Interview with Jay Tichy Questions by Jim Walkley of Don't Be Swindle zine Jay Tichy is the guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for Sidetracked; I'd assert that either live or on record, Sidetracked are one of the best powerviolence/fastcore bands currently in existence. (Should you doubt that, pick up a copy of the new Self Inflicted/Sidetracked split EP on Deep Six, and just try to keep track of how many times you play the Sidetracked side. As for myself, I quickly lost count!) Jay generously took a few minutes out of his hectic daily schedule for an email interview. Now's the time to get out your Sidetracked vinyl, drop the needle on some wax, and read the following full interview! 1) Most people might not be aware that Sidetracked began as more of a "youth crew"-styled band before evolving into your current fastcore/powerviolence sound. What can you tell readers about that era of Sidetracked? Does that sort of sound still influence you as a songwriter? Growing up, youth crew straightedge hardcore was a huge part of my life. I was obsessed with bands like Side by Side and Chain of Strength. Everything from the positive lyrics, the mid-level yelled vocals, down to how normal the dudes looked. My first exposure to "powerviolence" was about fifteen years ago from a dub of Capitalist Casualties "Raised Ignorant" and it completely changed everything. I would say those two sounds were what influenced Sidetracked most in the beginning. I came up with the name and started writing the first batch of songs in early 2000 and we played our first show in December of 2000. We were definitely more positive, more "fun", and had more clear sing-along and breakdown kind of parts. I still would throw in short songs or songs with kind of weird structures, though. Brian joined in January of 2001, and I remember in the beginning, he wasn't completely interested in going all-out in the pv/fastcore direction. He still liked to play straight without going all-out into the choppiness. I think once he got more proficient at blastbeats (and was, like me, feeling restricted by the limitations of youth crew), the change in direction was natural. For the most part, I purged a lot of the remaining youth crew influence on the second half of the One Lane Road Ahead disc. I wanted to intentionally have that CD start off with some of the crazier songs I had written and then the second half to be these youth crew-ish songs that had been sitting around for years. I have one more record written somewhat in that vein, but it's more mid-paced with a lot of build-ups (the to-be-recorded "Unnerved" EP). I also feel it's worth stating that the verse riff to Chain of Strength's song "Let Down", to me, is the epitome of a good hardcore riff, and it's something I always come back to. 2) I overheard you mention at a house show that the "Uniform" EP is your favorite Sidetracked recording thus far. What sets that 7-inch apart from the multitude of other Sidetracked releases? After finishing One Lane Road Ahead and the "Just A Front" EP in 2005, I started writing a ton in my room, just constantly recording riffs and splicing certain parts together. It was just a really great time and I got to a point where I had about thirty songs. Fifteen of them were in this really chaotic, Lack of Interest and No Comment vein; the other fifteen-or-so (as I mentioned in the previous question) were these weird, mid-paced youth crew-type songs with a lot of build-ups. So my plan was that, eventually, these were going to be two separate records ("Uniform" and "Unnerved"). What ended up happening, though, through the years, was that things would come up — for instance, in 2006, we were asked to be on a tape comp called "Hesh N Aggression", so we went into the studio and knocked out eight songs in one hour and that's what eventually became the "Hustle" tape. I gave up on the comp and released it as the aforementioned tape. Half of those songs were left over from an early 80's-style band I was gonna do that fell apart (that's where the songs "Boycott Show" and "Shut You Out" came from), but the last song, "Against The Grain", was definitely part of the original "Uniform" set of songs. I felt like the session needed that song. The tape comp actually did come out, but I didn't get a copy of it until a year after we released "Hustle". Then, what kept happening was that splits would come up, such as In Disgust, Dead Radical and Hummingbird of Death. So there was no time to record "Uniform" because of these obligations. (That's the main problem with splits. There's this unspoken urgency to get those done first). So through all this, the "Uniform" songs were just sitting, waiting to be recorded. And the whole time, I knew they were my best songs. That's not to discredit the other records we did before it. I love everything we've done from "Just A Front" on (I guess I do have a soft spot for the Summer League split, but I digress); "Uniform" was just what I had always wanted to do and to be known for. Part of it is a bummer that it took so long to record it, but part of me thinks that's cool, because that means that the songs held up over the years — and I was still as into it in 2009 as I was in 2005 (when they were written). 3) The label that released the "Uniform" EP, To Live A Lie Records, is based in Raleigh, NC, but as far as I know, Sidetracked have never played a show in that part of the country. Has your band ever played on the East Coast? Is touring that far from your home base of Tacoma, WA, just not very feasible, with gas prices being so elevated, hit-or-miss turnout at shows, and your own family/work commitments? We've toured plenty, in my opinion. We did West Coast tours pretty much annually from 2002 to 2009. In 2008, we did a thirty-day tour across the U.S. That was when gas prices were REALLY bad. And needless to say, we lost a ton of money. It was a huge strain on my wife to be gone that long. And while I was doing it, in the back of my mind, I was thinking this was going to be the only time we do this. It was just so inconvenient. And speaking of North Carolina, we were booked to play a record store in Charlotte — and nobody showed up. I remember seeing To Live A Lie samplers around there, but I hadn't talked to Will yet. I've never been greatly impressed with our tours. It's been cool