News: Youth of Today free show in NYC!

2011 seems to be the most energetic year for Youth of Today since their reunion in 2008, but their latest show was a special event! They recently headlined the free re-release event/festival for the book ‘Making a Scene: New York Hardcore 1985-1988’ book, which originally came out  back in 1989. The book is now revamped with more than double photographic material, new commentaries etc. You can check it out through the following links:

http://www.makingascenebook.com/

Making a Scene Facebook Page

The festival was entitled True Til Def and was held at Santos Party House in the context of the annual CMJ music marathon, hosted by Andrew W.K. (musician/speaker/owner of the venue). Other bands that played the True Til Def festival were youth crew holdovers Mouthpiece, notorious punks Trash Talk as well as heavies Kylesa and The Fucking Wrath (some indie rock and hip hop artists also appeared). The festival was free, with placed reservations.

Hit this link to see YoT rampage the stage:

Check out  some photos from True Til Def here.

further links:

http://www.last.fm/music/Youth+of+Today

http://www.truetilldef.com/

http://www.cmj.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_W.K.

Rigas

Things that happen at Youth of Today shows

Ray Cappo circa 2010 (part 1)

So last time we revisited Better Than A Thousand and talked a little bit about Ray Cappo- the influential singer and a huge personality of the worldwide hardcore scene. Since his presence in hardcore in the early 80s, he's been an ambassador of straight edge, vegeterianism and spirituality in the hardcore punk community. In the 80s, he ruled the sXe hardcore scene with Youth Of Today, while in the 90s he formed Shelter who became huge and toured the world many times spreading the Krishna message.

Ray with Youth of Today in the 80s

So within the documenting of important hardcore personalities I am trying to do in this new section, Ray Cappo seemed like the first and perhaps the most interesting choice. In this first part about Ray Cappo, we'll see what he's doing nowadays, because Shelter's last album in 2006 ('Eternal') is his last output in the hardcore scene.

Cappo has always been a restless kind of guy, it seems. After Youth Of Today, he went as a monk to India and then formed Shelter. But that was an on-off thing to, as he lived in Costa Rica for a while and ran a surf camp,  practiced jiu-jitsu, opened Equal Vision and Revelation records (and then sold them) etc etc. A lot of fans have blamed him for that, but I think that the people who keep it fresh, and never stop evolving and changing, are to be admired.

An upside down version of Ray Cappo!

So this hardcore icon follows a totally different track these days. He is living in New York as a family man and a yoga instructor, health nutritionist and organizes trips to India for Krishna devotees. OK, so I know this might strike people who are more familiar with the scum-bag type hardcore personality, but I think that we definitely need a positive hardcore inspiration -not just fat guys with tattoos- and even if these people are not active in hardcore anymore (who knows where you will be in 10 or 20 years?), they still have put a lot into it and should get respect.

Next time, we will review Ray's career in hardcore during the 80s and 90s with YOT and Shelter respectively, and a focus on the Krishnacore movement. Lots of interesting stories to be told there--stay tuned and keep it positive!

A Trip Back to the Oldschool: Better Than A Thousand

This is just another hardcore classic for all you straight edge readers and adrenaline junkies out there. BT1K was possibly the moving force behind the mid-90s youth crew revival. It is also Ray Cappo's return to hardcore in the midst of his successful career with Shelter and his monastic life (!) as a Hare Krishna devotee. It was 1997, when Cappo teamed up with a league of seasoned hardcore players (members of Battery and Damnation AD) and made two awesome albums, Just One and Value Driven, both of which were destined to become classics.

These two records were ultimately based on the same formula: fast, energetic hardcore. The music is proper mid-90s hardcore, but with outsanding musicianship and Ray's genre-defining shouted/melodic vocals. If you add to the above some high-thinking and extremely positive lyrics, you get the picture of what BT1K was all about. You can feel the pent-up emotion and energy flowing throughout every single second of both CDs. 

Just One was recorded in a home studio (a bedroom with an 8 track), but the skills came through and created a unique crunchy production that kicks ass. The whole recording was done during a single weekend or so, and you can actually hear Ray's voice getting  sore towards the end (the vocals booth was set up in the bathroom)!  On the other hand, Value Driven has a cleaner production, a more dynamic sound (it was released on Epitaph), and a more militant but positive straight edge message. Check out the video (directed by Joseph Pattisall) to see for your self:

Could there be a BT1K revival? I think Ray Cappo has departed from hardcore for good these days (he's a yoga instructor and health nutritionist), but he has always surprised the hardcore community, so who knows! If Cappo ever came back to music, I wish it would be a 3rd BT1K record! I personally must have listened to these two records literally more than 100 times and have been deeply inspired by their message and great music. We are in dire need of some quality hardcore with a good message, so the best thing would be to get it from the people who created it and know how to do it better!