In Control – The Nard Curse LP

In the Summer of 2002 In Control made it out to the East Coast during their tour of the United States. My buddies and I first caught them at a show in Lawrence, Massachusetts and then went to see them in Boston. A few days later we ended up seeing them again when they were playing in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania at the Posi Numbers Fest, which that year also featured the Cro Mags. Prior to these shows I have never heard of In Control, but I was impressed by their music, their enthusiasm, and their crazy live performances. Vocalist, Ryan Fredette sang with no shoes on and on one night he somehow ended up naked and bleeding from his head before the night was done. Over the years I bought a few of their records, including their epic "The Truth Hurts" full length and a cool 7" with their favorite cover songs from bands like Scared Straight, Agression, Blitz, and GG Allen. I seem to remember that this 7" was a major gateway to Nardcore bands in general as aside from Agression that stuff never really got all that well known on the East Coast.

Anyway after that long introduction it might be needless to say that I was stoked to find out that this L.P. of some of In Control's early material had been reissued. I was also stoked to find out that they were playing again and since I am now living in Southern California I definitely thought that it was cool when I recently got to see them play again in the OxNardcore region with Ill Repute. That was pretty epic in itself. The first side of the "Nard Curse L.P." has the songs from In Control's "Hardcore Pride" demo that came out in 1999. The music is hard and fast with some tastefully done heavy mosh parts. In general the sound is a mix of California Hardcore with some heavier, New York style influences. The vocals in particular sound a bit like Warzone. The lyrics are mostly about scene politics and a need for people to take care of each other. As one might expect from a demo, the recording is raw if a bit flat at times, but it still more than passes the test. Highlights include "It Can Happen" with its catchy hardcore chorus and the "Nard-Tro" which is similar to Warzone's "We're The Crew."

The Second side features the "Nard Curse E.P." recordings and opens with "Give Me Some Reality," which is a hard hitting song that got some attention when it came out. The lyrics are simple "You say positive- I say fuck that! Give me some reality." While this might seem a bit reactionary and silly at the time it was cool to hear a band offer an alternative to the rhetoric of ultra posi Youth Crew revival bands who expected everyone in the Hardcore scene to be clean cut and blindly optimistic. "Let It Be" is another cool song with a bit of a melodic edge to it. In general by the time that In Control recorded "The Nard Curse" they had gotten the dynamics of the band down pretty well and they had a very strong balance of heavy mosh parts with faster, more Punk oriented verses, and melodic bass lines though out their songs. It also featured a cool cover of Stalag 13's "Sometime."

One thing that could never be doubted is the pride that In Control had/have in the Nardcore scene. From "Hometown Pride" to "Oxnard Crew," "Nard-Tro" and even their Stalag 13 cover (not to mention taking their name from a Stalag record), In Control made it clear to everyone where they came from.

Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/inxcontrol
Record Label Website: www.6131records.com

 

-Ditch-
Big Wheel Online Magazine
 

 

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