the Real Bitters

Long whispered about in tones usually reserved for the coming revolution or the lost promise of some great rising, the existence and vitality of The Bitters can now be finally verified. ::::::::::::: Little is known of this hard-edged combos formative days in the 1980s West Michigan hardcore community and less can be verified. In keeping with their rumored inspirations like the Young Lords, whose slogan Palante, Siempre Palante! (Forward, Always Forward) they took as their own, The White Panther Party and The Lettrists , none of the current members will speak on or off the record of their involvement or even the existence of the early incarnations of the band. Each replies the same languid, detached I dont know what youre talking about, man, as though even if they tried to relate the experience it would fall mute to the shavings of history and betray a pact long dormant yet demanding.::::::::::::: What can we really know of those dusty lost afternoons in the shadow of the Reagan mushroom cloud fever dream, of dusk on the cooling asphalt of the parking lot behind Viking Hall? We know that in that small shambling room roared the likes of Born Without a Face, The Necros and Violent Apathy and countless other bands that had the nerve and passion to rock the way they knew it could be rocked. :::::::::::::We know that amongst the youth gathered to testify to the greatness of this New Action, The Bitters formed. What we do not know, due to the Cosa Nostra like code of silence the current line-up has concerning its past, is who was originally there and what role they played. This blanket of secrecy seems to function as some sort of punk rock witness protection program for those former members who have lost their way, while providing the current members a comfortable level of plausible deniability for past transgressions. This all can be very frustrating for the historians, collectors and bullshit artists whose conversational calling card is I remember when., but for The Bitters it reinforces the Now, a flat out Fuck you to the it was better back in the day crowd.::::::::::::: The now of The Bitters is a sometimes white hot, sometimes sideways slam of Rock Action that wants to rattle the everyday out of your skull. Like the unspoken heads of a tribal council they gather to destroy the old order so that new can emerge. Planting the seeds for the next action, a promise of the bounty that rock can yield