Fuck Authority: Boohahart - My Turn collaboration (surfboard art meets punk!)

OK so as most of you know, hardcore and punk have always been close with extreme sports. It is not only skateboarding that blends well with our favorite music, but also surfing. Yeah... surfing is surely on the rise in Greece and Europe in general, so me and my band My Turn thought we'd cash in on the opportunity... Just kidding.

This is a video my friend Jim from Boohahart did (a graphic design company that does ONLY cool shit), for his custom work on a surfboard. He wanted to rep My Turn on it, so there you have it. I think it fits pretty damn well to be honest! His video is called "Fuck Authority" and it obviously pays respect to the kings of skatepunk / melodic hardcore, Pennywise!

Thanks for watching and enjoy!

An avid skateboarder and surfer himself, Jim aka Hoppa is currently surfing in Morocco with the Cohete Surfboards team, but be sure to check his work out, say hi, and if you need any custom work tell him TYS sent you!

One X Choice "Forever War" Video (w/ Karl from Earth Crisis)

We never hid that we are big fans of all things youth crew, positive and anything Karl Buechner of Earth Crisis is involved in. Therefore, today we have posted a video that includes all of the aforementioned things!

Once X Choice is a hard hitting, Southern Californian straight edge band which carries the - almost forgotten - tradition of rad Californian heavy straight edge hardcore. That means that they might look like sun-tanned, chill out bros, but they are heavy on the thinking side and very serious about the edge! Various members of the band have been active in hardcore and skateboarding for years, so you can tell they are no rookies who discovered hardcore as the flavor of the month. Check out the following video featuring Karl from Earth Crisis, mosh around to it, get psyched, make yourself a vegan smoothie!

The band has a CD out called Forever War and it's just heavy youth crew meets mosh that you will definitely like if you're a straight edge kid or even just a hardcore music fan! It's also filled with guest appearances by Earth Crisis, H20 and Outspoken. Dig it!

Check out:
http://www.myspace.com/onexchoice
http://onechoice.bigcartel.com/

This Time The Keys Are Broken - "What About Tomorrow" EP Review

Yeah! Here at TYS we are down with the Greek hardcore bands who dare to follow a fresher approach of the music we love. TTTKAB is one of those bands, a bunch of young hardcore fellas whose influence by newer forms of hardcore definitely shows in their sound. What is important, however, is that they still keep the energy levels running high, which is the mostly essential aspect in hardcore music. So let's see what's up with this awesomely named 'new wave' hardcore outlet and the fuss they've created since their brief existence!

What About Tomorrow is the band's first recording, a 4-song EP which blasts through some very good melodic, melancholic modern hardcore. Fans of Modern Life is War, Comeback Kid, Give Up the Ghost etc take note! This band is a serious force to be reckoned with! The production sound is awesome and can easily be compared to US and whatever bands. And to be sure, this band is not some soft-ass hardcore like the type that is circulating a lot these days; their solid breakdowns are mean as hell and heavy as fuck, while the majority of the vocals are pretty harsh (not in the metal but more in the screamo style)! So forget what you might be thinking about pop parts, feelgood college style pop punk etc. This is hardcore, even if it is new age!

I could do with a bit more memorable and catchy tunes in this EP, but I am confident that this is something that will spring up in their next release for sure! After all, this band has members who might be young of age but they have all played (or play) in other notable bands, so they have a lot of potential to make a good name for themselves. At the end of the day, they pioneer a form of hardcore that's pretty much unheard of here in Greece, so thumbs up to them. We'll be here waiting for their next move!

Heavy Sh*t: Trail of Lies, Abysmal Dawn, Doomsday Mourning, Without Remorse

Yeah so as the title shows, we have quite a few releases from some heavy as hell bands waiting to be reviewed. Light hearted punks and people with pop sensibilities might want to skip this one! This post only deals with death metal/deathcore/brutal hardcore etc.

