Into Another - s/t (1991)
It may or may not be a surprise that Into Another is one of my most favorite bands. I believe we covered my love for Metal in middle school and how it led me down a path which leaves me here now, sitting in front of this computer, talking about why this or that mean this or that.
My intro to Into Another came at a time when my hardcore education came from ordering everything off the Revelation Records mail order list. Of course Sick of It All already owned my head and it wasnt long after that when I was able to obtain copies of Start Today and Break Down the Walls. So it goes, picture me, young and goofy, sitting on the floor of my bedroom thinking of how best to waste whatever meager pay I earned from the Royal Bookstore, circling just about everything in the catalog that I didnt own already (except for some reason the Slipknot 7" and the Warzone stuff). I ordered Supertouch, Bold, Chain of Strength, the self titled GB, Youth of Today's Disengage EP, and this (Not all at once, mind you). I was unfamiliar with Underdog despite knowing of them, but I knew the name Ritchie Birkenhead from the liner notes to Break Down the Walls, and I knew Drew Thomas as the drummer for Bold. So naturally, despite the strange description, I thought it would be hardcore.
Hardcore this is not. I am not even sure I have the touchstones to bring up when talking about this kind of music. It is clearly metal. And even though I enjoyed my share of Poison and the Crüe and Bon Jovi I cant veritably say that this has any relation to that. I cant even compare this to the heavier metal that I grew to love. In fact, the only touchstone I can think of is remembering my first impression of Overlord and thinking that it sounded like an early Ozzy Osbourne song. Aside from some love for Mr. Crowley and the opening bars of Crazy Train I can take or leave a good portion of his catalog (It's a different story with Black Sabbath. They ruled at what they did). Somehow, some way, this was everything that my 15 yr old brain wanted to hear.
Peter Moses had some of the best guitar style ever. His picture in the booklet was amazing. He looked like Steven Tyler circa Dream On, but he was wailing these awesome guitar lines that were at once glammy, sludgy, dark and brooding. Into Another were an anomaly and the best thing that couldve happened at the time. Not long after I ended up buying Ignaurus and Creepy Eepy and realized that these guys had mad skills. Tony Bono in particular sticks out to me often as his bass playing was amazing. And of course, Ritchie has pipes that can only be compared to the range of Axl Rose or Robert Plant. Dude can bust some notes. Thats all im sayin.
The Castlevania like guitar leads in While I Die, the hokey as hell lyrics in Dare Me (complete with an "Unh!") the sick bass lines in Splinters and the awesome breakdown in As It Were... I could wax poetic about every little nuance in every little song. The only thing that could do this justice is for you to relieve yourself of all pretense and listen. Loudly.
posted by blend77 at 12:12 PM
34 Comments:
obviously this record kicks ass, i think we;ve descussed into another before. the funny thing about them was that when this thing came out, people fucking hated it, like absolutely thought it was garbage and couldnt beleive revelation put it out. and it just slowly "crept" in on everybody...like one by one people slowly started to fall in love with it. like everyone secretly loved it when they first heard it but didnt want to admit it. anyway...funny times. it came out of left field when most of us were getting kind of sick of the same old crap. anyway...classic.
last i heard a few years ago richie was working on a solo album. that ever come out?
i dont believe that solo album ever came out. The interview I read about it was from 2002 and he had a name for it. But when i looked up the name I couldnt find anything of note.
Yeah, even when I first heard this I was kind of thrown back. It wasnt such a huge stretch for me to love this, but it still caught me off guard.
At this point its safe to say that Into Another are the only band of this style that I listen to. Ever.
on another note, one of the guys gave me a copy of Soul Control that was of pretty good quality. I know you gave me that one a ways back (Anne Dreuds Last Entry is awesome!) so maybe you would want to hear this different rip.
Let me know.
yeah i'll take a better quality copy. that would be great. thanks. i'll listen to it once and then shelve it away again! haha..
here ya go?
Soul Control
http://www.mediafire.com/?ljjmxztb3jz
hows the graphics world?
Not much to add to this. Into Another are one of the best bands ever (and I usually don't throw that kind of praise around...). If there is anything that I am proud of in my musical journey it is the fact that I immediately fell in love with this album when it came out. That might have to do with the fact that I saw them live when they were touring Germany in support of the album. I went to the show to see the headliner (Malstroem, which were this uhm, "crossover" act on Taang) and Into Another were opening for them and their show just fucking blew me away (but hardly anyone else). I tried to go to every gig that IA played in the following weeks within a reasonable driving distance and I got to talk to the guys a bit before the shows as they started recognizing me. They were all super friendly, too.
Ritchie Birkenhead had an almost finished solo album called "The Formula" which was already being promoted on his record label's webpage and all, and they had sound samples and everything. It sounded like a more electronica version of Soul Control and also had only one of the guys from IA playing with him. But that was more than 2 years ago and the thing never came out. I also friended Ritchie on Myspace around that time and chatted a bit with him, but then from one day to the next he was gone from the face of the earth. He also has a webpage in his name, but that also only say "check back later soon" (or something) for the last 2 years. Makes you wonder...
