Outback Fanzine #5 and Exact Change 2019 Wrap-Up

With the Christmas holiday coming up, I can't help but wax nostalgic. A lot has happened this year to keep us busy. The Sound Of Commitment summer tour with Point Of Contact and Magnitude was a blast, the Diffuse demo was released, and the Exact Change adjacent Tampa-Core and Core Club produced more shows and releases than ever before.

Coming up in 2020 we have FYA Fest to start off the year, Point Of Contact tour plans more westward bound later on, and the highly-anticipated "Florida's Voice" compilation 7" record featuring Result Of Choice, Jackal, Final Say, Protocol and more. Details will be posted here once those records are available.

To gear up for the Florida hardcore to come in the future, I figured some might want to take some time to appreciate that from the past! Here we have Outback Fanzine #5 out of Melbourne, Florida. This was put out by Craig Chapman (găs'•o•lēne', Outback Records) and totals 44 pages, including the front and back cover. Interviews featured are with Anti-Racist Action, 7 Seconds, The Believers and Skin Shed.

Here is a full preview of The Believers interview, which is my personal favorite part of the zine!

These are super high quality .png scans, which is what I plan to work with moving forward for any other zines - so just make sure you have adequate space when downloading these! 

d/l here: images | .pdf

Dead Serious, Free Thought and Smorgasbord Zines

Here's hoping you all found love this Valentine's Day. Maybe for you, love is drooling over old, yellowed pieces of paper with outdated information and photos of sweaty young guys jumping around. Well, look no further, hardcore freaks! Here's not one, not two, but THREE hardcore fanzines scanned in .jpeg and .pdf format for your enjoyment.

These Dead Serious and Free Thought issues came from the collection of Jeff Terranova (Smorgasbord Records/Up Front). Ironically enough, the Smorgasbord Zine did not come from Jeff, but was a gift from my girlfriend Steph (you're the best!) - the Smorgasbord Zine is missing a few pieces of pages towards the end as they were cut out for use in flyers, ads etc. many moons ago.

So grab some Ben & Jerry's, kick back in your recliner, and take some time to read over these interviews with bands like The Believers & Powerhouse from FL, the underrated Inner Strength (Victory Records), straight edge legends like Youth Of Today and Unit Pride, and many, many more!

d/l here:
Dead Serious Issue #2 images | pdf
Free Thought Fanzine #1 images | pdf
Smorgasbord Zine #1 images | pdf

Beyond Reason - It's Just Begun 7" & Notes From The South compilation 7"

Check it out - a Florida hardcore Youth Bus Records two-fer! First up is the Beyond Reason 7", "It's Just Begun", with four powerful yet fun tracks. Released in 1990, but reminds me a lot of bands that were around in the mid-to-late-80's like Bustin' Out and Unit Pride.

Up next, a 7" compilation, "Notes From The South" featuring an array of bands from Florida: The Believers, whom I posted about a short while ago, a little heavier act called Hangman, then Beyond Reason and, ending off the compilation with my personal favorite tracks, Ego-Trip. This deserves to be the "We Can't Help It If We're From Florida" of the 90's. Track after track of unique hardcore happening in Florida that has somehow flown under the radar for all but those involved, or so it seems. Oh, did I mention the Beyond Reason record come with a huge fold out insert, and the compilation comes with an excellent lyric booklet, all of which are scanned and included in this download?

Here's the Ego-Trip pages of the booklet... How cool is this?! I need more info!

So there you have it. Youth Bus Records #1 and #2, discovered as I promised I'd try to do in the post about The Believers. Now for #3-5... I seriously have to find the Ego Trip "Together In The Mind" 7" if it is anywhere near as awesome as these compilation tracks.

d/l here:
Beyond Reason - It's Just Begun

d/l here too:
Notes From The South compilation

The Believers - Demo 1987 CS

The Believers were a short lived band from South Florida in the late 80's until the early 90's. This demo could also be called the "Half Way Home Demo" but because it was originally uploaded on Soundcloud as "Demo 1987" I decided to keep it as such.

Played around the same time as Powerhouse, but gained way less attention abroad for whatever reason. No big label signing, so less of a modern following I guess? This demo is equal parts cartoon edgeman mosh, as the cover drawing would have you expect, but also a decent dose of melodic guitar work.

As far as I know this is their only recorded material aside from a compilation track on the "Notes From The South" compilation 7" on Youth Bus Records with a few other lesser talked about Florida hardcore bands Hangman, Beyond Reason and Ego-Trip. They also played a reunion a few years back in South Florida and Reel and Restless Fest. I remember this show happening, but during my "driving four hours for a show is lame" phase... also known as my "no job and no money" phase. Doy!

If you have any information about this band, please get in touch with me, I'd love to learn more. Until then, enjoy this demo of a decent length!

d/l here:
The Believers - Demo 1987