Visionstain has been touring the country, pressing records, and playing around town for around a decade now. These two tracks are from their second to last album Me Flat which is avaliable on Silverdish Records. If you're like me and grew up on a steady diet of Homestead and SST bands, you should definitely check these guys out.

A Rochester classic, the Thundergods. Out of nowhere in the mid nineties, the Thundergods came to save Rochester from the thick malaise that had crept over it. They could barely keep their shit together on stage, but they wrote some of the catchiest, simple, good old fashion punk rock. These two songs are from their first full-length release on Trashcan Records, See You in Hell Kid. Enjoy!

Jeezuz Christ, I used to get in so much trouble with Sean, Dave and Mike from the Vertigo-gos. These guys thought they could steal the surf guitar crown from Duke Galaxy, and they came close . . . too close to call (Duke is fuming as he reads this). These guys left town after doing me the favor of getting me banned from the Bug Jar. They've been seen drifting around Boston looking for fights. Go and start one with them, they love it! Oh yeah, these tracks are from the Garagepop release, Anthology:1998-2000.

The Priests have been a local fave for years now. These tracks are from their first album on Garagepop Records and was released in 2000.

The Pressurehead synopsis ala Cedric Young:

Here's what I remember of the Pressurehead story, if anyone cares: I think it must've been '89. Tom Caroll- vox. Steve Gantman- guitar, Zach Barocas- drums, Cedric Young- bass, Charley Galley- Voice Of Reason. Debuted opening for ALL (w/ Bent) recorded "Same To Me" cassette on a 4-track borrowed from Nerve Circus. Played a few local shows with the likes of Hunger Artist, Bent, etc. opening for Fugazi, Shudder to Think and Vision. Zach quit to form Powerline with Honch and Silvio from H.A. and John Schoen and quit them to join Jawbox. (Silvio, Honch and ex-Three Genres drummer John Franchot went on to form Sleepwalker with a singer whose name I don't remember). But I digress.....Anyhoo, The second member of the Pressurehead JDL (Jewish Drummer League) was a kid named Dave Rosen, who is reported to still be playing down south somewhere. He was in turn replaced by Steve Kaplan, with whom the band recorded the "No Sleep" cassette on yet a different borrowed 4-track, a couple of days before embarking on a New York State mini-tour that lived up t! o the name. Shortly after, yours truly quit due to personal and financial disagreements and was replaced by Paul Granger. The band broke up shortly after releasing their first and only 7". I went on at that point to play with former members of Red Spot as the often forgotten Triggerman, then Cranium Torque and the SLT , and eventually Ristrocket. I think Steve K. still plays out in Seattle, where he moved after the breakup, and the others have disappeared from the music scene altogether.

Kablooie was formed in the early 1990's by Kevin O'Connor, Andrew P. Schmidt and Rob Hopkins. Later enlisted was former bENT singer, Pat Dougherty. The only viable recording was self engineered at ImageSmith Studios and mixed by Matt Guarnere at his old "What's Real," studios in the Village Gate Complex. Kablooie disbanded when Kevin O'Connor moved to New Mexico; re-banded when Kevin moved back to Rochester and disbanded again when Pat decided to join local band, "Lazy Boy." Kevin then moved to Boston where he played in the band Otis.

Nod have been a Rochester mainstay for over ten years now. After putting out two records on their own label, Baby Music, Nod were picked up by Steve Shelley's Smell's Like Records label. Nod feature Joe Sorriero -- guitar/vocals, Brian Shaffer -- drums, and Tim Poland -- bass. Hugh Edwards used to play second guitar for Nod and has been known to sit in at shows on occasion. Running Into Trees is the recording from the Bug Jar Compilation that came out in 1993. The other two tracks are from Nod's first album.

Hinkley features ex-members of Muler, Will and Sean, switching off and on between lead vocals, guitar, and various other instruments. Currently backing these guys are Keith (the Quitters, Duke Galaxy, Zoo Music etc) and Jonah and Charles from the Rochester work horses Visionstain .

Out of the ashes of N.O.D.R. (Nuns on Death Row) came Hunger Artist. These guys were one of the best and most popular hardcore bands in Rochester during the late 80's in Rochester. A controversial change of singers did not diminish their popularity, but an ill-fated tour lead to their demise. These recordings were from the never-released Hunger Artist album and was recorded in either 1988 or 1989. Update I heard from Tom, the singer from Hunger Artist, and clarified that the cause of their demise had nothing to do with their last tour. Just a rumour that I had heard and spread like the mouth-breeder I am. God, I make myself sick sometimes.

