Total Request Combat

We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this earth shattering public service announcement: Drop what you’re doing and go now to The Book and Rifle Podcast. “A show for nationalists who don’t have the time to sit down and read.” Your very life may depend on it.

The following jams are supplied to you in response to consumer demand. Although they have not been officially approved by the Condemned 2 Combat Commission on Kick-Ass Records, c2c believes in giving the people what they want. So put this in your corn cob pipe and smoke it.

For our friends in Spain

First up is an unofficial anthology record compiling the known recordings of San Fernando Valley/North Hollywood band Fight For Freedom. Tracks 1 through 8 are taken from FFF‘s 1989 Ganglife demo. There’s no info on the source of tracks 9 through 16, but I presume they are previously unreleased. The band was active from 1980 to 1990, so obviously this was all recorded somewhere in that timeframe. During that period the band featured a whole slew of different members, and it seems that the music was just an extension of their crew rather than a main focus. Interestingly, in the liner notes they list names from later mainstream Southern California punk acts Strung Out and Bad Religion as one time members of Fight For Freedom.

Here’s a 1985 LA Times article on the FFF crew.

As a whole the music featured here is taken from the 2016 release Wolves Sessions which was put out by HC Streetwear Productions. I went with the album art from their Ganglife demo here because it’s got that great So Cal prison sketch thing going on, and frankly the Wolves Sessions artwork is just shit. Although I certainly appreciate HC Streetwear‘s preservation of a piece of the underground scene’s history. For those keeping score, my takeaway from this record is that FFF (both the band and the crew) used their aesthetic in pursuit of white ethnic identity and solidarity among disaffected youth. Nothing wrong with that. Which is to say that it was more street politics than realpolitik. Musically it sounds like old school hardcore with a side of garage rock. They weren’t a skinhead band, and despite some of the lyrics, it seems they were more into drugs, violence and mayhem than anything really ideological. It’s definitely more punk rock than it is RAC. The first half is very youthful and alternatingly reminiscent of Suicidal Tendencies, Bully Boys, and DYS. The second half goes into a stoner doom rock surf thrash kinda thing á la Fang. So that’s – yeah.

Our next offering is another obscure unofficial anthology of another band with a strange and tangled history. This one is a collection of the works of St. Louis band White Pride. Again the music here is decidedly old school hardcore punk and not at all Oi! Think Fear or Keith Morris-era Black Flag but with flippant RAC type lyrics. Also, White Pride played a show with Circle Jerks in 1983, so that should be enough to cement their hardcore credentials. Allegedly the band was a joke, but that may just be revisionism as an excuse to re-issue records by an old school band that is now considered verboten by mainstream punk. It was the 80’s after all, when hardcore punk was still dangerous and anything-goes. So insisting that the message and imagery was all a transgressive joke is kinda like having a facetious queer-core band and trying to convince people you’re not a homo. The “I’m offended” crowd isn’t gonna buy your excuses and RAC labels are gonna re-issue your recordings in good faith. And that’s what happened with White Pride. Aside from the original 1983 demo cassette, this record has been re-released at least 4 times under the title Your Loss Is Our Gain. (The most recent being from 2013 on the band’s own label White Pride USA Records. Declarations of the band having been a joke are mysteriously absent.) The music on this one is taken from the Sunwheel Records 1995 bootleg re-issue. But once again I’ve taken the liberty of attaching different cover art. The original artwork looks like something from a power electronics release, and the Sunwheel artwork is as shitty as the Wolves Sessions cover art mentioned above. It’s just fucking lazy. So what you’ve got here is the cover from the Moin Moin Records ’99 edition. Some more artwork that looks like a sketch on the inside of an envelope that you got from your buddy who’s locked up. All jokes aside, White Pride was actually pretty good as far as 80’s hardcore goes. Some versions of the record have the final track listed as Immigration, but listening to the song the correct title is clearly the original Integration. And listening to songs like Spit and Bitchy Women you start to see how the music could be a joke after all – this shit is fucking hilarious. Cleverly written and mercilessly anti-PC lyrics combined with slamming 80’s hardcore. It’s a good combo.

For unknown internet searcher

This one is from Germany’s prolific OPOS Records, RAC’n’Roll Teufel‘s second album Ehrbare Menschen In Ehrloser Zeit from 2012 which comes in between their first record and a split with Hermunduren. I’m not sure if the requester was after a particular release, but this is what you get. The sound here might lean a little into the hard rock realm with the guitar tones and some of the drumming, maybe even power pop. It’s definitely the continental Oi! sound, but to me it’s just punk rock. While I don’t really sprechen the Deutsch, the content doesn’t seem all that RAC either. But I don’t know. Maybe the lyrics are really good? Sound-wise I actually prefer the ballads Leere Im Herzen and Befreit. The best track is their cover of Wish The Lads Were Here, a song about which I did an entire edition of c2c. Check that out here. So, this one ain’t really my cup of tea. But you asked for it, so here it is. On to the next.

This one goes out to Jim and that guy from Russia

Bringing up the rear guard and mopping up this mess is a titanic compilation from Esprit de Corps Services. And unlike the rest of the music in this edition it gets the c2c boot stamp of approval. This one goes fucking hard. Featuring bands from around the world, from Sweden to the US, Finland to the UK, it’s a wrecking ball of skinhead noise. Featuring legendary acts such as Max Resist and English Rose as well as upstart bands like Fascine and Birthrite that have previously been spotlighted on c2c, this compilation is non-stop Oi! bangers and plenty of classic covers. The record opens up with pure impact skinhead rock ‘n’ roll from Wellington Arms, and it closes out with a proper RAC ballad courtesy of Blood Red Eagle. In between that you’ll find (among many other delightful things) the Southern fried rumblings of Definite Hate as well as the slapping sounds of Code 291 and the infamous Swedish madman Jocke. Lemovice does their thing, as does the inimitable Vapaundenristi. Not to mention Section 88, Battleborn 89, and Final Verdict serving up The Sound, The Sound, and The motherfucking Sound. A compilation for the history books The Struggle To Exist! is a barrage of brickwall sound that comes crashing down around your ears. And, true to the cause, all proceeds from the album go to the Suidlanders of South Africa. Get some education on their struggle here. Tear the lid off this one today, and then hit up adsshirtservices@yahoo.com to snag yourself a real copy.