Kabal Bites The Dust

Just a quick post for today to give everyone a heads up that I've decided to eliminate the page "Kabal Bites" from the contents of this blog.

For those who have no clue what I'm talking about "Kabal Bites" was a page on this blog that served as a daily news feed to let readers know if there would be a blog post for the day.

Over the Christmas holidays I dropped the ball with the page and in turn it ended up not being updated for over a month. I figured its pretty easy for someone to tell if there is a blog post for the day or not simply by checking this page.

I came to the conclusion that the page was essentially pointless and redundant so it is now ancient history. I merely wanted to bring this to the attention of my readers who may have been wondering why the page disappeared.

Thank you for your time and your continuous support as a reader of "Heavy Ghetto" we will return to the story tomorrow.

Cryptic Slaughter

During my numerous visits to Sam the record man in the Bramalea City Centre, there was a certain record I kept seeing that I pondered taking a gamble on, but never did as I feared it might be terrible and a waste of my hard earned money.

Eventually my best buddy Jerry ended up acquiring it on cassette tape somehow so I finally had the chance to give it a listen. The album was entitled "Convicted" by a band named "Cryptic Slaughter"

The album cover boasted some pretty cool artwork that was reminiscent of something I would find in one of my underground alternative comic books I was so fond of. The image depicted four guys, the members of the band, in a jail cell being guarded by a uniformed skeleton. It was safe to assume they were a crossover band seeing as three of the members looked like typical thrashers, and the fourth member, the vocalist of the band, looked more like a punker, with long, black, spiked hair similar to Mr. Jonny Rotten from the Sex Pistols.

Upon my initial listen I really didn't know what to make of it. The guitar sound was a bit tinny, the bass was typical sounding, the singer had a great screeching voice similar to A.M.Q.A. and their drummer was nothing note able, in fact he pretty much played the same beat in every song. Mind you it was a blast beat before the days of grind core, and any drummer will tell you they are not the easiest beats to play. As a whole, the band was not the tightest by any means, but I've always felt a bit of looseness and sloppiness is just another element of this genre of music.

All in all this band really seemed to be lacking skills and technicality, yet for some reason I absolutely loved them! I couldn't quite put my finger on the reason why I loved them but soon enough I was able to sum it up in one word: Heart.

Even the most technical bands can fail if the members aren't a cohesive unit with heart and passion. As talented of musicians as they might be, if the love isn't there it shows through in the music. Although Cryptic Slaughter were lacking in the skill department, they had more heart than you could carry and more passion than you could imagine, which outweighed their being musically challenged. Yet another wonderful and magical element that makes up the definition of hardcore music.

F.B.I.

One day while "moshing in the food pit" as we called it (hanging out in the food court) at the Bramalea City Centre, I was chilling with the EBS boys carrying on and having some laughs, when we were approached by a group of guys who knew them. They shot the shit for a few minutes and then they were on their way. I asked the boys who these dudes were and they informed me they were members of yet another Brampton band called F.B.I. which stood for Fucking Brainless Idiots, another acronym which you all know I hold so dearly to my heart.

From what I gathered you had to be a giant to be a member of this band, as they all seemed 7 feet tall to me, except for one of their guitarists Mike who was just shy of 6 feet. These guys were the epitome of the word "Thrasher" as they all adhered to the dress code and boasted some of the longest locks I had seen in my town.

There was another Mike in the band who played the strings, he was a tall, lanky, withdrawn looking fellow who always seemed to have the same blank, expressionless look on his face. I'd always see him sporting his D.R.I. painters cap that I was extremely envious of. For the life of me I could never and still cannot remember which Mike played bass and which Mike played guitar, if I had to guess though taller Mike would be my pick for bassist.

Their drummer Pete a.k.a. "Spidey" was also a tall, lanky fellow with jet black long hair. Despite the fact that he was a really nice guy, he had that look to him like he could possibly be a serial killer, the kind of guy you wouldn't want to piss off or run into in a dark alley, and he wailed away on his drum set with furious intensity & the look of a mad man on a mission.

