Suburban saviors

Vision of Disorder play fast and loose

by John O'Neill

Long Island, New York: that flavorless strip of suburbia just far enough from Manhattan to make the commute a major pain, and home to absolutely nothing except vacationing yuppies, obnoxious accents, tedium, and a hockey team who offer New York City sports morons a chance to jump ship once a decade. It would seem the perfect home to spawn a band like Vision of Disorder. Just as much a product of living the suburban nightmare as spokesmen-by-default for a generation of outraged youth, VOD represent the we're-mad-as-hell-and we're-not-gonna-take-it-anymore ethos that has seeped up from the underground for almost 20 years. Only this time the movement is ready to break big mom and dad with a wave of long-overdue purity; because this time, desperate record companies are ready to cling to anything. Even if that thing would like nothing better than to turn around and sink its teeth into the industry's fanny. It's only a matter of time.

"It seems the corporate world [is still] close-minded, but the kids are fanatical about the music," says VOD's guitarist Mike Kennedy from his hotel room somewhere in Akron, Ohio. "This music has a lot of heart to it. Kids will buy every record they see by bands they're behind. Now the corporate world has to get behind it."

Why are they doing this? Skateboarding and punk rock have gone hand in hand for two generations. It's a natural fit, like chocolate in your peanut butter. Energetic, brash, nonconformist, and, perhaps, if not extreme, maybe just a bit intimidating to outsiders. With the advent of SK8:98 at the Palladium this Saturday, August 8, the punks will all be here -- it's hoped that through this event, a legitimate place to skateboard will soon follow. Actually, the idea of a skate park has been around for a while. A group of local skateborders began construction of an adopted lot off Massasoit Road once home to the old Blithwood Street School. Their considerable progress in building ramps came to a quick halt when the city declared the area unsafe. "The kids had built some awesome stuff, it just wasn't very safe," says Dick Pilotte, who along with his wife, Judy, lives down the street from the site in question. Armed with a good idea, better intentions, a little corporate backing, and public support, Pilotte and his CD replication house, Mezzoman, decided to host the all-day music and skate festival, SK8:98, a gathering that will celebrate the relationship between music and sport with a spotlight on hard rocking bands and hard shredding professional skaters. All the proceeds from SK8:98 will be used to conduct feasibility studies and eventually help bankroll a permanent skate park somewhere within the city limits. The test site, permit pending, is the original Blithwood location. After 30 days the city will decide to either stop skating at Blithwood, allow another 30-day permit, or ultimately approve a permanent site within one of the city parks. "We're hoping the city will let us use Green Hill Park," says Mezzoman's Tim Powers, who also happens to be an avid skatenik himself. "It'll be a good, central place for kids to go and skate in a safe, controlled environment." There can be no doubting the rise in popularity of skateboarding, a fact that led Pilotte and Mezzoman to front the money to begin the construction of the test park. "Yeah, we did it ass-backwards, but the summer's almost over. Hopefully, we can keep the park running through the fall," says Pilotte. "We had a neighborhood meeting about the park and by the end of it, everyone put there hand up in favor. It's really up to the kids now to make this a reality." "The closest place [to skateboard] is Providence or Boston," says Powers. "Everywhere you go more and more kids are doing it. You'll never get them totally off the street, but at least now they won't have any excuses." -- JO

And nobody is more qualified to speak on this subject than Kennedy, who currently finds his band in an interesting situation. They're not quite household names by any stretch, yet suddenly they're a little too successful to satisfy the faction of the underground that automatically equates selling product with selling out. The very people that help take you to the top are also the first ones to toss you over the side of the punk-rock party cruise should you get too chummy with success: a point that isn't lost on Kennedy.

"Hardcore kids are very critical, especially around sell-outs," Kennedy offers. "They're involved and take things personally, which can be good and bad. I've heard about how we're all driving around in Porsches, [meanwhile] I have five bucks in my pocket. Music is what we do full time now, and we can't do it for $150 a night. It's scary 'cause we haven't made it yet. That's why it's so upsetting to hear `sell-out'."

