No Use For A Name: are they the new Slayer?

So here is a big secret: I haven’t always heard the groups that I write about. That is where the “press sheet” comes in. This is a slip of paper, usually one sheet, that says everything that the band/label/manager would want written about the group.

Now, here in the media world, we think that it is a bit of an artistic compromise to just work off of what the press sheet tells us. We writers take pride in our research skills and our discerning ears and are committed to our opinions.

The aforementioned band/label/manager/PR representative/promoter, on the other hand, would not mind it in the least if everyone just copied down the press sheets. That would allow them absolute control of what was being written about the artists they are representing. For example, if I were to copy down the press sheet, I would have started this article with the sentence: Hardcore punks No Use For A Name formed in Sunnydale, Cali. … What?!

Which brings me, of course, to the point of that long-winded introduction. If a person is given absolute control over what is written about the “hardcore punks” being promoted, why on earth would they confess that the group is from Sunnydale, Calif.? Not that there has never been good hardcore from California. Angel Hair was from California I think. Lots of those Gravity Records bands are from California. For all I know, they all went to Sunnydale High together and the only reason that No Use For A Name didn’t end up on Gravity is that they were offered a spot on Fat Mike’s Survival of the Fattest Volume Two compilation. I guess that I’m only balking at Sunnydale because it isn’t a very hardcore name for a city at all, unlike, say, Tacoma, Wash. or Bend, Ore.

So to see if I was brash for dismissing NUFAN as a band just because of their lame-sounding hometown, I typed “Sunnydale California” into my favorite Internet search engine to see what it would come up with. The nay-sayers out there are probably saying “Nay! Why doesn’t he just download some NUFAN mp3s and actually hear the band in question?” Oh, hush, I say.

So the first selection to catch my eye is one titled, “A New Slayer in Sunnydale.” Hey, I think, maybe Sunnydale is overrun by Slayer fans! Some decent hardcore could come out of a city like that! I open it and it’s a short story. Scrolling down, I can’t really find any reference to Slayer or anything else that could produce a good hardcore band, so I move on. The next one I notice has the enticing title “Demons, Demons, Demons.” Alright, I think, demons! Maybe Sunnydale is actually a righteous pit of hell! Not in the suburban way, but in a real “ruled by Satan” kind of way!

I open it up and some pictures make this one obvious: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is set in Sunnydale, Cali. Okaaay, that’s real hardcore, guys.

My advice to you is to see for yourself. It is hardcore? Or are they simply posturing to sell records. The answer lies in the show this Saturday, Nov. 9 at The Roseland Theater. The cost is $12 and this all ages show starts at 9 p.m. Advance tickets are available through Fastixx or buy one at the box office. If you would like further information call 503-224-2038.