Then their was "Tex" who I believe was the lead guitarist of the band but don't quote me on that His hair wasn't super long, but he boasted some tight ringlets that made me perceive him as Thrash Metal's answer to Slash from Guns n' Roses. Tex was always sporting a big toothy grin, his pearly whites sparkling like they were made of gold. Tex always seemed happy & lighthearted so I quickly assumed he was the joker of the group.

Last but not least was their vocalist, Tim. Tim was the only member of the group that didn't have long hair, in fact he was quite the opposite, he had no hair! No he wasn't bald, it was shaved by choice. Tim didn't really dress like a skinhead or a thrasher, so I chalked him up as a crossover guy, which in turn brought a crossover element to the band in my eyes and opinion.

A few weeks later I had the privilege of seeing F.B.I. perform for my first and last time, sadly I never caught another show of theirs, but the one show I did see was killer! I stood at the back of the room cooking b.t.s for me and my friends while having my ears and senses assaulted by the thrashing onslaught that was F.B.I. From what I can recall, their style reminded me of the bay area thrash sound I'd grown accustomed to listening to bands like Metallica, Exodus, & Testament. They were heavy as fuck and even though I only saw them that one time, they had a new found fan.

It was a great pleasure to get to know some of the guys over the years, and they were all great dudes who I easily got along with. Thinking back to that night I remember walking home from the party with my friends discussing how fucking heavy F.B.I. were, we had gone to see E.B.S. perform, yet we were blessed with a pleasant, unexpected surprise in F.B.I. another very important and detrimental piece to the puzzle that made up the Brampton scene.

A.M.Q.A.

That band was called A.M.Q.A. which stood for Apple Maggot Quarantine Area and they were from . The tape Jay made for me had 2-4 songs of each band, and there were 4 songs by this particular band, Baby Sitter, Big Fat Muffin, Face Plant, & A.M.Q.A.

The recording wasn't the best quality by any means but that was part of what made hardcore music so magical. These kids were finding the means to get their bands out there by any means necessary, which a lot of the time meant crude 4 or 8 track recordings. This also gave the music such a rawer sound that suited it perfectly. I recall some bands re-recording older songs down the road in proper studios and to me it just didn't feel or sound as hardcore because of how polished up it was.

None the less A.M.Q.A. was some straight up radical raw crossover classic ness! I don't know what it was about them that appealed to me so much. First and foremost was the name which I thought was great. It was silly and playful yet somewhat dark and ominous sounding to me, and it was an acronym which you all know I'm a huge fan of.

The guitar sound was so raunchy and rambunctious that still to this day when I hear any of their riffs I want to start throwing down and boogieing. It almost had a tin can crunch quality to it if I had to try and explain it.

The bass wasn't super noticeable due to the overwhelming ness of the guitars, but it was there and was solid without question.

The drumming was some pure straight up insanity! Definitely some of the fastest I had heard to date, perhaps not the most technically sound but I've always felt a little bit of loose sloppiness is an element of punk music that makes it what it is. This drummer had some serious blast beats too before the days of death metal and grind core.

The singer was anything but that, this dude was a straight up screamer with a bit of a higher pitched voice that crackled and growled as he delivered his lyrics, but he also did a bit of cleaner sounding stuff on other recordings I discovered many moons later. With all that combined they just killed it and they had an amazing energy and chemistry about them.

A.M.Q.A. were without a doubt my new favourite band. I think the song "Face Plant" sealed the deal as I was a skater and here was a skater related song. I always loved discovering new bands that nobody had heard of and as I went around spreading the word it was apparent that nobody knew of these guys in my local scene. Even decades later when I brought them up amongst my hardcore elitist friends they would look at me puzzled and confused.

Over the last 10 years I've been in correspondence with Kevin a.k.a. Toast, the bands drummer and he was kind enough to hook me up with some material of theirs over the years. It was also an honour to receive great compliments from him in regards to my own music. As it stands I now have everything they ever put out with the exception of 2 or 3 songs that were on a compilation that nobody seems to have available. I took it upon myself to create a bandcamp page for the band a few years ago to preserve the memory and the music of what I feel is a truly slept on classic act that is important to the history and the foundation of crossover music.