Since forming in 1992 as a bunch of young metal-heads, Vision of Disorder quickly found themselves mutating into a fast-and-hard hybrid that would ultimately win an audience with both the metal and hardcore camps. They landed two cuts on the first New York's Hardest compilation and put out a well-received EP, Still (Striving For Togetherness), before signing on with New York's seminal tough-guy label Roadrunner in 1996 to record their full-length debut. That process was so unpleasant that bass player Mike Fleischmenn left for a time to screw his head back on straight; the rest of VOD were forced to tour in support of an album they didn't believe in and to work with a label that they sensed didn't believed in the album either.

"It was real frustrating from the start, and then we felt kind of lost as far as label support," says Kennedy. While the band made inroads by touring on the first Ozzfest in 1997, it wasn't the key to acceptance you might expect. "We were small fish in a big pond. It didn't get us to the next level, but it did introduce us to it.

"The new album is a million times better," he adds. " We set up our stuff, played completely live, and before we knew it, did [the album] in 27 takes."

Recorded and mixed in a mere 19 days this spring, Imprint, produced by Dave Sardy (Helmet, Red Hot Chili Peppers), provides a much looser atmosphere than the band's previous effort. A twisted testament to the power of pain, it's a result of both having to play through the rough spots and overcoming the negatives.

Opening with the fractured vocal howling of Tim Williams on "What You Are," Imprint boils over in rage. Snapping and frothing like some kind of diseased animal, Williams leads the band through 11 compact and powerful songs that blow by with a hurricane-like authority. It's lean and potent and, if you look beneath the surface, contains a primitive honesty that you just can't fake and that can no longer be ignored. The time is ripe for the Next Level.

"Success without diminishing the quality of music or our fans," says Kennedy when asked to define making it big. He, like the rest of VOD, knows that they need to continue to walk that fine line between underground heroes and national breakout and either way, it's fine by them. "If success does come, it's because of where our music takes us naturally. We don't write for anyone but ourselves."

Spoken like a true savior.

---

Here's the line-up

Below is a (relatively) comprehensive rundown of the participants of SK8:98 and a brief description of that thing they do so well. Some you know, some you don't, a couple you may have forgot you knew. Whether it be hardcore, rapcore, metal, punk, funk, soul, or a mix of any of these genres -- these acts offer an interesting take on where music is heading. SK8:98, MC'd by MTV's Matt Pinfield, kicks off at 10 a.m., August 8, at the Palladium. It's all-ages, and, if you bring your safety gear, you can take advantage of the outdoor skate ramps. The bands listed below are in reverse order of how they'll appear live (that means Sticker play first), so plan accordingly.

Vision of Disorder: See main story.

Earth Crisis: They're militant, they're confrontational, they're philosophical, they're vegans! The world's biggest straight-edge band have been pointing fingers and taking names since 1992 and setting the music scene on its ear with their scalding indictments and rhetoric. Five releases and a spot on Ozzfest later, these cats are on the brink of bringing their socially aware message to the next level.

H2O: Laying down dense but melodic hardcore, New York's H2O are packing in the bodies for their live shows as well as knocking critics off their bar stools with the release of their second album, Thicker than Water (Epitaph). The band, since signing on with Epitaph, have toured nationally with Social Distortion, Murphy's Law, and, unfortunately for them, the Misfits.

Tree: Boston favorites who've been plugging away since 1990, Tree have been busy hiding out in their rehearsal space figuring out new songs for their next album. Having split from Cherry Disc, which released '96's A Lot To Fear, Tree vocalist River reports that a five-song demo cut with Dave Minihan is ready to be shopped around and may end up on Wonderdrug.

Murphy's Law: New York State's long-running punk-gag continue to roll along like a beer-addled tribute to poor taste. They also qualify as skate-punk grandpappies, having released their first album way back in '86. Panty raids, couch potatoism, alcohol consumption -- Murphy's Law are as much a way-of-life as a band. And that ain't such a bad thing in this case.

