Also see Diatribes.
… Read Full Bio ↴Diatribe is the name of more than one artist
Also see Diatribes.
1) Diatribe was a coldwave group from San Jose, California which was active in the 1990’s and signed to Re-Constriction. They had a sound similar to 16 Volt and Chemlab, integrating synthesizers and vocal samples with more traditional rock instruments. Their song “Therapy” was used in the film Strange Days but does not appear on the official soundtrack album. . They put out 2 EPS (Therapy and Nothing), a single (Ultracide), and a self-titled LP.
2) Diatribe is a San Diego California hardcore punk band formed in late ‘84,one of the first political bands in the states, their style is similar to that of Discharge, Crucifix, Broken Bones, Iconoclast, English Dogs…etc they recorded The Aftermath EP (tape) in ‘85 which was also bootlegged in ‘92 on Revoltation records as a 7”EP and has since then been released in ‘07 by Get Revenge Records as a 7’’ EP.The band is working on new material and has shows set up for 2010.
This San Diego band became one of the first political punk bands in the U.S.A. They quickly started creating mayhem around town.They played they’re first show opening for D.O.A. and Abrasive Wheels. The band soon found themselves playing shows and sharing the stage with great bands like Conflict,Subhumans,Iconoclast,SNFU,Broken Bones,Battalion of Saints. The six song Demo tape “AfterMath”was recorded DIY for only 25 bucks.The Demo got rave reviews and the band soon had a strong following.A tour of the states was soon to follow.
This 7” EP on Get Revenge Records contains the six-song “Aftermath” demo, Diatribe’s only widely circulated recording. One track from it, “I’m Your Leader,” appeared on the Mortarhate 2xLP compilation “We Won’t Be Your Fucking Poor.” The demo was bootlegged circa 1991 on vinyl 7” by Revoltation Records in the UK, with one additional song called “The Day I Was Born,” obviously from a different recording session. Oddly, the order of the tracks on the Revoltation bootleg is not the same as on the original cassette. (The present reissue doesn’t use the original order either.) The Revoltation bootleg was coveted by lovers of raw punk, but even with the extra track, it is made obsolete by this reissue, which has much better sound quality. In fact, the sound could be better than surviving original copies of the cassette, as the vinyl was mastered from the original reel. The music is fast, with a redoubtable crunchy guitar and a perfect reproduction of the Discharge songwriting formula. “Hellish Inferno” actually seems to pay homage to Crucifix’s “Prejudice,” but mostly it’s as if Diatribe weren’t listening to much other than Discharge—though they covered Conflict live. A couple breakdowns slow the tempo (and induce hard-pitting in the living room), but mostly the music is fierce and relentless. No other American drummer played a d-beat in the ‘80s as convincingly as Diatribe’s (who, you may not have known, was African-American). So: you need this reissue. It’s great, and long overdue.
Other than “Aftermath,” Diatribe’s recorded history is something of a mystery. Tape traders have circulated a two-song demo with “Free the Animals” and “Glorious War Games” on it. “Free the Animals” begins with a tedious sample about vivisection, but then it turns out to be the same song as “The Day I Was Born” on the Revoltation bootleg. “Glorious War Games” begins with a Reagan sample and the song calls to mind the “Another Religion Another War”-era Varukers. There is another version of “Free the Animals” also circulating, dated February ’86, which is clearly live and inferior to the supposed second-demo version.Unfortunately, none of these additional recordings is available with good fidelity; deterioration of the tape is audible. Do high-quality master tapes still exist, as for “Aftermath”?
