History
Slapshot was formed in 1985 by Steve Risteen and Mark McKay, formerly of Terminally Ill; Jack "Choke" Kelly, formerly of Negative FX and Last Rights; and Jonathan Anastas, formerly of Decadence and DYS. Due to the reputations of its members, the band had a relatively high-profile even before its debut. The zine writer Mike Gitter (who was also an A&R executive) wrote "Slapshot is a great live act", before they had ever played in public. [1]
Diverging from their counterparts in the Boston hardcore scene, Slapshot decided to make the first album a 24-track recording as opposed to the usual 8 or 16-track hardcore album. To reduce costs, they recorded at night and completed the album in four sessions. Back On The Map was released by Taang! Records in 1986. [2]
The band's lineup underwent a number of changes in its first few years, although its sound remained consistent. Jordan Wood, formerly of S.T.P. and later of Deathwish, joined as an additional guitarist, but took over bass guitar when Anastas left the band to continue his education. This line up was featured on their sophomore release, Step On It (Taang! Records). In July 1988, Jamie Sciarappa, former bass player of SS Decontrol, joined the band and Jordan returned to his original slot as a second guitar player. This five-piece released the band's third studio album, Sudden Death Overtime , in 1990, receiving positive reviews. [3] [4] The band then toured the US in support of it in September and October 1990, as well as Europe during February 1991.
As the band prepared to record the next record, Jordan left, returning Slapshot to a single guitar band. Jamie moved to Los Angeles and was replaced with Mark and Steve's longtime friend Chris Lauria. Soon after, the band decided to fire Steve Risteen in 1992 due to what they felt was a lack of guitar skill, hiring Darryl Sheppard. It was a very difficult time for the band that was documented in the Slapshot documentary "Chip On My Shoulder: The Cautionary Tale of Slapshot". The band was then set for a U.S. tour, but Mark McKay told the band that he couldn't participate. Darryl Sheppard got Barry Hite, the drummer from his other band, to fill in for the tour. When Slapshot returned from the tour, McKay decided to officially quit the band and disconnected himself from the group personally. This was due to multiple issues, including a lack of interest in the new material the band was writing.
Their 1993 album Blast Furnace (We Bite Records) was a move into sample-based industrial/metal/hardcore sound. The lineup only included one original member, Choke, along with a more metal-based backing band including Darryl Sheppard of Slaughter Shack, Barry Hite and Chris Lauria. The album took 2 weeks to write and 3 days to record, with the band not being too impressed with the final result. Slapshot then toured Europe that spring, and on the second date of the tour, they recorded a live album in Berlin called Live at SO36 (We Bite Records). [1] [5]
The following year there was another line-up change that resulted in Darryl leaving the band to be replaced by Mike Bowser. They recorded the Unconsciousness LP (We Bite Records) in Chicago with Steve Albini, ex-member of Big Black and producer for Nirvana.
During this time, there was a lot of lot of tension between the band, with Chris Lauria not getting along with Barry Hite and Hite not getting along with Jack Kelly. Around the time of their 3rd studio album Unconsciousness being recorded, ex-guitar and bass player Jordan Wood committed suicide. This brought Mark McKay back into the group socially and ultimately back into the band. [1]
In August 1994 Slapshot went off to Europe for a two-month tour with Ignite and a split 7-inch single record was released to promote it. The tour kicked off at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden on August 11 and ended on October 4 in Germany. Slapshot played 50 shows in 7 countries in 54 days. When they returned from touring, Chris Lauria managed to convince Jack Kelly to get Mark McKay back.
