My first trip to Japan was in 1996, scabbing (poorly) on bass for my pals ALL YOU CAN EAT on the opening slot of a package featuring NUNCHAKU and GARLIC BOYS. Everything about the experience was new to me, and I met people whom I still consider friends....that's what the touring thing is supposed to be, right? In Nagoya, I traded broken English and non existent Japanese conversation with a woman during the show - conversation that mostly consisted of one of us blurting out band names and the other responding in the affirmative, in the negative, or in the confused. Mostly in the confused. The point is that this woman was shocked that I was not familiar with S.O.B. or ROSE ROSE, and she asked for my address. One result of that exchange was the tape you see here, and it's a cassette that still gets popped in from time to time, even though the ROSE ROSE wax has been a part of my collection for nearly 20 years (I have a Vicious World CD buried in a box somewhere too, but CDs in boxes are a different story). I don't think this was the finest S.O.B. era....but they were way ahead of the curve in the world of brutal metallic hardcore, S.O.D. and SLAYER influences sneaking into the Japanese hardcore realm. Sure, I'll still take Don't Be Swindle if I have to choose, but fortunately we can have both in the internet age. ROSE ROSE on the other hand, has perhaps never been more fierce than on 1990's Liquidation. Off the rails blasting fastcore/crossover...this was, after all, the band that gave Max Ward the title for his one page demo zine, Mosh Of Ass. Both bands are still very active today (the last time CFD played in Osaka, S.O.B. were playing a club down the street on the same night - plus there was KAFKA and VOĈO PROTESTA at Bears while we played with TONE DEAF and FEROCIOUS X...it was a tough night), but not surprisingly I'm still gonna reach for this home made mix every damn time.
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