Monday, December 28, 2009

THE WARDS: "RIPPED OFF IN BOSTON" 1984 DEMO.



The Wards were the earliest punk band to hail from the state of Vermont, the plentiful land of maple syrup. The Wards released two extraordinarily underrated 7” EPs: “The World Ain’t Pretty and Neither Are We” in 1983 and “Don't Make U.S. Shoot the Pershing II” in 1984. Many of the songs on the debut 7” EP were written as early as 1979 but were recorded and self-released later due to financial limitations and trouble with finding a label that would release their material.

The “Ripped Off In Boston” cassette was the band’s final release following the first two vinyl releases and a subsequent demo recording that was circulated. “Ripped Off In Boston” was christened when the Wards had their van burglarized when it was parked in Kenmore Square. The original cover art of this cassette depicts a gigantic ogre grasping their van in his burly clutches, about to steal the contents of the van. This cassette was recorded in 1984 by Lou Giordano at Radiobeat Studios, who of course well known for recording material by such classic bands as SS Decontrol, Jerry’s Kids, Deep Wound, and the Proletariat.

For lack of a better classification, this release can be considered a demo since it was self-released and not widely disseminated. The tracks are quite similar to vinyl offerings but perhaps with an added aggressiveness due to Giordano's production. It would be nice to see the four releases by the Wards compiled officially and released as one LP.

DOWNLOAD:

5 comments:

  1. Hi!
    I'm Fredrik From Sweden
    I Really Like Your Site
    i check it dayly
    hopping for more Noise the show
    it's really great listening to them at work
    in sweden we had a radio show called Ny våg
    (New Wave) broadcasted on the swedish national
    Radio every tuesday from 1980 to 1983
    playing the newest punk and hardcore from UK
    and USA and of course Sweden
    that was also great
    i have 30-40 of these Radio shows on mp3
    and it's great listening to them at work
    so i'm really waiting for your next post of
    Noise the show
    all the best
    Fredrik

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  2. I would would absolutely love to get these from you. I'd love to post them here on the archive.

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  3. Wards, being still active (and not good for decades), had other releases. When I was at WRUV in the 90s there were some tapes releases they brought us.

    I believe the early material is planned to be releases. I thought by the person that did the Pure Hell LP/CD.

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  4. Glad to hear this stuff is being reissued. Welfare Records did a decent job with that Pure Hell reissue. It's about time the Wards get the treatment!

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  5. Hello,
    I just stumble onto your site and the killer world of punk and HC blogs??? so crazy to see so much available. thank you.
    this band the wards sounds killer. the link is down. also, has their material already been re-issued?? i'm going by the above comments. thank you again!!

    ReplyDelete