Out of My Head

Anxiety. Paranoia. Hate. Reclusion. Garbage. Asshole. If Josh's choice of words for some of the titles to Middle America's songs weren't a good enough indication of what you were getting yourself into with the band, give one song a listen and you'll figure it out pretty quickly. Harsh, negative and depressive hardcore with an early 80s vibe that left you feeling, surprisingly, a whole lot better after listening. Middle America sprang out of the LV scene putting on some killer live shows that were as short as they were intense. If my memory serves me, the one time I caught them, Josh ended up inside of a trashcan by the end of the set. They managed to pull off a demo, a seven inch on Home Invasion Records, a seven inch on Fashionable Idiots, and a tour with Fresh Meat before playing their final show in August of 2009.

Depending on how you look at it, the final show was either a disappointment or exactly how they wanted it. They played first on an outdoor, all day festival, where they were at least ten years younger than most of the bands. There were benches and due to the early time slot, there was literally no one standing up front. To me it was a complete bummer, because to me, the band was so good, but it didn't make them hold back in the least. The final set was exactly as it should have been, short, brutal and intense. They covered "Sick People" and it was incredibly perfect, and made me so happy, despite the lack of crowd reaction. I took the photo above during their final breakdown and really hope that the video from that set surfaces some day.

Fashionable Idiots still has copies of the "Scars" 7 inch available and I highly recommend grabbing one, before you are kicking yourself while searching on eBay for one in a few years.
I am pretty sure the Home Invasion Record can be found to purchase with a little effort searching around the various distros on the web. Track them down. Josh was always super nice in hooking me up with MA stuff and I want people to check them out and be as stoked as I was on them.

The link below contains the following:

Middle America Demo
1. I Hate You
2. I Hate Myself
3. Elitist Asshole
4. Regurgitated Garbage
5. Hard To Avoid
6. All the Same
7. Live Set from Jan's Room

Scars 7 Inch
1. Every Night
2. Reclusion/ Scars

S/T 7 Inch
1. It Repeats/ Out of My Head
2. Anxiety/ Scraped/Paranoia

MIDDLE AMERICA

Your Name Here

I have been meaning to get up some newer stuff from this year, but instead, here's some scrapwood art from last year. Got a lot of projects lined up for summer involving paint and old wood scraps if I can find the time.

Fear and Loathing in Allentown

My first experience with Middle America is one of regret. They were to play following Carpenter Ant during Globefest a few years back, and since I had to drive back to the shore for work the next day, I left without seeing them, only to read about how great they were on LVPR. Luckily, I caught them a month or two later and really dug what they were doing: Short blasts of songs about self loathing and depression that would have your head spinning before you realized their set was over.

"Scars" is the latest release from Middle America, containing three tracks of paranoia, anxiety, topped off with an unhealthy dose of autophobia...and it is awesome. The vocals are the rawest that I have heard on any M.A. release and while the sound has a definite early 80s vibe, there are a lot of different tempo changes and styles thrown in to keep things interesting. "Every Night" is the a-side, and it moves a long with the ocassional stop-n-start, finishing with Josh repeating "every night" filled with disgust over a sick little guitar run. The b-sides are even better. "Reclusive" starts off with a haunting little guitar part, only to smash you in the face seconds later; it slows only to assault you again as it thrashes through your speakers. "Scars" is the final track. It winds along with a slower rhythm thanks to a Black Flag-ish guitar, oozing bad vibes and dirty looks. By the end you almost feel bad for enjoying a record built on someone's issues with the world, but you can't help putting the record on again and again. Feeling bad never sounded so good.

http://fashionableidiots.com/catalog



Middle America also has a record out on Home Invasion Records, which you should probably pick up too.
HOME INVASION!!!