Where In the World Is Ritchie Birkenhead?
Richie (not Ritchie), my bad.
(I can see him in a striped beanie and sweater...).
BTW, he did some modeling once and apparently came sooo close to marrying some billionaire's daughter, slash, socialite.
Well keep your eye out for red and white striped sweaters and Underdog reunion shows ;-)
from what i heard. they did marry and were divorced around 2 years ago, same time he disappeared?! haha.i could be wrong with the actual marriage thing though. i do remember seeing his modelling shots. very sexy..haha.
also, he was working doing design at revelation for awhile. but i think he disappeared from that at the same time as everything else.
i think he is somewhere in thailand, eating steaks by the fistful and generally getting fat.
we have solved many things in these comments sections in the past, LET'S NOW SOLVE THIS MYSTERY! ha.
I honestly would like this mystery solved. I almost believed your story about Thailand, too, but the part about eating steaks by the fistful, threw me off (doesn't he have "herbivore" tattooed on his forarm or something...). I'd sooner believe he married the socialite and is lying on a yacht in the harbor of Nice.
Maybe there is someone out there who actually knows him?
Samantha Kluge-Richard Birkenhead
"Just two weeks after PAGE SIX reported there was trouble brewing
between beautiful cable heiress Samantha Kluge and her rocker husband
Richie Birkenhead, the eight-month-old marriage has been annulled. "We remain the best of friends," Kluge, daughter of billionaire telecommunications mogul, John Kluge."
yeah the steak thing was a joke obviously. haha. he was pretty much the originator of the whole veganism is hardcore in the late 80s early 90s. good sleuthing on the anullment. although now I feel creepy (eepy) for prying. but yeah. honestly that's the last I heard of him. marriage over. disappeared. my old drummer used to be thier sound tech. but I doubt he still keeps in touch with him. I should ask.
Well, shit... this mystery has to be solved now! I worked with a guy who was the bass player for Walking Concert, Wally Schreifels current band. (This was doing graphics for The Gap) and he mentioned that Drew Thomas was looking to work with them and possibly drum. (This guy was also the one who said Drew mentioned the Into Another reunion ((which as PH said before, I hope it doesnt happen, but I'd want to hear it))..
Unfortunately I dont work there anymore, but I still have a lot of friends there. I can see if he still works there and maybe he still talks to Drew, who maybe still talks to Richie... and maybe, just maybe, we can find Richie Birkenhead.
hmmm. this is complicated...
on the other hand, maybe Richie doesnt want to be found...
haha!! Creepy (eepy)... thats good...
Nah Richie is around. There is another bunch of Underdog shows coming up next month. With yet another new guitar player, unless Matt is hoofing it in from Denmark for this.
Underdog is playing 2 shows next saturday and sunday at Asbury Lanes. I will take anything richie does at this point.
I'd love/hate to see an Into Another reunion. But we shall see.
I remember rocking Soul Control for a solid 6 months like it was nobody's business.
@ Atomjon and Chris,
are you guys in NYC?... and Chris, are you Joe Burkes friend?
either way, keep me posted on any Underdog moments. I have been jamming Vanishing Point like a crack fiend. I would post it but I feel like I am just posing if I do since Lucifer and Paps just gave it to me 2 weeks ago.
I feel the same way. I'd love/hate to see an Into Another reunion, particularly without Tony Bono. I wouldn't feel as conflicted about an Underdog show, but alas I am too far away (and too busy and too poor) to just jump on a plane to NYC. I'll envy you guys though...
Blend, I think you should post Underdog... your intentions are pure and the stuff is surprisingly hard (expensive) to get. ;-)
I love me some Into another. but if you've been rocking soul control for 6 months you have some issues. haha. j/k
shit, it took me years to like this group...I know I will be bashed for that, but I guess I just wasn't feeling it. now that I'm older, maybe I appreciate it more..or my tastes now suck and I was right back then.
anywho, soul control for six months is nuts...no j/k.
:)
nice to see you around PH....still rocking the hell out of that inkwell and my wife thinks its just so neat that you post on here. you are a celeb in one house in Va at least. also nice to see some new people posting, Blend/Tim has done a tremendous job with this place. I remember him clearly saying he wanted a community. pretty sure he got it
Love this band and everything they did. I got fucked with all the time in the mid-90's for wearing Into Another t-shirts 'cause they weren't "true" enough for the "hardcore" crowd.
I still remember the first time I heard this album. In high school art class each table of kids was allowed to bring in music on certain days to play, and some dude brought this in on cassette and I was immediately like, "What's this!?" I was sold, ha, ha.
Im in Jersey City. DC's is my local watering hole which is also partially owned by Matt(Underdog, American Standard).
Thanks for pointing me into the Current direction! Oh and the 'Nother was a nice addition.
