Thursday, September 25, 2014

Intent To Injure

Boston is a hardcore town. It's in their DNA. It's a smaller town than you think. It is a variety of different personalities jammed into one area. Most cities have their home hardcore venue in their neighborhood cut off from the world of normies and outsiders. It is their territory. In New York City, you had the LES & the Bowery belong to the punks, scumbags, and junkies during its day. It is like that through much of the country. In Boston, you had The Rathskeller AKA "The Rat". The Rat was across the street from Fenway Park in Kenmore Square. Boston's home for hardcore was across the street from every drunk frat boy taking in their beloved Red Sox. Worse yet was when the Yankees would come to visit, then you had interloping New Yorkers stomping around your neighborhood. Kenmore Square was a powder keg. It was a culture clash happening on a regular basis. Boston hardcore's history through the 80s can be summed up in one word: violence. Starting with SS Decontrol & Al Barile fighting the drunks and druggies. Then you had the rise of FSU when they fought wars against the Nazi punks until they had eradicated it. This doesn't even include the countless fights that would happen outside The Rat, just cause. Boston is a fighting town.

What's bizarre about Boston hardcore is that while its traditions and history are celebrated ad nauseum their bands are often left unheralded. To your layman hardcore fan, Boston is viewed simply as a top heavy scene. You have Siege, SSD, Slapshot and the This Is Boston Not LA comp roster getting love. There are countless others who get ignored though. One such band came out in the late 80s when NYHC was seen by most fans of hardcore as the ground zero of hardcore. The band was Intent To Injure. Intent To Injure is everything you could ask for in Boston hardcore band and more. What's more, their influence is still felt today. Many members of today's best bands from Boston have cited Intent To Injure as influential. They only released three EPs before calling it quits. The band is charged with a certain kind of vitriol that is unique to Boston. Maybe that is why Intent To Injure doesn't generate more fanfare around the world today. It really is appropriate that they are named after a penalty in hockey that suggest a malicious intent and a lack of regard for other people's well-being. Great band, criminally underrated.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/jl0d1ai2h5l1t9i/Intent_To_Injure.rar

2 comments:

  1. ITI was from Providence not Boston. Close enough but still.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're both wrong. They where from New Bedford/ Dartmouth Ma.

    ReplyDelete