Integrity is one of the big 4 of hardcore in my
humble opinion (along with Strife, Snapcase and Earth Crisis), but the one with
the darkest edge. Cleveland,
OH based originally and now
founding singer Dwid and his co-conspirator are pretty much based overseas.
They are totally independent now (no more Victory Records bullshit) and pretty
much just put music out on their own terms and however the fuck they want,
whenever they want. The way it should be. Total art.
The flier below was from a show I
went to in 2003. The one and only time I saw Integrity live. It was at Xtreme
Wheels in Buffalo,
which is a former public school building turned into an indoor skate and BMX
park. While the band was playing in one third of the venue, little punk kids
that didn’t even seem to know a legendary band was playing were skating and
biking on vert ramps and grinding on rails in the other part – with the lights fully
on. Most bizarre venue set up I’ve ever seen. I wondered – what the hell was wrong
with these kids??? In my day skate kids were into Suicidal and DRI, and
Misfits, and punk and early thrash – and, well, anything loud. These kids were
just oblivious. Oh well. Me and the other 30 dudes saw one hell of great
Integrity show. And me and AW hit this old man bar before the show that gave us
one of my best ever bar stories. “Keep moving” the old bag barked at us.
To the music. This MIXTAPE will get you up to speed. Cheers.
Track listing (click for larger
view):
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