Killing Time (American band)

Killing Time is an influential New York Hardcore band. From their beginnings in 1988, under the name Raw Deal, they went on to record two full-length albums and several EPs, singles, and compilation tracks. The band went through three hiatus before formally disbanding in 1998. However, the band re-formed in 2006 and has been touring/playing since. Work on their third full-length album was completed in March 2009.

History

1988 – Raw Deal

Raw Deal was formed in 1988 by Carl Porcaro, Rich McLoughlin, and Anthony Drago after their former band, Breakdown – another New York hardcore band – split through personal differences. While Breakdown continued as a band without them, Anthony Comunale – formerly of Token Entry – was recruited on vocals and Mike Sentkiewitz – formerly of Sick Of It All – on guitar to round out the Raw Deal line-up.

The band then recorded a demo cassette and set about playing at various venues in New York City – most notably at CBGB's which was home to many hardcore punk acts at the time, including Agnostic Front, Warzone, Sick Of It All, Gorilla Biscuits, and Murphy's Law. They also created a second demo which remained uncirculated because, after a show at the Ritz Theatre in New York City, they were signed to the In Effect Records label – a part of Relativity Records – with a view to recording their first full-length album.

1989 – Killing Time and Brightside

Mike Sentkiewitz left the band and they were forced to change their name to Killing Time after legal action was threatened by a heavy metal band of the same name. They entered the Normandy Sound studio in Warren, Rhode Island with famed hardcore producer, Tom Soares – he had previously been involved with recording Cro-Mags' Best Wishes and Gang Green's Older... Budweiser to name but a few. The band performed as a four-piece and re-recorded some of the tracks from their first demo and a few new ones which resulted in the Brightside album being released in November, 1989.

Also, on Blackout Records, a New York hardcore compilation was released which contained two of the band's tracks – "Backtrack" and "Brightside". Called Where the Wild Things Are, it also carried a photograph of the band performing live on the cover – exactly the same show where they were picked up by In Effect Records.

1990 – 1991 The first hiatus

After the album was released, Rich McLoughlin expressed a desire to switch from bass to guitar but the rest of the band were not so enthusiastic about this. McLoughlin left and his place was filled by ex-Inside Out bassist, Alex Gopian. The band played a show in California – this being their first and last show on the west coast of America – from which arose a 7" single entitled East Meets West which included the Killing Time track, "Wall of Hate", and tracks by Sick Of It All, Vision, Carry Nation, and Point Blank. However, for most of this period, the band was considered to be in hiatus as they neither recorded nor toured.

1991 – 1992 Happy Hour

In late 1991, Rich McLoughlin rejoined the band in the second guitarist slot for which he had craved and the band entered the studio to record an EP, entitled Happy Hour. It contained four tracks and was released in July, 1992 on Blackout Records. It was also released in Europe on Semaphore Records as a 12" – complete with the second, previously unreleased demo material which the band had recorded before signing for In Effect.

1992 – 1993 The second hiatus

A combination of a bad response to the different musical direction displayed in the material on Happy Hour, compounded by general problems of violence in the New York hardcore scene, resulted in the band again calling time on Killing Time. Joey I, roadie and author of the biography on the band's official website, explained it thus, "...the Hardcore scene itself was changing - becoming more violent and the music becoming secondary to the socializing and posing, they decided to call it quits". The band members joined or formed other bands. Porcaro and McLoughlin started the Rope-A-Dope record label, while Gopian joined a hip-hop band, Justice System. Drago became a police officer in White Plains, New York and Comunale became involved in the financial sector of business.

1994 – European tour

The band reformed briefly in 1994 for a European tour. However, Comunale was unable to resume duties due to job commitments and Gopian's Justice System had signed to MCA Records. They were replaced by Dave Franklin of the New Jersey Hardcore band Vision on vocals, and ex-Judge and Uppercut guitarist Lars Weiss on bass.

1994 – 1995 The third hiatus

The band's unfamiliar line-up and general appearance caused mixed reviews from the European music press, and so the band rested yet again. But a flurry of activity was just on the horizon as a renewed interest in hardcore punk was on its way.

1995 – Records, records and more records

1995 saw the beginning of an upturn in the market for hardcore punk. It was not just on the east coast, with Blackout Records leading the way with the New York hardcore and neighboring New Jersey releases – re-issuing a lot of 1980s hardcore and eventually launching the recording careers of bands like H2O – but also the west coast with labels such as Indecision Records and Nitro Records springing up. Victory Records were also prolific releasers of punk from their Chicago, Illinois home in the mid-eastern states.

Comunale returned to the Killing Time fold and also Sean O'Brien came in on bass. Again the band entered the studio and released the Unavoidable EP on Blackout Records in March, 1995. They also recorded a cover version of the Sex Pistols song, "Bodies" which appeared on the compilation, Punk Rock Jukebox – also on Blackout Records. In addition, Brightside was re-released simultaneously in the USA and Europe. On Lost & Found Records, it also contained three of the tracks from the Happy Hour EP. On Victory Records, it contained those three extra tracks plus the material from the band's first demo way back in 1988. The new EP was generally well received and seen as a return from the experimentations which had taken place in the Happy Hour era.

