SELF ABUSE

A lot of the cassettes that I have are home tape jobs with no covers or band information, just song titles and perhaps an address if I'm lucky. I suppose the fellow who made the tapes didn't feel the need to meticulously record all of the information about each and every band he was compiling to make my life easier 20 years in the future (I've asked him about several bands, and and even when the tracks are written out in his very distinctive handwriting, he typically has no additional wisdom to bestow upon me...leaving me googling my evenings away, trying to get to the bottom of exactly who PRE MENSTRUAL TENSION were, and what they were all about.) This SELF ABUSE tape has nothing but an address that places the band in Bournemouth, southern England. After consulting my magic ball, it seems that these tracks are the band's first (and only) EP, I Didn't Want To Be A Soldier, tracks from the second demo, Teenage, and then a live version of "Pills," which appears in studio form on both of the band's demo tapes. It's kinda like your own personal "Best Of SELF ABUSE" courtesy of some dude in England circa 1983! The tracks are pretty straight forward UK82 punk, but super well delivered and the fact that these fellows appear so very young certainly ups my enjoyment factor a few notches (which might be a tad ageist of me, but I just love it when kids rock). UK bands wrote a fucking load of songs about sniffing glue ("State Of Mind" on this tape). Where I grew up, we huffed paint and gasoline, occasionally Liquid Paper, but never glue. Just an observation.

Soldier EP (plus demo tracks)

UPDATE:::It seems that SELF ABUSE are back at it! Check them out here if yer interested. cheers.