Corey Glover: You may remember ol' Cory as the frontguy for '80s phenom Living Colour (anyone remember that surprise show at Ralph's back in '91?). Now he's back in support of his debut, Hymns (LaFace), an exercise in soul à la Al Green. Glover is still an electric live act and very well may be the odds-on bet to steal the show.

Shootyz Groove: These Bronx Bombers you can actually root for. Since forming in the summer of 1992, these boys have released an EP, three full-length albums (the latest, Hypnosis, is on Roadrunner) and have toured the globe with the likes of 311, No Doubt, and the Bosstones.

dayinthelife . . .: With a direct foot firmly planted in the school of hardcore, Long Island's dayinthelife . . . offer a more catchy and melodic sensibility to their mix without sacrificing the bite. Their self-titled release on Building/ TVT has received thumbs-up status from critics for its innovative take on the genre.

Scissorfight: Like Dee Dee Ramone once said: "Sick, sick, sick is the word I pick." That may best sum up these Boston wildmen given their hankerin' for smashing skulls and their penchant for amateur porn. Their second wave of pestilence, Balls Deep (Wonderdrug), is an amped-out, detuned projectile vomit that almost captures their skids-greased-toward-hell live show. Be afraid.

Proton Accelerator: A group of CIA death-camp escapees, the super-secret Proton Accelerator are on a mission to save the general public and take down the current power structure. These NYC freedom-fighters' soundtrack to anarchy, Extra Ordinary Magnitude (+ Records), is the poison-pill antidote to secret government mind-control. Be warned -- the Powers-That-Be do not want you to hear this.

H8 Machine: Rochester's H8 Machine love Wormtown, and Wormtown's always willing to give them a big, wet kiss right back whenever they make the scene. Mixing up metal and funk grooves with the-world-has-turned-to-crap lyrics with their debut, It's All Good (Freak), H8 Machine are the current kings of Upstate New York's underground.

Nothingface: Cutting a swath of industrial-strength rage from the Baltimore/DC underground, Nothingface have rapidly gained ground as a force to be reckoned with. Their album Pacifier (DCide) charted on CMJ for 23 straight weeks here in the States, their videos receive international play, and word has it that at least one major label has been sniffing round their door.

Forced Fed Shovelhead: Back from the grave and reformed just in time for the local throw-down, Forced Fed hope to pick up right where they left off as Wormtown's heaviest hitters; only now they're stripped-down to one vocalist, which makes them a leaner rock machine. A new album is currently in the works.

Eastcide: Perhaps the area's best-kept secret, Eastcide have been drawing huge crowds all over the region with little commercial support. Their last effort, Everyone's Walking . . . Away, is a swift knee to the groin that's won them staunch support, and they've blown more than a few headliners off the stage with their live stuff.

Chillum: These guys are local faves and perennial Worcester Phoenix Best Music Poll winners, including best album for Nineteen Ninety-Seven (ECAE). A band who are schizophrenic, manic, and unpredictable live are not unlike the fellas when they're outside of the band, really.

Rotors to Rust: Portland, Maine's number-one hard-rockin' group have three releases under their belt and have charted on radio up and down the East Coast, including WFNX and WMPG. Known for no-nonsense live performances, the band have a new single "The Only One," which appears on the Welcome To Meteor City comp.

7 Hill Psychos: With their name taken from that mysterious burg also known as Wormtown, 7HP are loud, proud, and ready to testify on behalf of the home turf. Their Inner Psycho CD is one of this year's finest local releases and that only begins to hint at their live firepower. These cats are sure to turn a few heads.

Split: Split bring a healthy dose of hip-hop to the table but are more concerned with nuance and texture, if their debut CD, Splitism, is any indication of their live show. Frontman Tor's rhymes are more substance and less frothing-at-the-mouth than most; and the band back him up with just enough thump to make it interesting.

Sticker: The North Brookfield-based Sticker, what with their unintentional New Wave leanings, are fresh-faced, unadulterated fun. Their debut release, Babie Babie (ECAE), vaguely recalls the Left Coast pop sound circa '82 and absolutely drips a my-first-band type of innocence that will soften even the most jaded heart. I should know.

-- JO