Tuesday, December 16, 2008

O.C.B. - Die Trying


Here is the download: O.C.B. - Die Trying Demo

Okay, before I get any further, you need to check out Lawrence from O.C.B.'s Myspace Page (go to his pics section), where he has posted literally hundreds of amazing flyers from the late 80's - early 90's Atlanta shows. It is unbelievable, and is like having your own version of Fucked Up and Photocopied for your home town. Check it out, and make sure you have blocked out enough time in your day to really soak it in.

So back to O.C.B., when I was 15 years old or so, I used to frequent my local skate shop, BC Surf and Sport (later Ollies) in Roswell, and this demo was in the display case along with the first Act of Faith demo as local "skate rock". I never even heard the recording, but just seeing that tape left an impression on me, and made me think of the local music happening in the area just out of my reach at the time. Now, thanks to Steve Wishart, I finally have the demo and can share it for others that might have been in similar circumstances where this music might have been heard. Like the Spiney Norman "Cups n' Coffee" tape, this is a demo that might as well be a full album for the number of songs included, but that was the only way we could get the music out there at that time.

I never personally saw OCB live or knew any of the members, but Matt Mauldin has some experience with them, and can give some personal insight into these guys:

"In late 1989, I was 15 and had been into punk, hardcore, and underground metal for a few years by that point. The problem was my age, I never was able to get to the Metroplex even though I knew of alot of shows happening there. I had just started going to concerts in the past year, but hadn't seen any smaller shows with real underground or good local bands. I would hear about about cool local bands on WREK's Thursday night punk show or Friday night's "WREKage".

One night in the fall of 1989, instead of going to the Milton High School football game in Alpharetta where I lived, a friend and I caught a ride to this crazy place that we had heard about (in Cumming of all places) that had shows. The place was called Visions and it was the first place that I ever saw real grassroots hardcore and metal shows. Some of the Atlanta punk and metal bands would venture up there and play. Jawbreaker even played there on their tour for Unfun in 1990. Needless to say I never went back to another high school football game.

There were two bands that I saw play at Visions multiple times over the course of 1989 and 1990 that made a huge impact on me; they made me believe in the power of "DIY". It was a wild revelation that I could go to this shack in the middle of the woods in Cumming, Ga and see bands play that would blow my mind just as much or more as seeing some huge band play on a huge stage. One of those bands was F.U.C.T., an awesome metal/hardcore crossover band from Nashville. The other was Cumming, GA's own O.C.B. (Overly Compulsive Behavior).

O.C.B. by this time had been playing hardcore shows in Atlanta opening up for touring bands. They had a tape out and were getting played on the WREK punk show. I knew their name, so I anticipated seeing something cool when I saw them for the first time at Visions (I guess this was around December of '89). I remember the opening strains of the song "My Mistake" and these four dudes up there jamming looking kind of disheveled like they had just gotten off of work at a construction job. These were pot smoking, beer drinking, long haired, punk rockers playing classic aggressive but melodic hardcore that made you want to dance. Like a great hardcore band, O.C.B. had an element of danger about them; they seemed like the types of dudes that you might get in trouble for hanging out with. Their "sound man" was named Taco and had a pony tail and wore a hat that said "narcotics officer", classic stuff! Each guy in the band added their own element to the overall personally, and it was total energy when they played.

Basically, it was our own little part of world's take on classic SoCal hardcore like the Adolescents and stuff like that. It was utterly brilliant to see them play and I've never seen anything quite like it since. They did the "Die Trying" tape and also the "Dance Not Destroy" tape (let James know if you have a copy-I'd love to hear this). They started playing alot with F.U.C.T. and even opening for Melvins at The Masquerade, and their sound got heavier and more metallic right before they broke up around the end of 1990. I was in their practice space and remember hearing a song they were working on called "Aftertaste" right at the end that was different from the early stuff but very cool. Anyway, Act of Faith kind of picked up the torch from O.C.B. and the rest is history. Great stuff though and I'm glad James got his hands on this recording.

Visions ended up moving to Buford Hwy late in 1990 for like two weeks before it was gone forever. But while I was going there I got to see alot of cool bands and played my first show there along with Spiney Norman and the Wishart Bros in Such As. Good times."

