The Pist: Ideas Are Bulletproof 12" (new)

Re-issued at last. The classic 1995 LP from Connecticut's PIST! Back to back punk anthems, 18 tracks of classic catchy and inspiring rebellious punk rock. Havoc Records started in the early 90's as a vehicle to expose the new bands that were emerging from the long coma hardcore punk had fallen into during the late 80's. At that time the scene was dominated by poppy bands, third tier metal, chugga chugga white hat mosh, and emo. A small group of die hards who couldn't let the 80's punk revolution go started new bands and hit the road to small and often indifferent crowds. I was in one of these bands (Destroy) and met the Pist on tour in 1993, they were heading east and we were heading west. I quickly befriended them and was happy to book them every time they played Minneapolis and distribute all their releases. That tour in 1993 led to the first batch of releases on Havoc, Aus Rotten, Civil Disobedience, Bristle, Distraught and Masskontroll were all bands we played with or befriended on that tour. Now we can add the Pist to that roster as their long out of print material finally sees the light of day.  Ideas are Bulletproof is the quintessential Pist release if you've never heard the Pist, this is the place to start. If you remember these guys and were up front at the shows like me you'll remember all these songs Still Pist, New School, Textbook Salvation, the Customer Is Always Right etc. The Pist combined hard driving punk in the Blitz tradition with gut level lyrics that were simple and to the point, but very well thought out. In fact, I still think the Pist had some of the very best lyrics EVER. At first they seem rather simplistic, but when you listen a few more times you see that Al had a real gift for getting to the heart of serious issues with a great clarity and humor that is lacking in so many punk lyrics. Havoc has also re issued all the rest of the Pist's recorded material as "Input equals Output" on CD and LP, don't pass on these as the Pist put some of their best tracks on comps and split and were quite prolific.