Baltimore, ”Charm City”, är en medelstor industristad på den amerikanska östkusten och med sina ca 600 000 invånare den största staden i Maryland. Hemstad för några av 2000-talets största hardcoreband som Turnstile och Trapped Under Ice, band bestående av unga, snygga, talangfulla människor. Justice Tripps välborstade tandrad och A3 stora Jesus-tatuering vittnar om välmående och en god katolsk uppfostran. Turnstiles pastellfärger och vältränade överkroppar är som om de vore direkt hämtade ur en Kalifornisk surffilm från 80-talet.
Baltimores hardcorehistoria är den samma som stadens, som vore den skriven och regisserad av stadens söner Edgar Allen Poe och John Waters. Vid första anblicken är den idyllisk men skrapar man på den charmanta fernissan avslöjas något smutsigt, spefullt och förvridet.
Enligt den amerikanska hälsomyndigheten beräknas uppemot 10% av Baltimores invånare vara beroende av heroin. Känn på det ofattbara, av hela befolkningen, barn, gamla, unga är 10%, en tiondel, en på tio beroende av heroin. Och som en plusmeny till det kommer brottslighet, sociala problem och misär.
Trots att staden de senaste årtiondena har en övervägande svart majoritet har den varit ett starkt fäste för nazister. Under de år som Baltimore sattes på den globala hardcorekartan var nazisterna inte pseudointellektuella alt-right kostymnissar utan bärsfulla, råhypnoltuggande våldsverkare i bombarjacka ute för att döda.
Den ruffa miljön har satt en tydlig prägel på det sound och den råhet som kännetecknar Baltimore hardcore. Speciellt om man jämför med hur det lät och såg ut i grannstaden Washington DC knappt 6 mil där ifrån, där emo och post-hardcore föddes.
Under en period på cirka 10 år var hardcore i Baltimore upphängt på ett fåtal band, det första var Gut Instinct, lite senare kom Stout och däremellan kanske det största och mest betydelsefulla bandet – Next Step Up. Bildat 1991 av de två barndomskompisarna Aaron Martinek och Mike Ayres som gjorde sin första spelning ihop på en talangjakt för åttondeklassare med bandet Morbid Tales of Death. Något senare startades bandet The Corrupted (som senare tog namnet Without Reason).
NSU startades med en tydlig ambition om att vara det hårdaste bandet både text- och musikmässigt. Efter en kort sväng med sångaren Dave Huntt rekryterades JR Glass, som satte upp dom lokala spelningarna, som sångare. Liksom bandets katalog har line-upen varit lite fram och tillbaka men sen dess har JR varit den enda konstanta bandmedlemmen.
1992 släpptes Passive Aggression, en åttalåtars demokassett som likaväl kund ha getts ut som en fullängdare. 28 minuter högkvalitativ käftsmällshardcore och en stor del av låtarna hängde med genom bandets hela diskografi. Kombinationen bra ljud och bra låtmaterial satte bandet på kartan redan från start. Bandet gjorde även en andra demo som mastrades i den lokala reggaestudion Lion & Fox som i samma veva gjorde en hitsingel av Inner Circles inte helt okända låt Bad Boys.
Inte bara musikaliskt influerade av Cro-Mags utan även av det spirituella tankegods som Harley och JJ förkunnade anammade delar av bandet krishnafilosofin. Detta var i samma veva som Shelter bildades och gjorde ett stark avtryck på hardcorescenen. Trots krishnafilosofins antivåldsideologi ser bandet inte någon problematik med att posera med dragen kniv på skivomslaget, ready to fight. I skrivna skildringar av Baltimore hardcore är det alltid en sak som nämns och det är våld. Om och när nazister dök upp på spelningar var det aldrig någon som backade. Våldet och det ständiga kaoset ledde så småningom till att klubbarna i Baltimore inte längre tillät hardcorespelningar.
Bandets första LP Heavy var en omarbetning av demolåtar och gavs ut som en collab mellan gitarristen Mike Ayres bolag Shadow Records, som även gav ut första sjuan med Florida xvx-bandet Culture och Endgame Records – mest kända för att ha släppt tidigt material med Integrity.
