Korova (US band)

Infobox musical artist
Background = group_or_band
Name = Korova
Origin = Birmingham, Alabama
Genre = Hardcore punk, thrashcore, powerviolence
Years_active = 2001 - 2006
2008 - present
Label = Victimized, United Riot
Associated_acts = Slag
Government for Hire
Sick of Talk
No Price Paid
Everyman
URL =

Korova is a hardcore punk band from Birmingham, Alabama, formed in 2001 from several active members in the underground community in Alabama.

History

Most known for their skinhead image and strong stances against racism and commercial corruption in punk rock, they disbanded in 2006 and began playing again in late 2008. The band lists influences as diverse as the typical hardcore fodder of the Dead Kennedys, Fear, and Warzone to more modern hardcore like I Object! and Skate Korpse, to 90s powerviolence like Spazz. The band also lists several influences that are hard to pick out in their sound including the Smiths, the Specials, and Desmond Dekker. Their recorded output during the bands original run was limited to two locally influential EPs, "Ultra Violence" and "It's Already Begun" (on their own Victimized Records), and several releases on compilations. Both EPs were limited to several hundred hard copies, because the band preferred to distribute the music for free via the internet.

Their second EP contained the tracks "Let's Kill Some Klansmen Tonight", which received heavy play on local radio shows, as well as "Nazis Ruined Shaved Heads", which received national attention when it appeared on two compilation albums released in the United States, most notably the "Streets of America" CD on the New York label United Riot Records. The song "Nazis Ruined Shaved Heads" later appeared on a bootleg CD entitled "Nazis Make Good Targets" that was released in Slovenia in 2005. A third recording session produced several songs that never saw official release, and yet a fourth recording session for what was to become their first full-length, and the only tracks not self-recorded by the band, was canned for being "over produced". The band remarked in an interview that they "were together for a for years and then broke up, like thousands of hardcore bands before us and thousands still to come."

The band's most important contribution locally was the booking company they ran, Victimized Productions (an extension of Victimized Records), that booked a large number of underground bands in Birmingham with Korova playing for free or next to free to help touring bands make ends meet while on the road. The band booked shows for I Object, Bones Brigade, Demented Are Go (UK), Session 8 (Italy), and the Vibrators (UK) among others.

A 7" vinyl record of remastered material was released a year after the band's last show in Birmingham, Alabama. The record was limited to 500 copies and titled "If There is a Future...". The songs were remastered by Carl Snow of the early Tennessee hardcore band Koro. The record was received well and got good reviews in several magazines including Maximum Rock n Roll and Razorcake, but the band chose a marketing campaign that quoted a very negative review from the music web site Scenepointblank.com that said the record "stinks of being punk and DIY just like the old days."

The band appeared on the compilation "We Did It Our Own Way", a documentation of the Alabama punk subculture released in 2004, along with Skeptic?, Random Conflict, the Vomit Spots, and many others that was released on Victimized Records. Members also played in the bands Blood Guts Destruction, Slag, No Price Paid, Everyman, Sick of Talk, and Government for Hire (Chicago).

Rumors and speculations post-breakup

The title of the 7" ("If there is a future") appears on the A side matrix of the record. The B side matrix reads "It lies in the Proles." This information prompted rumors that the band was to reunite under the name The Proles, but such reunions have yet to materialize. The band always stressed that the break-up was caused by outside conflicts and the that the band split up on good terms. While the band was together, their status was always rocky and several shows leading up to their decline were rumored to be their last. Members constantly referred to the band in the past tense in any interviews and a member of the Oi! band Slag, which shared two common members with Korova, once made the comment that "Nobody ever knows if Korova is together or not until they play a show and even then it's up in the air". Subsequently, rumors of more shows were occasionally circulated, as well as the eventual release of several unreleased recording sessions, including the 40+ songs the band wrote but supposedly never recorded. Members asked about a reunion said it was never out of the question, but everyday it didn't happen made it less likely to come together.

Reunion

The band maintained a MySpace account while broken up and in the fall of 2008, they began posting bulletins confirming rumors of a reunion. September 12th, 2008 the band played a show at Cave9, an autonomous, DIY punk rock club in Birmingham's south side. It was their first show in over two years, and they played several new songs and promised a new full length record to be finished in the winter of 2008. The band posted a public blog where they said that the full length would have a few re-recordings of old songs from the "If There is a Future" 7" as well as some older material that was never released. They said the new record will be "probably half and half between new material and old," and that the new songs are a bit of a departure from their older sound.

Members

*Ian Wise - Vocals (2001-present)
*Chad Petit - Guitar (2003-present)
*Carter Glascock - Bass (2004-present)

Former members

*Nic Tisdale - Drums (2001-2008)
*JD Sansom - Bass (2001-2004)
*David George - Guitar (guitar 2001-2003)
*Lord Taint - Drums (2005)

Lord Taint of the Washington, DC hardcore band The Twats is listed as an official member of the band in the liner notes of the "If There is a Future..." 7". He never appeared on any recordings, but he played drums for the band for one night on tour when Nic was too ill to perform. The band was known to switch instruments on occasion while performing live to fill in spots for absent members or "just to have something else to do".

See also

* Tragic City Hardcore