Delinquent Habits - Live @ Bios 28.11.09

The Delinquent Habits must be up there in the hall of fame of hip-hop bands, not only for establishing their own brand of Latin-influenced hip-hop, but also for maintaining a solid presence for over 15 years!

Their show last Saturday (28.11) totally justified their reputation as party animals and good entertainers. Starting only about 10 minutes after Knackleboul's set (the support act, hip-hop and beatbox from Switzerland), Delinquent Habits took no prisoners and marched straight into a set of funky-sounding yet streetwise hip-hop. It was cool to see them so energetic on stage, supporting what is possibly their best album to date, entitled The Common Man. One thing's for sure: they definitely have a lot to offer in today's saturated hip-hop industry which is all about the money etc.

Ives Irie and the gang blew the crowd away with a series of hits old and new, only stopping every now and then to drink tequila and talk to the crowd. Countless shots were handed out to the crowd (a straight edger's nightmare), while the beats and the rhymes were landing on our heads one after the other.

A band that has gone around and sold so much could easily behave like hip-hop superstars (which they are anyways), but that wasn't the case with the 3 Deliquentes: what we saw was a bunch of honest dudes doing their thing, and then selling their own CDs after the show, talking with the crowd and signing autographs. Even the speech that Ives gave towards the end of the show, about leaving the commercial BS outside and being thankful for having a community to belong to, was straight from the heart.

So make sure you find the new CD The Common Man so you can party your way through it! It's some 43 minutes of straightforward hip-hop action.

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CREDS: pic 1 taken @ Marsatac Festival, Marseille by anonymous--pic 2 by Lucas Maeder. Both pics off the band's official Myspace Website.
http://www.myspace.com/delinquentxhabits

Faithreat - "Back To The Pit" album review

I don’t think I’ve heard another Greek Thrashcore band, let alone a Greek band with good lyrics and a positive message!

That’s how Faithreat goes out; Fast and straight to the point, no messing about whatsoever! And these fellas don’t beat about the bush musically: you get your first mosh -break just on 0:19 of the first song, while John (the singer) proudly yells: Thrash for yourself, not for your fucking sponsor! How cool is that?

Also, let’s make sure this is not your mama’s Municipal Waste. OK, maybe some similarities can be drawn, but Faithreat is not in the copy-cat band category, as they owe more to DRI and even the Haunted (!) than they do to the aforementioned band. I can hear a lot of Slayer-ic guitar harmonies, which rules, of course, but also a definite two-step Hardcore sound (i.e. breaks, mosh-parts) that changes the whole game. After all, some of these guys used to play in the defunct all-school Hardcore band Disharmonic, so you could say they have cut their teeth doing this Hardcore s*it.

I have to give props for the very good production sound, which is really fat and you can hear everything. For example, the double-bass pedal with its modest but very effective use!

What I liked more about this album is the way certain words or phrases are spat in a spoken-word style over the music, kind of like.. Youth of Today, or Gorilla Biscuits maybe!? You know, phrases that have an extra meaning and stand out, and push the whole song forward. It's nice to hear a heartfelt posi quote while having your face melted by the extra-distorted bass! This is the type of s*it that makes exceptional bands. Moreover, the lyrics are simple, sincere, positive on the whole, and with something that comes out as an honest worry for this world, nature, wars etc. You know how it shows when some people just say it, while others truly mean it, and I firmly believe that Faithreat falls into the second category.

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www.myspace.com/faithreat



Out collectively by the following labels:
www.myspace.com/selfabuserecordsdiy (Self Abuse Records)
www.myspace.com/athensthrashattack (Athens Thrash Attack Label)
www.myspace.com/aristeos (True To The Game Records)
www.myspace.com/keepitrealhc (World's Appreciated Kitsch Records)

Thanksgiving Jam - with HR from the Bad Brains!

Talking about reasons one would like to be in California, and more specifically, OC: Well, how about shows like this one for a start!?



All the above Hardcore (and Punk) old school dudes amaze their fans once again, by having the heart to go out on Thanksgiving Day and play a benefit show for the Eli Home (a non-profit home for abused children in OC). The whole positive message of Hardcore can be found in the acoustic performances of this show, even if the music itself is not Hardcore.
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HR of the Bad Brains is a true living legend, obviously belonging to a league of his own, while bouncing back and forth from Hardcore to Reggae. The Rastafari Icon's latest input is Hey Wella, an entertaining mix of Reggae, Hardcore, Metal and Hip Hop out on DC Hardcore. Definitely worth checking out!


