Disillusion ( NYHC ) - West Nyack NY 1988

I knew very little about Disillusion. I came across a flyer and ordered the "Step Back!" 1988 demo, and loved it. They knew At All Cost - I knew that. There was a guy named Fabio that was supposedly the new drummer after this demo came out. He went to my high school and was a year above me. He used to alternate between being relatively cool to me and being a total dick. One time at Ben and Jerry's in the Spring Valley Marketplace he went the dick route. He was there with the singer of Disillusion who, according to my memories of it, looked like the picture of Scott Ruth on the back of the first Ripping Corpse album. And just as nuts. No offense to Scott, he's probably a nice guy and totally sane.

I remember sitting by the wall in a booth and Fabio punching me in the shoulder for no reason and laughing, and the singer grinning that crazy grin. Maybe they were on dust, who knows. Seemed everyone but me was in those days. I was real scrawny then, I didn't get tall and anything resembling meat on my bones until college, so I just took it. Plus, they were in Disillusion and I was a big fan. Maybe I was honored in a way. I was friends with his younger sister and told her that he was real mean to me and I guess she tore him a new ass because I had no problems after that. Man, there goes my street cred.

Anyway, I have hunted high and low for info on Disillusion online and nothing. There's another band with the same name out there now doing who knows what. I still can sing these tunes from memory. Not nearly as polished or talented as the guys in At All Cost, but twice as lugheaded and there was something cool about that. I think maybe that they bullied me made it seem even more thuggish and appealing. That's hardcore for you. I think it was Mark from the band, the guitarist, that I exchanged letters with a few times. I ordered a shirt but never actually got it. If anyone from Disillusion's out there, hit me up, even if you used to hit me. No hard feelings, but if you want to go shot for shot just for fun, I'm down. Plus I'd like to get my eight bucks back. I have no idea if they released anything else, but if so, I'd love to hear it...Greg S.










Disillusion Demo 1988

Intro
Step Back
Mark My Words
Learn A Thing or Two
Remain Free
My Pride

GEEK ATTACK – New City, N.Y. (1984 to 1985)

GEEK ATTACK – New City, N.Y. (1984 to 1985)

The history of Rockland County Punk and Hardcore is an enigmatic one at best. While a few bands (ie –Borscht) left their mark for the world to remember, many other contemporary bands existed slightly below the surface, yet….all the while making equally important and viable music during those early halycion days of the scene. We will be chronicling many of these bands throughout this blog, but at this point…..let me introduce you to the amazing Geek Attack.

When rabid Borscht fans would rush the group after a show, to tell them how great they were, the guy’s in Borscht referred to it as the “Geek Attack”. When those same fans would later form a short lived hardcore group of there own, Phil suggested they call themselves “Geek Attack” (Phil also produced a skateboard fanzine with the same name).

Geek Attack consisted of Dan Derella (Underdog, Mr. Wolfe’s Cleaning Service) on guitar, Paul Martin on vocals, Rob Garbus on bass, and Eddie O’Dowd (Toilet Boys, Psychic TV) on drums. They would go on to play only 4 live shows in the summer of 1984, two at the old Anthrax (CT), and two local house parties. Their last show was a party in Rob's basement while his parents were out of town. Crippled Youth (BOLD) also played that show. In attendance were CT hardcore stalwarts Ray of Today and Porcell, as well as a boatload of punks from NYC, including Billy Psycho, Sebastian, Renison and Jennifer Paz. Rob's parents still don't believe it.

Dan Derella would go on to play guitar in the legendary NY hardcore band "Underdog". Early Underdog shows included the Geek Attack song "Coco Puffs" in the set list.

Like many hardcore bands, the group had more enthusiasm than talent. Band members learned how to play their instruments as they wrote songs and rehearsed.
The group proved influential in inspiring others without musical ability to pick up guitars and make noise. After all, if they are doing it, how hard could it be?


Chris Skelly & Rob Garbus

Live at The Anthrax

At All Cost - NYHC (1987 - 1991)

For my first post in the Rockland County hardcore (RCH) section I had to go with the first and most successful of the RCH bands At All Cost.

The origins of At All Cost begin in early 1987 when a group of 15 year old high school friends somehow discovered the NY Hardcore scene and decided to form their own band. This original incarnation of At All Cost consisted of Darin Galgano (drums) , Charlie Oberle (vocals) , Chris Scott (bass) and Wade Babcock (guitar) and went by the name Violent Youth who basically functioned as a hardcore cover band who played a few shows locally covering bands like Warzone, Agnostic Front and various other NY Hardcore bands of the time.

At some point in 1987 Violent Youth added Mike Iovino on vocals and moved Charlie to bass, however Mike's time in the band was short lived as he was quickly replaced by Jeff Guzman, and At All Cost was born. At this point the band began writing original material and playing out locally. It was also with this line up that At All Cost recorded and released the first At All Cost demo tape in 1988.



After a short time of playing with this solidified line up At All Cost made two final personnel moves when Charlie Oberle left the band to be replaced by Brian Getkin on bass, and Chris Scott also left the band to be replaced by Mark Calimbus. This line up of Darin,Brian,Mark, Jeff and Wade would become the final line up for At All Cost and also the most cohesive and powerful line up to date. I believe it was with this final line up that At All Cost played their biggest shows with the likes of Raw Deal, Cro-mags, Destruction etc.



In 1989/90 At All Cost went into the studio for one final time and as a result of this studio session a final demo was released in 1990 which featured the bands strongest material to date, but like so many young bands the wheels started to fall off the wagon after the release of the 1990 demo. The trouble began with a record deal that went bust, and the final straw that broke the camels back was the departure of vocalist Jeff Guzman. After Jeff's departure At All Cost auditioned vocalist but could never find the right fit for the band, which is unfortunate because the new music the band was working on at the time was probably their best to date, unfortunately these new songs were never properly recorded and only exist to this day on a practice tape that is in the possession of one of the band members.

After The break up of At All Cost Mark C went on to form Atlas Shrugged who had a very successful career releasing multiple 7" and full length releases on Rockland County based label Trip Machine Laboratories. Darin and Brian went on to form Dahlia Seed with Chris Skelly who was a member of Rockland County thrashers Selective Outrage. Dahlia seed went on to become one of the more influential Emo bands of the 90's releasing multiple 7 " singles and full length albums over their 5 year career. In the near future Individual posts for both Atlas Shrugged and Dahlia Seed will be forthcoming on Suburbia Suburbia SUBURBIA! ... Dave G.



Download ... Demo 1988 and 1990

Download ... CBGB 10/15/1989

Download ... WNYU Radio 10/25/1990





Our Friend Dan over at Old-Fast-and-Loud was kind enough to cut up the AAC live shows ... boost the levels and make a nice cdr cover for everything. Here are Links to Dan's files and please check out his excellent blog as well.

At All Cost - CDR

CDR covers