Beach Impediment Records specializes in raw, fast and to the point hardcore punk. In that specific sound, they’re one of the best labels in recent years, having released records by some of the most exciting bands of the genre, including Warthog, Blood Pressure, Vaaska, Concealed Blade, Omegas and many more. Mark Shubert, the man who runs the label, also spent time fronting Wasted Time and Mercy Killings and is now handling mic duties in the excellent Agression Pact.
-Cédric N.
beachimpedimentrecords.bandcamp.com
What’s the album you’ve listened to the most in your life? Do you still listen to it?
That would have to be 1981: The Year In Seven Inches; more of a collection than a conventional album but I listened to it way too much as a youngin’ and still toss it on every now and then.
Name five songs that you consider “perfect songs” and explain why or what they mean to you.
I can’t answer this. I legit spent the past 15 minutes thinking of even one perfect song and came up with nothing. I tend to complicate things, though.
Do you have a favorite setting or place to listen to music? How does the setting influence the type of music you’ll listen to?
In my old leather chair with some hooter of bahoophus on hand, oh CLAWD! Though I recently had the pleasure of jamming records at Velted Regnub HQ down in NC, aka the Hardy Boys Hardcore Punk Compound. Musty Must, Crazy William, and Cousin Eric aka EKWON aka E-Harmony were present along with a big old mess of cold chillies, let me tell ya HWHAT! Lots of yelling due to the volume of the music. At one point I thought I had magically transported back to Brandon and Lauren’s attic when they lived a block away from me 13 years ago. Every night I’d come home reeking of cigarette smoke and sporting a freshly dubbed tape chock full of crazy hardcore punk I’d never heard before. Anyways, what I’m getting at is communal listening with like minded morons is a special thing but so is just unwinding solo style after a long day.
Which music genre do you listen to the most? List your five favorite albums in that genre.
All kindsa shit, really. I look at it like that Billy Joel song about everything still being rock and roll as far as he is concerned, ya know? He was and still is a visionary of sorts.
Five greatest hardcore EP’s of all time?
POISON IDEA – Pick Your King EP
YOUTH BRIGADE – Possible EP
CAUSE FOR ALARM – S/T EP
ANTI CIMEX – Raped Ass EP
WHITE CROSS – Fascist EP
Your five favorite rappers of all time? Name one song that best exemplifies what makes them great.
I honestly just fuck with the song Come and Pet the P.U.S.S.Y. by ICE COLD’S post N.W.H. group THE ICE PLANT on repeat whenever I need to tickle that fancy. Macho Man’s rap album is stellar as well. Rodney Dangerfield’s album kicks dicks as well. BIG PUN and MEEK MILL, I guess?
Five hardest riffs of all time?
In no particular order, these come to mind:
Misery by BASTARD
That break in Instant Success by THE MOB
That break in Public Assistance by AGNOSTIC FRONT
Into The Crypts Of Rays by CELTIC FROST
Alan’s On Fire by POISON IDEA
What are some of your favorite song lyrics? Lyrics that have been important to you or that had an impact on you?
I can’t say I’m exactly itching to write out a buncha lyrics so I’ll just go ahead and tip my hat to Steve Earle, Phil Lynott, David Gedge, Food Fortunata, Shogun, Frankie Stubbs, Johnny Thunders, Randy “Biscuit” Turner, Lee Fields, and Guy Clark for being fantastic lyricists. I’m sure I’m blanking on some.
Do you have an absolute all time favorite band or musical artist? What makes them so special to you?
I’m really bad at choosing stuff like that, to be honest. But if ya put a gun to my head I’m just gonna say SOCKEYE because I can just relate, ya know?
What are your ten favourite albums of all time (all genres)? Name a standout track on each of these albums?
I recently had this question posed to me by a pal doing a zine in Sweden and prefaced it with something along the lines of “ehh my answer to this question would probably change tomorrow” and sure enough I compared those answers with these and there are similarities and differences. Anyways:
POISON IDEA – War All The Time; The Temple for stand out track.