Enjoy and long live A.M.Q.A.

www.amqa.bandcamp.com

The Adventures of Zany Mandrill

After "Music Plex" opened in Brampton, me and the boys would usually hang out there on a fairly regular basis. For those who don't know the "Plex" is a music store that opened in B-Town, it catered to musicians. You could buy drums, guitars, or whatever else you needed for your musical pleasures. Normally when we went there Craig and Jerry would be checking out guitars while I was browsing the drums, microphones, and the magazine rack.

One day while hanging out there we started talking with one of the new employees. His name was Jay and he had just moved down here from the western coast of Canada. If I remember correctly Jay started talking to us because he had noticed whatever band shirts we were wearing at the time. Turned out he was also big into thrash and hardcore.

Jay was a super nice guy and a pretty kick ass drummer, he had left the dreams of his band "Zany Mandrill" behind to venture out east. Jay was one hell of a drummer and he was always half heartedly complaining that our band already had a drummer in Ryan.

Before long Jay was hanging outside of work with us on a personal basis, he didn't know anyone period so we were his new family. Jay was now an official part of our clan, he now hung out at the mall with us as well as came to all the parties with us, and one of the coolest and beneficial things about him was the fact he was of legal age to purchase alcohol for us minors.

The thing I loved the most about Jay however was the fact he was so eager to introduce me to all sorts of bands I had never even heard of. Jay invited me over to his place once, well his room in the boarding house he was living in downtown Brampton. I had never been in such a place and I found it rather bizarre. We sat in his crammed little room listening to his choice selections while I went through his record bins with a fine tooth comb. Jay had all kinds of cool looking albums from quite a few bands I had never heard of. We didn't have the time to delve into everything so Jay decided to make me a mix tape.

The next time I saw Jay he had the mix tape ready for me just as promised and he didn't fail to deliver. I was introduced to shock rockers "The Mentors" three fat guys who looked like your typical fathers wearing black kkk hoods. Jay also introduced me to "Nardcore" a scene made up of several bands from the Oxnard area in Southern California, the most noteworthy bands being Dr.Know and Rich Kids on LSD.

It seemed that no sooner than the tape was placed in my hands, Jay disappeared like a thief in the night. We went to Musicplex only to find out he didn't work there anymore. I was very saddened that my new friend had upped and vanished, I was even concerned as he had no family down here. I suspected the worst. Eventually I got a letter in the mail from Jay one day, he had moved back out west to pursue his dream as a musician. We kept in contact for awhile via snail mail but eventually that stopped and we never spoke again.

Jay definitely left his mark on me and he has always been in my thoughts. Even now 25 years later I still find myself occasionally trying to locate him on the Internet, he just made that much of an impact in the small amount of time he was in my life.

There was one band on the tape Jay made for me however that really caught my attention and I am forever indebted to him for that, to this day when I listen to them I am filled with happy thoughts and memories of him...

The Legend Of Curious Mold

When my buddy John McCuish was incredible enough to give me a copy of the Epileptic Brain Surgeons demo, he neglected to mention any details about it, or even merely explain what was awaiting for me on the flip side of the tape.

Much to my surprise there was a demo recording on the other side of the tape from yet another local band called Curious Mold. I immediately questioned John about this and came to find out that both bands had recorded their demos in the same day at the singer from Curious Mold's house. Or maybe they recorded in John's basement, I can't quite remember now. John went on about how much he loved their music and how great of guys they were. Word had it they would party at his house on weekends while both bands jammed.

As I delved into the demo I became more impressed and more energized as the tape played on. Mold were punk to say the least, and much like their pals in EBS they definitely had a sense of humour which came through in the music. With song titles like "I wanna be an anarchist but my parents won't let me" it was safe to say these guys were on the comical side. They even had their own renditions of the Sesame Street theme song as well as James Bond's theme from the 007 films.