The list of American hardcore bands influenced by Discharge would be long indeed, even though “Discharge-style” hardcore is most often associated with Finland and Sweden. Still, there’s a Discharge influence—Battalion of Saints, Poison Idea, SSD—and there’s a Discharge influence—Crucifix, Iconoclast, and, best of all, Diatribe. Though from California and nominally peace-punk, Diatribe didn’t actually fit in well with the categorization. They came later than Crucifix, Against, and The Iconoclast and their sound was much more hardcore than Another Destructive System or Treason—though not as metal as Final Conflict or the late ‘80s crust bands that came after them. Peace-punk, in its varied forms, took hold in Southern California ( Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Diego), San Francisco, and New York more so than anywhere else in the States. True, these regions were home to the largest scenes, so there was room for more varied subgenres among the legions of punx, but I believe something about the character of these places lent itself to this appropriation and Americanization of a British musical invention. Southern California, with its huge Latino population butted up against the vapid celebrity culture and, in turn, the xenophobic Republican stronghold of Orange County (which produced some of the most violent original American hardcore bands), is rife with contradiction that would be fruitful for a punk lyricist trying to relate Discharge’s lyrics to his own everyday life. San Francisco, on the other hand, has always had the feeling of being aloof, disconnected from the rest of the country due to its liberal politics and queer culture, which themselves actually alienate many. Finally, New York is a crazy bouillabaisse of these cultures, but unlike any other, with so many immigrants, so much corporate money, and yet deep social isolation in the midst of a billowing metropolis. Perhaps there is no explaining it, but to me, Diatribe, from San Diego, seem like they couldn’t have originated anywhere else. Their earnest belief that what they were doing was a radical political (anarchist, animal rights) project, an educational mission, combined with the horror-themed song “Psycho Killer,” captures perfectly not just the adolescent punk rock worldview but the contradictions of Southern California. Unlike The Iconoclast, Diatribe never had any of the (hippie-esque) dark, acoustic peace punk stylings. They played nothing but pure raging d-beat raw punk and matched the music with strong political beliefs.
Today, their pro-vegetarian and anti-vivisection attitude seems much less radical than it must have in 1985. What interests me most is their message, written in an autobiography (rather than interview) in Maximum Rocknoll in 1985, about border conflicts and why Latin Americans emigrate to the United States. At the time, not many bands were talking about this issue, which is obviously still highly contentious today. Diatribe write: “If all the money spent on border enforcement went for housing and food, everyone would be better off. If American companies exploiting the resources of Central and South America stopped, people wouldn’t be forced to leave their homes in search of food and jobs.” It’s funny how these lines from this anarchist punk band constitute a much more intelligent analysis of the “immigration” issue than can be found in much of the mainstream press today. I believe that the band was so accurate because they were from San Diego, a city that has been forced to confront the injustice that has led to illegal immigration for far longer than the rest of the United States. Diatribe’s intelligence about this issue demonstrates their essential “California-ness,” and maybe shows one reason why punks formed bands of this type in California and not in other places in the United States. Of course there were many idiotic ‘80s hardcore bands from California, but that only throws into relief what a breath of fresh air the anarchist bands were.
The band recently reformed at the end of 2009.
Watch for new music and upcoming shows.
Free tracks can be downloaded at their offical website,
http://www.myspace.com/diatribepunk
3.) With in memory of tomorrow the five Paderborner guys are presenting a very versatile hardcore album, far away from deadlocked structures. 10 songs have been forged together with a lot of independence which convince from beginning to end and pull one into their spell. The production is first class - one can tell straight away that a lot of devotion and intuition has gone into it
4) .Diatribe is a UK post-punk band during the mid 1980s. They released the ‘17 and Dying’ EP on Criminal Damage records and recorded a Peel session in 1985.
Sick the Dogs
Diatribe Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Creeping after midnight
We found our launching pad
And set up before dawn
I dove into the lake
With death not my intention
A cord cut short my fate
Something went wrong
And all the while I’m falling
Don’t plan to hit the ground
The freezing water hits me
And I keep on going down
Catching me with mad hands
I crash into the earth
And pass right through
Emerging from the flesh
Rising above, immortal
There comes a blinding light
A hundred miles wide
It carves a passageway
Waiting at the entrance
An elf with almond eyes
Stretching grey arms
I float into the dark room
Wired to the wall
A second body for me
That didn’t take the fall
Inject it with my energy
Prepare it for the ride
Back to the scene
A voiceless silhouette
Haunting my broken memory
A dream I can’t forget
Searching for lost time
Tell me who licensed you
To start fucking around with nature
I know what you can do
Get out of my mind
But every night I’m falling
And I know I’ll hit the ground
The freezing water hits me
And I keep on going down
Returning to the riverside
Looking for the truth
Reveal yourself,
There must be something more than you
Returning to the riverside
I’m going off the edge
To meet my maker
The lyrics of Diatribe's song Sick the Dogs are rich in imagery and metaphorical language. The song starts off by describing a cold November morn that is creeping after midnight. The band sets up before dawn, and the song's protagonist jumps into a lake, although death is not their intention. A cord is then cut short, and something goes wrong. The lyrics then describe a fall, with the singer catching mad hands and passing right through the earth. They emerge from the flesh and rise above, becoming immortal.
