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- If One Life Crew had written 'Pure Disgust' in 1989 New York City, there would be no problem. In fact, the opposite would be true, One Life Crew would probably be lauded as one of the best ever. The second problem with One Life Crew is that the band had one of the sketchiest personalities in hardcore in Chubby Fresh.
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Origin | Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
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Genres | Hardcore punk |
Years active | 1994—present |
Labels | Victory, Too Damn Hype, Lost and Found |
Members |
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Past members |
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One Life Crew (OLC) is a straight-edgehardcore punk band. They originally formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1994. Though the band has had numerous members, the most notable line-up consisted of 'Mean' Steve Murad (vocals), Blaze Tishko (guitar), John 'Lockjaw' Tole (bass), and Tony 'Chubby Fresh' Pines (drums). The band formed out of the ashes of Murad's former bands Confront and Mean Streak.
Beginning and Victory Records[edit]
After releasing a series of demo tapes, the band was picked up by Victory Records and released their debut LP Crime Ridden Society on the label. OLC's songs attacked political correctness with controversial lyrics, notably on the track 'Pure Disgust'.[1] OLC compared the track to anti-racist skinhead band, Agnostic Front's 'Public Assistance'. However, Crime Ridden Society's lyrics and liner notes also expressed overtly anti-immigrant sentiments deemed by many in the scene to be racist.
Pure Disgust lyrics: Don't come over here, We don't need or want you, A country for Americans, Vultures won't rule, In your rat land you belong and rot, D.P. worthless scums, Should all die enraged, Dirty fucking leaches, You must GET OUT, Don't use this country for free HAND OUTS, Bringing your infections, Don't infect our people, We pay out of our pockets not for your fucking free rides.
The band was dropped from Victory Records after a fight broke out during their surprise set at the 1996 Cleveland Hardcore Festival. Though many claims have been made as to the actual reason, OLC was dropped from the label. Victory's stance remains that they do not condone violence. Victory Records had 1,000 post cards printed explaining their decision, and mailed out to their customers. Allegedly, all remaining copies of Crime Ridden Society on cassette, CD, and vinyl were destroyed, making it a very sought-after album in collectors' circles.
Post-Victory[edit]
In 1997, the band released their follow-up LP, entitled American Justice, on Too Damn Hype Records domestically, with Lost and Found Records having European distribution rights. Attempting to capitalize on their anti-PC image, the lyrical content was taken to the next level. Targets of the lyrics included corrupt law enforcement, Princess Diana, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan chastising illegal immigrants, and the unemployed. Aside from One Life Crew's songs, the album also included various skits, rap songs from Cleveland rapper Shady Shade, and four songs from the militant straight-edge band Pitboss 2000. Writing and recording of the album was extremely hectic and disorganized, with several of the songs written and/or played by people other than those who were credited for them. It was produced entirely for shock value, with the intentions of making a 'white N.W.A album'. The band played a few shows regionally to promote the album, then went on hiatus.
Reunions 2000-2012[edit]
After only playing one show in 2001 in Youngstown, Ohio, with Pitboss 2000, the band returned in 2003, with only Steve Murad and Tony 'Chubby Fresh' Pines remaining as original members. The band played under a half dozen shows, and released a greatest hits CD entitled 9-1-1, which included songs from Crime Ridden Society, American Justice, and a song by Pitboss 2000 ('Sell Out'). Once more, the band went on hiatus.
With the moderate success of the 2003 reunions, Prophecy Records obtained rights to and re-released the OLC demo tapes on both vinyl and CD. One demo was released under its original title, Reality Check, and the other was a split 7' with North Carolina right wing hardcore band, Empire Falls. Around this time, Tony Chubby Fresh Pines reformed a band with the name One Life Crew without any other original members. This, however, quickly fell apart.
In 2008, an album was released under the name of One Life Crew entitled 2KH8, which in actuality was just a demo of Chubby Fresh's other band, Heavyweight featuring Big Tyson, former lead guitarist of In Cold Blood, after Blaze and Popson left.
In 2009, Double Or Nothing Records announced that they would be releasing an anthology on CD titled It Is What It Is. One Life Crew once again reunited, this time with Murad and Pines being accompanied by Blaze Tishko, and Big Tyson, to the delight of few fans. The band played two small shows to support the release, one in Cleveland, and the other in Philadelphia.
The show in Philadelphia was met with much controversy, with Anti-Racist Action voicing concerns to the venue about the racially prejudiced lyrical content of OLC. Rather than risk losing the venue for future events, the promoter, Joe Hardcore, and the band moved the show from the original venue to an undisclosed location within the city. Word of the show was spread via text messaging and emails to avoid any further controversy.
Double or Nothing Records is rumored to be releasing a new One Life Crew album in future. Reportedly, the majority of the material has already been written by the band.
