NO WORK RECORDS

"We Couldn’t Shit After Someone Broke the Toilet"- First Tour Diary

Bands come and go but Miami remains. Several new bands emerged and started playing more and more shows around the 305 area.

Vinny does vocals in a band called Trench, 305 Powerviolence, what else could you expect from some Kendall kids. Saw him at Churchill's in late December, right before his "probably" first out of town adventure and asked to write a tour diary for No Work. His band along In Oculus, Leftorium and Lack Jaw, went to Orlando for the weekend. All this bands are currently part of the new Miami wave of people who play and book shows also.

IN OCULUS- https://inoculusmia.bandcamp.com/

TRENCH- https://trenchmiami.bandcamp.com/

LEFTORIUM- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpo26GNHxYU

LOCK JAW- https://www.facebook.com/LockJawSFLOffical/?fref=ts

"December 26, 2015

Day 1:

We left after Ed and we ended passing him.

Ninja baby is the guidance to our journey.

The venue sucks.

This venue sucked.

We went to a coffee shop and I know that anywhere that’s not Miami doesn’t have a lot of places that serve colada. We ended up finding this coffee shop that has a bunch of records you can listen to and art work up on the walls. I see they have “CAFÉ CUBAN”. I told baker who is suuuuuper Cuban, and he goes “It’s probably not gonna be good” She serves us the coffee and the first sip he puts the cup down and goes “that’s the best coffee I’ve had in a while”. Hi five Orlando hipster coffee shop

DFW (“Down for whatever”) is where we are staying.

We are sleeping in tents. I, nick, and leeeeyum started to change trench lyrics to be all about tents.

“IM IN A TENT, I SLEEP, I SNORE, I SLEEP, I SNORE. DREAM.”

The mystical tent will not tolerate silliness inside of it.

Billy (one of the roomies) is a cool dude and took good care of us.

December 27, 2015

Day 2:

“IM TIRED OF SLEEPING IN A TENT…….BUILD”

Ed is in his underwear.

Ed is farting.

I forgot to mention but there was a fucking light ring around the moon yesterday.

Publix 20 box wings. YES.

I ended up staying in the tent all day with nick. Everyone was still partying from last night but we have the 2nd show in an hour.

They didn’t stop playing music in the house till 6 am.

Billy recommended this Mexican place with 5 dollar burritos. They’re huge. Baker bought one and split it with nick. Raven bought one and split it with me.

BAKER ATE SHIT LAST NIGHT SKATING THE RAMP OUTSIDE.

We show up to uncle lou’s.

Uncle lou’s is a super dope place. Small, cool bartender, cheap drinks, really cheap drinks, tags everywhere.

More people showed up to this show and the sound was actually good.

The lineup was, Lockjaw, Inoculus, Leftorium, Trench, then the local band, Skatanabis.

Super fun show. Skating outside the show after was fun to. The local dues that live in the house are insane.

They taught me how to play craps.

We bought two bottles of wine from the bar with the money we got paid with that show.

TENT!

Ed, Nadia, Nick, Baker, Raven, Jackie, Kyle, and I were the only people to stay the last night at the house.

They collapsed the tent on me.

I need to shower."

I died at 305 Fest!

by Mariel Z. B.

305 FEST REVIEW

Friday, Dec. 11th Day 1-

Note: for full descriptions of anything marked with an asterisk* see bottom of the page.

How could we begin to talk about day 1 without mentioning pre-305 fest karaoke at 7 Seas Thursday night? Spearheaded by Julie Ghoulie of the SCMM*, several homies and usual suspects invaded the chill dive bar off Red Rd. to drink pitchers and wail with Bernie (7 seas’ crotchety resident karaoke host.) To keep it brief, shit was lit. Next year it should be an official event. Stay tuned.

Anyway Friday was a bit of a trip down memory lane. Let's call it bittersweet. When Die Trying played several Hellhounds* covers it took me back to a time when I was 15, in a little band called OUCH!*, all about street punk and Mickey’s grenades--I'm still about the grenades, honestly-- but things seemed simpler then. We were more optimistic with our unified angst and certainly less jaded. While I'd likely define our generation as apathetic and lost, this set, along with Party Flag, and Lower Class Brats felt like a glimmer of nostalgic hope.

Lower Crass Brats
photo by Fernanda Maura

Now to salt my open heart, there was Noisear, Albuquerque heathens. Holy fucking shit, guys. Their set was a welcomed vice to the dome, I mean true skull-crushing grind. With so many nuanced time signatures a’la Sun Ra space jazz chaos-style, you'd worry it would muck up the sound-- but instead it's accentuated. Thrashy riffs glide atop their blast beats, with raw, chord-slashing vocals. That’ll do.

