Neo Cons - Neo Cons

http://www.mediafire.com/?nc7csb07l4b7v5n

Buy it here from Deranged Records

Neo Cons are a punk rock band from San Francisco. Their singer, Jason, used to drum for 86 Mentality. Their guitarist, Mark, also sings in The Streetwalkers, thought they're not very active at the moment. Their bassist, Jasmine, also plays bass in The Neighborhood Brats. They play a simplistic type of punk similar to the Teen Idles. They've also been compared to the Zero Boys.



They have an amazing live show. Jason flings himself all over the place and runs into everything. I saw them last night and was surprised their set didn't end with him being carted off to the hospital. He lost the mic four times and dove off of everything: the PA, bass drum, and kevin's head.



They recorded this live at Atomic Garden Studios. Here's an artist's rendition
















I once saw them at The Swamp in Oakland with Zero Progress. Jason fell on a concrete block and split his head open. They kept on playing though, and as his blood splattered on the ground, the only complaint he had was that he ruined the new shirt he was wearing.

The Ropes - The Ropes EP

http://www.mediafire.com/?f9bvbatcqdvjop4

buy it here


The Ropes, not to be confused with The Ropers, are a punk band from Chicago. They're basically The Repos, and even formed their new name to be an anagram of the old one. I believe Aaron, their singer, moved to New York and essentially ended The Repos. When he moved back to Chicago, they kind of started up again where they left off. The sound, however, is more muddy than The Repos' records.





It's interesting how Mark Mccoy (who runs Youth Attack Records, and repressed this record) seems to favor straight edge bands, being a straight edger himself. The Repos and Ropes lyrics, however, are often about partying and drugs and things like that. Honestly, I think their "Demo II" cassette is their best work, but I didn't want to pay ten dollars for a tape and a zine. (edit: they're releasing it on a 7" for record store day this year) I'm also not always into their double tracked vocals, which they seem to have on every release. Its presence is noticeable more on some records than others (The Repos' Hearts and Heads Explode for example).







This copy is from the original pressing that the band released themselves. Out of 300 copies, 100 were pressed on clear vinyl, the rest being black.












Their "Lost Still Losing" LP was listed as "in the works" on the youth attack news section of the website, so it might not come out for a while.

They have a blogspot, and their singer has a big cartel, which i'd keep an eye on because good stuff keeps popping up there. He also has a tumblr, where he posts records, his cute kid, and other cool music stuff.

The Schizos - Bivens EP

http://www.mediafire.com/?s6rwmtbly2838a0

The Schizos were a band that existed from the summer of 2006 to the summer of 2007. Our singer, Alex, was inflammatory from the very first show, stealing another band's drinks and challenging them to "fight us in the pit." Our guitarist Dom, on the other hand, was the nicest guy in the world, and apologized profusely. I'm not sure if our drummer Tyler cared either way. But Alex pissed people off wherever we went, intentionally or otherwise. He got us banned from The Red House for smashing a microphone on the stage as well as his head. We broke up before our last show, which included Circle One and Dr. Know.



This EP was recorded at Punk Barn Studios, which was literally a barn that had been cleaned out and filled with recording equipment. There's plenty of mess ups on my part, as some of these songs were fairly new to me when we recorded them.




"Forbidden Fruit" ends with us ripping off "Wipeout," as well as Skull Stomp and others making orgasm noises (it's a weird sex song). Every one of our releases included an on the spot improvised song, and this was no exception. Strangely enough, I didn't even listen to Black Flag back then, though Dom was clearly influenced by them.




The name Bivens comes from someone Dom interacted with on-line, but the name is basically irrelevant to the music. I decided to put the album cover (which features Bivens himself) last because it obviously looks terrible (though that's probably purposeful).





Alex went on to sing in Black America, a band that pissed more people off than he could ever have dreamed. Tyler drummed for a short-lived band called One Punch but I'm not sure what he's up to now. Dom traveled to Europe and did some DJ stuff for a while, before returning to California and joining Beat Guts. After their first release, he quit to focus on school, I think, and was replaced by John of Stressors and Easy Living. Jackson (also of Easy Living) joined on second guitar. I later played in the newly reformed Cocksnot, the first real punk band I ever joined in high school. That dissolved and turned into Stressors, which I'm still in today. Wow, that was long and unnecessary. Enjoy these highly flawed tracks.