Mold brought it all to the table, speed, heavy ness, comedic elements, cover songs, and they even payed homage to our home town of Bramalea in one song. Mold had their own dance affiliated with them as well, the "Pogo" which is pretty self explanatory. Even the pogo had its own song "Pogo or Die" complete with a fancy intro in the vein of Suicidal Tendencies "possessed to skate"

When I finally started meeting the guys in Mold I was a bit taken back. While walking with Mike Myre in the mall one day we ran into their drummer Sean and bass player Darcy. Sean was a skyscraper of a lanky dude with long hair and he was dressed in typical thrasher fashion. Darcy seemed like a normal looking guy and he barely said a word while Sean orchestrated the conversation with exaggerated facial expressions and light hearted ness that had us all laughing.

A few weeks later I was walking through the mall with Pooh when we ran into their guitarist Jason a.k.a. Bones, who despite his averagely long hair seemed like a quiet, regular, down to earth thrasher.

Not long after I was fortunate enough to be hanging with the EBS boys one weekend when they revealed the fact there was a small party going on at the singer of Mold's house. His name was Mike but everyone called him Beekford, or Beek for short. McCuish was always going off about how Beek was the man, but once I finally met him I couldn't figure out why. Beek looked like some normal, generic dude. He didn't dress like a punk or have anything that really stood out about him....until he opened his mouth. Within minutes I could see why everyone praised him so much, the guy was hilariously funny, the life of the party, and everything that came out of his mouth seems like words of gold to me.

I finally got to see Mold perform at a basement party in Brampton and it was awesome, especially since I was now familiar with their tape and I could sing along and thrash out to their tunes. Beek was one hell of a frontman who commanded your attention and had you hanging off his every word.

Sadly I never got to see them perform much nor did I really get to know them or become friends with them until decades later, but in my mind they were the ones who started the whole hardcore scene in my hometown of Brampton.

There may have been others before them that I don't know of that will forever remain ignorant to me, but as far as I'm concerned my opinion stands as such: without Mold there would never have been a scene that led me down the path of getting into playing in bands.

Even though I had a band before I knew of Mold its the six degrees of separation that have brought me to this conclusion. Long live the memory of the kings of 80s Bramalea G-section basement hardcore punk rock! Without you there is no us...

http://curiousmold.bandcamp.com/

North of Hell

No sooner than I had acquired my copy of "Reign In Blood" I caught wind that Slayer had a new record that was being released, I read about it in one of my metal magazines where I got all the inside scoops, or maybe I read it in Thrasher magazine...none the less there was a new Slayer album coming out and I was pumped up about it!

As soon as the chance presented itself to me, I was on the first Go bus to Toronto, home of the infamous record peddler. When I walked in the first thing that caught my eye was the new Slayer album in all it's glory, emblazoned with their sharp logo, and a big skull with an upside down cross through it, looking like some gnarly stained glass window into hell. The album title was quite suitable for Slayer as well, "South of Heaven" I also picked up a cassette from a punk band my good old pal John McCuish had introduced me too, they were called Minor Threat and the release was called "Filler" the cover photo was of a skinhead punk sitting on some grungy steps with his head hung low, almost in defeat...but this tape was nothing but winning!

Filler was similar to Reign in Blood in one aspect, the songs were so short and energetic, to the point that the entire album fit on one side of the cassette and all was repeated on the second side. Minor Threat weren't necessarily heavy since they were a punk band and not a metal band, but they delivered their songs with equal speed, aggression and conviction that was parallel to any thrash band. Every song was solid and I just couldn't stop listening to it over and over again. Minor Threat was my first step across the bridge into a new world of hardcore punk.

I finally peeled myself away from the tape player and dropped South of Heaven on the turn table. This album was quite different from Reign in Blood but it was still incredible and jam packed full of killer songs. Slayer seemed to slow the tempo down a bit on this release but there was still an abundance of speed. The songs just seemed more structured with a lot of signature changes. They had definitely evolved and matured as a band yet they still stayed true to the Slayer formula, and they were quickly becoming one of my all time favourite bands.

Still soaring from the high of this new Slayer album, I caught wind that Slayer were coming to Toronto to perform on their 1988 "World Sacrifice Tour" and it was finally time for me to goto my first real concert...