April 14th marked the end of Chicago’s RAW NERVE, and from the video footage the final show was insane! I just wanted to share this with you because it’s beyond cool to see a room filled with so much raw energy. When I watch this video, it shows what the DIY scene is all about – fuck the rest, it’s our time! Goodlooking out to RAW NERVE for creating some killer music and big shout to YOUTH ATTACK for being a label we can count on for the real shit! Now watch how RAW NERVE completely destroys everything below…

1984 was a fucking year to remember! One of my all-time favorite bands released 3 albums in one year, and played a crazy amount gigs. I’m talking about BLACK FLAG, who were on fire during this era. The lineup of Rollins, Ginn, Roessler and Steveson did some stellar damage while they were together. I love Chuck on bass, but I won’t front, Kira brought something really special to BLACK FLAG’s groove. Looking back on my youth, some of my coolest days or nights were spent watching them perform. By 1984, they were more than just a hardcore band. BLACK FLAG’s music had become a sonic beacon of weirdness for all of society’s rejects to tune into. Listening to them around this time opened up my mind to check other shit out. One thing that was evident during 1984 was that Henry had become way more comfortable as a frontman and seemed to be more into the new direction they were headed. By this time, their gigs were more about headbanging than slamming. I’m so excited to be sharing a full 1984 Hollywood show at Club Lingerie, with BLACK FLAG showing the world why when they hit the stage they could not be fucked with! What’s extra awesome about this footage is that it’s professionally shot, plus you get to see the band from some killer angles. So after the jump, look through rats eyes and peep this historic BLACK FLAG show!

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X were one of the most important bands to come out of the Los Angeles punk scene. When I used to go to their shows as a teenager, did I know that I was seeing history? Hell No! But I did realize that I was seeing a very special band that sounded like no other. X had a depth to their sound that other bands didn’t have, maybe it was due to the fact they were older. I can’t pin point it, but something about their songs made them the perfect soundtrack for what was happening in the city at the time. Exene was a goddess in my eyes, and I know for a fact she was a huge influence on how girls dressed back then, and her influence can still can be seen today. X were able to take the sleaze of Hollywood and twist it around the blues to create this dark world that would leave you transfixed. I was always impressed with the band’s love for the arts outside of music – ie. poetry, acting and painting. X made just as much of an impact on the young kids as the bands that shouted Anarchy! Today, CVLT Nation wants to share with you the outtakes from the documentary X The Unheard Music. Not only will you see the band perform some of it’s classics, interspersed are shots of Los Angeles that are fucking historic. So now step back in time with me and peep some awesome footage after the jump!

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One label from the chocolate city, Washington, D.C., called Cricket Cemetry has done it again. They are about to release a killer split with LTW // Beasts of No Nation on May 21st. The LTW song is actually two songs in one, entitled “Lake Drug/Joy of Lying and Cheating,” and clocks in at around four minutes of pure blazing hot distorted awesome fury. The band are in the pocket from the get go – the screeching sound of feedback gets their part started. Then LTW began to bruise you all over with their punishing onslaught of speed and chaos. What really makes these songs work is how the band allow them to breathe in so much oxygen of originality, hence all of the wicked tempo changes! Hot damn, next up is the Beasts of No Nation song “Impunity,” which yanks your body and says, listen to this now motherfucker!!! There is nothing weak about this tune, and it reeks of demented melody that will stick in your thought pattern. The singer of Beasts of No Nation delivers the goods and the lyrics are on point. While listening to this record, I realized there must be something in the history of this town that gives so many of their bands that special unknown factor that makes their music so killer. Cricket Cemetry is doing the world justice by releasing some kick-ass records, so do your part and support them. Don’t just take my word for it, check out the songs below and tell me if they aren’t the shit!

It sucks that Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys passed away last Friday. Today, CVLT Nation wants to celebrate his punk rock and early hip hop roots. I remember getting into his first band, The Young and Useless, because they were my age, and I always thought it was extra cool when young kids started bands. Then they became the The Beastie Boys and released their first EP, Polly Wog Stew, on the NYC Hardcore label Rat Cage Records, then came Cooky Puss, an underground classic. Adam represented how punk rock and early hip hop shared common roots, because they were movements on the fringe of society. What made this so awesome is that they took the “I do not give a fuck” of punk and brought something gnarly to hip hop. Also, from the beginning to the end, Adam represented New York to the fullest. I have so much respect for how this crew always kick mad high levels of creativity, no matter what they are creating! No Sleep Til The Beastie Boys…peep the Beastieography, classic videos and a photo essay featuring pictures by Ricky Powell & Glen E. Friedman! R.I.P Adam Yauch…

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Do I even need to write that much about Minor Threat? Hell fucking no! We all know that they were one of the sickest bands to come out of the 80′s hardcore scene! That’s why CVLT Nation is stoked to be bringing a download of one their most intense shows from 1982 at the University of Maryland. Damn, the sound quality is pretty much perfect, you can gear the sweat in the room! So below, start screaming at a wall and peep the download link!…15 tracks of classic 80′s hardcore live, no tracklisting, so don’t ask!!!