Walter Schreifles, which is known in Hardcore from his time in old school straight edge favorites Gorilla Biscuits, but also Quicksand and Rival Schools, will also be giving an acoustic performance, which to him is nothing new: check out his acoustic cover on Agnostic Front's Society Suckers below!



Along with the two aforementioned musicians (being the 2 more closely related to the type of Hardcore we @ T.Y.S. cover), the lucky attendants will also watch performances by Jonah Matranga of the band FAR, Jeff Pezzati from Chicago's old timers Naked Raygun, and Steve Soto of one of the most old school and pioneering punk rock bands, the Adolescents.

It's nice to see the worldwide Hardcore Community being there for those in need. It's nice to see some older dudes still caring, and not resting on their laurels and/or selling out. Props to these people!

Organizer: The Wishing Well Crew, www.wishingwellcrew.com
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Note: We'd like to apologize for uploading the article a day or two after the show--we decided it was worth to check out anyway!

Old School Classics: CRO-MAGS "Age of Quarrel" - Part 1

Welcome to Take Your Shot webzine's new section, where we will be reviewing old(er), classic old school records that made an impact and deserve to be heard by EVERYONE! All kinds of people will be reviewing all kinds of stuff, so feel free if you want to send a review of your own favorite Hardcore or Hip Hop old school classic. OK, so we know some of these records are "too" classic, but this stuff is fun to write man, and basically we just want to bring a few old school gems back to the spotlight. So Let's Go!
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What better place to start than the Cro-Mags seminal Age of Quarrel, a Hardcore record that still influences the genre and rocks hard some 23 years after its release. We could easily argue that this album is the pinnacle of Hardcore Music, when it was fresh, angry, and intimidating. Hardcore bands all over the world site The Cro-Mags as one of their main influences, and you can still hear the sound created in Age of Quarrel everywhere today. As Danny from North Side Kings put it in Take Your Shot #1, "anyone who doesn't recognize this sound, should get a brick smashed in their face"!

The album kicks in with We Gotta Know, and Mackie Jaysons super-phat drumbeat clocking in with the full-drive guitar&bass distortion. It's definitely one of the strongest intros ever in HC, the type that forces you to press "repeat" 4 or 5 times, and gets the wannabe bands copying... Then when the mid-tempo intro stops, it's time for war, my friend, and about half an hour of non-stop, circle-pit, frantic Hardcore music!

Now imagine it's 1986 and the heaviest/fastest band on the planet is... Wait a minute, really--who!? On the Metal side there are the likes of Venom, Slayer, Bathory, Sodom etc. On the Punk/Hardcore side there is definitely the UK Discharge sound and Agnosic Front with their Victim In Pain masterpiece. And now, with this album, HARDCORE is truly established: it is separated from Punk (because it's waaaay faster/heavier), and set apart from Metal (because there is no f*cking theatrical interplay involved): Just a no-frills, in-your-face street sound. Of course: That's the sound of the Cro-Mags!

Musically the album is like a ten-ton hammer landing on your head, but lyrically, it is divided in two separate parts: the "Fuck you, we are the Cro-Mags and we're gonna punch your lights out" side (Street Justice, Hard Times, Survival of The Streets); And there is the other side of the coin, which is the Hare-Krishna inspired, spiritual identity of the Cro-Mags (that also inspired thousands of others in turn). Songs like Seekers of the Truth and We Gotta know are classic examples of Bhagavad-Gita mentality. Even the very title of the album is drawn from Hindu philosophy: "Age of Quarrel" refers to "Kali Yuga", a Hindu term that means "Times of Degeneration". Srila Prabupada, inventor of the Hare Krishna movement, often used the term Age of Quarrel in his public speeches.

Back in 1986, it must have been shocking for the scene (and the music world in general) to encounter a bunch of tough, tattooed NY kids doing this totally "in-your-face" thing with no compromise! Age of Quarrel brought so much into the world of music and has become that much of a classic, that it transcends the boundaries of Hardcore and can be found in all kinds of extreme music fans' record collections. The specific characters that made up the Cro-Mags are the very essence of the Cro-Mags legend: the people behind the massive wall of noise and hard-ass attitude. People like Harley Flanagan and John Joseph, as well as Mackie Jayson and Parris Mayhew to a lesser extent, are Hardcore icons that have influenced everything as we know it in Hardcore today. But their individuality also sparked a war between them, a war that has gone on for years and years, and has created so many other projects, influential bands, professional musicians, bookwriters etc. But that's just something that will have to be continued another time, in another article!

Thanks,
F- T.Y.S.

Stigma - "New York Blood" video!