THE WEDDING PRESENT – Seamonsters; Dare for stand out track.
HONOR ROLE – The Pretty Song; Shuffle for stand out track.
THE CRUCIFUCKS – S/T; Hinkley Had A Vision for stand out track.
THE DWARVES – Thank Heaven For Little Girls; Anybody But Me for stand out track.
SOCKEYE – Retards Hiss Past My Window; Things I Am for stand out track with Bob Dole in a close second.
MOTORHEAD – Overkill; No Class for stand out track.
THIN LIZZY – Johnny the Fox; Borderline for stand out track.
THE CANDY SNATCHERS – Human Zoo; Pissed Off, Ripped Off, Screwed for stand out track.
LEATHERFACE – Mush; In The Real World for stand out track.
Do you remember the first time you really appreciated an album or a song?
Most things are hazy, to be honest. The song (and movie) “La Bamba” was apparently a real hit with me when I was like 4.
What were you listening to in elementary school? then in high school? (Your favorite bands/records back then?) How much of that music is still a part of your playlists today? How have your musical tastes evolved since?
As a younger lad, I listened to whatever my brother did which in the early 90’s was MOTLEY CRUE, METALLICA, WARRANT, MOTORHEAD, DANZIG, GUNS ‘N’ ROSES, etc. Some of these bands I grew to really appreciate later in life and some I’m not a fan of at all. At the time though, it was just cool to me to kick it with my brother while he blasted that loud rock music that he liked. He was a skater that was into metal and eventually got into the whole grunge thing for a bit, some of which I dug but then he went away to boarding school and I was cut off from the previous access I had to, dare I say, “extreme music” and didn’t really latch on to anything in that realm until middle school. Growing up in Virginia Beach there was a lot of access to and immersion in the culture of the whole bro punk thing, all that Fat Wreck and Epitaph stuff. It was intertwined with skating and surfing, two activities that most of the youths in the area continue to partake in to this day. I liked some of that stuff but hated a large portion of the bands and their fanbase. My friend Phil making me a copy of the aforementioned 1981: The Year In Seven Inches in 8th grade was a game changer and helped me make a lot of bad decisions that got me where I am today!
What beloved music do you share with your parents (or children if you have kids)? Any specifics memories?
My dad turned me on to URIAH HEEP at a young age due to his affinity for most things remotely Tolkien related. I just thought it was weird wizard music due to the cover art and the sound. Besides that we’d jam the oldies station a lot when cruising around. My mom and I listened to the BEE GEES a lot. And U2, she couldn’t believe Joshua Tree and would play that tape on repeat. But yeah, before getting married they both saw a lot of those 70’s rock bands that came through back then which blew my mind when they told me that later in life.
Most memorable show you’ve ever seen? What makes it stand out?
CHUCK BERRY in the mid 90’s down at the Virginia Beach oceanfront, probably the first time I saw live rock music. A few years before the Greek Fest Riots occurred at the beach and they were looking for something to help clean up the image down there so they started doing this music festival every Labor Day weekend and my mom took some cousins and me down there to check it out. It stands out because he brought a bunch of women in bikinis on stage and it was generally just sick as fuck
Do you have any songs that are meaningful to you because you associate them with important events in your life?
Situations by SLAUGHTER AND THE DOGS makes me think of a particularly gross encounter at a Seattle jack shack whilst on tour in 2007. That’s the first one that comes to mind and I’m gonna go with that. Buy me a drink and I’ll tell ya the whole story.
What music or artist has been the most influential to you as a songwriter? Do you change what you listen to when you write music?
I just like POISON IDEA. A lot.
What is the most impressive band you’ve toured with? The one that you just had to watch every night? Did you learn anything from them/by watching them?
