Mad Men / Madmen

Madmen is Jonah's solo hardcore project.



Liner Notes of Mixtape 4 (By Mike Haliechuk): 
Jonah doesn't really have access to current events and media for some reason, so in 2009 while the show Mad Men was ripping up the Neilson charts (do these even exist anymore?) and women's’ Facebook status updates everywhere, he formed a one man band, also called Mad Men. Eventually some one will clue him in about the TV show, and he will watch it, right after he finishes watching The Wire and Thirty-somethings. Anyways, besides all that, Mad Men (the band, not the award winning, ubiquitous, hit TV show) is some pretty ripping stuff, his seamless tribute to the glorious anvil headed hardcore of the great lost years of the middle 1980s (i.e. right before he was born). He was gonna call this song (Wax World) “Wayne's World” but I advised against it, for obvious reasons. Jonah responds: “1st Mad Men Demo was recorded June, 2007. 1st Mad Men TV episode aired July ’07, haha, so there.”

Despite his rightful claim to the name, Jonah's "Mad Men" was shortened to "Madmen" at some point around 2010; the two demo tapes issued prior prior to that are under the name Mad Men, later releases are Madmen.


 Discographied below are the following vinyl releases:

• ''Madmen / Bootleg''  (12")
• ''Suspiria'' (7")

The tapes and a compilation get a mention too...

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"Madmen / Bootleg" 12"

Sleeve - Front:
Generic white sleeve, with glossy sticker

Sleeve - Back:
Photocopy track list / images pasted over centre hole. Some copies have the photocopy as a loose insert

Vinyl:
Blank labels...

Stats:
Side I: Too Hot / No Mind / The Neighboorhood / Square Glasses / Counterfeit Traitor
Side II: Madmen, The Awakening / Wax World
Released: 2010
Label: Not on label
Matrix A: 85870 -1A EW26
Matrix B: 85870 -1B eW26
Pressing Info: 
Test Pressings - 10
First Press - 500 copies, some have alternate sleeves - see pictures further down.




Notes:

Demo Tapes: The vinyl bootleg combines the material from the first two Mad Men demo tapes, plus an additional track.

Side 'I' contains the first demo, orginally released as a cassette in 2007:

Demo 1
(Image from Discogs)

Side 'II'  has the second demo, consisting of two tracks, originally released as a cassette  in  2008, plus additional track "The Awakening".

Demo 2
(Image from Discogs)

The material from both demos plus the additional track were also compiled on the "TWO AT A TIME PLUS ONE" cassette (2009)

TWO AT A TIME... Cassette
(Image from Discogs)

"The Awakening" (The additional track on the bootleg and the third casette)




Fleetwood Mac: According to Rumours, the bootleg 12" was actually released before the "Two at a Time..." cassette. It's not clear at this stage, how the bootlegger got hold of the additional track before it was released, or why the dates of the releases don't tie in with this fact, but the rumours came from a reliable source, so let's not be pedantic.


Quietus Review Feb 15 2010: Come early 2010, this 12" turns up in various keen distros: white label vinyl in a plain white sleeve with a tracklisting glued on the back. Official word is that it's a bootleg, but given Fucked Up's obtrusive approach to verifying the 'official' nature of some of their releases, smart kids reckon this might be Jonah's doing after all. If you're reading this and silently decrying it as irrelevant wild goose chase collectorscum anti-marketing-dollar hypeman bullshit, shame on you – what kind of monster would deny maladjusted men with low self-esteem the chance to feel part of an exclusive club? Anyway, this record bangs hard: constantly threatening to be tuneful but mostly sticking to the splattery chaos of metal-flecked 80s icons like Die Kreuzen and Void. Side two ups the weird a mite, slathering reverbed vocals and martial drumming over the turmoil.

In both style and aesthetic, Mad Men could be deemed 'mysterious guy hardcore'. Seriously? The scare quotes – that is an actual thing? Sort of, yes. It describes some bands with identifiable commonalities, which is generally how subgenres are constructed; it just doesn't exist outside of a few messageboards. (At this point – also thinking of 'hypnagogic pop' and 'wonky' here – annoying people seems to be as good a reason as any for inventing your own name for a basically unnecessary genre.)




Commodity Fetishism:

Alternate Sleeve # 1 - Front
White on black artwork - sheet pasted onto generic sleeve

Alternate Sleeve # 1 - Back
(As above)

Alternate Sleeve # 2 - Front
Gold on black artwork - sheet pasted onto generic sleeve

Alternate Sleeve # 2 - Back
(As above)

Test Press Sleeve - Front:
Black on white artwork pasted on

Test Press Sleeve - Back:
Black on white artwork pasted on

Test Press Dust Sleeve / Vinyl:
Black & white collage artwork pasted on. White hand-written label.

