This Moment in Black History 'It Takes A Nation (of Assholes To Hold Us Back)' album

This Moment in Black History is an underrated high energy punk/rock quartet from Cleveland Ohio. TMIBH has toured the U.S. underground extensively and have achieved a sizable following in regions such as the Midwest, Southern California, and Texas. (R.I.P., the first three vans). Once humorously described as “James Brown being violently hijacked by Gang of Four”, This Moment in Black History’s music is actually a potent mixture of classic punk guitars and an intense vocal undertaking, filtered through the “blackest” rhythm section in today’s current underground scene, aided by the craft and musicianship of new bassist, Lawrence Daniel Caswell. These attributes are the key ingredients for the bands latest medley of humor, frustration, passion, and urgency, It Takes a Nation of Assholes to Hold Us Back. This most recent update of the band’s sound is a direct result of the band’s experiences since the release of its debut ep., “The Cleveland Finger” on Exit Stencil, debut long-player “Midwesterncuttalistick”, on Version City Records, and the extra raw split 12” with Texas Gods, the Fatal Flying Guilloteens on Gold Standard Laboratories . (which contained the Best Devo cover ever) Now with member replacement, rampant rumors, indifferent journalists and overall adversity behind it, TMIBH is poised to rock many a head in 2006. On this record, the bands’ sixth release, TMIBH mash out fourteen songs in two twelve hour sessions with the utterly professional recording engineer Steve Albini. Focused? You’re goddamn right!

TMIBH leaves nothing to chance with anthems like “Lets Talk About a Civil War”, a scorching protest to the nation’s leader of the free world, he who continues to put our lives in danger. Another track of note is the punk monument, “On Tour With Charlie Parker”, with its social commentary on the ills of drug abuse without the preachy rhetorical undertone and a breakdown to rival all so-called experimental/avante garde noise fiends on both sides of the Atlantic. One spin of “Charlie Parker” and listeners will know why This Moment in Black History is one of the best punk band in the U.S.

The socioeconomic structure of Cleveland and/or poverty is exactly what makes the band’s delivery honest, intense, and what some have described as “a physical force on the senses.” TMIBH is an exercise in social interaction with its interracial personnel and varied musical influences that recalls the make-up of the Muscle-Shoals, Stax, Chess, and Sun Records session groups, and the makers of the greatest records of all time. This is what happens when black and white (among others), respect and listen to each and dig deeper within themselves to create art.

And if that doesn’t move you, TMIBH wisely regurgitates the proto-punk of Cleveland’s seminal punk scene which spans from the early 70’s to the present. Just listen to the blast of their take on, 80’s idols, Spike in Vain’s “God on Drugs.” Soak in the “back-break” that is the band’s version of Easter Monkey’s classic epic “Nailed to the Cross”

One listen to “Nation” and you will know exactly why TMIBH are the direct descendants of a city tradition that once included the Electric Eels, Rocket From the Tombs, Pere Ubu, Mirrors, Styrene Money Band, Pagans, Knife Dance, Starvation Army as well as the previously mentioned bands and countless others. In Cleveland what those bands were able to accomplish is the standard to live up to. But TMIBH are the new standard in Cleveland. TMIBH are often compared to the Monorchid, Wrangler Brutes, Skull Control and the Fatal Flying Guilloteens, as these bands are both friends and peers, and, similarly, represent a modern interpretation of punk in which energy, emotion and intelligence are the spectacle. That’s something that TMIBH, the early Cleveland punk godfathers and the Zero Defex all knew.

Feedback and dangerously loud amplifiers are a mere coincidence. It takes a nation of assholes to hold us back. Cop yours…bitch!

This Moment in Black History formed in 2001 at the legendary Black Eye House located on Cleveland’s East side. The band initially assembled as a source of excitement following the break-up of Clevelanders, TMIBH guitarist, Buddy Akita, and former bass player, Michael D’Amico’s storied LA quartet, Neon King Kong. Coincidentally, Cle rage, The Charger Street Gang, “Black History” front man Chris Kulcsar’s former unit was disbanding, all while Bassholes drummer Lamont “Bim” Thomas was settling into Cleveland following a move from Columbus, Ohio, which was also home to a fertile rock scene as evidenced in records by Gibson Bros, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apts. Gaunt and Monster Truck Five. These days you can find Thomas and TMIBH living and playing in an equally productive environment with bands like Lives of the Saints, Neil Blender, the Collinwood Soul Group, Bassholes, Big Black Africa, Marble Arches, Short Rabbits (Shout out to Reflex Jones) , and the Vernacular. If the band members’ other endeavors are any indication, you can truly see that This Moment in Black History is devoted to contributing to the mid-western tradition of good music. And its all natural music… breathe easy.

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This Moment in Black History - It Takes A Nation (of Assholes To Hold Us Back)