To Be Hated
Live at Churchill's
(Sour Grapes Records)
myspace.com/tobehated
Most people, i.e., fans, approach live recordings with a certain amount of tepidness and/or acquiescence. This is especially true for punk-rock bands and their usually limited budgets. This recording went down in Churchill's on January 1, 2010, when To Be Hated Opened for Agent Orange alongside the Riot Agents, Soma, M66, and Vincent Valentine and was recorded by Rat Bastard.
A straight recording of the event, this disc captures the music, and the levels are pretty good. The 14 tracks are culled from numerous releases that have as of late been serving as a good jolt of anti-aging cream for me in my ongoing battle with my diagnosed pre-midlife midlife crisis.
They open it up with a little instrumental "Intro" before getting serious in the mix with "Outsourced" and "Mind Control." There is very little in-between song banter, and that's a good nod of professionalism to these cats who gig around the tricounty area with frequency. Other tracks are "Death Trap," "Bootcamp for Whores," "Last Call," and some genius constantly calling for Black Flag tunes.
The band on this recording was composed of Brick and Jose on vocals and guitars, Johnny on bass and vocals, and Tommy on drums.
They close it up with "State of Things," and that's when you'll realize that 95 percent of the set was music, and as much as cool things do occur between songs, most bands would be better off in the knowledge that sometimes, we just want the music. This is a good recording and a good capture of the band's energy. A nice addition to their ever-expanding catalog.
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