Test Press Dust Sleeve / Vinyl:
Black & white collage artwork pasted on

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"Suspiria" 7"

Sleeve - Front:
(First press)

Sleeve - Back:
(Second Press)

Sleeve comparison:
Top: 1st press - Fold out sleeve on glossy card. reverse is blank.
Bottom: 2nd press - Pocket sleeve on matt card. Back of sleeve is same artwork as first press

Vinyl:
Left: 1st press with small spindle hole
Right: 2nd press with punch-out hole

1st Press Insert: 
Lyrics & credits, photocopied on A4 red paper. Single sided - reverse is blank.

2nd Press Insert - Front:
Lyrics & credits + string vest printed on glossy paper

2nd Press Insert - Back:
Manly

Stats:
Side A: Suspiria / The Italian Flag
Side B: The Myth
Released: 2011
Label: Slasher Murder 009
Matrix A: U-64937m-A MURDER-009 Ⓤ
Matrix B: U-64937m-B MURDER-009 Ⓤ

Pressing Info (Thanks to Matt Bickle @ Slasher Records)
20 Test Pressings
300 First press
400 Second press





Notes:

Printing Errors: The ''first press" sleeve and vinyl were actually printing errors; the intention was for the record to have the punch out centre hole and matt pocket sleeves.


French Connection: Sleeve artwork by Ryan Hogan of Montreal Band  Omegas. Jonah gets production credits on their "Sonic Order" 7"

Italian Job #1: Suspiria is a cover version of the title track of a film score for the cult Italian horror film of the same name.

The original is an instrumental recorded by Italian prog band Goblin. The Madmen version extends and develps the tune into second track "The Italian Flag".




Commodity Fetishism:

"Pre-Release Sleeve" (Front)
Sold at a show before the proper sleeves were available? TBC

"Pre-Release Sleeve" (Back)
This one's housing a Test Pressing 

Test Pressing:
Hand written labels - ''Uomini Pazzi"

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More Notes:

Italian Job #2: At the time of writing (July 2015), the only Madmen track that dosen't appear on a Madmen cassette or record is a cover of  "Odia", originally by Italian punk band Tiratura Limitata.


French Connection #2: The Madmen version appears on the compilation "City Limits - Down And Out In Toronto & Montreal", which was released on Chris Colohan's High Anxiety label and is gives a snapshop of a particularly symbiotic sector of the Toronto & Montreal scenes.

Most of the recordings are exclusive to the comp; Jonah recorded a lot of the tracks on the 'Toronto' side and closing the circle, Yannick Sarrazin of Omegas recorded a lot of the Montreal ones.

MILLENIAL REIGN

After five years of promising each other that they would start a “clevo” style band , one day, Jordan (ex No Warning) and Damian (Fucked Up) finally just said fuck it and did it with the help of Jesse (ex No Warning). This band is about old friends getting together and playing heavy music again.

(From Former Millenial Reign Myspace)

Sleeve is fold out design

Main pressing comprised white and purple/grey-marble vinyl

Cultural Diaspora. Mass Exodus to a virtual world. A final evolution. 
(Lyrics on inside of sleeve)

Stats:
Side A: I Start Fires With My Mind / Moores Law
Side B:  Irrational Disdain / Luminous Veil
Released: August 31, 2010
Label: A389 Recordings A389-044
Matrix A: u-64374-M-A A-389-044-A
Matrix B: u-64374-M-B A-389-044-B


Pressing Info:
Test Pressings - 16
White Vinyl - Qty unconfirmed - probably 200, or 250.
Transition - Variable, mixture of whites and blue-greys - Qty unconfirmed - maybe 13
Purple/Grey Marble - Qty unknown, but most common variant

Inserts: No insert

Variants: 
Three vinyl variants - different colours as above
Two sleeve variants - Regular Sleeve & Limited "Leather" Sleeve - 65 numbered copies 50  made available for sale, originally as part of Record Store Day 2014

The rarely seen blue/grey-white transition vinyl (LHS), together with the two equally-pretty regular versions

'Leather' sleeve made for RSD 2014 - contained regular vinyl, cover and numbered dust sleeve. (Top left)
Test pressing vinyl and sleeve (Bottom and right)

Bones, dust, nothing - test press sleeve image

Notes:

Vice: After ten years of having to suffer difficult-to-listen-to arty screamo bands made up of sensitive guys wearing lampshades on their heads, it seems like hardcore kids are looking back to the straight up power violence/metalcore bands of the early 90s for their inspiration.

