About Me
Malignus Youth perhaps started as any other band, each member being schoolmates, friends and acquaitances in a typical setting, in this case, a small town in Cochise County, Sierra Vista, AZ, 60 miles south of Tucson and 20 miles from the Mexican border. James Martin (guitar) taught Tom Shelden (Bass) a basic groundwork for bass guitar and together, with Octavio Olaje (vocals), Troy Lawrence (guitar) and DOVER TRENCH drum wizard Matt Pimple (later Mike Lawrence) established the first Malignus Youth lineup.
Beginning with a party in the dusty hovel of Huachuca City, Arizona in 1987, Malignus Youth's reputation slowly expanded with the band's first two shows. In the crowd of their third show was Mike Armenta who was himself playing in another band. Mike Lawrence decided to leave the band and so, the Martin recruited Armenta from his band. Armenta, conscious of Mailgnus Youth's apparent potential, left his old band quickly.
Musically, Malignus Youth begun in a typical punk rock fashion. Fast tempos, 4/4 time, slow introductions followed by fast verse-chorus-verse, lyrics with social relevance. Uniquely, tempos became faster and yet showed a control and tightness that was impressive. Due to the minimalist instrumentation requried to economize these fast tempos and shorter songs, the decision was made to fire Lawrence.
With this lineup, Malignus Youth began it's career with a vengeance, playing it's first show at a party in Tucson and then going on to play numerous shows in the Phoenix and Tucson area throughout 1988. One of these shows was with California punk band DOGGY STYLE.
Malignus Youth's musical style began to change from standard punk rock elements. Shouting vocal began to develop into unison melody singing The basic verse-chorus-verse structure began to be scrutinized and altered into even patterns each with it's own structure. Bass lines became more melodic and experimental in pitch. Guitar lines served to counterpoint the melodic basslines creating, very uniquly, a musical point-counterpoint, perhaps at this point, unheard of in punk rock. The Malignus Youth style was taking shape.
In January 1988, using a late 70's model four-track reel to reel, 8 songs were recorded live in James' parents' bedroom turned DIY studio. These 8 tracks were released on a clear vinyl extended-play (EP) album self-entitled MALIGNUS YOUTH on their' new label YOUTH INC RECORDS. Only a limited number were ever released.
A radio DJ on the campus of Texas A&M in College Staion Texas mailed a copy of MALIGNUS YOUTH to former MINOR THREAT and FUGAZI vocalist Ian McKaye. McKaye then responded stating a favorable opinion of the EP and commented on his particular favorite on the album.
A punk scene was beginning to grow in Cochise County. Beginning with the now legendary DOVER TRENCH, in Bisbee, a new band HEADSPACE were playing its first shows with Malignus Youth. Tombstone was seeing the birth of punk rock band, HELLDAY, Tucson punk legends BLOOD SPASM (with legendary guitarist Paul Young) and AMERICAN DEATHTRIP began playing shows together with Malignus Youth, HEADSPACE and HELLDAY. In this way, each punk rock scene in each sister city, Sierra Vista, Bisbee, Tucson, Tombstone, and Phoenix was connected to each other and became a single scene. For anyone who was a part of that scene, the incredible feeling of family created a life long bond despite its several thousand of members.
The greatest expression of this close knit scene was an ambitous 3 day orgy of punk rock held in the Arizona desert. It was the Punk Rock Woodstock, a "Punkstock" featuring Punk Rock bands from around the state including OPINION ZERO, HEADSPACE, BLOOD SPASM, CIVIL ORDER, FUCT, COSMIC JACKHAMMER, and many more.
Later in 1989, Malignus Youth was booked on the same bill as BAD RELIGION at the Magnum Sound Warehouse in Tucson with COSMIC JACKHAMMER and F.U.C.T. After the show and perhaps unbeknownest to most people, a meeting was held between BAD RELIGION and Malignus Youth in which Malignus Youth was ultimatley offered an opportunity to sign to BAD RELIGION'S record label EPITAPH RECORDS.
