MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL » MRR Archive

From the Vaults: Reagan Youth revisited

Paul — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:04:16 +0000

Three years ago we posted this REAGAN YOUTH demo, which got quite a response. If you missed it the first time around, check it out! And to go along with that, here’s an interview with the band from MRR #4 done in November of 1982. It mentions the spoken word part of the unused version of the song “Brave New World” and contains this lovely quote from Che Guevara look-alike Dave Insurgent:

“You can consider us a hippy band or a hardcore band or a punk band; labels don’t matter.”

So now, enjoy this time capsule from NYC’s second greatest hippy band (next to the Fugs), Reagan Youth!

(Click the image to enlarge to readable size)

BONUS! Thanks to the comment from “not u” below, we’re adding this letter Dave Insurgent wrote to MRR, published in issue #3:

From the Vaults: Ads of ’86

MRR Web Coordinator — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:02:37 +0000

We’re still digging through the stacks of old moldy PDFs here at MRR Web HQ… Maximum Rocknroll #36 was another classic issue, with 7Seconds, Slapshot, and Tozibabe, to name but a few of the great interviews therein. But what kept grabbing our attention was the ads, imagining being able mailorder all of this shit when it came out and marveling at long-forgotten demos and zines of yore.

Check out the Pusmort records for $5 ppd. and the “upcoming” Poison Idea Kings of Punk LP! Those Disorder mailorder ads were hand-written every month and they did a huge hand-written catalog that came out pretty regularly as well. Does anyone remember SICK BOY from Nanaimo, BC? Who’s got a copy Twin Falls, Idaho’s No Answers zine? How about a FACTION tour video?

In another 20–30 years will the young punks be doing the same thing with MRR #348? We sure hope so. But for now, let’s take the time machine back to May of 1986. Won’t you?…

From the Vaults: Christ on Parade

MRR Web Coordinator — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:52:13 +0000

Here at MRR’s Web HQ we continue to dig thru the archives of back issues searching for hidden treasures to post on the website. There’s no shortage of gems, actually — it seems like every page of these ’80s issues contains something of interest, or hilarity, or strange prescience…

Here we find the East Bay’s now legendary CHRIST ON PARADE, from MRR #25, May/June 1985 — only a few months after the band formed. The interview captures quite perfectly the zeitgeist of the mid-1980s, with talk about opening kids’ eyes through punk music, how TV is lame, why religion sucks, questions like “Do you think the scene is an alternative lifestyle as well as alternative music?,” and the best bit:

MRR: Is there any general message you want to get across?
Malcolm: That we’re all just shit, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

Listen to Christ On Parade – “Drop Out” MP3 from their 1985 demo tape

(click image to enlarge)

The MRR Records Discography: a History

MRR Web Coordinator — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:30:29 +0000

The very first time readers got their hands ink-stained with the pages of Maximum Rocknroll, it was through the zine insert for the now-classic Cali punk/HC compilation Not So Quiet on the Western Front. Right from the beginning, MRR wanted to have its hands in everything DIY punk: zines, records, radio, show spaces, politics, and more. That locals-only double LP was released by then-MRR Radio collaborator Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles, and served as ground zero for both Maximum Rocknroll fanzine and Maximum Rocknroll Records. Just two short years later, MRR Records unleashed its first official release onto the world: the era-defining ripper Welcome to 1984, a compilation that managed to introduce some of the greatest global hardcore bands to a wider audience. Always reflecting both the local punk scene around it and the happenings of the international punk world, MRR Records next released the Turn It Around double 7″ EP, featuring local bands associated with the nascent Gilman Street Project, and the Dezerter and Naïve records, both from behind the Iron Curtain. The ’90s saw MRR Records focusing on politics (Noam Chomsky), old and new punk classics (Bad Religion, Furious George), and the emergent garage punk sound (Spoiled Brats, et al.). After a seven-year hiatus, MRR Records re-emerged with the monster 2006 international HC/punk comp Public Safety. Not forgetting the local/international combo that made those early records classics, the newest record on MRR is the SF/Bay Area comp Noise Ordinance. Buy now or pose later, punkers!

—Golnar Nikpour

MRR Records Discography:

MRR 001 – Welcome to 1984 compilation LP (1984)
Reissued in 2010. Available in our webstore.

