7in - Exit - The Exit E.P. (RSD 2014, Black Wax, Ltd 400)
LAST AVAILABLE COPIES!!!
PERMANENT RECORDS' 40TH LABEL RELEASE!
Impossibly rare Chicago Punk from 1979! Contains "Who Asked You" from
their sole release + three unreleased tracks culled from the original
master tapes!
Some History For ya:
"Chicago's vast South Side in the late 1970s wasn't exactly the
ideal breeding ground for punk rock, but as evidenced by the output of
the prolific Disturbing Records label (Cunts, Meaty Buys, Painterband,
etc) and a few shining examples of subversive culture festering in the
shadow of the bleak shadow of Midway, such as The Imports from Hyde Park
on Circkle Records, most notoriously, the band with the least-known
history has always been The Exit. As noted numerous times, Chicago's
disorganized, disconnected 70s punk 'scene' evolved on both the North
Side as well as the South Side, with the latter focusing on the bands
circulating around Harlow's Nightclub on the the 8000-block of south
Cicero, and have a far lesser known cast of characters sadly left out of
the mainstream historical context. As an area at the time known for its
diehard sports fanaticism as well as it's tough, blue collar lifestyle,
punk didn't have a fighting chance competing with cover bands in
neighborhood corner bars and avoiding the inevitable fisticuffs
associated with being anything outside of "normal" in 1979. But this is
where a band such as The Exit shines through the debris and really
stands out historically as a diamond in the rough.
When
doing research for the 2003 'History of Chicago Punk 1976-81' feature
article for Horizontal Action Magazine, we were confronted with nothing
but blank stares when inquiring about most of the South Side bands, even
from some of the Disturbing Records camp, which only further proves the
isolation and disconnection effect of playing and recording such
polarizing music at such an early time. The lone 7" release from The
Exit was a total mystery to even the most vivid memories of not only
band members, but also promoters, DJs, photographers, and general punk
enthusiasts from the era, and the amount of money the single sold for,
if and when it ever even appeared for sale, was often staggering, making
this band even more intriguing.
As
luck would have it, ten years later, one of the original band members
from The Exit casually walked into Permanent Records and introduced
themselves, finally forming the connection that had eluded so many
attempts to locate the band in the past. If you've heard the two songs
on their sole self-released 1979 single, you know the style of snotty
atypical Chicago punk this band was capable of crushing down, but to
most people of the record buying public, it was still a record very few
would hear, let alone ever see or be able to purchase. Even the folks
producing the Chicago punk history film 'You Weren't There' had no
connection, and were completely unfamiliar with this band, further
bolstering the disconnection of a centralized 'scene' primarily based on
the massive size of the Chicago sprawl.
Upon
meeting the guys in The Exit, the news of unreleased recordings sent
chills up the spines of anyone within earshot, so when Permanent got
it's hands on these unheard tracks, you could feel the 'missing link'
falling into place, and man is it ever worth the wait. What wasn't as
evident on the 7" tracks was the raw NY Dolls/Berlin
Brats/Stooges/Teenage Lust-style toughed-up glam rock sound the band was
hiding in their other tracks, a mean and skull-stomping meat &
potatoes thug punk sound that could have been HUGE if it reached the
right ears at the time. Sounding much more '1976' than '1979' here with a
slight anglo-punk snarl in the vocals and a tight proto-punk back beat,
these unreleased tracks by The Exit are going to strip the paint from
your ceiling and have you climbing the walls within seconds. You won't
know what hit you, but you will continue hitting yourself with it
because there's even MORE on the way. So rejoice in this epic Midwest
70s punk archeological find, and be sure to console to all the cocksure
70s North Side punkers, because Chicago underground music history is
being completely rewritten right before our ears here, and despite the
never-ending rift between the North & South, this time everyone
wins."
- Todd Killings / VictimofTime.com / HoZac Records 2014
RIYL: Buzzcocks, The Damned, Dead Boys, Epicycle, Flamin' Groovies, and Killed By Death rarities
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