Trail of Lies - Demo

I will start this off with Trail of Lies and their amazing new demo. This brand new band from Syracuse do one thing and do it well: they fuck shit up. Their brand of heavy hardcore is reminiscent of the good old 90s, when bands actually wanted to do some damage with their core. This is the type of hardcore that is coming back: no BS, pissed off and straight to the point. TOL mixes the heavy NY sound with some old school hip hop attitude (check the artwork) and just punishes the listener with heavy, phat guitars, distorted metallic bass, heavy hardcore vocals and some relentless - but not overused - double bass drumming. Fans of Neglect, One Life Crew and other 90s metallic hardcore need to get this [9/10].

Abysmal Dawn - 'Leveling the Plane of Existence'

Moving on to some clean death metal territory, we got Abysmal Dawn's killer new album amazingly titled 'Leveling the Plane of Existence'. Fans of Krisiun, Malevolent Creation and Suffocation gather round these new kings of brutal death metal. These perfectly technical metalloids also mix some dark, black metal elements to their sound as well as some black metal vocals, thus making the outcome all grim and disgusting. Hail! Everything is done with such perfect precision that you can really admire the music amidst the brutality. At some points, I can even make out what the singer is saying! If someone asked me what I am listening for metal these days, this is the album I would play them! All killer, no filler, seriously blackened technical death metal. You bet [8/10].

Doomsday Mourning - 'The Science of Exploitation'

I can't say I am overly excited with Doomsday Mourning's downtuned deathcore. It sounds a lot like Emmure and despite 4 out of 6 songs featuring well known personalities from today's metal scene, I'm afraid this doesn't cut the cake. It's all mid tempo with a lot of beatdowns and I guess it does have some head nodding quality to it, as well as some cool psycho, stress-inducing guitar work over the heavy riffs. But every song is kind of repetitive and there is really nothing innovative musically to keep things really interesting. In times with so much good stuff coming out from everywhere, another downtempo deathcore band with nihilistic rap stoner attitude giving it all on the open chords doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid. The kids out there do seem to like this for some reason (maybe cause it's all brutal with no melodies whatsoever), but what do the kids know, really [4/10]?

Without Remorse - 'The Truth Hurts'

Moving back to more familiar and more worth talking of territory, we have groovy hardcore kids gone death metal, Without Remorse. Here is a band that knows what it's doing, by delivering 8 songs of heavy ass, unforgiving death metal with strong hardcore elements. The vokills are not exactly death metal, but bounce back and forth between DM and hardcore (and some gore-metal), while the guitars create a huge wall of sound which is led by the ongoing double bass drum action. This is the new millenium's death metal sound: groovy, phat, jump up and down, let's fuck shit up music. Just utter craziness and grooviness for fans of death metal and brutal hardcore alike. No matter if you're a metalhead who's shaved his head or a hardcore kid that gets carried away listening to Job For A Cowboy and Dying Fetus, you will like this record. The only downer with this record are the tiring cannabis references, but that seems to be a tie-in with a lot of modern death metal for some reason I cannot understand [7/10].

The World/Inferno Friendship Society - "The Anarchy and the Ecstasy" (Review)

And now for something completely different... WIFS have created a record that crosses the borders of punk rock as we know it, wandering far into different musical territories that will broaden the horizons of the unsuspecting listener. It is just great when bands take the punk ethos and run with it unconfined by the dictating music boundaries. WIFS seem to do just that in their new record (their 13th record to date), as they deliver a lovely concotion of punk, folk, rock, soul, ska and something else that is totally their own.

Frontman Jack Terricloth and co have assembled to create a masterpiece of modern revolutionary rock that might not be very heavy, but it is Revolutionary and it is Rock for sure, and therefore will go down very well with fans of later DOA, The Clash etc. In fact, we could say that the WIFS is a modern-day reincarnation of a Joe Strummer inspired ghost. The players are all skilled and throw in their solos, musical ideas etc just perfectly in order to create that amalgam of bittersweet, cynical and sometimes melancholic piece of modern rock n roll music. There are guitars, basslines, trumbets, trombones, xylophones, and a sweet back up female voice that will inevitably warm even the coldest of hearts out there!

