Infest (band)

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Infest is an influential hardcore punk band, formed in September 1986 by Joe Denunzio, Matt Domino, Dave Ring and Chris Clift.

Infest, while not coining the term power violence, were definitely pioneers of it. The Los Angeles quartet blended the ethos, speed and song structure of straight edge hardcore, along with the aggression and anger of bands like Negative Approach and Negative FX creating a style emulated by many and an energy captured by few. Joe Denunzio’s vocals exhibited pure angst, with lyrical content about conformity, war, scene politics and socio-political issues, mostly delivered in an accusational assault.

Straight Edge was an influence in Infest's songwriting, with such songs as 'Mindless' and 'Drunk Motherfucker'. Infest did however differ from their peers in their fervent political stance and imagery, often depicting the tragedies of war and poverty, countering the obligatory "band in action" album covers common to the era. When asked about the hardcore scene Matt Domino said, "I think Hardstance rips it up and Chain of Strength are cool, but Insted and Breakaway are pretty cheesy. It seems most hardcore bands are going for a polished sound and package, we are really not into that." On the contrary, Infest's sound was fuzzy and on many of the early recordings indecipherable, but still captured their raw intensity.

On July 1, 1991, Infest recorded a live set for the Los Angeles radio station KXLU, capturing them in their element. This session was later released by Deep Six Records who also released the No Man's Slave LP. The vocals on No Man's Slave where recorded posthumously and the LP not released until the year 2000. Many Infest bootlegs have been made and are highly sought after by fans.

Infest recently has become a highly popular retro band among not only modern grindcore and thrash fans, but with fans of youth crew hardcore due to their straight edge ethics and moshable songs.

[edit] Discography

Pressing information provided as a reference point only. There are many "rumors" about how many of each release were made. People involved with the labels and band have different reports. Take everything with a grain of salt, or whole bowlful

1987 demo

1. Where's the Unity
2. If I Were You
3. Which Side?
4. Sick of Talk
5. Life's Halt
6. The End
7. Dirty Dope Dealer
8. Son of the Sun
9. Going

Self-titled 7" also known as Machismo 7" no label, year 1988
Pressing info
1000 black vinyl
later press of 100 clear vinyl and 100 purple vinyl on Draw Blank records #ed on back of sleeve
also bootleg version w/lyrics printed on back of sleeve

1. Machismo
2. Where's the unity
3. The game
4. Mindless
5. Which side
6. Headfirst
7. Break the chain
8. Slave
9. Sick & tired
10. Pliers

Slave LP Draw Blank Records/Off The Disk Records, year 1988
Pressing Info
Unknown # of test pressings with light green labels & handmade covers
Unknown # of test pressings with white labels in 1st pressing sleeve
1st pressing (red border sleeve, with printing error [white stripe down right side of jacket]& yellow insert)
100 pink vinyl w/ poster, insert, & stickers (less than 20[?] on purple/black swirl vinyl, pressing error)
100 yellow vinyl w/ poster, insert, & stickers
800 black vinyl
2nd press black border sleeve, printing error fixed.
100 split colored vinyl. 1 side green, one side blue (may also be variations of colors of sides)
200 clear green vinyl
200 opaque blue vinyl
3rd pressing
Unknown number of copies. Black vinyl with black sleeve
4th pressing Draw Blank records
100 grey vinyl, small photocopy of cover art pasted on the front of a blank white jacket
5th pressing Deep Six / Draw Blank records
unknown number of copies pressed on red, white, grey, black, purplish, & clear green vinyl. There are many variations of labels. Red vinyl was supposedly pressed first, and green was last.

1. Break The Chain
2. Pickled
3. Sick-o
4. Plastic
5. Mindless
6. Which Side?
7. Voice Your Opinion
8. Where's The Unity
9. Screwed
10. Machismo
11. The Game
12. Sick of Talk
13. Iran Scam
14. Life's Halt
15. Slave
16. Head First
17. Sick and Tired
18. Fetch the Pliers

Split 8" flexi with Pissed Happy Children Slap A Ham Records #1, year 1989
Pressing Info
1st press clear blue 8" flexi in green cover #ed inside, limited to 1000
In the late 90's chris dodge found some copies and sold them thru mailorder. They are #ed over 1000
2nd press on hard vinyl added songs from both bands. 200(?) blue vinyl, 800(?) black vinyl slightly altered sleeve
also european bootleg version in yellow cartoon sleeve

1. Mindless
2. Which side
3. Them
4. V.Y.O.
5. Pissed!
6. Machismo (repress bonus track)
7. Head First (repress bonus track)
8. Where's The Unity? (repress bonus track)

