A distro, label and blog dealing in all things punk!
Flower Leperds are one of those bands that don't get the credit which is due to them. Formed by guitarist Jeff Wolfe and best known for their period with Tony Cadena of Adolescents as their lead singer, few have truly appreciated the earlier Flower Leperds material that featured Mark Olsen as their front man which in my opinion had a much more gloomy almost deathrock vibe about them. In 85 they released their first 7" 'Has Hate Been Kind Enough' which covered rather taboo topics in their lyrics such as pedophilia, suicide and general disdain for human life, Flower Leperds are far from your typical punk band, in fact they remain an enigma mixing a variety of different influences.
So I was having a conversation with Neil from Teargas last month and he asks: "You heard Total Control?" Thinking the name sounded familiar or I at some point in my travels saw one of their records in the bargain bin at Missing Link I replied with: "Names familiar, where they from?" His reply: "Melbourne, Darkwave apparently." Ehhh? A darkwave band in Melbourne and I haven't been informed till now? I went to investigate. Turns out Total Control features Dan the writer of prominent Punk/Hardcore Fanzine 'Distort' and member of Straightjacket Nation and UV Race. I'm no stranger to Dan's ramblings in Distort and Maximum R&R regarding Christian Death, Rikk Agnew, Naked on the Vague etc. so naturally I was intrigued to suss this band out. Nabbing the LP and putting it on the turntable I thought I had this bands stylistic origins sussed. Wrong.
rate this LP, when I first heard it I wasn't impressed. It sounded so varied I couldn't pinpoint what sort of sound was trying to be conveyed. On one hand you have this ferocious garage rock and no wave vibe featured in some of the early songs, then it takes a turn towards post punk/darkwave reminiscent of Bauhaus. There are subtle things throughout this record that give away what the band is trying to do. The guitars in parts for example are textbook Rikk Agnew and Dan's vocals shift between Pete Murphy and Rozz Williams and even delves into something along Cacophony era Rudimentary Peni . Your probably wondering if this record is even worth your time? Well after listening to it on repeat I can safely it is. Will definitely drive the 'herdcore' SJN fans around the bend not knowing which way to look.
Noise destroys! This 7" slays! Nerveskade from PDX deliver hard hitting Disorder/Confuse worship however this 7" is different from their other recordings in so far that the noise element isn't going into overdrive, its actually nice to have it a little easier on the ears for a change and sounds more UK82 than Noise punk but so far my favorite recordings by them! Perdition come from NYC and annihilate their side of the record with two tracks of nasty raw punk but a lot harsher on the vocal delivery than Nerveskade. Can't quite put my finger on this bands influences but I fucking like it none the less. Issued with 2 double-sided inserts, one for each band. First press of 1000 with labels mixed up. Second press of 650 with correct labels.