Bandets andra och viktigaste platta Fall From Grace inspelad i februari 1995 är, med låtar som Fall From Grace och Bringing Back The Glory, utan tvekan en milstolpe inom gruff och hård hardcore. Skivan är producerad av Drew Mazurek som bl.a. har jobbat med Crowbar och följaktligen inte är en man som räds för att dra ner på tempot och fokusera på tyngd. Förutom blytyngd kännetecknas låtarna av sjuhelvetes gung där alla partier är dansvänliga och alla refränger är odödliga anthems. Till skillnad från många 90-talsproduktioner har Fall from Grace inte ett tidstypiskt ljud och skulle lika gärna kunnat vara nutida, men faktum är att flera av låtarna hänger med sen tidigare, vissa ända tillbaka till bandets första demo Passive Aggression från 1992. Antalet riktigt hårda hardcore band från den tiden utan renodlade metalpartier är lätträknade även på ena handens fingrar och i en låt som Nothing är det lätt att höra vart band som t.ex. Hatebreed har hittat sin inspiration.
Skivan gavs ut av det mystiska tyska bolaget Gain Ground Records som även släppte en samlings-LP med bandets tidiga material och två stycken sjuor, för vilka de aldrig betalade ut royalties. (Gain Ground ligger även bakom en massa andra tunga hardcoreklassiker som första skivorna med t.ex. All Out War och Fury of Five)
1997 korsade Baltimore-kvartetten Stilla havet för en kortare Japanturné.
Japanernas förkärlek för ytterligheter var sedan länge i total synk med bandets musik och attityd och dom mottogs som kungar av en armé av ninjadansande gruffjapaner. I samband med turnén släptes en 4-låtars Japanexklusiv 7:a som tyvärr är NSU:s sista och svagaste alster.
Om du inte har kollat upp Next Step Up och vill ha en snabbkurs, lyssna på Intent To Kill-sjuan. Den innehåller bara hits och en sjukt bra cover på Gut Instincts låt Disturbing The Peace. Vill du ha det bästa, köp Fall From Grace LP och vill du gå all in köp även dubbel-LP:n Heavy. I höst kommer bandet till Europa för att spela på The Sound Of Revolution i Eindhoven så min uppmaning är att du tar dig dit eller varför inte bokar in bandet för ett Sverigedatum.
Aarons Martineks egna ord om bandet från en ny intervju av Daniel Nätterdal
I got into punk and hardcore in the mid/late 80’s. Before that, I was into metal and thrash. I related to the lyrics and musical aggression of punk/hardcore way more than anything else, so it was just inevitable that it became an important part of my life.
When I started going to hardcore shows, Baltimore really only had Gut Instinct. There were bands like Defense Condition and Krack who blurred the lines, but as far as what people refer to as hardcore today, G.I. was it. There were a lot of punk and metal bands (which I really liked), but I wouldn’t throw them in the hardcore genre.
My experience and memory of Baltimore then, was it was a rough working class city, and could be rather scary. As a kid, I fed off of this.
We (Next Step Up) had our fair share of brawls throughout the early years. If nazis showed up at shows, they were quickly met with violence. It’s one of the things about the Baltimore scene back then, that I truly loved. No one stood for any of that bullshit. The song Gut Instinct by Gut Instinct is an accurate and true account of one such altercation with nazis.
There were a handful of clubs/bars that did punk/hardcore shows, and then there were old abandoned warehouse shows, but there always seemed to be kids that wanted to go to shows. A few years before I got into hardcore (early/mid 80’s), there were a handful of clubs where all the, now, big name punk/hardcore bands played when on tour (eg: Black Flag, Sheer Terror, Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, etc). Unfortunately, I missed all of that.
The unfortunate side effect of violence at shows in the early 90’s, was that it lead to clubs/bars not wanting to book hardcore shows. We found ourselves with nowhere to play in our own city.
Me and the original guitarist, Mike, formed Next Step Up in 1991. Prior to that, we had a band called The Corrupted (later named Without Reason) that we formed around 1988. Our first band ever was called Morbid Tales of Death. The first show was our 8th grade talent show. There are no recordings of any bands prior to NSU (other than live recordings).
The first 8 song demo cassette released was Passive Aggression. I consider it a demo, but really good production quality. We recorded it in 1992 at the same studio we recorded all of our other releases. I had dubbed 15 or so with limited covers/hand numbered, and took them with us when we did a weekend of shows with The Icemen in April of ’92. The actual printed version of the demo was released later that year. The original Heavy LP was released in ’93. The duplicate tracks that are on Heavy from Passive Aggression, actually use the same drum tracks. We re-recorded guitar, bass, and all vocals. The additional songs were supposed to be an EP.