Mankind 7" Draw Blank / Deep Six Records, year 1991
Pressing info
all pressings in oversized sleeves, they get bigger as the pressings go on
supposedly there are 100 "band copies" on clear vinyl. 25 were given to each band member, and they each made their own sleeve. Only a handful of these ever made it into circulation, most being sold on ebay from the band members. There is a "elvis" sleeve, a live shot sleeve, and a break the chain sleeve.
1st press Draw Blank records. White sleeve, press 1,500 listed on back. Black labels.
2nd press Draw Blank records. White sleeve, press 500 listed on back. Red labels, slightly different insert
3rd press Deep Six / Draw Blank records. White sleeve, blue vinyl, one red, one black label. foldout insert w/ photo
4th press Deep Six. Various colored vinyl and sleeves. Red sleeve with yellow vinyl was said to be first. There are grey, blue, green, yellow, orange, black, etc. vinyl with red, green, blue, brown, etc sleeves. Insert has a photo on the back. There are many different labels.
5th press Deep Six 10" version with compilation tracks added 98 white vinyl, 900 black vinyl

1. Mankind
2. Judge Me
3. Speak Easy
4. Once Lost
5. Excess Pig
6. Them
7. Shackled Down
8. Just Act Blind
9. Kill The Peace
10. Three Or Nothing
11. This World is Dead (10" version bonus track)
12. Nothing Left Inside (-II-)
13. Big Mouth (-II-)

1991 KXLU Radioshow 12" Deep Six Records, year 2001

1. Shackled Down
2. Mankind
3. Judge Me
4. Blinded
5. Nothing's Changed
6. Once Lost
7. Speak Easy
8. Kill the Peace
9. Excess
10. Pig
11. Why Don't You
12. Sick and Tired
13. Just Act Blind
14. Seend it All Before
15. Slave
16. Pickled
17. Sicko
18. Break the Chain
19. My World My Way

No man's slave 12" Deep Six Records, year 2002 (Recorded 1995 and 2000)
Pressing info.
1st press
100 Blue swirl vinyl (mailorder edition)
100 Yellow vinyl w/ yellow sleeve & insert (band copies, has yet to be "released")
800 Black vinyl w/ white labels with black numbers printed on them.
2nd press
unknown number of copies with white labels and green ink, red ink, blue ink etc.
3rd press. remastered and recut
unknown number of copies with inverse white numbers on black background labels, different matrix etching. mastered louder(?)

1. Cold inside
2. Feeling mean
3. Sick machine
4. Upright mass
5. Terminal nation
6. In his name
7. Behind this tongue
8. Whats your claim
9. True violence
10. Sickman
11. Punchline
12. Contact
13. Effort falls down
14. You're a star
15. Freeze dried
16. Rabid pigs
17. Lying to myself
18. Nazi killer
19. My world, my way

Still fighting CD (bootleg)
compiles slave lp, machismo 7", mankind 7", phc split 8", apocalyptic convulsions 10" comp, 87 demos, and rehersal tracks

1. Break The Chain
2. Pickled
3. Sick-o
4. Plastic
5. Mindless
6. Which Side?
7. Voice Your Opinion
8. Where's The Unity
9. Screwed
10. Machismo
11. The Game
12. Sick of Talk
13. Iran Scam
14. Life's Halt
15. Slave
16. Head First
17. Sick and Tired
18. Fetch the Pliers
19. Machismo, Where's the unity, The game, Mindless, Which side
20. Headfirst, Break the chain, Slave, Sick & tired, Pliers
21. Mankind, Judge Me, Speak Easy, Once Lost, Excess Pig
22. Them, Shackled Down, Just Act Blind, Kill The Peace, Three Or Nothing
23. Mindless, Which side, Them, V.Y.O., Pissed!
24. (Untitled)
25. Where's the Unity, If I Were You, Which Side?
26. Sick of Talk, Life's Halt, The End
27. Dirty Dope Dealer, Son of the Sun, Going
28. Rehersal Tracks

How They Poison The Young 10"
Bootleg 500 pressed on ear wax records
sleeve lists these songs

Side One

1. Shackled Down
2. Mankind
3. Judge Me
4. (Unreleased)
5. Nothing's Changed
6. Once Lost
7. Speak Easy
8. Kill the Peace
9. (Unreleased)
10. (Unreleased)
11. Pickled
12. Break The Chain
13. Why Don't You

Side Two

1. Sicko
2. Sick And Tired
3. Just Act Blind
4. (Unreleased)

Demo 1987 12" Bootleg See 1987 Demo track listing.