The Mob (American hardcore band)

Last updated

The Mob is a New York hardcore band formed in 1980. The band began when Jack Flanagan left the group Heart Attack to form his own group with Ralph Gebbia, John Frawley, and Nicko. After being exposed to hardcore through a Bad Brains show at CBGB, the group started playing harder and faster (described by Flanagan as "speedrock"), [1] moving away from the sound of the first wave of New York City punk rock bands. In 1981, Jose Gonzalez officially joined the group, following John Frawley's departure to join Heart Attack, and Jamie Shanahan replaced Nicko on drums. With Gonzalez, the Mob released two iconic hardcore singles, "Upset the System" and "Step Forward".

The Mob was included among the acts chosen to play the CBGB 10 year anniversary festival on December 24, 1983. [1] A few months later in 1984, the Ramones selected The Mob to open consecutive shows on March 17 in Brooklyn, NY (at L'Amour West) and on March 20 in Washington, DC (The Wax Museum). [1]

Gonzalez left the band to join HR for his first solo record It's About Luv, released in 1985 on Olive Tree Records. He was briefly replaced by Kenny Ahrens, lead vocalist of Urban Waste, before Chris Hackett assumed bass duties and the band recorded their first full-length album, We Come to Crush. The band continued, more or less with this lineup, until 1991, when they went on a hiatus with only a handful of sporadic shows and releases. In 2011, the group reunited to play live shows and record new music once again. From 2011 onward, the Mob shows and recordings were recorded as the Mob five-piece with Gonzalez on bass and Hackett on rhythm guitar. In 2012 the band released the single Back to Queens / That's It both written by Hackett/Gebbia. Jack Flanagan died in 2019 ending the 39-year run of the Mob. With the death of Flanagan, Hackett changed direction forming Monk & The 66, which Hackett describes as a DIY psychedelic soul garage band.” Monk & the 66 released their first single in March 2021.

Band members

Related Research Articles

Ludichrist is an American band formed in 1984 in Long Island, New York. Their musical style broke from the conventions of New York hardcore by adding aspects of rock, heavy metal and jazz, such as musical interludes and extended guitar solos. Ludichrist is one of the crossover movement's most prominent groups, alongside D.R.I. Drummer Dave Miranda saw Ludichrist as "crossing into both, punk and metal without firmly belonging into either camp." He observed that "the band was readily influenced by bands around them such as Crumbsuckers and Agnostic Front."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reagan Youth</span> American band

Reagan Youth is an American anarcho-punk band formed by singer Dave Rubinstein and guitarist Paul Bakija in Queens, New York City in early 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnostic Front</span> American hardcore punk band

Agnostic Front is an American hardcore punk band from New York City. Founded in 1980, the band is considered an important influence on the New York hardcore scene, as well as a pioneer of the crossover thrash genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superjoint</span> American metal band

Superjoint, formerly known as Superjoint Ritual, was an American metal/hardcore band formed in the 1990s and fronted by Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gorilla Biscuits</span> American hardcore punk band

Gorilla Biscuits are an American hardcore punk band from New York City, New York, United States, formed in 1986. The band currently consists of Anthony "Civ" Civarelli, Walter Schreifels, Arthur Smilios and Luke Abbey, and is signed to Revelation Records. Gorilla Biscuits are part of the New York hardcore scene.

Old Skull was an American punk rock novelty band that formed in Madison, Wisconsin in the late 1980s. The band was started by ten-year-old J.P. (Jean-Paul) Toulon and his nine-year-old brother, Jamie Toulon, with encouragement from their father Vern Toulon, a longtime member of the Madison punk scene who had spent time in New York City, where he was a guitarist for the industrial band Missing Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cro-Mags</span> American hardcore punk band

Cro-Mags are an American hardcore punk band from New York City. The band, which has a strong cult following, has released six studio albums, with the first two considered the most influential. With a Hare Krishna background, they were among the first bands to fuse hardcore punk with thrash metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government Issue</span> American hardcore punk band

Government Issue was an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C. active from 1980 to 1989. The band experienced many changes in membership during its nine-year existence, with singer John Stabb as the only consistent member in an ever-fluctuating lineup that at various times included notable musicians Brian Baker, Mike Fellows, Steve Hansgen, J. Robbins, and Peter Moffett. Government Issue originated from the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene but added elements of heavy metal, new wave, and psychedelic rock on later records. Though this has caused the band to be sometimes overlooked in relation to other Washington, D.C. hardcore acts, their stylistic diversity made them influential to later punk rock groups. Government Issue performed occasional reunion shows in the 2000s and 2010s with various lineups, until Stabb's death from stomach cancer in 2016.

