Ripcord

Ripcord was an English hardcore and grindcore band from Weston -super- Mare. Their music was part of the fastest what the hardcore scene in the UK had to offer, and Ripcord was next Napalm Death, Unseen Terror, Heresy Carcass and the first representatives of Grindcore in the UK.

Band History

Ripcord was founded in 1984 by Steve Ballam (guitar) and John Millier (drums). A little later came singer and guitarist Jimmy Briffitt Malcolm Phelps and Ballam switched to the bass. This line-up was launched in June 1985 in a recording studio in Bristol the first demo In Search of a Future on. Musically they were from The Damned, Black Flag and DRI affected. In the fall of 1985 after a few live performances left Briffitt singer and guitarist Phelps again the band. Replacement found the remaining charter members Steve Hazzard on bass and singer Brian " Buzby " Birchell, bassist Ballam moved back to the guitar. In this occupation, the nine titles of the first record The Damage is Done were taken. Short of money out the group decided to leave, press on a flexi disc instead of a single because they received for the same price 2,500 instead of 1,000 copies, the money Ballam borrowed from his father. The record was released in mid-1986, followed by another demo Fast and Furious in November 1986.

After touring with Extreme Noise Terror, Chaos UK and Heresy by England and Europe was taken Ripcord by Manic Ears Records. In the summer of 1987 the debut album Defiance of Power was published and it was followed by a European tour with Napalm Death. Shortly after, bassist Hazzard left the band and was replaced by Jim Whiteley. After a tour with Heresy, vocalist Birchell Ripcord because of personal differences and ex- bassist Hazzard took over his position as a singer. This occupation took in early 1988 on the Single Harvest Hardcore, on 12 July 1988, she played her first Peel session. Mid- 1988 the second album Poetic Justice, then told Hazzard singer of the band with that he will go with his wife to the USA. He took part in a tour through Germany, then Ripcord, decided to dissolve. One reason was that the musicians did not see any further development opportunities in grindcore. The last show the group played on November 23, 1988 in her home town of Weston -super- Mare. A live recording of September 9, 1988 in Germany after the band appeared resolution as a live album under the Your Choice Live Series.

Discography

• The Damage is Done ( Flexi Disc, Raging Records, 1986)
• Defiance of Power ( Manic Ears, 1987)
• Harvest Hardcore (Single, Raging Records, 1988)
• Poetic Justice ( Raging Records, 1988)
• Your Choice Live Series, Volume Two ( Your Choice Records, 1988)