Download the full compilation cd right here!
In 2007 Elise Flanders had an idea, to get a whole bunch of her old friends from Syracuse's halcyon indie & punk days from the 1980's & early 1990's back together all in the same room. People came in from all over the country and met up at Klub Polski, a run-down venue everyone held all-ages shows at back in the old days. Much beer was drunk, old friends met up again, a few bands played, and a great time was had by all. Flash forward to 2010: Elise once again wanted to bring forth the aging scenesters but decided one evening was not enough. Two days were booked over Labor Day Weekend at Syracuse's legendary Half Penny Pub (which just recently and lamely stopped hosting bands). The weekend was labeled "Syracuse Freaks & Geeks" hoping to be more inclusive of people who may not totally label themselves as punk. It's not ALL about the bands either; people had a fun kickball game in the daytime, and shared many meals together. Several bands reunited especially for the occasion, some playing for the first time in 15-20 years! Grisly Fiction, Sound Of My Own Voice, The Fiascoes, and Pagan Love Child all dusted off their guitars & sprang forth from the wheelchairs to show the kids how it is done. Beauty Scene Outlaws played a riveting set of songs of the members old bands (Wallmen & Milton's Disciples). Veteran rockers Undergang tore it up as always with singer Alan Smead the main attraction; the man is a idiosyncratic performer who's been in bands in Syracuse since the 1980's. My favorite band of the weekend was The Fiascoes, led by songwriter Joshua Lee Loomis, Greg Pier (Mandate Of Heaven) and Ethan Jenks (Counterpursuit). Think Buffalo Tom, The Replacements & The Stooges in a blender. Fucking brilliant. Professional Victims & The Legendary Jones Gang both featured solid sets from stalwart Syracuse veterans. A amazing weekend of Northern Rock was enjoyed by a select few hundred people.
Jamie Trecker (Sound Of My Own Voice/Kewpie Dolls) was an instrumental hand in helping Elise bring together the music for the weekend. He also pressed 200 copies of this compilation cd "Not Dead Yet". The cd is out of print forever, but you can get a digital copy right here. The bands included are: Sound Of My Own Voice, The Trend, The Flashing Astonishers, Thunderosa, Pagan Love, Milton's Disciples, Kewpie Dolls, One Death Two, The Wallmen, Spike Penetrator, Gregg Yeti & The Best Lights, Unsound, Professional Victims, The Legendary Jones Gang, and Grisly Fiction.
Here's Ryan Hex's review from his Hanging Like A Hex blog:
V/A, “NOT DEAD YET”
This is a compilation of Syracuse alternative/indie bands from the early 80s up to some more current bands. It leaves a substantial amount of bands out, so I’m guessing it’s sort of based upon favoritism, or at least bands that were of personal relevance to the curator of this comp. What a lot of people don’t know is that Syracuse has had a pretty good history of excellent indie bands over the last couple of decades. Then again, many of these bands don’t or didn’t tour much at all so it’s no wonder no one knows about them. Nevertheless, some of the groups represented here are the Pixies-influenced Flashing Astonishers, the sloppy proto-hardcore punk of 80’s band Milton’s Disciples, the New Wave sounds of 70s/80s group The Trend, down to the Clutch-styled bar rock of Thunderosa. While many of these bands are familiar to me, if by nothing but name, others are completely off my radar, having fallen through the cracks of time in this town. All in all, 15 tracks of history are on this thing, and I’m thinking a volume 2 is in order to further document the scene here past and present. (zippypops@yahoo.com)
There's talk of another reunion in the future, we'll see!
