I’m sure every US city had some kind of punk scene in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Sure they varied in size, but they were there somewhere, underground, outsiders facing disdain at best and violence at worst from the mainstream. And all these scenes had at least a few bands, even if that meant playing to your friends in your garage. Over the last decade or so there’s been a pretty substantial rise in punk historiography, much of it centered on shedding light into these local and regionalized scenes. As a result we’ve been treated to a lot of regional comps, something that in prior years were limited to a few indie projects and the Killed By Death series. And we’re all the better for it.

We Were Living In Cincinnati is one such comp, a look at the Cincinnati underground circa 1975-82 that was released last year by Chicago label Hozac Records. And it’s a beauty. Right from the opening Who-like riff of “Drinking Elvis Wine” I was hooked. Denis the Menace’s double-entendre homage “Working Girls” is a straight-forward classic, followed by the sneering “Asshole” by The Ed Davis Band, which then bleeds into the old school 1950s style rocker “Let’s Get It On” by The Customs… there’s something a bit different waiting for you on every track. My favorite track is News’ “Stop”, which has a somewhat contemporary feel given the recent popularity of bands like Idles and Fontaines D.C.

You can listen to We Were Living In Cincinnati on the Hozac Bandcamp page HERE.