Most of the touring I did was with my old band WASTED TIME and whenever we did that we usually doubled up with Brandon’s other bands which were GOVERNMENT WARNING and DIRECT CONTROL. I saw GW way too many times as we did most of our jaunts with them and as a result saw a wide array of sets that ranged from great to not so great but none really stand out when I reflect on our excursions together. DIRECT CONTROL absolutely floored me every time I saw them though. Our gig together at Disgraceland in Philly comes to mind. Even the shitty drunk sets were just special in their own way. They were also one of the first bands I saw in that early 00’s era that really just blew my mind and kinda made all of us wanna make better punk and step our game up, so getting to play with them a lot and eventually be in bands with all of them at different points was special to me. Not to mention I consider them all to be very dear friends.
Is there any classic / universally acclaimed artist or that you missed out on when they first came out and discovered way later? Any artist that you didn’t like at first and learned to appreciate over time?
While not classic or universally acclaimed, my good buddy Randy Ransone recently turned me on to a now defunct band from the Pacific Northwest called THE HUNCHES. I’m obsessed with them now. I’ve probably listened to the album Exit Dreams like 69 times in the last 4.20 months.
Do you have an artist that you love in a genre that you don’t usually listen to? What makes them stand out?
There’s a gentleman by the name of LEE FIELDS who is, in my opinion, the most authentic and talented modern practitioner of soul music I’ve come across. It should be noted that I am not an expert on the genre by any means and while I have a rudimentary knowledge of the classics I might be missing something amazing so who knows. The dude has to be well into his 60’s and has been performing for at least 40 years and is just an amazing performer with a great voice and real ass lyrics. He’s originally from Wilson, NC (home of Parker’s BBQ, aka that good shit y’all) and resides in NYC these days. Faithful Man is the album that everyone should check out first if they’re not familiar with Mr. Fields.
Do you have any controversial/unpopular music related opinions that you would like to defend?
Someone yelled at me once for saying Can’t Close My Eyes was the best YOUTH OF TODAY material but I’m still failing to see where the lie is in that statement. That was the first record of theirs I came across and it floored me unlike the other stuff which is decent and all. One time when I was brownout drunk at Chaos In Tejas I failed to convey this sentiment to Ray Cappo to see how he felt looking back on the band’s catalog but did tell him that the VIOLENT CHILDREN logo is “the best hardcore band logo ever, because it’s just a dumb fucking frowning baby thing with 3 hairs, it’s stupid in a brilliant way, ya know?” according to a friend that caught the exchange.
If you could create your dream band (with any musicians, dead or alive), who would play which instrument?
My dream band would be with PIG CHAMPION and TOWNES VAN ZANDT and by “dream band” I mean there would be absolutely no music and we’d just do sniffies and talk about my cat then I might try to explain memes to them. Maybe split a 12 pack of those hard seltzers. The venue would be my front porch. Private gig, sorry gang.
What albums have been on heavy rotation lately?
THE HUNCHES – Exit Dreams
BAD TIMES – S/T
S.H.I.T. – What Do You Stand For?
INSINUATIONS – Prompt Critical
LIFELESS DARK – Who Will Be The Victims?
PETER PERRETT – How The West Was Won
What are some up and coming artists that you would recommend?
CEMENT SHOES from Richmond got a new single coming out soon (if not already by the time you’re feasting your eyes upon this, dear reader) on Feel It Records. One of the better local bands in recent memory. BLOODSUCKERS (Boston) demo was a cool listen, too.
Is there a band that you’ve discovered live recently that blew you away?
GELD from Australia came through town recently and whipped absolute ass!
What are you listening to right now, while answering these questions?
The HVAC system blowing at my work (it’s hot out, fuck summer) and my boss on the phone upstairs.
Final thoughts?
Not sure when this zine will be out, but the Beach Impediment Label should have these releases out by the end of summer 2018:
BLOOD PRESSURE – Surrounded 12”
VANITY – Evening Reception LP
L’AMOUR – Look to the artist: 1978-1981 12”
STIGMATISM – s/t EP
Followed by more fun shit down the road from the likes of MURO, VAASKA, CAREER SUICIDE, and more that I’m not at liberty to talk about yet.
AGGRESSION PACT plays gigs here and there. AGGRESSION PACT makes records sometimes too.
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