Ten Feet Tall

Ten Feet Tall were formed in Maple Ridge BC and started off as the Fraser River Mutants (If I remember correctly?!).  Heavily influenced by SNFU, their first demo tape created a decent buzz, especially in Maple Ridge among the rather large skateboard scene.

After the exit of their original singer Kyle (who went on to form local Ska band, Los Furios), Rob and James took over the vocal duties and the band became a three piece. Buzz around the band got big enough that in 1991 they opened up for Fugazi at their show in North Vancouver and eventually saw them get the opening slot with Green Day at their infamous Nappy Dugout gig.  Footage of the latter show can be found on youtube. We have had a lot of requests to upload this, so we are glad to finally get it done for all that requested it.

Please note, the unreleased demo has fairly rough sound and is not perfect, I had to work with the cassette a little in order to rip it, anyway even though it is a bit raw it is still very listenable and probably as good as I can get it, so enjoy it.  -T. Skytte/Jason Kolins

First Demo (1991?)

Unreleased Demo (1991?)

Alive Demo (1993) 

ADVERSITY

It's been a long time since our last posting. Our apologies, both Terry and I are both still crazy busy, but we are hell bent on getting all this old, classic Vancouver music up on line and available once again. So here you go, a classic crossover band from the Surrey/North Delta areas with a lot of significance to the both of us. Enjoy!

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The Adversity show November 6th, 1988 was my first local gig with all local bands.  It took place at the Paramount in New Westminster and I remember being blown away by all four bands on the bill.  Adversity appeared on the North Atlantic Noise Attack and also released an LP on English label Manic Ears.  The demo presented here was probably my personal favourite recording of the group.  Also included here is the improved rerecorded version of "Look Beyond" that was featured on the North Atlantic Noise Attack lp.  For anyone not familiar with this band, they could be described as having a hardcore/crossover sound, but they are hard to compare to any one band.  -Terry

Adversity was also on the first all ages show that I attended, Sat. June 4th 1987, which happened to be their "Lost It All" Record release show with 8 other great local and out of town bands. A definite game changer in my life, that as a thirteen year old Thrash Metal kid who'd been getting into punk and hardcore, it was my first live look into the craziness and lifestyle that I knew was where I belonged and was instantly attracted to. A chance meeting at the back of the 320 bus one weekend with Adversity's guitarist Franz, led to him introducing himself, giving us a flyer, and the rest is history.  I became friends with their bass player Rob years later, and got to hear some great old stories about the band and their shows. Awesome band, great memories. -Jason.

Click here: Adversity "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" 5 song demo 1986

Click here: "Look Beyond" from North Atlantic Noise Attack

Click here: "Skate For God", "World's Gone Crazy" and "Differences" from the 1987 Cryptic Compost Tape comp put out by Kim Kinakin (Later of Final Notice Records/ Sparkmarker.) 

Download 'Lost It All" LP. 1988  here. and be sure to check out the rest of our friend James' awesome Blog with tons of great and rare local and not local stuff at Melonville Hardcore Blog.

Grave Mistake 1st and 2nd demo cassettes

Next up we bring you, Grave Mistake.  Grave Mistake was formed in Maple Ridge, B.C. (45 minutes east of Vancouver) sometime in 1989-90 but originally was called Acheron.  Acheron were founded by four friends and Maple Ridge Secondary School classmates (Drew, Alex, Andre and Terry) with a shared passion for underground death/thrash metal and enough combined money to buy a few cheap Fender Squire guitars, a PA and a drum kit.  The humble beginning showed the band attempting to imitate their heroes by doing their best to sound like their influences at that time, Slaughter(CAN), Sodom, Destruction, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Venom, Aggression(CAN), Bathory, Coroner, Sepultura and Blasphemy.  Still despite rough and primitive beginnings the band wrote original material right away and rounded off their set with covers of Destruction's "Antichrist" and a cover of Sodom's "Outbreak of Evil".  

Not long after the original inception the band soon became a three piece with the exit of Terry and Grave Mistake arose from the ashes of Acheron.  With a new jam space underneath a Pizza 222 restaurant and with better gear and a lot of hard work the band progressed at a steady pace.  After playing a few battle of the bands to bemused peers at local high schools the band recorded 7 songs in 1991 at Deadbeat studios.  The result was the Garden Party 7 Song Demonstration tape.  Shortly after the release of that demo the band played a bunch of shows locally as well as house parties becoming known for their crazy antics and unpredictability, but they also had a burgeoning sense of humour and they never took themselves too seriously. Always pretty openminded regarding other genres outside of metal, they became more heavily influenced by punk and this coincided with a switch of drummers sometime after the 1st demo tape.  

Andre, Drew and Alex

Soon a 2nd demo tape was recorded which highlighted their developing and original sound and included new drummer Jason. The demo was followed by more local shows and craziness.  The last years of the band are a little foggy, but at least two other recording sessions took place with a few more personal changes.  The location of these recordings at this time is unknown.  A 3rd tape was definitely circulated around locally. Members of Grave Mistake went on to play in New Town Animals, Hong Kong Blonde, Thee Manipulators and The Spitfires.  -T. Skytte

Click here: DEMO 1 (Garden Party: 7 Song Demonstration 1991)

Click Here: DEMO 2 Baba Yaga's Revenge 1992

FATAL HATRED- Discography And Bonus:

                            DOWNLOAD: Fatal Hatred - Discography And Bonus:

For a first post, we decided on our old friends Surrey's Fatal Hatred, who were active from the early to late '90's. Hailing from Cloverdale, the self proclaimed "Porn Core" 3 piece consisting of Jay Biyak (Guitar and Vocals), Lee Munday (Vocals & Bass) and his brother Mike Munday (drums,) mixed Death and Thrash Metal with Grindcore and Punk to create a heavy and unique style.  Along with brutal lyrics, they also wrote about sex and politics, which set them apart from the mostly serious bands at the time. The band put out 3 Demo Tapes, the first being 1991's "Faces Of Death". Later that year, they released the "Jesus Was A Longhair" demo, and finally in 1992 their final "Psychic Rape"demo.  Fatal Hatred played, and were well known throughout Vancouver and the Lower mainland, playing the local clubs as well as house parties.  They were the biggest band from the rowdy '90's Cloverdale scene which also included friends W.D.C. and Seamen. Their All-Ages shows at the Beaver Lodge, a Rugby Club in Cloverdale, are somewhat of local legend, and anyone who attended the shows can attest to just that.  Also included in the download is the rare Riverview Nightmare band demo, which is the pre-Fatal Hatred band, featuring Munday and Biyak, and features an early version of "Faces Of Death", as well as "World Of Shit", which was a FH live staple, but never recorded in the studio. The band broke up around 1995, but did end up playing the odd sporadic bar show. Lee and Jay later recorded but never officially released a tape of songs with a drum machine more in the Ministry/industrial vein called the Chevy II's.  -*Jason Kolins

                     DOWNLOAD: Fatal Hatred - Discography and Bonus.

Vancouver Old School: Punk, Hardcore & Metal Page on Facebook.

VANCOUVER OLD SCHOOL PUNK, HARDCORE & METAL Page on Facebook

  Tons of old posters, pics and discussions on the Vancouver scene of old. Check it out!