Here are some O.C.B. flyers for your perusal. Once again, check out Lawrence's page - you will not be disappointed:

August 12, 1990 - O.C.B. with Distemper and Venocity (featuring Matt Mauldin on vocals!) at the Masquerade

November 12, 1988 - O.C.B. with Social Disease, Ghost Story and Cyanide at Excelsior Mill (i.e. The Masquerade under its original name)


May 8, 1991 - Fugazi with O.C.B. and Random Conflict at the Carriage Inn


August 24, 1990 - No Fraud with O.C.B. at The Nite Owl


May 26 - The Accused with Brotherhood and O.C.B. at The Pit


September 7, 1989 - U.K. Subs with Lost Generation, Lastregus Nosferatus and O.C.B. at The Cotton Club


April 7 - O.C.B. with Animosity at Visions


March 27, 1988 - FUCT with O.C.B., Fatal PMS, and Zero Hour at Elliston Square


June 10, 1990 - O.C.B. with Anitschism and Humanicide at Jake's


October 3 - Circle Jerks with The Weirdos and O.C.B. at the Masquerade

October 26 - Nihilist with FUCT, O.C.B., and Skeletal Earth at The Wreck Room

June 1, 1988 - Lastregus Nosferatus with O.C.B. at The White Dot

May 27 - The Melvins with Mercyland and O.C.B. at the Masquerade

November 29 - O.C.B. with FUCT, Skeletal Earth and Gardens Of at The Wreck Room

And here are some O.C.B. live photos:


39 comments:

  1. Wow. Where to start with this? Back in the day, O.C.B. was the shit in Atlanta, and I'm still bummed that just as I was getting into the scene, they were pretty much done. I only got to see them once.

    They were obviously a huge influence on Act of Faith, who spoke of these guys as if they were untouchable, and I would love to have heard what these guys would have been capable of if they had continued.

    Thanks for this post!

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    1. Idk how to reply to the original story, but I got my first tattoo at Visions in Cumming, GA at an OCB (Overly Compulsive Behavior) "concert" when I was 16!

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  2. thanks carter, good to see some props out there for O.C.B. they were a huge influence on me.

    i pretty much started going to shows as they we were winding down, but i probably saw them 10 times or so the last year and got to play a couple of times with them in the band i was with. they were awesome live, always sounded great. the last stuff they were working on was a totally different direction, but was great too.

    that was back when local music was a way to discover new bands. the only reason i went to the melvins show in 1990 was to see O.C.B. the guys in the band were talking up the melvins so we stuck around and were absolutely obliterated by king buzzo and crew.

    early act of faith especially was influenced by O.C.B. when they were a four piece with the original singer. that coincidentally was my favorite period of act of faith's existence. overall it was a cool era of the local scene...

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    1. Thats funny. I liked Jimmy and kinda sounded like him.

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  3. i picked that UK Subs flyer off of a telephone pole at the varsity when i was 14, took it home and put it up in my room.

    the OCB/Distemper flyer... my band was correctly spelled "venosity". we always had our name mispelled.

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  4. I saw O.C.B. play a dozen or so times at the Wreck Room, Excellsior Mill, the Pit, and Visions. They always put on a good live show. Their songs are nice aggressive melodic punk songs with catchy lyrics and choruses. Besides "Dance Not Destroy", I believe they had another recording before "Die Trying" that I would love to hear again some day.

    O.C.B. helped some younger bands get started by putting them on the bill with them when the scene was looking pretty bleak. Alot is owed to them for keeping things alive in Cummings at Visions, when the scene in Atlanta was dead.

    So...another one of my fascinating stories. At the O.C.B., Accused, Brotherhood show at the Pit - during Brotherhood's set, the crowd is moshing a little, but it is a little mellow. I am right up front at the stage. The singer is wanting to get things spiced up a bit and a little livelier. So he pulls me up on stage. I am standing there like "why did this guy just pull me up on stage?" He motions to the crowd and says "dive dude". I had no clue what he was talking about and just kind of ran and hopped off the stage feet first back into the front of the stage area. Later, someone else stage dived correctly and I was like "oh that is what he wanted me to do." I hadn't seen anyone stage dive before, even though I had been to about 7 or 8 shows at this point in Atlanta.

