Rare Metal Classics

This was our second EP, a split 7” with UNHOLY GRAVE from Japan, released on Headfucker Records in Italy. These songs were recorded on our first trip to Denver (same trip that yielded the split w/ DUECE). Haraldo of EAR BLEEDING DISORDER did the recording. I can’t remember how many tracks were involved, but this record sports one of the thinnest guitar sounds ever featured on a grindcore release. Ace, Kevin and Haraldo (all members of E.B.D.) played on this recording.

When we asked UNHOLY GRAVE to do this split with us they only had a few releases out. Between the time we asked them and this was released they had exploded in popularity and had at least a dozen more records out. I don’t know how many copies of this were pressed, but I suspect there were 2000 made. At one point I received more copies of this from the label, so there might have been a second pressing.

There were supposed to be 11 songs on our side of this split 7”. I’m not sure what happened, but the last 4 songs on the DAT that I sent the label didn’t make it to the 7”. When I asked Carlo what happened, he said there were only 7 songs on the DAT. As a result, our side is way too short and some of the best songs from this session didn’t make it to the record (finish strong, you know?). The entire recording session was later included on our “Birth of the Creatures to Conquer” CDR. None of the songs had titles with the exception of the Sore Throat cover. Titles were added later when we released this on CDR, but on the vinyl release there was no track list given.

This is probably my least favorite of our releases, entirely because of the recording. Our drummer bought an electronic drum kit and we recorded with it instead of his other kit. The drums sound like a poorly programmed drum machine, and the crummy guitar sound isn’t anything to get too excited about, either. This was recorded during that time period in 1997-1998 when we didn’t care enough to write song titles.
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released 01 June 1998

released 01 September 1997
This is the closest we ever came to recording total noisecore, 84 short bursts in less than 15 minutes. The entire recording was improvised in one sitting while visiting friends in Colorado and recorded direct to a cassette deck without any mixing. During the recording we all switched instruments at various times.

Ace of DISMEMBERED FETUS fame played drums on the some of the songs and played guitar and sang on others, Kevin of EAR BLEEDING DISORDER, DRATSAB, etc sang and played guitar and Big Chief Brian of E.B.D. did some backing vocals, all of which we had met only a day earlier. Ace and I had been writing each other and talking on the phone for a year or longer, but this was our first time meeting in person.

I’ve had a lot of people tell me this was their favorite C3L release. While I don’t think it’s a very good representation of our sound, it’s a lot of fun to listen to. The decision to play the guitar without distortion was pretty genius and gives this release a pretty distinct sound.

UPDATED November 19, 2012 to include Duece's material and to add cover scans.

R.I.P. Joshua "Ace" Stough

I’ve always felt sort of bad about how this tape turned out. Francisco was kind enough to ask us to do this split with his band HYPO-CHRISTAINS, but we really didn’t have anything good enough to release. Instead of politely saying “no” or “maybe later”, we pieced together this pile of shit.

The problem with this material lies in that it was one of the very first recordings I did with my new Fostex XR-7 Multitracker (the same unit I use to record everything with today) and I had no idea of what I was doing. It’s one of the worst recordings I’ve done, and even if the songs are pretty entertaining, they’re rendered almost unlistenable because of the lousy recording. Everything was pushed into the red and the guitar was recorded plugged directly into the 4 track without an amp. The result is dreadful.

The first song was recorded while visiting friends in Colorado and features Ace of DISMEMBERED FETUS fame on guitar and Kevin from EAR BLEEDING DISORDER on vocals. Songs 10-14 feature Daryl Kahan (DISMA, FUNEBRARUM, TASTE OF FEAR, etc) on drums.

This split tape was released on Francisco’s label, No Weak Shit, in a numbered edition of 200 copies.

UPDATED November 19th, 2012 to include the HYPO-CHRISTIANS tracks.
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released 01 July 1997

After doing our first split 7" and three demos, this was our first split tape, a split with Japan's MAMARRACHO. After Chris and John left the band, it left only Brian and I. Necessity is the mother of invention, so the crushing noisecore of our earliest releases is replaced on this split with weirdo electronics, harsh noise, and stuff that’s just difficult to describe. I can’t even remember how most of these noises were made now, but the drums were played on a borrowed drum machine and a shitty keyboard. We were really proud of this stuff when we finished it and for the longest time it was my favorite of our releases. It’s one of the strangest in our discography…

While dubbing a copy of this one day I accidentally put the master tape in the wrong side and recorded a blank tape over the master. These files were ripped from a first generation dub as the master no longer exists.

