Crust punk

Crust punk (also known as crust or stenchcore)[5] is a form of music influenced by English punk rock and extreme metal.[6] The style, which evolved in the early-1980s in England,[7] often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on political and social ills. The term "crust" was coined by Hellbastard on their 1986 Ripper Crust demo.[8]

Crust punk
Other names
  • Crust
  • stenchcore
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsEarly-1980s, England
Derivative formsGrindcore[4]
Subgenres
Grindcore, Crustcore
Fusion genres
Blackened crust, crack rock steady
Other topics

Crust is partly defined by its "bassy" and "dirty" sound. It is often played at a fast tempo with occasional slow sections. Vocals are usually harsh and may be grunted, growled or screamed. Crust punk takes cues from the anarcho-punk of Crass and Discharge[6] and the heavy metal of bands like Venom, Trouble, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Black Sabbath and Motörhead.[6][9] While the term was first associated with Hellbastard, Amebix have been described as the originators of the style, along with Discharge and Antisect.[6]

Characteristics

Instrumentation

Crust punk is a derivative form of anarcho-punk, mixed with metal riffs.[6] The tempos are often fast, but just short of thrashcore or grindcore. However, many groups confine themselves to a crawling, sludgy pace. The overall musical sound has been described as being "stripped down".[10] Drumming is typically done at high speed, with D-beats sometimes being used.[1] In Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics, author Gabriel Kuhn referred to genre as a "blend of 1977 British punk, roots culture and black metal", with the genre often taking influence from death metal, grindcore and powerviolence.[11]

Vocals and lyrics

Vocals in crust punk are often shrieked or shouted, and may be shared between two or more vocalists. The lyrical content of crust punk tends to be bleak and nihilistic, yet politically engaged. Crust punk songs are often about nuclear war, militarism, animal rights, police, personal grievances, oppressive states and fascism. Amebix were also interested in various forms of mysticism and Gnosticism.[9] Malcolm "Scruff" Lewty, guitarist and vocalist of Hellbastard, describes the distinction between metal and crust punk lyrics "Metal lyrics were so dumb, so far removed from daily life. Venom were going on about Satan... and bikes... and Satan... and women... and Satan! You know what? I never got up in the morning and said, 'Fuck yeah! Satan! Let's go and meet my disciples from Hell!' I'd switch on the TV and know I was going to see hundreds of people dying because there'd been an earthquake in the third world... and all these people starving to death while military expenditure still increased... That was — and still is — the reality of it. The whole heavy metal thing is just an escape from reality, into this other world of... well, bullshit basically."[12]

History

Precursors

The initial inspiration for the crust punk scene came from the anarcho-punk of Crass[6] and D-beat of Discharge.[4] Swedish D-beat groups such as Crude SS, Skitslickers/Anti Cimex and Mob 47 and the Finnish Rattus were also early influences.[13] Amebix also brought in influences from various post-punk bands, including Public Image Ltd., Bauhaus, Joy Division, and especially Killing Joke.[9] The early metal sound of Black Sabbath and Motörhead was also a big influence on both Amebix and Antisect.

1980s
Pioneering English crust punk band Antisect performing in Finland in 2011

Crust was founded by the bands Amebix[1][14] and Antisect.[6] The term "crust" was coined by Hellbastard on their 1986 Ripper Crust demo.[6] In his book Trapped in a Scene, punk historian Ian Glasper said "Rippercrust is widely regarded as the first time the word 'crust' was used in the punk context, and hence the specific starting point of the whole crust punk genre, although some would attribute that accolade to the likes of Disorder, Chaos UK, and Amebix several years earlier.[8] In the same book, he quoted the group's vocalist and guitarist Malcolm "Scruff" Lewty "A lot of people say we started the crust punk genre, but whatever. If they wanna say that, I don't mind, but I'm certainly no Malcolm McLaren, saying I invented something I didn't."[8] However, in Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics, author Gabriel Kuhn Punk stated that the name of the genre came from the "crusty" appearance of the genre's practitioning bands.[11] journalist Felix von Havoc contends that Doom, Excrement of War, Electro Hippies and Extreme Noise Terror were among the first bands to have the traditional UK "crust" sound.[6] Additional subgenres of this style began to develop. Deviated Instinct, from Norwich, created "stenchcore", bringing "both the look and sound — dirty and metallic, respectively — to their natural conclusion".[15] Initially an anarcho-punk group, they began to take increasing influence from metal. As vocalist Julian "Leggo" Kilsby comments "We were very much a part of the anarcho scene, to start with, very politically motivated... all the way through the band's existence, really, although it got less obvious as time went by. But I never really liked the straightforward 'War is bad...' lyrics that were so prevalent at the time, so as my writing skills improved I wanted to add more depth to our lyrics and make them more metaphorical; I'd always been into horror films, so that started to manifest itself in the imagery I was using.[16]

