Mario hailed from Hialeah, Florida, a tacky strip of bygone glory just north of Miami. I remember seeing Mario around the scene, his liberty spike hairstyle and whole English punk uniform set him apart. He was fond of telling people he was from England, though it was obvious he was Cuban, he even went as far as to develop a British accent, no easy feat when English is your second language. In 1983 Mario's band, The Menstrual Cycles self-released what would be their only recorded statement, their "Retirement Home" ep (sometimes referred to as "Half Skin Half Punx ep"). I remember really liking this record, even if Mario seemed a bit put-on.The 4 songs here are of the Varukers/Chaos UK style, not anything groundbreaking, however something about the guitar tone and Mario's sneering overly dramatic English vocals make this an endearing listen. "Retirement Home" kicks off with the title track.Many punk bands from Florida had songs decrying the plague of elderly people, old people suck and punks weren't afraid to say so . "Rejected from the Premises" and "Kill the President" are both pretty self-explanatory. The record closes with "Oi Warning" where Mario urges the listener to "Start a fucking riot." According to sources, eventually Mario did manage to get to England and live out his fantasy of being a postcard punk in the UK. Who knows, who cares, really. The awesome Dressed For The H Bomb blog (http://dressedforthehbomb.blogspot.com/) posted this, a slew of negative comments regarding Mario ensued and the man himself even chimed in, now going by the most excellent moniker of Von Shock. Oi!Get it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UPAOSHKD
About 2 years too late, but... very cool post!! I bought this record via mailorder here in the UK back in 83/84, purely on the strength of the band name (& an assumption they must be a US hardcore band). "An endearing listen"? Spot on!! At one time I had an awesome collection of US hardcore vinyl, many with letters sent by the band member I'd ordered them from & so on... About 10 years later, I was totally broke & sold almost the whole lot for next to nothing (no one here collected that stuff then) to pay the deposit on a flat... one of the few I kept was this ridiculous 7". It's shit, but it has a quality that always made it stand clear of the pack... Can't add to your description of the record, which perfectly encapsulates whatever "it" was that made me hang on to this. I get the feeling this one will NEVER become collectable... And a CLASSIC online reappearance by Shock - should i say, "Von Shock" - on that other blog... HAHA!! keep up the great work with the blog!
ReplyDeleteNot too late, Ponker, you are the only one who bothered to comment on this gem. Hold on to that record, it may be worth billions one day....or not.
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