You've probably seen this already, but I still think it's pretty amusing stuff:http://stereogum.com/931251/man-is-the-bastard-disses-akronfamily/franchises/wheres-the-beef/This comment in particular deserves to be pointed out:
"First they came for the No Age, and I did not speak out, because I was not a No Age. Then they came for the Joy Division, but I did not speak out, because I was not a Joy Division. Then they came for the Man Is The Bastard, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Man Is The Bastard. Then they came for me, and there was nobody left to copyright my t-shirt"
To be honest, I actually really love it when bands pay blatant homage to their influences/heroes in their artwork, t-shirts, and song titles. Perhaps not "Fiend Club" Melvins t-shirt levels of blatancy or the Black Flag "bars" pairing with literally every word couplet in existence, but I can definitely appreciate stuff like that DK font Dear Landlord hoodie and the Mammoth Grinder Goes To College demo. Such fetishism led me to check out Knuckle Scraper, embarrassingly enough.
Knuckle Scraper was a fucking awesome 3-piece powerviolence machine from Houston, Texas (hence the skulls, I suppose) fresh from the ashes of yet-unheard-by-me Machine Gun Romantics. Like most bands of their stripe, they lasted for a depressingly short time, and only left about 10 or 15 minutes of tuneage in their wake. The awesomely titled Max Isn't The Bastard (presumably in reference to Max Ward of 625 Thrashcore) was their first 7", and manages to clock in 12 tracks at a stupidly brisk 5 minutes without becoming an unmemorable blur of blastbeats. This isn't to say the band aren't fast as fuck, as they pretty much switch exclusively between frenetic blasting and hardcore tempo, but the songwriting on here is really captivating regardless of the brevity. Actually, Knuckle Scraper, much like XBrainiaX and Sore Throat, is one of those bands notorious on last.fm for the inability to "scrobble" due to their penchant for songs under 30 seconds. Stylistically, the band's sound is relatively standard powerviolence fare, but again, the songwriting ability of the members is key to their appeal. That said, the sound itself comes across like a glorious hybrid of Crossed Out's balls-out aggression and speed and Spazz's idiosyncrasy, humor, and triple vocal assault.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zy2gjzzzdiwThis is great stuff, but it's unfortunately OOP as far as I can tell. I've heard both of their 7"s were compiled recently, including a few compilation tracks they did, but that may have just been a rumor. By the way, Knuckle Scraper gets listed in XBrainiaX's "M.S.M.P" (speaking of tributes) alongside The Endless Blockade, Warzone Womyn, Scapegoat, and some band called Born Backwards (presumably after that old Assuck EP). Does anyone know anything about them? Are they the equivalent of the non-existent Manpig listed in Man Is The Bastard's "H.S.M.P"?
WHO THE FUCK WAS MANPIG?
