Features

Disarm: Obscure 1980s Virginia Skate Thrashers (Finally) Get the Spotlight

Photo courtesy of Beach Impediment Records/No Idols

Beach Impediment Records and No Idols just unearthed a crossover hardcore gem from the '80s worth your attention. Based in Virginia Beach (hi, Timmy!), Disarm was a short-lived band that cited such influences as Agnostic Front and Anti-Cimex, pounding out riffs at speedy tempos.

"Initially a lot of what Disarm became was [vocalist] Bryan [Zentz] and I sitting around at his house listening to records," says Disarm guitarist Raymond Epstein. "The Euro stuff was big for us, but SSD’s Get it Away and Agnostic Front’s Victim in Pain were implanted into our sound, specifically my playing. Furthermore, we loved the high-speed stuff that Gang Green did, in particular, their Sold Out EP.

"Lastly, I cannot say enough about the 1982 No Core cassette compilation of North Carolina hardcore bands as an initial inspiration for me. I literally picked up the guitar 6 or 8 months after hearing that. I wore that tape out and some of the earliest stuff I ever tried to emulate came from that. The whole thing ruled, but I particularly dug Colcor with future C.O.C. singer Eric Eycke and No Labels. It still sounds great to me now 40 years later."

 

Existence Demo 1985 is being released both digitally, and for the first time ever, on vinyl. Each record features liner notes derived from an interview conducted by Tony Rettman with Zentz and Epstein (which is where the quotes in this story are pulled from). Listen below:

During their brief run together, Disarm shared bills with the likes of SNFU, Youth of Today, and The Faction, but a label deal wasn't in the cards for the band.

Featured within the new vinyl drop is a rejection letter from Metal Blade Records, at the time, the home of bands like C.O.C. and D.R.I. Yes, labels used to actually send these out to bands when the submitted demos back in the days:

Skateboarding was another connection the guys in Disarm shared, but it ultimately got in the way. "Mike had started to gain some serious national coverage and as was mentioned above, he would soon turn pro for Vision," vocalist Bryan Zentz remembers. 

"I started to travel more for some contests and demos, and it began to consume more and more of my life. We both decided our hearts were more into pursuing skateboarding than playing music at the time."

Disarm ended up breaking up in the spring of 1987.

Existence Demo 1985 is available now via Beach Impediment Records/No Idols (limited edition vinyl available here).

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