meeting people and seeing bands I like, though. As for now, I have a sixteen month-old daughter, and leaving for over a week seems very irresponsible. So it's hard to say. It's been crazy, though, because since she was born, we've had four releases come out and it seems like a lot more people are hearing about us who maybe wouldn't have before. So, it would seem that right now would be the time to tour, but nothing has come together yet. Another big factor is working out schedules with our other bands and their tours. My goal is to do another West Coast tour and play with Lack of Interest (because I love those guys!), and I also wouldn't mind flying out to the East Coast and booking a sick tour with all my favorite bands. Maybe Europe one day? 4) On the subject of touring, will Sidetracked be embarking on a Canadian tour with Hummingbird Of Death in the coming months? If so, please give readers a tour itinerary (if you already have one). I can definitely attest that Sidetracked are just as great live as on record and would encourage everyone reading this to see your band live. Right now, we're planning on: Sept 6 - Seattle; Sept 7- Squamish; Sept 8 - Victoria; Sept 9 - Vancouver. 5) Sidetracked are one of the bands scheduled for the TLAL 100 Comp, which should be amazing. Do you have an idea as to what your track on that compilation will sound like? Certainly, the general guideline for the comp (songs that are under 30 seconds in length) shouldn't be any problem for your band! I'm really stoked to be a part of TLAL 100. Some of my favorite bands are going to be on there. As for our song, it's gonna be fast. It's gonna be chaotic. It'll definitely be under 30 seconds. Don't know what else to say! 6) If everything works out as planned, another future Sidetracked release on To Live A Lie will be the Sidetracked/XBRAINIAX split LP. What can you tell readers about your band's side of that split? Apparently, it might be awhile before that split LP materializes, depending on when XBRAINIAX record and complete their side. We're basically done with our side. I'm hoping to go to the studio this week to get the final mix. Our side is fifteen songs that I wrote in 2010. I should note that five of those songs are very short bursts, but they're cool — and some of my favorite songs we've done are on it. It's definitely in the chaotic fastcore vein like "Uniform" and, when I was writing it, I had a few oddball influences on some tracks, such as Soilent Green and SWA. XBRAINIAX have written their side, but haven't recorded it yet. It's been difficult for XBRAINIAX to practice their songs since Zach (the guitarist) left the band a few months back. 7) A few months ago, To Live A Lie released the "Wrench" tape by Sidetracked. These songs are something of a departure from the sound heard on the "Uniform" EP. I theorized that your band was going for a noisy, brutal, live-sounding take on mid-'80's hardcore, but the long-running punk zine MRR basically considered it powerviolence, similar to your other releases. The powerviolence aesthetic is present in most Sidetracked material, but I thought "Wrench" was a creative (and successful) alteration of your sound. Would you agree? Does Sidetracked have any further tape releases in the works? I'm glad you enjoyed "Wrench". The first song, "Fascination With Violence", was originally an ending to a yet-to-be-recorded song which I made its own thing — and then wanted to just keep going in that reckless direction of more straight-forward hardcore punk. The influences for some of the songs were Poison Idea, Black Flag, Bone Awl, Ildjarn, Von, and Rorschach. (For those that care, the song "Dog Eat Dog" was originally written for Bookburner). I had the songs grouped together in the summer of 2010 and some time after that, my bass player Andrew's other band, Criminal Code, recorded a rehearsal in his basement. I was shocked at how good it sounded coming off a tape deck. So I decided to record with the same tape deck in the same basement, and then record vocals in a studio later on over it. We've never done a raw recording like that, so in that sense it was an experiment — and I'm really happy with it. I don't consider it a powerviolence release at all! Oh well. As for tapes, I'm planning on doing a six-song tape called "Untitled" through a German label called Knochen. It's gonna be these weird songs I've had for years, some of them with a more dissonant edge. The other tape on deck is a split with our friends from Las Vegas called God's America to be released through the UK label Tombs in the Valley. I'm still working on those songs, but I'm planning a more early-80's hardcore vibe with it, and hope to cover songs by Go!, NYC Mayhem, and CIA. 8) Sidetracked are currently a three-member band (Jay on guitar/vocals, Andrew playing bass, and Brian on drums), but each member is incredibly active with other bands and projects. Please tell readers about some of these bands, as well as what they might be up to in the near future. Brian and I also play together in Sojourner, Fever, and Bookburner; there are two more bands which are just in the talking stages, but haven't materialized yet. They are called Modern Man and Eliminator. Brian sings and writes all the music for Sojourner and Fever. Sojourner is hardcore that has some more groove-oriented parts, but is still very choppy and experimental at times — like a mix of Right Brigade, Sheer Terror, Rollins Band, Burn, and Rorschach. We've released two 7-inches, a tape, and an LP, and are about to record our second LP. Fever is his "solo project" take on powerviolence. He did a 7-inch a few years back, but the only other thing he's recorded since that time is this really strange music consisting of him playing the piano and yelling. I just play guitar live for the few sporadic Fever shows. Bookburner is powerviolence influenced by Despise You, Suppression and MITB. I played guitar and bass on the EP and wrote most of it. Brian just drums for us live. There's been talk of us working on an LP, but it's been hard to get it going. Modern Man consists of these songs my friend wrote that I've been trying to bring to life for years now. It's kind of mid-paced, choppy hardcore (maybe like a mix of Striking Distance and Infest? I'm not sure. I like the songs, though). Eliminator is a band I've had in mind for