Walk!, Conation and Captain Cleanoff!

Masstrauma play aggressive, scum ridden hardcore, on hiatus while singer Fingers is off globe trotting and scarring people with needles of ink Masstrauma features past and current members of Deathcage (check out the recent killer 7" on Endless Blockades), Diamond Sea (see the brand new CD on Yellow Ghost, 10" coming soon), Three Found Dead, Pure Evil Trio and A.V.O.

There is 500 of each of these 7" and there are a limited amount of them available on coloured vinyl (Forced Vengence on pink and the split on purple).

available at www.missinglink.net.au/

JOHN JOSEPHS - The Evolution of a cro magnon

Review
John Joseph's reality is the stuff that Hollywood lives for. But after the cameras are gone and the soundtrack goes platinum, there stands a man who's character is far taller and more Technicolor than any trifling Tinseltown tale. After reading The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, one understands the multiple harsh environments that created some of the most hardcore music ever. It's Mr. Joseph's sensitivity and his magnificent ability to make light of the heavy, however, that helps us to understand how complicated we all must be to survive the storms. Still, word to the wise: don't tread on he! --Sacha Jenkins - Vibe Magazine, July 2007

This book kicked my ass. I have known Bloodclot (aka John Joseph) for many years. We know each other from around the NYC hardcore/punk scene. He was always cool with me but until I read this book, his autobiography, I had no idea about his background, about how he grew up. As I read the first few chapters, tears welled up in my eyes. A lot of people talk about coming from the streets, when Bloodclot says it, sh*t is real. I have tremendous respect for John, all that he's endured, and who he's become, and I would recommend this book to anyone in a heartbeat. So if you want to remember what New York City was like in the 70's and 80's, if you are interested in selling fake acid at Madison Square Garden, or dressing up like Santa Claus in a wheelchair to hustle money for the Hari Krishnas, or for that matter, if you are just interested in some of the best of the 8 billion stories that New York City has to offer, put a read on this. --Adam Yauch (MCA) - Beastie Boys, May 2007




We should start with the time John 'Bloodclot' Joseph dressed up as a retarded, wheelchair-bound Santa Claus and scammed horrified Staten Island shopping-mall patrons on behalf of the Hare Krishnas. In his memoir, The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, Joseph claims to have made $3,000 in just one week this way, mortified mothers flinging $10 bills at him if he'd just go away, while distraught, teary-eyed children demanded to know what was wrong with Santa. Lots of things were wrong with Santa. This colossal, at least mildly appalling act of deception (Joseph is not disabled physically or mentally, and Evolution makes clear that, at least onstage with his beloved New York hardcore band, the Cro-Mags, he was thoroughly intolerant of jolliness) is probably not the moral low point of his life. His riveting autobiography is a profoundly seedy affair: boyhood abuse while in foster care, a drug- and violence-addled adolescence on the streets of apocalyptic '70s New York, 15 years or so AWOL from the Navy, myriad Hare Krishna related improprieties, a brief but vivid stint fronting quite possibly the most physically terrifying band in New York City history, and, just for the hell of it, on page 377, crack addiction. Joseph has survived all this, and is understandably proud. Regarding the retarded-Santa ploy, he is understandably regretful, but not for the reasons you'd expect... Read more at villagevoice.com, search 'bloodclot'. --Rob Harvilla - Village Voice, April 2008

Product Description
In his new autobiography, NYHC legend John Bloodclot Joseph recounts his hard times and spiritual redemption. A traumatic childhood in foster homes was just the beginning of John's evolution. Before fronting one of the most important bands in the underground punk scene, the Cro-Mags, John faced homelessness, addiction, betrayal and insanity. Still, even his success couldn't save him from a relapse that set him back to square one - rock bottom. The book is a raw and unapologetic autobiography about his life. Consider yourself warned.

source - www.amazon.com

available here -