Sore Throat

Infobox musical artist |
Name = Sore Throat


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Background = group_or_band
Alias = Soar Throat Saw Throat
Origin = United Kingdom
Genre = Crust punk Hardcore punk Grindcore
Years_active = 1987-1990
Label = Manic Ears Earache
Associated_acts = Doom Pagan Altar Solstice Isen Torr Wartorn Warfear Discontrol Nailbomb Harmony as One Virtual Reality Bug Eyed Lazarus Blackstar Khang Make Them Die Slowly Cain Police Bastard Haxan
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Current_members = Rich "Militia" Walker Brian "Bri" Talbot John "Doom" Pickering Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw
Past_members = Nick Royles

Sore Throat were a British crust punk / grindcore band, formed in Yorkshire in 1987. They are known for being one of the earliest exponents of the grindcore subgenre known as "noisecore", as well launching the careers of several prominent members of the British metal community. [ [http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/gbr/sore+throat Rockdetector biography] ]

Biography

Sore Throat were formed in 1987 by John "Doom" Pickering (bass; previously a member of Doom, Pelvic Thrust, Police Bastard and Cain), Brian "Bri" Talbot (guitar; also previously associated with Doom and Pelvic Thrust, as well as Ackworth St. Chaos Front, Metal Motherfuckers from Mars, Bugeyed, Warfear, Woodhouse Rejects, Stalingrad, Blood Sucking Feaks, Devils and Virtual Reality), Richard "Militia" Walker (vocals; of Wartorn and Warfear) and Nick Royles (drums). The band were vehemently opposed to what they saw as commercialism with the hardcore scene, and used ridicule to lyrically lambast the likes of Napalm Death, The Sex Pistols, Suicidal Tendencies, DRI, OLD and SOD. Other lyrics mocked Nazis, capitalism and the straight edge movement.

The band's first release was the "Aural Butchery" demo in 1987, and like other early releases such as the 42 track "Death to Capitalist Hardcore" EP (1987) and the "Noise Annoys" demo (1988) consisted largely of raw, sub-one minute blast of grindcore noise. After signing to the Manic Ears label in 1988, Sore Throat released their debut album, "Unhindered by Talent", which continued the trend, albeit with a number of more traditional, Discharge-style numbers. Their second album, "Disgrace to the Corpse of Sid" on Earache, showed even more diversity, incorporating distortion, blast beats, screams and grunts, and sound samples. However, whilst the A side of the album consisted of the band's patented noisecore, the B side contained more doom-inspired crust punk, along the lines of Amebix. The band also released the "Inde$troy" in 1988 under the moniker Saw Throat.

A line-up change resulted in Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw taking over on drums, and Sore Throat released their final full-length album, "Never Mind the Napalm... Here's Sore Throat", in 1989, returning to their crust punk roots. A number of other releases followed, including the "Soar Throat" EP, the "And We Don't Care" compilation and the "Poison Idea / No Handle Beer" demo (featuring two Poison Idea covers and one original track), but Sore Throat disbanded in 1990 due to internal conflicts.

Vocalist Rich Walker was already involved with Sludgelord and went on to play in the doom metal band Solstice and epic heavy metal group Isen Torr, as well as some hardcore bands like Wartorn, Warfear, Discontrol, Nailbomb and Harmony As One, all of whom released records in the early 1990s. He currently runs his own label The Miskatonic Foundation and plays rhythm guitar in Pagan Altar. Guitarist Brian Talbot went on to play with doom metal group Khang (latterly Lazarus Blackstar). Bassist John Pickering became a DJ at Radio Kerrang!. Original drummer Nick Royles set up an anarchist book mail order service, whilst his replacement Paul Halmshaw founded Peaceville Records.

Line-up

First line-up

* John "Doom" Pickering (bass)
* Rich "Militia" Walker (vocals)
* Brian "Bri" Talbot (guitar)
* Nick Royles (drums)

econd line-up

* John "Doom" Pickering (bass)
* Rich "Militia" Walker (vocals)
* Brian "Bri" Talbot (guitar)
* Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw (drums)

Discography

Official releases

* "Aural Butchery" demo (1987)
* "Death to Capitalist Hardcore" EP (also known as self-titled EP) (1987)
* "Noise Annoys" demo (1988)
* "Unhindered by Talent" LP/cassette (1988)
* "Disgrace to the Corpse Of Sid" LP/CD (1988)
* "Inde$troy" LP/CD (the band went under Saw Throat for this release)
* "Never Mind the Napalm..." MLP/cassette (European edition: 60 tracks, USA edition: 16 tracks) (1989)
* "Soar Throat" EP (the band went under the name Soar Throat for this release) (1989)
* "And We Don't Care" CD (1989)
* "Poison Idea / No Handle Beer" demo (two Poison Idea covers and one original track) (1989)
* "Death to Capitalist Halmshaw" (featuring all Sore Throat demo tracks, the "Death To Capitalist Hardcore" EP and rare live material and unreleased material) (2006)

Compilations featuring Sore Throat

* "A Vile Peace" LP (Peaceville)
* "Spleurk" LP (Meantime)
* "Grindcrusher" LP (Earache)
* "The Hysterical Years" CD (Manic Ears)
* "Six Ways" 7" LP (German Label)
* "Summertime Sampler" 7" flexi (Skateboard magazine)
* "Volnitza" LP (1 In 12 Records)

Bootleg albums

Aside from their official discography, Sore Throat have been heavily bootlegged. Some examples include:

* "Abraham's Ear" 7" EP ("Aural Butchery" demo released with bonus live tracks)
* "Death To Capitalist Hardcore" EP (bootlegged 3 times with red/black sleeve)
* "Death To Capitalist Grindcore" LP
* "Death To Capitalist Thrashcore" LP
* "F.O.A.D." studio/live LP (first half of this release is Rich's post-Sore Throat band Sludgelord)
* "Algo Que Nunca Fue" CD
* "Encerrado En El Trago" CD

References

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/sorethroatpunk Sore Throat Myspace profile]
* [http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/gbr/sore+throat Sore Throat biography at Rockdetector]