The 90s get a pretty bad rap when folks talk about punk and hardcore and, to be fair, it was an era packed with a lot of schlock, but to discount the decade that brought us BORN AGAINST and TALK IS POISON would be fucking stupid. The emotional hardcore that is the source for a lot of the "90s sucked" talk was rooted pretty firmly in the midwest - and they are some of my favorite bands from those years. Sure, GRADE sounds pretty crap if you listen to them today without the context, but loads of bands have weathered the last 10-15 years pretty well...like 309 CHORUS. This Milwaukee band came just after BURIED, L.S.D. (the first honest DIY touring band I ever met) and DEMISE and took the personal approach to punk to another level. I never got to see them, but played many times with DAMITOL (who featured guitarist Andy and early guitarist Jeremy) and ANIMAL FARM (with Grant, the guitarist who replaced Jeremy, and future member of the aforementioned TALK IS POISON), and plus their singer Scott (who departed after this demo I believe) was my boss for both of my stints living in Milwaukee. Fiercely political mid tempo hardcore with a songwriting style that owes as much to the plodding AmRep shit that was going on in Minneapolis as to the disjointed introverted oddness of mid 90s Gravity Records shit. Chaotic and meaningful; two things that way too much music is missing these days...and a lot like life.
also, my wife took these photos years before I knew her...weird, huh?
3 comments:
I first heard this band filling the second half of the split with Philadelphia sludge band ZED. At the time, my tastes ensured that the significantly heavier first half overshadowed 309 Chorus's contributions to the point where gave the CD to my roommate on a whim, figuring 309 would fit in well his generally alternative tastes.
Listening to it again lately, it really is sounding better and better, especially standing as a rare example of 90's melodic punk done right. I believe al these 3 songs are collected on that split, including the even more melodic, obscurely clean version of Trinity; indeed, this one is presented as the second version. Though as awesome as they sound now, in my roommate's stewardship the CD was lost utterly, and I've yet to find lyrics anywhere else online, unfortunately. It even included words to songs not on the split, songs of which I've also yet to find. But at least they haven't languished in complete obscurity.
Hey, reading this here in Australia! 309 Chorus came my way via the split CD sent to me by Mikey Brosnan when i was doing a small zine here in Adelaide. I immediately loved the 309 stuff...sounded very honest & dirty, a bit like aussie gods feedtime (in some respects) never heard of them since, the singer had an awesome voice...reminded me of Ben from Econochrist! Would love to know what they're all doing now??? I have the CD still here and can scan lyrics for the guy/girl who posted the first response...will be sure to read more of this blog too...cheers - Dave
sorry..can email for scans at nostalgicfornothing@hotmail.com
cheers!
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