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Mid Youth Crisis - Live at the Arthouse (Cover Artwork)

Mid Youth Crisis

Live at the Arthouse (2003)
Life Time

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Contributed by: Lunk
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Published on October 28th 2003


When I heard this album was out I damn near had a coronary I was that excited. Running home from Resist, I couldn’t wait to get it into my stereo. This was what my life had been building up to… The climax… The be all and end all.

Let me fill you in:

Mid Youth Crisis (AKA MYC, AKA OIP, AKA One Inch Punch, AKA Downfall) are perhaps the most respected Aussie hardcore band of all time. They broke up in 1999, and in 2002 they played two reunion shows in Melbourne. They were packed, and by all accounts amongst the best shows they’d ever played. There were rumours that someone had recorded the second show professionally, and that one day it would be mastered and released. Time passed and that particular rumour seemed less and less likely to be true, let alone result in a release. But here it is. I am looking at it. A year and half after the fact and it’s finally here. And was it worth the wait?

Fucking oath it was.

On this bloody ripper of a CD are over twenty tracks, including the vast majority of their classics, and apart from that a fair showing from each of their releases (though there are definitely too few tracks from LIWWL). A minor disappointment is that four covers are included, which in my opinion just represents four less MYC songs that could have been played instead. But yeah, you can’t win ‘em all. The band is amazing live. It’s that simple. Time apart did not seem to dull their killer timing and energy. Steve yells and screams his way through the first half of the show without missing a beat, though towards the end he does tire somewhat (there's no hint of an Irish accent though). The mixing, is, for the most part, flawless, though on a few tracks is a bit suspect, with the vocals way too soft, and the lead guitar too loud. But so what? It’s still MYC for fucks sake! It still rocks. If you are or ever were an MYC fan, you MUST get this. If you’re into punk or hardcore, yet you’ve never heard of MYC, I still say you should get this. You’ll like it.

From ‘Lost in What We Lack’ they only play ‘Escaping the Goat’ and ‘Status Remains’, which is a bit disappointing, considering it’s their best release, and a full-length LP to boot.

From ‘Ignorant Bliss’ they play ‘Set Back’, ‘Down Syndrome’, ‘Stupid Me’, and my favourite: ‘Shut Down’. Which is not a bad turnout for a six-track EP.

From ‘Happiness and Authority’ they play ‘After You My Friend’, ‘Know Something’, ‘Between the Lies’, the brilliant pair ‘Verbal Diarrhoea’ and ‘Community Announcement’, ‘Happiness & Authority’, ‘Pride’, ‘Better Life’, and ‘Mid Youth Crisis’. They effectively play the entire LP, which is understandable, since the line-up for this album was the same as for the show.

The covers they play are ‘Virus’ (Avail), ‘Try again’ (The Spermbirds), ‘Wasted Life’ (The Stiff Little Fingers), and ‘Other Side’ (Steadfast). Nothing special here.

And the new song they play is called ‘Pat Benatar’. It’s slow, but then so is ‘Pride’ and that grows on you. This may too.

I can recommend it for the lyrics.
I can recommend it for the energy.
But most of all I can recommend it because it seems increasingly likely that this recording does in fact consist of the last ever MYC gig.

So with equal parts sadness, regret and joy, I leave you with this:
The band is gone, I missed the reunion shows, but at least I have their final show on CD.

This is history, folks.



People who liked this also liked:
Various - Chainspotting - Australian PunkNo Use For A Name - Making FriendsVarious - Short Music for Short PeopleSommerset - More Songs From Last CenturyOne Inch Punch - Ignorant BlissPropagandhi - Less Talk, More RockOne Inch Punch - Lost In What We Lack

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    lunk (January 26, 2004)

    the sydney gig is at the vic on the park in enmore.

    lunk (January 17, 2004)

    You will be pleased to know they are planning some more gigs.
    Steve is coming back from Ireland for a while, and they will be playing

    Fri 13th/Sat 14th Feb in Melbourne
    Sat 22nd in Adelaide
    and Sat 13th March in Sydney

    I dont know the venues as yet. Spread the word
    See you at a gig

    funkisdead (November 3, 2003)

    dammit. you were pretty much [ ] that close to getting your fetus. pity i just went ahead and ate it.

    Anonymous (November 1, 2003)

    sorry, i thought you said 'tell' instead of 'sell'. i can't sell you caustic soda. you can keep the fetus.

    Anonymous (November 1, 2003)

    Caustic soda released 2 cd's i think. where's my foetus?

    funkisdead (October 31, 2003)

    Did Caustic Soda ever release a record? If some wants to sell me that, I'll buy you a fetus.

    Anonymous (October 30, 2003)

    I AM SO JEALOUS!
    i would give my left nut to have been at even ONE of those shows, let alone both.

    Anonymous (October 30, 2003)

    i ventured south from bris and these were the most incredible 2 live shows of my life!

    Friday - Far Left Limit, the Nation Blue and MYC
    Saturday - Day One (NZ), H-Block 101 and MYC

    beltsy, what a demon and jay, give me another spine rippling scream...damn why no more bands like this in Oz.

    pony out

    Lunk (October 30, 2003)

    punky, i need a copy of happiness and authority. can you hook me up? i've been searching for one for two years now. email me at removethislunktheimpaler@hotmail.com if you can help (take out the 'removethis' bit- just putit in to stop junk mail overwhelming my account).

    Anonymous (October 30, 2003)

    wyzo, you are correct.
    If you want to hear an mp3 of this band, got to blueline medic official website, and you can download a song by this band from there.

    --punky

    Anonymous (October 29, 2003)

    one of these guys is now in blueline medic, i believe.

    wyzo

    Greenvandal (October 29, 2003)

    Its amazing how the lack of a comma can make me reread the same opening sentence 4 times before it makes sense.

    I think im turning into one of those spelling critical kids *shiver* sorry

    Never heard this. Kind of want to now.

    Lunk (October 29, 2003)

    Oh, and i forgot to include Thieves, Tyrants, Cynics in the track rundown. It's in there, and it fucking rocks.

    Lunk (October 29, 2003)

    Scott, you should have emailed me. i could have sent you a link for the cover art image.

    Punky, it's good to be back. you should get this ASAP. it is fucking brilliant. Resist have plenty of copies.

    Anonymous (October 29, 2003)

    Good review, any place for mp3s by this band?

    -Strewtho

    Anonymous (October 28, 2003)

    Welcome back Lunk!
    I need to get this from resist.

    -punky

    Anonymous (October 28, 2003)

    this is a pretty cool name for a band ... if you're fourteen

    maverick (October 28, 2003)

    This took so fucking long to find cover art for. You have no idea.

    -Scott

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