In the mid 90's, Knoxville, Tennessee, a scant 90 minutes away from where I live, was a hotbed of punk rock bands. There were The Malignmen, who's first 7" was posted here, there was K.P.D. (and if anyone out there has any of their recordings, if there are any, please let me know!!), and there were these guys, probably my favorite of the bunch, even though I never got to see them while they were around, and only upon moving to Knoxville in 2000 did I hear this record. This record is something I've wanted to add to the Northeast Tennessee Punk And Metal Archives since I decided to start archiving the shit in the first place. What we have here is 18 sloppy yet fun punk songs in 28 minutes, including a cover of The Dicks' "Hate The Police". I would almost venture that The Dicks were one of the major inspirations for this band, as they use the same guitar sound, that jangly sound that we all love. The cover was from a Calvin Klein ad that got C.K. in a lot of trouble, apparently...and my guess at the hand scrawled "FUCK K.P.D." at the top of the cover is that it's not only a jab at the Knoxville Police Department but also the band of the same name. I could be wrong on that last count.
I recommend this HIGHLY, as to my knowledge The Skudz were the only band from this region that actually released an LP. They also released a 7" entitled "Kill Whitey" and I will be putting that up soon also. But for now, enjoy this slice of mid 90's Northeast Tennessee punk fucking rock! And if there's anyone from The Skudz who comes across this, I hope that your glad to see someone cared enough about this record to try to preserve it and spread it around, because it is fucking great, and more people (from Tennessee or not) need to hear it, and I hope that you drop me a line!
Once again, this was converted from a tape of the LP, so the sound quality might not be the best, but it's fucking punk rock, so who cares?
Wow! Nice little slab of punk.. I grew up in Johnson City, but I never heard this band. Thanks for putting it out here.
ReplyDeletei met the bassist while i lived in knoxville, and he introduced me to it. i remember he had this record and the 7" framed in his house, and he was a really cool guy.
ReplyDeletehey, this is ronnie the guitar player, no shit man thanx for putting this up.. I still have lots of 7"s (kill whitey) and tons of our last 12" (hate your trend)... sorry dont have any of the "fuck K.P.D."... really I didnt intend the fuck KPD for that band.. at the time us and our friends were having a little trouble with them...contact me: (p.o.box 1941 Knoxville,TN. 37901).. clonedefect77@gmail.com be patient if I am not "johnny on the spot" when responding, I work and am trying to find some more people to play with ROCKnROLL will never die
ReplyDeleteDude i was at every show call me 8132056423
Deletehey ronnie, i'm glad you came across this. i don't think i met you when i was in knoxville, but i did know george g. and hung out with him a few times, that's how i even heard about you guys in the first place....i never got to see you all play but i did see other k-town bands like Malignmen, Lawnboy, etc when they played around kingsport/johnson city. i never even knew about the "hate your trend" lp, i would love to hear that. i'll shoot you an email soon!
ReplyDeleteyo, i cleaned this up cause it was really hard to listen to, you want the version I did? brandonbiondo@gmail.com
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DeleteI grew up going to see these guys, along with the malignmen, and c4. I hate to sound like an old man, but this was back when punk was real, and dangerous, like it should be. Knoxville had a real scene . shows in places like the mercury, Neptune, and lava lounge. These band shaped my teenage years. Best times of my life.
ReplyDeletefuck yeah the best time of my life also.havn't been back in k-town in over a decade but grew old there so instead of dieing there with the rest of my friends I left,gotta say skudz was and still is one of my favorite bands of all time,spent many of drunking nites at ronnies.....d.rock
ReplyDeleteGrew up on these guys. I guess the record has been taken down, because I can't get it off here now an that's a shame. This was one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with all these fuckers as well. I went to laurel high school with gram slam drummer for the filthy fucking malignmen. I knew Ian, justin stout "steck". Grew up in the mercury theater. Had my own short lived band myself. With tyler koontz, nick p, and abby thiselthwaite. Anyone that has any of the malignmen, the skudz, C4 or any of the good american hardcore music that was in Knoxville at the time please email me at knoxvillian187@gmail.com I lost over 80 percent of my collection several years back.
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