Honor Role - a discography / Honor Role

Plasmatzee's HONOR ROLE discography / Plasmatzees HONOR ROLE - Diskographie

One of the rare pictures of Honor Role (which in fact doesn't say much more than one of those UFO pictures...)

One of the rare pictures of Honor Role (which in fact doesn't say much more than one of those UFO pictures...)

In 1983 Honor Role was conceived as a 3 piece band, with Steve Schick playing drums and guitarist Pen Rollings handling most of the vocals. Locally they became notorious for their quirky quick-tempo songs and Pen's habit of topical confrontation. One early incarnation of the band recorded 8 songs for a local compilation tape (1983). Another released the endearing 9 song E.P. - "It Bled Like A Stuck Pig" (2/84). At about the same time as the E.P.'s release, the band again changed bass players and took on a vocalist.

The addition of Bob Schick as frontman immediately changed the band's focal point. This allowed Pen the freedom to concentrate all his energies on his already intense guitar playing. Bob's sardonic presence made itself known both on stage and on record with the "Judgement Day" 45 (6/85). At about the same time as the 45's release, the band once again changed bass players, this time settling on Chip Jones.

Chip had played with the Schicks before. That familiarity is evident in the dark brooding rhythms he and Steve create. The pulse of the bass rolls solidly through the kick-heavy almost martial beat of Steve's drumming. Over that grinding pulse runs Pen's guitar, ranging from a scratching dissonance to a lyrical backdrop for the bleakness of Bob's atonal droning.

With the current (mid-1986) line-up complete, the band simultaneously recorded another 45 - "Purgatory / Jank", and their first L.P "The Pretty Song". With the completion of these two records come preparations for an extensive nationwide tour in the fall of '86.

(from official band bio, ca. mid-1986, given out with the release of "The Pretty Song")

"All we wanted was gas money to get to the next show, and we'd hope somebody would let us sleep on their floor. We just wanted to sell a couple singles. We weren't decadent. That's what we got, and we were happy with it. We made approximately $57 in royalties each from being in Honor Role. I consider that an immense success."

(Guitarist Pen Rollings in retrospective, Chunklet issue 18, read the whole interview)

"Wir waren voll zufrieden, wenn wir genügend Geld einspielten für das Benzin das wir brauchten, um zur nächsten Show zu kommen; Ansonsten hofften wir darauf, daß uns dann jemand bei sich auf dem Boden schlafen ließ. Mit ein paar verkaufen Singles waren wir mehr als glücklich. Wir waren ja keineswegs dekadent. So wurde alles, was wir uns jemals gewünscht hatten wahr. Jeder von uns hat etwa $57 damit verdient, daß er bei Honor Role mitspielte. Das halte ich für einen immensen Erfolg."

(Gitarrist Pen Rollings blickt zurück in "Chunklet" Ausgabe 18, hier geht's zum vollständigen Interview)

band biography by Patrick Foster

band biography found on Trouser Press

Merge Records homepage

"Your Skull Is My Bowl" (1982)

- Living In The 60's / Bowling For Bibles / War / Southern Lifestyle / I'm A Nerd / Uptown / Infanticide / Profit Prophets / Cap And Cown -

"Local Compilation Tape / Demo" (1983, No Core Records?)

- Living In The 60's / Southern Lifestyle / I'm A Nerd / Uptown / Infaticide / Profit Prophets / Cap And Gown / War -

(line-up June 1983 - January 1984: Pen Rollings - guitar/vox, Grant Williford - bass/vox, Steve Schick - drums/vox, Bob & Vance - back-up vox)

outside cover of regular "It Bled Like A Stuck Pig" 7" (click to enlarge)

(outside cover of standard edition)

Side A :

An Hour Behind

New Hope / Bowling For Bibles

Chocolate Milk

I'm A Nerd

Side B :

Vance Picked Up Dot Over A Bush By The Tail

Early Grave

B.D.K.O.

Dot Is In Your Car & Boy Does She Smell Bad

inside cover of regular "It Bled Like A Stuck Pig" 7" (click to enlarge)

(inside cover of standard ed.)

