Encyclopedia of American Traitors was a hardcore punk band from Pennsylvania. All I know about their history is that they broke up in '99. They played a mix of thrashy punk shit and hardcore that could today be considered screamo or even emo violence. Like most of these bands from a decade ago the genre(s) of music that they are associated with really didn't exist in their time. Their songs include political sound clips and have very strong lyrics that support their political views. I have the physical copy of two of their splits, and both contain inserts that explain how each album is an ode to or provides insight to some fucked up social injustice. A lot of their material seems to involve labor. They did splits with Orchid and Kwisatz Haderach, were featured on two compilations and put out two LPs. In 2002 a discography was released, which I have below. I couldnt find any videos, so sorry. Listen to the song "Sinking Atlantis" when you download this album.
Word.
***
Discography
2 comments:
Hey man. I LOVE your site and it has been responsible for getting me into diy punk and emo again after ten years. If you're interested, I know a bit about Encyclopedia as my band played with them a few times and were featured on the Caligula Effect compilation with them. Encyclopedia was from Lancaster more or less and featured Gus from Spirit Assembly on drums (there were 2 post Spirit Assembly bands at the time, the other being Fields Lay Fallow) and Steve who used to run Yuletide Records (who put out tons of great stuff in the early 90's) on vocals. Steve was a teacher in a predominantly agrarian, Amish area and was incredibly politically astute. He had the rare gift of making his political diatribes personal, informed and moving. He also screamed like a fucking banshee.
The last time I saw Encyclopedia was at More Than Music fest in Columbus,Ohio. When Assuck refused to play on a stage at the fest venue they asked Encyclopedia to join them at an impromptu house show where Encyclopedia passed out buckets and mops and invited the whole crowd to bang pipes in the basement to open their set with a drum circle. The crowd got so big that by the time Assuck went on, the show (led by the continuing drum circle) had moved to the front lawn where a 200 person circle pit erupted, causing police helicopters to fly in and eventually shut the show down. Encyclopedia broke up not too long after but left me with one of the most incredible, invigorating, "punk" moments of my life. Fantastic site man. Keep it up.
Chad.
Just to chime in. I know less then the last commenter. However I saw them play one time in Newark, DE with Kwisatz Haderach, jenny piccolo, and the locust. I was very young I believe it was around 1998. However I will never forget that show as it introduced me into "screamo" which kids were just shrugging and saying its hardcore I guess at the time. EPOAT show was great. It scared the living shit out of me. I think I may be able to dig up some photographs however I know that there was not video of that particular show. I have there Kwisatz Haderach and orchid splits.
Post a Comment