NYC is exploding with sick shit right now. Stupid music for serial losers. Much of it revolves around the Toxic State label. A veritable twenty first century Dangerhouse. The associated list of groups worth giving a shit about lengthens on an almost daily basis: Crazy Spirit, Hank Wood and the Hammerheads, Dawn Of Humans, Longpigs, Perdition, Warthog, Goosebumps, Deformity, and others.
Some of these groups share members, some of them share sonic, visual and artistic aesthetics, but one thing they all have is a ‘fuck you’ attitude. These kids have no truck with social media promotional manipulation. Toxic State have no functional online presence. This ‘bung’ scene is a dysfunctional conglomerate guided by excess, dependence, questionable personal hygiene, poor decorating technique, and a relaxed work ethic. Some say these raw ponks are just a bunch of trustafarians with a neo-grebo collective personality disorder, but I’ve always been more charitable than that.
We have previously written at length about both Crazy Spirit and Hank Wood and the Hammerheads, but here we will be concentrating on, to my mind, the finest of the bunch: Dawn Of Humans. In terms of vinyl, DoH began their assault on the global punk community back in 2009, with a 7-track 7-inch on Always Restrictions:
D.o.H./Pinned Out 1 + 2/Panik Attack/Babies/Plateau/Bungeye/Now
2010 saw DoH debut for Toxic State, a 5-track 7-inch:
Head Process (E.I.D.)/Now/Bung Life/Energy/Destroy 1
Meanwhile, 2012 bore witness to the finest and most complete DoH release yet, ‘Blurst Of The Birdfish’ (Toxic State):
Tort, Plode, Burst/Blank Smith/Jazz Monster/Angle Sclope/Blurst Of The Cope Coppers/Free Fire
Both sonically and visually, DoH are as hatstand as their song titles suggest. Aurally, the band repress elements from the last 40 years of punk rock to generate a raw power that ticks every box on the application form: traces of ancient ancestor Iggy in the vocals, some of the most inventive riffage on offer anywhere in contemporary DIY punkland on guitar, and a bass/drum unit that, particularly on ‘Blurst Of The Birdfish’, meshes to destructive effect with ear-piercing clarity. There are very few groups that one could credibly label ‘insane’ in 2012. DoH fit the descriptor with eccentricity to spare.
Said insanity is most apparent at the group’s live shows. The singer often performs in just a cod-piece or a loin-cloth, sometimes masked, usually adorned with body-paint, baiting the audience, bending double to release roar after roar, performing the role we used to label ‘front-man’ (a position rarely filled adequately in these end-of-days armagideon times).
Tracking down DoH’s music in MP3 format is reasonably simple, employing the assistance of blogs such as ICouldDieTomorrow and Terminal Escape (see links below). ‘Blurst Of The Birdfish’, in the meantime, is still available in lurid yellow poster sleeve from all distros worth their salt. The other two will take some digging. Good luck with that.