years (that we need to get hustling on); it's in the vein of Bl'ast! and later Black Flag. Andrew and I just started a band called Exit Bag that he writes for, and it's hardcore punk with a raw black metal slant like Ildjarn/Bone Awl. I also play guitar in a band called Dethrone, which is like a weird mix of early Celtic Frost with some fast blast parts that are akin to Immortal. Brian also plays drums in Earth Control, RCA, Dead Weight, and Shore. Earth Control is a crazy metal band that used to be called Owen Hart and have released a demo, EP, LP, and tracks on the Relapse comp This Comp Kills Fascists Vol. 2. RCA is a side project of Earth Control that (to me) sounds similar to them, but with shorter songs; they have a tape coming out soon. Dead Weight is a NYHC-style band that just released a 7-inch; Shore is a bit more rock-influenced, in the vein of Helmet, Far, Failure, and Hum. Andrew also sings and writes for Negative Press, plays bass for Criminal Code, and plays guitar for White Wards. Negative Press is like a mix of Black Flag, Hüsker Dü, Poison Idea, and Nirvana; they've released a demo. Criminal Code is like a mix of The Wipers and Hüsker Dü and have released a demo, 7-inch, and a 12-inch EP, with a few more EP's set to be released. White Wards is fast, noisy hardcore in the vein of Void, Die Kreuzen, Mecht Mensch, etc. 9) You run a couple of Sidetracked-related Blogspots. On the Problems They Persist blog that you operate, you recently posted an in-depth (and fascinating) interview with the Australian powerviolence band Nailed Down, who once featured Rohan as a member (later the frontman of Extortion). Please give readers the web addresses for these blogs and share with us what you might have in store for them. The Sidetracked blogspot is http://sidetrackedhc.blogspot.com and it's the go-to for all things ST-related. Problems They Persist is a "label" whose purpose is to release limited-quantity CD's for Sidetracked. I also wanted to use that blog for interviews, reviews, and ramblings. I've written one more interview that I'm waiting to hear back from, but for the most part I want to interview bands that maybe haven't been interviewed yet — or ask questions of documented bands that maybe they don't get asked. The url is: http://problemstheypersist.blogspot.com 10) Thanks for the interview! Do you have anything else to add in closing? South End Style (Tacoma, WA) forever! No, Jim — thank YOU for the interview! Keep your ears peeled for more Sidetracked records (as I hope to suffocate the world with my songs!), and if you want to get in touch with me, email me at j_tichy@hotmail.com

Jay Tichy reporting in on the status of the new Sidetracked LP: The writing for the Sidetracked lp is complete. 28 songs were written and I am planning on using all of them. I’m just working on an order and to ensure the flow. The title “Hired Gun” will most likely not be used. As of now, there is no title, but there will be eventually. As for what you can expect, this won’t be our most chaotic release to date and there are quite a few songs that go along more at a hardcore pace as opposed to a fastcore pace, but worry not, there is still plenty of manic energy and enough short songs to keep the most impatient happy. This summer, we’re planning on recording a couple EP’s, then in the fall diving headfirst into the LP. An update to that update: Plenty of Lack of Interest inspired chops as usual, along with songs that carry a Chain of Strength "Let Down" feel in the riffs. Some even hint at the off-kilter side of Double Negative. For 12 inch records, I always admired the way Extortion, Low Threat Profile, and Running for Cover came across on their long players. I don't know if any of these were direct influences, but it definitely helped me maintain the spirit of "keep it all fast". Only one song plods along at a slower pace (but it's GOOD).

Three tapes up for order now! Names you might not be familiar with as they are new and first offerings. BLIND SOLUTION is members of SIDETRACKED, NATURAL END is members of JOY, and NUCLER BLUD is members of SCHOLASTIC DETH, JUD JUD, IN/HUMANITY and more. Get in at the ground floor on all of these bands!

If you missed the previous part, feel free to go back to part IV. I'm going to keep up the quick approach and highlight anything particularly exciting or notable. TLAL56 - Charogne Stone - La Main de L'ange 7" Had the chance to work with this talented one man band again so said yes. It has boobs on the cover, not my ideal thought for a record but did not seem to come from a sexist place so was fine with me. TLAL57 - Sidetracked - Uniform 7" I consider this another big release. I could be wrong but I think this is the first time a band approached me for art. I love hacked up slashed up artwork and tried to do it digitally. I like the way it came out but didn't love it. See it here. The border was completely stolen from a MITB scan online and hacked and slashed up. The inside I think opened the wrong way, oops! The record is one-sided and that one side is perfect in my opinion, heavy, fast, modern hardcore mixed with short aggressive fastcore ideas. The first two or three songs are a true story about a relative of the singer dying which makes it so much more emotional. The b-side label of the record, since the band is from Seattle I thought they might love Twin Peaks which they hadn't seen and I think are now fans, so its subtle homage to the black lodge. I have second press copies of this available because I brought it back into print! TLAL58 - NoComply - One Sided 7" 2011 I had maintaned a good friendship with Justin from NoComply and he asked me to be in the band and put out a new EP when we recorded and I'm on it. He sent the record in on a colored CD-R and there is an actual CD skip on the record which actually sounds pretty cool. TLAL59 - Sakatat / Mesrine - split 7" Another chance to work with both bands. I'm still mad about trying to see Mesrine at MDF on the first day and being stuck in line for an hour and missing them. TLAL60 - Capitalist Casualties / NoComply - split 7" After lots of talking with both Justin and CC guys and learning about CC recordings from the Live Butchery session that were leftover, we put together a split! Cap Cas is a band I had encountered early on in my pv early interest and was/am so floored