Tipping Cows: A Look Back at Connecticut Punk and Hardcore: 1980-1989

  Band Focus: Youth Korps Recently discovered these guys. They were from New London, and in their short existence, only released the 'The Quick & The Dead' demo in 1982. Noteworthy was that it was produced by Lou Giordano, frickin' legendary engineer at Radiobeat in Beantown. The lineup consisted of Bobby Pyn, Ed Feltch, Jon Bauer and Mike Hurley. I know nothing else about them, though it would be cool to get an interview or something. The demo was cut into a 7" in 1991, and released by Crucial Response from Germany, which has had some shady dealings according to some comments on Discogs. The record itself is pretty awesome, though. Sonically, it reminds one of Henry Rollins singing ' Damaged '-era Black Flag at the speed of his previous band, S.O.A. Honestly, there's a bit of Flag worship going on in some of these songs, but I guess that's OK? Can you blame them? If anyone has further info, send it over and I'll add it to the post.

Band Focus: Lost Generation What more can be said about them? Asides from being one of Connecticut’s premiere Punk bands from the 80s, they also are a sentimental favorite for me, seeing as they were on the bill of my first ever HC show: Dead Kennedy’s, Lost Gen. and Vatican Commandos at the Metro in New Haven, April 21st, 1985. It was my introduction to a new world. I knew this was where I belonged. I certainly didn’t fit in with the drunken Van Halen crowd at my high school. The show was a blur, and 37 years later, just a bunch of scattered images in my brain. I remember rushing to Salvation Army that week to round up some semblance of a “punk rock uniform” so I didn’t look like a total poser for my first gig. Funny in retrospect. But this post is about Lost Gen., isn’t it. If you’re not familiar with them, a good place to start would be the ‘Punk This’ anthology, released by Grand Theft Audio, a possibly defunct label that specialized in putting out collections of hard to find mate...

Welcome to my blog, ‘Tipping Cows’,   a site for fans, bands and scenesters from the 80’s Connecticut punk and hardcore scene, circa 1980-1989. I felt there was a void where it came to documenting and appreciating the Connecticut scene (Joe Snow’s UConn exhibit not withstanding) that was easily accessible. My goal is to not only review the myriad of music that came out of the scene, but also to secure some interviews with band members, collect anecdotes from gig attendees and participants, and hopefully provide a little well of fond memories from a time in our lives that was likely special to us in some way. Rules for the site are: all music and shows reviewed/discussed must be from 1980-1989, though I’ll allow reunion shows or records from bands that were primarily active during those years (i.e. a band maybe released a comeback record after 1989, or something was repressed, etc.) If you submit a show anecdote, I reserve the right to edit for space, etc. Otherwise let’s have some ...