PURE UNADULTERATED FUN!!!! That's what comes to my mind most when i try to think of how to describe Charles Bronson, the already legendary "Dekalb Youth Crew" thrash punk band from Illinois. Formed in late 1994 in the Chicago suburbs of Dekalb, Illinois, Charles Bronson burned a mighty path of super fast and thrashy, humorous, intelligent, good clean fun, hardcore punk that was without attitude and pretensions and, yet, was completely honest and unswayed in their convictions of having nothing but PURE UNADULTERATED FUN (!!!!), until their "semi-teary eyed" final show in August, 1997. They will be sorely missed, as a band of this caliber very rarely graces our presence.
Their music may not have been polished (hardly the case) but it was well played, with heart and youthful energy, and oozed throughout with the feeling that they were having a total BLAST ripping and shredding at these songs. Fast, blastbeat styled drumming, that relies more on fills than straight beats, blur speed bass lines that anchor down the trashy raw sounding, razor-edged 3-chord thrash riffs, of the sometimes 2 guitars, and then couple that with the laugh out loud song titles and the very funny and satirical lyrics of singer, Mark McCoy, and you have a great recipe for a tasty, much needed hardcore diet. The lyrics dealt with a wide variety of typical xyouthfulx subjects, but in an intelligent manner that was at the same time as mature as it was immature. They attacked numerous targets, taking them down kicking and screaming, and poking fun at everything from Jerry Springer to Walmart ("the painful, yet, unavoidable Deathstar comparison"), people that they like and dislike ("One Life Crew (Fuck You!)), relationships, idiots and xdumbfucksx (the hilariously titled, "i can never write too many songs about morons like you!"), and peoples attitudes and pretensions in everyday life and more specifically in the punk scene (my all time favorite Chuck Bronson title, "what the fuck are you going to do when it's cool to be yourself?"). The whole time yelling in a nonstop, yet, flowing, narrative way that lent a lot to the humor and biting sarcasm that is evident in every word. Good stuff, man.
It's too bad that they didn't stick around longer than 3 short years, as the, far too often, dead horse flogging of punk rock needs a good swift kick to the ass to remind it, them and us, that the main reason that we play, listen and support this beast that we call music, is because it is fun! Plain and simple! Charles Bronson is going down with high marks in punk rock history, as we speak now, and it is so rightfully deserved! This double cd collection is all that you'll ever need, and more, as it collects EVERYTHING that Charles Bronson ever released, and then some! 123 songs comprising, their first unreleased 5 song demo, their 10 song demo, their one and only 7" ep, the split eps with Spazz, Unanswered, Ice-9, Quill, and their "Youth Attack!" 12"/10" release, as well as their 13 different compilation appearances, including the 8 song "skatanarchy" fest on the highly recommended "Possessed To Skate" hardcore comp (on Pessimiser/Theologian Records). And that's just the 1st 102 songs on the first cd!! The second cd not only contains 21 unreleased songs, including an Infest cover, but also comes with a cd rom video collage of various Charles Bronson shows, from CBGB's in NYC to their last show ever, interspersed with clips from a bunch of Charles Bronson's (the real actor/action man) films. Funny.
And if you think all that bang for your buck stops there, think again, kid. The cd comes with a 40 page booklet that is full of all the inserts and info sheets - lyrics, photos, relevant info and funny little rants - that came with/in all their releases, tons of photos, a band history, a full discography with liner notes to all the recording info and pressings numbers (for all you collector geeks), an interview from Disturbing The Peace fanzine, lots of flyers and the "last two cents" of Ebro, their longstanding drummer!! Whew!! That's a lot of Charles Bronson and, sadly, it's the last ever of this amazing, fun, and awesome band!!! Get it while you can, it's my understanding that they didn't make a whole lot of them.