Axehandle Punk Compilation
(Axehandle)
by Scott Hefflon
For their fourth release, Axhandle releases a broad-ranging compilation of punk from coast to coast and Canada. Combining bands from their first three 7″s (Heckle, Litterbox and The Bar Feeders), with both familiar and unfamiliar bands, Axhandle has a good thing going: Brutal, fast, hard fight songs broken up only occasionally by squealing and harmonies. Even McRackins sounded rough-and-tumble, which is a stretch for slick, harmonious pop/punk. I’m currently addicted to the voice-cracking dippiness of NY’s Cash Registers. As an introduction to bands from NJ, NY, PA, CA, and Canada, for ten bucks this ain’t bad at all.
Interview with Josh Sherer (Label Co-Owner)
You’d put out 7″s before the comp?
Yeah, the first one was a split 7″ with Heckle, a New Jersey band, and Litterbox, from New York, the band I played drums in, who’s unfortunately no longer with us. The guitarist started a family, but I’m in a band with Matt, the other guitarist. We play a few of the old favorites, but we have a set of new tunes we feel have progressed and evolved from the old ones. Heckle also has a record out on Wing Nut Records, I think.
How’d the comp come together?
We used to live in New York, so the bands we got were from the New York area or from the San Francisco area, where we now live. We came out here to get away from the capitalist hobo-commercialism death-trap that is New York City. We started brainstorming, sitting around the table after we got home from school or work with a pad of paper, just shooting out ideas. We focused them into the idea for the comp, a culmination of all our ideas, ideals, and all that crap.
What’s the future hold for AxHandle?
There’re a few bands on the compilation that we’d love to release a full-length for. We just don’t have the biggest bankroll in the world, so we’re kinda held back for the moment. Ideally, we’d really like to put out one compilation a year, but it’s a really big ordeal. You’re not dealing with one band to release one record, you’re dealing with 15 bands to put out one record.
Are you on a personal level with them?
We’re pretty much at the same level as a label as most of these bands are at; it’s a pretty hand-to-mouth existence. Everything’s done in good faith. We’ve hung out with a lot of the bands on a very non-business level – relaxin’, drinkin’, smokin’, freakin’, yellin’, smackin’, crackin’, whatever the fuck. That’s the way we want to be. We want to support them, so they’ll want to support us. Then we’ll move up all at the same time, ya know?
