Raw Nerve - Demo

Before I began doing the radio component of Harsh Distractions, I knew I wanted to have bands come in and play live sets similar to the classic WNYU ones, and more recently the performances on WERS Boston and WLUW Chicago. My ultimate goal is to have the show be somewhere in-between Sound Opinions and the independent hardcore/punk shows I grew up listening to. Tomorrow I get a bit closer to that with Chicago's Raw Nerve coming in to play live in the studio. This is big for me. If all goes well, this is just the beginning of bands playing on the show.

With that said, here is the Raw Nerve demo. They play fast, dirty, lo-fi hardcore with enough grit and mystery to keep it from sounding like every other fast punk/hc band. They have a record coming out on Youth Attack in the near future and I'm anxious to hear it. For now, download the demo (there is even a Nirvana cover included.

Check out their set tomorrow (9/15/09) at Fearless Radio from 7-9pm CST. Click 'listen now.'

Raw Nerve - Demo

Harsh Distractions - Two Episodes Available for download

Fearless hasn't been able to put up a page for my show or converted any of the episodes into Podcasts yet, so I figured I'd upload the files to Mediafire and post them here for anyone interested. These are the shows from 6/30/09 and 7/21/09. Eric from
Hate was my guest on 6/30 and I did the show alone on 7/21. Check it out.


6/30/09 Hour 1

6/30/09 Hour 2

7/21/09 Hour 1

7/21/09 Hour 2

Harsh Distractions Playlist 7/28/09

My friend Joel came on the show last night and here is what we played. I'm not sure who will be on next week, but the show is on every Tuesday from 7-9pm CST on Fearless Radio. Just click 'Listen Now.'

01. Atlas Sound - Walkabout (w/ Noah Lennox) - Logos
02. The Horrors - Three Decades – Primary Colours
03. Robes - I'm Floating On You - The Breaks
04. Disappears - Needs - Live Over the Rainbo
05. Black Math - Reckless Thoughts - EP
06. Archers of Loaf - Wrong – Icky Mettle
07. The Beach Boys - Aren't You Glad - Wild Honey
08. M. Ward - Carolina - End of Amnesia
09. Def Choice - Culture is Dead - Culture is Dead
10. Depeche Mode – Strangelove - Music For The Masses
11. The Clean - In The Dream Life U Need A Rubber Soul - Mister Pop
12. Sleep Out - I'll Take Care Of It - Not Even Dust
13. Sonic Youth - What We Know – The Eternal
14. Phoenix – 1901 - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
15. King Khan & The Shrines - Welfare Bread – What is?
16. The Kinks - This Time Tomorrow – Kinks part 1: Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround
17. The Magnetic Fields - The Desperate Things You Made Me Do – Get Lost
18. My Heart to Joy - Empty Homes - Seasons In Verse
19. Guns N' Wankers - Nervous - For Dancing and Listening
20. Guilty Faces - Hospital Eyes – Nightmares 7"
21. Trembling Blue Stars - For This One - Her Handwriting

Harsh Distractions Playlist - 7/21/09

I flew solo on the show for my first week back from vacation. You can listen to my show every Tuesday from 7-9pm CST on Fearless Radio by clicking 'Listen Now.' Here's what I played this past week:

Chapterhouse - Breather - Whirlpool (INTRO)
01. Cold Cave - Youth and Lust - Love Comes Close
02. Blank Dogs - The Tied - Seconds EP
03. The Brother Kite - I'm Not the Only One - Waiting for the Time to Be Right
04. Trapped Under Ice - See God - Secrets Of The World
05. Death In June - Symbols Of The Sun - Rose Clouds Of Holocaust
06. Aloha - Balling Phase - Sugar
07. Crushed On You - Kissing is an Artform - Demo 2009
08. Vivian Girls - Lake House - V/A The World's Lousy With Ideas, Vol. 8
09. Ramones - Chinese rock - End of the Century
10. Blitz Someone's Gonna Die Tonight - The Complete Blitz Singles Collection
11. Narrows - Chambered - New Distances
12. Sleepwall - A Song to Start With - Demo 2008
13. Crime In Stereo - For Exes - The Troubled Stateside
14. Boat Club - Always Away - Caught The Breeze
15. Total Abuse - Ain't Got No One - Self Titled LP
16. Silk Flowers - Flash of Light - 1st 7"
17. Crocodiles - Neon Jesus - Neon Jesus
18. Give Up The Ghost - The Hell We've Been Living In - Love American EP
19. Sun Kil Moon - Lucky Man - April
20. Cursed - Antihero Resuscitator -Three
21. Down In Flames - Down In Flames - Three Seven Inches On One CD
22. Sunny Day Real Estate - Rodeo Jones LP2 (pink album)
23. Swamp Thing - Square One - The Youth Is Sick
24. Talking Heads - Sugar on My Tongue - Popular Favorites 1976-1983: Sand in the Vaseline (Disc 1)
25. Vaccine - Family- Demo Cassette
26. The Afghan Whigs - My Enemy - Black Love
27. Bad Religion - Fuck Armageddon... This Is Hell - 80-85
28. Crud Is A Cult - Missionary Position - Triple Corpse Horror
29. The Chameleons - Perfume Garden - What Does Anything Mean? Basically
30. Airiel - Thinktank - The Battle of Sealand
31. Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Throwing Things - God Fodder