Extreme Noise Terror is credited with developing this style into grindcore.[4] However, Pete Hurley, the guitarist for the group, declared that he had no interest in being remembered as a pioneer of this style: "'grindcore' was a legendarily stupid term coined by a hyperactive kid from the West Midlands, and it had nothing to do with us whatsoever. ENT were, are, and — I suspect — always will be a hardcore punk band... not a grindcore band, a stenchcore band, a trampcore band, or any other sub-sub-sub-core genre-defining term you can come up with."[17]

American crust punk began in New York City, also in the mid-1980s, with the work of Nausea. The group emerged from the Lower East Side squat scene and New York hardcore,[18] living with Roger Miret of Agnostic Front.[19] The early work of Neurosis, from San Francisco, also borrowed from Amebix, and inaugurated crust punk on the West Coast.[20][21] Disrupt (Boston),[22] Antischism (South Carolina), MISERY and Destroy (Minneapolis) were also significant U.S. crust groups.[6]

1990s

An important American crust punk band was Aus Rotten[23] from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Crust punk also flourished in Minneapolis, shepherded by the Profane Existence label.[13] In this period, the ethos of crust punk became particularly codified, with vegetarianism, feminism, and sometimes straight edge being prescribed by many of the figures in the scene.[13] The powerviolence scene associated with Slap-a-Ham Records was in close proximity to crust punk, particularly in the case of Man Is the Bastard and Dropdead.[24] Crust was also prominent in the American South, where Prank Records and CrimethInc. acted as focal points of the scene. The most well-known representative of Southern crust was His Hero Is Gone.[1][25] Prominent crust punk groups (Driller Killer, Totalitär, Skitsystem, Wolfbrigade, and Disfear) also emerged from Sweden, which had always had a strong D-beat scene. Many of these groups developed in parallel with the much more commercial Scandinavian death metal scene.[26]

2000s

Some notable crust bands in the 2000s include Iskra,[27] Behind Enemy Lines,[28] and Tragedy. The Spanish city A Coruña has a crust scene which includes bands as Black Panda, Ekkaia and Madame Germen.[29] In 2017, Bandcamp Daily wrote that Fluff Fest, held in Czechia since 2000, has become a "summer ritual" for many fans of crust punk in Europe.[30]

Relations with other genres
Vivian Slaughter of Gallhammer.

Industrial

As Amebix was heavily influenced by Killing Joke,[6][9] who are among the founders of industrial rock,[31] crust punk has always had some relationship to this style. Nausea also eventually incorporated elements of industrial rock.[32]

Grindcore

Crust punk had a major impact on grindcore's emergence. The first grindcore, practiced by the British bands such as Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror emerged from the crust punk scene.[6] This early style is sometimes dubbed "crustgrind".[4]

Thrashcore and powerviolence

The thrashcore and powerviolence genres which emerged from American hardcore punk are also linked to crust, in the cases of Man Is the Bastard, Dropdead,[24] Septic Death and The Accüsed.[33]

Crustcore

Crustcore (also known as crusty hardcore), is a sub-genre of crust punk that takes influence from hardcore punk and sometimes thrashcore. Felix Havok described Extreme Noise Terror's segment of the "Earslaughter" split album with Chaos UK as the first album in the genre. Crustcore bands include Extreme Noise Terror, Doom, Disrupt,[6] Wolfbrigade,[34] Neurosis,[35] Baptists,[36] Discharge[37] and Filth.[38]

Crack rock steady

Crack rock steady is a punk rock fusion-genre, which combines elements of crust punk, black metal and ska punk.[39] Lyrics often focus on themes such as drug-use, religion,[40] politics[41] and social issues.[39] Other genres sometimes incorporated in conjunction with the style include hardcore punk[40] classical music and heavy metal.[42] Notable bands within the genre include Choking Victim, Leftöver Crack, Morning Glory and Star Fucking Hipsters.[40]

