What Remains – Rare Mouthpiece Photos

Mouthpiece photo (s). These pics may have been used for zines before, can’t say for sure. But first, how did it come to be that I crossed paths with this band? The short story, we are locals to Trenton area. The legendary City Gardens is a few miles away for all of the founding members of Mouthpiece and yours truly, Vanface Meatface. For a little more, read on. Continue to check out my photos from past shows. I may not have a huge collection to show but they are nice looking glasses into the past. https://meatsheetfanzine.com/photo-page/

So it comes to pass that in community college design and art classes.. I formally meet Tim and Jason from Mouthpiece. My first time meeting Jason (drummer) was at a friend Scott’s ramp. This said ramp was legendary. I am still kicking myself for not seeing the band (s) he would have play on the flat bottom.

One time I was at one of the hardcore shows in which Chain of Strength is on schedule to play. Their van broke down and it didn’t happen till the next day therefore I missed Chain of Strength.

It wasn’t until later that I knew these guys a little better. While at the ramp I might have crossed paths with Jason, maybe even Tim, but there were little or no discussions or interactions. Maybe some egging each other on to land tricks but that was the extent of it.

Fast forward to community college. Tim and Jason are in a couple of my classes and we get to discussing skateboarding. I’m sure it was still a time when if someone is rocking Vans, Powell Peralta, or something like that, it stood out to those who are in the know of such things. Eventually, because punk and hardcore was woven in nicely with skateboarding, the conversation turns to that. Soon after that I was checking out their band. It was cool , however I am unofficially straight edge. I say unofficial because I was not known to draw X’s on my hands . I had long hair and looked more like a semi grunge dork that rides a skateboard.

At the time, not really a huge hardcore fan as far as knowing all the bands. In fact it’s still hard for me to keep up to this day, late 2022. On the other hand there is a handful of stuff I know well and love and still do.   So, I admire how they were doing their thing at a time where a lot of people had discarded it. That is, straight edge hardcore inspired by the late 80’s and earlier hardcore that comes before them.

Mouthpiece held up the torch at a time when things went slightly off the straight edge hardcore path.

Won’t get into all that but let’s just say they were quite a few Quicksand imitators. Additionally before emo had its actual definition and things were going emo and political. Bands were emulating the Dischord bands that add a little melody. Not the low numbered records of Dischord like Government Issue , Minor Threat, S.O.A. etc. More like Shudder To Think, Fugazi , Embrace. This is not throwing any shade on the aforementioned bands. Keep in mind that many of the late 80’s early 90’s bands are emulating the more political and emo thing. Many fell short in my opinion. But in the totality it was drastically different than the bands from 1988 hardcore. I get it, the climate is changing. But Mouthpiece sticks to their guns.

Moreover, Mouthpiece stays true to the sounds that influence them as they continue on. Even on Face Tomorrow EP there is a tiny hint of melody in the vocals and guitars but it’s still straightforward hardcore coming from a certain era. Therefore, for that, and other reasons I always love looking back on these photos.

It would be nearly impossible to tell you the dates and venues. The photographer is probably Traci McMahon who is married to Tim( vocals) . I cannot say for sure, but its a safe bet since I did not shoot these. Other than that due to the amount of times I’ve seen them and being the unofficial roadie, many of the gigs, as fun as they are kind of blend together after all this time. That doesn’t make any of them less great. It’s just harder to document with accuracy.

You can get an entire discography from Mouthpiece through Revelation here. https://revhq.com/products/mouthpiece-cantkillwhatsinsidethecompletediscography-lpcolorvinyl-cdenhanced

I cannot say if the band will recall any details from these photos but if you do and want to share then please reach out. Contact tab on this blog or meatsheet@hotmail.com. As always thanks for reading and I hope you are into this look back in time with the Mouthpiece photos here and to be posted.