to work with them. They all are amazing people and just couldn't believe it. The NC session is also throwback material from the 90's and much to my excitement had Travis from Assholeparade featured on vocals. Justin is a main homie and I decided to do something extra special for him on this one and he is the only owner of a 10" sized lacquer on the material (pre-test press of the cutting of the record). TLAL61 - Black Hole of Calcutta - s/t 7" I did very little work on this but its great. I tossed in cash and sold my copies and was stoked on the material. TLAL62 - Mind As Prison - Maryland Grindcore 7" Mind As Prison is ex-A Warm Gun and feature Mough who is an amazing guitarist and was in Magrudergrind for an amount of time. These guys are so raw and so badass and I love the fact that the masters got lost and I couldn't get them to put them up digitally because that seems to represent this band in my mind. Offline, slightly mysterious, only brutal. I still have copies of this, you all are sleeeeeeping. TLAL63 - Get Destroyed - Shut In 7" I just want to use this space to write an interesting story about this band. I saw Gay Kiss and finally met my homie J I'd correspond with from Get Destroyed. GD I'd worked with because 625 asked if I wanted to and I wasn't familiar with some 625 related bands at first but this is one I'd want to keep up with, amazing pv. Well J played in Raleigh and we got to talking in the stairwell up to King's and he told me the story of the Get Destroyed LP which never happened. I never heard why it didn't but there was talk about a final EP, then LP before they broke up. Well all the songs were written and J recorded the drums and on the way back from the studio he got jumped and to quote him "I got the songs beaten out of my head". I'm glad he is okay and Gay Kiss and his other ventures are amazing and he can still play music but there is a Get Destroyed LP that exists in an alternate world. TLAL64 - ACxDC - He Had It Coming 7" I was around for the first rise of ACxDC. I just loved them. I distributed the first EP and talked to Sergio often. Liberate continued on but ACxDC seemed to fade away into what appeared to be obscurity. I sold the crap out of the first EP and kept it in stock as long as I could. In 2012 the world saw a new ACxDC form out of seemingly nowhere and Sergio asked me to do their new EP. I heard it digitally and was beyond floored. I think it was my idea to repress the first EP and I'm glad I did. Did 1500 copies including the pink vinyl double EP gatefold which I LOVE and was the original idea for part of the pressing of this record in my head. TLAL64 - ACxDC - Second Coming 7" Sharing the same CAT # with its little brother, this record came out great. I pressed two thousand copies and have maybe 25 hanging out of the green vinyl pressing. I read a book about Lookout Records and talked about selling 5k CDs like it was no problem but 2k EPs is nuts to me. Sex Prisoner sold this many. These are good honest songs in the vein of their first EP but with an updated and heavier sound. There were some cool record release covers. TLAL65 - Lapse / Eddie Brock - split 7" Two Baltimore area bangers, I was excited about this and got to see EB's last show I believe. I haven't kept good track of these folks but I'm sure they are all still playing or involved in music. TLAL66 - Curmudgeon - s/t 7" Love this band, and got to work with Will from BSP again. The art is killer, the barn door style cover opening was great, and the obi-strip with the band's name is great. I only hate getting orders for this with the second press as making the record takes some extra time. Krystina, Ryan, and Ryan all still play music and I'm glad and happy for them as they are all talented but Curmudgeon was a high point for all of them I think. True punx playing real punx heavy jams. TLAL67 - Sidetracked - Wrench tape The one thing I will complain time and time again about this is the tape 'pressing' plant took six months to get these tapes to me after I ordered and put a deposit down. I'd get asinine emails about "hey you didn't send in the art files" or "we don't have the audio masters" which they 100% had and I'd either tell them they did and they would find them or would send them again. They were specially cut to be short in length but the wait on this was nuts. Since this release I have slowed down doing tapes as I don't want to go through that again because it stressed me out way too much and the plant is a major tape plant. TLAL68 - The Kill / White Eyes - split 5" Well I love The Kill and had planned to do their full length LP with them (I think at this point that is true) and they asked me to do a split before then. White Eyes is a band who had a number of releases and this is their last recording as the singer had an aneurysm and had to learn to talk again. I still have copies of this, a grindcore split in a small package. TLAL69 - P.L.F. - Pulverizing Lethal Force CD I will always do anything P.L.F. I love Dave and his riffs and this record is no exception. First time working with long time friend Ralph from Haunted Hotel. TLAL70 - V/A - To Live A Lie 2011 Sampler tape Tape sampler of the newest on TLAL. Was good then was gone. TLAL71 - Fatal Nunchaku - Paving Stone Under The Beach CD A super mega split release CD for another great French pv band, I said yes. It is still in print and it is super good. TLAL72 - Chest Pain - s/t 7" I think CP was over at my house nerding out to my record label room and Matt Needles told me he really wanted me to re-release this EP of theirs he put out. I did because it is perfect. The first time I heard of this band they played a Dreg's Grotto and were asking my roommate if I was at the show, knowing that TLAL was from Raleigh. I couldn't make it out for whatever reason and felt honored anyone cared if I was there so checked them out and was blown away. This EP is masterful and I re-released it and it sold quickly. TLAL73 - P.L.F. / Downtrodden - split 7" See TLAL69, will always do anything P.L.F. TLAL74 - Mind As Prison / Disciples of Christ - split 7" Got to work with two bands filled with friends (love Tristan, Mough, Nolan, Tim, and Chris.. sorry for the MAP people I left off here) and labels of great friends like Nolan from above and Blastcat who is Pat from Backslider. Artwork by Nolan. Lots of