Schism Records
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Schism was a hardcore record label and fanzine operated out of New York City in the late 1980s by John Porcelly (of Youth of Today, Judge, and Project X) and Alex Brown (of Side By Side and Project X). Schism started out as the fanzine, Love Seat, which Brown put out while still living in Iowa. Five issues were published under this title, before he moved to NYC for school, teamed up with Porcelly and changed the name to Schism, at the urging of Ray Cappo, who didn't like the 'Love Seat' name. They however kept the number amount, so the first issue under the Schism title was actually #6.
Under the Schism name, they produced another three issues, containing interviews with such bands as Youth Of Today, Supertouch, Bold, SSD, Wide Awake, Agnostic Front and more. Issue 7 came as a package with a limited edition 7" by Porcelly and Brown's project-band, Project X, which also featured Sammy Siegler (Side By Side/Youth Of Today/Civ) and Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits/Youth Of Today/Quicksand/Rival Schools). The record was only pressed once in an amount of 500 copies (although several bootlegs have been made throughout the years), and is a huge hardcore collector's item.
Schism was also well-known for the merchandise they made for their bands, usually featuring the classic Schism-logo with a drawing of several X'ed fists (which was also part of issue #7's cover art) on the left chest and artwork from the bands on the back. Old Schism t-shirts have also become quite a collector's item throughout the years, but like the records they have been widely bootlegged.
The label had several releases planned, such as a Beyond LP (which eventually came out on Combined Effort Records) and a compilation record, but with both Porcelly and Brown touring extensively with Youth Of Today (Porcelly as a guitar-player, Brown as a roadie), they didn't have time to keep doing the label and it eventually disbanded.
An official re-release of the Project X EP, and a book containing all issues of Schism fanzine as well as bonus material, were released in the fall of 2005 by Bridge 9 Records. The rest of the Schism discography remains in print in some form - the Judge EP (as part of the Where It Went anthology CD) and Youth Of Today 12" on Revelation, the Wide Awake EP is featured on their discography CD released on Smorgasbord Records.
[edit] Discography
- SKIZ-1: Project X - Self-titled 7" EP (1987)
- 500 pressed, of which 300 came with Schism fanzine #7 and the rest were sold separately.
- SKIZ-2: Judge - 'New York Crew' 7" EP (1988)
- 1st press: 1000 black vinyl, white labels, printed inner sleeve.
- 2nd press: 1000 black vinyl, yellow labels, printed inner sleeve.
- 3rd press: 1000 black vinyl, yellow labels, separate lyricsheet, different matrix writing than earlier presses.
- SKIZ-3: Youth Of Today - 'Can't Close My Eyes' 12" (split-release with Caroline records) (1988)
- 1st press: ??? pressed, black vinyl, white labels, paper insert.
- 2nd press: ??? pressed, black vinyl, red labels, glossy insert.
- SKIZ-4: Wide Awake - 'CT Hardcore' 7" EP (1988)
- 1st press: ??? pressed, black vinyl, regular cover.
- 2nd press: ??? pressed, black vinyl, xeroxed cover featuring a photo of Sammy Siegler playing drums while wearing a Wide Awake t-shirt.
