86 MENTALITY – Out now. This is the CD format of one of the best hardcore 7”s of 2007 as per Maximum RocknRoll and Terminal Boredom.  It includes their ‘FINAL EXIT’ 7” plus two bonus tracks from the same session and 7 live tracks recorded at the Lintfabriek in Belgium. With ‘Final Exit’, 86 MENTALITY continues with their blend of pulverizing hardcore and stomping street punk but it’s also the production of this recording which elevates this material, making it their most powerful release.  For fans of tough early American like Negative Approach, S.O.A and early BLITZ. 

MRR 295: I love this band.  Like NEGATIVE APPROACH, 86 MENTALITY manages to represent the tougher, more furious side of hardcore without going anywhere even close to meathead territory.  Assuming you already have the first two EPs by these DC hoodlums (something you should remedy immediately if you don’t), this new six-track slab is what you’ve been hoping and waiting for during the nearly two years or so since the ON THE LOOSE EP.  Some of the mid-tempo songs here border on being anthem-worthy, and others are pure punch-to-the-face hardcore blasts that will satisfy your angry side.  If youre at all a fan of LAST RIGHTS, SOA, good British Oi!, or the bands above, then you should be all over this cause 86 MENTALITY captures the streetwise hardcore spirit like few others can do. 

Razorcake: Holy crap, did I ever like this one. This is one of those records that I like so much that I don’t have much to say; I just sit mouth agape for a few minutes and then coil into a ball of punk rock fury and explode out of my chair and through the unopened door. Imagine an angrier version of Negative Approach 

FUCKED UP – Their DANCE OF DEATH 7” has been repressed and is now available.  The POLICE 7” is being repressed this month. 

BRUTAL KNIGHTS – Are back from tour in one piece.  Sounds like they had a blast and thanks to all who support them along the way.  The CD format of LIVING BY YOURSELF is in the works and will include a bunch of extra material from their earlier 7”s. 

ONLINE STORE –  NEW BRUTAL KNIGHTS 7”!!! 

STATUES -  A CD format compiling the three new 7” (one of DERANGED, one of FDH/PTrash and one on Plastic Idol).   Here are the reviews from the new 7”

MRR 299: Ten seconds in and I already know these clean cut Canadians have delivered one of the best EPs of the year.  This is pop punk the way it’s supposed to sound – chunky, full, free of the wimp and whine, cry-me-a-river-cheese-ball-crap that’s been passed off as punk for the last umpteen years.  Imagine a more beefy TRANZMITORS, a harder hitting GENTLEMEN JESSE, a poppier EXPLODING HEARTS, and you’ll be on the right track.  Some folks won’t get this – their loss.  I’m all over it. 

EXCLAIM Magazine: There probably aren’t a better band playing this kind of genuine, classic-sounding pop punk in Canada today. Melding the melodic sensibility of the Buzzcocks or the first Clash record with some thoroughly modern vocal deviations (check out the utterly brilliant conclusion of “Distance/Duration” for definitive proof of this band’s originality), the four tracks contained on this seven-inch are guaranteed to please fans of modern practitioners of hooky ’77-style punk, although the quality of songwriting demonstrated on the three original songs (the band also tackles G.G. Allin’s “Dead or Alive”) are just as likely to entice fans of Green Day as fans of the Briefs. It can be pretty easy to just emulate the bands you admire and still please a lot of people who want to imagine that 1977 never ended, but Statues consistently push themselves into new sonic territory, resulting in some truly exciting music. 

They are touring Europe in April and May, dates available at http://www.myspace.com/statues 

RED DONS – Dates for the upcoming US tour will be made available shortly.  Otherwise, the band has remixed and remastered their album and the repress should be available in June.    

UPCOMING RELEASES -  In the works are SUSPECT PARTS 7”, TRANZMITORS 12” EP and CD compilation, and a new YOUNG OFFENDERS 7” – mp3s are available at www.myspace.com/derangedrecords