Inching toward two decades of excellence, HoZac Records of Chicago sprang into being with a focus on wild, raw, and often catchy bands of the moment. With a flag planted firmly in the fertile soil of punk, the label has since branched out into archival recordings and books. Two LPs fresh out from HoZac, BUY + Homework, a reissue of the debut from late ’70s Columbus, OH band Screaming Urge, and Ways of Seeing, a new release by Sardinian/Istanbul post punk-garage supergroup Gentilesky, are covered below.
Busy while active but never breaking out of the original punk-new wave era’s underground, Screaming Urge provides a scuzzy but tuneful template of sorts for much of HoZac’s back catalog (the label’s earlier archival have done the same). With a stature that has retroactively flourished through inclusions on the compilations Killed by Death #6 and Bloodstains Across Ohio, Screaming Urge’s “Homework” also provided titular inspiration for the Hyped2Death label’s extensive series of multi-artist CDr retrospectives, the song itself landing on Homework No.1: American “D.I.Y.” 45s R to T.
Coming together in 1978, Screaming Urge—Michael Ravage (guitar), Myke Rock (bass), Dave Manic (drums)—debuted in 1980 with “Homework” on the A-side of a 45 issued by New Age, a label formed by noted subterranean Ohioans Mike Rep, Tommy Jay, Nudge Squidfish, and Chuck Kubat. The song and its flip “Runaway” kick off HoZac’s expanded reissue, a welcome edition as the original releases are frankly scarce and quite pricy in vinyl form.
“Homework” is a classic hunk of teenage frustration aimed at parents and school and a lack of freedom in general, all done up with infectious punk energy. But with vocals reminiscent of the Wipers’ Greg Sage, “Runaway” nearly steals the show. And if the proper LP’s opener “Hitler’s in Brazil” perhaps suggests an inclination for first wave punk shock value, that’s not really what Screaming Urge was about. Instead, they helped to establish Rock Against Racism in Columbus, played guerilla street shows, and broadened their repertoire with the legit protest number “War.”