Sweet Tooth: Sugar Rush 2009 7”

To celebrate LR's 100th release we decided to do a special 10th anniversary pressing of the Sweet Tooth - Sugar Rush demo from 2009, which all members of the band agree is the best recording any of us have ever been on. I play drums on this and I don't know how the hell it came out so well. We are all very proud of it and to that end I've gone all out on the packaging: Hand stamped records, Obi strip and a 12 page zine with essays by key players, pictures, flyers, zine interviews and a list of all 62 shows we played - all stapled to a double sided cardstock sleeve, all Riso'd in house.

Here's the writeup my brother Rik did for it: "You have here in your hands the posthumous vinyl release of the debut “Sugar Rush” demo tape by Sweet Tooth, a band that was cultivated for several years in basements of suburban Southwestern Illinois by a bunch of bored teenagers who only wanted to play faster and harder than everyone else in the then-dwindling St Louis hardcore scene. The cassette was originally recorded circa November 2009 in our parents basement located less than 100 feet away from acres of corn fields in O’Fallon, Illinois by local engineer Mikey Crotty. Now it all seems like a blur, and it probably did back then too, but the music and performances were always unapologetically earnest and the energy was undeniable, which generally resulted in nothing less than chaos when the band would play live. It was always a mixed bag, you never knew what you were going to get..maybe the band would attack the crowd, or attack each other, and anything that wasn’t bolted to the ground had a chance to go flying at any given moment. "Who will be going to the hospital tonight?”, I often wondered, and on more than one occasion it would be one of us. With danger as fuel and the misanthropy of mundane Midwest life fanning the flame, the only goal was to push the limits and destroy all that we could. "Who cares?”, you might ask. Well, probably no one anymore, but this recording is a testament to a moment in time when the only things that mattered were exceeding the boundaries and violating all the rules. This one is for the Tooth heads, the ones who thrashed and slammed through broken glass and flying shopping carts (thank you Cleveland!), who laughed in the face of danger and reveled in every moment of personal peril, all while wearing demented smiles and laughing with glee. For those who love blistering hardcore punk and embrace the opportunity to let it all loose, and for those who have since left us entirely too soon. Rest in peace Bad Brando (2019), you will be missed. To the rest (you know who you are), I sincerely thank you for your participation in all the dumb fun we had. There will be no reunion, but if you play this record at full volume in a filthy basement and start somersaulting across the floor and punching holes in the wall you may be able to recreate that familiar feeling that was once such an important imprint of our music in those formative years."

FFO Void, Koro, Infest, No Comment, H100s, Nine Shocks Terror