No Problem “Living in the Void” ep

This is NO PROBLEM’s latest release, which makes four. This would be the third 7”. The first two were on Handsome Dan. The full length was on Deranged. If I was to draw a conclusion about this it looks to me that 7”s come out on Calgary labels. Debt Offensive has taken this on. But Todd won’t have any problems with a band made up of past members of WEDNESDAY NIGHT HEROES, LET’S DANCE, and THRASHTIC FIBROSIS.  These were great bands in their own right and everything that NO PROBLEM has written has been great. This new ep seems a bit more back to basics. In an Exclaim interview the band talked about going after an old L.A. sound, and after listening to this I would hazard to guess that they were talking about early YOUTH BRIGADE and CHANNEL 3. The songs are more mid paced in tempo, the songs are constantly building and there are great sung back up vocals a la early SNFU. If I didn’t know better I would think that Chi Pig had broken out a rendition of “Cannibal Cafe” for the back ups on “Happy Family”. I mean that as a compliment. Have you ever been to an SNFU gig when that song starts in and the crowd erupts into a chorus of “whoas”? There is no moment quite like it. The chorus in “Happy Family” invokes the greatness of NO PROBLEM. But the sentiments to “Living in the Void” are immediately relatable whether you are living in Edmonton or Toronto or Sydney. And that is a carry over from the LP. There is so much relatable material in a NO PROBLEM song. The flame still burns what sounds like an all start team of a band. Champion city lives on without the Oilers. (Debt Offensive – 205-25 Richard Place SW / Calgary, AB / T3E 7N1 / Canada / http://debtoffensiverecs.bigcartel.com/)

Hassler studio 3 session

We recorded this session on the second day that Hurricane Stacy had hit Toronto. There was lots of rain outside and the lights lit up the playing field on the bak of Hart House showing off the mud pit it had become. Large puddles on display with little grass to show for it.

I wasn't sure who was in the band other than Jon and as I started reading up on them before we met up it appeared there was some pretty serious punk time that had played a part in the members past. The band is made up of Jay on vocals who was the singer in Bad Skin. Jon is the guitarist and he has played in so many bands ranging from Chokehold and Hacksaw and more recently Brutal Knights, Rammer, Career Suicide, and the Suicide Dates. Erik was the bassist in the Reprobates and they keep coming up in reviews I read about this band. And then there is Al who played in loads of bands but most recently he was in Toxic Holocaust and Rammer. It is the Rammer connection that seems to be the basis for this band. John and Al wanted to start something new up and Hassler is that band.

It wasn't until they started playing that I had forgotten how explosive a singer Jay can be. His constant pacing reminded me of a more together Darby Crash. It makes it extermely frustrating for someone trying to take a picture of him because they minute you get him framed he is off somewhere else. This energy makes Jay and engaging singer. And as far as cerebral metter is concerned Jay downplays this in songs like "Amoral" or "Trainwreck" by uses of self-character assassination, however songs likje "Retaliation" and "Enlightened" demonstrate deeper meanings to their songs the same way Total Trash are deceptively philosophical in their approach to lyrics.

The music is a modern day mash up along the lines of what Double Negative are able to pull off. I had the same paradigm shift experience with Hassler's music which played out as an endless game of name that part from punk's rich past. I think Double Negative and Hassler share the same make up of scene veterans from different generations of punk that work together at making simple flowing hardcore that speaks to all of their collective experience. It can't help but be a wealth of ideas, hyperkinteic in structure, and fascinating to hear unravel as it is played. Given their humble nature the band downplays the significance as some organic method of song writing, but as I listen to it I find the songs complex and rivetting and representing something new in hardcore writing which is ultimately waht the band is trying to achieve. Breakdowns that magically appear out of some raw d-beat riff with blown out distortion. Invisible Guy describes the sound as "Raw-Fi" which captures this idea embodied in bands like Urban Blight and Violent Future, but through back to a style hammered out by Confuse and G.I.S.M. Hassler have an approach and a background for this that can't be replicated and will be looked back on as a new approach to hardcore writing.

This session was recorded and mixed by Jonathon Hawkes. The songs we recorded at studio 3 include the following:

1. Amoral
2. Trainwreck
3. Retaliation
4. Escape
5. Apathy
6. Creeper
7. Asphyxiate
8. What I See
9. Beatdown
10. Pig Pen
11. Enlightened

The session was videotaped by Aldo Edric for Punks n Rockers and a clip can be seen below.



