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Book Reviews

SCHISM: NEW YORK HARDCORE FANZINE
128 PAGE BOOK

I honestly did not feel comfortable doing a review for this book... main reason being that I personally contributed photos, flyers, stories and contacts for contributors. So my review would definitely be biased, so I decided to add a Feature on the book instead... enjoy!

"Long before everyone looked like a "hardcore" kid and "hardcore" bands had gold records, there was a hardcore scene and it was something that couldn't be explained to anyone who wasn't part of it. We had our own music, our own dialect, our own fashion, and our own magazines. We were New York Hardcore. We were youth crew and we were straight edge. In retrospect the numbers were small but we were proud and we really felt like we were something. Schism was the literary display of the peak of "our" scene at that time".
- Steve Reddy, Equal Vision Records

SCHISM: NEW YORK HARDCORE FANZINE (Originally Written & Compiled By Alex Brown (Side By Side & Gorilla Biscuits) & Porcell (Youth Of Today & Judge) in 1987 & 1988) features all 3 issues of the seminal New York hardcore zine. Herein, you'll find interviews with the likes of Agnostic Front, Bold, Dag Nasty, Project X, SSD, Gorilla Biscuits, Side By Side, Slapshot, Supertouch, Warzone, and more. This new anthology includes all three issues of the original zine in their entirety, plus written reflections on those golden years from the authors and contributors, and over 70 never before printed photographs of bands from that era. Classic late 80s hardcore at its finest. This book is a virtual time capsule that chronicles one of the most exciting times in the history of hardcore music.

SCHISM: NEW YORK HARDCORE FANZINE
128 PAGE BOOK
Originally Written & Compiled By Alex Brown & Porcell, 1987-1988
Edited By Chris Wrenn
Available through Bridge 9 Press

Review By: Jeff Terranova

One of the things that always made music magical to me was the many different ways that people can interpret a song. You hear it, you sing it, and you make it yours. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, you have ingested and digested it and made it a part of your inner being and no one can take that away from you. That is until you watch VH1 True Spin or read The Last Brigade 20 Songs From 20 Years Of Punk Rock by Dave Smalley.
Dave claims in his introduction to the book that he got the idea from Lou Reed when he bought a book of his lyrics and thought that it would be cool if there were explanations of the songs with them. That pretty much sums up this book in a nut shell. If you like Dave's bands, and there is no reason why you shouldn't, because he has done some ground breaking stuff throughout his career, then this book is for you. Dave takes you back to '82 with DYS and the Boston Crew. Then to the mid 80's with Dag Nasty, the late 80's with ALL and the 90's to present day with Down By Law. He picks 20 songs and tells you where they come from. He delves into the state of mind he was in and lays the meanings of each song on the table. Fifty Two pages in all with The last 5 pages consisting of photos and copies of actual handwritten lyrics, which are labeled as original draft or lyrics in progress.
The Last Brigade is a total DIY effort, no big publishing company backing it. The overall layout of the book is well done and quite impressive for a sophomore effort. Hopefully we will be seeing, or should I say reading more from Mr. Smalley in the future. If you are not afraid of having songs spelled out for you by the originator of them, then contact Never Surrender Publishing and get yourself a copy. Even if you don't like what the songs are "really" about, you still have your interpretation of them, no matter what Dave says...

Review by Joe Snow

Let me just start this by saying Joey "Shithead" Keithley is almost fully responsible for punk rocks emergence in Canada, but you already knew that. His new book "I, Shithead" gives you some insight as to just how this happened. The book in it's entirety is a great read for those of you who have your own personal punk rock stories and are interested in how others came to be saved by the good word of punk. Joey Shithead not only gives you the overview of his days playing with the legendary DOA but perhaps the most interesting aspect of this book is his account of what led up to the formation of that band. He lets us in on how a child of the 60's and the hippie generation becomes one of the major voices of the 70's/80's punk rock movement.
This isn't a chronological, day by day, documentation of the exploits and experiences of DOA and Shithead doesn't try to paint any pictures here. This is the kind of history you get when your just talking to your friend over a beer, not a historical account but rather an overview on what the whole thing meant on a more personal level. Blah blah blah....It's a real good book. Buy it!