November 15th, 2008
The Radiator
Anthony hung out with Ryan Krushenick at The Radiator in Burlington Vermont after the opening of Radio Silence / Selected Photography. You can find some images on the Big Heavy World blog.
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October 15th, 2008
Peer Pressure Radio with Damian
We’re back hanging with Damian playing even more jams. PLUS, John Joseph stopped by to talk about his book The Evolution of a CRO-MAGnon (out now on PunkHouse), his fourth coming book Meat Is For Pussies, and some more awesome stuff only JJ can explain.
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October 1st, 2008
Peer Pressure Radio with Damian
Damian Let us hang on his show and play some jams.
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September 29th, 2008
Hillbilly Brawl Fest with Craig “Ahead” Setari
Collecting all the images and stories for Radio Silence was an incredible process, unfortunately we had to omit some great material due to the page count. Radio Silence could have easily been over a thousand pages but we had to do the most with the space that we had. Craig’s interview was packed with colorful stories spanning his introduction to hardcore in the early 1980s up to present day and was cool enough to let us post excerpts occasionally here. He’s a natural storyteller and a rare talent who has as much passion for music as he did as a teenager and we’re honored to be able to share some outtakes. Here’s a clip from Craig Ahead’s interview for Radio Silence titled Hillbilly Brawl Fest. Check it out here.
September 19th, 2008
The Anti-Emo Empire Radio Show with Jeff Terranova
Jeff Terranova had us on his radio show The Anti-Emo Empire on WNHU to talk about the book. I would like to personally apologize to Jeff for saying “shit” in the first 5 minutes of the show. Thank you (from both of us) to Jeff for recording the show and uploading the mp3 on his site.
Part 1
Part 2
The Anti-Emo Empire
September 15th, 2008
Music to read Radio Silence by
We’ve provided the track listing for each podcast in the “lyrics” tab in each podcast. Many of these songs are still in print and can be easily purchased online or in your local record store and we encourage you to do so. Dischord Records recently launched their own comprehensive and affordable digital music store on their site and many of the songs are available on iTunes.
This podcast is as a companion to Radio Silence so you can listen to some of the sounds of the book as you flip through. You’ll notice the crackle of vinyl, the hiss of cassette tape and production that ranges from multi-track slick to 4 track crude. Many of the songs included are out of print or were never available digitally so websites including 7inchpunk.com and kbdrecords.com have taken the time to digitize them from their original formats making them available to anyone interested in hardcore’s rich history.
A few select bands appear more than once on the compilation including Black Flag, Cro-Mags, Dag Nasty and Minor Threat. Each of these bands exemplify different facets and styles of hardcore. Black Flag’s selections show them both as early pioneers of the definitive hardcore sound and the heavy, mangled, Black Sabbath influenced riff machine that they’d evolve into. The Cro-Mags songs are taken from their demo and debut Lp The Age of Quarrel. Though they were powerful on their raw demo, they thickened up their presentation in a bigger studio without changing their style. Though the Cro-Mags weren’t New York City’s first hardcore band, The Age of Quarrel defines New York hardcore for many. The album stands as one of the most complete and powerful full lengths in hardcore’s history . Dag Nasty’s first two albums are groundbreaking melodic hardcore records. After Minor Threat’s demise, Brian Baker took a swing at mainstream rock with Graham McCullough from Negative Approach with a band called the 400. The 400 quickly disbaned and Dag Nasty marked Baker’s return to hardcore. The initial line up with Shawn Brown, later of Swiz, on vocals boasted tight and tuneful songs similar to the material on Out Of Step. Shawn’s vocals offered a raw and aggressive delivery that meshed well with the songs but the sound associated with Dag Nasty was found once Dave Smalley’s replaced him on. Dave’s approach was stll energetic but took a more pop approach to the songs. Can I Say had the crunch and speed of hardcore with genuine melody. Smalley later left Dag Nasty and Peter Cortner provided vocals for the band’s second album Wig Out At Denkos. Though this album featured some fast paced songs there was an even greater emphasis on melody and boasted some very different song structures. It’s essential to see how both stages of the band influenced what came after them. Minor Threat’s impact is huge in both the beginning and end of Radio Silence so it’s only fitting that they appear in both sections of the podcast. They have the distinction of being one of the few bands of any genre whose first recorded song is as important as their last.
Part 1
Part 2