A comp that’s a celebration of seven years of existence, making Fort Worth’s 1919 Hemphill the longest-running DIY venue in all of Texas. It’s also an eight dollar benefit CD. Anyone who’s tried to get a volunteer-run community punk space off the ground has to admit that that’s downright amazing (almost unheard of) and it’s a testament that you don’t have to be in a “punk mecca” or even a “punk-friendly” city or town to build a magnet that’ll not only showcase local talents, but draw in bands that are vanning across the country. This comp is a diverse and honest collection of bands (more-well knowns like Onion Flavored Rings, Lemuria, and Japanther) to local-ish asskickers (Teenage Cool Kids, Brickfight). If you’re genre-locked, its breadth may be a bit much for you—folk punk to metal sludge to pop punk to dancey stuff is all here—but I think it’s a great, Polaroid-style snapshot of a national scene in motion; a scene and locale that I hope will get the props they deserve retroactively.
–todd (1919 Hemphill)