With both Blast Furnace and Unconsciousness, the band ventured away from their hardcore sound into a more hard rock territory. Lead singer Choke later commented on the sound change, stating “Well you know after doing hardcore for a few years, everyone was starting to change and do something a little different. You think you’re doing what’s right, you think you doing what you’re into at the moment. Everyone was listening to Soundgarden and Nirvana and the whole grunge thing was getting pretty big. I was really into industrial bands like Ministry. You know what you like to do is probably not what the band should be doing at that period of time and you sort of get out of your comfort zone and do some things that you’re into at the time, but maybe some other people are not that into.” [6]
With its most solid line-up in years, including the return of their original drummer Mark McKay Slapshot returned to the studio to record their album, 16 Valve Hate (Lost & Found Records/Taang! Records) released in 1995. The album featured one of the bands more popular songs, "Big Mouth Strikes Again". Choke later recalled “When we were recording '16 Valve Hate' we kind of suddenly decided to do 'Big Mouth Strikes Again' and throw it together on the spot. A lot of the songs on that record were written in the studio on the day they were recorded. Was just one of those things were everything kind of came together on the day.” [6] On August 25, 1995, the band set off on their most ambitious tour to date in support of 16 Valve Hate. With Doug McKinnon (ex-Vandals) filling in for Mark McKay, Slapshot played over 60 shows in 8 countries with only 4 days off. Less than a year later – with the same line-up – the band released "Olde Tyme Hardcore" (Taang! Records, 1996). This album was a return to a more "old-school" hardcore sound and featured a cover of the SSD track "Get It Away". [7]
In early 1996, Century Media Records invited Slapshot to take the lead spot on the Crossover 2000 European tour. From the outset, things went poorly and the problems only escalated as the tour went on. About three weeks into the run, bassist Chris Lauria, frustrated and worn out, decided to leave and return home. His place was quickly taken by Brian Omer, who was already performing with another group on the tour, and he finished out the remaining dates with Slapshot. [8]
In July 1997, Slapshot played what was to be their last concert in the United States for five years, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Things then went quiet, leading people to believe the band had disbanded. However, they then toured Europe in 1999, including a stop at the Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium. Former band members still couldn't get along, so Chris Lauria and Steve Risteen wouldn't participate, leading to David Link coming in as the replacement. In December 1999, a Slapshot tribute album called Boston Drops the Gloves: A Tribute to Slapshot was released by Flat Records (the label owned by Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphys) and San Francisco-based TKO Records. The album included covers by 22 Boston bands. [9]
In 2001, Slapshot issued a new album entitled Greatest Hits, Slashes and Crosschecks (King Fisher/Century Media) featuring re-recorded and re-mastered versions of classic Slapshot songs, which featured the only recordings of the band with David Link on bass and was the last recorded material with Mike Bowser on guitar. [10]
In 2002, the band went on another Europe tour featuring the return of Chris Lauria. Later that same year, Slapshot played a 15-minute surprise set at The Hideaway in Cambridge, MA as part of a bill alongside Poison Idea, Kill Your Idols, Thumbs Up! and more. The overall reaction to the short set resulted in a full show being booked at The Hideaway for October 13, 2002. However, the club was forced to close just days before the show was scheduled to happen. On October 26, 2002, Slapshot was finally able to play a full set in the US for the first time in over 5 years. The show was the "6th annual Back to School Jam" in Framingham, MA and also featured Blood for Blood, Converge, Reach The Sky, Panic, No Warning, Some Kind of Hate and a rare set by Stars & Stripes. [1]
Around this time, Mike Bowser decided to move to New York for a new job and after a guitar search that ended with Ed Lalli (currently singing for The Welch Boys). Ever since the bands 1996 crossover tour, Jack Kelly had been contemplating disbanding the group. This changed when Chris Lauria called Kelly and suggested working on a new album. [8] They then returned to the studio for 2003's Digital Warfare (I Scream Records). This album saw the band return to their more aggressive/intense style. [11] It was followed by 2005's Tear It Down (Thorp Records), [12] along with several more European tours, including joining All, 7 Seconds, Walls Of Jericho, and Unearth on the 2004 Eastpak Resistance Tour. [13]
In 2006, Slapshot released a statement on their website announcing that the band was defunct. However, on June 30, 2007, they played at the Significant Fest 2007 in Clearwater, Florida. Also on the bill were Killing Time, 108 and Uppercut. In July 2008, they played a couple of dates in Europe, with a stop at the With Full Force festival in Germany. [14] These were to be the last shows featuring Ed Lalli on guitar.
Slapshot played a show at Anchors Up in Haverhill, Massachusetts on November 8, 2008, with Ten Yard Fight, Step Forward, and Word For Word. This show was a warm up for the 2008 Winter Tour with Energy and All For Nothing, which brought the return of longtime guitarist Mike Bowser and reformed the classic Olde Tyme Hardcore/16 Vale Hate line-up.
