Banner of hope & Funeral dress - Split 10'' (1999)

Tracklist:
01. Funeral dress - Lady Di's after party
02. Funeral dress - Confusion
03. Funeral dress - Animal
04. Banner of hope - Deceit and lies
05. Banner of hope - Without a thought
06. Banner of hope - Progress

Released by Knock Out Records in 1999.

Two at the time quite half-ass band make a half-ass split together here.

Funeral dress gets away with their pride intact and actually delivers a good punktrack on their Exploitedish song Confusion. As "crusty pinkmohawk" as they are i actually like this band (atleast their first LP) but i dont think i will ever feature them on the site as a discography.

Banner of hope only had one original member at this point and dont even record a new song for the split , instead they just throw in 3 old not so good song there. Somehow it feels as if they dont give a shit at this point and both the listeners and the band themself just want this whole ordeal to be over. After this release they luckily called it quits (something that should have been done after their first and only good EP if you ask me).
Good Funeral side but an awefull and uninspired Banner side.
6/10

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Banner of hope - Behind a banner of hope CD (1998)

Tracklist:
01. Barroom brawl
02. Anti-social
03. Wrench in the machine
04. Your lies
05. Pogo
06. Revenge enough
07. Ace of spades (Motörhead cover)
08. Cheers & beers
09. Anger & injustice
10. Progress
11. Wake up today
12. Victim

Released by A.D.D. Records in 1998.

As far as punkrock goes this is actually a decent record and i can see how some might like it but Jen just doesnt fit right in my ear. When listening to the first track called Barrom brawl where she is a bit more calm in the way she sings one can actually hear that she deep down is a good vocalist but then there's songs like the cover of Motörhead. Seriously who in their right mind let that song pass through the filtering process that goes with producing and creating a CD.
To much weak stuff and not that many great songs makes this another record forever forgotten and never again listened to after this review.
6/10

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Banner of hope - Carry on chaos 7'' (1996)

Tracklist:
01. Victim
02. Cheers & beers
03. Anger & injustice
04. Pogo (We're not dying)

Released by Clearcut Recording in 1996.

Thanks to Brian Guy for sending me the rip and scan of the record.

With Jen picking up the mic is when i stop carring basicly. I dont know why people compare this band to Vice squad from UK at all. Becki Bondage and Jen might sound a bit simulair at times but just download this album and listen to Anger and injustice and you will quite soon hear the differance between a good female vocalist like Becki and the "retard mouse sound" that Jen has going on. She just sings to fast and to high to pull it of.

The song Victim is a good track and Pogo is ok other than that it's nothing to be overpsyched about.
6/10

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Banner of hope performing Progress in early 90's

As far as i know this is the only footage of the orignial line-up. Aint got a clue whats up with Neil's dance in the middle there though.

Banner of hope - Waiting at the barricades 7'' (1994)

Tracklist:
01. Life of greed
02. Progress
03. Deranged rebels
04. Where are you

Released by Obnoxious Records in 1994.

This is good and solid punkrock, well if you skip past the first song that is.
Both Deranged rebels and Progress are great tracks and remind me somewhat of Blanks 77 when they where good.
This little ep is something i think most people have ignored thats to the fact that the band later turned into a femalefronted pogopop punkband.
8/10

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Banner of hope (introduction)

Banner of hope is a good example of a good band that turned bad. They originated from New Jersey in early 90's and played a good punkrock (even though a bit to much pop for me). The origninal lineup was Neil on vocals, John on guitar, Rich Milkawski on bass and Matt Herman on drums. With this lineup they released their first and best EP but soon after Neil left the band and was replaced by Jen (later in NY Rel-X). This is where the band started to take a turn to the worse and after the recording of their second EP both Rich and John left the band leaving Matt as the only original member. The band got some new members, released some more stuff and later went seperate ways. In the 00's the band got together for a short period and a split with Charge 69 was planned but nothing ever came out of that.