(out of print / nicht mehr erhältlich)

info: Eskimo Records along with No Core Records seems to be the old Corrosion Of Conformity owned label (does anyone remember COC [was it Cup Of Coffee? If so, it must have become entirely decaffeinated after "Technocracy" !!] - too bad we didn't worry and some goons turned them into metal...).

There are two different editions of the single: a standard edition (see pictures above) and the following limited to 100 collectors edition :

outside cover of ltd. ed. "It Bled Like A Stuck Pig" 7" (click to enlarge)

(outside cover of limited collectors edition 7")

Info: Eskimo Records / No Core Records scheint das alte Corrosion Of Conformity - Label zu sein (während COC [Cup Of Coffee? Falls ja, dann spätestens seit "Blind" aber vollständig entkoffeiniert !!] nun fleißig dabei sind, sich selbst zu demontieren und damit auch gleich ihre glorreiche Vergangenheit auszulöschen...).

Es gibt zwei unterschiedliche Versionen der Single: die reguläre Version (Bilder siehe oben) und eine auf 100 Stück limitierte Collectors Edition (Bilder direkt hiervor bzw. hiernach):

inside cover of ltd. ed. "It Bled Like A Stuck Pig" 7" (click to enlarge)

(text sheet of collectors edition)

click to trade a recording of the 7"

(line-up January-June 1985: Pen Rollings - guitar, Jeremy Bunn - bass, Bob Schick - vocals, Stephen Schick - drums)

Side A :

Judgement Day

Side B :

Anonymous Cave

(line-up July 1985 - October 1987: Pen Rollings - guitar, Chip Jones - bass, Bob Schick - vocals, Steve Schick - drums)

Side A :

Purgatory

Side B :

Jank

(line-up July 1985 - October 1987: Pen Rollings - guitar, Chip Jones - bass, Robert Schick - vocals, Stephen Schick - drums)

cover outside of "The Pretty Song" LP (click to enlarge)

Side A :

Throwing Rocks

Early Grave

My Place / Go Places

Shuffle

Six

Side B :

Anonymous Cave

Purgatory

Clockwork

Observation

Present Conditions

Care Taker

(line-up October 1987 - July 1989: Pen Rollings - guitar, Chip Jones - bass, Bob Schick - vocals, Seth Harris - drums)

cover outside of "Craig Olive" 7" (click to enlarge)

Side A :

Twist

Side B :

Lives Of The Saints No. 135 (Naked Wife)

(line-up October 1987 - July 1989: Pen Rollings - guitar, Chip Jones - bass, Bob Schick - vocals, Seth Harris - drums)

Side A :

Listening To Sally

Absolve

Following Footprints

Swing It / Interlude / Skippy

Side B :

Salty Tears

So Anyway

Thankless Job

Familiar & Plain / Break The Ice

(line-up: Pen Rollings - guitar, Chip Jones - bass, Bob Schick - vocals, Steve Schick - drums)

Side A :

Purgatory

Side B :

Jank

info: CD contains an almost complete discography consisting of three out of four 7"s (minus "It Bled Like A Stuck Pig") and both LPs, while the songs "Swing It / Interlude" from the "Rictus" LP were omitted for space reasons. CD represents the second Honor Role re-release on Merge Records, the first one being the "Purgatory" 7" from 1986, re-issued in 1992. Merge has so far released several other records of ex - Honor Role's members' later bands like Kepone or Coral.

Info: Die CD enthält 3 der insgesamt 4 Singles ("It Bled Like A Stuck Pig" fehlt) sowie beide LPs, lediglich die Stücke "Swing It / Interlude" von der "Rictus" - LP wurden aus Platzgründen weggelassen (schade!!). Sie ist die zweite Honor Role - Wiederveröffentlichung auf Merge Records, bereits 1992 wurde dort die "Purgatory" 7" wiederveröffentlicht, weiterhin auch einige Platten der Nachfolge - Bands ehemaliger Honor Role - Mitglieder wie z.B. Kepone oder Coral.