Month: November 2022

Conditions Apply – Rage & Ignorance

I’m listening to Rage & Ignorance, the debut full-length by Montreal punk rockers Conditions Apply. 14 tracks of angry, snotty, riff heavy rock and roll. The band blends a lot of sub-genres into the mix: punk, hardcore, bits of metal. It’s worth your time to check this out.

It’s all you can really ask for in a punk rock record, short catchy songs, great guitar chug, driving rhythm, and vocal snarl that remains articulate. I am a fan, as always, of the trio format. I think it delivers the stripped down, concise nature that drives punk rock, at least the punk that I’m into.

I’ll keep this brief, but seriously check this band out, because Rage & Ignorance is a kick ass album. 

Cheers!
Jerry Actually 

Tracks:
1. Bulletproof Boots 02:09
2. Watching It All Crumble 01:26
3. Consolation Prize 02:41
4. Who’s The Victim 01:34
5. Carrot Meets Sticks 01:49
6. Sketchy Oi! 01:11
7. The Mad Dog 02:04
8. Time To Get Loose 02:36
9. Destroy My Quiet 01:29
10. Of Things 02:00
11. Small Print 01:33
12. Sentimental Fiction 01:52
13. 2 Words 1 Finger 02:00
14. Angry All The Time 01:49

Bio:
Conditions Apply began in 2019. Playing a few shows before the world shut down, the three-piece have been making up for lost time by recording a debut full-length album, shooting a video and making a name for themselves as one of Montreal’s most exciting live punk bands.

Melding hardcore-punk with aspects of oi! and street-punk, adding melody and blistering guitar leads, Conditions Apply have taken different genres and created a sound all their own.

The members started playing and touring in the early 90’s in punk bands Lumpin Proletariat and All The Answers. They’ve continued making music throughout the 2000’s in such bands as Ballast, …And The Saga Continues, Mental Fix and Hard Charger.

After putting out their video single, Bulletproof Boots, Conditions Apply are set to release their debut album Rage & Ignorance on November 22, 2022.

Conditions Apply are raw, angry and passionate.

Sludgeworth Release Losers of the Year on Vinyl

SLUDGEWORTH, CHICAGO PUNK PIONEERS, TO RELEASE ’95 COMPILATION, LOSERS OF THE YEAR, ON VINYL FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

For the uninitiated, Sludgeworth are Chicago punk pioneers from the 1980’s that released a posthumous collection/discography album on Lookout Records back in the day — and it sold tens of thousands of copies, which was impressive for a defunct band. With members of Screeching Weasel, they had obvious leanings towards melodic punk, but they also had a quintessential Midwest sound mixed in with some post-punk. Think Naked Raygun and Fugazi.

And now, for the first time ever, Red Scare Industries is releasing Sludgeworth’s first and only LP, Losers of the Year, on vinyl and streaming services. The CD/digital version is getting two previously unreleased tracks: “To Be The Same” and “Here For A While.”

The reissue also comes with live photos from back in the day and liner notes featuring contributions from Naked Raygun’s Jeff Pezzati, Rise Against’s Joe Principe, Mikey Erg, Dillinger Four’s Patrick Costello, and more. It comes out on Friday, December 9 (pre-order).
“This has been in the works for well over 5 years. I know Dan (Sludgeworth singer) from The Methadones records we did. He gave me the green light, but it took ages to track down the audio for this. When I finally had the good sense to contact Chrisser (Appelgren, President/Owner of Lookout Records) he immediately wrote back that he had one last shoe box of tapes, but it was unlikely. Minutes later I got an email that was basically, ‘Ope, I’ll be damned, it’s in here!’ He overnighted me the DAT tape and that was the first promising sign! He’s one of the real heroes of this salvage project. Something else I found out: not easy to transfer a DAT tape these days! I know all sortsa fancy studios, but no one can keep a machine in working order because they’re impossible to maintain. And since THE VERY LAST copy of the master audio were in my hands, I wasn’t about to put it in the mail. Next stroke of luck was that I learned Arik from Creep Records still had a working machine and he hooked me up. He’s hero #2 in this tale! When we were transferring files he was like, ‘Damn, this is good!’ Yet another promising sign! Obviously the art was lost to the winds and there’s literally no band pic or promo shot, so Eric from Wall of Youth had his work cut out for him, but he pulled it off. The final package came out great: we got a buncha live shots and some blurbs from Sludgeworth’s contemporaries. Folks like Jeff from Naked Raygun, Joe from Rise Against, Mikey Erg, Patrick from Dillinger Four, etc. It took some time to cobble together, but I think people will be stoked to finally have a vinyl copy of this.” – Toby, Red Scare
1. Waste It Away
2. Someday
3. Anytime
4. Only One
5. Another Day
6. I Analyze
7. Never Say Never
8. Follow
9. Over And Over
10. She’s Not Disposable
11. Cry Baby
12. Nearest One To Stand Behind
13. Angry Man
14. Two Feet On The Ground
15. You And I
16. To Be The Same*
17. Here For A While*
*CD Only Bonus Tracks