Four new bands that we like include Millenial Reign (Toronto, CN), Pulling Teeth (Baltimore, US), Living Hell (Boston, US) and an SXE band with the best name we’ve heard in years, Coke Bust (Washington DC, US).

While Coke Bust’s new demo sounds like vintage Infest doing Youth Of Today songs, the other three bands all owe a HUGE “artistic debt” to one of our favourite hardcore bands of all time, Integrity.

What started off as a vaguely normal straight edge band from Cleveland turned into an institution which would create a crossover sound of crusty punk, metal and hardcore which would go on to create metalcore, screamo and hardcore as we know it today. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that during the recording of their genre-defining For Those Who Fear Tomorrow album, downstairs from Nine Inch Nails’ studio in Clevo, the band were consuming a sheet of acid, weekly, bought from Filter’s singer Richard Patrick. Or maybe not.

In any case, Millenial Reign’s singer, Fucked Up’s Damian Abraham, told us that the main motivation behind his new band, which is named after an Integ song, was “total Integ worship”.

We got in touch with Integrity’s founder Dwid at his Belgian home to ask him what he thought about all this drooling fanboyism but he declined to comment. Instead we talked to Damian from Fucked Up and asked him what the hell was going on.

Vice: What the hell is going on? Can you explain why all the best new bands are ripping off Integrity and fashion labels are making shirts in their honour?

Damian Abraham: Well, I think the thing with Integrity is that it is a complete vision and package. I was never a “metal” kid growing up because I couldn’t vibe with the aesthetic and the straight up fantasy schtick. The thing with Integ is that they had all the elements that made metal appealing to me: The crushing metal riffs of Aaron Melnick but they also had Dwid’s complete warped world view and were rooted in punk. They invented metalcore and as someone who sings in hardcore bands: Dwid had the most intense vocals I have ever heard and really is one of the few vocalists to push the genre. I actually told Dwid about the band and we’re talking about getting him to do the artwork for the seven inch.

What do the rest of Fucked Up think about all this?

They are all Integ fans so they are into it. I think they are also hoping that this will stop me from trying to force the Integ thing on them.

A kind of “if we let him do this hopefully he’ll grow out of it” kind of vibe?

Kind of, yeah.

ANITA CRAPPER

Vice Magazine April 1 2007



The recording “was supposed to come out years ago on another label but fell through the cracks.” (Dom @ A389) 2010

''COUPLE TRACKS'' LP(Compilation)

Jacket - Front

Jacket - Back:
Touring = partying

Jacket - Gatefold sleeve opened

Vinyl: 
'Front' labels have FU logo,
'Reverse' labels have Matador logo

Lyric Sheet - Front

Lyric Sheet - Back:
Band members relax in style

Stats:

Year: 2010

Label: Matador Records OLE 839-1
Matrix A: OLE-839 A
Matrix B: OLE-839 B 

Matrix C: OLE-839 C
Matrix D: OLE-839 D

Inserts: Double-sided insert, as pictured above

Variants: No (known) Variants



Notes:

The second singles compilation, like the first one contains several songs that weren't technically singles... More info on LFG Post HERE.



Sleve Notes:

Front: Same as 7" version, notes on that are HERE.

Back: Departure area picture, taken on Japan / China trip, read about it HERE.

Inner: Various 'on the road' snaps

''Year Of The Rat''

Only a broken mind can understand that life's a trap when you're a rat.

Sleeve - Front

Sleeve - back

Vinyl - Printed labels
See below for stamped variants

Stats: 

Tracks: Year Of The Rat B/W First Born
Year: 2009
Label: Whats Your Rupture?
Matrix A ?0109 A
Matrix B ?0109 B

Pressing Info: 
3000 12"s

300 With white labels, most stamped, some with and without sleeves

No Test Pressings

(Thank you to Kevin Pedersen for the pressing info!)

Inserts:
Lyric sheet as above

Variants:

• Regular - Printed labels, picture sleeve
• Stamped - White labels hand-stamped in black ink, picture sleeve
• 'Test Press' - Same as above stamped version, but with generic white 'DJ' sleeve and no insert. Made available at shows before the artwork was available, subsequently misidentified by 2nd hand market and sold as test pressings.
• Blue Stamp & Other Stamp Variants - White labels. A handful are stamped with blue, rather than black ink, there might also be a few with purple ink. The colours don't have a use / meaning and maybe just came about because the black ink was running out. The one pictured below came with a picture sleeve. There are also a few with blank labels that should have been stamped, but got missed...

Stamped labels - 'A' Side

Stamped labels - 'B Side'

Blue Stamp - there seem to be a handful of these out there.