Terveet Kadet/Olho Seco/Crucifucks/Electric Deads/Inferno/Kidnap/N.O.T.A./Icons Of Filth/R.I.P./Skjit-Lars/Rattus/Raw Power/Bristles/Depression/B.G.K./The Stalin/Frites Modern/U.B.R./Mayhem/Red Tide/Moral Demolition/Huvudtvatt/Upright Citizens

MRR 002 – Turn It Around! compilation 2×7″ (1987)
3,000 pressed (?)
Compiled by David Hayes. Reissued as an LP in 1991 as a benefit “bootleg” for Gilman Street on Very Small Records (1,087 pressed).

Corrupted Morals/Sweet Baby Jesus/Isocracy/No Use for a Name/Crimpshrine/Operation Ivy/Stikky/Nasal Sex/Yeastie Girls/Rabid Lassie/Sewer Trout/Buggerall

MRR 003 – DEZERTER – Underground Out of Poland LP (1987)

Reissued in 2010 by Nikt Nic Nie Wie.

MRR 004 – They Don’t Get Paid, They Don’t Get Laid, But Boy Do They Work Hard! compilation LP/cassette (1989)

Out of print.

The Detonators/Amenity/Christ on a Crutch/Nausea/Apocalypse/Conspiracy of Equals/Screeching Weasel/Jawbox/Dissent/Downfall/Dead Silence/Cringer/Bazooka Joe/Libido Boyz

MRR 005 – NAÏVE – Switch-Blade Knaife LP (1990)

Out of print.

MRR 006 – BAD RELIGION/NOAM CHOMSKY – New World Order 7″ EP (1991)

Out of print.

MRR 007 – DIESEL QUEENS/INSAINTS – split 2×7″ (1993)

Out of print.

MRR 008 – THE SPOILED BRATS/BUTTAFUOCO – split 2×7″ (1994)

Out of print.

MRR 009 – DIESEL QUEENS – Hooked on Moronics LP (1995)

Out of print.

MRR 010 – FURIOUS GEORGE – I Gotta Gun/Burger King Is Dead 7″ (1996)

Out of print.

MRR 011 – DIESEL QUEENS – The Beast with Five Heads… And a One-Track Mind! 7″ EP (1997)

Out of print.

MRR 012 – THE B-SIDES – LP (1999)
We still have a few copies of this. Buy one here via PayPal:

Or send $10.00 US • $12.50 Canada/Mexico • $20.00 world to MRR • PO Box 460760 • SF CA 94146 • USA Limit one per customer.

MRR 013 – STRYCHNINE – Born Too Loose LP (1999)

Out of print.

MRR 014 – Public Safety compilation LP/CD (2006)
Out of print.

Aaritila, Career Suicide, Deadfall, Direct Control, Disease, The First Step, Formaldehyde Junkies, Framtid, Gorilla Angreb, Holy Shit, Look Back And Laugh, Limp Wrist, Nightmare, No Hope For The Kids, Observers, Pedestrians, Persevere, Regress, Regulations, Signal Lost, Sin Dios, Sleeper Cell, Smalltown, Smartut Kahol Lavan, Strung Up, Sunday Morning Einsteins

MRR 014.5 – BUM KON – Drunken Sex Sucks LP (2008)

Recordings from 1983; co-released with Smooch Records.

Available in our webstore.

MRR 015 – Noise Ordinance compilation LP (2011)

Morpheme, Needles, Rank/Xerox, NN, Shotwell, Black Rainbow, Surrender, Conquest For Death, Acephalix, Airfix Kits, Ruleta Rusa, Face The Rail, Ecoli, Migraine, Year One, Love Songs, Suicide Bomb, Hunx and His Punx, Acts Of Sedition, Fix My Head, I Will Kill You Fucker, Duck And Cover, The Fleshies. Comes with zine insert. SOLD OUT.

Other MRR/related releases:

Virus 14 – Maximum Rocknroll Presents: Not So Quiet on the Western Front compilation 2xLP – Alternative Tentacles (1982)

Still available on CD through Alternative Tentacles.

MANIC HISPANIC – The Menudo Incident LP/CD (1992)

The LP version was funded, at least in part, by Tim Yo, ’cause he loved it.

924 Gilman: The Story So Far… Compiled by Brian Edge

It’s a Book! 400 pages, with over 200 photos and lots of first-hand stories, flyers, memorabilia, and a list of every Gilman show through 2003…awesome!