Pilfers are an American ska band formed in 1997, when former Toasters vocalist, Coolie Ranx, at the urging of Pietaster's vocalist Steve Jackson, joined with former Bim Skala Bim trombonist, Vinny Nobile. To complete the lineup, they recruited the Skinnerbox rhythm section of Anna Milat-Meyer on bass and James Blanck on drums, as well as guitar player, Nick Bacon of The Erratics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slapshot (band)</span> American hardcore punk band

Slapshot is an American hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band has been active for over 30 years, releasing eight studio albums and a number of singles and EPs over that time period. Though there have been constant line-up changes, founding member Jack "Choke" Kelly has remained a constant member of the band and its primary vocalist and leader.

Gang Green is an American punk rock band originally from Braintree, Massachusetts. Chris Doherty (guitar), Bill Manley (bass) and Mike Dean (drums) started the band in 1980 and broke up in 1983. Doherty reformed Gang Green the following year, and the band experienced numerous lineup changes until its dissolution for the second time in 1992. Doherty has been the band's only constant member and has kept Gang Green active from 2005 onwards. The band was influential in the formation of the East Coast hardcore punk scene, and went on to become one of the forerunners of crossover thrash and speed metal in the late 1980s.

Urban Waste is a New York hardcore punk band from Ravenswood Queens that was part of the New York renaissance of hardcore punk in the early 1980s. Much more raw, visceral, and overtly confrontational than their New York punk predecessors, they were contemporaries of Reagan Youth, the earliest incarnation of the Beastie Boys, and Bad Brains. They belonged to a group of bands coming out of the borough of Queens that included Kraut, Gilligan's Revenge, Murphy's Law, and The Mob. The band, like many others of the era, was short-lived, and after the breakup several members went on to form Major Conflict.

Heart Attack was an American early New York hardcore band formed in 1980 and active until 1984.

Sheer Terror are an American hardcore punk band from New York City. The band was one of the first to combine elements of heavy metal with a hardcore punk base, pioneering a heavier style of hardcore that would create many bands in the following decades. Formed in late 1984, the band stayed together until 1998, through numerous lineup changes and shifts in musical style. In October 2004, the band reunited for two shows at New York City's CBGB Club.

Cable is an American band formed in 1994 in Rockville, Connecticut. They combine a hardcore punk and emo aesthetic with a rhythmically complex, often discordant metal-influenced musical approach. Lineup changes and delays between recordings may have hindered their notoriety over the years.

Leeway was an American crossover thrash band formed in Astoria, New York in 1984 by guitarist A.J. Novello and vocalist Eddie Sutton under the name The Unruled. To date, the band has released four studio albums – Born to Expire (1989), Desperate Measures (1991), Adult Crash (1994) and Open Mouth Kiss (1995) – and broken up and reformed several times over the years. Despite never achieving notable commercial success, Leeway is considered to be an integral part of the 1980s NYHC and crossover thrash scenes.

<i>One Voice</i> (Agnostic Front album) 1992 studio album by Agnostic Front

One Voice is the fourth full-length studio album from New York hardcore band Agnostic Front. It was released in 1992 on Relativity Records. It marks a three-year absence from recording – the last album was Live at CBGB in 1989 – after Roger Miret's term of imprisonment. However, the comeback was short-lived as after Last Warning, the band split up and did not record again until 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Chaos</span> American punk rock band

U.S. Chaos are an American punk rock band from Paterson, New Jersey, United States, formed in 1981 from remnants of first wave punk outfits The Radicals in 1978 then The Front Line in 1979. They are the first American band to play in an Oi!/street punk style. The band's approach was to play music with lyrics that had an overtly right-wing prose and sense of American patriotism. U.S. Chaos are considered to be the most of aggressive and threatening of all American punk groups. They often played recordings of military marches and air raid sirens before going on stage. U.S. Chaos are considered pioneers and an institution of New Jersey Punk history. The Radicals with Gary Reitmeyer, Glenn "Spikey" Mayer would separate with Alex Kinen, who would later have morphed full circle, to cause the first legitimate hardcore-punk genre split in history, predating all others to form Cause For Alarm and Agnostic Front

Kill Your Idols is an American hardcore punk band from New York, active from 1995 through 2007 and again from 2013 to the present. They were signed to SideOneDummy Records. Their releases on SideOne were Funeral for a Feeling (2001), a split with 7 Seconds in 2004, and From Companionship to Competition (2005). Other notable releases by the band were No Gimmicks Needed and This Is Just The Beginning... which were released on Blackout! Records. The band released several 7-inch EPs, splits with other bands, multiple compilation tracks, and two full-length LPs in their 11-year run. Most of their records were released on vinyl as well as compact disc. Some were released on different colors of vinyl, different sleeve covers, hand numbered tour presses, and picture discs, making their records a favorite among collectors.

The Stimulators were an American punk rock band from New York City. Although they have a limited discography, they are notable for being consistently cited as an important transitional band between the late-1970s New York City punk rock scene and New York hardcore, and for being the musical entry point for future Cro-Mags founder Harley Flanagan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Flanagan, Jack (March 10, 1984). "The Mob: Developments / Future Plans (Press Release)". Big City Fanzine (7) via Internet Archive.