UPDTATED to include the Mamarracho tracks.
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released 01 October 1996

Without a doubt, this was the best selling and most popular of our many releases. If I had to guess, I'd say I dubbed at least 500 of these things over the years. It's one of the noisiest recordings we've ever done and that crushing sound is something I haven't been able to duplicate since. A lot of people sent me angry mail when we stopped playing noisecore like this and started adding more structure to our songs.

The title of this demo caused some confusion over the years. This was not a collection of rarities, like some people have said. Before this had a cover (or even a title), I dubbed two different recording sessions on one tape and wrote "unreleased crap" on the shell with magic marker. We had just done the recording sessions and were pretty proud of them, so I sent some out as advance copies to people. The name stuck...

Ace from Dismembered Fetus sent a copy of this to Headfucker Zine in Italy and they gave it a 10 out of 10 rating and led to them releasing our split 7" with UNHOLY GRAVE.

Cover art was done by the iconic Food Forunata of Sockeye and Wheelchair Full of Old Men fame.
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released 01 August 1996

This was our first EP, a split 7” with GROINCHURN from South Africa, released on Fudgeworthy Records in 1996. 500 copies were pressed on clear green vinyl with different colored covers.

Charlie Infection is an underground legend and has been playing in punk bands as far back as the early 80’s. As a teenager flipping through MRR, the Ax/ction / Fudgeworthy ads always had the best stuff listed for sale, super noisy stuff nobody else had. When C3L recorded our first demo, I sent Charlie a copy of it asking if he would distribute it. When he agreed to take some, I sent him 10 copies along with a note saying “If you ever need a band for a split 7”, or something, please consider us.” A couple of weeks later he called me with his thick Boston accent saying he was doing a split with an African grind band named “Groinjur” and asked if we wanted to split it with them. I had no idea what he was saying, no idea who GROINCHURN was, but I said yes.

Our material on this record came from a maxed out 4 track recording done by Mike Hoff in his basement and stuff recorded at Studio 16 Productions. The master tape I sent Fudgeworthy was pretty poorly assembled, had huge spaces between the songs and sounded like shit once it made it to vinyl (no fault of Charlie’s, I’m sure). These files came from a newly assembled, cleaned up recreation of the record I did for the “Shattered Limbs…” CDR. This is how our side of the 7” should have sounded.
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released 01 November 1996

Captain Three Leg - Paroxis Live '96: Expanded Deluxe Edition
Paroxis was a live music event sponsored by Real Life zine and hosted in the basement of our friend Mike’s parents’ house. This was the third and last Paroxis, and our first ever show as Captain Three Leg. Nobody in our town knew what we were doing and I’m sure they thought we were making it up as we went. For reasons unknown, the power to the PA was cut towards the end of our set. I’m still friends with Mike today and he’s never offered an explanation even when asked about it directly.

The added live tracks on the tape came from a benefit show we played for a guy who worked at the local record store in Ottumwa who underwent an operation to remove a brain tumor. The store owner asked our old band Threeskin to play because we had somewhat of a draw with the high school crowd. Threeskin had already broken up, but we told them we would play, and then decided amongst ourselves that we would play as Captain Three Leg instead. We were told as we took the stage that we had 30 minutes to play. 10 minutes into our set we were told to wrap it up. We played Ottumwa only once more after this.

“Paroxis Live ‘96” was one of our best selling releases. It’s impossible to know how many tapes were sold because I don’t know how many copies Vomit Halo sent out, but I dubbed at least 300 copies myself. 15 years later it’s still one of my favorite releases. Years after I stopped dubbing copies of this, Mike (one of the guys who set up the Paroxis show) gave me a soundboard recording of the show. I wasn’t aware that a soundboard tape existed until that moment. I still think the version from the handheld tape recorder sounds better, but it’s nice to have another version for comparison. This expanded deluxe version of “Paroxis Live ‘96” contains both versions, along with the rest of the benefit show we took the bonus tracks from.
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released 15 February 1996
Brian - Vocals
Andy - Guitar
John - Bass
Chris - Drums