THE FIRST STEP - "What We Know": Best of 2006?

With this post I just want to throw the spotlight on a really, really good hardcore record that came out last year. For me, it's possibly my favorite HC record of 2006, and it's a band that has made quite a name for itself, and for a good reason. The First Step has it all: the music, the message, and a ton of positive energy to give you the biggest smile while moshing your ass off! Their style is fast, old school youth crew with positive, spiritual, friendship and anti-mater lyrics. How much better can it get!?

Let me tell you these guys have got their influences down right. They combine elements from the 88 spirit youth crew bands like Youth Of Today, Chain Of Strength and Gorilla Biscuits but with an extra positive and melodic twist of California straight edge bands like Insted and especially Uniform Choice. Awesome! For anyone who likes 80s hardcore these are all historic, legendary bands and TFS DOES sound as good as them. But TFS has also a personal sound and takes things to a whole new level, as they are good musicians and every instrument makes its presence very strongly. Of course this is helped by the production, which is the job of Walter Schreifels (ex- Gorilla Biscuits, ex-Quicksand, ex-Rival Schools), a legend in his own right.

I've got this on CD by Rivalry Records and it looks pretty good. The booklet is pretty good and it contains the *awesome* inspirational lyrics and the artwork is kind of a homage to the late 80s Revelation bands (b&w moshpit photos, the guitarist doing a superior jump with his Gibson etc). You know the deal! There's also this picture of the band chiling on a dock which is really cool. Rivalry records also put this put on vinyl, and I bet it looks and sounds absolutely spectacular, and it is probably sold out by now.

I didn't know that Carolina, US, had such incendiary bands. I totally recommend this for all the kids who like their hardcore energetic, stripped down but at the same time melodic and multi-layered. Kids: This is a record you will spin again and again. And again...

www.thejourneyofathousandsmiles.com
www.myspace.com/thefirststep
www.rivalryrecords.com