The View: An Atlanta Compilation 1984 - 1990

Here is the download: The View Compilation

Here is the track listing:

01: Ban KA - Ode To Phil Phons

02: Neon Christ - Drawn In (Savior)

03: Gardens Of - Sacrifice

04: After Words - Things They Never Taught You

05: Stickmen - Rusty Musty Mildew

06: Jumpstart - Wasted Breath

07: Dead Elvis - Beercore

08: Kicker Boys - I Don't Scare

09: O.C.B. - Try To Understand

10: Groundwork - Life Sentence

11: Threshold - Raging Dawn

12: Face - Second Half

13: Full Frontal Nudity - The Good Doctor

14: Third Season - Poison In The Water

15: Balrog - The Incident

16: Such As - Empty Words

17: Wrong Answer Zoo Breath - Trees Again

18: Act Of Faith - On My Own

19: No Walls - Never Fall Apart

To me this is the seminal local Atlanta compilation of the early 1990's, or the late 1980's, if you want to be technical about it. This is the tape that introduced me to local music, and provided me a great overview of the bands that came before. This was kind of an overview of Atlanta bands from the late 80's, as after 1990, very few of these bands were still around and playing, and I got to see very few of them myself. Act of Faith of course takes the title of longest surviving band of this compilation, as they were pretty much just starting when this came out. I bought this tape on the street in Little Five Points, from someone affiliated with Lunchbox Records, although I'm not sure if it was one of the Wishart brothers, I just remembered a dude with a box of these tapes who was asking random people on the street if they wanted to buy a copy. I was in 10th grade at the time, and it really opened my eyes to bands outside the typical SST, Touch and Go, Homestead, Dischord, etc. bands of the time that I was currently listening to.

I ended up playing in bands with a few of these guys (i.e. Such As and Third Season), and have featured several of these bands on this blog (i.e. After Words, O.C.B., and Act of Faith), but some of these bands I have heard of very little outside this compilation. Ban KA, Stickmen, Kicker Boys, Groundwork and Face were bands that I may have seen on a flyer or two, but definitely never owned any other releases by them. Neon Christ is one of my favorites, and funny enough probably the first punk band I ever heard, as my friend Miles Peterken used to play for me a dubbed Neon Christ tape long before I ever got this release. Car vs. Driver actually did a cover of Savior on our second album, partly because it is a great Neon Christ song but also as an homage to the bands of Atlanta's past. William DuVall, the guitarist from Neon Christ, joined the SST band Bl'ast! after NC split up, and then formed No Walls in Atlanta (also featured on this compilation). He has also done a ton of other music, and now is the current singer for Alice in Chains. Here is an interview done between him and Randy DuTeau, the singer from Neon Christ.

Jumpstart was Bruce Bohannon's band before Third Season, who was before Fiddlehead, who was before Freemasonry, who was before Galanas Cerdd, who was before Copa Vance, and so on. Dead Elvis is of course just awesome and hilarious at the same time. They played this year at the 688/Metroplex reunion show, but I unfortunately I didn't see them. Kip Thomas told me that Threshold was this super religious proto-emo band, but other than that I know nothing about them. Midget Farmers once played a show with Balrog at The Wreck Room, and I met one of the guys in the band when I went off to college in Athens in 1993, and he was super nice as I remember. Such As was of course Steve and Scott Wishart, later in Car Vs. Driver, Scout, etc. As for Wrong Answer, I never got to see them live, but I remember meeting a few of the guys when Car vs. Driver played in Bloomington, IN. I will post their single sometime soon.

23 February 2009 Update - Steve Wishart, who was one of the guys that put this tape out, commented with a complete history of this release and the associated bands, which you should really read instead of my ramblings above - and here it is. Thanks Steve!

The story behind "The View". Several of us at the time felt that Atlanta not only had a great upcoming crop of punk bands, but a great history of punk bands as well that weren't being heard. The effort mostly lead by Jeff Ferguson, Doug Ahern, Chris Foley,Kip Thomas, and myself was to create a comp that showcased the great bands of Atlanta's recent past and its current ones. From the proceeds of the comp we would begin to put out records and build an Atlanta punk label - following the model of DC and Dischord. We made 500 tapes and sold them for $5. We sold out in a couple of months. The money then was funneled into the first Fiddlehead 7" and the Bag of Jakes comp 7". Some money from the comp also went into the Wrong Answer 7" but it was mostly financed by me personally.

So The View was also the birth of Lunchbox Records. Although originally a collaborative effort amongst a group, most dropped out quickly leaving me and Doug running things - then it was only me.

