Operation Phoenix archives: the hard copies

Operation Phoenix is run by Adam Miller, an aficionado of early punk who writes, “I first got into punk when I was a teenager during the 90′s, but it was older stuff like the Stooges, Ramones, Black Flag, Germs, Circle Jerks — all of the usual suspects.

“The inspiration for the zine part of the site was due to the difficulty I had finding old zines to read. During the late 90′s, I contacted one of the zine libraries in the US to see if they would mail me zines if I’d cover postage and send them a deposit until I returned the zines. They said no. I understood the reason, but I thought an online site would fix that problem for a lot of people.”

Originally conceived as an online store (hence the name including the word “Records”), the site soon found its niche as a zine and flyer archive, with an online punk discography that Adam hopes to further develop. The zine archive is definitely the star of of show here though. I’ve been downloading zines from this site for months and still don’t have everything I want. And Adam says there are around 250 more zines he is still preparing to upload to the site.

Does this sound like a lot of work for one dude?

“The site absolutely takes a lot of work, but when I think of all the time that went into publishing all of these zines, it puts everything in perspective.”

Don’t miss the decades of perspective to be found at Operation Phoenix. Adam can be contacted thru the site. As a bonus, here are his recommendations for more punk archives.

Break My Face
Flex!
Kill From The Heart
45 Revolutions
Collector Scum

Happy treasure hunting!

[Click on the pages below to see them at full, readable size.]

Here’s a great EP that I first heard when I pulled it off the shelves at MRR. As a rule, compilations are a risky proposition: too many sub-par bands can ruin an otherwise good comp — or, if the different groups’ styles don’t mesh, you end up with an uneven listen. Neither is the case with Why Are We Here?, a regional comp from North Carolina released by No Core Records (get it? No Core) in 1983.

Bloodmobile opens with three SoCal-punk-influenced songs (check the awesome melodic bridge in “Drug-Related Death”!). Sadly, this band never recorded anything else — not even a demo — but I did run across some live tracks several years back that were OK. The almighty Corrosion of Conformity follows with two tracks that would later appear on their debut LP Eye for an Eye (same versions), plus one (“Too Cool”) that’s exclusive to this record.

Stillborn Christians deliver three more HC tunes with an interesting angular post-punk influence. These guys were definitely a cut above your typical paint-by-numbers thrash band, and it’s no surprise that the bass player went on to become a jazz musician. I believe at one point Stillborn Christians were supposed to release something else on No Core (an EP maybe? or cassette album?) and while unfortunately they never had anything else on vinyl, there does exist a great-sounding studio demo from around the same period with different versions of some of their tracks from Why Are We Here? plus a bunch more. Finally, No Labels closes out side B with two more exceptional songs. This band featured two members of C.O.C., though they’ve got more of a straightforward classic DC hardcore style. No Labels also has a ton of songs on the No Core tape (the Why Are We Here? precursor) plus a demo of their own, but these tracks are their best-sounding stuff. The breakdown to “Compromises” is killer!!

Listen below (and apologies for the surface noise — sounds like this particular record has seen many spins).

1. Bloodmobile – Drug-Related Death
2. Bloodmobile – Little Boy Blue
3. Bloodmobile – The Smiths
4. C.O.C. – Poison Planet
5. C.O.C. – Indifferent
6. C.O.C. – Too Cool
7. Stillborn Christians – New Right
8. Stillborn Christians – Fred
9. Stillborn Christians – Aggression
10. No Labels – Changes
11. No Labels – Compromises

To end this post, here’s some awesome live C.O.C. footage from 1983 (though I wish the audio and video were synched) — enjoy!

It’s hard for me to believe that it’s been 25 years since this LP was originally released. Yet here I am at 40, still super excited about a record which blew me away at age 15. 1984 was a sinister and prophetic year for a generation that grew up in the shadow of the Cold War and was weaned on the dystopian visions of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. Jeff Bale’s original liner notes point out the role of the elite in manipulating public opinion, and suppressing dissent is often manifested in the ideological and psychological sphere, rather than by brute force. Fast forward 25 years and we can see that Orwell’s vision of a futuristic Stalinist police state was crude, but his warning about the manipulation of thought and twisting of the truth was remarkably prescient.

The original punk movement of the late ’70s was shocking, loud, obnoxious and a break from the conformist malaise of that decade. As the bleak economic realities of the ’80s dawned, the radical right and corporate interests launched the Thatcher/Reagan “Capitalist Revolution” that was to result in great economic and social dislocation. As society swung to the right and embraced more conservative views, the slightly absurd and theatrical elements of ’70s punk were jettisoned for music of pure protest, energy and outrage: Hardcore! Maximum Rock n Roll was the international voice of this new movement, one that embraced radical social change and fast, powerful blasts of raw thrashing punk that made the bands of the ’70s seem tame and restrained.