Nolan on here. Great record, DC/Baltimore grindcore mainstays. TLAL75 - Osk - Wretched Existence // Bleak Future : 2007-2010 CD I'm not sure how this came together but Osk is members of Mass Grave and I liked their songs being more modern grindcore and shorter and to the point. Put out this CD and I'm not sure the band ever took off that much but its a perfect grindcore CD with no fluff. I have a ton of copies, I think I put them up for $5 so if you like grind, grab one and you won't be disappointed. TLAL76 - Needful Things / Roskopp - split 7" Another great grind split. I think this is another one I just put money in and another one I'm surprised I have copies still. TLAL77 - Tinnitus - Gehenna 7" This young band approached me with some ripping powerviolence songs. I was a bit hard up on money at the time and the band tossed in a little cash and we did only 300 copies and it honestly sold quickly. A smaller run for a TLAL release but some perfect powerviolence tracks from Boston. TLAL78 - Unholy Grave / Nak'ay - split 5" Cool small record. Love both bands. I missed Nak'ay when they played Raleigh because I was super sick and was bummed out. TLAL79 - Nashgul / Malpractice Insurance - split 7" Stoked to finally work with Nashgul. Huge fan for some time now. Spanish grindcore legends in my mind. This record's artwork was perfectly drawn by illustrator Luis from the band. Saw them play in Richmond post MDF and had a blast and was great to meet them. Malpractice isn't without their high acclaim, I met 1/2 of them at either Gilman Street or at MDF one year and super nice guy. Powerful split on both sides. TLAL80 - Magrudergrind - Crusher 10" When Scion's claim to the pressing ran out in their contract this record got repressed overseas and Avi asked me to press this in the US. While I was nervous of the Scion affiliation I had also seen the band spraypaint over the center labels that said the car company's name and use different covers so I was pretty confident in their intent and really love the care that went into the all analog recording. This record is a perfect grindcore record. Their last record with Chris on drums and until now the last recordings they did until II just came out six years later. I recently did a second pressing of this to get more back into the world. TLAL81 - Protestant / Suffering Mind - split 6" Corey from Protestant and Halo Of Flies and I had been in constant contact at this point, the last few years I've lost track of him. I got to see them play twice in my area. Good contrasting split. SM is a band that you easily hear about in the international grindcore arena because they had been making huge waves and for good reason. Really good cool sized record. Sold through them quickly. TLAL82 - Rape Revenge - Paper Cage 7" I had gone out on a limb and heard the band and written them and asked about doing their next record. Had heard some weird things about the label who did their first EP and promised I'd do them right. They were excited, I was excited. We all share a lot of similar ideals between veganism, straight edge, politics, and feminism. I love this record. It comes with a zine of song explanations. The record lies somewhere between powerviolence and grind and modern emotional hardcore but never tipping the mixture over into full fledged screamo. Interesting story, years later the Library or at least the country of Canada in general wrote me to purchase a copy for their archives. Unfortunately it was long sold out or I would have been excited for that. I should have written them to tell them they could buy a box of Osk CDs or my remaining Archagathus represses. TLAL83 - Backslider - Maladapted 7" Backslider is great. I've known Logan for years when Raw Sewage crashed at my old house years ago. While that band wasn't my cup of tea, Backslider definitely was and is. Pat I've known but didn't meet for a bit of time as he sang in Common Enemy but by the time I helped book them in Raleigh they had a different singer. This EP is just barely still in stock at this time but I'm about to have the amazingly cool discography CD out super soon. The band recently added Jake, another old face I know from Republicorpse, on bass. TLAL84 - Torch Runner - Committed to the Ground LP One of the best heavy bands from this area approached me about doing a record. I said yes right away. What I didn't expect is for them to fine tune their sound almost exactly in the way I'd want. I don't think they did it for me but they did it and it suited them. TR in the past hadn't entered the blackened hardcore arena on previous recordings but did that with flying colors on this and also mixed in an ample amount of grindcore drums. This record is perfect and I love this guys. You can't go to a show in the area without at least seeing Scott's huge beard somewhere in the crowd. Josh does a great screenprinting company and Rob does an equally cool gym. TLAL85 - BearTrap - Sleep Eradication 7" TLAL's follow up from the well selling first EP I did for them. This record was more raw recorded but the songs are bangers. I think this came out at the wrong time as the band had toured all over Europe and then calmed down a bit I think because of family member reasons. I still have limited copies of this and it is great hardcore punk. TLAL86 - Six Brew Bantha - s/t LP I think SBB had a full compliment of labels ready to release this and they shyly asked me to help. A grindcore band doing a full length LP is a ballsy thing to do... a split you only need three to five minutes of music. A full length you need at least fifteen minutes and you need to make things memorable between songs. I'm not sure why they were semi-scared to ask me, I think they were scared of me saying no which is silly because I'm not a large label, but you know I was honored and the record sounded amazing. Well it did well, we pressed more copies, and now I only have a dozen left of that. The band played Raleigh to give me the first pressing copies of this to me and on the road their van completely flipped over, rendering their guitar player in a full leg cast. They still killed it and they gave me undamaged copies of the LP to me which also surprised me. A lot of things about that story surprised me but the way they still played a killer show in a small bar in Raleigh with all their might while having