Die 116 - Damage Control

Label: Wreck-Age

Year: 1994

Gavin Van Vlack holds mighty sway in my home. Well, at least to me he does. I'm sure my wife and children would have no idea who, or what, in the fuck is "Gavin Van Vlack". 

Regardless of my families' obvious shortcomings in their NYHC hero-mongering abilities, I found myself in a pretty deep Van Vlack trance in the early Nineties. Shit, the dude was in Absolution and then Burn for shit's sake! Dan O'Mahony name-checks him on the legendary "Free For All" compilation! What more could you want?! He was churning out some of the meanest, burliest, and most forward thinking riffs in all of New York. Dude was single handedly, and I repeat, single handedly, changing the sound of modern hardcore music. He introduced a fractured groove to the genre, and in his wake came the "post hardcore" boom of 1991 that all but rendered the Youth Crew sound a moot point.

Yes, granted, had you already been listening to Unsane, Helmet, or Cop Shoot Cop, then you were privy to this "new" sound already. But most young men under in the influence of Revelation Records were still convinced Gorilla Biscuits was about as far as you could push hardcore music away from it's core (pun intended) characteristics.

I'm sure I'm making too big a deal out of all of this, as in, "who gives a shit about my opinion on the intricacies of contemporary hardcore music?" (although you really should, I have plenty of other theories on modern music...seriously.), so I'll quit yammering. But, should you need any further proof that this band is no joke, please see the roster of bands that either made up, or were born out of Die 116:

Rorscach, Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye, Pry, The Big Collapse, Burn, Absolution, Playing Enemy, Made Out Of Babies, Kill Van Kull, JJ Paradise Players Club, Stillsuit, Glassjaw, Shai Hulud, and  Saves The Day (ouch). I know I'm missing someone, but whatever, that's plenty. 

Just get this.  Now.

DL