Blackened crust

Crust punk groups, such as Antisect, Sacrilege and Anti System took some influence from early black metal bands like Venom, Hellhammer, and Celtic Frost,[6] while Amebix's lead vocalist and guitarist sent his band's early demo tape to Cronos of Venom, who replied by saying "We’ll rip you off".[43] Similarly, Bathory was initially inspired by crust punk as well as heavy metal.[44] Crust punk was affected by a second wave of black metal in the 1990s, with some bands emphasizing these black metal elements. Iskra are probably the most obvious example of second wave black metal-influenced crust punk;[27] Iskra coined their own phrase "blackened crust" to describe their new style. The Japanese group Gallhammer also fused crust punk with black metal[45] while the English band Fukpig has been said to have elements of crust punk, black metal, and grindcore.[46][47] Germany's Downfall of Gaia has been described as mixing crustgrind and black metal, along with elements of sludge metal, doom metal and post-metal.[48] North Carolina's Young and in the Way have been playing blackened crust since their formation in 2009.[49] In addition, Norwegian band Darkthrone have incorporated crust punk traits in their more recent material. As Daniel Ekeroth wrote in 2008,

In a very ironic paradox, black metal and crust punk have recently started to embrace one another. Members of Darkthrone and Satyricon have lately claimed that they love punk, while among crusties, black metal is the latest fashion. In fact, the latest album by crust punk band Skitsystem sounds very black metal--while the latest black metal opus by Darkthrone sounds very punk! This would have been unimaginable in the early 90s.

— [50]

Culture
"Crust punks" redirects here. For the group described as "crusties" in British slang, see New Age travellers.
See also: Gutter punk and anarcho-punk

Crust punks are associated with a DIY-oriented branch of punk garb. Similar to anarcho-punk, most clothing is black in color. Denim jackets and hooded sweatshirts with sewn-on patches, or vests covered in studs, spikes and band patches are characteristic elements of the crust punk style of dress or pants covered in band patches.[51][52] Crust punks also sometimes wear dreadlocks and piercings.[11] Julian "Leggo" Kilsby of Deviated Instinct describes crust as "a punk-y biker look, more akin to Mad Max. Mad Max 2 is the crustiest film ever made!"[53]

Members of the sub-culture are generally outspokenly political, possessing anarchist and anti-consumerist views.[11]

Crust punk record labels

See also

References
  1. Peter Jandreus, The Encyclopedia of Swedish Punk 1977-1987, Stockholm: Premium Publishing, 2008, p. 11.
  2. "A History Of Metal - Punk Special: Crust Punk". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Popoff, Martin (2017). Speed Metal.
  4. "In Grind We Crust," p. 46.
  5. Cunha, Ricardo. "Crust: the other side of the coin". Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  6. Von Havoc, Felix (1984-01-01). "Rise of Crust". Profane Existence. Archived from the original on 2008-06-15. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
  7. "In Crust We Trust". Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  8. Glasper 2009, 185
  9. Glasper 2006. "Amebix." p. 198-201.
  10. Loolwa Khazzoom, Special to The Chronicle (2005-03-11). "Livermore: All's well with the Bay Area punk scene say members of the Sick". Sfgate.com. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  11. Kuhn, Gabriel (2010). Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics. PM Press. p. 16.
  12. Glasper 2009, 183."
  13. "In Grind We Crust," p. 51.
  14. "The Gauntlet". The Gauntlet. 2008-02-29. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  15. Glasper 2009, 284
  16. Glasper 2009, 286
  17. Glasper 2009, 279
  18. Init 5, September 25, 2007. Access date: June 18, 2008.
  19. John John Jesse interview, Hoard Magazine, June 2005. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-09-21. Retrieved 2009-10-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Access date: June 18, 2008
  20. Adam Louie, Mastodon, Neurosis show review, Prefix magazine, January 29, 2008 Access date: June 18, 2008
  21. Anthony Bartkewicz, Decibel Magazine No. 31, May 2007. Access date: June 18, 2008
  22. Nick Mangel, Disrupt LP review, Maximum Rock'n'Roll #301, June 2008, record reviews section.
  23. "Crust-punks Behind Enemy Lines release One Nation Under The Iron Fist of God Archived 2011-11-28 at the Wayback Machine
  24. "Powerviolence: The Dysfunctional Family of Bllleeeeaaauuurrrgghhh!!." Terrorizer no. 172. July 2008. p. 36-37.
  25. Andrew Childers, "Kick in the South: A Look Back at Prank Records and the Southern Crust Scene." April 5, 2008. Access date: June 21, 2008
  26. Ekeroth, p. 107, 266.
  27. Iskra Interviews Archived June 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  28. Mervis, Scott (2007-02-01). "Pittsburgh Calling: A capsule look at Pittsburgh bands making news". Post-gazette.com. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  29. es:Crust punk#D.C3.A9cada de los 90s.2F00s .28Portland.2C Suecia.2C Espa.C3.B1a.29
  30. Sanna, Jacopo (20 September 2017). "The Sincere and Vibrant World of the Czech DIY Scene". Bandcamp. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  31. Reynolds, Simon (2005). Rip it up and start again: Postpunk 1978-1984. London: Faber and Faber Limited, p. 435
  32. "All through the 80’s I was very into bands and styles other than punk or metal like Killing Joke, Einsturzende Neubauten, Test Dept. ..." - Roy Mayorga, interview with Bela. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-12-24. Retrieved 2009-03-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Access date: August 4, 2008.
  33. Fixell, Ethan. "THE UNITED STATES OF HARDCORE". Kerrang!. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  34. LUEDTKE, CHRISTOPHER. "Album Review: WOLFBRIGADE Run With The Hunted". Metal Injection. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  35. Kelly, Kim. "Thrash 'n burn: why 1985 was metal's defining year". Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  36. Adams, Gregory. "Ladyhawk Celebrate 10th Anniversary with "Decade of Passive Aggression" Canadian Tour, Outline New Album Possibilities". Exclaim!. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  37. Adams, Gregory. "Discharge Sign with Nuclear Blast for First Album in 8 Years". Exclaim!. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  38. Breihan, Tom. "White Fence – "Today's Lesson" (Filth Cover)". Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  39. "14 Bush-era political artworks that stood the test of time". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  40. GENTILE, JOHN. "Sonic Reducer: Crack Rock Steady". Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  41. MOSES, JEFF. "Leftover Crack Doesn't Just Talk About Being Punk". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  42. VERDUCCI, RICHARD. "Scott Sturgeon (Leftover Crack/Star F*cking Hipsters)". Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  43. Dunlap, Xander. "Directionless people are malleable—easily pointed in the wrong directions". Thrasher. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  44. Ekeroth, p. 27.
  45. "Hard of Hearing", Terrorizer no. 171, June 2008, p. 56.
  46. "Fukpig". Supersonic Festival. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  47. "C: Do you think that FUKPIG has founded a style of his own? Misery: Nah its just d-beat crust, with added horror C: and then What difference to FUKPIG from the rest of the bands? Misery: We add more black metal / horror influences, but are still inspired by the same things C: Is Necro-Punk your style? Misery: Yeah, necro in the black metal style playing crust punk, so yeah Necro Punk." Interview: Fukpig Archived 2013-11-10 at the Wayback Machine
  48. Weber, Austin (4 December 2014). "Downfall of Gaia: "Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay"". No Clean Singing. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  49. Zorgdrager, Bradley. "Young and in the Way When Life Comes to Death". Exclaim!. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  50. Ekeroth, p. 258.
  51. Kevin Stewart-Panko, "I Saw Disfear Three Times in Three Days", Decibel, no. 46, August 2008, p. 22.
  52. "Crustypunks, The Wandering Nomads Of The East Village (PHOTOS)". The Huffington Post.
  53. Glasper 2009, 287

Further reading
  • Ekeroth, Daniel (2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points Books. ISBN 978-0-9796163-1-0
  • Glasper, Ian (2004). Burning Britain: The History of UK Punk 1980-1984. Cherry Red Books. ISBN 1-901447-24-3
  • Glasper, Ian (2006). The Day the Country Died: A History of Anarcho Punk 1980 to 1984. Cherry Red Books. ISBN 1-901447-70-7
  • Glasper, Ian (2009). Trapped in a Scene: UK Hardcore 1985-1989. Cherry Red Books. ISBN 978-1-901447-61-3
  • "In Grind We Crust," Terrorizer #181, March 2009, p. 46, 51.
  • Mudian, Albert (2000). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore. Feral House. ISBN 1-932595-04-X
  • Profane Existence (1997). Making Punk a Threat Again: Profane Existence: Best Cuts 1989-1993. Loincloth. ASIN: B000J2M8GS
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