Honor Role - "Album"

Don't get me wrong, I think Chunklet is a fine magazine, but I hate to quote or cite it as a point of reference. It makes me feel like some cynical hipper-than-thou turd. This is not to say that everyone who reads or even writes for Chunklet is some tight-jeans-wearing, unwashed-shaggy-haired record store clerk with blotchy skin, but let's be honest for a moment: most of the people involved with the magazine, either directly or indirectly, are exactly that.

Nonetheless, I have found the occasional bit of wisdom in the pages of this periodical, and I'll be the first to admit that they've introduced me to some damn fine music that I would otherwise be completely unaware of. One of the things Chunklet did right was to let some fella on staff make a recommendation to Drive Like Jehu fans (such as m'self): the work of the band Honor Role.

Honor Role began their collective life in Richmond, VA as a fairly standard three-piece hardcore band featuring the guitar/vocal work of one Pen Rollings and the drum stylings of Steve Schick. (While they were not the only two members of the band, the course of history would see more member changes than Spinal Tap, so I'm only going to point out the most important and lasting lineup alterations.) After releasing the It Bled Like a Stuck Pig 7", the band added Steve's brother Bob to the ranks as lyricist and vocalist.

From this point forward, Honor Role's sound really started coming together and the recorded evidence on hand suggests that they really put some work into developing an original sound. Pen Rolling's guitar playing grew increasingly complex, with discordant melodies and the occasional odd time signature creeping into the mix. Bob's lyrics kept the band connected to the hardcore scene but added a legitimate depth to the proceedings, while Steve's drumming seems to have followed the arc of Rollings' musical growth.

The group toured both the east and west coasts and clearly made their mark. Their influence is plainly evident in the work of bands like Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Quicksand and any other artists who pushed hardcore to its furthest limits. And by "furthest limits" I don't mean "as fast and heavy as is humanly possible", I mean quite the opposite: they showed kids that you could put together an ambient instrumental piece like "Break the Ice" and remain true to your punk-rock ideals. But they also rocked about as hard as is possible--check out track 11, "Lives of the Saints #135 (Naked Wife)" and tell me it's not the frickin' blueprint for post-hardcore and emo-core.

Anyway, in 1996, after the band had called it quits, Merge Records (which is a completely kick-ass label, I urge you to check out more of their records) released an Honor Role discography, Album. Thus the file you have presented today. It's not an actual discography as I understand it, as there are a few tracks that exist that weren't included here due to space constraints. It's definitely the bulk of their recorded work though, and it's a rad document of a band that laid the groundwork for so much of the indie rock, hardcore and post-hardcore we take for granted today.

So get the file, and then buy the damn CD! (Or record.) After visiting the Merge website, it doesn't appear to be available through them anymore, but surely you can find a copy at Amazon.com or some similar site.