The Business

No Mercy for You (Epitaph)
by Vinnie Apicella

Here they are again, loud, proud and more Oi than ever. One of the forerunners of early English street punk, The Business have been tooling around in one form or another for over twenty years. In spite of the gaps in time that’s seen them release only six records, they sound as committed today as they did then. The team of Fitz and Whale on vox and guitar, the mainstays, the rebel leaders, have led this latest charge into a new generation. Based on a “Defend Your Rights Or Lose Them” ideology culled from a newspaper clipping based on prison deaths, such is the working theme throughout the record and fuels the fire for the outspoken vehemence that comes across in such pointed anthems as “Takers & Users,” “Code Red,” and “Ghetto Youth.”

The Business release old school tension in the form of “Anarchy in the Streets,” “U Won’t Change Me,” “Hell To Pay,” and the title track, which in spite of its suggestive nature, we discover is documenting the poor slobs of a new generation stuck in a degenerative environment with little hope for resolve. The Business is like a guardian angel as a spokesperson revealing the ongoing weaknesses in your neighborhood, your city, the world itself. They do it their way, and nearly twenty years after “Suburban Rebels” first jumped on the backs of an unsuspecting local system, their relevance to the countless droves continues. Still takin’ no shit and no prisoners!
(2798 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90026)