I was reviewing records and demos for a friend's zine back in the mid 00s when this cassette fell into my lap. CRACKS on this demo were just two people, Philip (guitar/bass/vocals) and Vince (drums) and their eight tracks blew my mind. I had images of the only two punks in Bloomfield, Illinois bashing out sweaty hardcore out of sheer necessity, never playing shows because no one would come, combing the pages of MaximumRockNRoll for information about the punk world outside an existence dominated by close minds and government subsidized corn fields. There's something about hearing the middle american frustration of lyrics to songs like "Live The Lie" that makes punk seem totally real all over again ("I stagger home from the bar - I chew on hate / the unreality shows always start at 8"), and I fell in love with this demo. Vince lives in Philadelphia now, and bashes the skins for WITCH HUNT, while Philip has been through several incarnations of THE CRACKS (one that even included a very excited Wizard for a few unfortunately fruitless rehearsals), and just released a fucking killer EP. So here's what started my perhaps unhealthy obsession with a Midwestern hardcore band...
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