WIFS: Embracing the Chaos

I am glad to see independent music like this coming out in these 'by the book' times. I mean, when you're faced with such a piece of innovative music, there comes a point you just can't resist and you get into it even though if it's more rock than punk and doesn't fit into any specific music category or lifestyle choice. Another last thing I wanted to mention about this exceptional record is that even though it creates a pretty emotional and personal relationship with the listener, it does it in a subtle and friendly way.  Therefore, it an be enjoyed over and over without becoming something too emotionally charged that you can only play under specific circumstances (like maybe The Pogues, Social Distortion etc). This is real music for all times, from the Friday night mayhem to the quietness of your living room and the morning after.

Congrats to Chunksaah Records (run by Bouncing Souls members) for putting out this pieceof 'chilled anarchy' molotov cocktail of lyrical and musical ideas!

Wise Words from Lou Dibella (Sub Zero)

A lot of hardcore fans know Lou Dibella as the singer of the pivotal NYHC band, Sub Zero. Their 1997 album Happiness Without Peace is an epic of 90s New York Hardcore and an essential record for every fan's collection. Lou also sang for Skarhead (in Kings at Crime) and various other hardcore rap and metal/hardcore acts. His distinct vocal style and dark, yet thoughtful and positive lyrics became a trademark which  reached its perfection with the classic song Lionhearted. In 2009 Lou finally disbanded Sub Zero, after a 20 year-long course in the worldwide underground hardcore scene, and a cult name that will be remembered forever. Lou is also known as the Cancer Killah, because he managed to beat a case of terminal cancer in the midst of his succesful career. The aforementioned Lionhearted song is Lou's report of his successful bout with death.

Just the other day, I was reading an interview of Lou with hardtimes.ca, which is very interesting and you should definetely check out if you're into the history of NYHC (and why not worldwide) Hardcore. I have pasted a small but also very cool and interesting excerpt of Lou explaining about PMA (positive mental attitude) in relation to his illness. Read, and remember...

"One of the most important things to remember in a situation like this is to always keep that (like the BAD BRAINS say), keep that PMA (Positive Mental Attitude). Because PMA is half the battle man. Your mind is a very powerful tool that is capable of so many unimaginable things. It most definitely has the power to heal all sorts of wounds, whether they be mental, physical or in my case and in the case of many little kids and old people, TERMINAL. Keep your head up. It will take you further. I've seen many come in and die in the hospital because of their attitudes towards the situation. I know it's hard, but it's that or your life. Ahh, I'm gonna die, I can't do this and what not.....that's bullshit man. If you think like that, then for sure you have NO chance. If you at least try to think positive, you will have 50% more of a chance to make it for sure. And for those that didn't make it, but went down trying....at least they went with integrity. I sing about this in our song LION HEARTED. Bless them all."

Death Before Dishonor - Athens 12 March 2011

Ohh yeah. Mean as hell and heavy as fuck. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have the only chance to witness Boston hardcore's finest Death Before Dishonor live in Athens. So put on your dancing shoes (Air Max-Vans-whatever) and just bring your ass to the show... like NOW!

Plakkaggio HC - 'Fronte Del Sacco' Review

What does Fronte Del Sacco mean? I have no idea whatsoever! What I do know, however, is that it's the title of these Italian bruisers' new album. I am not particularly crazy about Oi music aside from the basics (4Skins, Last Resort, the Business etc), but these guys make me want to reconsider all I know and dust off those old vinyls in my record collection. These Italians play some of the best and hardest streetcore/hardcore/metal that I have ever had the pleasure of listening to.

Right above I used the word 'metal', and I didn't use it lightly. Plakkaggio HC have incorporated a very strong metal element to their sound, making their catchy, heavy as fuck Oi sound even greater and meaner. The vocals come in a guttural, heavy hardcore tradition and are mixed with singalong choruses and heavy metal influences. This may sound pretty mad but when you listen to this record, it all comes together just fine. It's like putting Last Resort, Sheer Terror, Slayer and Bathory in a UFC fight and see who comes out winner. I'd say that Oi is definitley the meeting point and the base for Plakkaggio HC, but the hardcore and metal elements are also very distinct and hit you straight in the face when you least expect it.