Chris and Doug did most of the work on compiling the bands here and getting copies of the songs and permission to put them on the comp. So a couple of the bands I didn't know that well or have more than what was given for the comp, but here is summary of some of the bands:

BAN K.A. - old Atlanta band that I don't remember who was in it or what they did after, but one guy in the band ended up demanding money from us and threatened to sue us after the comp can out. I think we paid him $50-$100 or something. If I remember the story correctly Phil Phons from the song was some skeezy promoter in Atlanta that everyone hated.

Neon Christ - the forefathers, the legends, one of the greatest Atlanta punk bands in my opinion. I loved this song from the second I heard the opening note. When car vs. driver decided to do a cover I knew immediately that this was the song I wanted to do. Matt was immediately on board and when we asked James so was he. Jonathan had never heard it though, so we played it for him and it was unanimous. This song is just so gritty and the style and sound of Kip's guitar is just incredible.

Gardens Of... - this was Neon Christ minus Kip and Jimmy moving from drums up to guitar. This band was amazing, but the song here was later day Gardens Of... and doesn't really capture how amazing this band really was. I have a live recording of them that is just incredible. Just think of Neon Christ continuing to progress and that is what the live recording is like.

After Words - another of my all time favorite Atlanta bands.

Stickmen - I saw play once or twice. Great band. Some members went on to One Soul Down, but after that I don't know.

Jumpstart - Kip Bohannon's band prior to Third Season/Fiddlehead. I love this song!!! Wish they had recorded more. Maybe Bruce has some tapes we should get from him.

Dead Elvis - always a great and fun band to see live. Put out 7" and there is Live at WREK recording of them also.

Kicker Boys - they put out a great 14 song album. If you can find it, buy it!Threshold - as James said they were a really religious band. Chris Foley I believe was in this band and the reason they are on here because he helped put the comp together. This band was either post or prior to Now or Never - another Chris Foley religious punk band.

Face - this was Geoey Cook's band prior to Fiddlehead. He might have more recordings from this band also to share.

Third Season - this was pre-Fiddlehead (Kip, Mike, & Bruce) with Jason on vocals. Great poppy DC-emo band. James has a post coming of their recordings.

Such As - well we have much better songs that we recorded so I don't know why we put this one on here. Got to live with the decision though. I was 17, Scott and Brian were 15. I stopped signing lead vocals after this band, this song is a good example why! One day I will get the Such As recordings to James for him to post.

Wrong Answer - Atlanta's version of an East Bay Lookout band. Put out a 7" on Lunchbox.

Act of Faith - pre-Rob song. Everyone knows Act of Faith so not much to add here.

No Walls - just amazing song that once again shows how much of an incredible guitarist Kip Duvall is. After Neon Christ, Kip was briefly in B'last (the SST band), then Final Offering, and No Walls.

Groundwork, Full Frontal Nudity, and Balrog I don't really remember much about at all. I think the guys in Fiddlehead know more about them though.

So there are obviously a lot of other great bands from the 1984-1990 era that didn't make the comp, but this still remains a good overview what existed at that time.

Here is the artwork - Lunchbox 001!

Please get in touch if you have any other releases by these bands - I'm interested!

Busy Weekend Coming Up

Friday Night's Show

Saturday Night's Show

So I hate to bring this sad news to all of you, but the end is nigh for the band known as Sonn Av Krusher. We have Friday night's show at the Caledonia in Athens (I'm looking at you, Phil Dwyer) and a show planned for April 11 at the Drunken Unicorn. After these two U.S. appearances, we will no longer function as the band you have come to know (if you know us) and love (if you love us). There is always the possibility that the "Heavy Metal - The Hammer Of Hate" banner may fly once again, but based on our current personal situations, we are no longer able to keep the band fully operational.

So that is Friday night's show, Saturday night will be Noot d' Noot at the EARL with Dark Meat from Athens. Supposedly we are going to play after them, which could pose some logistical difficulties in moving all of the equipment of Dark Meat's off the stage and setting up all the Noot gear on stage. I will look to DJs Cozy Shawn and Brett Eclectic to keep the party going during all this heavy lifting and cables flying all over the place.

Matt Mauldin's Flyer Collection

Matt Mauldin, the guy without long hair in this picture, has been playing in bands for 20 years, including Venosity, Bloodspoon (this is their band photo), Car vs. Driver, Chocolate Kiss, and most recently Sonn Av Krusher. The other day he gave me his flyer collection, and I have included the best in this post. I have also started a flyer archive on Mediafire, so please check it out here. I will be updating it with new flyer collections as they become available.