It’s long been my opinion the Welcome to 1984 is the best compilation LP of all time. While it lacks the regional focus of runners up such as Flex Your Head or This Is Boston, Not LA, it documents not a local scene, but a worldwide movement. This movement was spreading, a virus of resistance to the conformity of the era that has continued to spread to the corners of the globe. The bands and songs selected by the MRR staff gave an impressive overview of this new and radical movement. 23 bands from 17 countries, this diverse assemblage all shared a power and urgency that truly captured the spirit of the times and the energy of the movement. When I bought this record at age 15 I was barely aware of punk outside my hometown and the UK. Reading MRR and blasting this record over and over opened up my eyes to the international hardcore movement and exposed me to many bands that have become life long favorites. There are some truly epic moments on this record, the bass intro to BGK’s “Computer Control,” the sing-along chorus of Kidnap’s “No SS,” and most importantly, the raw screams of Raw Power’s anthem “Fuck Authority.” When I first heard this record I knew I had found what I was looking for.

As the Cold War ended and the War on Terror began, the elite found a rationale to extend their manipulation of public opinion and ideological control. While the hardcore subculture has endured, and spread, many complain that it has lost much of the energy and urgency of the early days. A spin of this record is a shot of this energy, pure and unadulterated.

—Felix Von Havoc, December 2009

Eucharist played crushing hardcore with influences from some of the best late-’80s/early-’90s US hardcore bands. I can hear traces of Infest, Citizens Arrest, Born Against, Rorschach, Crossed Out, etc. Besides this 12″, they had a few tracks on the Nothing’s Quiet on the Eastern Front compilation LP (alongside Devoid of Faith, Assfactor 4, Dropdead, Monster X, and more), the Vida Life comp (on Lengua Armada), and the, uh, Double Dose of Dicks 2×7″ comp. Their guitarist Mark Telfian would go on to play in the band Hail Mary and was the original guitarist of Limp Wrist. He also did the label Paralogy Records.

Listen to the 12″ here:

1. Plague
2. Born in a Mess
3. Exit
4. Promised
5. Splintered
6. Spoon Fed
7. Fangs
8. Praying for Failure
9. Body and Blood
10. Frozen Minds
11. You’ve Been Had
12. Sensory Deprivation
13. Invincible
14. Fooled Again

As a side note, Mountain was a pretty diverse label, releasing stuff by Halfman, Seein Red, Iceburn, Atom & His Package, and comps with Totalitär, Antiproduct, Submission Hold, In/Humanity, and Balance of Terror. I was a regular volunteer there for a couple years in the early 2000s. Chris Jensen: if you read this, I hope you’re doing well!

This stunningly great 7″ is a mystery of mysteries.

When I happen across unfamiliar records with Tim Yo covers* in the MRR library, they usually turn out to be something good, or at least interesting. But this one is by far my favorite “discovery.” The Tenants played slow- to mid-tempo punk/post-punk that is both dark and melodic (think Wipers, Zounds, or more recently The Estranged). With its driving rhythms, the jangly, layered guitars and clever vocals (both in execution and lyrically), I’m surprised this record isn’t more well known and loved.

But don’t take my word for it. Have a listen!
Tenants – “Submind” MP3
Tenants – “Noise In My Head” MP3

I can’t find any info on the band itself. They were from San Francisco, but I haven’t met anyone here who ever saw them. There was another band called the Tenants around the same time — from Canada maybe? — I saw their LP in Amoeba and got excited until I figured out they weren’t the same. The only other tidbit I know is that “Noise In My Head” appeared on a comp tape that Calvin Johnson put out with the same title a few years ago. Maybe ol’ CJ could fill in some details for me…

*Tim Yohannan, MRR’s founder, used to modify some of his record covers by adding his own artwork — usually, it seems, for bands he particularly liked, or when the original cover art was just too boring. (Note that every record in the collection has the green tape, so that’s not a special for this cover.) The back cover on this Tim Yo mod features a clipping from the San Francisco Chronicle‘s article on the eviction of the International Hotel in 1977 — not far from the Mabuhay Gardens, aka the Fab Mab. You can read more about that event here. The front cover has a photo of the band that could’ve been from any number of local music rags at the time: Another Room, etc.

Of course, anybody with any info on this band or record should leave a comment here. Cheers!

I first heard of the Breeders (not the ex-Pixies band) on some website where their Zen Punk EP was compared to fellow Midwest bands Mecht Mensch and the State. Wow! That’s one way to get my attention quick. The record was one of the first I made a point of checking out the first time I visited the MRR record library. Now, I definitely wouldn’t say it lived up to the “hype” (if you could call it such), but it’s nevertheless a cool li’l 7″ and still pretty obscure.

There are two things I like about this EP. The first is how the two sides are so different — the A-side track, “Future Amnesia,” is sorta in between post-punk and “quirky” new wave. Amusingly, when the record was reviewed in the magazine (Issue #17, see below), this song was compared to Loverboy! Ha. I guess… but I still kinda like it, if only for the fact that it’s so incongruous to the other two songs. I dunno, maybe that’s what most of their other songs sounded like?

The other thing I like about this three-track EP is that one of the songs is called “Fuckheads (Uncool Slamming).” I mean, what more can you say about that?

Now, aren’t you curious what it sounds like? Well, listen for yourself:

1. Future Amnesia
2. Fuckheads (Uncool Slamming)
3. Zen Punk

And if you’ve got any info on the band, please post a comment!