Downshift - Flame Still Burns Demo

This is the first demo from Downshift, the band that would eventually evolve into Sworn Vengeance. To those unaware, Downshift was a Straight Edge band that was originally formed in 1996 by two brothers; Eric (bass) and Marc Fortner (drums). After placing some newspaper ads, the Fortner brothers eventually hooked up with Brian Baumgartner (guitar) and Ryan Encinas (vocals). The band put some songs together, and played their first show at the Danville Grange Hall in January of 1997.

Downshift continued playing shows throughout the Bay Area and quickly decided it was time to record a demo. The “Flame Still Burns” Demo was originally released in 1997 on cassette and featured 4 songs along with an Undertow cover (“Cutting Away”). This recording is a far cry from the later Sworn Vengeance material, so don’t expect to hear any Viking-metal here, just straight up Hardcore. I’d really recommend this demo to fans of heavy 90’s Hardcore, especially bands like (early) Earth Crisis and Unbroken. The cover artwork has been re-sized for itunes.

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The Hive Fanzine - Issues 1 & 2

I’ve been really wanting to post some older zine-related content on the blog, but unfortunately my scanner situation is somewhat limiting at the moment. Luckily, I was able to find these pdf’s online for the first two issues of The Hive Fanzine, a Hayward based fanzine which existed between 1995 and 1997. The Hive was put together by three Hayward kids; Brian, Kevin and Steve (Kevin and Steve also played in the band, Hornet).

This is pretty much your standard cut and paste type of fanzine, nothing flashy or amazing, but it’s still pretty cool. The first issue featured interviews with Second Coming, Carbon, Hoods and Blood For Blood, the Second issue featured interviews with Downshift, Built To Last, Zero Bullshit and All Bets Off. As you may expect, there are plenty of pictures, scene reports and old show/record reviews as well. Unfortunately, The Hive only released two issues before calling it a day sometime in 1997. I’ve included the pdf’s for both issues within the same zip file, so do yourself a favor and check it out.

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Some Still Believe - S/T

My apologies for the lack of blog posts lately, I have been very busy with school and I honestly just haven’t had time for the blog. Not to worry though… I have A LOT of stuff that I have been getting ready to post, and I plan on getting back to business this week. Without further due…

Some Still Believe formed in Redding sometime in 2000, they quickly released a 6-song demo and played a handful of shows only to prematurely break up later that year. The band ultimately reformed sometime in early 2001 and decided to take things a little “more seriously” quickly releasing their second (10-song) demo. By now, SSB was starting to play all over the west coast and with the help of the 2001 demo; they gained the interest of [then] newly formed Martyr Records. The label quickly got in touch about putting out the first Some Still Believe 7” (specifically requesting that several of the 2001 demo songs be re-recorded for the EP). SSB recorded this record sometime in 2001 at Pus Cavern Studios in Sacramento, with Mikey Hood apparently helping out with production. I believe the line-up for this recording was: Matt, Duane, Ross, Nate and Mike.

This 8-song EP was eventually (I remember thinking that it was taking forever to come out) released through Martyr Records sometime in late 2001/early 2002 but by then, band members had already begun to relocate from Redding to San Francisco and started to focus more heavily on their other bands (namely Allegiance). Some Still Believe would unfortunately break up in the summer of 2002. Members of SSB would eventually go on to play in bands like: Set It Straight, Allegiance, Right On, Set Your Goals and more. Big thanks to Duane, who was awesome enough to hook me up with an excellent sounding copy of this EP (this is cd quality straight from the band, not some shitty sounding vinyl rip). I would definitely recommend this EP to fans of Floorpunch and Ten Yard Fight. Be on the lookout for more Some Still Believe related posts, as I plan on uploading everything they ever recorded eventually…

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Support CaliHardcore.com

Big shout out/thanks to Nick Martinson over at Cali Hardcore (formerly True Strength label and distro) for plugging and supporting the blog on his website. Hopefully anyone reading this blog is familiar with his site, but to those unaware Nick has been doing Cali Hardcore for a really long time (since 1998) and he has definitely put a lot of time and effort into this thing. I can still remember buying stuff from the True Strength distro table as a young kid at shows; Nick was always a super nice guy and his selection was always really good. His site is full of cool old flyers, exclusive photos, reviews, show listings and other related info. He has also uploaded a ton of awesome and widely unavailable demos and records from older Bay Area and California Hardcore bands, which is available here. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Treason - Demo

Treason formed sometime in late 2002, and only played a handful of shows in their very brief existence. Mark (vocals) had previously sung for Breaker Breaker and Connor (drums) had been singing for the Lab Rats. Treason’s sound was sort of a cross between bands like American Nightmare and some of the more ‘messier’ sounding San Diego bands like Swing Kids and Heroin. Although it’s not totally my thing, this band definitely played this style a lot better than most.

This demo was recorded at Castle Ultimate studios in Oakland by Zach Ohren and originally released on cassette tape. This recording was also rumored/supposed to be released on vinyl as a 7” EP, but unfortunately that never happened. Following Treason’s break-up, both Kevin and Connor would quickly go on to form Lights Out in early 2003. This 10-song demo clocks in at roughly 7 minutes, so if you like really messy, chaotic, FAST hardcore, then check this one out. The cover art has been resized just to be a little bit more itunes friendly.

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Hoods - Endless Pain

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, school and exams have been keeping me pretty busy this week… the blog will be back on track by the weekend though. Hopefully this post will tide you guys over in the meantime.

Mikey was nice enough (thanks again Mikey) to give me permission to post the older/out of print Hoods material here on the blog, so without further due here is “Endless Pain”. Originally released through Stillborn Records, this EP is pretty much what I would consider to be a classic Hardcore record. This 7-song EP was recorded back in 1998 at Matt Erich’s studio in Sacramento, the bands line-up at the time consisted of Mikey, Ben, Mario and Jeremy (definitely my favorite Hoods line-up).

It might be considered somewhat low-budget sounding by today’s standards, but honestly I love the production on this record. I think that Matt Erich always did a great job of capturing the band’s sound and this record is no exception. Hoods were really starting to get a lot heavier around the time and you can definitely hear the growth since the “New Blood” record. Next to the “Alone” EP, this is probably my favorite Hoods release.

Sort of a side note, but the title track ”Endless Pain” appears on the “Alone” EP as well as the “California Hardcore: A Call to Arms” comp, and some of these songs were also later re-recorded for the Above This World album. I would hope that most of the local Bay Area heads probably own this one already, but for those that somehow missed out, here it is. Definitelly an underrated classic in my opinion, do yourself a favor and check it out.

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