MYSTERY BAND SERIES, PART 3
VICTIMS “HOLD ME / VICTIMS OF SOCIETY” ACETATE 7″
(NEW YORK?- ANGEL SOUND, 1978)
Welcome to another installment of the Mystery Band series! This painfully rare acetate (I am presuming that less than 5 copies exist) was first presented to the general populace when the second track on it, “Victims of Society”, was included on 2001’s wonderful No One Left To Blame comp LP. The quick liner notes said that it was by the Victims from New Jersey who did various other records well-known to KBD fans and collectors (what with an oft-comped, nice, raw EP in 1978 on the Misfits’ Plan 9 label and then an LP a year later on Golden Disc).
BUT the Summer 2008 issue of the always-great Ugly Things ‘zine had an extensive interview with The Victims (very nice piece, by the way- check it out if you haven’t already)! 
The end of the article had a discography of all of the Victims’ releases (see above). And what does it say in the said discography? The acetate on No One Left To Blame was NOT done by them. This threw me for a loop and thus moves the band back to Mystery Band status. So who the hell were these Victims? You tell me if you know anything. The back cover of the No One Left To Blame comp had a tiny picture of the labels for the Victims acetate, which showed me that it was pressed at some place called Angel Sound so I started digging…
The above photo is NOT from the labels for the Victims acetate, but is included because it shows how most of the many acetates pressed at Angel Sound looked with white labels and their name, address and phone number printed at the top of the label. The place was located at 47th Street and Broadway, which is now a blown-out touristy block near the Theatre District. In digging around for info on Angel Sound, I was surprised at the amount of information that I found on them. It turns out that they pressed up acetates for artists from various locales, including a fake punk disc with an interesting history; one by Ronnie Spector; and LOTS of disco acetates that collectors of that genre pine about. So I am not presuming that these Victims were from New York necessarily.
Perhaps these Victims were some transplanted band originally from some other city who moved to New York (like lots of bands used to do then and still do now)? This is all presumption and guessing.
What I have known since the first time I heard it is that “Victims of Society” is a slower-paced grinder of a tune and a great song! Love that high-pitched, tinnitus guitar solo! And it has this tension underlying it, which is always a good thing for me. I wanted to hear the other song on it (called “Hold Me”) for YEARS. I finally heard it about 18 months ago (thanks PR!) The first time I listened to it I gnashed my teeth in pain because it screamed “WARNING- bad bar band rock!”. I guess I wanted it to sound exactly like “Victims of Society”. But the more I listen to it, it has KIND OF grown on me and has become less annoying (I don’t gnash my teeth in pain when it comes on). The chorus is kind of catchy and there is some good guitar riffage here and there. Is this an example of “Time heals all wounds”? LOL
/files/98398-90993/02_Victims_of_Society.mp3″>Victims of Society.mp3
Monthly Archives: October 2012
Fall Housecleaning!
I am a little slow on the draw sometimes with the overall design of this site (aka “Am I Too Late For The Trend?”). But I just realized that I can add some additional sidebar widgets on the left-hand side that will make finding my old postings over the past 5 1/2 years a bit easier. I used to just have a “Monthly Archive” link on the side but that involves too many clicks sometimes, so I just added a “Categories” widget so you more quickly access old postings with just one click. Plus, this widget also gives you an alpha list of all of my old postings so you can see what’s in the archives at a glance.
I also added a “Subscribe” widget on the left-hand side, near the top, if you want to get notified via an automated type of message when I put up new posts. I would add those fancy Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and other social media links but I am just not on that shit much.
Speaking of new postings, I have a lot in the queue as always and hopefully will have a new posting up by next weekend. But, as always, career and family remain busy- but probably more so, my ongoing issue of doing too much research related to upcoming posts continues to prevent me from gettin’ music up here as often as I should! Doh!
I’ve also been meaning to update my Want List for a while and that is coming soon too, as certain records continue to elude me (and seem to have been posted nowhere else yet, nor reissed).
Victims of Society
VICTIMS OF SOCIETY “(LOOKS SO EASY) WHEN YOU’RE YOUNG” 3-SONG 7″EP
(STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK- TREBB RECORDS, 1983)
Here is the glued pocket sleeve that some copies came with- finding it in such nice condition without any writing on it appears to be tough to do! Dig those sleeveless muscle tees the band members were wearing- very 1983-New-York-New-Jersey! The guy in the middle looks like he is really trying to model and show off his black shitkicker cowboy boots, what with his hand on his hip and all.
