LARRY NORMAN PRODUCTION - Executioner 45 - RARE COLORED VINYL

$

31

Here's an interesting one for you. A secular hardcore punk rock record produced by Larry Norman in 1982, with artwork by the guy who did album covers for Green Day and the Dead Kennedys.

You've probably never heard about this unless you happen to read punk rock fanzines and blogs... which I doubt.

in August of '82 Larry took my band Executioner into a San Jose recording studio where he produced 12 songs for us in about as many hours. He paid for the recording with the understanding that we would finance the pressing of the record ourselves. Of course, being a band of 16 and 17 year olds we never actually got around to saving the meager sums we got paid at our gigs, instead deciding to invest in beer, cigarettes, Pringles, and Jack-in-the-Box tacos after each performance. Such is youth. Awesome, fierce, and living solely for the moment. We disbanded within the year.

Cassettes of the recordings were passed around to friends, who copied them and passed them along further and continued doing so for years.

25 years later an article in a Japanese music magazine about Executioner triggered interest among music fans, and whispers in the American punk rock underground, about the ferocity and influence of Executioner.

An indie label on the East Coast contacted one of the members a couple of years ago and asked about licensing the masters for a single and album.

So... 30 years late, here it is.

Executioner - Fix Me 45
Red Vinyl
Produced by Larry Norman
Cover art by Winston Smith

If anyone is interested, I could probably pull some strings and get myself to autograph it. Just sayin'.


RANDOM REVIEW FROM THE INTERWEBS:

"Executioner was a band for the first generation of San Jose, CA hardcore back in the very early 1980s. They were very short-lived but from everything I’ve read, they made quite an impact at the time, especially for a band who didn’t put out any records. They had recorded a full album’s worth of material but for some reason none of it was ever released aside from people who had a tape of it and passed it around the world countless times. Patac Records struck gold with finding out that the material had survived and after 28 years Executioner finally has a record out.

The music of Executioner is classic early hardcore. The songs are hard, fast, heavy and short. Hundreds of bands copied this style in the years to come but this band was at the first part of the curve. There’s a small bit of British punk influence in the sound and the very tiniest hint of metal in the guitars that only just makes the sound heavier, and isn’t remotely reminiscent of the metal that would infect hardcore three years later. The vocals are yelled and the singer has a great harsh, throat full of gravel vocal sound that was perfect for this style of hardcore. Had this record come out in this form 28 years ago I could guarantee you it would have been pretty influential and people would be paying big money for them on eBay these days along with their early Dischord and Touch and Go singles." - Punk Vault Magazine