I've been
collecting Tear It Up stuff as much as I could find for years and I have these
few live sets in mp3 format, so I' ve finally decided to share it with the
world. Actually it's weird that I didn't share these shows before, but better
late than never. Speaking of TIU recordings of the live shows, for years I only
had Live in Maryland show that was relased on the CD and Tape version of Taking
You Down With Me record. In late 2000's there were only few TIU live videos on Youtube
and they weren't even the whole sets, just few songs mostly from their European
tours. So, getting these live shows in 2010's was really exciting and cool for
me because I've been playing to death the mentioned before show from Maryland
(I literally know every second of this show in the back of my mind). So, let's
go with the shows chronologically.
Live at Mission Records, San Francisco, CA, USA, July 28th, 2001.
I got this recording from the awesome blog Escape Is Terminal (check it out here: ESCAPE IS TERMINAL: TEAR IT UP) and dude behind the blog is Robert Collins from the What Happens Next? fame and million of other hc/punk bands. The show is from Tear It Up & Fast Times – Fuck Work US Tour that they did in the Summer of 2001. There's at least one video on Youtube of some show from the same tour, so search the Youtube and you will find it. At this point TIU were together as a band a little less than a year and this was their first bigger tour, so it's cool to hear how the band was pumped and furious at the time. They maybe weren't the most tight band at every show, but you can feel the high energy and rage, that's for sure. This was the classic first TIU lineup: Dave – vocals, Paul – guitar, Andy – guitar, Doug – bass & Matt – drums and shouts from the back. It seems that the show was recorded on a cassette player but I could be wrong. While the recording is raw, you can still hear everything and I like it that way. There are 15 songs from this set, mostly from the first two TIU records (The Selftitled 7˝ and Just Can't Stand It! 12˝) but there are also few songs from the split LP with E. T. A and a great cover of Jealous Again by Black Flag. Pretty cool setlist if you ask me. There is also some talking between the songs which I always like to hear during the live shows. Dave and Matt are the ones who do the talking and there is a really nice interaction with the audience and I love the chemistry between those two, always joking a lot but still getting the message across. I especially love the Matt's rant before Through Being Cute song about certain bands jumping on the hc/punk wagon and using the DIY hc/punk scene to launch their music careers. What's more to say, this is a solid live set of TIU in their earlier stage and I love to listen to it.
Tear It Up @ mission rex (mediafire.com)
Live at § 51,
Warsaw, Poland, June 4th, 2002.
I got this and the third recording from a friend but I don't recall where he got it from, maybe from Soulseek (which is still a great online platform for finding rare music, like trading tapes but the digital way). I'm not sure if the place where this show happened was a squat, but I'm quite sure that Robert Refuse of Refuse Records fame did the show. The show is from the bands first European Tour that lasted from the end of May 2002 till the end of June 2002. At this point, TIU had a new lineup because Doug and Paul left the band (Doug in December of 2001 and Paul in February of 2002) and the new linup was: Dave – vocals, Andy – guitar, John – guitar, Ryan – bass & Matt – drums. But, Ryan being the the fresh band member was left out of the first Europan Tour and TIU was 4 piece on the tour, guitar played by John and Andy played bass. Actually TIU did a lot of the lineup switches because of the various circumstances like particular members couldn't play the shows or for example Dave losing the voice during one tour and Matt did the vocals while the drummer of Holding On played drums. I just love these anecdotes, I'm a total nerd and I don't give a fuck! Anyway, back to the show. The show could be recorded on a cassette player or on a dictaphone, who knows? It's a recorded a little bit from the distance, so it's kind of a raw recording but you can hear everything, even the talking between the songs. There are 20 songs on this set and it's a good mix of songs from the first 7˝, Just Can't Stand It! 12˝, split LP with E. T. A, split 7˝ with Fast Times, Nothing To Nothing LP and two cover songs – Girl Problems by State Of Alert and World Peace by Cro-Mags. Pretty cool setlist! Not much talking between the songs except the usual introduction and thank yous. It's possible that TIU played the last and maybe didn't have much time so they just blasted these 20 songs like there's no tomorrow. The band sounds extra pumped and fast as hell but it could be that the recording is just a little bit speeded up but I could be wrong. However, it's cool to hear the band being a 4 piece and still delivering a great energetic and furious set. Some of the bands best songs are here, so what else to say except that I love this shit.
Tear It Up - Live in Warsaw, Poland 06-04-02 (mediafire.com)
This show is from the Tear It Up second
European Tour that lasted from end of the May to the half of the July, 2003 and
this was the last show on the tour. This is the later lineup with Dave –
vocals, Andy – guitar, John – guitar, Ryan - bass & Matt – Drums &
shouts. The show was recorded through the soundboard so it's better sounding
than the other two sets that I've talked about here. The vocals and drums are a
little bit up front than the rest of the instruments but it's still fuckin' Tear
It Up, so don't expect any ballady stuff. There are 15 songs on this set, most
songs are from the Nothing To Nothing LP (they played like half of the record
here), few songs from Just Can't Stand It! 12˝, split LP with E. T. A and split
7˝ with Fast Times, one song from Taking You Down With Me 12˝ (which at the
time still wasn't out) and a cover - No Class by Motorhead. All in all, nice
setlist, especially for the fans of Nothing To Nothing LP. The band sounds
pretty tight and while they still played fast hc/punk at this point TIU also
brought a lot of Rock 'N Roll influences to their music. There's also some talk
between the songs, but quite relaxed talk, nothing too serious and the whole
show just sounds quite fun. Related to this tour, there's a cool video on
Youtube of the first TIU show from the same tour from Tilburg, Netherlands, so
do a little research on Youtube. This is a great TIU set, I love to listen to
it from time to time and it's cool to hear some of that later TIU rockish vibes.
Tear It Up - Live @ Lintfabriek 7-13-03 (Belgium) (mediafire.com)
That's it, hope you will enjoy in some good
2000's thrashy hardcore punk, they just don't make 'em like that anymore. I'm
still looking for any Tear It Up related stuff, especially live shows, audio,
video, radio shows, it doesn't matter and if you have any, let me know. Fuck
you, we play to destroy!
I am The Snake
PS - If anyone recognize their photo, let me know so I can credit you, thanks!