In 2012 and 2013, OLC reunited once again and played East Coast Tsunami Fest each year. They have raised a Facebook page and are currently printing new merchandise. They also headlined the 'Summer of Hate' show at The Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights, Ohio back in July 2013.
The band members said they supported Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the 2012 election.
Members[edit]
Current[edit]
- 'Mean' Steve Murad (vocals)
- Chris Mahmood (guitar)
- Ziggy (guitar)
- JF Murdario (bass)
- Tony 'Chubby Fresh' Pines (drums)
Former[edit]
- John Lockjaw (bass/guitar)
- Randy Klammers (bass)
- Todd Thozeski (guitar)
- Lou Zario (guitar)
- Dannario (bass)
- Blue (vocals)
- Rye-Dawg (guitar)
- Soda Pop (drums)
- Big Tyson (guitar)
- Nate 'The Crooner' Harkins (vocals/guitar)
Discography[edit]
- 1996 Crime Ridden Society (VR28), (Victory Records)
- 1998 Refuse 2 Fall/OLC split 7'
- 1998 American Justice, (Too Damn Hype Records)
- 2003 9-1-1, (self-released)
- 2004 Reality Check, (Prophecy Records)
- 2004 Necessary Vengeance - Empire Falls/OLC 7', (Prophecy Records)
- 2008 2KH8 (self-released)
- 2009 It Is What It Is, (Double Or Nothing Records)
References[edit]
- ^'The Unexpected Reinvention of Pitboss 2000, or How John Tole Stopped Hating and Started Meditating - VICE'. Noisey.vice.com. 2015-12-23. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=One_Life_Crew&oldid=955241540'
Cleveland hardcore is a pretty crazy organism. There are so many layers to it. There is the Dark Empire scene centered around Integrity & Ringworm. There is the Non-Commercial scene centered around the Erba / Paul / Wedge braintrust. The argument about which is truly representative of Cleveland is about as tedious as the 'Death Threat vs Deathreat' one. To truly appreciate Cleveland hardcore, you need to apply a certain metric to it and then you gain an appreciation for it all. The metric is by band and album. You don't need to consider the scene as you're talking about apples & oranges. If you really won't listen to Ringworm because it is too metallic and you are a hardcore punk purist but you still listen to Venom, you're simply a hypocrite.![One Life Crew One Life Crew](/uploads/1/1/8/7/118747573/277774450.jpg)
One Life Crew was formed by 'Mean' Steve Murad (of Confront fame), Chubby Fresh (of Integrity), Aaron 'A2' Melnick (of Integrity), Blaze Tishko (of In Cold Blood). Really, it was only logical that something special was going to come from these guys. What they created was Crime Ridden Society. An album so good that the only thing that outshines its achievement is the outcry from the band's detractors. Here's why One Life Crew got into trouble about Crime Ridden Society. They wrote a song called 'Pure Disgust' telling immigrants to get out of America. This is an old hat for hardcore. We've seen jingoistic / xenophobic lyrics and themes before with Warzone, Antidote, and Agnostic Front.
One Life Crew was simply a victim of circumstance. They wrote 'Pure Disgust' during the mid 1990s. This was an era of hardcore where every band tried to be weird and abstract with their sound (seriously, it took years for American hardcore to recover from this; Cleveland & Connecticut became strongholds for hardcore in this period) and above all else, everybody had an agenda. When they write books on the history of hardcore, we'll refer to the 1990s as the political correctness era. Moreover, kids in the 1990s weren't just PC, they were in your face about it. They weren't your frowning, tumblr essay babies you see today. If One Life Crew had written 'Pure Disgust' in 1989 New York City, there would be no problem. In fact, the opposite would be true, One Life Crew would probably be lauded as one of the best ever.
The second problem with One Life Crew is that the band had one of the sketchiest personalities in hardcore in Chubby Fresh. For perspective about Chubbs' reputation: when Integrity toured in 2003, they had to route their tour a certain way because crews / groups wanted to murder Chubbs and they had to account for his safety. One Life Crew released Crime Ridden Society and trouble followed them from then out. This reached its zenith at Cleveland Fest 1996 when, during a performance of 'Pure Disgust', a PC warrior rushed the pile-on and flipped off Mean Steve. Not one to be slighted, Mean Steve left the stage to chase this kid who was already fleeing the room. The show stopped and it led to the Cleveland Fest riot. The subsequent events led to One Life Crew being thrown off Victory Records (as Tony Brummel does not condone / promote violence according to a press release explaining OLC's removal). Not long after the line-up of the band disintegrated, Chubbs' relationship with Dwid fell apart and OLC lost the support of their friends in Integrity. Left to their own devices, OLC became a joke band. It was quite the fall from grace.