We are sold out of this book, but you can still get it through AK Press.

Monday Photo Blog: From the Archives, Round III

icki — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:23:06 +0000

Okay, last trip we’ll take in the MRR time machine for a while, but this one is a DOOZY! Layla dug up these photos from the cobwebbed confines of the Maximum Photo Vault:

The Wipers (photographer unknown)

Black Flag (photographer unknown)

Tim Yo and Grant Hart (photo by Murray Bowles)

As promised, next week we’re gonna go back to the future, so if you’ve taken some killer photos this summer, send them!!!

If you shoot shows and have photos you want to submit for the MRR Blog, send to: photoblog {at} maximumrocknroll(.)com. Be sure to put “MRR Photo Blog” in the subject. Include your name, the band, where and when it was shot. Just send your best photos – edit tightly. Three to five photos is plenty. We will be exercising a little quality control here…not everything sent in will be posted. Please size your photos so they are 500 pixels (72 dpi) at the longest side.

There are a lot of awesome photographers out there shooting shows…and there are a lot of unseen archives of old shows. Show us what you’ve got!

Monday Photo Blog: From the Archives, the 90s

icki — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:41:58 +0000

Aaah, the ’90s. Right around when this batch of photos was taken, MRR was about 10 years old, give or take a few years, depending on the photo, and hell, punk itself was just crawling into puberty. This week we have four photos from four very different bands around in the early 90s…

Bikini Kill (photo by Justin Demetrick)

Born Against (photo by Justine Demetrick)

The Mummies, circa 1990 (photographer unknown)

Next week we’ll have one more installment from the archives, (with two very special treats!) then it’s back to the NOW scene.

Wanna submit a photo for the MRR Photo Blog?

There are a lot of awesome photographers out there shooting shows…and there are a lot of unseen archives of old shows. Show us what you’ve got!

Website of the Week: Operation Phoenix

Paul — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:58:31 +0000

UPDATE July 2011: It appears that the Operation Phoenix website has shut down. We will let you know if it returns, or if we find somewhere else to download these amazing archives… —MRR Web Coordinator

Straight outta Brookings, South Dakota — that punk rock mecca — comes a modestly presented yet invaluable treasure trove of punk history. It’s called Operation Phoenix Records and what you’ll find there is an amazing selection of classic zines available as PDF downloads in their entirety. These include most issues of Flipside from #1(!) thru #58, every issue of 10 Things Jesus Wants You To Know, almost every HeartattaCk, Suburban Relapse, Suburban Punk, Suburban Voice… the list goes on. Oh, and did we mention you can download everything from the first few years of Maximumrocknroll??

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!

Bonus From the Vaults: Tim Yo and Epicenter 1992

MRR Web Coordinator — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:14:02 +0000

Thanks to Helge Schreiber for responding to our last post with these photos of Tim Yohannan and SF’s late, great record store and hangout, Epicenter. If you have more photos of Tim or Epicenter, please send ‘em our way! webzine {at} maximumrocknroll(.)com

From the Vaults: Tim Yo and Martin Sprouse photos

Hubbs — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:34:37 +0000

This week we’ve got a different type of From the Vaults post. These photos were loaned to the magazine by former coordinator Martin Sprouse, to be printed along with an interview we ran for the 25th Anniversary issue in 2007 (MRR #291, available in Back Issues). I found them in a folder on my old computer last week as I was clearing everything off before leaving it on the sidewalk. Now you get to see ‘em in color! (Well, except for the black and white one…)

Martin Sprouse and Tim Yohannan at the MRR House, 1987

Martin and two unidentified people, building 924 Gilman St., 1986

Martin interviewing Tim for Leading Edge fanzine, 1984

Martin and Bones (of 76% Uncertain), 1984

We Are the Lamb

Layla — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:52:05 +0000

In honor of the recent reissue of The Brat‘s classic song, “The Wolf,” as a limited edition single on Timmy Hefner’s 540 Records, here is the feature on the band from the February 1982 issue of Low Rider magazine. (“The Wolf” was originally only available on the Rhino’s 1983 East LA comp LP, Los Angelinos: The Eastside Renaissance). I had only ever seen the cover of this Low Rider issue before, so thanks to Dave Hyde for posting the whole damn thing! Pretty incredible… I gotta hear the song “Misogyny” now! When is that Brat discography ever comin’ out??

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