sustained injuries was the most surprising. TLAL87 - Suffering Luna - Blood Filled Bong tape SL asked me to do a tape and I said yes. I love this band... so creative with samples and tape loops and catchiness. They are undefinable. They also oddly know how to market themselves as a band... in fact I be they could run a better label than I could. TLAL88 - Catheter / Mass Grave - split 10" Another record I couldn't say no to. I'd wanted to work with both bands for a long time. The best part of this is one side of it the masters got lost (which I don't understand as it got released as a CD, couldn't you just use those tracks?) and I think it was the Catheter side that got re-recorded because it got lost which is really cool to me, makes this special and unique. This is a perfect grindcore pairing and lots of good people in both bands including H-Murder from Cap Cas and Bad People Records, who honestly looks frightening in appearance but then you talk to him and he is such a great and friendly person. The Murder part of his nickname does not fit the person at all. TLAL89 - Mindless - Planet of Pestilence 7" Mindless's first EP blew me away. Faiza was the female voice of Hatred Surge but I don't think harping on that is important as this current band killed it live. Mindless I think is no more and Faiza is in Body Pressure who is like what Mindless is to grindcore as they are to hardcore punk. I have a bunch of copies of this release and I think people are complete idiots because this is a flawless grindcore release. TLAL90 - Manchild 6: Bye Bye Punk Rock... Hello Adulthood book Some releases take more sweat than others and this took all my blood, sweat, and maybe a few tears. I scanned each page and laid everything out in InDesign myself. I was the producer and releaser of this book, mainly to keep it DIY, with no ads, and to bring it into the world. Brian Walbsy is an amazing punk artist and at the time was the drummer of Double Negative. Manchild series was continued on in release form by Charles who had a baby and think he sees doing shirts as a better use of time and revenue generation than books, which I don't blame him but I kindly signed up for the book. This sold strongly and even got to be on the merch table for all Melvins tours as Walsby himself tours around with the band. Only complaint here is the fact that I got served with a big import bill years after putting this out since it was printed in Canada. Now that I have done tape, CD, every type of vinyl, and book... I need to put out a DVD. Maybe Manchild 7 will be book+DVD? TLAL91 - T.F.D. - Childhater 7" Flexi from Rich Hoak's insane spazzviolence band. Rich is better known to most as the drummer of the now finally defunct Brutal Truth. Amazing nerdy great guy and I think the full length Hater was great. I think I said unfortunately no to a vinyl release of that which maybe I should have but Childhater didn't do as well as I'd hoped so maybe TLAL and TFD weren't quite meant to work together but I think this flexi is great and fits on TLAL well! TLAL92 - ACxDC / Sex Prisoner / Magnum Force - split 10" This is a landmark split in many ways. It bridges the gap of friendship and all bands I've worked with in the past. So this started as a conversation between me and Sergio. We wanted something cool. ACxDC and SP stuff had done well so talk got higher up in cooler ideas and I knew it would do okay. The final idea was a three way split. How were we going to put three bands on a split? I suggested a one-sided record. To one-up it I had the idea of an etching which I had never done before. We did fold-over covers for the first press and it sold out right away. I didn't like how the fold over covers looked so subsequent pressings had full 10" jackets. The second pressing I asked for a burst of black in the white vinyl and they did it amazingly.. but they did it all by hand and the plant asked if they could just do the rest on white which is how the pressing went. The second press sold out almost immediately like the first pressing did and I hardly got any to a distributor who was asking for more. The third and probably final pressing I just pressing 1000 copies, biggest pressing I have ever done of any large vinyl record on TLAL and it has sold steadily. Great concept record, well executed, love it. Only gripe I have is that Magnum Force maybe didn't realize the extent of this and only gave two short songs and wished they gave me more. TLAL93 - The Kill - Make 'Em Suffer LP The Kill is a perfect grindcore band in my eyes. They are the P.L.F. of Australia and their singer/guitar player Robbie gave me a huge kiss on the cheek when I saw them play. Not that I have high expectations of anything I do but I'm super surprised I have copies left of this record as good as this band is. The split color vinyl looks amazing, art is perfect, band couldn't be better. I'm super happy with this record and you're in luck if you're reading this as it is in print. TLAL94 - Last Words - s/t LP I want to start out by apologizing as I am an ass in a few ways on this record. I had talked initially to another NC label about getting help on this but closer to the release I kind of just needed to do it myself, for my own sanity mainly. Karma jumped up and bit me hard here... there were issues with the initial artwork, there were issues with spelling of song names on the final insert (my fault) and there were issues with the pressing. So lets start out with the pressing. I always always always do a side A and side B master CD, guess when I decided to not do one.. on this release. If I don't do two CDs I at least master the songs together to a side A and side B WAV file. Well one song got put onto the B side that shouldn't. Then plates were supposed to be remade but only one got remade, so then the other plate had to be remade, so there were two different mistake test presses. I sold them to pay for the plates I had to rebuy. The third test presses were finally perfect. The record came out great except the song Worth Nothing is called Worth Norhing and Worth Northing depending on if you look at the LP back or the insert sleeve. I had some great recordings of the band and the limited to 100 copies version of this came with a DVD-R I mastered down. LW put on some of the most energetic shows in NC and this and the Abuse. LP coming up are