November 3, 1989: Animosity with Poor Excuses and Self Existence at Visions. Self Existence was the temporary name of Such As, who went back to their original name soon after. Such As was Steve and Scott Wishart, later in Car vs. Driver, Scout, Ostinato, etc.


November 26, 1989: Corrosion of Conformity with Dirt and Dark Overlord at the Masquerade. What a lineup! That must have been quite a show. Back then, you had such a wide variety of music on the same bill, as you will see more of below.

April 27, 1990: Ghost Story with Cymon Bar Sinister (I think?) at Visions. Matt always touted Ghost Story as being an amazing Atlanta band of this time, but I never heard them myself. This is a carbon copy, not even printed on a standard photocopy machine, just to give you an idea of how long ago this was.

June 1, 1990: Venosity with Such As, Something To Prove and Spiney Norman at Visions. This is the first flyer of Matt's with one of his bands on the bill, but I don't think this was their first show. Something To Prove was a side band of the Wishart brothers from Such As, if I remember correctly.

June 1, 1990: Same show as above. Sweet face artwork.

June 15, 1990: O.C.B. with Venosity and Form Follows Function at Visions. As you can see, Venosity had a font for their bandname right from the very start, which is the hallmark of any metal band worth its salt.

June 16, 1990: Damnage with Venosity and Heckler at Ozone in Gwinnett. This was thrash nite, as the flyer states. Also, notice the appearance of X's on the flyer.

June 22, 1990: Act of Faith with Spiney Norman at Visions. Classic flyer, I remember it from back in the day, but I wasn't at this show myself.

July 3, 1990: Flotsam and Jetsam with Prong and Ghost Story at Center Stage. Home of WCW wrestling, it's called Center Stage again now, right?

July 13, 1990: O.C.B. with Venosity at Visions. Matt Mauldin's thick marker font makes its first appearance.

July 14, 1990: Venosity with Decimation and Mad-Hatter at Ozone. Venosity did some weekend tours of Visions and Ozone during this period. Notice the Venosity font change to better resemble O.C.B.

August 18, 1990: Ghost Story with Venosity at Ozone. Flyer design is making improvements by leaps and bounds. Pushead graphics always help.

September 8, 1990: Venosity with Metalmorphosis and Jester at Ozone. How many bands from this time were out there calling themselves Metalmorphosis?

September 21, 1990: Venosity with Malignancy and Osiris at Shades. Just to give you an idea of the venues we were playing back then, check out the directions. Shades was in the Winn Dixie parking lot across from the K-Mart.

October 5, 1990: Venosity with Distemper at New Visions. Font change for Venosity, location change for Visions. Last Venosity flyer, but was it their last show?

December 13, 1991: Bloodspoon at the Wreck Room. The emergence of Bloodspoon on the scene, Atlanta's only Blah band, whatever that was supposed to mean. I remember when Matt was forming the band, and Bloodspoon was supposed to be a little less serious than Venosity, which we were excited about in the Midget Farmers, but when I saw them live, they seemed pretty serious to me.

January 18, 1992: Bloodspoon with Nihilist and Distemper at the Wreck Room. I'm sure 10 other bands played that night, but there was no need to mention Funmud.

June 26, 1990: Neurosis with Buzzoven and Bloodspoon at the Masquerade (Purgatory). Some damn fine shows happened in Purgatory around this time. Funny that Neurosis is playing the same venue later this month.

July 26, 1992: Nuisance with 8 Ball, Tonka and Unherd at the Milestone in Charlotte. This is not an Atlanta flyer, but I included it anyway as it was at the Milestone, a legendary club in the Southeast, and Tonka/Unherd were both on the bill. Both these bands would combine soon after to form the amazing Assfactor 4.

December 2, 1992: Down By Law with Bloodspoon and Crisis Under Control at the Masquerade. Another classic show. Matt's thick black marker is working hard on this one.

December 5, 1992: Bloodspoon with Exterminator 36 and Midget Farmers at the Wreck Room. Finally one of my bands makes the flyer! This may have been one of the shows where we played outside on the beach.

December 29, 1992: Phleg Camp with Fiddlehead and Scout at the Somber Reptile. Flyer by Scott Wishart, if you can't tell. Amazing to think of the early computer design work in 1992.

February 2, 1993: Born Against with Buzzoven and Bloodspoon at the Somber Reptile. Man, what a show.

