Tuesday, January 20, 2009

BEYOND dew it! demo tape (1988)

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1.one kind word
2.effort
3.what awaits us
4.hoax
5.seasons
6.feedback
7.vitality
8.better things to do

If you went to hardcore shows in the late 80's at all in Albany NY or even Connecticut then you probably got to see Beyond more than once. These were Great times for sure. It seemed like every kid in Albany went to hardcore shows back then, whether they were sporting a bad mullet or not. The shows were always packed and there was sorta like an Albany NY Vs. Troy NY vibe going on. Seemed The Albany kids were the punk hardcore kids, while the Troy heads had long hair and dug more metal sty lings of underground music. This is from an outsiders view, as I was only seeing shows here in the mid-late 80's when I would come home to Albany to visit family from California. One of these shows included me getting to see Beyond. It was the first time I think I'd met Brian from Glee Club, Roger from Brain Tattoo, and Buddy from Substance. People I later ended up becoming friends with after moving home again. Albany way supportive of the straight edge scene, and Beyond were part of that for sure. Watching the pile ons, and finger pointing, and moshing was always cool to see at these shows.
When I recently broke this demo out again after not listening to it for twenty years, I didn't think it had aged to well. As I listened on I realized just how awesome these dudes were for the time. You could hear the influences of Youth Of Today, Minor Threat and even a bit of Iron Maiden at times. Tom Beyond the guitarist was sorta looked up to by many of the hardcore and even some metal meat heads. His guitar playing was pretty original for the time period I guess. This demo definitely takes me back to Dave Stein's Albany NY hardcore shows. The song "what awaits us" really starts off sounding a lot like Supertouch's "searching for the light".

http://www.mediafire.com/?fmyvta6ugjj

11 comments:

  1. Oh holy shit how I love Beyond. No Longer At Ease is one of my very favorite albums of all time. It was so cool to hear a New York hardcore band doing this kinda heavy tech stuff. Your so right about Tom's guitar playing - he was/is one of my heroes. Definitely looked up to by this metal meat head. The rhythm section was pretty sick too - Vic Dicara was an incredible bass player. Man i can go on and on about my love for Beyond. I also really dug the Bold 7" that Tom played on as well. And Quicksand. Tom and Alan obviously had a pretty special musical connection.

    I'm so glad to see these guys gettin some props. What an incredible band. Crazy I was actually thinkin about Beyond earlier today when I got out the Burn "Shall Be Judged" 7" and played it.

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  2. thanks man! so good.

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  4. Thank you, I had this. Really enjoyedit.
    Still pissed off they ripped me off $8 or so when I ordered from them, think it was an album back in 1988-89.
    One member was in a dif't band playing Toronto and someone mentioned I should tell him.
    WHY?
    I didn't want anything from his new band!

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  5. first reason to believe, now this...many thanks again...i seem to be working off some kind of minor download addiction right now...

    greatest demo of all time?
    possibly...

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  6. Wow, nice to hear that again. I hung out with Tom briefly in NYC and I set up a show with Beyond, Bold + others in PA. He gave me the demo, which I've since lost, they were really good musicians. Lot's of fun. Thanks for the memories.

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  7. holy shit, I just saw this tape kickin' around my basement the other day with all my other demo tapes! I saw Beyond a few times back in '88--90 or thereabouts, in D.C., maybe once in NYC, once somewhere in between.

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  8. Nagyon köszönöm!

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  9. thanks for posting this. now maybe my friends can leave me the f**k alone and stop asking me to make them copies.

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  10. I used to trade 'zines with Vic back then and one time he sent along with the 'zine this demo, along with other demos on the Shred 'zine recordings. This was the best of the lot, but Vic's other band was good too, coming from a S.E approach.

    "Rad Zone 'Zine"

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