Crib Notes

In the secret history of American punk and hardcore, the Effigies played a key role in leading Chicago’s strain of the energetic and reactionary sounds that defined disaffection in the Reagan era. The group’s 2007 CD, Reside – its first in 21 years – is a return to the lashing chops that made them such a formidable band in the early ’80s. With this one-off show, they’re playing at The Earl on Fri., Sept. 11 the group will show that the razor-sharp songwriting and political righteousness that gave the Effigies so much power in the early days of punk rock on American soil, still rings loud and clear.

Chad Radford:  I never thought of the Effigies, or the Chicago hardcore sound of the ’80s as having much in common with “Hardcore” (with a capital H), like bands from Boston or D.C.
John Kezdy:  If I were to describe what the Chicago sound was, with bands like us and Naked Raygun — we tried to write real songs but they had the punk energy. Our influences were a lot different from hardcore and I cringe whenever anyone calls us a hardcore band.

You don’t like being called a hardcore band?
It’s not that I don’t like it, but I think it’s an error. This may come as a surprise to you, but a lot of the hardcore crowd is kind of bigoted and has a very strict definition for what passes as hardcore.  If you don’t meet it you’re not hardcore. When our last album, Reside came out in 2007 we saw all of these hardcore blogs out there that hated it, and that’s as it should be because we’re not a hardcore band. I don’t mind if people call us a punk band because that’s what we’ve always been. I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but the lineage of the Effigies has always been more along the lines of the Sex Pistols, the Stranglers, the Ruts and that kind of stuff, as opposed to thrash metal or heavy metal which is what a lot of hardcore bands are. People forget that the term hardcore was actually a pejorative.

The Effigies play The Earl on Fri., Sept. 11 with Customers and Poison Arrows. $10. 9 p.m. , 488 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-522-3950.

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The Earl announced today that the seminal late ‘70/early ’80s Los Angeles hardcore band Fear will be playing on Mon., Aug. 10. Bloodhook opens.

From Steve Huey’s bio for allmusic.com

Along with Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, Fear helped define the sound and style of L.A. hardcore. Although they actually formed during the first wave of punk back in 1977, Fear didn’t release an album until five years later, by which time they’d honed a blistering, thrashy attack that, for all its fury, was surprisingly tight and sometimes even intricate. Which is to say that, musically, the band wasn’t as crude as frontman Lee Ving’s outrageous, humorously offensive lyrics, which were geared to piss off anyone within earshot, particularly women and homosexuals; his vulgarity was equalled only by his sincere love of beer. Continue reading.

$12. 8:30 p.m. The Earl. 488 Flat Shoals Road. 404-522-3950.

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Savannah’s punk-metal-hardcore ogres Kylesa have announced March 17th as the release date for their next record Static Tensions (Prosthetic Records).

The record’s release coincides with a full-fledged tour of the U.s. with the haunted and Glass House, which kicks-off Thurs., Apr. 2.

Kylesa guitarist/vocalist Phillip Cope produced Static Tensions, which was recorded at the Jam Room in Columbia, S.C.  Cope boldly claims that the songs on Static Tensions are the group’s “best work yet.”

The album’s artwork was created by by Baroness’ John Dyer Baizley, and the album will see will a vinyl release on the same day via 20 Buck Spin.

Kylesa “Where the Horizon Unfolds.”

(Tour dates and Static Tension track list below the jump).

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To celebrate the forthcoming vinyl compilation of Atlanta’s finest outsider, art punk, DIY, post-hardcore and non-garage rock bands, We No Fun,  a gaggle of bands and DJs are headed over to 97 Estoria tonight (Fri., Nov. 28th) to throw a pre-party.

Bands scheduled to perform include Hawks, Brass Castle, Sunglasses, Vera Fang, Skin Problems and Lay Down Mains.

The actual release party for the record won’t be happening until the last weekend in January.

But if you would like a sneak peak at what the record has in store, come check out the show tonight.

The show is free and starts at 8 p.m.

For more information on the record, including a track list and details regarding the forthcoming We No Fun Fest in January at The Drunken Unicorn, head over to the We No Fun Myspace page.

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