Punk Rock music from its birth has always been not only an alternative, but a movement against the commercial mainstream production of music art in an industrial fashion. The freedom of a Do it Yourself (DIY) philosophy and the consequential rejection of industry percieved, mainstream audience expectations still serves to keep punk rock music unlimited in its artistic expression. Punk rock, therefore could be regarded as an artistic movement with perhaps the highest form of artistic integrity without the limitations on expression, production or performance that mainstream success, in this case, a major or even minor label status would certainmly demand. In the interest of keeping from "selling out" and losing the unhindered, creative expression that punk rock offers, it was decided among the band not to accept this offer. Later in Malignus Youth's career, they would attract the eye of labels ATLANTIC RECORDS and RSO RECORDS.
IN 1990, a second EP was recorded live recording techniques again using "James' bedroom" and the same 4-track recorder. This second EP, titled CRISIS was released as a limited edition red and green vinyl, containing a 2 poster lyric sheet which has since become rare. CRISIS was titled so and released amid a tragic period in which personal friends within the Arizona Punk Rock Family were killed and was dedicated to them. The music contained themes of conflict, personal loss, fear of growing up, hopelessness and suicide. This with the following LP, MORE IT, created the first part of a two part work in which MORE TO IT served as the resolution to the previous "crisis". The 2 posters within the CRISIS package contained a photographic collage by artist Beth Guinter, representing the Cochise County arm of the Arizona Punk Rock Scene.
Maligns Youth's musical output was growing. CRISIS represented an expansion of music that was beginning to defy the conventions that punk rock itself had established with compositional techniques associated with classical music. Unique use of cadences in the guitar created vamps or "riffs" each with a tension-release tension-release pattern creating a dramatic element that mergied into musical ideas, themes and phrases. Songs drifted away from 4/4 time to 3/4 and back, sometimes one after the other, sometimes occuring simultaneously. 2-part harmonies and call and response singing patterns and use of counterpoint, a concept of Baroque music of the 18th century, in some songs, accompanied others with more traditional vocal styles.
These unique elements of Malignus Youth's music were given their full reign in the 1991 full length LP MORE TO IT recorded in James' bedroom studio and released on blue vinyl. MORE TO IT took the shape of a punk rock concept album, the resolution of crisis expressed by the previous EP. The songs on MORE TO IT were a song cycle, united by keys and themes,and partially inspired by the writings of philosopher Immanual Kant. The album developing the themes from CRISIS into a psychological tapestry of "humanity as the ends as well as the means",or the mind's contribution to its own knowledge and the resulting epiphany that there truly is "more to it". Visually, MORE TO IT presented these themes by the 1568 painting by Pieter Brughel, the Elder, The Misanthrope, currently at the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples which appeared on the front cover.
The music on MORE TO IT represented the evolving Malignus Youth musical style at its most developed and featured dramatic and artisitic elements that helped to re-establish the limits of artistic expression in the punk rock genre. Ascending and descending keys, two and three part harmonies in counterpoint, singing styles in guitar and bass playing against standard power chords, sophisiticated tempo changes, complex polyrhythms in drum parts, innovative use of musical cadences for dramatic effect, experimental tangents in different musical styles and even slight canonic variation, showed a knowledge and execution of more advanced musical theory mostly foreign to punk rock music.
In June 1992, Malignus Youth played a show with the legendary band ALL in Phoenix. This event was memorable due to a band member being followed around by a strange gentleman who turned out to be DESCENDANTS/ALL guitarist Stephan Egerton who together with BLACK FLAG/ALL drummer Bill Stevenson offered to record Malignus Youth for Cruz/SST Records. Although never followed up on, this "praise from Caesar" reflected a growing influence of Malignus Youth on growing audiences as well as respected and established artists within the punk rock world.
In the next three years, with the help of an independent investor, Malignus Youth toured the western United States that proved to be as fortunate as it was well planned. During this tour, Malignus would play at the legendary Tacoland in San Antonio, Southern California's punk rock Mecca 921 Gilman Street with GREEN DAY, Salt Lake City with THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES and Fort Collins, Colorado with THE OFFSPRING. In the audience of a show in Eugene, Oregon was the legendary guitarist of CANNED HEAT and Frank Zappa's original MOTHERS OF INVENTION, Henry Vestine who was happy to communicate his praise to band and audience members.