”The Idea of the founders Mike Ayres and Aaron Martinek was to create a band that was one step up from all of the underground bands around at the time. This concept of striving to produce the most intense music with the most powerful lyrics. A refusal to give in to what was popular at the time, dedication to truth and rage in musical form. And an undying faith in the spirit of hardcore.”
– J.R. Glass
We listened to a lot of “youth crew” style hardcore, and played with a lot of those style of bands. There wasn’t a division between musical styles in the early 90s, at least not in Baltimore/DC. We played shows with punk bands, death metal bands, it didn’t matter. For me, the more variety at a show, the better. I felt that we had a positive response any time we played. Obviously our home state was receptive, as was DC. Baltimore and DC definitely had the wildest shows. That’s where we played the most. Cities throughout Pennsylvania, DE, NJ, NY all were receptive of us as well.
We played a lot of shows with Bulldoze back in the early 90’s, and we all became good friends. From what I remember, we didn’t know anything about them until we played our first show together. Our sound/style was completely coincidental. We formed in 1991 and released our first demo in 1992. For us, we wanted to write songs that focused on, and had that heavy dance part that WE liked to dance to. Years later it’s called “beatdown hardcore”, but back then, it was just hardcore… Baltimore hardcore. Bringing Back The Glory wasn’t a nod to Bulldoze as much as it was just a term that was used a lot at that time. But hey, if people think it’s a nod, I’m cool with it… I love those guys. The Krishna thing all came from the Cro-Mags originally (Age of Quarrel/Best Wishes lyrics). Our vocalist JR, and guitar player Mike were heavily involved in Krishna Consciousness (JR is still). Also, at the same time, Shelter had formed, and a lot of straight edge kids got involved in Krishna Consciousness… so… there was somewhat of a large movement within the scene.
”Fall From Grace recorded in February 1995 with songs like Fall From Grace and Bringing Back The Glory is undoubtedly a milestone in heavy hardcore. The record is produced by Drew Mazurek who has worked with Crowbar and is consequently not a man who is afraid to pull down the pace and focus on weight. In addition to lead weight, the songs are characterized by groove where all parts are dance-friendly and all choruses are immortal anthems. Apart from many other 90’s productions, Fall From Grace does not have a time-typical sound and could just as well be a contemporary record. In fact several of the songs are re-recordings of older songs, some right back to the band’s first demo Passive Aggression from 1992. The number of really hard hardcore bands from that time without pure metal parts is counted on one hand and in a song like Nothing it’s easy to hear where bands like Hatebreed found their inspiration
The record was released by the mysterious german label Gain Ground Records who also released Next Step Up’s Heavy 2xLP comp and two 7”s (and a bunch of other heavy hardcore classics like the first records from All Out War and Fury of Five)”
– Daniel Nätterdal
Gain Ground just disappeared. If you find out anything, let me know. Or anyone out there that may know, get in touch. At some point, the catalog was sold and repressed. I met one of the guys that ran the label (Tobias) when we had our first tour of Japan in 1998. Keep in mind, this was all before the internet really took hold, so there was never a presence online. If I had received any royalties, I would probably have his contact information, and could answer what happened.
I had to quit the band to finish college and take a break right after we finished recording Fall From Grace. At one point, a couple years later, JR called me to ask if I wanted to play the Super Bowl Of Hardcore in DC. I had really missed playing, so I went ahead and played the show. From there, everything just happened. We played a ton of more shows, wrote new songs, and recorded a new demo. After we released the demo, we were offered a tour in Japan at the beginning of 1998.
Japan was absolutely amazing. Our music had been traded around in Japan for years before we finally made it over, so, when we finally toured, kids just went crazy. Each time I’ve been over there, I didn’t want to go home. It’s so much fun and such a beautiful country. The people are amazing, and the scene is off the hook! When we were there for the first tour, it’s the first time I felt like what we had done with NSU actually meant something to someone other than ourselves.
Regarding the future of Baltimore hardcore, I absolutely love seeing all the new bands come out of Baltimore, and even more so, seeing bands from Baltimore get the recognition they deserve. Hardcore and punk bands like TUI, End It, Wolvesblood, Glue Traps, Wargames, Syringe, Cloud Buster, Butchers Hill, B.R.A.T., and Queensway just to name a few. There’s a lot of originality and wild onstage energy from all of these bands.
Skrivet av Daniel Nätterdal.
Hardcore Sverige 