Reissue of the Week: Happy
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HAPPY? — “Anger” EP This felt vaguely familiar upon first listen. That feeling turned into deja vu and I had no idea why. The previous day I had been thinking about leaving San Francisco after more than a quarter of a century and was going over all the wonderful Bay Area bands I had seen over the years and thinking back to the early days of powerviolence. Ah ha! Got it! This 7″ was familiar because I had heard the vocalist many times before. HAPPY? was a Redwood City, CA band that I don’t remember ever releasing anything or playing out much. These tracks were recorded back in 1993 and the band contains members that went on to play in bands such as SPAZZ, FUNERAL SHOCK, BUG PEDALS, CANDY MUSCLE, and POWER PELLUT along with a few others. What you get is raw hardcore that is full of energy. It sounds like it was recorded live in a garage and the songs are sort of intentionally sloppy. These tracks were originally available on a cassette. “Biggot” is a bit faster and tighter and I love the vocals. This is a great historical release if you’re interested in some fast hardcore with vague sounds of the things to come from Redwood City. Think of it as a precursor to powerviolence. (Mike Howes)
(Flinch Lumin)