March 27, 1993: Screeching Weasel with Pink Lincolns, Spiney Norman and Midget Farmers at the Somber Reptile. I have a video of this show. It was totally packed, and everyone completely hated us (Midget Farmers). Spiney Norman got a somewhat better response, but everyone was there for Screeching Weasel. By the way, here is their rider/contract from that show, which is pretty amusing.

I like the part about needing access to a faucet to fill up their water jugs.

April 30, 1993: Nuisance with Fiddlehead and Scout at the Liquid Bean. Who remembers shows at the Liquid Bean? It was my favorite venue of this period, really where I got to see Scout and Freemasonry for the first time, and Car vs. Driver started getting it together. This was on the corner of Ponce and Charles Allen, right next to where Beep Beep Gallery currently resides. I can remember parking in that Church parking lot as a teenager for shows at the Liquid Bean, and now parking in the same place for shows at Beep Beep. Surreal.

July 15, 1993: Gauge with Scout and Car vs. Driver at the Somber Reptile. This was Car vs. Driver's first show, although I never have seen this flyer until now. Thanks to Scott for the design.

July 17, 1994: 108 with Broken, Quadiliacha and Regicide at the Somber Reptile. Important to note the appearance of Regicide on the bill, although I'm not sure which incarnation of Regicide this was. Oh, and don't forget Earth Crisis on July 19.

Decayed Jesus - aka Brad Post #2

Sometime when I was in the eighth grade my dad saw drumset pieces out by the curb on his way home from work. He brought them home, I spray painted them and started wailing away. Punk!!! The drums were top-heavy on the stands and would always tip over or slide on the concrete floor. We had spare paint cans lying around so I used those to anchor the stands down which worked pretty darn well. Note the name "Death Tongue" spray painted on the top of the bass drum. "Death Tongue" was the name of Opus and Bill the Cat's metal band from the Bloom County comic strip which I thought was hilarious at the time, especially how Bill "played" his tongue like a bass.

Shortly after getting those drums my first band was formed. I don't remember how or whose idea it was but by dog it happened. The band consisted of myself on drums, Greg Pettay on guitar, Jason Harp on vocals and Andrew Croke unwillingly on bass. Greg played a Gibson Flying-V that was black with silver pinstripes. He was a huge James Hetfield fan at the time and boy did it show right down to his Zorlac Metallica skateboard and tight blue jeans. We took some band "shots" in my bedroom and in the practice room. What a handsome bunch we were.



To further summon satan and all things METAL Greg came up with the name Decayed Jesus and drew us up a logo.

My parents had an unfinished room that we used for storage/laundry which they graciously let us use to practice in. Unbelievably they continued to let this room be used for every band I was ever in which kinda explains their therapy bills now. We usually practiced on Friday after school and it was always quite the challenge. Andrew did not have bass equipment. And Andrew really didn't want to be in our band, so much that he would call Greg weekly asking if we had found another bassist yet so he could be off the hook. Needless to say we had to find him equipment and get said equipment for him. What a fuckin' rock star! Mr. Croke and I lived in the same neighborhood and in the back of our 'hood lived a guy named Paul. He hung around us "scums" (what the cheerleaders and preppies called us at the time) but was kind of a dildo. Paul had bass equipment so we started chumming up to him just to use his stuff. One person would carry the bass and I would put the amp on my skateboard and take 'em to my house. Of course after practice we'd have to do the same damn thing which was up a few steep hills. This kinda got old and Paul started to seem not so cool with all of this after awhile.

Decayed Jesus practice tape.

There was a guy we went to school with named Jay West. Jay was a very odd character and was a talented artist. He also was our number one (and only) fan. For some unknown reason he absolutely loved us. I let him borrow a practice tape of Decayed Jesus and he returned it months later with a "cover". We had some originals and did some cover songs as well which were usually picked by Jason and I. Greg was more into death metal than punk at the time and Andrew was starting to get into the Didjits, Jesus Lizard and Big Black, but Jason and I were punkers through and through so we covered the Exploited, Sex Pistols and the Misfits. Yes I know, we were were awful. At least we weren't sitting around jerkin' off like a gang of douches with Guitar Hero or Rock Band! The best part of the practice tape is Jason singing with a fake Brit accent then aping Danzig at the end of "London Dungeon" by saying "I hate the fucking British" ala "Evil Live". We didn't know anything at the time about playing out or of any local scene so after a few months we quit playing. I can't exactly remember what happened but I'm sure Andrew finally had reached his fill of our crap ass punk music.