Since this year marks the 20th
anniversary of this label I thought it would be cool to go back and indulge in
some history of the releases that have come out over all those years. I don’t have the biggest back catalog
(especially for a label that has been running as long as mine), but they all
hold a special place to me and there’s some interesting stories to go along
with those releases. This year I
plan on highlighting a different record almost every week, doing a little
history on it, and maybe talking to people involved in it’s creation. So, like any (hopefully) good story,
let’s start at the beginning. But stay until the end for some extra goodies.
In 1999 I was on the cusp of
graduating from college. I was
living in Buffalo and was planning on making some big moves with the zine I was
doing at the time- Hanging Like a Hex- by moving it into a much larger page
count, and adding a full color, glossy cover. For a couple years I’d also had an interest in starting a
record label, but I just didn’t quite know how to go about it. However, a friend in Syracuse who was
in the band Hermon DeKalb informed me that the label they were on- Temperance- were
looking to do some sort of sampler record as a bonus with a zine to showcase
bands on their label. They had
released records from (or were in the process of releasing records from) the
aforementioned Hermon DeKalb, Nora from NJ, The Passenger Train Proposal from
Philly, and Purpose, also from NJ.
All these bands were going to be on the record. Hermon DeKalb recorded two new songs in
preparation for it at Buffalo’s legendary Watchmen Studios that I had the
pleasure of sitting in on (and receiving a speeding ticket driving home from
after the session).
Hermon DeKalb
And then the bottom fell out. Temperance completely flaked and were
not to be heard from ever again. A
couple of the bands also seemed to just disappear as well. Just zero communication. But things were already in motion so I
reached out to bands I knew of and decided to try and keep it a little more
local. Syracuse’s Eternal Youth
stated they had music to provide and I got a track from them. And some little band out of Buffalo who
had just started making some noise called Every Time I Die stated they had just
recorded two new songs (after their standout demo). One was set aside for a compilation on Goodfellow Records
and they didn’t know what to do with the other one. I offered to add it to my comp and that was that.
I then had the issue of where to
actually press this. I spoke with
Carl from Nora (who also ran Ferret Records, now Good Fight, and were also on
the comp) about where he went to press records. He put me in touch with Musicol Records out of Columbus,
OH. They were basically a father
and son operation and were easy enough to deal with. I put the order in for 1000 records and I came up with a cover,
designed and printed it down at Kinkos, added somewhere in the order of 300
copies to the initial batch of zines for retail spots (I was bumping up the
pressing of my zine to 2000 copies at the time), and sold the rest separately,
or gave to the bands to sell.
All in all it worked out well. It was rather hodgepodge, but in the
end Eternal Youth, Hermon DeKalb, Nora, and Every Time I Die comprised the
first Hex Records release. Two of
those songs (from Hermon Dekalb and Every Time I Die) to date have never been
released elsewhere.
Eternal Youth
To go with the release I did short interviews/write-ups on each band for issue #12 of Hanging Like a Hex, of which the record was released to coincide with. Eternal Youth were a local Syracuse band started by my good friend Tom Ranger. It was the first band he had ever been in. Tom was one of the first people I really got to know well within the Syracuse hardcore scene, as he had an extremely pleasant and polite demeanor towards nearly everyone he met. It’s a rare trait, but one he is an expert in. I think if it weren’t for his welcoming nature I probably would never have met most of the people in town that I ended up being friends with afterwards. The other guys from Eternal Youth were Tony Merola, who I ended up being roommates with a few years later; Andy Williams, who later played bass in my first band The Funeral; Brad Dingman, a local Rochester guy who was known more for singing in the militant vegan straight edge band Contempt (and later on, Break Of Dawn) rather than drumming for a punk band. Guitarist Dan Hunter started out with the band, but later on Grant Johnson (also of The Funeral, Spark Lights the Friction, Night Owls, and Difficult) took his place as second guitarist. Below is a bit I did with them in Hanging Like a Hex #12 to promote the record.
To go with the release I did short interviews/write-ups on each band for issue #12 of Hanging Like a Hex, of which the record was released to coincide with. Eternal Youth were a local Syracuse band started by my good friend Tom Ranger. It was the first band he had ever been in. Tom was one of the first people I really got to know well within the Syracuse hardcore scene, as he had an extremely pleasant and polite demeanor towards nearly everyone he met. It’s a rare trait, but one he is an expert in. I think if it weren’t for his welcoming nature I probably would never have met most of the people in town that I ended up being friends with afterwards. The other guys from Eternal Youth were Tony Merola, who I ended up being roommates with a few years later; Andy Williams, who later played bass in my first band The Funeral; Brad Dingman, a local Rochester guy who was known more for singing in the militant vegan straight edge band Contempt (and later on, Break Of Dawn) rather than drumming for a punk band. Guitarist Dan Hunter started out with the band, but later on Grant Johnson (also of The Funeral, Spark Lights the Friction, Night Owls, and Difficult) took his place as second guitarist. Below is a bit I did with them in Hanging Like a Hex #12 to promote the record.
