Lethal Injection 1st demo

    To keep from seeming like a blog dedicated to Fuck Shit Piss I feel compelled to post this the Lethal Injection demo from 1987.

    I saw Lethal a few times during the late 80's and always liked em.  They were a great hardcore band with slight metal leanings.  They put a lot more metal into their sound as they progressed over time and would later claim full allegiance to death metal at the start of the 90's which was a mixed blessing.  They were still really kick ass and tight even when they became full blown metal heads.  The only person I could name from this band is the singer Paco who always seemed like a real stand up guy.  If you know the names of the other guys on this recording please tell me so I can add it here.


    I was present at what I think was their debut show which was Burgiefest in 1987 out on Losee Road back when that was 10 miles outside of town.  This was before the Tubes became known as a "venue."  I think it was also Substance D's first show.  A serious rager.  I was there when the El Camino pulled into the pit filled with Burgie Beer.  


   I only saw them play once or twice in the early 90's.  At that time they were total Death Metal.  I always preferred the hardcore sound but who can blame em for heading to the dark side?  Death metal seems like a natural progression for these guys anyway.  Hardcore was pretty much dead by the early 90's and somehow that guy Mitch from Righteous Pigs jump started a career in metal by hooking up with Mick from Napalm Death around that time.  

    I never had their demo back then but listening to it now I wonder how I could have missed this?  Pure LVHC.  Just enough guitar squaks and bursts of solos to still get away with being labeled hardcore.    
    
    Las Vegas Hardcore was definitely it's own style and very  few records were put out back then.  Demo tapes were the order of the day.  Some will argue that hardcore is hardcore and it all sounds the same but it's hard to miss the unique sounds at play here.  It has a lot of the trappings of hardcore but there are some surprises that make this demo  memorable.  This would have made a damn fine 7" record but at least we got this as a document.  Recommended for those who like Cryptic Slaughter, Wehrmacht, Attitude Adjustment or that similar kickass crossover hardcore sound.   

    I got no pictures of the demo cover and no pictures of Lethal playing live.  The above flyer is from my collection and it's a good example of the mentality you're dealing with from Lethal.  Hey it ain't rocket science.  I guess they're still around?  If you're curious you can learn more here.  I heard they're still around playing gigs.  Fucking awesome.

Thanks to Jeff Murphy from Sausage Hostages for sending me this demo.

Lethal Injection 1st demo download below

Lethal live!  It's what you're dealing with.

1. God's Love
2. Life Sucks
3. Beyond Religion
4. Dreaded Existance
5.  If It Happens
6. I Don't Care

Drew Livingood: Actor.

    Here's an old short film I made starring rock star Drew Livingood.  Subversive eh?  Nice production values for a student film.  Don't feel pressured it's only 35 seconds.

    I shot this in Fall of 1997.  I didn't get around to transferring it to digital until 2007.  After which I decided to put sound on it.  It was an assignment for Film Production 101.  I was supposed to devise a "Five Shot" edit, meaning five separate cuts of someone handing something to someone else.  Or something along those lines.  Instead I composed this artsy-fartsy symbol heavy student film with some decent production values.   

   

    The place that did the "telecine" transfer sucked royally.  It's pixelated all over the place mainly because the film was slightly underexposed.  If you have access to a telecine and you can hook me up with a better transfer please let me know.  Who am I kidding?  This film's only got so much life left in her.  I'll never be able to fix this shit.  Still I think it's really entertaining in a pseudo Bunuel way.  


      In case you missed the meaning this was a statement on bureaucracy. 

     Super thanks to my friend Bombo for providing the killer blastbeats and helping to make this a real film.

Download Policy 
starring Drew Livingood


or just watch it here:

Fuck Shit Piss- Call Me Paranoid 5 song demo

    Why isn't there a huge blog dedicated to this band alone?  They were the essence of what hardcore punk was all about as a movement and as a catalyst for change. They're also the band that proved just how weak hardcore ultimately was when you try to consider it as a movement,  leaving a huge footprint in Vegas music history but falling far short of changing the world.  Their story had all the drama and intensity that made hardcore so powerful and emotional and in some ways tragic.    Music scenes are built on people and people aren't perfect so perhaps they were doomed to fail from the start.  But no band before or since has had such an amazing back story.  They exemplified the best and the worst of hardcore's promise.  I haven't even started to describe their music yet, which was catchy, intelligent, and of all things played on a professional level.  

    Books, documentary films- just about any history or reference to hardcore says it happened in the late 70's and ended around 1983.  But none of these douchebags seems to give much regard to the thousands of bands that developed as hardcore moved from the big cities to the smaller communities.  The Las Vegas hardcore scene lasted well into the late 80's but eventually blew itself apart shortly after the breakup of Fuck Shit Piss.  It was an ugly end to that chapter in musical history which went out in a violent and scary way as nazi skinheads grew in number and suddenly the scene was split down the middle.  It's a long story I won't get into here but one I'd like to return to on this blog.

    The music is amazingly catchy hardcore with a definite west coast flavor.  I think it's because of this band that I always thought east coast hardcore was second best.  But don't get me wrong the west coast has some shitty hardcore bands as well.  

    Fuck Shit Piss had plenty of hooks and they weren't overly concerned with speed. Great political lyrics by Danny Breedon.  Johnny Bangs on the bass.  Incredible Mike Fouts on drums.  Jeez I always forget the guitar player on this demo.  He nails it though!  If you got any old Fuck Shit Piss stickers send em my way!!!

    I guess someone is supposed to send me the other FSP 7 song demo sometime soon.  After I digitize that I'll post it here too.

    If you haven't heard their music or heard of them, and chances are good you haven't then do yourself a favor and download this now. Thanks to Michelle Fournier for the sticker!

Download all the Fuck Shit Piss songs I have in one click here

or download songs individually below:
Fuck Shit Piss-Call Me Paranoid Demo
1. Newsman 
2. Living the American Dream
3. Dead Man Stares
4.  Whore of War
5. Call Me Paranoid