Forever Is Forgotten - Live Bootleg 11/02/01

November 2nd, 2001. I didn't own a car. I wasn't working. I was living off of selling CD's and was getting obliterated with Tim Bleske almost every night. I had been posting on the Shoot The Hostage messageboard (back when every band had it's own messageboard and which ultimately would be the inspiration for what would become didntthathurt.com... thanks to Chris Wenzel keeping that website up somewhere, there's some really awesome old pictures archived on that website) for a few weeks, seeing as I knew a few of those dudes from the band Scapegoat that had Ryan Schofield in it, and I was interested in seeing what they were up to since.

If someone has a copy of the Shoot The Hostage demo, I'd love to archive that as well... but anyways, I digress.

This night I convinced Tim to go with me to see "those Scapegoat guys" in a basement in Riverwest. When I got into the basement I ran into Jim Becker and Jim Kanno, who I'd known through an ex-girlfriend. They were playing in the other two bands, Forever Is Forgotten and A Shroud Cast over. It was Jim Becker's first show with FIF and ASCO's first show ever. The show had been booked by Art Henke, and he'd set up a bunch of mic's in the room and was recording the FIF set for what was supposed to be a live record or something for his record label that he was always trying to put together. 

Needless to say, that live record never happened. The performance, the first with their 'classic' lineup that would go on to record their two CD's, was sloppy and endearingly frantic sounding. I remember everyone commenting about how awful they were for the next few months, but I was hooked instantly. They were the obvious next evolutionary step away from the Killtheslavemaster strain of Milwaukee bands.

Art, Tim and I eventually started a band and I coerced a copy of this live FIF bootleg out of Art as a keepsake of that night. I believe that I'm the only person in Milwaukee to possess a copy of this until now.

[download]

Method - S/T CD & 7 Inch

So, this is Method. 

My connection to Method and the reason I'm posting this collection of their self-titled CD and 7" is because in 1996 this band was my introduction to Milwaukee hardcore. 

I was friends with a guy named Romie, and his cousin worked at McDonalds on 76th and Oklahoma if I remember correctly, and was in this band. Romie borrowed the CD to me, and I dubbed a copy of it to tape with Neurosis' Through Silver In Blood record (which at the time, and still in retrospect, I can hear a similarity / connection between) on the other side. I'd listen to this on the busride to school all the time. 

That cassette got me to start branching out from listening to nothing but death / black metal, and opened a lot of doors for me. I was bored with the monthly Morta Skuld / Rotted shows that were popular at the time and hungry for something outside of the box. Method's death metal looking logo gave me just enough of an excuse to give them a shot, and I'm happy right now that I did.

I don't believe I've ever knowingly met anyone who was in this band, and I only got to see them once in a basement in Riverwest so long ago that I barely even remember who I went with or who else played, but this CD was well ahead of its time. Kids would be eating this shit up if it came out today.

If anyone's got a better history on this band, comment in response. 

[Download]