The Fertility Rite Brothers were out of control onstage mainly due to their frontman simply known as the Thing. Tom Marianetti joined with fellow Lotus STP bassist Tim Poland (Nod) to fill out the rhythm section. Mike Murray (best known for his radio show, Whole Lotta Shaking) played guitar along with Jerry Flanagan (Riviera Playboys). Memorable shows included a bunch of gigs opening up for the Lyres. They reformed briefly in 1998 to support the pressing of a 7" on Trashcan Records of songs from this session. These songs were originally recorded in 1988 or 1989 but were not released until a limited edition cassette came out in 1995.

Cherry Gun was around for a good bit of time. They formed out of the ashes of Nora and called themselves Honeyrider for a while. I guess the name was taken, so they changed it to the current name. Jen sang and played guitar while Kim (White Cotton Panties) played lead guitar. Mark (original drummer for the Thundergods) played drums and Bob (Race Car Bob) played bass. Bob moved around to guitar after Kim left, and they had a number of bassists afterwards including Tod from Big Hair and now of Montreal's Grimskunk and (can't think of his name right now) from Bitter Flesh Thing.

The following songs were recorded during the session that produced the Trashcan bunch split 7" with the Shopclass Squares and the tracks from on the Verge of Breakin' Even.

Winona Ryder -- the Duke will kill me for putting this on, but the fans used to love this song. Unreleased

Duke Galaxy and the Pipeliners were/are (depending on who you talk to) Duke Galaxy -- guitar, Tubesteak -- bass, and Moondoggie -- drums.

The Salamanders were a smaller version of the Essentials, a band that rocked out the legendary club, Idols, many a time during my teen years, backing up the likes of Bo-Diddley and others. The amazing Greg Townshend on guitar, Todd Bradley on Bass, Christopher Zajkowski on drums, and Mark Bradley on vocals and sax played for a brief stint as the Salamanders before breaking up. Greg and Todd still play together in the Hi-Risers, known as the tallest band in Rochester.

The bassist for Nod and The Fertility Rite Brothers has an incredible solo album called Tim Poland's Breck Rock Dub Star. This solo cd was definitely one of the high points of 1997. Try contacting Tim to obtain copies of this hard to find cd.

All from the hit CD Pop in a CD on Rocket Racket Records. Permission to put these up was granted by The Squire himself. All songs written by Christopher Zajkowski and performed by the Squire.

Zen Barbie were a bunch of derelicts ftom Ithaca that moved up to Rochester to play Punk Rock music. Rob Hopkins (the Runs, Lunch Lady, Butterslax) joined up with them and they started playing at the end of 1988. This stuff was recorded in 1989 for their demo tape Like Rats in a Cage. Greg (vocals) and Tim (drums) left Rochester ages ago and have moved so many times I have no idea were they are. Tim had moved to Boston to play with Crazy Iris but has since moved on. The amazing Bill Pierce followed me to NYC back in 1991 and lived in the practice space for bands such as Helmet, Jim Foetus, and the Lunachicks. He has since played in a number of bands in New York including Willard Luck which I believe had a member of the Lunachicks in the band. Rob (bass) is playing drums for the Runs.

Dirt Box Five was Nick Anderson (Guitar), Felix Anderson (Drums), Mike Cannizarro (Bass), and Ande Lee (whatever you call that). This was from a WITR's Rochester Sessions and was recorded June 30th, 1992. Nick and Felix were in Elmer Fudd's Gun. Then Nick and Mike were in bENT. Oh yeah, I guess that Nick and Felix were in Ludivico Treatment before that. That was all during 1980something to 1980latersomething. Ande played guitar in the Shoppe Classe Squares and will probably complain about this stuff.

The last two tracks were recorded in 1991 (I think). This was the original Zoo Music whith Deryk Kemp (Duke Galaxy and the Pipeliners and the Thudergods), Jon Schoen (Solution?, Powerline, Shop Class Squares, and Pengo), Greg (Rail), and Chris. Keith ended up playing bass after this and a million drummers came and left including Finny of Noxious and Mungebeamdeamon fame and Rob Filardo. of every other band fame. The first two tracks feature Keith and Finny and were finally released last year on the Trashcan Records compilation, Cowboys and Cripples

This cut is from the last recording that bENT ever produced. As mentioned above, Mike and Nick were in bENT playing bass and guitar respectively. Sean Daley played guitar as well, but had left the band by the time this was recorded. Pat Doherty fronted the band, and Dashiel Eaves played drums. Pat and Nick had played together in Ludivico Treatment before starting bENT with Sean and Mike. Dash started playing with these guys when he was fourteen. They only played for a couple of years, but they put out two amazing tapes (Alice's Phalis Palace and Pickle Noodle Feifer) as well is a single and a couple of tracks on a Hippycore compilation. Pat went on to sing for Lazyboy and Dash pursued an acting career performing in the New York crew of Stomp! and various Broadway plays.