*SCMM is Miami’s Shade County Metal Militia, started by founders, Chainsaw Chelsea and Molotov Mariel. The SCMM has chapters in Tampa and Orlando with more to come.

*The Hellhouds were a hardcore punk band from Miami who released some solid tunes on BudsRecords back in 2005/2006.

*OUCH! was an all-female punk band composed of Danielle Otrakji on guitar/vox, Joana Rigol on bass, and yours truly on drums. This was around 2006 or so, back when we couldn't play our instruments too well but slayed regardless.

305 Fest Day 2

Saturday, Dec. 12th.-

Disclaimer:

The following is an excruciatingly detailed account of Saturday, from my fuzzy perspective. If you wanted an abridged take on day 2, with just the meat and potatoes of how shit went down, this sure as hell ain’t it.

Saturday began with an unintentional smack to the face from Bloodbath (Kath.) This aloof broad forgot she rode with Eric of Wastelands to Churchill’s Friday night and cruised with a bunch of us to Palacio for some post-day 1 binge drinking. Anyway, without a ride home she crashed at my place, like a senile horse on PCP.

In the same clothes from a long night we walked to the Latin cafe at the end of my block, and subdued our nausea with bud, tostadas, and cafe con leche. My ol’ whip was in the shop getting her fuel pump changed (It’s great pretending I can afford maintaining a classic,) so sweet, stoned Eric came to pick up Bloodbath. Meanwhile Ghoulie (Julie), Gritos (Kris), and Crowbar (Carl,) picked my car up at the shop and got their asses down here.

To be honest, I spent most of the day chilling in the whip with Ghoulie. It wasn’t for any particular reason besides the fact we’re comfortable as hell in there. We decided it’s the official SCMM* clubhouse/living room on wheels. Sure, it’s illegal to smoke bowls and drink beers in there, but legality’s never stopped us from doing what we feel inclined to do.

So we caught the last couple sets at The Cave, which kicked ass for several reasons.

Gordo and Michi of Nunhex/Antifaces held down the grill, cooking up skewers of grub while Night Witch slayed the lot. I’d never heard ‘em before, which is silly since they’re only from Tallahassee, but they’re solid crust and impactful as all hell. Rosie’s pipes reminded me of that bad bitch, Lynda from Sacrilege, specifically Behind the Realms of Madness-era, and I’m all about it.

However, the last set really stole the daytime show-- and that was Sadie’s. At three-years-old she fearlessly guerilla-style peeled in on her pink trike and performed what I’d consider a raw, melodic noise set. Pop a contact mic on her wheels, add some distortion and a hair of reverb (yes, Rat, REVERB*) to her vocals, and you’ve got No Work’s latest release right there. Drunk off juice boxes and milk, Sadie wailed a rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that made passerby’s break neck and listeners capture the impromptu set on camera.

Keep on keepin’ on, Sadie.

Ghoulie and I had some time to kill before Churchill’s got going so we hit up J.Wakefield Brewery for some quality beers. She had El Jefe and I drank Ronan the Strawberian. We may have lost track of time and chugged the craft brews, but we pulled up to church right before Shadow Hunter’s set. Holy heavy. Watching them made me wonder what Ghoulie and I would’ve sounded like if CRUD remained a two-piece and got some serious bowel-loosening stacks. It ain’t easy to pull that minimal, doomy shit off, which only made me appreciate these Jacksonville sludge lords even more. Cliff, the bassist, looked quite familiar, and why? Because I served him once, back when I bartended at Pinkie Master’s in Savannah and still had hope for the future.

Soon after, over Rolling Rocks and shots of tequila, the SCMM inducted Axehammer Alfie for our Tampa chapter. She’s the only one in the militia with a bike-- a 2001 750 Honda Shadow Spirit to be exact. We’re eternally bummed she’s moving to Idaho, but stoked it's with her peach of a partner, Ben from Landbridge. Axehammer and Ghoulie talked about hauntings and ghosts for a bit while I played a couple rounds of pool before our set.

Snakehole riled up the crowd while we loaded in. I frantically looked for my cymbal bag, which got confused for Eric’s, but Gordo was kind enough to lend me his ride and crash so we got started. Lightnin’ Lou (Luis) said we’re heavy as hell, akin to Consular, and carry some serious weight these days-- which is a huge compliment. I smashed my pinky on the floor tom rim several times, bruised it up on one side, opened a blister on the other, and didn’t feel a damn thing until it was over. Some homies took a selfie with Crowbar Carl, others went buck for Steve Buscemi’s Eyes, and we didn’t play our surprise 30 second song-- next time, y’all.