Obviously, the band that ended up
gaining the most notoriety was Every Time I Die. To date, the song they contributed was never re-recorded, or
re-released, on any other record.
It remains a lone anomaly in their deep catalog, but one which I think
is still a pretty righteous song.
It definitely caters to their earlier style, which long time fans will
be familiar with. I had the good
fortune of living in Buffalo right as they got started, even in the suburb that
two of their members grew up in- North Tonawanda. I had known Andy Williams (the other Andy Williams on this
record) and Mike Novak (AKA Ratboy) from their previous band- the
grind/powerviolence-influenced Sirhan from booking them a couple times in the
Syracuse area. They were a great
pair, and when they teamed up with the Buckley brothers the band took off
immediately. Right from the get-go
their shows were crazy. Always
tons of energy, wild antics, and lots of fun shenanigans. Not long after this comp came out they
began touring more, releasing full lengths, and making the band their
life. 20 years later and they’re
at the top of their game still.
Coincidentally, both them and this label are celebrating 20 year
anniversaries, which is pretty cool.
Somewhere in-between that demo/7”-era and their first full length I
interviewed vocalist Keith Buckley for Hanging Like a Hex zine #14 (around
2000-2001) and here’s some excerpts from that:
R: You know,
every band that has played this place hates playing here. Is it because of the sound?
K: It’s the
sound. It’s not very
personal. I don’t like stages I
guess. I need to have people
really intimate because I’m constantly glaring out into the lights and I’m just
sweating profusely, and I don’t see people’s facial expressions. I just see this huge myriad of hair and
eyes, and it’s very impersonal. I
like to hear people’s voices when they try and sing along. It just makes the whole atmosphere a
little more enjoyable I suppose.
It’s harder to get a response on a stage.
ETID at Westcott Community Center around 2000
R: But the
thing is that you guys are going to have to deal with that more now with getting
on bigger shows and so forth.
K: Right. And there’s no better place to get
warmed up to that than your hometown when your friends come out and support
you. But I also don’t want anyone
to do anything that they feel is obligatory. I don’t want people to show up just because we’re their
friends. But it’s good to know
that you’re comfortable in front of people when on a stage where there are
situations when you’re very separate from, and very intimidated by them mixed
with everyone else.
R: But what
about having to give up a little of that crowd intimacy by playing on bigger
stages?
R: I guess
so. So what do you think about
being a pretty young band, where all of the members have little background band
experience, and all of a sudden receiving a lot of attention?
K: It’s kind of
funny. It’s always sort of funny
to me because I’m naive about it.
I wasn’t ever really in a band before. I know Andy and Rat were, Aaron (former bassist- ed.) was,
Jordan was in a local band. But
it’s funny because when we’d be practicing in the basement it was just sort of
fun. I didn’t even really know
Andy or Ratboy until we decided to get together, and now to come out and play,
while being so naïve as to how the schematics of a band works, how the politics
of how a band works, still gets me off guard. Also, paradoxically, I think our age holds us back because
none of us are really aggressive as far as getting what the band needs. Like, I’m not really much of a people
person when it comes to setting up shows.
My schedule is so busy with school that I’m really afraid to start
booing shows because I feel like if I tell somebody we can play, and we have an
obligation to them, then I have to go back and make sure everyone else can do
it.
R: What are you
graduating (school) with?
K: I’m
graduating next Spring with my degree in English.
R: What are you
going to do with it?
R: Somehow I
knew you were going to say that.
K: I know it
sounds like such a pipe dream, like, ‘Oh, I want to be an actor!’ But I really want to write books, and I
think you really can’t do that on hope alone, and I want to be a professor, but
in the meantime write here and there.
I guess it’s sort of preliminary though because I feel that with all the
work I put into school to glorify this I can handle the band and teaching.
*And while this comp is long out of print you can get the digital version of it through the Hex Records bandcamp for just $2 this week only (Jan. 3rd-8th). As an added bonus, if you purchase this comp keep an eye on your e-mail because someone will win a test pressing of the 7"! So go and do that now.
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