"It's rare for bands to succeed at getting their name out through demo tapes these days, but it still happens from time to time in hardcore circles. Not unlike the Anti Difrancos, the Skuds got the word out through a series of stellar demo tapes. This debut six-song 7" of Scandinavian-sounding contemporary hardcore does not disappoint in the slightest. There are only 500 of these suckers out there, so get on board while there's still time." -Punk Planet, #76
Anti-Difrancos,
The "Kill the Bastards" CD
This is not a misogynist anti-dyke band, as their name might suggest.
On the contrary, well written progressive lyrics from an anarchist perspective
seem to set this band apart from the masses. With critiques of Bush ("A
Burning Bush now would truly be a sign from God"), to sober revolution
("Something to Gain") this band develops the circle 'A' tradition
into something more approachable. As for their music, it is incredibly
raw sounding hardcore thrash. They do borrow some pop punk song structures,
but nothing to drastic to define the sound. The songs are much faster,
shorter, and far more pissed off than pop punk is. They do covers of early
7 SECONDS and FUCK ON THE BEACH if that gives any clues as to their sound...much
different than this pop punk tangent. The ANTI-DIFRANCOS are like listening
to MARILYN'S VITAMINS meets TEAR IT UP, if that makes any sense at all.
-equalizingXdistort may-June 2002
THE ANTI DIFRANCOS are great, sometimes snotty obnoxious and sometimes screaming their (two singer guys’) hearts out over the driving fast paced music. They throw in some breakdowns and intro bits, but mostly the songs have about the same speed. The more this recording plays the more it reminds me of FILTH. This copy came with the zine Anxiety Attack I don’t know if yours will or not. (21 song CD, no lyric sheet) -(Erin) maximumrocknroll #219 august 2001
THE ANTI DIFRANCOS have brought energy back into my rainy Portland day...I feel like I give them the same review all the time, but I really like this band. They're fast and thrashy, angry and funny, and not afraid to yell about it. Yeehaw! Then there's also a 7 SECONDS cover, and a FUCK ON THE BEACH cover, and great samples. ($5 ppd. 15 song CD, lyric sheet. P. O. Box 9263, Missoula MT 59807.) -(Erin)-maximumrocknroll #230
THE ANTI DIFRANCOS were great, and as careful readers, you'll notice I said were, because they have sent in their last demo. It's a recording of their last show, and sounds pretty good for a live recording. I think it's about the fourth song that the vocals get turned down as to hear the music better. Remember, their energetic thrashing about that half the time sounds like FILTH on 45. Also, they compile all their work on one discography CD, including the live show, a split EP, and three demos. Fucking great. Sad to see you go. (12 song CD, lyrics included for the live show. $5 for the 63 song CD, lyrics included discography.) -(Erin)-maximum rocknroll #242
"MAID, PLEASE HAVE PATRIARCHY ABOLISHED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE"
I am just a little confused about this release, so if i get something wrong, sorry! What I am reviewing here is live material that I think is on their discography CD, but I am not reviewing the discography here, as that all of that has been reviewed previously in S&L. Ok, now that that is out of the way, what a rad name! I love it! And good, sloppy, pissed off punk to boot! The vocals totally remind me of Filth and the music although sloppy is that good kind of sloppy that sounds angry and punk, not lame and unpracticed. They have the best kind of political lyrics too, one's that have a sense of humor, yet still say something important. Very cool. (-Beth)-slug & lettuce #76
A
sound to match the fury
Artist: The Anti Difrancos
Recording: "Kill the Bastards"
The first thought I had of "Kill the Bastards," new from the
Anti Difrancos, was "this music is so annoying." As everyone
is entitled to their own opinion, so am I to mine. This music is annoying.
However, it does have a purpose. Never have I heard an album more suited
to channeling raw, hard-core anger into something tangible.
"Kill
the Bastards" is a musical view of the deepest, darkest anger.
It gives anyone who has ever wanted to take a hammer to a wall or window
a sound to match their fury. Musicians Jon and Matt stretch their vocals
and guitar strings almost to breaking point, and Eric's drums are fueled
with a caseload of espresso. In spite of all its vexatious noise, this
album is good. The lyrics (though hard to understand) are intelligent,
and the Anti Difrancos do not stray from their obvious musical mission:
to take all of the angry corporate energy in the world, chew it up,
and spit it full force back into the Big Boss Man's face. "Kill
the Bastards" is available at Ear Candy and Rockin Rudy's. -Erica
Parfit -Missoulian, Thursday, June 20, 2002
Hardcore punk rarely makes it to a larger audience. Even in Missoula, with its very Incestuous and constantly cross-pollinating music scene, hardcore thrives only on the margins. At all-ages shows at the Boys and Girls Club. On Monday and Tuesday shoulder-night shows at Jay's Upstairs. Missoula bands like to think it's different elsewhere: Even in a modestly large city like Portland, it's possible to walk past certain corners or stick your nose into certain shops and music venues and believe that crusty punks in patchwork leather pants and frayed Amebix and Crass T-shirts compose a sizeable percentage of the city's show-going youth population.
But It's all relative. Missoula isn't there yet, and thankfully may never be. Like it or lump it, the scene just doesn't have the numbers to support the camp mentality in its punk scene.
So why don't hardcore bands like the Anti DiFrancos have the same draw as other local bands tike Volumen or Disappointments? Because most people like to loosen up and feel good at shows, and feeling good isn't what hardcore is about. At least, that shouldn't be what hardcore is about. That's the paradox, and something that so many people find incomprehensible: What kind of poorly-weaned sociopath actually enjoys being shouted at from the stage and having his eardrums flensed with the maximum brutality that modern electronics can muster? When there's an easily-digestible funk/jam band playing right down the street?
There are several ways to approach this quandary, though none likely to satisfy anyone whose mind is made up that hardcore simply isn't music. So let's start right from there: Hardcore isn't music in the goes-down-smoothly, no-bitter-after-taste sense. At its most basic, it's a conveyance of ideas and beliefs that don't have a place in other types of music. Agree or disagree, the lyrics should provoke you and challenge your assumptions. And do so with conviction - the worst thing a hardcore band can do is lack conviction. You might find the lyrics stridently oversimplified, but even if they piss you off or cause you to dwell on them for just the minute or two it takes to decide you don't agree, then the band has done its job.
As for the music itself: There are at least as many different kinds of hardcore as there are species of "classically trained" and "drawing from a diverse variety of Influences" jam bands. To the educated ear, it doesn't all sound the same. As many different kinds of hardcore inform the bazillion mph youth attack of Kill the Bastards as different eras of the Grateful Dead have influenced the soundalike stink-foot band-of-the-week. And If the "level of musicianship” of a band like the Anti DiFrancos (who are in ass-kicking form on Kill the Bastards) isn’t up to String Cheese Incident snuff In the estimation of someone for whom technical seamlessness is the most important thing about a band, that's because not everyone who plays in a band cares first and foremost about being a virtuoso. -Andy Smetanka - Missoula Independent May 9-May 16, 2002
Got a couple of cd’s in the mail from the beautiful state of Montana. VENAL I.V. play some badass straight edge thrash punk with a definate d.i.y. feel. Sometimes one of the singers kinda sounds like Chad from ASSEMBLY OF GOD. They have a girl singer too. This is really cool. More punk than thrash. Cool piss take on that stupid 8675-309/Jenny Jenny song and five cool remixes at the end to geek out to. 18 songs in all. THE ANTI DIFRANCOS are a three piece punk band doin it pretty much by the numbers. More of the d.i.y. Seems like every song starts out with the standard fast punk bassline. Snotty vocals are cool. It took a bit to grow on me but I dig it. 21 songs with some covers including "Suck My Left One” by BIKINI KILL. Both VENAL I.V. and the ANTI-DIFRANCOS are available for $3 cassette or $5 cd from POISONED CANDY POBox 9263. Missoula MT 59807 -vom666@cs.com Thrash Til Death OklahomaPunkScene.com
For all the seriousness of content and imagery, you can tell the Anti DiFrancos have a great sense of humor: A song about our current president entitled "A Burning Bush Now Would Truly be a Sign from God", a Simpsons sound clip, and, of course, their hilarious name.
Much of this release is catchy hardcore with very little metal influence (Thank god! I swear, hardcore has rarely been tolerable since it seemingly went to shit in the late 80s with all the macho, tough-guy, testosterone posturing, lead heavy chunk-riffs, and/or wanky soloing). "Nice View", "A Permanent Forgotten Name", and "April is the Cruelest Month" are all singalongs/screamalongs. I enjoy this very much and recommend it to anyone who likes pissy music with a social conscience. -Kelly ell, END OF TRANSMISSION fanzine from billings, mt
This band is not really new but still good is the Anti-DiFrancos there CD is kinda thrash hardcore and is excellent you can get that through www.poisonedcandy.com -www.worldwidepunk.com
The Anti DiFrancos-from Montana, just a demo tape so far but really raw fast HC. –Havoc records
ASS
END OFFEND/ THE ANTI DIFRANCOS:
"My Imperialist Hard-On Is Bigger Than Yours" EP...........
The Anti
Difrancos / Ass End Offend split 7"
Three tracks each from each of these Missoula, MT bands. THE ANTI-DIFRANCOS
are very much in the raw thrashpunk mode and have lyrics as obnoxious
as their name suggest (in a good sort of way). ASS-END OFFEND aremuch
more crust-influenced and have three solid offerings here. -Moo
Cow Records '06
Yummy good hardcore by both these Montana outfits. Metallic, desperate crust-core from AEO with excellent song writing and a good recording proving you don't need six grand to sound heavy. The ANTI's kick ass with some fast paced hardcore punk, with emphasis on the punk. Montana fucking rocks, now where's that new HUMPY record? -Short, Fast + Loud #9 spring 2003
ASS-END OFFEND/ANTl-DIFRANCOS-My Imperialist Hard-On Is Bigger Than Yours
DIY hardcore punk from Montana—Ass-End Offend play in a raging, yet moody vein, where the words are spat out with venom and it's a mix of speed and more haunting elements. I can hear echoes of early Die Kreuzen in there. The Anti-Difrancos, on their side of the split with AEO, slam out fast, snotty thrash. Feisty, although the drummer sometimes relies too much on the snare slam. By the way, cool packaging for both records, with hand-screened art on cardboard sleeves. -Suburban Voice #46
I didn't care for Ass End Offend as much as their previous release, Becoming Our Destruction. These three songs were slower at times. Overall, though AEO keeps true to their hardcore punk style and tears through all three of their songs. The Anti Difrancos were the better of the two on the split. They have a faster punk/ hardcore style. The recording is shite on The Anti Difrancos recording. I preferred them despite the recording because of the way their songs are quick and full of energy with strong antiestablishment lyrics and tunes. -Profane Existence #40 winter 2002
ASS END OFFEND, holy sweet Darby!!! These Montana punks are the fuck child of EL DOPA and early DIE KREUZEN. It's a ugly, gorgeous child. Crazy stupid fresh back and forth, overlapping dual male vox. I'm moving to Missoula. ANTI DIFRANCOS wear masks on stage, which nowadays is a good, maybe dangerous thing. The tone and direction this band are going in will be great. For now, it is a little formulaic. Everything we love about anarchistic punk, just needs some time to develop. Support Montana Anarchy! -MaximumRockNRoll #235 December 2002
Ass-End Offend plays a very pleasing, sturdy hardcore on this record. Their songs are full, harsh, and pulled together. I like the deep melodies that line each fast ditty. The lyrics for these are examinations of capitalism, overcoming obstacles, and opening your mind. Cool stuff. The Anti Difrancos songs are fast punk rock with screechy vocals. The distortion is on high and they are just sort of going at it with as much energy, as they have got. The music itself doesn't really catch my fancy but the lyrics are good. They question our current President and how he came into office, commercialism, mindless rebellion, and the sorry state of civil rights in America, I really like the DIY punk nature of this release. -Heartattack #36, November 2002
The ANTI-DIFRANCOS are first out of the gate with 5 new ragers. The bass is up front and played fast in a rolling manner. The guitars have a high end treble distortion wall of noise. But screaming fits of vocals are what stand out. They have two vocalists scream at you in an unrelenting manner similar to that of AUS ROTTEN, but they sound similar to the singers of ANTI-SCHISM. And my favourite song title is "A burning Bush now would truly be a sign from God". ASS END OFFEND have a heavier sound and most of their songs build from slower more straight edge sounding mosh parts, but they quickly explode into a mass of chaotic frothing energy. The songs eventually come back to their original plodding beginnings, but they never remain there. It is great the way they use the two styles to create an urgent sounding hardcore. The singer has a BORN AGAINST scream to him, but the impatience in his style is more a style of current day thrash scenes. -Equalizing-X-Distort, January 2003
Split: ASSENDOFFEND/ANT1-DIFRANCOS split CD Ass End Offend start this out with some hardcore that has more time changes than Dillinger Escape Plan. Not bad at all, a little like Grimple when they get into the gnarly last stuff. They just have a lot of time changes, man A surprisingly good recording for a little mini CD-r with a xerox cover. The Anti-Difrancos have a good bass player, and sound good only when they start to slow down from blast beats to straight forward hardcore. Nice shouted choruses. They kinda sound like that band XFilesX but not as tight. They definitely have good intentions. -Slug & Lettuce #73, 2002
Hell
hath no fury like these guys: ARTISTS: Ass End Offend, Disgruntled Nation
and The Anti Difrancos
I admit, it took me a long time to get around to reviewing these three
hard-core punk vinyl short-plays mailed with a nice note more than two
months ago. I guess I could say that my record player was on the fritz,
or that I just got busy. Actually, I just didn't want to listen to the
music. I just wasn't in the mood. Yes, it's true, I'm guilty of not giving
the music a chance, because I imagined what was there and automatically
didn't want to hear it.
Even the bands' names - Ass End Offend, Disgruntled Nation and The Anti
Difrancos - deliver a feeling of rage-filled angst, reminding me of driving
in Missoula traffic at 5 p.m. on a Friday, after 80 hours of work putting
together computer chips with tweezers and a magnifying glass. But I finally
did listen, dragging myself to the record player and forcing myself to
put on these hell-ridden explosions of sound. I made it through and am
here to tell my story.
I'll first describe the band whose name intrigued me most, Ass End Offend
- a name reminiscent of old Uncle Bud and Grandpa proving their manliness
with ungodly noises after Thanksgiving dinner, or little brother Davy
and his two buddies chasing you around with their hands in their armpits,
flapping like chickens in a panic.
The members of Ass End Offend play hard and dark. One of the strongest
aspects of the LP, "Becoming Our Destruction," is the deep vocal
style. Though the words are almost impossible to understand, the meaning
is clear through the demonic sound rising from the vocals of Brent and
Tom (nobody includes last names on these records). The instruments are
well-played. Where some punk musicians go overboard trying to make as
much noise as possible, the members of Ass End are conscious that their
instruments make many different sounds. Brent, the guitarist, and Dan,
the drummer, collaborate with Tom, the bassist, to explore the combination
of sinister vocals with melodic harmony. This makes their songs unique,
with true musicians' artistry.
Then, with relentless determination, in blasts the band Disgruntled Nation.
The best way to describe the overall sound these two Montanans and one
Other-Stater make: powerhouse punk. Without being overbearing, Disgruntled
Nation is steadfast, never missing a beat or lagging in turbo-style rhythm,
exploring the best ways to release the beast inside us all. Their vocals
have been described by a friend as "Yogi Bear on acid." This
seems pretty accurate. There is something about the throaty vocals that
points to the dopey friendliness of Yogi, with a little extra spaz stirred
into the mix. The three Disgruntled members work hard for their music.
Drummer Matt pounds his instrument with an unrelenting fury, and guitarist
Rob wails in amped-out glory. Brent, on bass, gives the music its bottom-line
endurance. The music of Disgruntled Nation is the kind I would expect
to hear in the center of a 12-volt battery.
The third SP to assault my music player is a double album. Ass End Offend
is one dark sound, but another is blasted by The Anti Difrancos. This
is the sound I was so uninterested in hearing, which took me so long to
get around to: The vocalists scream until I get a sore throat, and the
drummer, guitarist and bassist play fast enough to spin the listener's
brain upside down into a neurotic stupor. Listen to this music when the
fury has taken over your soul and all there is to do is bounce and crash
around until you collapse into a heap on a sweaty dance floor. But for
all their spinning, out-of-control fury, they each know the exact rhythm.
They can stop on the point of a needle - these guys are in sync.
Maybe the energy of the new year prompted me to finally listen to these
three electrified albums. They are full of the fire and the fury. Not
everything is happy and pretty and gentle. A little of this music, and
a punching bag, and I'll bet 5 p.m. Friday traffic won't seem so bad after
all.
Ass End Offend, Disgruntled Nation and The Anti Difrancos are available
at Ear Candy Music and Rockin Rudy's. -Erica Parfit, Missoulian, January
2, 2003
ASS
END OFFEND/ THE ANTI DIFRANCOS: Split 7"
Ass End Offend: Out of their three songs, "Cross the Fence,"
is the standout solely by the fact it doesn't sound like a tired reconstruction
of Corrosion of Conformity, pre-Crossover. That song is my favorite
of the split and actually has some nice breakdowns and vocal dynamics.
Anti DiFrancos: Barring a song about respecting your parents and an
up-front hate for a certain hairy armpitted righteous babe, The Anti
DiFrancos are a very standard, almost featureless punk band who seemed
to have taken Jello Biafra's spoken word to heart (i.e. "the nation's
elite bolster our alienation to perpetuate wage slave subjugation").
I'm sure they're very earnest but this musical ground — especially
the instrumentation- has been trampled so many times, and like a patch
of grass under the same treatment, it doesn't seem like anything new's
growing out of it. My suggestion for both bands? Get more Feederz and
Zero Boys and cut down on the Conflict and GBH in your diet; something
to throw in and monkey wrench the mix. -Todd, Razorcake #11
"Don't let your dirt hold you in your hole": excellent line. The Ass End Offend side is full of em. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for them musically. I'm not into metal in any of its ugly, contorted forms, and I can't say this strikes me as any different. Sounds like metal to me.
The Anti DiFrancos side is in the same vein as their other releases- fast, pissy, aware, and moral. I guess the parents out there will like "Rebel", but my favorite is "Commodity is a Plague". Who wouldn't love a song with words like, "You got "Punk" printed on the personalized license plates of your cherry red 4x4" and "Appetizing brand names, cute catchy phrases/ silly stupid jingles: annoying and contagious!" It's available as a 7 inch record, or, for those of you without vinyl spinners, as a tiny little 2 or 3 inch CD. -Kelly Ell, END OF TRANSMISSION fanzine from billings, mt
THE ANTI DIFRANCOS / ASS END OFFEND - split EP The Anti Difrancos are super raw hardcore similar to Dystrophy and the Hatemail Killerz with intelligent lyrics. Ass End Offend are on the darker and mid tempo side drawing from more present day influences. - www.somestrangemusic.com
THE ANTI DIFRANCOS/ ASS END OFFEND “SPLIT” EP ...FUCK YEAH...D.I.Y. HARDCORE FROM MONTANA!!! everyone should get off their ass and buy these great punk records! ... ASS END OFFEND sound like a modern mix of early Die Kreuzen and Talk Is Poison!!! The Anti-Difrancos are great snotty HC punk with awesome political minded lyrics... this is awesome, honest and sincere HC punk! - www.brickwallrecords.com
ANTIDIFRANCOS
Fast as fuck intelligent punk with good lyricism and all the aggression
you expect from straight edge kids with something to say. - Jay’s
Upstairs