The interview we did for this interview was transcribed and then we did a follow up interview. We editted the two interviews together and submitted it to MRR. They published the interview in the April 2013 (#359) issue. Martin Sorrondeguy took the photos used in their layout when he was down for the Varning and NDY fest shows. Here is a preview of the piece.

Radio - Sunday, October 28, 2012

This program started out with a set of Hallowe'en songs written or performed by Canadian hardcore bands. That was followed up by a set up power violence and noise rock inspired bands which included the new Column of Heaven LP and the Veuve SS 12". We followed that up with a set of bands featuring women in the line up and included Sick Fix from Baltimore, and Criaturas among others. The next set featured a rare Polish band called Abaddon and a request from last week for Personality Crisis. We did a Black Flag inspired set with the new School Jerks and new Off! because they were in town last week. We finished up with a get up and go set that featured this incredible Japanese hardcore band named Think Again, after the Minor Threat song. Tonight's demo feature was a new Toronto group called Spearhead which features members of Total Trash, Snakepit, and Foxmoulder. Here is the playlist and you can also download the show.

TEENAGE HEAD - Disgusteen (Attic)

SNFU - Cannibal Cafe (BYO)
STRETCH MNARKS - Bad Moon (Headbutt)
BLACK DONNELLYS - Freddie's Revenge (Audio Fellatio)
SONS OF ISHMAEL - Hallowe'en Party (Sell-Out Activities)
THE SWARM - November First (No Idea)

COLUMN OF HEAVEN - Buried Secrets / Barghest Jugend (SPHC)
EYEHATEGOD - New Orleans is the New Vietnam (A389)
BURNING LOVE - Tremors (Southern Lord)
DISABILITY - Tooth (Self-Released)
VEUVE SS - Discipline (Self-Released)
MAKABERT FYND - Ett Kok Stryk (Sorry State)

SICK FIX - The Toll (A389)
CRIATURAS - Los Elijidos (Lengua Armada)
RAD - Geekonomics/ So say we all
THE TANGLED LINES - Battle (Refuse)
THE WARD - the New Dykes (Self-Released)
UTAH JAZZ - Contact Low (Feral Kid)
RACKULA - G20 (Schizophrenic)

ABADDON - Rewolucja (Warsaw Pact)
PERSONALITY CRISIS - The Advocate (Workers Co-operative)
DOA - Bring out your dead (Sudden Death)
UNRULED - Screams of Fear (Schizophrenic)
BOOK OF BLACK EARTH - Road dogs from hell / See demons (Inimical)

GOVERNMENT FLU - Role Model (Refuse)
SCHOOL JERKS - Crux (Bad Vibrations / Grave Mistake)
BLACK FLAG - I've Heard it before (SST)
OFF! - I got news for you (Vice)
NOOSE - Lex Talionis (React)
THE FORUM - Mercy for Now (Harsh Pizza)

BRAIN KILLER - Re-educated / Trying to remember (Vinyl Rites)
JOINT DAMAGE - Poison II / Damp (Sorry State)
THINK AGAIN - My War (Even Worse / Way Back When)
CITIZENS PATROL - Sick (Way Back When / Too Circle / Spastic Fantastic)
UNHOLY THOUGHTS - Sleep (Way Back When)

Demo Feature
SPEARHEAD - Contra (Self-Released)
SPEARHEAD - More World Wars (Self-Released)
SPEARHEAD - Pet Shop (Self-Released)
SPEARHEAD - Sword and Sorcery (Self-Released)
SPEARHEAD - Gas the Dancefloors (Self-Released)
SPEARHEAD - A Raid (Self-Released)
IN SCHOOL - Acid Burn (Self-Released)
IN SCHOOL - Apocryphal Scum (Self-Released)
IN SCHOOL - Knocked Out (Self-Released)

Flyer - Saturday, October 27th, 2012

Flyer - Saturday, October 27th, 2012

SATURDAY OCTOBER 27th @ the Silver Dollar
MISFITS performed by HALLOWE'EN
GUNS AND ROSES performed by VAG HALEN
THE GERMS performed by THE SOUPCANS
THE DAMNED performed by ELL V GORE
THE MONKS performed by YOUNG MOTHER / BLONDE ELVIS
NIRVANA performed by RITUALS
LOU REED performed by CUT FLOWERS
THE CURE performed by MAUOLEUM
BAD BRAINS performed by S.H.I.T.
NINE INCH NAILS performed by HELLALUYA
ORANGE JUICE performed by GAY

Flyer - Saturday, October 27th, 2012

Flyer - Friday, October 26th, 2012