shiv

THAT WHICH WAS SHIV:
It doesn't count if you don't bleed.
You can supplement your band expenses by selling your body for medical experiments. That piece of leg did grow back. Your friends will rescue you, in a dopamine haze, from the West Haven Medical Center.
You can tour the USA for a month from coast-to-coast on a 7 inch record and $200 dollars in your pocket.
Burning the candle at both ends from 1992 to 1996.
Songs above are:
Fruit Pie ripped from 'Flayed and Ashamed' on Thirsty Ear Records. We recorded this CD in the summer of 1995 at Am Rep in Minneapolis with Tim Mac.
Naturals Not In It from the comp 'Psychocivilized' on Elevator Music. This song was also from the Am Rep session. Needless to say we didn't really fit on the Psychocivilized comp which featured other bands like Killing Time, Botch, and 25 Ta Life. I guess we should have put a more appropriate 'heavy' song on the comp, but it was more fun to use 'Naturals Not In It' by Gang of Four.
Methusela was our first song with the original Shiv singer Greg. Shiv was 3/4 of the band Beef Trust, so if you wanna hear more of Greg you can find the Beef Trust 7 inch on Ebay.
High Neckin another track from 'Flayed and Ashamed.' Very soon I'm going to replace this song with a sludgy track from 'Fractured Chastiture' CD.
Good Fucking Times:
In the summer of 1992, Shiv was very influenced by VMJ and the local music scene in New Haven, CT. VMJ was an awesome loud rock band with Micah, Vid and John. They showed us how to cover Kiss and MC5 songs and turn up the volume to 10. If VMJ did not exist there would _not_ have been a Shiv as we know it. Shiv would've been a hardcore band without the rock influences. The New Haven Music scene around 1992 was explosive. People were really hyped on the local bands that had been evolving since the 80s and new bands that kept showing up at the Daily Cafe. The New Haven Green (a park in the center of the city) featured live local music almost every weekend and these concerts were big DIY events. Just kids making music and kids listening to music. Every genre imaginable was represented - punk, folk, hardcore, rap, rock, jazz, funk, ska, etc. It was a cool time because there really were no other venues in CT for all ages shows (the Antrhax Club in Norwalk was closed). I guess the lack of actual organized shows allowed for concert events on the New Haven Green to explode with popularity. Then the shows got too big and cops were needed, fights broke out, lawsuits were flying. As with most scenes, it was over very quickly. That fall, the Tune Inn all ages club opened in New Haven and the scene lived there for 10 years.
In 1993, Shiv started playing lots of incredible shows with Glazed Baby (Providence) and Earshot (Cape Cod). These bands were so incredibly good. We must've played at lease a dozen shows with Glazed Baby. The Glazed Baby Handgun CD EP is awesome and it's recorded by that guy in Chicago so you know it sounds sweet. I was this close (imagine my fingers pressed together tightly) to playing guitar for Glazed Baby after Shiv broke up. I'm an idiot for not joining them because later that year Glazed Baby toured the country with Neurosis.
Four years quickly took it's toll playing shows every weekend in basements, clubs, garages, squats, and mexican restaurants (Poco Locos forever) and opening for bands like the Cows, Laughing Hyenas, Lunachicks, Rancid, Bouncing Souls, Mindwar, and Anit-seen. A lot of these bands we played with on our one national tour and three east-coast/mid-west tours. In 1996, while writting songs for our 2nd CD for Thirsty Ear we decided to throw in the towel and try playing in other bands.
Judge a band by its covers:
Parliament - Funky Woman (our first cover)
76% Uncertain - Hallmark
Black Flag - Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie and Wasted
Sick of It All - Politics
Juicy Lucy - Midnight Sun
Black Sabbath - NIB
Gang Of Four - Naturals Not In It
Ace Frehley - Rip It Out
Kiss - Deuce