Hardcore Outcasts Revisited Liner Notes
Here's a brief hisotry of how things started in '82. We've tried to mention friends and bands that we liked and played with throughout this time. They also deserve more credit.
Outpatients formed in 1982 out of the ashes of Vis' first group MACE ('80-'82). Vis started MACE with Mike Kingsbury in the summer of 1980, playing Motorhead covers and original songs to bewildered Doors fans in the Western Massachusetts area.
Scott formed his own band in early '82 with high school buddy Lou Barlow. The band came to be known as Deep Wound, Western Mass' first hardcore band.
After MACE's original bass player left to join the Navy, Scott, still in Deep Wound at the time, joined with Vis and Mike, and the Outpatients were formed. After dozens of "punk rock" parties around Western MA, Outpatients recorded their first tape, "The Basement Tape", on Feb. 4, 1983, the night before their first "real"gig at The Guiding Star Grange Hall in Greenfield, MA. Deep Wound also shared the bill that night, along with several local and out-of-town groups, including All White Jury, B.I.U, and Grey Matter.
Since none of the local clubs allowed this kind of underground music at the time, Outpatients began playing shows throughout New England, as well as setting up numerous local shows and benefits in halls. Then there were shows in Boston with great bands like S.S. Decontrol, Sorry, and Proletariat; shows in New York City at CBGB's with Sheer Terror, Mental Abuse and Warzone; and shows in Connecticut with The Vatican Commandos, C.I.A., and Reflex from Pain. In addition, there were shows in Rhode Island with Verbal Assault and Rash of Stabbings; shows in Vermont with Public Disturbance and shows in New Hampshire that G.G. Allin would M.C. before being kicked out by the club owner. Of course, there were many Western Mass shows with Black X-Mass, Catharsis, No Preservatives, and out-of-town bands like Hüsker Dü, Black Flag, J.F.A. and Crucifix. Plus an East Coast tour with Battalion of Saints.
The Outpatients "Basement Tape" was traded, sold, and bootlegged several thousand times throughout '83 and '84. The band was also featured on several compilation tapes and albums, and finally released a full album in 1988.
Most of the songs on this recording were also on the Basement tape, but were re-recorded in Boston at Radiobeat in July 1983 by Jimmy Dufour with Lou Giordano's help. They're just basic tracks that were never completely mixed, and the reels were lost. These recordings were taken directly from the band's cassette master tapes, so the sound quality of the material varies and doesn't do the band justice, expecially compared to live Outpatients shows. However, they are essential recordings from the early period that many people have asked for over the years. Since the band never got a chance or any help to release it, now is better than never.
The band now based out of New York since 1988, remains the longest living underground band from the Western Mass scene.
BACK to the Outpatients page
KILL FROM THE HEART Home