Between tours and with the free studio time won in a "Battle of the Bands" contest, Malignus Youth recorded and released on CD, its most artistic and conceptually ambitious work to date. Inspired by the classical music tradition of composing music for liturgical text, such as Beethoven's Roman Catholic Mass setting, the Missa Solemnis and the Mozart setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass, the Requiem, Malignus Youth produced it's own setting of the Mass, untitled except for its traditional and scholarly appropriate designation, MISSA BREVIS (literally "brief Mass). This CD was released with unreleased tracks collectively called Ephemeral Using the original Greek and Latin text and including additional English lyrics, this 5 song compostition including its traditional introduction (or Introit) was the seminal Malignus Youth work that illustrated the depth and scope of their musical abilities. Punk rock, perhaps, could now be seen as having evolved from its simple minimalist style into musical genre of unrestricted artistic expression that challenged and won the right to stand among like genres such as Classical and Jazz music.
Following their 1994 tour, the members of Malignus Youth seperated to pursue different academic and musical goals and unofficially disbanded. In the next few years, demand for Malignus Youth on CD prompted the 1998 re-release of the MALIGNUS YOUTH EP, the CRISIS EP and the full length LP, MORE TO IT on a single CD entitled VINYL CD.
In 1999, due to increasing public interest, Malignus Youth experienced a sort of Renaissance. A series of sold out "Reunion" shows occured at the legendary Vaudeville era theater, the Rialto, in Tucson. Bands from the, by then, legendary Southern Arizona Hardcore scene including HELLDAY and THE AMERICAN DEATHTRIP played on the same bill as Malignus Youth and each members' side projects including James Martin's band PATHOS, Tom Shelden's band MYNDBENT with THE AMERICAN DEATHTRIP's vocalist RIC EVARIAN, and Mike Armenta's band ANYFACE and SHRUNKEN MONKEY PAW including THE AMERICAN DEATHTRIP's bassist Eric York. These shows were a symbol of the past, present and hopeful future of an Arizona Hardcore scene still thriving today.
Malignus Youth followed these series of shows at the Rialto for a series of shows around Arizona. These shows would see Malignus Youth joining tours and playing shows with some of the most legendary bands in the entire genre including D.R.I., FEAR, THE MISFITS and and a reunion with CITIZEN FISH. In a memorable twist of fate, SUBHUMANS and CITIZEN FISH members, most notably bassist Jasper Trotsky not only remembered playing with Malignus Youth several years before, but admitted to be "fans" of Malignus Youth, even going so far as to video record them for his bands' personal collection.
After these shows, again each member went ther seperate way to resume other goals. James Martin is married with chiildren and holds a Master's Degree as a Graphic Artist. Octavio Olaje is married with children and works as a Massage Therapist. Tom Shelden has recently become the father of a baby girl and Mike Armenta works as an Elemntary School teacher and is a free-lance musician, musical director, choral director, vocal coach, composer and musical consultant. Youth Inc Records went on to host releases from PATHOS and Cochise County's G-39 and then disbanded.
In 2001, in the 25th Anniversary of Punk Rock issue of SPIN MAGAZINE's Website supplement, JIMMY EAT WORLD vocalist and guitatrist Jim Adkins was asked his opinion on the best or favorite Punk Rock albums and/or singles of all time. He responded "Malignus Youth, More To It. Yup. That's pretty much the best,"
Although not officially or unofficially disbanded, Malignus Youth could be considered to be still together, although not currently active.The Malignus Youth CD's are out of print! They've bveen out of print for years. You can, however find it for sale if you follow these links:www.austrinken.com/discographien/MalignusYouth/malignu
s_youth.htm
www.toxicranchrecords.com
www.mrpibbs.com/inmat/IM-012006-USIMPLP.htm
www.dormant.com.mx/cds.htm.. width="425" height="350" .... width="425" height="350" ..