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  5. you're right steve, those guys were totally cool and inclusive. they even let a bunch of metal guys like venosity play with them. wasn't 'dance not destroy' the second tape? it had a better sound if i'm remembering correctly.

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  6. there is definitely another tape that had "Stock Market Crash" and some others on it. Brian Turner had one. Someone else has to have a copy to upload....

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  7. i think "my mistake" was on that one too. "my mistake" to me was their signature song, along "dance not destroy". scott and steve, did you guys get a chance to look at lawrence's flyer collection?

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  8. Oh wow. I am not sure if I ever saw OCB, but I went to Visions at least 3 times, probably around this time. I lived in Cumming back then and my friend Mikey's dad knew a guy at Visions or something and he let us in. I was probably 13.

    Anyway, the only show I remember was with a band called Rhetoric (or possibly Retoric). They featured a young metalhead named Ken Saluzzi, who eventually joined Act of Faith. A few years later I was introduced to the hardcore scene and ended up seeing AoF more times than I can count.

    Thanks for this little slice of history!

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  9. if you remember, ken saluzzi also played in the funk/metal band d'funkt.

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  10. Hello all!

    This is Jim the singer from O.C.B. First of I just wanted to say wow what a honor to hear these stories and realize what a difference it all made and how many lives us and our music were apart of.

    But it was not that difficult because of people just like your selves who were passionate, hungry and ready for anything new. there was so much great music by great bands and our attitude was always true punk - come one, come all ad enjoy the friggin show!

    I have almost all the recordings, a ton of flyers and art work that I will contact James about getting to him for inclusion here. Just for the record "Die Trying" was our first formal recording. We then did a Dance Not Destroy Tour with F.U.C.T and wrote the song of the same name. Our second release reflected our growth as a band and was entitled "What's Inside". We released several singles after that.

    Thanks again to all who made this happen both then and now. Chuck and myself went on to form the bands "713" and "Supercell" and still currently play together in Supercell. Take care and keep the energy and spirit alive in your life regardless.

    Jim

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  11. good to hear from you jim, i enjoyed writing the piece and was pulling alot from memory so i'm glad you were able to add to it. if you have a copy of "what's inside" and any of the singles, i'd love to hear it... i loved those later songs especially. it would be awesome to hear them. you may remember me, i was in venosity at the time.. we played with you guys a time or two. tell chuck hello.
    -matt

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  12. Hey Jim - I just want to emphasize along with Matt that O.C.B. really kept local music going in Atlanta during a very lean time, and I can honestly say that without O.C.B. helping the bands of our generation get our first shows, and inspiring us to create, we would probably not have continued to play and bring a lot of the music and bands that came afterwards. So it was a real chain reaction that started with bands like yours, and I can speak for so many of us that have been in bands since the early nineties, that we truly appreciate it.

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  13. Nice to get a hold of this old shit! Thanks for making it available. I played BASS for Animosity, and I saw at least one of our flyers there with O.C.B. Anyone needs a hardcore bassist give me a shout!

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  14. Hey Mark - if you have some flyers, please send them along! Just send me an email: jejoyce77@hotmail.com. Thanks!

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  15. Wow...My bro and I were both in animosity!! Our good friend Dave was in Cyanide...Still chat with FUCT...Visions was crazy redneck ville with way too many lights...MARK BALLARD YOU BETTER GET A HOLD OF ME!!! TERRY PHELAN (BOB'S LITTLE BRO !!)FUCT>>>THE PIT ALL THIS SHIT WAY CLOSE TO HOME WAY

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  16. mark just search myspace or face book for bob phelan or terry phelan... You have been in our thoughts for like 18 yrs now!! Timm jordan has already found us...your turn mother fucker!! I still remember driving out by canton to get you tooo practice in the garage...

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  17. Rae Ballard - Mark's wifeApril 6, 2009 at 3:11 AM

    Terry ya'll have been in Mark's thoughts for several years now too!!! I have tried to find ya'll on myspace and just Google in general SEVERAL times for Mark over the years, but now that I see your name here I think I was spelling your last name wrong....FucK! Are ya'll still here in GA? He figured ya'll prob moved to WIS? Anyhow, Mark does not have a myspace, or facebook. He's got an email: mr.markballard@gmail.com, but he probably checks it once a month, he's not all that spectacular on the PC, but you can get in touch with him through my myspace:
    www.myspace.com/mrsangelbaby

    Please get in touch with him, he's gonna Sh!t!

