The same bunches of you reading this who are still scratching your heads over why this post from a couple weeks ago created any amount of anything, anywhere in anybody are the same bunches of you who’ll likely be confused when we mention how compilation records used to be fucking awesome. “How the fuck?” we hear you ask. “The entire goddamned internet is a compilation, you bald dummy. You want to check out a band? Go to their Facebook/Bandcamp/MySpace page or type in their name followed by ‘blogspot’ and voila!” Yeah well, shit wasn’t always so easy and one of the methods of discovering new bands back in the days when ponies delivered our mail and women wore petticoats and girdles while swimming was via the compilation. Sure, not all of them were great; more often than not, you got one or two amazing songs and a bunch of not-so-great songs. But I can’t tell you how many awesome bands – or at the very least, awesome songs – I discovered within the hallowed grooves of comps throughout the 80s and 90s.
Below, you can read a press release pertaining to the (hopefully) impending re-release of a classic hardcore compilation from 1997 called All About Friends. I have no particular recollection of this specific comp, but looking at that line-up and thinking back a scant 15 years ago, AAF would have been a pretty sweet listen. Hell, it’s a pretty sweet line-up by today’s standards and the updated second disc ain’t too shabby either. Check it out on the interhole.
Ms. Whitney’s goal of re-releasing All About Friends as an extensive deluxe vinyl package also brought to my attention the website Kickstarter. As I’m usually the last in the know when it comes to the latest hip on-line thing that everyone is already in the process of snarkily hating on – despite making the object of their derision part of their regular surfing routine – I’ll spare you the description as you probably know better then I. Something hit me though; I’m all for publicly funded art projects, but it’s simply crazy to think that people no longer have to beg, borrow and steal from family and friends or try and explain to those Reader’s Digest reading relatives they hardly ever see how lending them a pantload of cash is for the greater good of the art world and really nothing to worry about. Damn, shit’s so easy nowadays.
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
ALL ABOUT FRIENDS KICKSTARTER LAUNCHED FOR COMPILATION RE-RELEASE WITH BONUS MATERIAL
Featuring Tracks from Trial, Coalesce, Botch, Indecision, Harvest, When Tigers Fight, Heiress, Steve Brodsky, & Many More…
Back in 1997, a girl named Carrie Whitney released a compilation, titled All About Friends, as a sub-release of her photo ‘zine, “Hardcore Maniacs”. Times were much simpler then – handmade, photocopied ‘zines circulated around the hardcore scene, DIY ethics were at their highest, and unity within the punk/hardcore community was rampant. Carrie wanted to release a comp featuring her friends and their bands – as a way to give thanks to all of them, and a way for her to make new friends in the process. All About Friends was born and featured some of hardcore’s finest bands from that time: Coalesce, Botch, Threadbare, Indecision, Trial, and more. This compilation was a highly sought-after release and was pressed on CD, distributed in North America and Europe, but eventually went out of print. Carrie had gotten busy with work, art and relationships but had kept thoughts of a re-release on the backburner, just waiting for the right time and place to come along.
Now, in 2012, Carrie is still celebrating hardcore and the relationships it can build. Hardcore Maniacs (Carrie Whitney’s Zine) in association with 1000 Knives Productions (NYC-based talent booker Rich Hall, who is responsible for some of the best hardcore shows in NYC, formerly of CBGB) are excited to announce a re-release of this once legendary compilation, now called All About Friends Forever! AAFF features the original 11 tracks from the comp’s first pressing, remastered, with two more bonus songs from Harvest and I Wish I. Also included will be a separate, new LP with some of the best current bands in the hardcore/punk scene today: When Tigers Fight, Torchbearer, Heiress, Helms Alee, Olde Ghost, The Goddamn Rattlesnake, Steve Brodsky, and many more. A full track listing can be found below, and this special double-LP is slated for a release in May of 2012.
To fund the re-release of this important compilation, a 30-day-long Kickstarter fund has been started to raise the money for a deluxe double-LP vinyl-only release of All About Friends Forever. There will be various package deals with bonus material as well as the double-LP, including but not limited to: photo prints, hand screen-printed covers, 12-page booklet inserts, t-shirts, limited edition screen-printed posters, limited colored vinyl, and so much more. Carrie Whitney commented, “We decided to do a Kickstarter because we’ve had friends who had successful campaigns in the past, and it’s service is a nice, easy to absorb, reliable method to get the word out and raise money. If we were funding this ourselves, it would take years to raise enough money to properly release the comp. It’s also a good way of showing how much others believe in you enough to put up some dough to help your ideas.” She continued, “It’s the music that brought amazing people together, it’s the friendships made that will last forever!”
Please take a moment to check out AAFF’s Kickstarter page here. With the success of this project, Hardcore Maniacs & 1000 Knives Productions are hoping to continue promoting friendship, music, and art in the future.
ALL ABOUT FRIENDS FOREVER TRACK LISTING:
Vol. 1 – Remastered original compilation:
C.R. Compassion Revolution – Moss
Coalesce – Cutting Away
Botch – The Lobster Song
Jough Dawn Baker – Five Twenty Four
State Route 522 – Jumpin’ Someone Else’s Train
Threadbare – Vitality
Impel – Call It What You Will
Indecision – Slave
Trial – Crucified
Nine Iron Spitfire – Dead
Screwjack – Artifact
Bonus brand new tracks:
Harvest – Unnatural Disaster
I Wish I – Telepathy
Vol. 2 – Brand new compilation:
When Tigers Fight – When Blood Calls for Blood
Between Earth & Sky – Here & Now
Torchbearer – Custer’s Revenge
The Firebird Suite – U-R-E-G
Heiress (guest vocals by Tad) – Last Nail
Helms Alee – Magic Man
Olde Ghost – Ghost
Children of God – Silent War
Great Falls – Windwalker
The Goddamn Rattlesnake – Christie Road
Steve Brodsky -The Ghost
Regents/Ladder Devils (guest vocals by J. Robbins) -TBA
Tiger Flowers/Meek is Murder – Japam
For more information on All About Friends, please check out:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/793468724/2082001973?token=417498c1
http://allaboutfriendsforever.tumblr.com/post/14575470317/interview-with-carrie-whitney-by-eric-weiss-rumpshaker
Here, in visual form:
And this little jam never gets old:
