"You know what really makes us mad, is wasting money on CDs with only one or two good songs." "Yeah, tell me about punk!" What's up posers? Welcome to Punk Lotto Pod. I'm your host, Justin Hensley. I'm your other co-host, Dylan Hensley. And welcome to the 300th episode of Punk Lotto Pod. We started this show in August of 2018. So six years later, we're still here plugging away talking about music. Normally this is the show where we choose one year at random, it's like when punk hardcore emo or punk adjacent album from that year to discuss. But not today. If you've been around and noticed, whenever we do these landmark number issues, issues, episodes, we'd like to do something special, something different. I don't know if we did that successfully with our first like 50 in episode 100. I don't know that we did do anything special for those. But I think what 150 was the one where we did the is that the one we did the last episode, the Bouncing Souls and Brownie Circus. And then for the, what did we do for the 200th? Did we do the Susie and the Banshees best worst over under? And then what episode 250 we did the punk, tell them about punk, our punk compilation. So yeah, we like to do something special every 50 episodes or so, just, you know, to mark another passage of time. And so landmark, you know, this is probably the longest running thing we've ever done. I don't think any of our blogs, they might have lasted this long, but weren't being like posted weekly. It was like we would have months between posts. Yeah, yeah, we didn't. We haven't done anything this consistently for this long ever. Yeah, so thank you all. I played football for six years. Yeah, I didn't even do that. I did four years. So there's that. I had a job for 11 years. That's probably the most consistent thing I've had like that. I've been married for. Yeah, I've been in 10 years. I've been married for that's the only other thing I've done for. I've never had a job that I've never had a job this long. I've only read one this long. So I guess I had one. No, it wasn't six years. Yeah, so this is the most consistent thing in our lives besides our wives than our marriages. Obviously our family, you know. Oh, yeah, right. But you don't choose those. Yeah, we didn't. I'm just owning you. Yeah, so for this week's episode, we thought we'd do something fun. I had this idea a couple months ago. It popped up in my head because I'm always coming up with different ideas for gimmick episodes or Patreon content. So I messaged you a few months ago. I was like, what if we did a top splits, our favorite split releases for an episode and you were like, sure, whatever, leave me alone. Which I feel like is how most of my ideas go. Here's my idea. And you're like, yeah, whatever. Okay, fine. But before we get into that, if you head to patreon.com/punkclotopod for $1 you get access to all of our weekly bonus audio, where last week we did a 300th episode, look back at things as well as the news of the world. So we won't talk really much more about 300 episodes in this once we get into the actual rest of the show. But yeah, if you want to hear our thoughts on the show over the years and what we've gotten out of it and all that fun stuff, head over to patreon. You should also get a metalcore chronicles on the year 1990. This is my solo series where I am deep diving on the genre of metalcore and covering as much as I possibly can. So I've done one part already, which kind of encompassed the pre 90s version of the metalcore. Not much. Not much of it exists. Basically, it's like integrity. And that's it. It kind of stays that way for a while. But it's a fun series. I'm finding so many different bands that I didn't even know of and bands that you maybe wouldn't even consider metalcore. But because of who's in the band and like where the band's sound goes later, you could argue are worth covering. There's some interesting stuff in the in this upcoming episode. Also, we have a $5 tier, which is our producer slash listening club. And what that means is you get your name said every week on the show, as well as whatever it is you would like us to promote. And we'll talk about those in a few moments. But the listening club is also where we get together on Skype. And we do a group chat about a single album. So we just did one of these as this episode has been uploaded. But after we're recording this, so we're in a weird flux. We have to pretend like it happened already. We discussed Bad Religions the Grey Race. And I hope it went well. So we'll find out in a couple days. Or you can join in our $10 tier, do a one time $10 donation, and you get to choose the album we devote an entire episode to. We have one of those coming up next week. So it's it's a spicy one. Let's just say it's a beloved record that I don't think we're going to have nice things to say about. So just inviting bad reviews. Yeah, a lot of content out there, though, for $1 you get a lot. So thinking about making some stuff free too, because they also say that posting like some free content occasionally, you know, helps convert, you know, your free signups to your paid signups. We have a couple people signed up for free, but we don't give them anything. So I don't know what they're doing. If you're up and then realize they didn't get anything. But because it's free, you never really unsigned. I don't know. I don't know what kind of notifications you get for a free member. But I do think I put up the two most recent moon pies for misfits for free. So if you want to see me try the new Mountain Dew Voodoo for 2024 or the Oreo Coca-Cola Zero, you can check that out. I believe those are under the free tier as well. So there's something for them. But yeah, so let's shout out our producers. So if you are a $5 tier member, you get a shout out every week. So first off, we want to thank our producers, David Brown, host of the podcast, one band, five songs, as well as the writer of the blog, Oklahoma Lefty. I plugged it last time, and it didn't actually come out. But I did an episode of Dave's bonus audio where I discuss the iron chic discography and we rate each of their albums. Hopefully that one's out by now. Don't know for sure, but I'll keep plugging it until it appears. So we also want to shout out our producer Jason W, writer of the sub stack newsletter, songs about chocolate and girls still in the D alphabet. He's been doing the newsletter for a while now and lots of bands to cover and barely scraped, barely made a dent in the catalog there. He's also working on the idea of a podcast. I hope that it comes to fruition soon, because I definitely want to hear that concept. Also, shout out to our producer, Steve Long, host of the podcast, Rebel Rock Radio, as well as Radio Unfriendly. I think the most recent episode of Radio Unfriendly, what was that one about? That's right. The newest episode of Radio Unfriendly was about the band smoking popes, and I believe he ranked their albums. So fun series there too. And lastly, but not at least, our producer, Phillips Booker, who sponsored our episode on 10-yard fight. So thank you all so much for being producers. And if you want to get your name said and whatever it is that you produce, or maybe you just have a cause that you'd like us to shout out, hey, let's know. We're open. We're open to discussing anything. So birthday dedications, uh, you know, whatever. Oh man, Casey Kason style birthday dedications, that would be amazing. Like Delilah, I want to dedicate this song to a misconnection. Oh man, that would be great. I would love that. Honestly, just if you want me to like read a weird, you know, limerick that you wrote, uh, we'll do that. You know, we're open. Maybe. Depends on how filthy it is. But as this guy from Nantucket, yeah, you know, you want to squash some beef? Oh, yeah. Consider it. I'm not getting, you know, cease and desist. Don't be airing my dirty laundry on your podcast. Yeah, whatever you think of, hit us up. We, we, uh, we may be open to it. Sorry. Within reason, obviously, we have the right to refuse. Yeah. But yes, we appreciate you all. And thank you all so much. We appreciate the free listeners too. Like every, everything is not about the Patreon. We have been doing this show for 300 episodes and the Patreon didn't exist for the first, but three years or so of the podcast. So if you've been along and never joined the Patreon the whole time, we appreciate you as well. So sometimes I worry that we do too much pitching at the top of the show. All right. Well, let's get into it. So for this episode, we're talking splits and the split is, I think it's a dying art form. Yes. I was just thinking that this week while I was preparing and listening to my selections and just thinking like, well, well, and even like considering what my selections were going to be, I was like, wow, a lot of these exist within like a decade. There's just like 10 years where people were all in on splits. And I'm like, I can't remember the last time I heard. I mean, I guess there was the hardcore kind of still does splits. Yeah, hardcore does splits a lot still. There was the body, the body farm dry socket split. That's kind of one of the most recent notable yeah, that one ruled that was so good. Yeah, hardcore, honestly, hardcore as a genre has kept a lot of the more traditional punk traditions alive a lot longer. The the seven inch feels like it's pretty much just punk hardcore bands doing them anymore. Part of that is because the cost of vinyl production, like the difference in cost between an LP and a seven inch is not that much. So a lot of labels don't really want to put the money into a seven inch when they can just turn around and do the same thing with an LP. So and you can mark it up a little more like you seven inches have to be within a certain price range or people won't buy them. And you can mark them up a little bit more for vinyl. So if you basically had the same amount of money into a seven inch that you do as an LP, then you know, you want to mark them similarly. But so that's why a lot of times you'll just see like hardcore hardcore bands or just even other bands that do have EPs, they just do them on a 12 inch, even if it's not, you know, it's like a 45 RPM instead of a 33. But what's interesting, like, I'm looking at, you know, a lot of the selections that I have for my favorite splits are, and some of them, you know, really notable ones that I was thinking of are full length splits. And that's a thing I don't think anybody does. I think the body farm and dry socket one is like one of the most recent ones. That's an LP. I mean, I think it's like a 45 RPM LP, but still it's too long to be on a seven inch. Yeah, that's the thing. There's like three types of splits, right? There's more than that, I guess. But there's the split LP, which is probably the most rare, right? Split LP, which also a lot of our picks are split LPs, which makes it like maybe it's the best version of a split, because it's more substantial, I guess, which we can get into more. But yeah, we have a couple each as well. There's the split EP where it's like two or three songs each side. There's like the split single with like one song each. And then there's the comp pretending to be a split where it's like four band split. I'm like, that's not split. That's a clap. I did not pick any four way splits. No, I did not either. Like there was that, what was that six way split that a long time ago that was like code orange and end of a year, tiger's jaw, like all these bands. And I'm like, this is a comp. This is not split. This is six bands. I think even people are asking end of a year. They're like, why are y'all calling this a split? It's like, yeah, that's what the label wanted to do. But I mean, we are arguing about semantics. He doesn't really matter. But yeah, I was gonna choose one. I also did kind of avoid the single splits just because it's usually just two songs. And I don't know, it's not it's hard to just talk about two songs. Does it feel substantial release? Yeah, I didn't do any of the covers splits, because that's kind of a thing to and that tends to be more like your singles where it's like, oh, we're both doing covers. There's definitely notable ones where there's like, you didn't, yeah, you didn't pick this one like the Colosseum super chunk one where they cover misfit songs. Yeah, which I love that it's great. It's so good. But it's also like not their songs. It's a split single, where it's just like one song each. That was on my list of like, I considered it was one of my runners up. I want to say there's like, is there a boy sets fire? Yeah, it's a boy sets where they cover Metallica. Oh, is, oh, I don't know about that one. There's a shot. There's a Shihalud and boy sets fire crush them all split seven. It has the has the like die cut diagonal sleeve. Boy sets fire covers fade the black Shihalud cover damage ink, which I have, I have that, I'm pretty sure. There is a boy sets fire split where they cover the other band. Yeah, that's the boy sets fire colas split. Yeah, they each cover each other. Yeah, that's it. They don't cover anybody else or do their own originals. Boy sets fire, a lot of splits in their catalog. They also have the snap case split. I want to say what else they have. I feel like they have something else. They have the funeral for a friend split. Yeah, they have cake couples with wolf down camp for sport. That was a FSPRT. Yeah. Yeah, boy sets fire, a lot of splits in theirs. A colas has a bunch of shelter cassette promo. Yeah, I was thinking about it. Like what decades had the most splits? It feels like the 90s had a lot of splits. And I feel like, I guess the 2000s had a decent amount. There was like a boom of splits again though in like the 2010s with like the Orkor Festpunk emo revival wave of stuff. Like there were lots of splits during that period too, which also feel like was the last notable time period for a lot of those splits, which I guess would be right before a lot of vinyl costs went up. So yeah, I do wonder how much of the death of splits is just tied to vinyl costs? I guess that's just where I'm maybe surprised that something like the split LP didn't really grow more because that just seems like pulling your resources and, but I don't know, I guess everybody wants their own thing. Yeah, especially if you're going to spend the money on it where you're just like, well, I'm going to make my own album or my own EP. Yeah, I mean, I guess if you're like a really successful band, it probably makes more sense to not do a split. But I think if you're like an up and coming or you, you know, or just not very big, why not pull those? You know, like if you're a small band, you're probably not going to sell out of your seven inch. So maybe pull your resources, split the cost split the cost three ways, like, you know, you have your band, the other band, and then if you have a label in there, you know, split it three way is cheaper for everybody. And then you all move units a little easier, but I don't know, it is a it's a dying art form. It's not it's definitely not as prevalent as it used to be. I don't know. I think it would be a good tour merch idea to just be like, Hey, we did a split seven inch, both bands on the on a tour, but you got to make sure you get it done and ready. Yeah, that's part of the problem. I know times are back down to a little bit more manageable level. I think they're back to maybe like a three to six month period. I don't think they're the year and a half waits like they were. Don't know why that happened or how that happened. Taylor Swift, four different pressings at the same record. Well, that's why the times were so long. But when did they, why did they go back down? Because I feel like the majors are still doing vinyl, you know, did they just push out all the small bands, small labels, that would happen. And they're just not doing them anymore. I don't know, or maybe the mid level label. Not sure. But when are we getting the Taylor Swift split with Japarone or something like that? Yeah, it's very much the split is very much a part of punk and hardcore. It is not really other genres. I mean, I guess there's the in like the 70s, you may be saw some stuff like that. But those almost felt more like the record label just did it to be like, we got these two acts. We're trying to push. Yeah, it's a promo. Yeah, they have more promo than yeah, individual piece of music, you know, because what makes a good split? I guess we could talk about that. What is a good split? Original content, or at the very least, like previously unreleased material. We've all seen those splits where it's like, oh, all of these songs were released on their LTS. Like, there's like an off with their heads like dead to me split. That's like, and Riverboat Gamblers is like a three way split. And like, everything was already released. It's like, oh, I don't want that. If I think a really great split, and I guess based on like what I picked, the splits that I have liked the most are the ones that feel like they flow into each other. The two sides don't feel really disjointed. I think a lot of times it's kind of like, this is kind of two two different versions of the same thing almost. Yeah, I see what you mean. Like, it needs to work. Like the combo of bands needs to work. Yeah, it can't feel. Yeah, it just can't be too much of a whiplash. I think it's the biggest thing. Yeah. Yeah, I think original material splits are kind of tricky, because a lot of times it's like, I want to like both bands like going into it, you know, because like, how many times have you found like a split or like a band put something out? And you're like, well, I only like the one side. Like, I don't listen to the B side or the other side of the split ever, you know. Yeah. So it's like, you need to like both bands, even though they're kind of cosigning each other, you know, by being on together, because everything I have on my list, I like both sides of it. So I'm not, I didn't pick anything where I like, I don't like, Oh, well, I only like the one side, you know, a lot of that exists, you know, out there, but especially during that like that last big wave of like all the emo bands, like I don't, I don't care about these into it over at songs on the cast of it split, you know. Yeah, that being said, those were some of the best into it over at songs. Yeah. Now sometimes they're like, you might not necessarily like listen to the one band that's on there, but it's still good enough. Like one of my picks today is like that, like, I don't really care for the band, but I like their side of the split. So that's why I included it. Were there any that you were considering that you did not select? I think I, I think I told you how many screamo splits is too many. So there's definitely like, you know, there's multiple Page 99 splits, like the Page 99 City of Caterpillar, that's one that is great, but it's like, well, there's another Page 99 split that's more worth talking about and you picked it. So except I swapped it out. Oh, you did. Well, I guess throwing that one out there, that's split LP to the Page 99 majority rule is excellent. I really listened to it this week because I was just like, yeah, I was on your list. Fucking rules, like it's so cool. Obviously, like that's two bands that just, like I said, kind of two sides of the same coin. There's stuff like the lock tender, brighter arrow split 10 inch is really good. And I really liked both of those bands, but they both kind of fell apart at the same time. And but those were, that was a split that felt like it, it transcended the trend of the moment of post-hard core and emo bands doing splits and screamo bands doing splits in the that mid early 2000s period or 2010s. And I was like, this, this is a record. This is a split that takes this format to another level. But it's one, I just haven't, you know, I have it, but I haven't come back to it in a long time. Neither one of those bands are really bands that I've consistently listened to past a certain period. When I go back and listen to them, like, yeah, these are good. I, you know, I really like these bands for a reason. And then there's kind of just like little things like the mischief brew AJJ split or the AJJ and gun shy split, where it's just like, it just feels small compared to other things that those bands have done. Yeah, the the mischief brew one is it's interesting because it was, it was one of those vinyl trick records. It's a concentric groove album where they recorded two versions of the same song each side. And they did like an acoustic version and a full band version of the same song on each side. And depending on where you put your needle down, it would play with, you know, whichever one it was. It's fun. It's cool. You could either like just try and keep putting it down till you get the one you want, or you could just like bump it and try and get it to skip to the next, the next one. It is fun because it's almost like where, however you put it down, it's like a gamble, which one you're gonna get. But it's, it is the same songs. So that's why I was like, eh, it's cool. It's a neat idea, but it's not like one that I want to talk about really. AJJ has a lot of splits. And I was leaning towards like the opioneers split, but I don't know, I just didn't, I re-listened to it this week. And it feels like the AJJ songs didn't quite land as well as they did when they initially came out. The gun-shy split is interesting because that's one where they, they collaborated on each other's songs. So it's like, it's all the same people playing on each side. It's just these are gun-shy songs and these are AJJ songs. So that was one that I probably would have selected if I was going to select one from them, just because it's such a neat idea. Yeah. And then there's like the AJJ ghost my split, which it wasn't really even considering because, well, I'm only ever going to listen to the AJJ side. And yeah, ghost mice. Yeah. The AJJ side is like, this is like one of the best sides of a split ever. Yeah. But as a split format, it's completely undercut by the other side. Yeah. I definitely considered the transistor, transistor, and wolves split BP. I think that's a 12-inch split as well. Yeah. But I think I was just like, we have enough scream-o. Yeah. I had the wolves and Ampere split too. And I'm like, there's another Ampere split that I'd rather talk about. Yeah. I was trying to think of like an end-of-a-year split that I really liked, but so often on those, end-of-a-year only did one song, even if like the other band did like three. They still only like put like one on them, but they had a lot of good ones. And a lot of their best songs were on those splits, especially before the name change, like before they became self-defense family, like the end-of-a-year split songs were like awesome. There's a split with 315, the kids explode, Fireteam Charlie, Adorno, Shook ones, Red Tape Parade, they did so many. Segway, I think that's it, before they became self-defense family. And then they were just like, "What split did they do?" They did a bunch of not very good splits. Fires, stalwart sons, Axis, good-time boys, a split with their own band, the Meredith Hunter split. That's part of the, what, the run-for-cover split series. Yeah. That was a big thing. I think that's a period that burned out the split. Yeah. It was like the top shelf, counting your lucky stars, run-for-cover, like all of those labels just doing splits constantly. Split seven inches. And it's just like, "Oh, great. It's two more into it over at songs that he's just going to go collect on an LP." Yeah, because there was a period there where like seven inches used to be like between three and five dollars. And you would just like buy a bunch at one time and then go, "Oh, these are a pain I should listen to." Oh, I hate seven inches. Oh, why do I buy these? They're rare and collectible. And then they turned out to not be worth anything. Well, some did, but a lot didn't. And then we'd be in those boxes that were like dollar bin, seven inches, and we're like, "Whoa, I'll take this beat-up copy of a soul junk seven inches. Why? Why did I buy that?" An obscure rocket from the Crip Single that you don't know the songs on it? Yeah. Yeah, that do you think that error. And then they just started getting more expensive. They went from like five dollars, like seven, nine, nine, and definitely paid too much for seven inches at some point, like Lucero, like limited sailor jerry, nine dollars, seven inches or whatever. Yeah. And then it's just like, "I hate listening to these because they're a pain." Oh, I sure do like going and sitting down for two seconds and then having to get right back up or standing in front of the record player while it plays. And you can't even go to dishes because then you got to go flip it and like your hands are all wet. Yeah. There's been good ones over the recent years, but like not a ton. So yeah, well, I guess we can get into it. So who wants to go first? I'll go first. All righty. So my, I'm going to, I guess this is kind of an obligatory pick. If we did this and it wasn't on here, certainly would be like, "What? No faith void split?" [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] But it's not only obligations. It's a fucking great split. And then I think that it's, you know, as much as it's an obligation, it's kind of like an obligation for a reason. Like, it really is great. And I think it is one of those, it's that record that is kind of the definitive punk split. I mean, it really creates the template, I think, for what we think a great split is. You have, you know, I think you have kind of two bands doing similar but different things definitely flows one side into the other. I think that the proper listening order is the faith side and then the void side. Yeah, I actually looked that up because I do think first run pressings had the void side first. But then the second pressing, they flipped it. And I think flipping it was the right move. Yeah, you have the cool double album cover that's so cool, which not enough bands actually do that with splits. There was that really awesome series, the under the influence series where it was like bands did covers and they like Mitch climmed and all the artwork for all of them. And they're like, you know, takes on the original album covers of the songs that they're covering. And each side had a different, different cover on it. Those were really cool. Yeah. But you have, you know, it certainly the faith void split benefits from, you know, it has that consistent Macai and Donzi production. You know, it certainly feels like early discord material. But it's kind of, it's kind of this like, you know, as an album, like it's, it's almost transcends either band. I mean, really neither band existed much longer after this split came out. It's kind of is like the single work by those two bands. I mean, they have other stuff, but you know, this more than anything is their legacy, especially void, you know, faith certainly has like the Alec Macai connection and, and, you know, members of the faith would go on and do other things like, you know, would be an embrace would be in one last wish. Michael Hampton was an, an Edward Janney was in, you know, lots of other bands and Alec Macai would go on and do the warmers and, and certainly, certainly is just famous for being Alec Macai. You know, he's, he's someone who it's like, wow, it's Alec Macai. And you're like, are you a big ignition or like hammered holes fan? Like not really. He's just that Ian's brother. He's on the minor threat cover. It's like Amanda Macai to, you know, like they're famous for being related to the other guy. And it's a family of other things too, you know, but yeah, but that's not to say, I love ignition, ignition rules. That's great. Yeah, ignition is an awesome Alec Macai project, but it's, I don't know, it's just such a cool experience of a record from, you know, from how it's, how it's all presented and how it sounds and, and really how the sounds progress, especially if you do that faith void order, like you take the faith and they're kind of going in that more melodic direction and, and really laying a lot of the groundwork for, for emo core, for, you know, the revolution summer sound. It's kind of, it really is that, that next step of minor threat, you know, before we, before we get to embrace and before we get ignition and diagnostic and all of those bands that, that took the next wave of DC. And then you have the void side that is like, you know, void were a band that inspired like the melvins and like they just had this heavy feedback and the weird song structures and just like taking hardcore into this more experimental direction in, in the early eighties and it's like proto power violence in some ways and like, just noisy and weird. It's like, it's like metal core to before metal core was even a thing. Like that first wave of metal core, which was like just real noisy and chaotic and who had those like metal style guitars, like they're doing, they're doing that kind of music before crossovers, even a thing yet, you know, yeah. And they're picking up weird things too. It's like, they're like, I'm, they're almost like articles of faith doing like Sabbath influenced stuff, like decoits and very similar style stuff. I don't know. It's, it's just one of those landmark releases for a reason. Like it, it is something that just kind of, it came from lesser known bands and it became one of Kurt Cobain's 50 favorite albums, you know, like it's, it's one of those records that's just like, this happened by luck almost like it's just a sheer accident. It's something that like, it's almost something that just had to exist. You know, it's kind of willed into being by the universe. Just for just being what it is, it's, it's one of those things you have to hear it. If you're, if you're deep into punk, it feels like one of those natural progressions of it's like, you get your Ramones, your UK punk, your post punk, you get into a little bit of new wave and a little bit of goth stuff, you got your American hardcore, you got your faith void split, your revolution summer, and you're like, you know, late Husker do, you know, it's just part of that lineage of punk. And it's like neither band is really important on their own, but they came together in the split and kind of like created a punk institution, the split. Anyway. Yeah, I don't know how many existed before then. I'm sure there were some like, I doubt this is like the first punk split ever, but it's probably the first important punk split. Like, even if there were other ones, I don't think there were nearly as important or necessary. Yeah, it's an iconic, I think it's excellent, excellent, like record as a whole just works so well. And by discussing it first, we got all our credit out of the way. And now we can just lay out all our dubious selections. Yeah. All right, so I'll go next then. And I couldn't decide if we should even rank these or put these in any order. There are 10 of them. I don't, I don't know, there's really a real ranking on these or not. So I'll go first with the training for utopia and Zeyo split EP. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] So this was released August 18, 1998 on tooth and nail and solid state records. It's a four song EP in the alternating style. So two songs each. So it starts with training for utopia, then Zeyo, the new training for utopia, then Zeyo again. I like that version of a split, but only if you like both bands because then it becomes, if you don't like the other band, annoying because then you have to skip tracks if you don't want to hear them. But luckily I enjoy both of these bands. So training for utopia were from Sacramento, California. They existed from 1996 until the year 2000 and they were weird. So they were, they came out of the spirit field hardcore scene, lead singer Ryan Clark was in a band called Vocal Point, who had been on solid state records like in '95, I want to say, maybe even earlier, '94. And that band broke up and then he starts this new band with his brother, Don, and this band is weird. So they are, how she described them, they're like a metal core band, but also a math core band and also like a, like a noise core band. Like this is part of that era. Was botch doing stuff in '90? Yeah, botch was doing stuff in the early '90s, or the late '90s, right? Like they were, they were already active. They were part of that wave, that first wave of, of like your converge, your botch, your coalesce. But because they were on like solid state records and because they were, you know, put into the Christian market, they didn't get as much exposure. Like them and the band Spitfire also really suffered from this kind of thing. But they were both just like these really cool and inventive bands that while you put them in with those other bands, they don't sound that much like them. They sound unique in a way. And Trennefreetopia started off as much more like chaotic and noisy. And then they eventually like go into this like weird, like electronic area where they just start doing like, like drum beats and samples and it's, they get weird with their final record. But the early stuff is still really noisy and really chaotic. And this is what this is. So this was released after their first LP plastic soul impalement. And like I mentioned, Ryan Clark and Don Clark, they are the future masterminds of the band Demon Hunter. And it's just so funny to like hear them be this wild of a band, a chaotic of a band, and then go and start one of the more accessible kind of metal bands, like that alternative metal that post slipknot American, post Lamborghad style of American heavy metal. And then they got even more like melodic over time. And then Zayo formed in 1993. They originally were a spirit field hardcore band from West Virginia. And then the entire band quit, except for their drummer, Jesse Smith, Jesse then rebuilds the band with all new band members. They changed their sound. They would go from being like an earth crisis style hardcore band to a metal core band that I don't know who they were specifically influenced by. Like I've never really, I think they were influenced by a lot of like local bands. Like that was, if I remember from that like nine hour Zayo documentary, they, they were like, yeah, we were really inspired by this band called Passover from like Pennsylvania. So I think they were doing a lot of like Pennsylvania upstate New York style hardcore. Like that was kind of the style of hardcore. Yeah. That was, I mean, I think it was a continuum. I think there was more of a continuation from first line up to second line up Zayo. It's just different musicians who were like capable of playing differently. Yeah. I mean, like, I know like Russ was like pretty big Metallica. Like, yeah, they talk about he could play like every Metallica song from like the first four albums or something. Yeah. So I think the general like direction for hardcore was, you know, what was going on in that region of Western Pennsylvania and like upstate New York hardcore. I listened to Blood and Fire recently this past week. And I was like, I was listening to it and I'm like, this has way more in common with snap case than I remember. That's what I was thinking. Like, I was trying to think of like who sonically it sounded like at the time and is not like a one to one comparison. But I was thinking of snap case. I was like, kind of like not snap case was like known for being like super tight. And Zayo doesn't have that tightness. Zayo has a controlled sloppiness to their sound. Like, it's very organic sounding very, they didn't record to a click. Like, that's how I think of the first couple of Zayo records. Like, it's just very messy, but so cool, so cool sounding. I think there's, you know, I think there's similarities to like earth crisis and snap case and dead guy and yeah, dead guy, I think is an influence in terms of riffs. And then you just kind of have Dan's vocals being like carcass. Yeah. And you have Jesse Smith, who has a drummer, I'm going to hijack this to just get on this. So it bucks because I'm just like, because I was listening to blood and fire. And I'm like, he's doing so much. And it's wild. Just listening to the drumming on those, those early Zayo records. I'm just like, one of the most undersung hardcore drummers of the 90s, just filling every space. Just wild, like really groovy, but then like, just like these awesome little broken up, syncopated fills and like, all the song structures are just like stops and starts and like, that's where the snap case thing to me came from, especially. I was just like, yeah, it really is way more like that than I remembered. But Jesse was like, he was always like praised as being like one of the best drummers in the scene, but it was like only the people who read HM magazine never said that. Like it was never like outside of people who listened to Zayo and living sacrifice and strong arm, like that kind of stuff. Yeah, Jesse underrated, underrated, maybe under heard maybe more so than anything. Yeah. Yeah, so this was released after blood and fire bring rest. Like this came out, that came out in early 98, and this was in the later half of 98, which in my mind, I had it in a different place in their category in their catalog. For some reason, I thought it came out after Liberate, but it didn't. It came up like right on the heels of blood and fire. So this is the Brett Ditar era of the band still. He hadn't left yet and started Julianna theory and so funny that he was in Zayo. Just the more you know about that guy now, which is like, you were in Zayo? That's so weird. Never came back to him either. Yes, this is right during that time period. They had done some splits before. Zayo did a split with outcast and another one went through and through. They this back when they were like just they're just more straightforward hardcore band. And then they would do like a split way later with a band called Yashira in their more recent years. But yeah, that was one thing I looked at whenever putting my list together. I was like, let's see what other splits these fans did. Training for UW? No other splits. This is the only one they did. But yes, this is four songs. It starts off with killer driving Pranny Preetopia song. And then we have an early version of the song skin like winter, which appears on Liberate, the next record. And it is so wild. It is chaos. It that's one of their like stand out songs that they still play today. You know, as close as you can get to a greatest hit with this kind of band. And this version is just like it's way more raw and way more like noisy. And then like Ryan Clark comes in and just comes in and does the the fall deception. Good night kiss. That's all he says. That's all he says in the song just came in to do one line, which is the Dan does on the record next. So good. Such a cool song. It's interesting to hear that version. This lineup do that song because like I have the Liberate version so baked into my head. And that is Scott Melinger on guitar. And Russ was still in the band at that point. So it's Scott and Russ on the record. And this is Brett and Russ doing this song. So it sounds very different on how they both interpreted the song. And then we have Police John, Police Red, which is like a longer song, more dynamic train of retopia song. And then like Zeyo's walk on bio, walk on me, which is just a really awesome, you know, song for this split doesn't appear on anything else. Like you can hear it on the legendary Zeyo compilation. So funny they did one of those, but it's just a really cool song. And it feels, it kind of feels like something off of self-titled the way it starts. But it's such a really good song. Yeah, I love the split. I think Zeyo are, I think Zeyo have gotten their flowers. I think Zeyo are respected outside of like the Christian music scene. Like hard times just did a one of their ranking Zeyo albums. I still don't get those. What's the joke? Is there a joke? Is it a serious list? I don't think it's a joke. Why? Then why do they do it? Why do they publish those? I don't know. Somebody wanted to do them. They feel like jokes, but because you read them and they have like controversial picks always. So I feel like maybe it's not necessarily a joke list, but a contrarian list. Because yeah, you know what their number one pick was? Guess what the number one Zeyo record, according to hard times writer was. The all else failed re-recording. No, they actually excluded that one because they're like, it's a re-record. We don't count this. No, Crimson Corridor, like their newest record was their number one. I'm like, yeah, okay. And then like Xenophobe was like, or the first comeback record. That was called, the song is called Xenophobe. Anyway, that was like number three. I was like, what? You have two of the newest records in the top three. That's not right. Anyway, not to get on that soapbox, but yeah, I love the split. And it was one of those splits I remember reading about before I ever heard it. And then when I finally heard it, I was like, this is incredible. And yeah, so that's my first pick. My second pick, I'm going to go with my my tooth and nail selection as well, or to follow yours. And this is the shortest pick for my top splits. But I think it's I think it's great. I think it's a match made in heaven. And I think it's despite one flaw, I think it's it's something that has always stood out to me as like a singular release from two pretty different artists. And they they flow really nicely. But it's the roadside monument Frotus split EP. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Frotus did quite a few splits. They they did this. They did the four way love it empire compilation split with monarchic shivers and the blue tip. They did the suspicion breeds confidence split with transmaghetti. And they did the disco swings that split with atomic fireball where I think that's one of the ones where they cover each other songs. And I am still looking for an alternate cover, the illustrated version of the Frotus atomic fireball split. If anybody out there has that, please write to me. I will purchase it from you. Frotus is, you know, like I've said, one of my favorite bands, one of those bands where I like have multiple copies of the same records by them. One of the few like completest bands for me in just in terms of discographies. That really is, like I said, that alternate cover of the atomic fireball split is like the only thing I don't have. I have the squirrel EP various artists, which is also like a Tuscadero chisel, Frotus, bloodlet and damnation 80 on one song, one song. Yeah, it's like a collab song on a four way split. So I knew there had to be a Frotus split. I think their splits are really, really important to that band's discography. Even though they have, you know, landmark LPs, they have just as many like EPs and singles and splits that are like, you know, some of their best songs got put on those. And roadside monument, they did a split with Polar. I think that's the only other split they did. And they have like some EPs and like three LPs. But the roadside monument songs on that polar split are fantastic, but it's polar on the other side. I was just thinking about like, should I listen to Polar? Because that's Mike Lewis. And he's got that new band called Tenkiller with Billy from Blenderhead is like, they're like all country bands that they're doing now. And I really like the songs they put out. And he was in For Love Not Lisa. And I was like, should I listen to Polar? Because like Billy always praised Polar. He thought they were one of the best bands on to the nail at the time. But I have like no memory of any polar songs. I've never cared. I've listened to them and they just never clicked. So the roadside monument Frotus split EP, the one flaw I said, you know, that it has is that one of the songs was on, was on the album. It's they took one of the songs from eight hours away from being a man and put it on the split. It's tired. It's tired. It's the same version. It's the same recording. It's the same, you know, Bob Weston recording it, electrical audio. They just shortened. It's tired of living with people who are tired of living. They just shortened it to tired of living. But I went with this EP because it has nothing short of a comfortable situation. A great non album roadside monument song. Lights on for safety is an all time favorite Frotus song. It's just got a killer riff. Tons of fun. Totally fits with, you know, conglomerate international era of Frotus. It's just like that. And it and it precedes it. This split came out right before that album. So it is the singular release with one time one of many Frotus based players. He's credited as R Mason. His name is Russ Mason. I don't know if he did anything else. It's really interesting because he I'm pretty sure does the vocals on the second Frotus song on this split, which is 45 revolutions, which is kind of like a little slower, more groovier kind of Frotus song. It's definitely something they would do a lot on conglomerate international. But he sounds just like Nathan Burke, who would take over as a bass player and be the bass player and do vocals on a lot of songs for the rest of the band's career. So I thought it was Nathan Burke. I was like, oh, yeah, this is the conglomerate international lineup before. No, it's not. Somebody else doing exactly what Nathan Burke would do. It's just really funny that this band has had like 10 bass players or whatever. This one guy gets his one shot on one song on a split. And it's great. It's a great split. And I think that it's I think of that roadside monument song within the context of this split more than the album that it throws me off when I hear it on the album. Like that that song feels like it belongs on this split more than it belongs on that album. I don't know if it's just that I've listened to this split that much, but I'm like, no, it belongs here. This is this is a split song that's just on the album for some reason. And it's one of the more straightforward songs from that record. It makes sense why they picked it. Yeah, I wonder what month the split came out. If it was like, oh, we'll put a song off the LP on the split as a teaser for the LP. Or if it was the other way around. Yeah, it's hard to say because the LP apparently came out in June. So it's like it could be either one. I re listened to it and I was like, why can't I find the roadside track for the split? Because so one of the annoying things about splits is they're not streaming on most places. Or you have to go like hunt them down and be like, oh, well, two of them are here. Like the two songs are here and the two songs are over here. Or it's like, well, the band uploaded their songs to the band camp, but you got to go to YouTube to get the other ones. It's just a very annoying process of trying to like hear everything. Like, oh, well, you know, this artist put it on their comp. And so you can hear those tracks on the comp on Spotify, but then you got to go find a YouTube video to hear the other song. It's whole, it's, it's, it took a lot of like hunting to get everything. And when I got to that second roadside song, I was like, where is it? Because I couldn't find a version, the seven inch for the EP version. And then I realized later, I was like, Oh, it's from the LP. So I just go listen to the LP track. But yeah, when I listen to those photos songs, I was like, God, these songs are so fucking good. Like this is like firing all cylinders, era photos. Like I think everything before is good. Like I like the F letter and all that other kind of stuff earlier, but like conglomerate, washed our weapons, like, perfect. This is like the band and it's peak form. And this, I think this EP is like the start of that peak form. Yeah. All right. My next selection, it is alkaline trio and one man army BYO split series volume five. [MUSIC PLAYING] Set a home and please make yourself comfortable. I might need some time to dance around what I need to say. I love you to death. I think I need a break. I spend my days worried out loud. I gag in my head. I choke it back down. It hurts me inside to save you inside. So close my legs tight, lies to the sky. This is the way we disappear. This is the way we disappear. This is like a 50 foot fall. I'm waiting for whatever better time to evict these words that that I've read out my mind. I'm waiting. Every minute that I don't speak about. I can let it down. I can let it down. Let it down. Let it down. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'll even now are the most right. Was not a judge, but I'm going. I'll say you're back to all of you. To everything I've ever knew, but I'm in love with the end is a let. I never know this it was coming. I never knew that it was a let. When we stand at each other. So we released April 20th, 2004, on BYO Records. This is another split LP. So each band contributed six songs. In Aqualine Trio, famous band from Chicago formed in 1996, this split came out after their 2003 album, Good Morning, right before their next record, Crimson. So this is the just before they jumped the shark. But Aqualine Trio may be one of the greatest split bands of all time. So they do the split with Hot Water Music, which was on my list. I really wanted to do that one, but I decided to go with this one because I think the songs are a little better on this split. The Hot Water Music split is where they cover each other too. Yeah. They do like one song each. Back on Trio does like rooftops and Hot Water Music does radio. I think this is a hot take. I think of Hot Water Music version of radio is better than the Aqualine Trio version. Maybe I just overplayed the Aqualine Trio version of radio, but I just love how Chuck sings that song. But Aqualine Trio also did splits with Smoking Popes and the Blue Meanies, but I think I have that Blue Meanies split. It's like early your disc. Yeah, I think it is. Yeah. It's an early one too. I think it's pre-LP maybe. They also, as solo artists, have splits. So Masciba has a split with Kevin seconds and Tracy. The Kevin seconds side is bad, but the Masciba side is legendarily good. Like it was one of those sides of like a split where if I was like, these songs are so fucking good. These are some of the best songs Matt ever wrote and he saved them for himself. Don't worry, he won't do that with his later bands, but no. He's got to set out to make the dumbest songs he can for his own records. This is like right before he started getting like very punny. And there were some puns before, but like I think once they hit Crimson, it just like peek overload. It's too many puns. But also Dan Andriano has a split with Mike Filumly, the original or the previous, not the original, but the previous drummer for Aqualine Trio. And that was another one of those like, the Dan songs on here are so good. Mike songs are fine. Dan songs are so so good. And it was just like proof of like, man, these guys are just awesome songwriters. And it's they're in a band together. We're so lucky, so blessed hashtag blessed. And the Dan also does a split with Matt Pryor of the Get Up Kids, which I was like much later, which we saw Dan and Matt Pryor do a little do a show together. And it was cool. It's cool to hear them, you know, play an acoustic is a weird room, though. It was like not the normal space. This like next to the current cast cradle is like in the room over. I feel like they called that spectrum. So it was really hard to see in that room, but they were good. But yeah, this batch of Aqualine Trio songs, incredible, fine without you is awesome. Hating every minute, the Dan song. Oh my god, so good. I mean, Dan songs are usually the best Aqualine Trio songs, but this is like a top tier Dan song. There's Dead and Broken, which is a really awesome song. It's got some fun backing vocals by Jeff from Naked Raygun. There's a damned cover on here. Wait for the blackout. Like, these are great songs. And I think Aqualine Trio, as good as some of their classic records are, they may be best in the shorter form, because the best later Aqualine Trio material is like the Broken Wing EP, that self titled EP they did. What last year or the year before has been better than like either LP on either side. And even the new, the new Aqualine Trio single, those two songs, I think are better than the new LP that came out this year. So they're, they work better and I don't know, they work really well in small doses. They, maybe as they just are more focused whenever it's such a small release, but they got to make sure all the songs are good. Yeah, whenever you only have a couple, they have to all be good. So maybe that's what it is. Their LP's are just like, yeah, we could have some filler. And so on the other side, we have the One Man Army half. This is also during the CD era. Like there is a, there is vinyl versions of this, but I think a majority of people heard it on CD during this time period. So this is not like a A side B side situation. But one man, one man army from San Francisco, California, they existed from 1996 to 2005 with a brief reunion in 2011. And this was released after their final full length album, Rumors and Headlines, which was released in 2002. And this is the last One Man Army music until their reunion EP in 2012. So like, this was it for them for a long time. And One Man Army features Jack Derimple of later "Dead to Me" fame, toy guitar, swingin' udders. And these songs are just a lot of fun. This is the band, I guess, kind of saying goodbye at this time. I don't know that they knew they were done after this, but it feels like a nice farewell to them at this point. There's a song on here called All The Way. I love that song. It's like a mid-paced kind of song, but it has some fun acoustic guitars in there, layered in there with the electric. We have the radio airwaves gave me a lobotomy, which has a very "Dead to Me" riff, which when I heard that, I was like, "Oh, okay, I know what Jack wrote in the "Dead to Me" now." And then the last song on there is called "Let's Call it an Evening." And I think that's just a perfect song title for the band's last song that you're going to get for like eight years. But man, this BYO split series was so good, and they're all really hard to listen to because they're like, because the label doesn't exist anymore. BYO doesn't really exist, and they sell off part of their catalog to other people to let them do the streaming for it. So I had to listen to this on YouTube, and it's also one of the annoying ones where you can't go off of your YouTube app and let it play in the background, minimize the picture. It's one of those ones that they're like, "You gotta sign up for YouTube Premium to do that." And it's like, "I'm not doing that." But yeah, it's just great. It's just a really cool song, batch of songs. And I think the alkaline trio side's a little stronger than the women army side, but women army is such a good band. We should do one of their records on the show. Unfortunately, there's only like one on Spotify that you can listen to. So we'd have to go YouTube it to hear it, but I'd love to do women army. But yeah, that's my big, that's a season idea. YouTube core. Only albums you can hear on YouTube. Final rip of this screamo LP from Sweet Baby Jesus. Yeah. I did actually listen to a Sweet Baby Jesus rip this week. I know it. I know which one. Yeah, I think it's one of yours. Yeah. There were other ones, but I watched that one specifically. My next pick, I'm going to go with the Ampere Sinaloa Split. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] And there was man, there's a lot of Ampere stuff to pick from. There's a lot of Sinaloa stuff to pick from. There's screamo bands, of course. Screamo bands did some splits and a lot of them were great. Yeah. I mean, Ampere splits, they have wolves. Welcome to play gear, Ditro, funeral diner, off-minor, and rain. N-ringers. Oh, there's the ringers single split. You're forgetting dasoth and death to tyrants? Oh, yeah. There's the Ampere LP splits. Yeah. And then, yeah, there's the death to tyrants, Daniel striped higher, live at dead air with wasteland. So that's the four-way live split wild. Sinaloa did a split with wolves. They did a split with life at these speeds. They did an excellent split with Daniel striped haggard. That one could have been really high up there, but it's like one Sinaloa songs and two Daniel striped haggard songs. I was looking at the Daniel striped haggard teenage cool kid split too. Like I was considering that one. That was a good one. Yeah, Daniel striped haggard did some great splits too. They and the children, yeah, the teenage cool kids. But I went with this one because I think that this is an album split that's pretty close to, I feel like it's on par. Like Ampere has two LP splits. And the dasoth one is good, but the dasoth side is definitely the weaker and it doesn't really stand on its own. Dasoth are an interesting band because they have a lot of splits too. Yeah. And they have some really good stuff of their own. They're a weird band. They're, oh, okay, they were from the Netherlands. They're from the Netherlands. Yeah. But they broke up in New York. So that's what if that's a breakup on tour ban. But yeah, interesting ban. Well, like someone from that ban was in failures. Yeah. And failures had members of a part of other bands. Will Killingsworth. Yeah. But like when I think of split screamo LPs, I mean, it's like transistor, transistor, wolf split, majority role page 99 split, and this ampere is in a lower split. And I, I really love the ampere spin a little spin a lot. The ampere and sent a lower split because it's kind of like the two furthest extremes of like screamo post hardcore and like the post hardcore bands that played screamo shows because it's really questionable whether, I mean, you really can't call sent a low a screamo band. But I did because they were from that scene and they played with those bands and they did splits with those bands and I don't know, they killed me by association more than anything. Yeah. And it was just such a like kind of like an elevated level of emo and they were doing kind of a style of emo that really wasn't in at the time. Nobody really did. And to me that this was like, this was almost like testing the limits of how far you could go in two different directions with this sound and still have it work really, really well. Because Sinaloa did more melodic, slower, really drawn out and kind of like built up, not to the point of being like a post rock band, but they just like the songs would just have this like these build up and repetitions and like just almost this like hypnotic sense to them. And and Ampere is like the fastest, you know, yeah, just like blink in their gone songs. Yeah. Orchid was fast. I think Ampere blows Orchid out of the water when it comes to speed and just like short songs. Yeah. And they sound better. Yeah. I mean, I feel like we discussed this when we did that Orchid record, but not my favorite Will Killingsworth project. Great musician and then been part of so many bands, but I put most of his other bands above Orchid. Yeah. But yeah, so like the Sinaloa songs on here are like three or four times longer than all of Ampere songs. Yeah. Yeah. It has a really nice album cover. It just has, I don't know, it's all put together and presented in in a way that feels like more than just economic, you know, like, oh, we have to pull our resources to do a split, you know, and and they took it to the level of doing an LP where they're just like, we have enough material. They could have just put these out as EPs. The Ampere side probably would have fit on us seven inch, even possibly. It is a little long, but it might be a little bit too long for a seven inch. But Ampere only has like two things that aren't splits. Like it's like they're two LPs and that's it. Everything else is a split. Yeah. And then Ampere, man, like this, the Sinaloa side of this split is is really good. And it's it's definitely one of the best things they recorded. Like, I think it's a little probably a little better than footprints on floorboards. The Ampere side is like, it might be the second best thing they did. What's the first best depends on how much you liked the last album. That one was just came so late. But the first, I mean, the LP, the first LP, it's like this and and the Ampere side of the Sinaloa split is probably the best stuff, almost tied for best. I listen to this and I just both sides of it. I was like, I wish that there was bands that sounded like both of these bands still, because I don't think Screamo really sounds like Ampere right now. No, not right now. And I'm I'm kind of checked out of Screamo currently. I feel like a lot of the stuff of the last couple years, it's just been the same thing. There's a handful of things that I'll listen to. Like, that's pretty cool. But it's usually this type of stuff that like incorporates other music more so like the Screamo bands didn't incorporate like some black metal elements. I'm still interested in that or yeah, I'm just I'm just kind of over the like, oh, here's our spacey part before we start screaming. It's like, oh, okay, it's very done. Very over that style. But yeah, nobody's doing the Ampere like just short and fast songs. Anyway, that's what I got. Okay. Well, my next selection, I will go with I'll go with the summer vacation and Joyce manners, but ♪ ♪ ♪ Suddenly I don't feel it ♪ ♪ It's true ♪ ♪ Counting the way you feel ♪ ♪ I'm telling you ♪ ♪ Oh, I am not real ♪ ♪ Let's love it for real ♪ ♪ That one is one ♪ ♪ One's to me ♪ ♪ I am ♪ ♪ What's wrong with me ♪ ♪ I can't seem to buy it ♪ ♪ I know I'm not good for any girl out there ♪ ♪ She doesn't get me ♪ ♪ I'm just misunderstood ♪ ♪ It's been days since I last saw her ♪ ♪ And a brand new dress ♪ ♪ I'm waiting a call ♪ ♪ As soon as I call her ♪ ♪ I think I might eat ♪ ♪ While I'm hard to see her ♪ ♪ Why are you so mean to me ♪ ♪ I love you and I hate you ♪ ♪ I miss you and I forget you ♪ ♪ You're a blessing, you're a curse ♪ ♪ I hope we never marry ♪ ♪ I hope we never see each other again ♪ ♪ I love you and I hate you ♪ - So this was released September 15th, 2010 on MOI All Tentico Records, and summer vacation were from San Gabriel, California. They existed from 2009 to 2014, and they were a fuzzy, garagey, bay area punk band very much in the same line as a lot of, like, recess records types of bands, as much as I don't like FYP or toys that kill. Like, it's not that far away from that kind of like, that genre of punk that there were tons of bands in that sound, like the bananas were like in that kind of same style, and I like the bananas a lot. Just like this fuzzy, noisy punk with pretty strong melodies, but really low production values. Each band provides three songs each, and these at the time were the best recorded summer vacation songs to date, because prior to this, they really only had two demos, and like the winter demo was the one that came out right before. And this may be the first time I heard summer vacation, and I was trying to remember if this was also the first time I heard Joyce Manor, but I'll get to that in a minute. But yeah, summer vacation, they gave you three songs, super orgy, don't panic, and the many faces of mental chillness. Super orgy and don't panic are like fast, really catchy tunes, but they kind of blend together as like one big song. But then they have the third track, the many faces of mental chillness is like this jangly, like really melodic song and a little bit slower. It was like a really huge standout track for them, and maybe to this date, like to this point of the seven inch, their best song. And summer vacationers demand that I absolutely adore. You know, they had such a really short run. They did a bunch of splits as well. So they had done splits with hard girls and glockamora. And I think that might be all the splits they did. Yeah, so those three would be the splits they did. They would eventually lose one of their band members and change their name to winter break and then do another LP, but they didn't do any splits with a break. So yeah, those three were the ones. All three excellent splits. And maybe the motivation for me deciding to do this for the show, because I want to say somebody had tweeted something like, summer vacation had the best splits of all time and like had the images from like all three of the splits up there. And they're all great splits. And then it just made my, you know, my mind going like, what are the best splits of all time? And that's when I started going through and making a list. But yeah, they had such a good trio of splits there. Now Joyce Manor, on the other hand, they're from Torrance, California. They formed in 2008 and they only had a couple demos out at this point. There was like one from '09 and they had the constant headache demo. And I think I had heard the constant headache demo before I heard the split. So I think Joyce Manor was the reason why I found this split. I enjoyed that demo. I still think it's one of the best things they ever did. Not a big Joyce Manor fan. I think these three songs that they contribute might be their best songs period. Constant headache, the song. Pretty great, pretty great song. It's hard dark. Undeniably good kitchen song. Their greatest hit. And is that the septicity by the ocean song? Is that that song? No, that's Catalina fight song, I think. No, constant headache is just like constant headache is the refrain over and over again. But they closed with that song when I saw them over for Jawbreaker. And I was like, y'all still close with that song. Like that song is so old, but it's still your best song. But Joyce Manor did a split with Big Kids, which is a good split. I like that one too. They just split with toys that kill as well. And I think that's exactly what they did. No, they did a single split with 100% never heard that man. So they did a couple as well. Joyce Manor famously ripped off summer vacation, which they said in interviews. They're like, everything we do, we just copied from summer vacation. So that's why I was always salty about Joyce Manor. But at this time, I did enjoy what they were doing because it's probably when they were ripping off summer vacation the most. So that's maybe why I liked it more. But the three songs they give here, they're pretty solid. Like the first two tracks are the traditional kind of Joyce Manor songs from this time period. But they have a third song on there called Maya Lisa, which is a little bit of a slower song and has like a completely different person singing the vocals on that one. I'm not sure which member the band that is. But it also has like a weird, the champion style melody to it, which I thought was interesting. I wonder if that was purposeful. It didn't lyrically doesn't make sense to copy that part there. So it may be just more accidental, but that song's really good too. Now summer vacation would release like an incredible LP later condition. Absolutely love that record. I love the winter break LP. I would listen to the first Joyce Manor LP, which I think was just a self-titled and it's okay. Yeah, it's okay. It's got a famous friend leather jacket. Yeah, cost a headache. Yeah, it's solid record. So I wouldn't I wouldn't be mad at that one again, but they lose me after that album, which is funny to put this on here. Like a band I don't really care for, but I'm still like, still a really fucking great split. This is one where when we were putting our list together, I said, I want I call dibs on this one. I don't know why I thought you would have taken it. I don't think you would have. I was not going to take it. I don't care about the Joyce Manor side. And I like summer vacation, but not nearly as much as you do. Yeah. I'm I don't know why I was like shotgun number one draft pick. I got to pick this record. It's like, well, I wasn't going to pick that one. So you wasted your draft pick like, Oh, fuck. Yeah, kind of like, yeah, I think it was the one they introduced me to summer vacation though. And it's pretty important. So yeah, one of my favorite bands. Well, my next pick, I guess we're cheating and we're having two BYO splits, but I claimed the Leatherface Hotwater Music BYO split before you substituted a BYO split for one of your other records, but I am talking about the hot water music Leatherface split. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] When you ask, I mean, when you said the splits, this was one of the first ones I thought of. I was just like, Oh, yeah, the Leatherface Hotwater music split, obviously. Like father like son is this is this split LP. It's a rare opportunity to just be like the original in the copy. But the copy is excellent. And I say that this is like, I say that this is one of the best splits of all time. And like, I look at the track listing and I'm like, Oh, I don't think these are any of the best songs by either of these bands. [Laughs] Uh, definitely not. Yeah, definitely not. They're best songs individually. But it's great. It's fantastic. Even like it is nearly a five star record. You know, it's it's kind of a weird place for both bands, I guess. It's later for Leatherface. It's between the last and horsebox. And it's kind of early-ish early middle for Hotwater music because it comes out between forever and counting and no division. And kind of for both sides, you can tell because Frankie's voice on the Leatherface side is incomprehensible. [Laughs] He's he's so raw and slurred and I'm like, I could not pick out a word that he's saying. There's like nothing that I can sing along to, which is funny because like a Leatherface have a lot of songs that I can sing along to. And I'm like, and I don't even care. I'm like, I'm feeling it, man. Like howl of the moon, like it's just it's just a raw nerve that's just throbbing for like six songs. And I mean, it's the power of like the tone of his voice, but just as much it's Dickie's guitar lines. Dickie's guitar lines are what you sing along to practically on this split on their side of it because they're achingly melodic, beautiful songs. And I don't know what they're saying. I don't know what they're about. They rule. The Hotwater music side is definitely much more accessible and more sing-alongable. And it's getting into that direction of the more melodic Hotwater music. It definitely definitely feels like it's the step in the no division direction and into the more melodic Hotwater music direction. It sounds great. And as much as like, I love the Leatherface side of it, I think the Hotwater music side is better. This was a little bit. This was their comeback release. So they had done the last in '94 and they actually broke up. And so they got back together in '98. And so this is like the first thing they put out after getting back together. And you know that second run of Leatherface didn't quite deliver like Horsebox and Dr. Scar. Like they don't quite deliver as much as the initial run of the band did. And there's still great records like A+ albums. Like Leatherface has no bad records. But I think the later comeback was better. Like I think Stormy Petrol was better than the Reunion starting in '98. I was looking at Leatherface's splits. They did a Your Choice Live series with Jawbox in '95. They did a split with Watt Tyler in '92. They do another split with Hotwater music. And what year is this? 2005. It has Thursday on the album. I don't understand what this is. I don't see. I don't have a track listing. I don't know. It's weird. It's got Thursday album art on it. Alright, your music. Don't know what that's about. And they did another split with Ninja Gun in 2010. And then another split with Yesterday's Ring in 2010. So they did more later with their splits. For Hotwater music though. So I wound up switching my choice to the alkaline trio split with Ben Army. Because I initially wanted to do Hotwater music and alkaline trio split. But I didn't want to double dip on Hotwater music for this. So that's why I swapped it to the One Man Army. And I was like, yeah, I have no problem double dipping on BYO comps. Because splits. Because there were a lot of them and there were five of them. And they're all good. They're all well regarded. Like good in the sense of they're good records. I may not like who's on all of the records. Looking at you. I'm like announcing souls. And no effects. And anti-flex. And I mean, even rancid no effects. Like rancid size. Not really going to pull me. No. If it was rancid in somebody else. But yeah, I mean, you have three really solid ones. Really good ones. Swingin' udders and youth brigade. The leather face. Hotwater music. And the alkaline trio at One Man Army. It's funny. They call this the split series. But it took like five years. I mean, it's a series. It's just they're spread out. Yeah. And then Hotwater music. What other splits do they do? There's push for coin. Split with tomorrow. Songs of the Tenmin. We have the Claremel Split EP. Screaming Fat Rat. The alkaline trio. There's a casket lottery split. There's a bouncing soul split seven inch swivel stick split. There's a bunch of Rydell split single six going on seven. And the Terror. Weird. They did a lot of splits. Yeah. I was just looking at the Hotwater music. Great music. And someone put the final colorways in the title of vows. Yeah, they did. I saw that. Yeah. Somebody didn't know what they were doing. Put that in there. And then no one fixed it. Yeah. The weird gatekeepers of your music didn't catch that. That's funny. Rose red and pink ripple vinyl. Yeah. It's a great. It's a great split of not either band's best material. But yeah. Just being just purely great. Just them being great. Yeah. I mean, this is like, it's almost a case of like, let's put our weaker material on the split. It's just a split. And it's like your weaker. This is your weaker material. This is incredible. How many music would get much weaker? Oh, yeah. But at the time, it took a while before they dropped in quality. All right, my turn. Yep. All right. So up next, I picked the He is legend classic case split black unicorn. [music] Look around the fan. It's our boy. We're not a grand. And fingertips can only rest. And I thought I won't come home. We should have known we smell our own. It's the way that the fingers sit alone. Now that the birds left out, that can't be free to tell them. It made the river taste like whiskey. So I really accept our boy. Can I kill what you've done in joy? This is your chance. Go be a man. We'll show it down. Well, how could you dance? [music] If you meet me at the river today, I'll feel the river in the start of your hand. But you're a line of dreaming, so you got to feel your reason. It's the death of death, can't dance. It's the death of death, can't dance. [music] Let's get away. I'm coming home. I think this looks for you. I've been away. It's the chance for the ocean. Well, it's time to kill. You better fight your turn. [music] This was released June 10, 2006, on future tense records. A CD-only split release. He is legend from Wilmington, North Carolina, form 2003. This was released after their debut full-length, "I am Hollywood" from 2004. And when it came out, was a huge shift in the band's sound. One of the first things that you will notice between that LP and this split is Skyler's voice is gone. He has no clean voice anymore. We talked about it on the "Suck up the Poison" episode we did. Basically, smoking and drinking on tour and blowing your voice out. It doesn't make your voice smooth anymore. That's what changed two years of touring and just killing his voice every night. The first time we heard this, it was just like, "What happened to his voice?" He killed his voice. The split starts off with the song "Cape Fear," which is just an awesome original track by them. It's kind of an homage to their home in Wilmington. This is an interesting split layout. He is legend and contributes three songs, and the classic case only contributes two. He is legend and contributes "Cape Fear." They do a cover of the classic case song, "Modus operandi," which I believe is on there. It's been business doing pleasure with you, EP. The first thing classic case ever put out. And then they do a cover of "Bobby Gentry's Fancy," made famous by Reba McIntyre. Which at the time was entertaining to have long beard, screamy, Skylar groom, singing Reba, singing fancy. It's one of those like jokey, you know, in the era of punkos. Yeah. Songs where it's like, "Yeah, but this really works." Yeah, I think it on the surface, it looks like a joke. You know, it seems like a joke because there was that kind of stuff going on all the time. You know, you would see like, "Oh, Katy Perry covered by metal core bands." "Oh, very funny." But one, they didn't choose like a pop song of the moment, which, you know... Yeah, they picked something that they actually liked. Yeah, which makes me think they were fans of this song to begin with. Maybe they knew the Reba one first. I think at the time it was talked about as the Reba cover. I think that's just most people knew the Reba cover more, or at least the age group. Yeah, I mean, there's like a music video for the Reba version. Like, the Reba version is the better-known version of the song. Right. It's a pretty big hit for her. Yeah. Like, it's a country song. It was an older song. It was over 10 years old at this point. Like, so yes, it's funny on the surface that you chose this song to do. But they're clearly fans, or at the very least, Skyler's a fan. And Skyler used to say, when they would interview him around, I'm Hollywood. Like, he said, like, all of his main vocal influences were female anyway. Like, he was mainly inspired by, like, Bjork and PJ Harvey and... Who was the other one I just had in my head? Tori Amos. Like, which I don't really hear any of those in any of his songs. But on that first, he has Legend of Record. You can hear where he's drawing from women singers, more so. Because he has some really interesting, high, clean vocals on that record. They may have been his influences, but he couldn't do them anymore after that tour. But, yeah. So it's definitely like him being a fan of that song, at least. And maybe the whole band. Which, by the way, that riff in that song, the big, main riff. Like, that riff rules and it works so well for this song. And then their version of "Most Operant" is so cool. So then on the classic case side. So they're from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They existed from 2002 to 2007, very short window. They were an interesting band. Emo kind of post-hardcore, a little alternative rock, probably. They released their first full-length "Dressed to Depress" prior to this. That came out in 2005. And this band is an interesting group of people in it. So, like, they had Jerijah Lang on drums in this band. And he's from a glass jaw and saves the day. Like, not a North Carolina guy at all. Just somehow got hooked up with it. I think the band had moved from North Carolina to New York, maybe, at one point. And then moved back to North Carolina. They had also added Josh Moore of "Beloved" to the band at this point. We have Mitchell Marlow. He would later go join. He is legend. But, and also the band Filter. And then we have Jared drawn on lead vocals who would later have the band's telescreen. And it must be the Holy Ghost. And so, for this record, for this split, they provide a cover of "He is Legend" song, "China White." And a cover of "Sound Gardens" fell on "Black Days." And the "Fell on Black Days" cover is acoustic. And it's good. It's good. It's fun. Their version of "China White" might be better than the "He is Legend" version. I love their version of that song. It's not one of my favorite "He is Legend" songs off of that record. I appreciate the "China White" series for what it is, because they appear, you know, they have songs called "China White" on three of their records, maybe four. I don't know if there's a fourth one. And I like them because it's cool that they have, like, a running series of songs throughout records. But I think the classic case version is so good. Classic case. Another band. Very underrated. I felt like they were trying for something that they did really well. But it didn't. I don't think it translated to "Sales." Like, they did that record on "Hope," or they did the "Just for Depress" came out on, like, what was the name of that record label? It was, like, two labels did a split release on it on "Help/Fiddler Records." So they both, both of them did it. And then "Fiddler" basically dissolved right after the album was released. So I think, like, promotion for "Dressed to Depress" like fell through. Immediately. Because the label ceased to exist. Probably didn't have much money to promote to begin with. I don't know what "Help" steel was. They weren't a very big label either. Like, I knew this as a North Carolina band. They were a North Carolina band. And the record came out. And it was, like, one of those North Carolina records. And it should have been so much bigger than it was, but weirdly. Their next record, though, came out on "Fearless Records." But it might have been a little too late at that point. Paige Hamilton produced that album, too. Weird. They're an interesting band. I wish that they had done a little more. Because those two LPs they did are fantastic. But yeah, this one's a special, you know, split for me. I kind of, like, picked some of my on a motion. More so than just, like, trying to be the, like, "This is the definitive best picks." But yeah, I love this split from two of the best North Carolina bands from this time period. It should be your last pick, right? Yes. This is my last selection. You know, my last pick is, I don't know, like, maybe more credible than it's obscurity. But it's a very, it's a pretty personal pick. I think a lot of people would say, like, "It's fine." But I'm, like, five stars. Give me another. Give me 12 more. Give me 14 more. And it is the shot maker, Maximilian Colby, Split LP. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] That album cover with the cropped-in photo of an asparagus, is that what that is? For no reason. A split release between the Ontario, Canada, or Ottawa. Well, that's an Ontario, but Ottawa, Ontario. The Canadian post-hardcore, noisy, angular band, shot maker, and the Harrisburg, Harrisonburg, Virginia, noisy, angular post-hardcore band, Maximilian Colby. And it is just, like, the same. It could almost be the same band between the two sides of the record, doing slightly different things. And it's a sound, it's a style of band. I mean, I have a Frodis 7-inch on here already. All the scream-o stuff that I talked about. More, but this more than just scream-o, this Frodis, Sleepy Time Trio, shot maker. I'm trying to think of, like, the other bands that I'm trying to think of. Like, this is my wheelhouse, and I've talked about it before. We've talked about a shot maker record before. And I'm just like, I don't know what it is, but I hear bands that sound like this. Like, the recording is kind of shitty. The snare pops really hard. It's like, every song is syncopated as fuck. The vocals are whatever. The lyrics are oblique. It's just somebody shouting. And it's all just this, like, wobbly groove that every song has. I love it. I can't get enough. I just, I fucking love bands that sound like this. I'm trying to think of, like, I guess, like, there's, like, bread and circuits, torches to roam. Like, that era of, uh, Sarah Kirsch bands. I feel like are in this, this vein of just, like, really raw, really emotional, really aggressive, just with killer grooves. Uh, Yafakoto definitely fits. I'm just, like, I don't know what it is other than I just heard this sound at the right age to just be obsessed with it for the rest of my life. And I definitely don't listen to a lot of bands that sound like this anymore. Don't listen to a ton, but, like, when I hear them, I'm like, takes me right back. I'm like, I'm right there. I just want to sway to this, like, angular wall of sound. The showmaker side of this split is a little more straightforward. Shotmaker tended to be a little more riffier and probably more in line with, like, the New York, or, you know, upstate New York kind of sounding bands of hardcore. And I, I've never, I haven't listened to a ton of Shotmaker, but I've listened to quite a few. And their band, I always appreciate, because they, you know, they have that same kind of groove to it. You know, they're, like, the Canadian Frotus. By the way, when are we going to get a career retrospective compilation of all the Frotus records? We've gotten one for Shotmaker. We've gotten one for, like, a lot of those bands. We're like, hey, numero group, why don't you get on the, get on the Frotus strain? This split is separated into North and South sides. Yeah. Shotmaker on the North. And I think, I think it makes the most sense to start with the Shotmaker side. It kind of hooks a little easier. It's grew a little more groovy, a little more straightforward, riffy, like song structure. You flip to the South side and Maximilian Kobe, just, like, this mantel's post-hardcore. And Maximilian Kobe and Sleepytime Trio, which had similar members, like, they're, they're kind of one of those bands where I'm like, I like this a lot. Why don't I like unwound more? I don't fully know how to describe it, dissonant, noisy, but they have, like, you know, long songs from time to time. And a lot of the, like, the songs don't really even have a cohesive structure on this side of the split. Just really experimental. And Maximilian, no LPs. This was their, this was their one LP. They did an EP. They did a split 7 inch with a ride coalition, which is also excellent. You know, total proto refused. So, and, and some other, like, various artist comp, or, you know, appearances. And there's just like the discography compilation is kind of like the one LP. And it has a lot of that stuff, but it doesn't. Yeah, it does have their side of the shot maker split. So if you want to hear that, I think the shot maker discography probably also has their side. So I think there's a compilation for them as well that has everything. So you can find them, but the proper way to listen to this is either on the vinyl LP, which I have, which was a complete fluke that I found it. Because I was like looking for it for years, had like eBay saved search for it. Just never would show up. And like, I had maybe like found an old listing where it had sold for like 50 bucks or something. And I was like, I'd buy it for 50 bucks. I probably would buy it. Like it was just definitely one of those holy grail records where I'm like, I don't think I'd go higher than 50. But I was just like, cause I don't, I don't know as much as I want certain records. I'm just like, I'm not going to buy that for $200. I just, yeah, I don't need it. Needed that badly. If there's another way I can listen to it. But it was like, but it is kind of a pain and ask to properly listen to this. And I just, I walked into a Zia in Phoenix and it was in the new arrivals right in the front for like maybe two records back for 30 bucks. It was just like the first band I went to. I got like two, three records into it. And it was like, what the fuck? Holy shit. Like I, I've never bought a record so fast. I couldn't believe I just accidentally found it. But the other proper way to listen to this is a final rip on YouTube from user sweet baby Jesus. So I listened to it on there. Do they have the maximum Kobe side first? Because I just looked it up and I was like, that's how I was listed on the YouTube title. And they do. That's how I listened to it. I listened to the maximum Kobe side first. And I don't recommend that. I don't think that's the right order to listen to it. And I think the shot maker side, because I got the shot maker side. I was like, Oh, okay, a lot more energy. I think because that side's slower, I think you want to start with the higher energy. Like they're both good, but I just want to start higher energy than I want to finish on. So yeah, they've got it backwards on YouTube. Yeah. Well, I guess that's the, so don't listen to that version. Find the LP. You never will. Or just start halfway through. I should make a, if I can find all of the songs, they're all on there. I should put them on a Spotify playlist. As I say, is the shot maker a discography? That's a fairly recent thing, isn't it? Yeah, a moment in time, 93 to 96 came out last year. So you can listen to the shot maker side there. Do they have any Maximilian Colby on Spotify? Yeah. Yeah. The discography from the CD compilation from 2002. Yeah. So yeah, if you made a playlist for it, that's probably the better way to do it then. I'm going to do it. I'm going to put it together. I'm going to do everyone a service. Should have been done a long time ago. Yeah, I don't know. This is an album for me. This is an album for an audience of like 50 people, probably. And I'm one of those weirdos. I saw that Sleepy Time Trio reunion show at Fest. I'm so fucking glad I saw that. That was all they did, right? Yeah. I don't, they maybe did one or two other shows around that time period. But it's just like, I miss Frodis. I'm not missing this. Speaking of Frodis, shirt killer official store. Did that just drop? Just went up this week. Nice. Anything good in there? I haven't even looked. I already have like two of the shirts. And it's like one conglomerate era design and then like a $30 beanie. Oh, yeah. Five panel hat. Yeah, they got the Batman. They got the obey. Yeah. So did you get, did you buy that last one already? Yeah. Yeah, I got those two the last time they did them. I mean, are you going to get the conglomerate one? I don't know. It's a shirt killer shirt. Yeah. Maybe go up to the next level. I think they only gave the one option. It's a guild in classic. It might be better than the, I don't know. We should do this out there. There's a mug. Yeah. Love a mug. Anyway, what's your final pick? All right. My final selection is the fake boys old flings split. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ When break control, keep it in the swine, anything but the wall. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Released October 30th, 2013 on Fitter Melody Records. Each band contributes two songs. So the Fake Boys are a punk man from Lowell, Massachusetts, and this split was released after their 2012 album Pig Factory, which is their best record. Incredible album. Incredible album. And they are probably one of the loudest bands I've ever seen live. So loud, so heavy, yet catchy melodic punk music. It's just very funny to take these hooky, poppy tunes and then put like some of the most crushing, loud guitar sounds over that music. Very weird mix of sounds. They come from hardcore music. I think Hammer Brothers are like some of the bands that they were in before. But so it's like, it's a hardcore approach to pop punk that is very funny to me. Because it is like, oh, look at those gigantic amps. This is going to be very loud. They contribute one original song called Red, White, and Bougie, as well as a cover of the FU's song, Daisy Chain. The Daisy Chain cover is incredibly difficult to find online and you can't find it on YouTube or Spotify or Bandcamp. I had to download a copy of it. I have the 7" too, so I guess I could not pull that out too. I think you could hunt down one of those 7" pretty easily too. At this time, they had done splits with the band's frogball, the young leaves, arms aloft, and the manics. And they're just a really interesting band, very different sounding from a lot of other bands. They did an LP after that that I don't know. They did it themselves, I think. Maybe they mixed it themselves out. There's something wrong with the mix on that record, but the songs were good. But yeah, just these two really awesome songs from them, like "Fick Boys" were so good, and this was kind of the height of their power. And "Old Flinks" from Asheville, North Carolina. And they existed from 2010 to 2016. And they were a melodic punk band inspired by Sam Iam, the revelation emo bands, like "Text to the Reason" and "Sense Field", as well as "Gin Blossom" and "Third Eyed Blind", so a little bit more of the popular side of things. And we were at the first "Old Flinks" show and the last "Old Flinks" show, the first show at a house show in Asheville. I think that was with "Iron Chic". And then, is either "Iron Chic" or "Lambiria". I can't remember which one. It might have been, yeah, that's right. It was "Iron Chic", because "Muscle and Bone" played the "Lambiria" show, that's right. So, and then we saw the last show, it was the "Fest Show". "Fest Set" was their final show. And then, I got to see their one-off re-eating they did, too, in 2018. But, they had released their only LP, "Spite" in 2012. And around the same time period, they released a bunch of splits. So, they did this split, the split with "Breakups", one with a band called "Control Group", one with "Late Bloomer", "Friends of the Show", and one with "Gameface". The "Gameface" split, I think, is just, like, an album cut with a "Gameface" album cut. It's one of those kind of splits, "Promo Split" and one of anything. They recorded this EP with their third drummer, "Spring's Wade". And, there's two songs on here, "Funeral Mix Tape" and "Small Towns". And, "Oflings" are a band that mean so much to me. You know, like, we knew the people in the band, but on top of knowing who they were personally, the music was so incredible. And, like, right up my alley. Like, I was listening to tons of "Sam, I Am" and I was listening to tons of, like, "Gameface" and "Sense Field" and, like, all that kind of "Revemo" type stuff. Like, I was a, it was perfectly in my wheelhouse at the exact right time. And that's just an incredible songwriter. Like, the hooks on all these records are so good, the choruses are amazing. And a different kind of vocalist, like, he has a very cruny type voice, kind of rare in punk, but so unique and made them just extra special. Jordan Luff, amazing bass player, loved watching him live. And then they had three drummers throughout the years. You know, the first drummer, Travis, Tallyfield, we loved him. You know, great, great drummer. He just played hard. Like, that was his style of playing. And he was funny because he's, like, no one even knew he played drums. It was one of those cases of, like, "We need a drummer." And Travis, like, "I play drums." And then, like, "What? No, you don't." You've never heard you've played drums before in your life. And he's like, "Yeah, I play drums. He just played at home. He's a great drummer." He's a fucking great drummer. And I don't think he realizes how good he is. Because I definitely heard him, like, downplay his abilities. He's a great drummer. And, yeah, it's just so funny. Like, this is it. This is what he did. Yeah, it's the, it is, yeah, it is the funniest, like, you don't play, you don't play an instrument. And then they're amazing at it. And you're like, "I'm just, I don't know. I'm not that good." It's like, "What are you talking about?" Yeah. There's second drummer. He was only in the band briefly. And I don't think I ever saw him play. Did you ever see Phil play with all plays? Phil? Yeah. He played, well, you can cut this or not. He's the one who got kicked out, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He got, he had a little bit too much fun at the show. Oh, and an important show. It was like, I think he hit the release show? Yeah. Did he play the Spite release show? Yeah, cuz Trev-- I think Matt talked about all this on a podcast recently. Trev has quit because he wanted to go be a trucker. And he did that for, like, a year. He hated it. So Trev has quit to be a trucker. And so they got this guy, Phil. He was another band called Collapse, I think, from Nashville. Yeah. And I don't know about that band. They had Jamie King do their music live, and I don't know. Yeah, I saw him play, because I went to that release show. Oh, so you were at the release show? Okay. Yeah. So is that the one where they had, like, it was like people were there to see them, specifically put the possibility of signing them? Yeah. And Phil had a few too many nose beers, and he seemed like a nose beer guy. And just couldn't play. And they were just awful, just a live, terrible live. And it fucked up whatever chances they had of, like, signing to this label. I don't know what label was going to be, but-- It's his fault. Yeah, we have someone to blame for this. Yeah. We've always said, old things should have blown up. Yeah. And they were, like, right there with it. Like, not to bring up ghosts of Christmas Pass, but, like, they were in it with Beech. Like, they were, like, putting stuff out around the same time playing shows together. Matt was asked to play in Beech, playing at one point. Thankfully, that didn't actually wind up happening. But that shows you, like, there were eyes on them. People were looking at them. They were definitely, like, oh, something's going on here, you know? And we were all, like, yes, yes, yes, they should be huge. They're so good. They deserve to be huge. Yeah. They kick him out. And then they're bringing Springs. And Springs, also, a incredible drummer, but in a completely different way. The Travis's Travis is one of those, like, plays as hard as he can and just, like, you know, puts all his, like, heart and soul into it. Springs is one of the more, like, technically proficient style drummers. Just, like, an incredible, just, like, whoa, look at what that guy's doing. Like, really well, well learned drummer. Yeah. Springs was definitely really, like, the articulate, like, softer touch. Yeah. Lots of simple work. Yeah. Kind of drummer. And he's on these songs, which these songs are amazing. They did, like, a bunch of these seven inches in a row. I think the breakups, Late Bloomer and this split are all the ones they had a bunch of songs recorded. I think it was this. I think it's this. Because the others, I think, are made up of, like, the control group. I think control group has, like, that split has, like, some mad solo demos. I think, like, senseless, I think, is on there. And then I think the game faced one is, like, an album cut. So, like, they had recorded, like, six songs. And they had, like, a couple different labels interested. I do not remember the name of the label that did the breakups record, but the Late Bloomer split was done with self-aware, and the fake voice split was done with better melody. And they kind of, like, let them have, like, the first dibs before that other label got them. And I think these are the best two together. The Late Bloomer ones are, they're really great, too. I love those songs, too. Brother, I think, is the one on there. And so, yeah, they put out all these splits. And at the time, I remember us all kind of thinking, like, should they do so many splits at one time? Like, maybe, like, save it for, like, yourself. Like, do an EP, or do, like, or just, like, crank down and, like, put together some more songs, which I think Matt has also said this, too. I think he said he loved these coming out, but in retrospect, wished he just, they just saved them for themselves, and then just, like, wrote a couple more and done a second LP. Because they had a couple more songs that they wrote that I don't think ever got recorded, so there was almost a second LP, but, you know, people were trying to get a piece of them, you know. It was, like, let's get in on it, you know. So, yeah, they do this, and then, eventually, I think what winds up happening is, Jordan decides to go back to school, and they were going to initially continue, but then decided, like, eh, no, let's, let's not. They brought Travis back to do, like, the final shows, and, uh, yeah. So, I think we should cover Spike one day. I don't know, we just kind of, like, the whole story right there, but I would love to do Spike one day. Um, maybe I have considered maybe seeing if Dave would be interested in doing this in a one-man five song? I think it'd be fun to do their discography. But yeah, just, this was, like, a very special place in time for kind of all of us together. Uh, you know, this is probably the period where we were the most active in, like, a local scene, going to shows all the time. We were in a band at the same time. You know, we played with one show with them. It was, like, a festival in South Carolina that nobody went to. Uh, and we played, like, hours apart from each other, but still, same show. Uh, Matt, watch this. I'm happy about that. They saw us, and we saw them. Um, that's all it matters. We, yeah. So, like, we knew them all individually as people. We, you know, know Grant and Josh and, like, them getting involved with putting out their music, because I think Spike does a split release between, is a split release between several wear and bit of rally? Or is it just, uh, orders head first in there too? Can't remember. But anyway, just, it was a very special place in time. We were going to shows all the time, like, this is probably the most, like, frequently it was going to shows. Yeah. Just such a perfect, a perfect band. They have a perfect discography. Everything they put out was fantastic. Wish we could have gotten more. And you're right. Yeah. They should have been huge. They should have been massive, but, you know, things don't quite work out the way you expect them to or want them to. But God, so good. Such a good band. Yeah. I think that's it then, right? That's it. Yeah. We did it. Initially, I wanted to do 20 of these and then that would have been miserable. Yeah. I don't know what I was thinking there. I don't know why. I thought we were going to have enough. I don't know why. We do the best of. But we're going, you were going with the splits or a dime a dozen mentality. That leads you to have a big box full of seven inches you don't listen to. Yeah. This was the right amount to do. Well, yeah, I love it. All this stuff is really good. And like the split, weird, weird format. We don't see it as much anymore, but I don't know. Maybe we'll have a comeback at some point. Who knows? We'll never. We'll know. Yeah. I think that'll do it 300 episodes in the can. And come back next week for episode 301. So thank you all so much for being part of this. 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