Siege (band)

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Siege
Siege at their high school's 'Battle of the Bands' in 1984. Rob Williams, Kevin Mahoney, and Kurt Habelt are shown left-to-right
Siege at their high school's 'Battle of the Bands' in 1984. Rob Williams, Kevin Mahoney, and Kurt Habelt are shown left-to-right
Background information
Origin United States
Genre(s) Hardcore punk
Thrashcore
Grindcore
Power violence
Years active 1983 - 1985, 1991 - 1992
Label(s) Deep Six Records
Members
Rob Williams, Kurt Habelt, Hank McNamee, Kevin Mahoney, Seth Putnam

Siege was a hardcore punk group formed in 1983 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. They were active in the 1980s Boston hardcore punk scene.

Though rather short-lived and little-known during their life, subsequent musicians have cited the group as a profound influence including the UK band Napalm Death. Siege's unprecedented level of extreme hardcore punk was some of the fastest and heaviest of its time[1], incorporating lightning fast tempos, chord changes, vocal delivery, and blast beats, thusly setting the stage for the emerging grindcore scene.

Contents

[edit] Band history

Siege's original lineup consisted of:

Kevin Mahoney was from Braintree, the rest of the band was from Weymouth. Siege's first official show was at a 'Battle of the Bands' in the spring of 1984 at their Weymouth high school. They were disqualified when bassist Hank McNamee smashed his instrument onstage. Robert Williams later formed the band Nightstick.

Despite their proximity to Boston, Siege did not fit into the Boston Crew-dominated Straight edge hardcore scene; they played most of their gigs further away in Western Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. They played in Greenfield with local hardcore bands DYS, Cancerous Growth, The Freeze, Outpatients, and Deep Wound. Siege played gigs out-of-state at the Living Room in Providence and at Anthrax in Stamford.

In 1985 Siege was scheduled to play their first show in New York City at CBGBs with The Necros. Singer Kevin Mahoney did not show up for the gig, and Siege disbanded.

In 1991 Siege reformed with Anal Cunt frontman Seth Putnam on vocals. They recorded a demo tape from which only 1 track has so far been released, appearing on the "13 Bands Who Think You're Gay" Compilation LP. Ironically, their track 'Life of Hate' denounces homophobia.

[edit] Recording history

Siege recorded a six-song demo tape at Radiobeat Records in Kenmore Square on February 6, 1984. The demo was produced by Lou Giordano (producer of Hüsker Dü, Negative FX, S.S.Decontrol, Goo Goo Dolls, and many others), and has been extensively bootlegged. In October of 1984 Siege recorded 3 more songs at Radiobeat with Giordano for Pushead's classic 1985 hardcore compilation called Cleanse the Bacteria. Those 3 songs were Siege's only official original release.

Giordano later recalled those sessions:

"The way our studio operated was that anything that comes in –there’s no value judgements made about the music. We just record it. Still, one of the things that I guess was cool about being a staff engineer is that I wouldn’t have sought out a band like that. I wasn’t philosophically into anything that they were doing, but they were all good musicians –you would have to be to stay together at the speeds they were playing at. So there was that aspect of it, and just the whole pushing the envelope thing. It sounds like it’s just gonna completely break apart going 700 miles through the sky and then all of a sudden everything just comes right together again."
"And they were some of the most unassuming, laid-back people to ever work with. I mean, they had no attitude at all. They just came in and they were just really polite and very thankful, and then when they turned on the amps and made that noise, it was just unbelievable that it was coming from them."'[2]

Siege's 3 songs from the Cleanse the Bacteria compilation and 6-song demo were released by Relapse Records in 1994 as the Drop Dead CD. The same material was released on 12" vinyl in 2004 by Deep Six Records.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Demos

  • 1984 - Drop Dead [Cassette] [Self Released] (6 Tracks - Drop Dead/Conform/Life of Hate/Starvation/Armageddon/Grim Reaper)

[edit] Albums

  • 1994 - Drop Dead [CD] [Relapse Records] (Demo '84 + Cleanse The Bacteria Comp Tracks)
  • 2004 - Drop Dead [12"] [Deep Six Records] (Demo '84 + Cleanse The Bacteria Comp Tracks)
  • 2006 - Drop Dead [12"] [Deep Six Records] (Demo '84 + Cleanse The Bacteria Comp Tracks + "Two Faced" and "Trained to Kill")
  • 2006 - Drop Dead [CD] [Deranged Records] (Demo '84 + Cleanse The Bacteria Comp Tracks)

[edit] Compilation Appearances

  • 1985 - Cleanse The Bacteria [12"] [Pusmort Records] (3 Tracks - Sad But True/Cold War/Walls)
  • 2004 - 13 Bands That Think You're Gay [12"] [Menace To Sobriety Records] (1 Track - Cameras)

[edit] Bootlegs & Unofficial Releases

  • 1985 - Larmattacke Vol. 3 [Cassette] [????] (3 Tracks taken from Demo '84 - Life Of Hate/Starvation/Armageddon)
  • 1989 - Drop Dead [7"] [Off The Disc Records] (Demo '84 Tracks)
  • 1990 - Drop Dead [7"] [Revoltation Records] (Demo '84 Tracks)
  • 1991 - Drop Dead [CD] [Lost And Found Records] (Demo 84' + Cleanse The Bacteria Comp Tracks)
  • 1992 - Siege / Deep Wound Split [7"] [????] (Cleanse The Bacteria Comp Tracks)
  • 1992 - Pusmort View [CD] [Toy's Factory Records] (Cleanse The Bacteria Comp Tracks)
  • 1993 - Nation Of Pain [7"] [????] (Live Recording - Boston, USA 26th Jan 1985)
  • 1993 - In Crust We Trust Compilation [CD] [Lost And Found Records] (2 Tracks from Cleanse The Bacteria Comp - Cold War/Walls)
  • 1994 - A Time We'll Remember #7 Compilation [CD] [Lost And Found Records] (Demo '84 + Cleanse The Bacteria Comp Tracks)
  • 1995 - Destroy Power, Not People Compilation [7"] [Lost And Found Records] (1 Track from Cleanse The Bacteria Comp - Cold War)
  • 1996 - Network Of Friends Compilation [CD] [Ataque Sonoro Records / Ox Records] (2 Tracks from Demo '84)
  • 2001 - Siege / Stark Raving Mad / D.R.I. Split [CDr] [????] (Cleanse The Bacteria Comp Tracks)
  • 2004 - Older Than Old School Compilation [CDr] [????] (1 Track from Demo '84)
  • 2004 - Siege / Lip Cream Split [12"] [No Answer Records] (Live Recording - Connecticut, USA 25th Jan 1985 - Drop Dead/Conform/Life of Hate/Starvation/Armageddon/Grim Reaper/Sad But True/Cold War/Walls/Untitled 1/Why/Under Siege)

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cch223/usa/albums/siege_dropdead.html
  2. ^ Mudrian, Albert, Choosing Death, Feral House, 2005. ISBN 1-932595-04-X