The lyrics then describe a blinding light that carves a passageway, with an elf waiting at the entrance. The singer floats into a dark room with a second body, which they inject with energy and prepare for the ride back to the scene. The song then takes a darker turn, with a voiceless silhouette haunting the singer's broken memory. They are searching for lost time and demand to know who licensed the band to start messing with nature. The singer then returns to the riverside, looking for the truth and asking for something more than what they have been given, before going off the edge to meet their maker.
The lyrics of Sick the Dogs are open to interpretation and can be seen as a metaphor for life and death. The song describes a journey from life to death, and possibly even reincarnation, with the singer being injected with energy and preparing for a ride back to the scene. The lyrics are filled with vivid descriptions of falling, rising above, and meeting the elf at the entrance, all of which could be interpreted as part of the journey between life and death.
Line by Line Meaning
A cold November morn
It was a chilly morning of November
Creeping after midnight
They moved slowly after midnight
We found our launching pad
They found a suitable location to start their activity
And set up before dawn
They prepared everything before sunrise
I dove into the lake
He dived into the lake
With death not my intention
He didn't plan to die while diving
A cord cut short my fate
A rope abruptly ended his destiny
Something went wrong
An unexpected event occurred
And all the while I’m falling
He remained falling the entire time
Don’t plan to hit the ground
He didn't intend to hit the ground
The freezing water hits me
He got hit by the cold water
And I keep on going down
He continued sinking down
Catching me with mad hands
He was captured by frantic hands
I crash into the earth
He collided with the ground
And pass right through
He passed through it as if it wasn't there
Emerging from the flesh
He came out of his body
Rising above, immortal
He rose above as if he was never going to die
There comes a blinding light
A bright light appeared
A hundred miles wide
It appeared to be very wide
It carves a passageway
The light created a pathway
Waiting at the entrance
An elf was waiting there
An elf with almond eyes
The elf had eyes that resembled almonds
Stretching grey arms
The elf had grey-colored arms that it was stretching out
I float into the dark room
He lingered into the dark room
Wired to the wall
He got connected to the wall
A second body for me
Another body that was meant for him
That didn’t take the fall
The body didn't go through the fall
Inject it with my energy
He gave energy to the other body by injecting it
Prepare it for the ride
He readied the other body for the trip
Back to the scene
He returned back to the place from where he fell
A voiceless silhouette
A figure without a voice
Haunting my broken memory
It reminded him of something he couldn't recollect well
A dream I can’t forget
It was a dream that he couldn't stop thinking about
Searching for lost time
He was trying to find something from his past
Tell me who licensed you
Asking the authorities who gave them permission
To start fucking around with nature
Questioning them for experimenting with nature
I know what you can do
He is well aware of their capabilities
Get out of my mind
He commands them to leave his head
But every night I’m falling
He falls every night
And I know I’ll hit the ground
He knows he'll hit the ground again
Returning to the riverside
Going back to where the river is
Looking for the truth
Trying to find the truth
Reveal yourself
Asking the truth to manifest itself
There must be something more than you
Believing that there is more to the truth
I’m going off the edge
He decides to take a leap of faith
To meet my maker
He's jumping to meet his creator
Contributed by Camilla I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
VNV Girl
Thank you for this!! I have been looking for their stuff for eons! My ex bf who is older than me turned me on to them. Thanks!! Makes me miss my ex but I like this band <3 EDIT: I also LOVE their art for their music! I want to get tshirts? anyone have any ideas?
Gilgamesh Tardigrade
All your uploads are bringing back sooo many memories from younger self, crazy self, colorful self, optimistically dark self. did we know each other?!?!?
anywhat, have any Haloblack hiding in your collection perhaps?
Natashead Overdrive
Not in physical saddly, Haloblack as great :(
stephen champlin
How could I have ever given that cd away!? Hard to find...
levelminusone
There you go:
https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/1874067?ev=rb
stephen champlin
I found it on eBay for around $9. Lucky, its seems a lot of people don't want to part with their material for under $50.
Ian Havermale
This shit's tight
Ev Iv
Priceless omg
D. Wor
Thank you.
Mykyta Shcherbyna
Natashead Overdrive, where did you get that bg art?