Michael Hawkins's Blog, page 3

Mannequin - "Yr Aching Tooth."

Mannequin - Yr Aching Tooth
Mannequin was one of the many bands that emerged after the demise of the legendary Pg. 99. They hailed from Sterling, VA and during their few active years they released a split with Transistor Transistor on Robotic Empire and an EP (Warps Yr Head) through Reptilian. Soundwise, they were a big departure from Pg. 99, sounding more like a raw, garage punk band that wrote songs after binge-listening to Bleach .

You can still order the EP from Reptilian here (and stream it for free), but the 7" is sold out. However I've uploaded Mannequin's tour-only EP, entitled Yr Aching Tooth, that contains two previously-released songs and two exclusives. I'm not sure how I got my hands on it, but Mannequin played Daytona in 2003 with Crestfallen and Circle Takes the Square so it was probably then. My band at the time was lucky enough to open the show which took place at some storage units out by the airport. A car blew up there once, only it was at some other show. Shit was wild.

Abagnale.

I am not in this picture. No for real, I'm not.

Abagnale - demo
Abagnale was a short-lived pop punk band from my hometown of Daytona Beach, Florida that I played bass for. Briefly. This was back in 2002, or 2003.

The guys who started Abagnale, Jim and Joel, were a couple of older dudes who I'd known from their many years playing in local ska band Brownie Points. The band was really great for what they were, but when the whole third wave thing had run its course, Jim started writing even better music then the catchy ska punk we all knew him for. The last BP record contained a dearth of horns and ska chords and honestly sounded more like the Foo Fighters than anything.

BP eventually called it quits, but Jim and Joel wanted to keep playing music. Jim knew me from shows and he'd also recorded demos for a few of my early bands, so he asked me to join on bass. Joel would play guitar and sing and Jim, a renaissance man of the highest order, learned to play drums for the band. I jumped at the chance to play with them because they were good dudes and great songwriters. Joel wrote a bunch of songs that we worked on for a while, but they ended up getting tossed. Practices kind of floundered after that and it seemed like the band wasn't really going to continue. And, admittedly, I started to lose interest since Total Recall was taking up so much of my time. So Jim kindly asked me to step down, which wasn't really unexpected or unfair. At the time I'd never sang for a band and I was afraid to do back-ups, so I wasn't really the third member they were looking for.

After I left, the band basically broke up and reformed. I believe Nathan from BP joined on drums (Jim moved over to guitar I think) and they got this guy Blake to play bass and handle most of the vocals. And even though I remember him seeming like he was kind of a dick - who also looked like a rejected member of the Starting Line - he had a great voice and the band's songs underwent a huge upturn after he joined. At this point, the band had a limitless amount of potential and could have easily found themselves touring full-time and putting out records. They were tailor made for the early-2000's Drive-Thru roster. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong, but Abagnale unfortunately split up before they managed to get to that level, leaving behind a great three song demo. I seem to remember Jim telling me they had recorded a few other songs, but I've never been able to get my hands on them.

You can download that demo at the link above. The songs are just flat-out great, especially if you were ever into bands like post-Eulogy Records New Found Glory, Kings of Pop-era Homegrown, and/or the Starting Line. Whether I had stayed a member or not, I would've been truly excited to hear more music from these guys. Seems like the Daytona curse applies to every local band, not just mine.

Two other sites I'm working on.

Here's a couple of links to some other projects I'm working on. One is a Tumblr for my half-baked comic strips and another is a blog dedicated to my love of genre movies. I'll continue to maintain and update this blog I guess whenever I feel like it? I have a lot of downloads to get up here so I'll be back soon.

Fuck Off IslandA life of pain(els).
Rocket Sleds For EveryoneGenre movie reviews, features, and more.

Semi-annual recap post.

Totally unrelated, Dan Yemin still rules.

I don't update this blog on any kind of regular basis, but until the next time I do, here's a handful of links to some of my favorite downloads that I've posted so far.

Justice - Pre-Order CDA covers EP courtesy of one of Belgium's finest non-chocolate exports. Songs covered include cuts by Breakdown, Bad Brains, and Supertouch.
Depression - S/TDark and heavy hardcore by ex-members of Instilled and Love Is Red. Short-lived, but I personally believe them to be one of Atlanta's most memorable outfits.
Society Sucker - DemoMembers of Iron Boots and Bracewar's most negative band. Raw and mean hardcore from VA Beach that long ago went the way of the buffalo.
Make Move - The EvidenceCali-beatdown insanity. This Warriors-affiliated group released this EP and then unfortunately disappeared.
Cigar - Speed Is RelativeForgotten '90s surf punk in the vein of NOFX and No Use.
Crossbearer - Demo/TransgressorHuludian hardcore from Atlanta. Epic, melodic, sweeping, and really, really heavy.
Made To Be Broken - DemoAfter Faded Grey, the vocalist went on to do this band for about five minutes and then they broke up.

Onyx - Mixtape and Rarities
Choice rarities from NYC's hardest.

Classic Hip Hop: The Making of...

Since I've gotten into beatmaking, I find articles like these fascinating. Putting together a punk or hardcore recording is old hat to me now. I know the ins and outs, what works and what doesn't. But hip hop is unchartered territory for me, at least as far as producing it. Reading the artists and engineers' recollections of creating some of the most classic hip hop albums of all time is not only interesting, it's inspirational. Credit to XXL Mag for putting these together.

The Making of 'Illmatic'The Making of 'Life After Death'The Making of 'Ready To Die'The Making of 'Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers'The Making of 'The Infamous'The Making of 'Only Built 4 Cuban Linx'The Making of 'Blueprint'

Everyone Comes Here To Die: A twisted roadmap of bands, stories, friends, and punk rock.

Me and the guys, circa 2002. Prepare for a lot of stuff like this.

I made a blog to chronicle the stories and recordings of the many bands I've been lucky enough to be a part of, whether as a member, or a close friend and occasional fill-in/colaborator. There's a ton of downloads available with a lot more content to come.
Everyone Comes Here To Die

Name your own price for Die Young's discography.

Die Young is currently one the most prolific and long-running hardcore bands - not just from their native Texas, but from pretty much any where. Last April they released Chosen Path, their first realease after coming back from a four year hiatus, And it rips. As if that weren't enough, now the band has made their lengthy discography available on Bandcamp for the price of whatever you want.

Die Young discography @ Bandcamp