'Test Press'(i.e. Vinyl and labels same as other stamped variants, but with generic DJ sleeve and no insert.
The one on the left is the special 'upside down logo' variant...)

From LFG Jan 23 2009: Finally, some of you may have noticed that in New York and Philadelphia, a few copies of the Year of the Rat 12" accidentally slipped into existence. If you got one, you are lucky. The rest will be released with a real cover and etc around the same time as No Epiphany, and we should have both in time for the UK tour in March.

Notes:

From FU Merch Table: 3rd in the series of releases coinciding with the Chinese Zodiac. 'Rat' is a Krautrock-influenced 12 minute blast with a massive finish. Recorded in the same studio as "What's The Story, Morning Glory?" in London and mixed in Toronto. The b-side is an original which treads somewhere between ugly glam and an FU take on Thin Lizzy style guitar harmonies.




Mixed Metaphors (Years of Rats):
Rats have appeared several times in the Fucked Up story; a few previous examples are outlined below, along with the usual cut and pasted random quotes. Some might be relevant to this release.

In their expanded interpretation of Marxist theory, the situationists asserted that the misery of social alienation and commodity fetishism were no longer limited to the fundamental components of capitalist society, but had now in advanced capitalism spread themselves to every aspect of life and culture.[1]

Dream of life on the other side.

The "Baiting The Public" artwork was discussed in a LFG post dated December 2010:

The front image is meant to be a metaphor for what we thought we were in punk, and what punk was in the world (we were really into punk at that point) - a pack of rats running over a proper looking young woman in bed.

The proper looking young woman is asleep, her body is present, but her mind, if it's active at all, is in a dream state, she's oblivious to the rats running over her in the real world. The LFG post goes on to describe the record as being a tribute to the actionist and situationist movements - the following is cropped from Wikipedia:

 Another important concept of situationist theory was... the construction of situations, moments of life deliberately constructed for the purpose of reawakening and pursuing authentic desires, experiencing the feeling of life and adventure, and the liberation of everyday life.[1]

Hunch my back and bear my teeth,
I'll kill you to get the things I need.

"Dance Of Death" repeated the use of sleeping woman imagery, this time the subject is passively accepting death and the song is about...

...the imperialist lifestyle and how its been perfect and reproduced to such a dazzling extent, that people within it are convinced that it is the best way, and that they love it. Its like Stockholm Syndrome, when a captive begins to love and revered the captor. The Harbinger’s spiders laid their eggs inside all of our heads, and convinced us to keep dancing in the muck, because we love it.

"Year of The Rat" seems to take on these themes, in describing the rat race from the rat's perspective.

The push for more provokes the greed,

I struggle for the space to breathe.

Tails connect and pull apart
Friends whose tails strangle the hearts
of friends whose tails are wrapped around
The necks of friends together bound.

Moving on to the Fucked Up / Haymaker Split , which combined rat and Nazi imagery, this time probably referencing state propaganda and the Pied Piper of Hamelin...

The Pied Piper also featured in the first ever post on the Looking For Gold Site, the post is copied below, for posterity:

RATS

They fought the dogs and killed the cats,

And bit the babies in the cradles,

And ate the cheeses out of the vats,

And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles,

Split open the kegs of salted sprats,

Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,

And even spoiled the women's chats

By drowning their speaking

With shrieking and squeking

In fifty different Sharps and flats

Welcome to the FUCKED UP log.

Going back a step, the Haymaker split references Philip K Dick's "Black Iron Prison", which could describe the imperialist lifestyle:

Everyone who had ever lived was literally surrounded by the iron walls of the prison; they were all inside it and none of them knew it.

This ball of fear that grows together,

The want for freedom becomes the tether.

A thousand rats and appetites pull,

A thousand ways to bind it tighter.

Take my chance to grab an inch,

When something snares me I don't flinch.

When it pulls I just pull back,

I feel my liberty losing slack.

The fade out on the YOTR includes the "You'd better be prepared to pull the trigger" quote from John Mcain, which maybe expands the rat-race theme to its natural conclusion on the world stage. Likewise the "47   05" on the above insert might reference May 1947, the start of the cold war arms race. Or maybe not.

Reaching up to touch the sky,
The sun, the centre of my mind.

The End
The last ever post on Looking for Gold was David Eliade's top 10 list of Fucked Up Songs. Baiting the Public and Year of The Rat are 1 & 2. (It might not be the last post forever, but it was the last post before a long break)


And Finally
Rats Love Music, became a real thing with the release of this record (according to the credits). Rats Love Music is a subsidary of Hidden World Enterprises

One last thing...

Only a broken mind can understand

That life's a trap when you're a rat.