[video still via (((unartig)))]
It came with nearly no warning that Soulside announced their first shows in twenty-five years. The reunion was initially prompted by the release of the highly anticipated DC hardcore documentary, Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980–90). Announced first as a single date at legendary DC club The Black Cat to coincide with a screening of the film, the reunion quickly expanded to include two nights at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus and an additional night at The Black Cat. The four shows sold out almost immediately with a bare minimum of hype and promotion.
Of the 1980s DC hardcore scene, Soulside are hardly the most well-known. Fugazi is, of course, the most visible of all those bands. Soulside often get pegged as followers of Fugazi, but in fact they were active years before Fugazi and the relationship between the two bands is less of one band following another and more of a cross-pollination within a community. After disbanding in 1989, lead singer Bobby Sullivan would take a break from music, later forming the bands Rain Like the Sound of Trains and Sevens. The rest of Soulside—Scott McCloud (guitar), Johnny Temple (bass), and Alexis Fleisig (drums)—would go on to form seminal noise rock band Girls Against Boys.
Twenty-five years to the day since the band’s final gig, Soulside took the stage at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus. Over two nights, from the rumbling opening bass riff of “God City” to the lean punk of “Under the Glare,” the band draws from their entire body of work. Many of us relative newcomers too young to have experienced Soulside during their initial run encountered the band via the CD collection, Soon Come Happy, which gathers the better known Dischord albums Trigger and Hot Bodi-Gram. Each of those albums is well represented here. From Trigger, which was recently reissued by Dischord and expanded to include the Bass • 103 single, we get some of Soulside’s signature tracks: “Baby,” “Trigger,” and “Name in Mind.” They play almost all of their final record, Hot Bodi-Gram, the highlights of which are “God City,” “Pembroke,” and the duo of “New Slow Fucky” and “New Fast Fucky.”
For longtime devotees—or simply those old enough and hip enough to have been there—“Under the Glare,” and “Lookin’ Around” date back to 1984 when the band was called Lunchmeat. And from the band’s first album Less Deep Inside Keeps, originally released in 1987 as a joint venture between Dischord and Sammich (another essential DC Hardcore label), they play “Pearl to Stone,” “Fresh Air,” “Other Side,” and a cover of Wire’s “Ex-Lion Tamer.”
Soulside is a band I never thought I’d see play live. And looking around at Saint Vitus each night, it was clear I wasn’t the only one. Most of the crowd didn’t look old enough to have seen the band during their initial run. But whether people were drawn to the band like I was, through Girls Against Boys, or whether people discovered them through the punk rock education that is the Dischord catalog, it was clear the songs still resonate. It was an absolute pleasure to get to see these guys perform together and I’m extraordinarily proud to have taped these sets.
I recorded these shows with a pair of AKG C480/CK61 cardioids set up in front of the soundboard, combined with a feed from Saint Vitus FOH, Nick. The sound in the room for both nights was excellent and these recordings reflect that. Enjoy!
Download the complete December 17th show: [MP3] | [FLAC]
Download the complete December 18th show: [MP3] | [FLAC]
Stream the complete December 17th show:
Stream the complete December 18th show:
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Soulside
2014-12-17
Saint Vitus
Brooklyn, NY
Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH
Soundboard (engineer: Nick) + AKG C480B/CK61 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV(24/48) > Audacity 2.0.5 (mixdown, fades, EQ, amplify, downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (level 8)
Tracks [1:05:15]
01. God City
02. What Do You Know About That?
03. Punch the Geek
04. Baby
05. Trigger
06. Name in Mind
07. New Slow Fucky
08. New Fast Fucky
09. Bass
10. Under the Glare
11. X-Lion Tamer [Wire]
12. Lookin’ Around
13. Clifton Wall
14. [Encore Break]
15. War
16. Pembroke
17. A Love Supreme
18. Pearl to Stone
Soulside
2014-12-18
Saint Vitus
Brooklyn, NY
Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH
Soundboard (engineer: Nick) + AKG C480B/CK61 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV(24/48) > Audacity 2.0.5 (mixdown, fades, EQ, amplify, downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (level 8)
Tracks [1:04:26]
01. War
02. Pembroke
03. Trigger
04. Baby
05. Punch the Geek
06. Bass
07. New Slow Fucky
08. New Fast Fucky
09. Fresh Air
10. I Find the Other Side
11. Bad Show
12. Clifton Wall
13. A Love Supreme
14. [Encore Break]
15. God City
16. Pearl to Stone
17. What Do You Know About That?
18. Under the Glare
If you enjoyed these recordings, PLEASE SUPPORT Soulside—like them on Facebook and buy the Trigger reissue from Dischord.
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