Incredible record with a personality in musicianship than no other band has come close to touching. It always amazed me how these dudes came together with such different backgrounds in bands and created this totally new sound. Says a lot about their musical abilities.
As for an IA reunion, a few years back, my good friend John McKaig who used to book in Syracuse from 1989-2001 (or so) was in touch with Richie about this. If you know anything about Syracuse (as I'm sure some of you might), the New Years show was always a big deal, as was IA from the day they first played in Syracuse and there was talk of IA doing a New Years show.
If my facts and memory serve me right, there was a possibility of them doing shows with a guy that Tony (RIP) was teaching bass to that was, supposedly, equally gifted with 4 strings. Obviously, that never happened and that was the first and last I ever heard of a proposed reunion.
I hate to be the he said/she said source of information, so if I'm wrong at all, my bad... just sharing what I (think I) know.
PS: He has 'vegan' tattooed on his forearm, not 'herbivore' as someone stated. "Herbivore", however, is the name of a song on "Creepy Eepy".
I think its the Poison Fingers EP that was a PETA benefit. But thats just nit picky, and that is something I am not. (if you ever noticed my spelling and grammar then you will see)
Ive been to a Syracuse New Years show. In 1996 i think. It was snowing. Ton of bands... Earth Crisis, Endeavour, Despair etc etc... It was fun. Dudes in the pit were scary. Wearing construction gloves with X's on them.
Right you are. My bad.
Snowing in Syracuse? Unheard of!!! We probably moshed together at that show.. construction gloves and all.
haha! This is a sure thing. A young broken edge Tim and a young hardline Jon, moshin it up 96 style!
^_^
Hardcore brought us all together.
Never Hardline, definitely a righteous vegan edgeman in '96, but those days are loooong gone, my friend. Give me a Tanqueray and tonic with a side of mac & cheese and a good filet mignon and I'm in heaven.
As Mike Judge once said;
"Those days are gone, man, but they're not forgot!".
Ain't that the truth?!
Hey Blend..
I live in Jersey...And i'm not a friend of Joe Burke. Just a lurker to your blog for a while and the last two posts have no doubt been a good trip for me. Although when Into Another was around, I was still trying to figure out what the hell kind of music I liked. To be young and viewed as stupid for liking a band like that.
And yeah, when I got a bootleg copy from my boy of Soul Control it was just different to what I was listening to. I think at the time I was big into Bulldoze, D9, and Biohazard. So to have this really weird trippy hardish rock album, I fully embraced it. Although I always rocked in high school Creepy Eepy like it was no ones business.
Sorry Blend, that post above was supposed to have my name but doesn't for some reason.
Anyway, I have Vanishing Point if anyone wants it uploaded. I found it used about 6 years ago at place in Northern Jersey. Was the best $1.50 I ever spent. Just let me know. I just don't wanna post anything if Blend isn't cool with, so we'll wait for him.
Into Another were a powerhouse live. So fucking amazing. I remember going to the 'Fall Brawl DC' in 1990 and being so stoked on seeing Into Another because they were on Revelation and had members of BOLD and Underdog. They never showed...
A few weeks later they played and just destroyed. I caught them at least a dozen times before they broke up.
Ritchie Underdog was probably the most genuine, no-bullshit guy out of all of the "Youth Crew" back then. I remember once running out of money after going to a couple of shows in Albany in 1986 (Warzone, Straight Ahead, bands like that)-- I ended up getting a ride back to NYC in Warzone's van, and then Ritchie went to his mom's place in Hell's Kitchen and gave me $20 so I could take the bus back to Connecticut, which was really cool of him.
I got to see True Blue at the Anthrax in Stamford, before they changed their name to Underdog; before that they were called Numskulls, and had this great song with a sing-along during the mosh part that went, "I'm a FUCKIN! NUM! SKULL!" They had a demo or a live tape that was pretty awesome.
I ended up doing some of the artwork for the New Beginning promo poster for the Underdog EP and getting it printed at a printshop in Waterbury that was about a block or two away from my house.
Hehe, thank you for this album!!!
And... Could you kindly add "Soul Control"? I'm pretty curious to hear that album, too.
I must have seen them 5-6 times. The first time was opening for the Cromags and Leeway in Lamour in Brooklyn. I was intrigued by the match of Richie from Underdog and the metal guys - a match which was completely unacceptable in those days. The reception at that show was terrible as you can imagine, but I thought they were great and became a huge fan in the process. They remain one of my favorite bands of all time and I was sad they stopped playing. Those songs are so deep and intriguing - have never heard anything like them again.
Richie did background vocals for the track "Brand New Love" on the Deadsy 'Commencement' proper release a number of years ago. I, too, kept an eye out for his Lonely Splendor solo project - but it did not materialize.
I have the rare promo 'T.A.I.L' 4 song EP, i'm going to try to get a blogpost up soon with that one...and i really want to compare my 'Soul Control' with the one that's already been upped. For some reason I think one or the other might be an earlier mix...we'll see.
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