Description
“We didn’t know how to write, we barely knew how to play” – Mark Holcomb, guitarist of Refuse
Mark Holcomb was a high school freshman living in Seattle’s north suburbs when he traded his Nintendo for a guitar in 1988. He was in that adolescent phase where you can absorb everything without genre limits—The Accüsed, Bold, Love and Rockets, Suicidal Tendencies, The Mission—but his path focused when he learned there were kids his own age playing straightedge hardcore in Seattle. Greg Anderson, from False Liberty, starting taking Holcomb and his too-young-to-drive friends to shows, giving them the push they needed to form Refuse. In 1989, Refuse played their first show with Anderson’s new band, Brotherhood, in a Bremerton basement. Refuse’s set was four songs long. Those four songs would make up half the band’s demo, recorded two months later. As suggested by Holcomb’s memory, the demo is high on intention but also high on oblivion. It’s crude, blunt, deeply pissed-off music. And it’s fast! Unlike the muddy mid-tempo of a lot of youth crew, Refuse’s songs are brisk and full of momentum, a tumble down a staircase. The Accüsed and Suicidal influences lingering. Credit to drummer Ryan Murphy for forcing a blast beat into every song on the tape! Refuse played a few more shows before evolving into Undertow, who stripped away the clumsy, youthful glee heard on this tape, leaving only a heavy stomp and a deep scowl. I have to say, the toughest I ever felt in my life was listening to Undertow’s “Cutting Away” alone in my bedroom as a 17 year old. But 33 years later I am much more engaged by the yearning, earnest, raw blast of Refuse.
Released 2023 by Refuse Records (Germany), black vinyl, edition of 380 copies with 12-page booklet