Harsh Distractions Playlist 7/7/09

Joel came on the show on Tuesday and we played some of our favorite 90's hip-hop tracks. It was fun and something we'll hopefully revisit in the future. I foolishly played a Hiero song from 2003, thinking Full Circle came out in the 90's, but I was mistaken. Live and learn. Here's what we played. Also, I will not be doing the show next week as I am taking a much needed vacation to the Bay Area. I'm psyched to not be at work for a whole week.


1. Gangstarr – Work - Moment Of Truth
2. Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M - Enter the 36 Chambers
3. Poor Righteous Teachers - Gods, Earth and 85ers - The New World Order
4. A Tribe Called Quest - Oh My God - Midnight Marauders
5. Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell - Illmatic
6. AZ - I Feel for You - Doe or Die
7. Mobb Deep - Drop a Gem on 'Em - Hell on Earth
8. 2Pac - All Eyez On Me - All Eyez On Me
9. Capone -N- Noreaga - Iraq [See the World] - The War Report
10. Big L - All Black - Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous
11. Camp Lo - Luchini (This is it) - Uptown Saturday Night
12. Pete Rock & CL Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.) - Mecca And The Soul Brother
13. De La Soul - Stakes Is High - Stakes Is High
14. Black Star – Respiration - Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star
15. Hieroglyphics - Fantasy Island - Full Circle
16. Company Flow - Vital Nerve - Funcrusher Plus
17. Artifacts - Come on with the Come on - Between a rock and a hard place.
18. GZA/Genius - B.I.B.L.E. feat. Killah Priest - Liquid Swords

Harsh Distractions Playlist 6/30/09

I had Eric on the show last night to play some songs and chat about them. Here's what we played.

01. Owls - Everyone Is My Friend - Owls
02. Torche - Across the Shields - Meanderthal
03. Cold Cave - Love Comes Close - Edsel And Ruby
04. Burn – Godhead - Shall be Judged 7"
05. Dinosaur Jr. - Over It - Farm
06. Cam'ron - Used to get it in Ohio - Crime Pays
07. Magnolia Electric Co. – Josephine - Josephine
08 Trap Them - Guignol Serene - Seizures in Barren Praise
09. Title Fight – Symmetry - The Last Thing You Forget
10. Comadre – Angeles - Mixtape Volume 2
11. Limp Wrist - This Ain't No Cross On My Hand - Discography
12. Cave In - Moral Eclipse - Until Your Heart Stops
13. Treason - The British are Coming - Demo
14. Charles Bronson - The Story of my Life - Complete Discocrappy
15. Charles Bronson - Obligatory Jock Slaughter Song - Complete Discocrappy
16. Say Goodbye - Anti-Social - Anti-Social 7"
17. Dungen – Festival - Ta Det Lugnt
18. Saturday Looks Good To Me - Meet Me By The Water - All Your Summer Songs
19. Dying Fetus - Pissing in the Mainstream - Destroy the Opposition
20. Foreign Born - Early Warnings - Person to Person
21. Kylesa – Scapegoat - Static Tensions
22. Punch in the Face - My dear I haven’t Learned a Thing - S/T 7"
23. Descendents - Everything Sux - Everything Sucks
24. Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring - Behaviour


Tune in every Tuesday from 7-9pm CST on Fearless Radio to listen to the show.