some of my favorite haydays of Raleigh hardcore punk and powerviolence in my eyes. TLAL95 - Seasick - Eschaton LP Mark Bronzino is an old homie and this band was ace. I had seen them play a warehouse with Magrudergrind, Stout, Surroundings, and Triac. This was originally pressed as 100 test presses by the label and I don't know why! I did a pressing and got it out as it should have always been. I almost repressed the Surroundings LP in the same manner. Its still great and should be repressed. TLAL96 - Abuse. - Self Titled LP I bought noise equipment mainly to try to join this band in some kind of context. They were a perfect powerviolence band of friends from my town. I was so jealous to not play or be in this band but second best is doing all the artwork on their first EP and their full length and putting out their full length. I was supposed to do their EP but got graced with their huge sounding LP. Its perfect and interesting powerviolence. Everyone in this band still plays music and plays it well. TLAL97 - ACxDC - Discography LP As I said earlier, I can spend money on ACxDC and not lose it as people will buy it. So what do you do with their discography, lets make a cool picture disc. And we made a cool picture disc. I did a limited run of black vinyl for those who can hear that bit of surface noise and want to enjoy the record a bit more for the sound. Second pressing, the purple color didn't come out well and the records look similar but that pressing is almost gone too so no worries in cool collector land as you can generally tell and people wanted them enough to buy up a thousand copies. Great mastering by Dan Randall of Mammoth Sound. TLAL98 - NoComply / Suppression - split 10" In the last few years Suppression showed back up as a band. For years between the 90's and now they either disappeared or played more noise than powerviolence. I think Jason split his noise into other projects and the stripped down two man Suppression of yesteryears returned to the delight of damn near everyone. I did the art on the NC insert. This record rips... could have easily come out in the 90's but came out now! I think I sing and play bass on this too, you know. TLAL99 - Backslider - Discography CD Originally TLAL99 was held for NC/Bastard Noise split LP but that was ill fated. I think I jinxed things by doing the artwork already. Backslider discography isn't out but it was just sent to the plant. I paid the big bucks and got test CDs and they sound perfect. This is going to be a great showing up the pre-bass, pre-three piece lineup of the band. Mastered perfectly and comes with a cool Japanese style OBI strip. CDs might be a tough format for the punks but a great way to compile 51 songs on something that isn't a 3xLP. TLAL100 - V/A - To Live A Lie Vol II 12" I hate comps, I hate comps, but this was worth it. So my first thoughts is TLAL50 is a comp, it was colored bronze and would be the first in the series of three. TLAL100 would be the silver release and would be an EP featuring more powerviolence whereas TLAL Vol I was grindcore slanted. All these came true but the EP grew to a 10". Okay I can do an EP for TLAL I (bronze), a 10" for TLAL II (silver), and an LP for TLAL III (gold). Well I got more and more good songs and its an LP. I think I waited the longest to finally get a Low Threat Profile song but totally worth it. A bummer that Andy Beatie (of No Comment fame) was no longer singing but Joe Denunzio took over vocals for the first time on an LTP song and its on my comp! There is a lot I can say about every song and every band on the comp but maybe I'll leave that for another day. The Mad Dog song, the vocals were recorded in my room where I am typing right now and originally it said "fuuuuuuuck Will Butler" at the start of it. I took that part off. This record took probably two years to compile and happened to hit around the ten year mark. Perfect for 100 releases. TLAL101 - Cave State - Self Titled 7" Cave State approached me to do an EP and I'll be honest, its hard to see gold. I knew I liked them and would love to do a record for them. Hoy Pinoy is great and CS was way more polished. Here is where I still make rookie mistakes (I never said this out loud but I said no to an Insect Warfare EP at one point once, but to my credit they were brand new and had no recordings online anywhere and didn't send me anything to hear). So I had cold feet at first and they were nice enough to offer to toss in. I didn't let them toss in too much but they fact they offered meant they cared about TLAL as a label and believe in their band. Well this record did so super well. The record sold out and I wanted to repress, they said to hold off and they would do another EP and I assumed I was going to do that but next I hear is that they would be working with Deep Six. Serves me a bit right for taking their money on this amazing EP and I'm happy they did a great sophomore record on Bob's label! It hurts the ego initially of bands not sticking around like ACxDC doing an LP on another label and the same with Sex Prisoner but both those bands did release on great DIY labels. I don't do contracts with bands for the fact that I want them to work with me as long as they like and if they get a better deal or can do more with their band with another label, then great! If they moved up to a major label I might beef them for a bit but so far no beef to be had. In the end I do TLAL to support the music I love and want the best for the bands. TLAL102 - Chest Pain - Weltschmerz LP You know I said yes to the CP full length. They said it would be a bit weird and its perfectly weird. It is inventive and perfect. The band wanted to do an optical effect on the center label but that didn't end up happening. The cover artwork was drawn by hand and is completely amazing and the record comes with a poster of it. TLAL103 - Impulse - Chula Violence 7" I came across this band upon researching bands for the TLAL100 comp. Their EP had become obscure and the label wasn't going to repress it. I got the plates from the label and did more copies to give the recording another life. This may have been silly as I still have most of those. I have the bands next EP at the plant which almost might be silly but this band is perfectly the sound I want to capture with my label. They blend youth crew with