Above is how promo copies looked- they did NOT come with a picture sleeve, but rather this plain white inner sleeve with two stickers on them. One sticker had band and track info while the other had contact info. [Man, seeing that font which was used on the stickers brings back some memories of noisy dot-matrix printers and early 80’s computing!] Anyway, the label number is RB-004, meaning that Trebb was not a one-shot deal just to release this EP. An earlier label release was by the Dispositions (“The Game/Broken Heart” 7″- anyone have this?). The bass player of THAT band (Tim Boyland) was involved in the post-Victims of Society powerpop band called True Rumor that featured the guitarist and 2nd drummer from Victims of Society.
Here is a GREAT 3-songer from start to finish from a bunch of guys who could really play their instruments! “Looks So Easy…” has been a favorite of mine since the first time I heard it back in 2001 when it was a standout track on the overall-good Hyped To Death #31 comp CD. The guitars from Steve Meko are more rock-ish than punk-ish and the song length is 3:25, nearly one minute longer than the “2:36” punk rule. But it just has that instant classic feel to it right from the first riff and is so damn catchy! It features some well-placed handclapping, which was rather played out by 1983, but totally works here. The tough singing style by Matty Walsh (RIP) sounds like it was done by someone much older but it was done by the guy sitting down in the above picture sleeve, and he does not look older than 20. The clever lyrics are also a highlight; again, they sound like they were written by someone who is around 30 and reminiscing about people he went to high school with around 10 years earlier, some of whom have had some intense life experiences. By 1983 the number of non-hardcore, PUNK songs that sounded like this were few and far between and I often wonder how people in “the scene” reacted when they heard this song since everyone was all charged up for fast hardcore in the Summer of 1983 when this EP was released and not slower punk songs with a melodic edge.
Well, they switch things up on the B-side with two faster, hardcore-ish songs that were shorter in length (a nod to the preferred musical tastes of the time, perhaps?). These two songs kind of blend into each other, and I had a hard time splitting them apart so I posted them as one long track (by long, I mean 3 minutes total- LOL). My favorite track is definitely the anthemic A-side but the B-side songs have a tense feel to them (always a plus for me!) and both feature more great throaty vocals. The drummer, Phil Portuesi, just pounds away like he’s racing to end of each song on the B-side and nice bass intro on “Act Becomes Real” by their bass player Scott Robinson.
/files/98398-90993/02_and_03_Another_Point_of_View_Act_Becomes_Real.mp3″>Another Point of View / Act Becomes Real.mp3
Here are some photos of the band playing a live show in Staten Island circa 1983. An amusing video from the same show is on YouTube and features them playing Looks So Easy. The video is amusing to me because the venue is some makeshift place with wood-paneled walls and some weird fringe lights leftover from the 70’s hanging above the band (you can kinda see it in the above photo of guitar player Scott Meko). Everyone watching the band play are seated in these uncomfortable looking chairs, all orderly and sitting down and no one jumping around or anything- musta been strict house rules at that place against that there “slam dancing” or rowdiness. The highlight of the video takes place in the first few seconds when singer Matty Walsh starts warbling away and this older lady seated in the front row gets up from her chair and walks out with a disgusted look on her face.
Here is a YouTube video the band shot for “Looks So Easy…” shot on Bay Street in Staten Island, combined with some live footage from around the same time. I just discovered this thing on YouTube, but seeing that it was posted 5 years ago I am definitely “Too Late For The Trend”- doh! Dig the long black cape-looking thing that singer Matty Walsh is wearing- it reminds me of something straight out of an episode of Dark Shadows or something…
ENDNOTES
Band history for any history buffs like me who care… The Victims of Society (VOS) formed in early 1983, with two members coming from the hardcore band Rapid Deployment (how’s THAT for an early 80’s HC band name!): singer Matty Walsh and drummer Phil Portuesi. Punk band The Rage also contributed two members to Victims of Society: guitarist Scott Meko and bassist Scott Robinson. Drummer Phil Portuesi played on the EP but left the band soon after their record was released in the Summer of 1983 and was replaced by Bobby Lee Moller. Phil later played with some band called New Rose and then with ex-Misfit Bobby Steele in the Undead. After Victims of Society broke up in 1984, Steve Meko was in a pop band called Neutral Zone. Then, after that band he and Phil were in the powerpop band True Rumor who I guess released some records and were kind of well-known in that scene- I am not into powerpop so I know nothing about their “importance”. Ex-VOS bassist Scott Robinson later played in some band called TV3. Singer Matty Walsh passed away only a few years after Victims of Society broke up, under what circumstance I do not know. And a few minutes I just found out that ex-VOS members Phil is still playing music in some band called The Blame in New York City with ex-Rapid Deployment member Paul…