1996 – 1997 The Method

The band entered the LoHo Studio, New York City, in June, 1996 and emerged in August having recorded their second – and what appeared to be last – album, The Method. It was released in April, 1997 and marked a return to the harder sound created on the Brightside album, but also a more melodic and intricate element with the addition of short guitar solos.

1998 and beyond – European Tour II and Japan/S. Korea; Three Steps Back

In spite of the success of The Method and the re-emergence of second-wave New York hardcore bands into the third wave of late 1990s hardcore – even first wave veterans, Agnostic Front, were tempted back to the studio – the band played its last show in Newburgh, New York in 1997 and finally brought the band to a rest in 1998.

Drago and Communale continued the professions they had started during their second hiatus; Porcaro now manages and produces local bands and was in the band Electric Frankenstein; McLoughlin went on to perform with Maximum Penalty before joining Skin Kandy with O'Brien – who also played for, amongst others, Electric Frankenstein. Porcaro also plays in two bands, Scream & Scream Again with his wife, and The Monumentals. In May 2005, the band played two reunion dates at Northsix Brooklyn, New York on a bill that included The Slumlords - a band that included the singer of Breakdown, the first hardcore band that Rich, Carl, and Drago played in. The band was scheduled to play later in 2005 at Posi-Numbers Festival in July, headlining the third and last day of the fest. However they never ended up playing due to the event being shut down only hours before they were scheduled to play due to a fight that broke out. They were also scheduled to play at the Hellfest in New Jersey in August, 2005 before the event was canceled indefinitely.

Early in the summer of 2006, the band tapped old friend and Uppercut guitarist Chris Skowronski to play bass and did some NY-area shows before leaving for a European tour in the fall. They returned, played a few local shows, and set out for their first tour of Asia in November 2007, playing two weeks in Japan and So. Korea.

Inspired by the overwhelming response during the Asian tour, the band discussed writing the first new Killing Time material since 1996. They decided to bring it back to where it all started—Drago’s parents’ garage, the place where Breakdown had formed and where the classic “Brightside” record had been written and rehearsed. On a bitterly cold evening in early January 2008, the band assembled in the now much cleaner garage and got to work. A steady stream of new material began to take shape.

As winter turned to spring (and the garage’s spaceheater was replaced by a large fan), the band finalized the 12 songs that would become Killing Time’s third LP and first studio effort in over ten years. Recorded in July 2008 at Electroluxe Studios in Brooklyn, “Three Steps Back”, released on Dead City Records, is simultaneously a return to the band’s roots (literally, in the case of the garage) and a new vision of what a classic hardcore band can still accomplish. The band drew on their various influences and musicianship to craft twelve news songs that bring New York Hardcore back to its punk roots while still offering up that classic Killing Time crunch and power. At a time when the genre is more popular than ever—not always for the right reasons—the record is a testament to what true New York Hardcore is about: a bunch of friends in a garage having fun and doing what they enjoy.

In 2003, Carl Porcaro contributed some additional guitar work on a cover version of "Tell Tale" by New Jersey hardcore punk band, Ensign, on their album Love the Music, Hate the Kids.

Official members

• Anthony Comunale – vocals
• Carl Porcaro – guitar
• Rich McLoughlin – guitar
• Christopher Skowronski – bass
• Anthony Drago – drums

Previous members

• Sean O'Brien – bass (c.1992 – 2006)
• Mike Sentkiewitz – guitar (c.1988 – 1989)
• Alex Gopian – bass (c. 1990 – 1992)
• Dave Franklin – vocals (1994)
• Lars Weiss – bass (1994)

Discography

Albums/EPs

• Brightside (November, 1989) In Effect Records
• Happy Hour EP (July, 1992) Blackout Records
• Unavoidable EP (March, 1995) Blackout Records
• The Method (April, 1997) Blackout Records
• Raw Deal demo EP (May, 2005) Dead Serious Records
• Three Steps Back (February, 2010) Dead City Records

Singles

• East Meets West 7" (1991) Nemesis Records – "Wall of Hate" in California, USA
• Killing Time/Profound Effect 7" (?) ? – split, contains "Fools Die"

Compilations

• Where the Wild Things Are (1989) Blackout Records – "Backtrack" and "Brightside"
• Punk Rock Jukebox (1995) Blackout Records – Sex Pistols's "Bodies"
• Satisfaction Guaranteed Nawpost Records – Major Conflict's "Outgroup"
• Creepy Crawl (1997) Another Planet – "Fools Die" live

Reissues

• Happy Hour 12" EP (1992) Blackout/Semaphore Records – European import contains 2nd Raw Deal demo
• Brightside (1995) Lost & Found – contains Happy Hour EP
• Brightside (1995) Victory Records – contains Happy Hour EP and 1st Raw Deal demo

External links

• Killing Time official website