Feature / Music
Pass The Mic: Record Labels and Artists on 2009

Posted pre-2010

ARTICLE JUMP

Skin Like Iron/Virgin Witch /

Humanity Is The Devil Zine /

Spiderghost Pressgang

(Alex Capasso)

What are your top five albums that were released in 2009? (In order 1-5)

  1. Nails - Obscene Humanity

  2. Marked Men - Ghosts

  3. N/N - Pasivos Muertos

  4. Punch - Punch

  5. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

What band did you discover in 2009 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?

Anti-Cimex. I've honestly been meaning to check them out since I was sixteen. I first saw their name in a distro catalog - Headline Records, I think - and on name alone they always intrigued me. It's embarassing to admit that it took me over ten years to finally hear them. Why are they significant? They wrote some truly enduring hardcore music and a lot of it.

How will you remember 2009? (In terms of music)

A lot of bands really stepped their game up. A lot of hardcore is getting a little more polish on it - but in a good way. I'm also noticing a bit of resurgence of harder, NYHC style bands - notably Naysayer.

2009 was a huge year for reunions. What reunion excited you the most? What band that has not reunited would you love to see play/record most in 2010?

I was happy to see Floorpunch at Sound & Fury. I first heard them ten years ago, but not until after their last California tour, so I never saw them. It still feels good to be straight edge... even with long hair. I'm still waiting for the surviving ORIGINAL members of 10,000 Maniacs to reunite. Perhaps 2010 will see this miracle occur.

What can we look forward to from you in 2010?

Skin Like Iron is going to begin working on a new record pretty soon. We have one song that we're all pretty happy with. 2009 was our biggest lapse in writing ever. From 2007-2008, we wrote between forty and fifty songs. In 2009 we wrote zero. Chalk it up to our fluctuating lineup, which thankfully has stabilized now. We're pretty much planning to stay close to home as usual, but we'll be playing Vancouver in a few weeks with AFI. We're also in the process of planning a short east coast tour for the summer. Virgin Witch may get an opportunity to collaborate again soon... if that's the case, expect more heavy shredding. From me personally, you can expect more graffiti zines. Maybe another hardcore related zine for the first time in a long time. I'm also looking to start designing album covers again, so I'm looking forward to taking on some new projects.

What three records are you looking forward to most in 2010?

Minus, Young Offenders, and Natalie Merchant (not scheduled, but I'd like it).

Website Link (Website/Myspace/Blog/Etc.): http://www.blacksummer.com

— words by the SPB team

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