Wound Up was a short-lived Chicago hardcore band that played
a handful of shows and recorded this 7” and an LP before disbanding in 2004.
I’m guessing that virtually no one outside of the Chicago and Midwest hardcore
scene remembers them, but for awhile there they were the toast of the town-or
at least among us ~30 idiots who crowed into the DePaul Cheesgrater (locals
only!) on Friday nights to see dumb hardcore shows. This may have had
more to do with the personnel-the band was composed of members of other CHC
bands whose names I can’t remember-but this 7” stands the test of time, for
what it is.
Is it stupid? Yes. Crude? Of course. Retrogressive and
atavistic? No shit. These qualities make the record so great. Jerky guitars
that just barely hold together the general pattern sketched by the rhythm
section; a singer that sounds like an emasculated Oscar the Grouch trying to
sound like Springa; nonexistent production values: all of this in three songs, none
of which last longer than a minute-forty. My favorite is “Fuck Fashion” because
it’s so dumb. Back in the day-goin’ on ten years, now, in fact-everyone likened
these guys to a non-racist Skrewdriver. I’ve never heard that bunch of fascist
fucks, but this is crude, stupid, and fundamentally macho. Looking back, I
don’t know why I was so enamoured of this band, but I guess it was one of those
dumb “youhaddabetheah” things. Nevertheless, if you like American hardcore,
you’ll like this. It’s what Hoax might
sound like if that band wasn’t so fucking self-conscious and stylized.
You're retrogressive! Ha.
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