Review: Gauze – City Rockers 7”

Gauze are approaching their 23rd year as the most talented and crazed hardcore punk band on Earth, yet still show no sign of allowing anyone to legitimately re-press their very hard to find records. Rumor has it that several years ago Gauze found out someone bootlegged one of their records, so they did the detective work to find out who did it and flew from Tokyo to Seattle just to kick his ass. This 7″ is a new bootleg of Gauze’s 1982 demo that originally appeared on a compilation with other Japanese hardcore bands. The bootlegger is probably dead now, but at least he left behind something for the rest of us. On their demo, Gauze hadn’t yet developed the multi-layered whirlwind thrash they’re known for now. It sounds a lot like early Discharge and Varukers weaned on ‘77 punk but starting to experiment with apocalyptic hardcore thrash. Gauze has proven their dedication to DIY punk over the last two decades, and now you can hear what they sounded like before they were as old as your parents.