Pusmort Unreleased: The Neuroot/Fratricide Split LP
Neuroot/Fratricide split LP test press (courtesy of Pablo Depraved)
Pusmort Records was one of the most popular and choice labels of the 1980s, and deservedly so. Headed by the legendary artist Pushead, who was best known for his artwork for The Misfits, Metallica and Zorlac Skateboards, Pusmort epitomized the thrash sound that came following the initial burst of hardcore punk.
The roster largely represented a who's who of mid-'80s hardcore with US bands like Poison Idea, Final Conflict and Septic Death, British acts such as Sacrilege and Onslaught and Japan's Gastunk and "Thrash Til Death" comp, among others.
But three planned releases never received a full pressing, with only a few test pressings created that are now highly sought after. These included an album by Ghoul Squad from Massachusetts, a US pressing of the Extreme Noise Terror/Chaos U.K. split LP licensed from Manic Ears in England, and a split LP between Neuroot from Holland and Fratricide from Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada.
Pusmort Records ad from Thrasher mag's May 1987 issue advertising the Neuroot/Fratricide split LP
Fratricide bassist Dan Walters (along with input from guitarist Eric) and Neuroot bassist Marcel were kind enough to discuss the story behind this cult release and all the details involving their affiliation with Pushead and the Pusmort imprint. Thanks to Daragh Hayes, Felix at Havoc Records, Simon at Ugly Pop, Craig at Schizophrenic Records and Flo at HeartFirst Records for helping this piece come together.
While the original intended version of these songs as a split LP has unfortunately never been released, both bands tracks from the split are available on separate releases here:
Neuroot "Right Is Might" 12" on Havoc Records
Fratricide "Pusmort" 12" on Schizophrenic Records (in cooperation with Ugly Pop Records)
NI: How did you come to the attention of Pushead?
Fr: Eric
(Fratricide guitarist) was penpals with Pushead from back in the Boise days. He sent him a cassette tape with a rough mix of our demo, and Pushead said he wanted to press it as a split with Holland's Neuroot.
Neu: I sent him a letter asking him if he would be interested in releasing our material in the US. He really liked us (find enclosed his review in Thrasher of the "Right is Might" EP).
NI: Did he pick out Neuroot for the split or did Pushead? If you guys did, then how'd you get in touch with them?
Fr: Pushead already had the Neuroot material, they recorded it October 1985.
Neu: We didn't pick out anything, he did.
NI: Who proposed the idea of the split LP?
Fr: That was Pushead's idea. We were to be the next split after the Execute/Inferno split LP of '85.
Neu: He did. Initially, the split was going to be shared with Depression from Australia and then Fratricide, to give more value to buyers (that's all described in the Pushead letters). I don't know why they didn't make it; he didn't say in the letters I got. Was his idea.
NI: Was there art made for the LP?
Fr: Yeah, there was art done up by Squeal [British artist best known for Icons of Filth artwork—ed]. Black/white and red—can't remember what is was though.
Neu: We made some art. A friend of ours made it for our part of the split. Apparently Squeal from the U.K. made the overall cover art, but I've never seen it.
Original intended Neuroot artwork for the split LP
NI: Were you guys aware the LP was getting delayed?
Fr: Yeah, we were. We were told a few times over the next couple of years. That's why we didn't try to get it released anywhere else. We were told we'd have an interview in Thrasher magazine to coincide with the record's release, but that got put off too. It eventually turned into an article in the March '88 issue called Chord Grinds in a Cereal Bowl about skate rock bands, which used one of our photoshoot photos from China Creek skatepark here in East Vancouver.
Neu: Yes, he did but he kept on pushing the release date.
NI: Was any explanation ever provided for why it wasn't coming out?
Fr: I think there was a problem with the artwork not being able to be reproduced up to Pushead's standards. Something to do with the colour separations...? I also seem to remember hearing something about the pressing plant in France too.
Pushead also had sent Fratricide a big box of Thrasher swag and a bunch of Zorlac blank decks (we all skated lots back then) and offered tracks on the "Skate Rock" comps, so there was no animosity or anything. But I also think that stuff was more just Pushead and Eric's friendship over the years. Eric was definitely the go-to guy then.
Neu: No, none whatsoever then or later.
NI: Do you think this hurt the momentum of the band?
Fr: Well, it definitely had an effect on us. It prevented us from touring with no album release, although a few places had heard the test pressing and wanted us to play there.
Neu: Yeah, it reallly did. This was gonna be our break to be able to get through to the international HC punk world via the US scene, be heard by a wider audience, like BGK (Holland) did when they toured the US and got their record out through another US label and stuff. This would have been a a major break for us, but it all went sour.
Test press side A (from the collection of Felix Havoc)
Test press side A (from the collection of Dan Walters)
NI: How many test pressings were made?
Fr: I'm not sure. Discogs says around 25.
Neu: Don't know.
NI: Can you explain how this led to the inclusion of Fratricide on Thrasher's 1988 "Skate Rock Volume 6 - Road Rash" comp? What session was this track taken from because it's not one of the songs intended for the split LP?
Fr: Pushead asked us if we wanted to be on the next "Skate Rock," but by this time the split recordings were over a year and a half old. We went into the studio in January to record one song for it... that was with a different final line up of the band. Ray from Unnatural Silence had just joined on vocals a month or so before, and Brad from Apostasy was on drums. We had only rehearsed with them for about a month or so too. I was never really happy with the way it came out or the sound quality either. Fratricide broke up after that.
NI: Did you know at the time of "Skate Rock Volume 6" that the split LP was off?
Fr: It was never really "off" as far as we knew; it just never came out. There was a song on the Pusmort sampler "Hand of Fear" 7" comp (1987), and a couple more songs on the "Pusmort View" CD comp (Japan) that came out in 1991–from the split recordings sessions (June 1986).
