I love this little tape. It’s obviously a time and place piece because the actual contents of the tape are pretty terrible. So terrible that Fastbreak GAVE them away to whoever would take them. They were intended as a pre-cursor to some long delayed vinyl, but the tape mastering wasn’t done so hotly.

I got mine at the Yuletide Jam in Hagerstown, MD. I happened to hit the road for the weekend with Bane. Just a cool little weekend with Bane and Ten Yard Fight. December 1997. It turned out to be one of the coolest weekends ever.

The first gig was in New Hampshire on Friday night. Cold ass gig. Weird show (obviously, it was New Hampshire after all). But a good start to the weekend. Then back to Worcester for hanging.

Next day was a trip to New Brunswick NJ. I bet I’ve told this story a million times, but you’re going to read it again.

We hit up some burrito joint in New Brunswick before the Melody Bar gig. Most everyone was veg or vegan, and most of us were happily enjoying our food. Suddenly, LaCroix gets super upset. He busts over to the cash register and slams his burrito down on the counter. “Is this chicken? You put chicken in my burrito! I’ve been vegetarian for XXX years …” He was going off. He then went to the restroom where he proceeded to throw up the chicken, or so he told us. Good times. Great gig too. Tons of bro moshing. I can clearly recall Ben Cummings, Tre and possibly AJ moshing with their arms around each others shoulders. Great gigging.

That night we drove to DC. Some of the dudes stayed at crazy houses, some of us stayed at Jon Hennessee’s house. Jon’s house was MAD chill. The next day Neumann TRIED to buy a 40oz for his friend’s 40 collection. No go. His out of state id was not accepted. So ridiculous.

The Hagerstown gig was insane. Literally, insane. Best freaking line up. Fastbreak, Bane, Ten Yard Fight, mother fucking Floorpunch, Rain On The Parade … So many excellent bands. This is the gig where Fastbreak handed out most of these tapes. Excellent times.