You all know Vinny Stigma as the guitarist from the Godfathers of NY Hardcore, Agnostic Front. After almost 30 years of paying his dues in Hardcore and Punk, this legendary personality has just released his 1st solo album entitled New York Blood on I Scream Records!

This is the video for the song NY Blood. A true NYHC flavored street-punk anthem!

www.myspace.com/vinnystigma
www.iscreamrecords.com

Live Show: No Turning Back, Eden Demise, Tardive Dyskinesia

(click on image for bigger view)

Place: An Club (www.anclub.gr)
Price: 12 euros
Time: 21:30
Pre-Sale: Nope, just go straight at the door.
Organizer: World's Appreciated Kitsch (http://wakhc.blogpsot.com)
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Bands:
NO TURNING BACK (http://www.myspace.com/noturningbackhardcore)
EDEN DEMISE (http://www.myspace.com/edendemise)
TARDIVE DYSKINESIA (http://www.myspace.com/tardivedyskinesia)

If you listen to Hardcore, you probably know who No Turning Back is: one of the most-hard-hitting, but also most hard-working Hardcore bands in the world! Coming from Holland, they have nothing less compared to the big US bands that make the way. So it's definitely a pleasure to see them again in Athens! Last year their show was amazing: nice long set full of mosh, good vibes, nice merch... All good!

Eden Demise hails from Athens and I couldn't think of a better support choice for NTB. With their NY-influenced metallic Hardcore, they will definitely be IN THERE, wrecking shit with their beatdowns and thugcore/hip-hop approach!

When you go to a show and the 1st band is opening, things are pretty slow. Well, this won't be the case with Tardive Dyskinesia and their crazed bulldozing mathcore! Sounding like the heaviest Hardcore band but just about X10 more technical, they deliver the goods and leave you wandering WTF?
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All in all, this is a proper Hardcore show and it seems like everything is set for a good turn out, and a fun time for Hardcore fans! Proving that Hardcore is better, and heavier, gigs like this are just the evidence that this style of music is alive and kicking in this m/f country!!!

ZAO - Awake?

ZAO (Greek for "alive") have surely gone down like legends in Hardcore music history. Coming up in the mid-90s, they were one of the bands that formed the extreme side of what we call post-hardcore. I think they've managed to be one of the most special bands of that period not only due to their brutal sound, but also for the weird, dark spirituality and sense of unease they generate.

This is ZAO's new killer record and as the sticker on the CD says, they're back to "unnerve and provoke". And this they do: The best thing for me is Daniel Weyandt's vocals, a mix of black metal screams spat out with brutal hardcore monstrosity. At the same time, the music is dark heavy hardcore style, definitely metal-influenced but with no interludes, electronics or fake metal production. In fact, the production sounds really thick and warm, which is best-fitting for this style.

But Awake? is not just pummeling hardcore music; The album is filled from front to back with great discordant guitar work, some very well-put clean vocals/spoken parts, and constantly changing metallic drumming. In fact I don't think I heard one hardcore drum-beat going on, which is good: keep things mid-tempo and heavy!

Last but not least, the lyrics are dark, pessimistic, sometimes incomprehensible, but they so fit in well with the music (you won't understand a word unless you have the lyric sheet). But these words ooze with a sadness of the skeptic, the person who feels life and is immersed in it..

What's most important is that this record is an entity: it has 10 memorable songs that grow on you and leave you wanting more of Awake?. I personally always play the CD more than once in a row when I put it in the stereo (maybe 2, 3 times). After all, Awake? is complex enough for you to invest your time in listening to it again and again.

November 2009 update!

So.. 2008 & 2009 were 2 really a slow years for Take Your Shot! But we're back!

To be honest I personally never ever considered this mag dead, maybe more like a project that had been been stuck in the freezer for a while. What's important though, is that T.Y.S. is officially back on the map, and shit's about to seriously bust!

We've started working on the new issue, which is definitely not going to be just Hardcore music. In the last few years, musical horizons have been somewhat broadened, and I think it's definitely worth it to present more stuff than just HC. Not that T.Y.S will turn all MTV-like (as if), just that there will be other styles of music featured, as long as they are something we @ T.Y.S can dig.

Of course we're still interested in new and/or unsigned bands from everywhere, so please send all your demos and CDRs and all that, to the address written on the blog's information next to this column you're reading. We'll definitely hear that shit and feature it on the next mag or even here on this blog.

This web-page will also be more active. Many record, band, and label reviews/interviews will be posted here on a frequent basis, so keep checking back! I think we'll have some of the most interesting, energetic, thought provoking music going on here, so as Ice-Cube says, check yo self!

Take Your Shot is back!

Thanks,

Fotis