NI: Can you explain the whole inclusion of Headfirst on "Skate Rock Volume 7 - Noise Forest" and how that band was related to Fratricide?
Fr: After Fratricide broke up, I started a new project with Ray and Myles (ex-Unnatural Silence) on vocals and guitar, and Ken Jensen (ex-Red Tide, later to join D.O.A.) on drums. Eric jammed with Eugene (our old Fratricide drummer), Jinx and Gary (both who would later form Brand New Unit—Gary actually wanted to audition for Fratricide before Ray joined) and Jason Grant on bass... they formed Headfirst. I guess Pushead wanted to hear what Eric's new band was about, so asked them to be on "Skate Rock - Noise Forest".
Thrasher Skate Rock Volumes 6 and 7
NI: Did Pushead ever ask Headfirst to do anything with Pusmort or Bacteria Sour?
Fr: No... but Eric's next band Strain put out a 7" on Bacteria Sour [Pushead's label started after Pusmort—ed] in 1995.
NI: After the LP was permanently delayed, did you guys have any further contact with Pushead?
Neu: We never knew what the story was because he never told us. We went out of our way to contact him through the phone in the US, which was a big deal back in the day cause of the fact nobody we knew owned a phone connection and long distance phone calls were expensive as fuck and we were poor and skint as hell. I called his house several times but never got past his mother…hahaha (but no seriously!). After a year or so we gave up and never heard from him. That's why we give him a big Fuck off in the credits on the following LP, "Plead Insanity," which came out in 1988.
NI: Was the "Right Is Might" 7" the exact same recordings intended for the split?
Neu: No, the split was gonna be the four tracks off "Right is Might" plus two extra tracks from the same recording session: "World War III" and "Alarm". Felix put the whole session (six tracks) out on Havoc Records as a 12" re-release of the "Right is Might" EP.
Fratricide (March 1986) at the "Metal Wall" behind a 7-11
L-R: Jonzo (vocals), Eugene (drums), Dan (bass), Eric (guitar)
Marcel from Neuroot blazing in '87
NI: Any final thoughts on it or being part of the Pusmort label history?
Fr: Well, I'm definitely glad to have been a part of it, seeing as Fratricide was only around for just over two years. Everything happened so fast during that time—18 and carefree! We were only together and rehearsing for about five months before we recorded and then, Bam! Everything took off after that. I look back at those years as some great memories for sure.
Neu: Pushead in our opinion was a real fake who let us down big time and than got it on with Metallica (see the letter in which "The guys from Metallica really like Neuroot"). There are even people who state/suspect that Metallica (through their Pushead art connection) "stole" the Neuroot idea (off the "Plead Insanity" album that followed the "Right is Might"/Pusmort split) of the "Lady Justice" concept for the "And Justice for All" album cover, but I’m not sure about that. "Plead Insanity" did predate "And Justice for All" though. "Plead Insanity" will be released this year with a totally different cover. Be sure to check our website (www.neuroot.com or facebook site https://www.facebook.com/officialneuroot/) for this and other stuff.
Besides that, I gather now that he was friends with Fratricide and offered them quite a bit of "compensation" for this in giving them tracks on a few samplers he put out/was involved with and skate stuff like decks and so forth. We never got anything from him except three test pressings. I know the Pusmort label had a huge underground reputation, that's why we wanted to be on it, but there's no love lost here after all this. We were really hot and on a roll at that time (the "Right is Might" sessions are widely recognised as one of the highlights of '80s European HC punk) and deserved to be heard by a wider punk audience back then. If I had known this would be happening, we'd have talked to another US label, which would have been able to put it out there.
NI: Neuroot have recently reformed. What were your reasons for reforming, and what are your current plans?
Neu: In 2013 we reformed for a one off event in the Paradiso club in Amsterdam. Only since 2018 we are really up and running again, and in April 2018 did a new 12" vinyl album with new songs called "Obuy and Die!" on the German label Civilisation Records and did a tour of China in the North of China. In April 2019, we did a new 7" vinyl EP with five tracks called the "Nazi-Frei" EP on the UK/US Artcore Fanzine label. Also did a discography 2xCD called "Neurology" on the Japanese label Break the Records to coincide with our second Asian tour, this time to the south of China (Hong Kong/Macau), Taiwan and Japan. We will be touring with Doom (U.K.) in the latter part of this year. Plans for the next year are a visit to Asia again, the U.K. and central Europe. We wil be looking at further new releases with new songs the coming year as well. On the re-release of the old '80s records, there's the last one "Plead Insanity" who will get a really good re-release (with totally different covers and stuff) later this year/beginning of next year.
On the line up front, there have been several major changes: the old singer never made it back to the band from his reborn Christianship and the old guitarist left the band in 2018 after the release on the album "Obuy and Die!" On the drummer front, there has been little or no continuity in the past, but now no more with the current line up being: Marcel: bass and lead vocals, Ares: drums and backing vocals, and Frank: guitar and backing vocals.
Pushead's Puszone feature with Neuroot "Right Is Might" EP review from May 1986 issue of Thrasher mag
Marcel from Neuroot also carefully saved all his original correspondence through letters with Pushead and has allowed them to be displayed here. These are a great read and capture the excitement of hardcore through letter writing and tape trading in the 1980s.
Letter #1: November 29, 1985
Letter #2: January 4, 1986
Letter #3: March 18, 1986
Letter #4: undated 1986
Letter #5: September 20, 1986
Letter #6: undated 1986
Letter #7: March 22, 1987
Neuroot and Fratricide 12"s over Pushead's "Thrust" Thrasher mag shirt design
Pusmort label flyer included in the Septic Death "Kichigai" 7" (1988)