The production is clear and heavy as fuck, and as a result aids the strong and solid, driving music lines and  so  to speak melodies these guys create. All this makes for a very incediary, riot inducing Oi album that you may want to hear before going out on a Saturday night, while working out or after a hard day's work. What's for sure is that if you  give Plakkaggio HC a few listens, you will come out feeling as strong as a bull and you will have fair possibilities of destroying anything that stands in your way!

All hail to this mad as hell Italian streetcore band. They have a lot of personality and their own distinct sound so I guess they deserve every bit of attention. They create nice, heavy uplifting music with a ton of attitude and guts and I can't ask for much more from a sincere hardcore band. They're on their way for sure, playing live often and having shared the stage with many known acts like the Varukers and Total Chaos, so all we can do is sit back and watch this monster grow.

All For Nothing - Live Show - 5 March 2011

It's about time for a real hardcore show filled with good bands right here in our hometown. Athens hardcore, here we go!

All For Nothing are not only one of the few female-fronted hardcore bands in today's scene, but also one of the most hard-hitting European hardcore bands in general. They've been doing their thing for quite a while now, having played hundreds of packed shows everywhere (indluding huge hardcore fests) while gaining a massive following in their native country, Holland. If you're up for some heavy old school hardcore with a light youth crew tinge, then AFN is your kind of band. They'll be tearing up the stage big time, but not before our local support bands wreck the place in their own right! Check it out.

I don't know many things about Cause For Fight, so I am making sure to get my ass to the show early so I can check this band out and see what they're about. Against All Odds, however, are one of my favorites from the local scene; and what a perfect band to get a hardcore show going with their upbeat, energetic old school hc/street-core. Eden Demise are of course the undefeated champions of brutal hardcore in Greece, and I am expecting nothing else but heavy ass hardcore grooves with a ton of attitude.

What can I say... I love hardcore shows! They're my way of having fun and chilling with friends. I always do my best to find myself in the crowd and you should, too. It's gonna be awesome!

Vegan Hardcore Tattoos - Tattooed Commitment

It's always interesting to study the way tattoos have become an inseparable part of hardcore music and lifestyle. In many cases, words collide and it's hard to tell who influences who: people cross from one culture into another, i.e. start from vegan straight edge and go to just being vegan without listening to hardcore but keeping the principles from a scene they grew out of. In other cases, people who are vegan come to discover hardcore and its philosophy, draw the parallel lines and become true dedicated vegan sXe hardcore kids.

All is possible, and while people change their beliefs and shift from one culture to another in their endless pursuit of a solid, justifiable identity, one thing is for sure: the emblems that they chose in the process will definitely stay on their bodies. We're talking about tattoos, of course, and the way that they pay testament to a person's beliefs and past. I think this is exactly why tatoos have been so big in hardcore (aside from the fashion, which is always a factor). Hardcore as a style of music has always been related with strong beliefs and life choices. For sure, hardcore bands have always been outspoken about their philosophies and personal beliefs. This is what makes hardcore interesting ; this is what makes hardcore unique. 

Today's post is a small photo collection exploring the world of vegan tattoos.The following photos are not necessarily from people who are die hard hardcore fans, but the action it self of getting a huge vegan tattoo is pretty hardcore and deserves to be presented here! So let's go!

Nice throat tattoo with a direct nod to ALF

Vegan knuckles is always a good way to go

Working hard to maintain vegan fitness

 Don't ask if it hurt

Walter Bond, the 'Lone Wolf' - imprisoned animal rights activist

Supporting animal rights for life

Los Ocegueda, vegan tattooist

Little Linda, a vegan sXe model and tattoist

Like always, this isn't no propagation article.We just show it like it is. Personal beliefs may coincide with certain ideologies, but we're not trying to push anything down people's throats. Also, we should not forget to let vegans and aspiring vegans know that there is vegan ink that they should use for their tattoos if they want to remain 100% vegan (most tattoo ink contains gelatine, certainly an animal product). It's more expensive and most tattoo shops don't have vegan ink yet, but... yeah.