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For starters, don't let the name fool you, this is Richmond, VA - not L.A. Coinciding with the beginning of the 1980s, the spread of punk's mutation into the harsher exertion known as hardcore punk began to spill across the continental United States. The music was becoming harder and faster, straying from the style and formula that some of the younger participants were starting to grow bored of and Richmond was no exception to this phenomena. Following the 1981 implosions of local punk groups MOD SUBS (see Beach Impediment Records #6) and DISRUPTERS, the illustrious Mike Rodriguez formed RED CROSS alongside friends Frank Gresham, Scott Price and Alford Faulknier. Their mission: to create and play hardcore punk adhering to the motto of "LOUD FAST RULES" and they did just that! The next year or so saw the band leaving a trail of broken glass and harshed mellows throughout the greater metropolitan Richmond area, to put it lightly. In early 1982, the boys entered Studio 2 at Union Theological Seminary under the cover of night to record 12 tracks that were intended to be the band's debut 12". Alas, as bands tend to do, they eventually broke up due to internal conflicts, which led to the almost immediate formation of Richmond legends WHITE CROSS; arguably the final form of Mikey Rod's drive to create fast, hard and ugly music. The WHITE CROSS fellas would carry the torch of Richmond Hardcore Punk all over this country for the next few years - but that is another story for another time, bud! As you might have guessed, the aforementioned break up left the aforementioned recording in a limbo of sorts, seemingly doomed to never reach the ears of the public.
Having a sense of pride for the hard work and creative process that led to the recording session in question, vocalist Frank Gresham did not want to have this session completely lost to the sands of time, leading to the creation of somewhere between 50-100 cassette tapes featuring the studio recording, a live reimagined rendition of a John Cale classic and a radio advertisement that the band ran as promotion to close it all out. With this last will and testament of early USHC in the Richmond area being spread among a small number of friends and fans, Franky left it at that, eventually moving on up to NYC. In the decades that followed, local hardcore punk enthusiasts had heard tales of this band and the elusive tape documenting their existence with fewer having ever even seen one in the wild. At long last, after 40+ years in obscurity, Beach Impediment is proud to present this long-lost posthumous release of sorts, remastered from the original reel and accompanied by a 16 page booklet featuring extensive liner notes by surviving members Frank Gresham and Scott Price along with archival imagery related to the band and their brief but impactful existence in a sleepy southern town.
- Label: Beach Impediment Records
- Format Type: 12"
- Genre: hardcore
- Year: 2024