Korrosive
photo by Fernanda Maura

Bleeth played after us but I didn’t catch ‘em-- I had to douse myself with a gallon of water and burn one to level out. They played twice that day yet managed a different set for each show, like that established older sibling that makes you feel unaccomplished.

By the time I got back inside Testokra started, and it’s about damn time they played a reunion. Acidburn (Ale) is a fucking beast. She’s impressive in Wastelands, hauling each groove on bass, but her set with Testokra only reminded us of her multi-instrumental talent. Her posture was ace, fills on point, and she barely broke a sweat; I'm not just saying this because she’s a best friend. The crowd raged hard to their nasty riffs and memories.

I took a shot with Ghoulie (snuck half of it to Bobby) and Consular took the floor. God bless these heavyweights. Matt’s vocals might've been too low, and maybe some girl was reading an e-book during their set (yes, really,) but the wake of Consular’s crushing authority was felt regardless. Let's take a minute to appreciate what these guys have done for South Florida hardcore/doom/sludge/etc. Hell, I know CRUD wouldn't sound the way we do if it wasn't for Don't Cross the Swine. I was hooked since before Angelo gave me his cracked 23” ride, during a time when the Santa-Lucia crib was a regular show spot and Churchill’s still belonged to Dave Daniel’s.

D.R.I.
photo by Fernanda Maura

But finally, DRI played. I would say I haven’t seen folks go that wild since the pub’s glory days --when Nicky did doughnuts for INC, and Alex was still welcomed to the bar he called home-- except this is when I blacked out. Kinda. Maybe I was eating lamb fries by the food truck, trying to sober up. I couldn't tell ya. I can say Alex was banned, supposedly for stage-diving during DRI. The cops were even called when he re-entered the pub to close out his tab, because y’know, why would anyone want to pay their tab, get their card back, and tip their bartender? If stage-diving is grounds for expulsion, Churchill’s is going to find itself completely gentrified soon.

Fingers crossed it becomes a vape bar.

There was another post-DRI show at Palacio --apparently I told Chainsaw I was going-- but instead I drove home, parallel parked phenomenally, ate some ice cream, and passed out by 4. I heard I missed out, but a baby can only rage so hard. Until next time.

Lysp at Palacio de los Jugos 4am
photo by Fernanda Maura

*SCMM- Shade County Metal Militia, in case you didn't read day 1.

*REVERB- Rat hates reverb. He's says it’s like you're hiding, taking away from the potential substance within the music.

*Details like time and order of occurrences may be slightly off. As I mentioned throughout my account, I was perpetually inebriated and clung to little nuggets of reality that proved true for one reason or another. Then again isn't that all we ever do?

Nunhex trashin' all around Miami

Nunhex is up to a big year, that means mainly playing as much as possible shows, everywhere, in respectable venues, in bars, in houses, doesn't matter where, they will play.

Nunhex at Grand Central Miami

This month of January they played 4 shows in total. On the 16th, Friday traveled to Lake Worth, about an hour away from Miami, for a house shows with all bands from 305 area, Sponge was there selling there selling shirts for $8, fucking kids just wanna get rich, haha, Swereslutz a new Miami band was there too, also Speculum, Suicide Ritual with Raul wearing a sleeveless tee and looking sharp, Scum Punch another new band played first while the mic still worked. Most of the bands had a bad day, vocals were dead after the first 3 bands, some got pissed cause of it, some didn't care at all. There's was barbecue outside, even vegan options in their kitchen, the lady of the house Dee was vegan and made an amazing chocolate cake. Everyone had fun, fights broke out, a dude almost knocked over the grill to the horror of everyone around.

On Wednesday 21st, Nunhex welcomed Torche and Municipal Waste to Grand Central, along Wrong and Night Birds. First time on the big stage, with a damn barricade in front, made Alex jump it into the crowd at some point and Nico almost fell of.

In two days, on Friday, Nunhex went to the beach, for their first show in Sobe. Snakehole, Wastelands came along, plus three bands from LA -Period Bomb, Two Moons and Snow Wite-, there was a packed show at Kill Your Idol, with a guitar smashed, crowd surfing, and with Brian Butler present immortalizing the moment.

On Saturday, the 24th, Nunhex played in Churchill's, a hardcore show with Bane headlining and Eternal Sleep, Aversion, Guilty Conscience who announced the release of their first 7".

Next week on February 4th Nunhex plays a show at The International Noise Conference, after that will head west to Houston for Bad Ass Weekend, February 27 - March 1st, also they are on the bill for Torche's Miami show release of their new record, Restarter.

