Myspace.com - Han Shan 寒山

Han Shan has a myspace!

http://www.myspace.com/hanshanband

"About Han Shan 寒山

Formed 1991 in Arroyo Grande, CA. Named after the Chinese Hermit Poet Hanshan. The band went through several singers until Chris Pontius joined. Chris once arrived at a show wearing a banana yellow leisure suit with matching shirt. Towards the end of the gig, he hurled himself into the drumkit. Chris is on the band's first recordings Reality Control Compilation 1. After the recording, Chris disappeared until resurfacing several years later with the Jack Ass crew. Cory stepped in for vocals for the Han Shan 7", as well as the last two gigs at Gilman St. and Santa Cruz. Members current whereabouts: Dave: Behead the Prophet, Tight Bros, Drunk Horse Chris: Jack Ass Corey: Dragon Rojo, Salem Lights Shawn: Astral 1999 - 2005

Influences - Void, Coltrane, noise........

Thanks to the following sources for converting the songs and speaking nicely about a 15 year old hardcore band: http://hardcorefornerds.blogspot.com/2007/08/han-shan-st-7.html http://news.mrdwab.com/2007-10-22/reality-control-compilations/more-119"

[actually, I only converted the songs from .ogg into mp3; the original rips and artwork was from an existing blog, Antithesis]

This myspace is the creation of the original drummer of the band, Shawn (Myspace - Shawn Yu) who left a comment on my original post a while back. In case you didn't get that the first time, above, that was the very first post on this blog, way back in last August:

Hardcore for Nerds: Han Shan - s/t 7"

Anyway, I think it's very cool that the band has a myspace now (surprisingly many old emo bands do, e.g. Indian Summer or Crownhate Ruin) and of course the 7" in itself is awesome. I cover it partially in my original post, but it's worth repeating that this record has an extraordinarily impressive abrasive, melodic hardcore/emo sound to it.

If, regarding Han Shan, you haven't heard of the particular Chinese hermit referenced in the name, then you should probably (or rather, definitely) read this book. Blend from Zen and the Art of Face Punching will agree with me on this.

I haven't posted much music of this kind in the past while on the blog, although I know it is most of the appeal of Hardcore for Nerds for most of the people who read it. Recent posts on Future of the Left, Fight Like Apes or 21st Century Bites have been far more on the indie/punk side of things than the hardcore/emo tendency. Not that that is anything to really apologise about; bottom line, it's what I'm into on a day-to-day basis. When I'm going to gigs or buying records, my focus is naturally drawn away from mid 90's punk to other things a bit more contemporary. Maybe that wasn't so much the case half a year ago, but hey, everybody changes.

I do have some solid posts coming up on a more hardcore bent, mainly to do with vinyl - Grant Hart's 2541 EP, Fugazi's 7 Songs and Margin Walker - as well as possibly the greatest Irish punk album ever, The Undertones self-titled debut. And ex-Mclusky band, Shooting at Unarmed Men, have just released a totally punk rock triple album.

However, for something a little more obscurely HfN 'emo', I'm afraid I've run out of most of the stuff I personally have (i.e. discovered online!). There are still some good things I want to post up sometime, mostly short stuff like:

- Admiral & Fine Day 7"s (pre-Hoover)

- Saetia demo cassette (the best four songs of their discography, in my opinion)

- La Quiete s/t 7" (a 2006 release which is just astoundingly beautiful screamo - originally from Zen Face, but I hope to maybe get a real copy myself some time)

- Floodgate I Chose Danger 2x7" (another great emo find, laboriously converted from .ogg via Antithesis)

- Hated 'No More We Cry' 7" (excellent contemporaries of Moss Icon, from the Maryland area)

... and probably some other stuff, I don't want to be too limiting here.

And, of course, anything else generally hardcore/post-hardcore/para-hardcore that takes my fancy along the way (Blacktop Cadence, The Pupils, Sinaloa, Jawbreaker or Leatherface anyone?)

In the meantime, thanks to all the diverse blogs out there (those who I have been in contact with, and those which I haven't) who keep the music and the thought flowing.

cheers

- gabbagabbahey

comments, anyone?