Last week, I wrote about the new Dag Nasty release on Dischord. In that same spirit, Chunksaah! and Gunner have just co-released another great mid ’80s East Coast punk record that had been little heard up to this point.
For those who don’t know, Sticks and Stones was the previous band of guitarist Peter Ventantonio, better known as Jack Terricloth of World Inferno Friendship Society. Though Brian Johns (later of Niblick Henbane) was their original singer, Peter wrote all of their songs and eventually took over vocal duties when Johns left. Though I love that phase of Sticks and Stones the most (particularly 1993’s stunning Theme Songs for Nothing, their debut Lp), I also really like their earlier period, too. It’s almost pointless to compare them since the sounds are so different and Ventantonio was the only constant and link between the two eras except for bassist Scott Hollingsworth, who later end up playing keyboards on the great Storm Coming 7”.
Anyway, this is their very first recording, a six song demo tape recorded at the original Trax East studio in Spotswood, NJ. This tape almost got them a deal with BYO, but they ended up releasing their 1988 cassette album Inner Revolt on the much less notable Onslaught Mandate Records, part of the reason they never attracted the national attention that they surely deserved. Anyway, all of these songs are also on Inner Revolt (which you can grab here), but in different recordings. Also, “Contempt” was re-recorded for their 1st 7” World to Be Saved, Song to Be Sung and “Along the Way” became “Lost Along the Way” when it was re-recorded for Storm Coming. “Thanks for the Cash” was also re-recorded for their last Lp, The Optimist Club.
This stuff is raw, in-your-face hardcore punk that also doesn’t skimp on the melody and catchiness to go along with its youthful energy. Plus, even at this early point, Ventantonio’s lyrics were head and shoulders above most hardcore bands. Try finding another song like “Contempt” that derided youthful drug culture without being preachy in the way that too many straight-edge bands of the time succumbed to. While I don’t know if I’d recommend this as the first place to start for someone new to the band (2003’s double CD The Strife and Times, despite its shortcomings, enables one to collect the vast majority of their recordings in a single package or if you can find them, grab original copies of Theme Song for Nothing), this is a great find for hardcore Sticks and Stones fans and for those curious about New Jersey underground punk of the late ’80s in general. The packaging is nice, too, despite the lack of a lyric sheet and a minimal amount of information. This is a one-sided 12” with a nice etching of their later “microphone” logo on the B-side.
You can buy it here.