Upon returning from the tour Slapshot played as part of the "2008 Hometown Throwdown" in Boston on December 28 at the Middle East with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Choke joined the Bosstones on stage during their cover of the Slapshot song "What's at Stake".
April 24, 2009, finally brought the world premiere of the long-awaited Slapshot documentary film "Chip On My Shoulder: The Cautionary Tale of Slapshot". It premiered at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA to a sold-out audience as part of the Boston Independent Film Festival. Following its premiere the film was screened as part of a hardcore festival in Toronto Canada which also featured performances by Negative Approach and Supertouch. The film was also screened at the Salt Lake City Film Festival in August 2009. The film was directed and produced by Ian McFarland (Blood for Blood) and Anthony "Wrench" Moreschi (Ten Yard Fight) of Killswitch Productions and will be released on DVD by Taang! Records eventually.
After another line-up change (including Chris Lauria moving from bass to guitar) Slapshot headed back to Europe for 10 shows in August 2009 with the support of Frigate which features Chris Lauria of Slapshot, Linda Bean of Stars & Stripes and John Bean formerly of Bitter. The tour, dubbed the '2009 Replacements Tour', went well but late 2009 still brought about another line up change.
The next line up of Slapshot included founding member Jack 'Choke' Kelly, longtime member Chris Lauria (back on bass guitar), John Bean on drums and Craig Silverman (formerly of Only Living Witness and currently of The Enemy Within and the touring guitar player for Blood for Blood) on guitar. The band spent the first half of 2010 working on new material and hopes to have some new songs recorded before the end of the year. This line-up played the "Gallery East" reunion show in August 2010 after several warm-up shows in Europe.
In 2012, another lineup change brought Nick Charrette in to play bass. On June 6, 2012, the 3 song EP "I Believe" was released on Taang! Records as the 11th release by Slaphshot on Taang. [15] Ryan Packer joined on bass in late 2012. Benny Grotto joined in November 2014.
In 2014, the band went on tour in Australia for the first time, recording a song specifically for the tour titled "Everything Wants To Kill You. [6] Later that same year, they released their 6th studio album, a self-titled record, and went on another European tour. [16]
In February 2015, the band flew to The Netherlands to play a secret one-off show for a Dutch friend's birthday party in a small bar in Goes. [17] [18]
In 2016, the band went on a tour in Europe and the U.S. They also performed at Boston University’s Agganis Arena as part of a special St. Patrick's Week run. Douglas Mackinnon also took over on drums. [19] [20] They also released a live album, Blood Bath in Germany, which was originally recorded in on September 13th, 1995 in Esterhofen, Germany. [21]
In 2017, the band did a European tour alongside fellow Massachusetts band Dropkick Murphys. [22]
In 2018, Corey Koniz replaced Douglas Mackinnon on drums and the band released their 8th and last studio album, Make America Hate Again. Robert F., reviewing for Scene Point Blank, said that unlike most 'old-tyme' hardcore bands that end up sounding like tired and worn-out stereotypes of their former selves, Slapshot completely avoided that issue with their songs sounding fresher than ever. [23] They then followed up the album release with a U.S tour. [24]
On March 18, 2019, Craig Silverman announced that he was quitting Slapshot via his Instagram page. Long time friend of the band Tye Tonkin joined to play guitar in 2022.
In 2020, the band went on a 35th anniversary tour but had to postpone it due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. They then rescheduled the tour in 2021 and toured alongside Sheer Terror and Skull Crack in the "35 Years of Hardcore" tour. [25]
After doing a few U.S. shows in 2023, the band embarked on another European tour alongside Death Before Dishonor in the “Boston Takeover tour”. [26]
In 2024, the band went on an East Coast tour along with Ignite, Death by Stereo, and School Drugs. [27] Later that same year, they toured Europe alongside Ignite in celebration of the first time the two bands toured together in 1994. [28]
In late 2024, Slapshot announced that the band would retire in 2025: "...after 40 unforgettable years, we, SLAPSHOT, are announcing our retirement in 2025. This decision comes after an incredible journey filled with passion, hard work, trials and tribulations and a lot of fun." [29] The band then went on their last European tour, titled “The Hang Up Your Boots” tour. At a show in Eindhoven, bass player Ryan Packer said the band would play their last ever European show at the Dutch festival Revolution Calling in November 2025.