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  18. I had great times checking out OCB and other Atlanta bands like Lastregus Nosferatus and Nihiist in Huntsville, AL back 20 years ago. OCB was, and still is one of my favorite punk bands from those days. I still remember the lyrics to most of the songs off their original 'Die Trying' demo. I was at the ill-fated Fugazi, OCB, Random Conflict show at the long gone Carriage Inn in Huntsville in 1990. For anyone interested, David Baird of Peer Pressure Productions in Huntsville put together a Myspace page to help document the history of our local scene during the 80s and early 90s. For a smaller city, Huntsville had a thriving underground punk and metal scene in those days. Those were great times. Here's the PPP site: http://www.myspace.com/peerpressureproductions19881995. I'm an active musician in the Huntsville are still. Feel free to contact me through my Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/deesonic. - Damon

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  19. Hey Damon - Thanks for taking care of Huntsville for us. I was in contact with another guy in Huntsville involved in a similar effort: http://nostalgiaisntwhatitusedtobe.blogspot.com/
    Maybe you know him. I was a big fan of the Slackers during the early 90's, and played Huntsville a lot during that time. Not so much recently, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

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  20. Richard s Kleid O.C.B. roadie
    Jesus H. Christ banannas, now I got "relentless" and "fucking it up",etc stuck in my head.but that's the point now idinit. I hope "aftertaste" and "badge above you" are coming soon.
    James, I'm a futurist,but I'm lovin your site.
    i'm just gonna blurb-out some thoughts and memories.
    This was the era of tapes.cheap,low tech,high speed dub a tape to tape on a boom box for all you friends of any kind of music that you loved.2 cicle jerk songs,2 fugazi,2 O.C.B.,2 F.U.C.T.,2 fear and alot of local,etc.etc.It was "free music" and if you liked something you went out and bought the real tape.
    Punk was considered? outcast stuff, people treated you like a pariah-dog and a social deviant if you listened to punk.But we knew there was something there.90% of it was crap, but that 10% was sacred holy stuff.it is ineffable.Going to a show was like going to a pentacostal church.And slam dancing was like being in a riot.There was definietly? a group mind thing going on, A herd of animals or a synchronized pack of wolves.Jesus, the hair on my arms are standing up and I got the shakes.It was beautiful and it was dangerous.
    As for O.C.B.,Jimmy had creativity oozing out his pores,and I mean oozing.He was this fountain of creativity. all the artwork was his and his lyrics were so under-rated by most.It was incredible to watch.
    The "die trying" demo doesn't even begin to show chuck's sound.In real life,he would play with such power and volume that it would alter your D.N.A..Take it all the way up to painful and back off a notch.His cabinets would shake your bones.
    I could go on about how chris the brief O.C.B. manager opened up "the pit" or tales of L.S.D. and pot smoking,skating atlanta at night,little 5 points,touring tennessee,alabama,florida, and Georgia,etc.But I'll just end it with saying they were all "Goodfellas".I wish them all love.and all apologies.
    P.S. have you seen the documentry "American hardcore 1980-1986?"? this was the crucible of the times.thanks for reading.

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  21. OCB just ruled the day. I can't tell you how many times I saw OCB at Visions in Cumming. Good times, good times. The other band that I loved was Ghost Story.

    Thanks to the blog owner for the nostagia.

    Robby Johnson - Atlanta

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  22. Hey Robby,

    Thanks for commenting! I got a message from Bennie the drummer from OCB that they are planning to play a few shows around town soon, so look out for that. Also, if you have any connections to Ghost Story, please send me an email as I have a question for them.

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  23. ocb fuckin rules Right on

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  24. OCB is amazing. I was also too young to go out to shows during the time when these guys were out. I was able to go to one Plex show: Rotten Gimmick, Circle Jerks and Seven Seconds. What a great time!! I have searched high and low to find OCB again for my mom threw my Die Trying tape away 20 years ago. Plz let me know where their songs are posted. What a great page here, brings back a lot of memories!

