Deep Wound - Deep Wound LP

Legendary US hardcore band from 1982-83 featuring J Mascis.

J Mascis lived in Amherst. There was one punk at his high school and it wasn't Uma Thurman, it was Charlie. They were fortunate to have Ken Reed's great store, Main Street Records, in nearby Northampton. And they could get almost any American or UK punk stuff they needed from the racks or by special order.

One day in early '82, J met a Dee Dee Ramone lookalike at the Oi! singles bin. This was bassist Scott Helland. Scott posted a flier soon after looking for musicians into Anti-Pasti, Discharge and the like. J called to audition and had his dad drive him and his drums over to guitarist Lou Barlow's place in Westfield. They had a singer already, but J got them to replace him with Charlie, and Deep Wound was there. They made a cassette, got a few gigs in Boston with the X-Claim bands (SSD, FU's, Jerry's Kids, etc.) and became the Western Mass band most likely to open for Hardcore visitors.

They cut an EP, had tracks on Gerard Colsoy's "Bands That Would Be God" comp and even did a late-period session with Gerard singing that has disappeared into nada. And every day they vowed to play faster. And they did, eventually developing a blur that could verge on experimental noise. Finally they burned as fast as they could, and realizing that was the case, they stopped. It was 1984. The rest of the story is well known: Dinosaur Jr., the Outpatients, Sebadoh, Gobblehoof, etc.

Most of what Deep Wound recorded is on this disk, and it still sounds pretty choice the hundredth time through (believe me, I know). Like many of their suburban king, there are huge swathes of Xeroxed style and content, but these patches are obliterated by an underlying fascination with the reckless potential of absolute speed, and an intellectual overlay (albeit in a nascent state) that would blossom more fully in the bands that would follow.

But y'know, hardcore was a really fucking good scene. And Deep Wound were a really fucking good hardcore band.

About this product: this release is pressed on black vinyl.