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MINOR THREAT LIVE @ University of Maryland 1982 DOWNLOAD LINK!!!

At a very early age, the thing that drew me to music – besides the sound of it – was the art that graced the record covers. Parliament Funkadelic were the first to totally blow my mind with the way they created their album covers. In the early 80′s when I got into hardcore I would go to record shops and stare at the art on the records for hours. Honestly, many times me and my homies would judge bands by how rad their covers were. When you look at many of the hardcore covers from the 80′s, you can see the different stories that the bands were expressing through their imagery that still ring true today! It’s so cool that on a DIY budget, many bands were able to manifest iconic images that have been ingrained into the fabric of our lives. Then there were the illustrators from the 80′s that just fucking wrecked shop on album covers, like Mad Marc Rude, Pushead and Shawn Kerri. Today, CVLT Nation would like to celebrate the 80′s hardcore album cover art with an extra huge gallery. I know these are not all of them, so stay tuned for a part two. Now get your attitude adjustment on after the jump and see some visual history!

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Mark Ferelli, portrait by Maud Larsson

Although cult British anarcho-deathrock band Part 1 have already been covered in CVLT Nation, missing from the equation was an interview with the band’s founder, primary songwriter, and guitarist (and, in its late era, the lead vocalist, replacing Jake Baker). Mark Ferelli is a fairly reclusive visual and performance artist who has rarely given interviews, preferring to let his art speak for itself. In this wide-ranging interview, he discusses his relationship with Nick Blinko and Rudimentary Peni, Crass, and Pushead, whose Pusmort label released Part 1′s seminal Pictures of Pain LP in 1985. Eschewing releases on Crass Records and interest from Jello Biafra (of Alternative Tentacles), the band missed reaching a wider audience in its heyday of the early and mid-1980s. Now, however, Mark Ferelli talks about Part 1′s recent reunion, possible touring, and opens the foetid tomb doors onto the archives of his own Lovecraftian art.

Interview conducted April, 2012. All artwork reprinted with permission.
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For fans of dark punk music, The Mob need no introduction. During their initial run from 1977 to 1984 they released a string of influential EPs, worked with Crass, and left a legacy of heartfelt, if apocalyptic, punk rock, most notably in the 1983 LP Let the Tribe Increase. The Mob used the medium of punk to paint an amazingly morose, yet darkly beautiful, picture of a world living in the shadow of nuclear Armageddon — a mournful lament for the tragedy of mankind’s impending collective self-immolation. The Mob provided a soundtrack for lost souls wandering the gloomy landscape of humanity’s new dark age.

The band have been called peace punk, postpunk, anarchopunk, and deathrock — but whatever you choose to call them, their influence and profile has grown over the years. The band have recently reunited and will be playing a string of US dates this year, starting May 31 at Chaos in Tejas in Austin, TX.

I recently conducted this interview with Mark Wilson, aka Mark Mob, the main vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist of the three-piece band. I wanted to ask him about The Mob’s past and why the band chose to get back together. The band has been an inspiration to me, and I originally did this interview for NO DOVES FLY HERE, the free twice-per-month deathrock and dark postpunk event night we hold in Austin that is named after The Mob song and EP. A special thank you to Mark for his time. I’m proud to present this to CVLT Nation. And now — LET THE TRIBE INCREASE!

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One of the coolest things about growing up in early 80′s punk secene was collecting flyers. The promoters of shows back then went out of their way to make sure the handbills were sick, because how they looked could make or break your gig. One artist who rose out of the ranks of early hardcore illustrators was Marc Rude. He was from San Diego, but it always felt like he was from Hollywood. As an artist, he was so gnarly and prolific. Marc actually created some of my favorite album covers of all time, like The Misfits’ Earth A.D. and the Battalion of Saints’ first album (he was manager in the 80s). Not only was he a sick artist, but he had a really awesome spirit, and treated the young punks with PMA. I won’t front – Marc was one of the most stylish dudes around, but it never seemed like he tried to be. His work inspired us to do what we do with CVLT Nation gear. Shout out to people like Bryan Ray from Kill Your Idols for keeping his name alive! 10 years ago, Marc left this planet, but today, CVLT Nation would like to celebrate his artistic legacy with a huge gallery of his work. All hell breaks loose after the jump…check out how Marc Rude wrecked shit!