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  25. Hi Dustin - the Die Trying demo is posted on Mediafire in the link at the top of the page, or you can copy and paste this link here:

    http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=4d59dce078e59d27ab1eab3e9fa335ca66b1a4f5361cc04e

    Greg King has the Dance Not Destroy tape, so I hope to be able to post it someday that I can meet up with him, probably at a GG King show.

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  26. I am a very good friend of these guys . I helped promote the band and saw most of there shows ! I pushed and proded to get them to do a reunion shaw which they did last year for chucks birthday . They are doing a benifit show in cumming on July 28th ! the guys all still jam but in several diffrent bands .

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  27. Hey there - thanks for the feedback. Could we get more information on the benefit show in Cumming on July 28th? It would be cool to see them in the modern era.

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  28. I am Shawn Kerr and I'm sorry I did not get back to you guys had some internet issues to say the least !!! I will push them to do another show but lawrence is in Calli and could be hard to get back to Ga. ,,, I'll DIE TRYING ]

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  29. This is Marc, old guitarist in Cyanide(later Akathesia). I hit this blog while searching for old images of the Excelsior Mill and was surprised to see one of our old flyers. This site brings back memories, much of which are still a blur. I remember playing the Excelsior Mill, the Metroplex, the Pit, Visions, WREK Room, etc. with a lot of these bands. I remember hanging out at WREK. Good times.

    I saw that David, our old singer was mentioned above. He has a lot of old flyers and pictures at the different venues, but you may have already connected with him.

    Thanks for the blog and the memories.

    -Marc

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  30. Great stuff...I had been looking for OCB on the net for YEARS! (heh must not have since 2009 though). I had ripped both albums when I first got a PC in the mid 90's. Unfortunately, both had been eaten a few times by my car's stereo. I wore the shit of them! I saw practically every show they did in Birmingham, AL.

    I wouldn't miss their shows along with FUCT or The Vomit Spots! Rednecks in Pain (Nashville?) was another good one. First time I saw them, I was 15 in either '87 or '88 at Dr Jeckyll's! Glad to see you guys are alive and kicking!

    Thanks for posting the download!


    I see how, you HANDLED it!

    - Tim C -

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    1. Oh yeah, "learned" my first song on guitar from the first album, pretty sure it was BEE BOP.

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  31. I grew up with O.C.B. in Cumming, Ga. Their shows at Visions were incredible to be in such a small town. So many good bands came through there. All the guys still live in the area except Laurence who lives in Washington. Chuck is working on a new band, Bennie owns a motorcycle shop and plays with J.B.Walker and the cheep Whiskey Band, and Jimi is a personal trainor in Cumming.

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  32. I still own a copy of "Die Trying". Been thinking of putting her up for sale

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  33. Would love to see this thread keep going. I have a lot of the bands mentioned tapes that I've recently cut over to mp3. I played in bands back then and played, hung out and drank with most of them. O.C.B. Wad great to play with though our style was quite different, those guys brought their game too every show. I just ripped over to mp3 the tape "What's Inside". Some great shit. Can't figure out the year it was made though. Miss most of these bands we use to play with but thankfully I'm still in touch with members here and there. It was a great time in Atlanta and will be missed.

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  34. Thanks for posting the first album....damn, been since 2012 since I commented on this. Anyway, the sound quality is much better than the one I ripped off my original cassette. Wish the 2nd was somewhere to be found. I have a "just good enough" rip of "What's Inside", but my tape had been played so many times that some of it cuts out. Dance Not Destroy, Man in Blue, Stock Market Crash, What's Inside!

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  35. Fuck man, I LOVED OCB!!! First time I saw them was At the National Guard Armory in Huntsville, AL (where I lived/still live!)..They played w/FUCT, SKELETAL EARTH, and LASTREGUS NOSFERATUS...I was 16. The LAST time I saw them was at the Circle Jerks/Weirdos show at the Masquerade in ATL!!! Every show in between was JUST as amazing...They threw themselves into their set and played like there was no tomorrow!

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  36. Ironically, the Armory show happened when I was 16...here I am on the cusp of turning 50(!!!!Fuuuuuuuckkkkk!) and I STILL love and listen to all those bands!

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