powerviolence. TLAL104 - Holders Scar - Sin Without Doubt 7" Greensboro NC's Holder's Scar puts on every show in their area and each member has so much heart I approached them to do a record and they excitedly said yes. Younger folks and very passionate, they seemed confused on how the whole process worked. I think at some point they asked if they could do a poster but that didn't happen. The record is great. Oddly their demo sounded more like a TLAL release and they stopped blastbeating for this EP but it rips so hard still. Win another one for NC hardcore punk and friendship. They are playing Damaged City Fest this year so be on the lookout. TLAL105 - Fistula - Vermin Prolificus LP Sludge veterans Fistula approached me passively about doing an LP, I think thinking I would say no. I got an old CD of theirs off an old member when I bought a 16 CD off them on Myspace years back. I had good thoughts of the band as I was no one and they sent me a free CD and others CDs. I re-checked them out and listened to their last LP and it blew me away so I said yes. There was enough fast parts and blasts to go out to the TLAL folks I thought. I wasn't wrong, the first press sold through. Second press on glow in the dark vinyl looks cool! I'm not sure if the band will go back to putting out records on their singer's label, who seems to have done a good job so far, and I'm not sure why they didn't put this on that label, but I was glad to work with them! TLAL106 - Sex Prisoner - Demo 7" The singer hinted at me pressing the demo to vinyl the last two times I saw him so I finally pushed them to get me masters from the demo. This itself took half a year to track down and I got the best they could find and got it mastered to make it sound better and boom, a SP demo EP. The band asked for glue covers, did 500 vinyl, and decided to cap it at that. The demo is raw, the guitars sound slightly out of tune, and the songs are mainly the songs on the EP. Its great but it should be a collectible for the die hards, the rest should grab the EP. I decided to be immature and do it on doo doo brown and pee pee yellow like I'm a ten year old, I don't know why. The band its great and serious but I think they find humor in such things. I did the layout and got it pressed up and its almost sold out. TLAL107 - The Afternoon Gentlemen - Grind In The Mind 7" Great UK powerviolence outfit, asked me to repress this. I got the plates from them and pressed some up. TLAL108 - ACxDC - Fiction Monger 8" Did a limited lathe of the tracks from the TTP split. Sergio from the band screenprinted the B side and hence a cool collectible record was born. One track was added that wasn't previously available on vinyl, Cheap Ass Punks. TLAL109 - Six Brew Bantha - Intraveniously Commodified LP How surprised do you think I was when the band I was surprised that they did a first LP did a second LP. This time just a joint effort between SPHC and me and I think there was a Euro pressing too. Second pressing on white is about to come out as this sold well too. SBB for a band with a silly name has some traction and some serious riffs. TLAL110 - ACxDC - Postcard Flexi Maybe keeping with some of the novelty ideas, ACxDC gave me actual great tracks for this and printed up a bunch of flexi post cards. Its a lovely little record and I'm happy with it! TLAL111 - Impulse - Backbreaker 7" This is at the plant now but is the extraordinary return of Chula Vista's young powerviolence heroes. I'm super nervous about this one as I don't know if people know this band so make me less stressed and listen to it. The riff are on point, they hardly repeat everything, and they start and stop on a dime. I want this to be the breakout band that no one has heard of. TLAL112 - Humus - Eterna Condanna LP Still getting pressed, this is a multi-co-released record of crusty hardcore from Italy. I tossed in with a bunch of labels and we will see how it is. I won't have a ton of copies so snatch it up while you can. TLAL113 - Sidetracked - Hired Gun LP This isn't even recorded yet but I guess there is enough story behind this and the next one to talk about it for interest sake. Jay wasn't sure about writing a full LP, as you can tell they've been a band so long and have none. I guess I could have asked to do a discography CD but in 2015/2016 I want to challenge bands. I asked ACxDC and Sex Prisoner to do LPs and although they didn't do it on my label, they did produce LPs. SBB impressed me that they did an LP. Last Words and Abuse. surprised Raleigh with perfect LPs... its time for a Sidetracked LP. I think Jay has written stuff that might have become an LP but liked it more as other material and so the writing method goes on. I think his mind thinks as a final product and not just a collection of songs put together which is a great way to think. TLAL114 - Rabid Pigs - Spoiled Heat LP All material by this band has me excited. Reminds me of a different take on modern hardcore much like Coke Bust does. I'm thinking writing a full length is going to be hard for them too, if I'm not mistaken the band might be a bit in disarray or at least putting together a full length might be tough to do as it is. Anyway I believe in them if they pull it off, if they don't at least it was worth an effort. Hopefully at the end of this you know more of my thought process. Most of you might not care and might look at me from different angles. I'm just a guy who likes music and likes what I like. This has been my ten year struggle to work with the music I love and bring it to you in the way I can. Some days it makes me crazy, sometimes it makes me antisocial, but in the end I have loved every minute of it. I think 2013 or so marked the point it grew too big to where you could tell something was wrong and I had to cut it back and not set up any new releases for a year. A lot of people thought TLAL was going to die there. I'm still here. I want to keep doing it. Maybe send me some encouragement sometimes and support these bands I'm working hard for and TLAL will keep moving along into the future. Thank you for the support for ten years of time! This has been TLAL's ten year history of releases as I know it. If you missed any of the other history posts here are the links: Ten Years of TLAL - Part I Ten Years of TLAL - Part II Ten Years of TLAL - Part III Ten Years of TLAL - Part IV