Milano punk scene report

by Paloma P.

If you ask anyone about Milano and the punk scene, they will say that it sucks. It's a sort of national tradition saying that Milano sucks, that we're full of hipsters, the city is ugly, people are too cold, it's a boring place and so on. And in a certain way it's all true: Milano it's not the beautiful artistic Italian city as Rome, or Florence. We're not an university town like Bologna.

We're the city of fashion so, if you go in the center you will find any sort of fashion freaks and monsters.

But I lived in this city all my life and I always thought that despite all the criticism Milano always had a cool punk scene. A small one, yes. Without big names or big hype (if you don't consider the glorious past of the '80s with Wretched, Indigesti, Crash Box and so on). Through the years there were always people involved in organizing concerts, doing zines, occupying squats, releasing records…. It's not at all an easy city, but as soon as you know where to go and what to do, I think you can find stuff for your taste. And being not an easy city makes it more punk in my opinion: you always fight to have what you like, to find your place in a city that goes in a totally different direction. Punk for me it's still opposition to society, and in a city as Milano this is really an everyday struggle.

As in many cities in Italy the punk scene in Milano is related to squats. We have a dozen of cool squats in town, some have been evicted but some new have been squatted. The biggest and oldest is the Leoncavallo, where in the past big bands as Fugazi, Murphys Law, Public Enemy, DRI, Sick of it All, Poison Idea and many more played.
Till 2009 the Freego Collective (rip) organized DIY concerts in the basement and it was really the coolest place ever, a point of reference for all the kids. Now there are new collectives (Ciao Proprio, Queens of Chaos, Couch Shows, Knife Shows, Punx on Parole) and new places, but sometimes I miss the atmosphere of the Dauntaun.

One of my favorite places in Milano is the Villa Vegan Squat, an anarchist squat set in an old house of the beginning of the century in the middle of a park, with animals, trees, plants, vegetables. All the concerts I organized and saw there were a blast, and you play either outside during the summer or in a small sweaty basement.
Another new anarcho squat in Milano is the Rosa Nera, in south Milano. It's a really cool place and the young people doing things there are really into hardcore as activism. They can only do matinees because of the houses around, but now every Wednesday they're organizing the Antifa drummer, some free drum classes for the kids to get into music and fast blast beats!!

Other cool places are the Cox 18, in the city center, one of the oldest and coolest squats in Miano (No Means No played there, Weekend Nachos, Doa, Citizen Patrol, Extortion, Seein' Red…) , the T28, a squatted building in a popular area, where the concerts are in a tiny basement, the Boccaccio in Monza, a squatted football playground, and the Telos in Saronno, half an hour from Milano.
Then we have the Ponte della Ghisolfa Squat, the Ripa dei Malfattori Squat. Baraonda, Eterotopia, Fornace, Cascina Torchiera, Latteria Occupata and others that maybe I’m forgetting.

Of course there are also regular venues, as the Ligera, or the Lofi, where bigger bands play, but I always prefer going, playing and organizing shows in squats. I'm still one of those romantic ones that thing that punk hardcore is more than music, and so playing in squats is the best way of spreading this idea.

Speaking about bands, at the moment maybe the most known band from Milano is Holy, as they toured a lot in Europe and in the States, but there are a lot of other active bands, playing from crust, to old school, to screamo, to punk rock. With my band Agatha we have been playing for 10 years now, as other old bands of Milano as La Crisi, Logica di Morte, Kalashnikov but there are some cool new bands like Council of Rats, Fiele, Feed Me More, The Seeker, Ojne, Class, Warpath, Overcharge, Dags, Tongues, Cospirazione, Essere, Han Solo, Exirpation, Ruggine...

Last but not least: Milano is a really cool place to hang around, by bike even better. There are really cool spots, a lot of new vegan places are opening, we have some cool record stores (Solo vinile, run by my ex distro-mate Pietro!) so after all Milano doesn't suck that much.

There was a song of Death Before Work, a fastcore band from Milano who doesn't exist anymore saying "Too bad I live in Milano, too bad my city sux, too bad nazis and dumbfucks, there's no way of having fun". Well Milano it's not Berlin, but I can assure we do our best to have cool things happening!

Collectives:

Queens of Chaos: feminist diy punk collective organizing shows and other stuff. https://www.facebook.com/QueensOfChaos, queensofchaos.tumbrl.com

Ciao proprio: www.facebook.com/ciao.proprio.collective

Punx on parole: punxparole.blogspot.it/

Knife shows: Facebook.knifeshows

Couch Shows: facebook.couchpunxshows