Sore Throat

Sore Throat were a short lived yet important band in the later 80's UK grindcore and hardcore punk movement which featured members of Doom, Deviated Instinct and other crust punk bands. They're not to be confused with the London based R & B band Sore Throat who existed some eight years earlier.

Sore Throat formed in 1987 in Yorkshire, UK as a crust punk, hardcore punk, and grindcore act with the initial line up as Rich Militia (vocals), Brian "Bri" Talbot (guitar), John Doom (bass) and Nick Royles (drums). They are known as one of the first bands to give rise to and play in the style of "noisecore". Though now largely forgotten, they were a key part of the hardcore/grindcore movement of the mid-late 1980s in the United Kingdom and were commonly known for their "we don't fucking care" attitude, harsh humour and mockery in their music about other contemporary bands and society. They were sometimes seen as a parody band and a drunk political punk band. They were also one of the first bands to heavily incorporate samples in their music.

The band contained and promoted a very confrontational ideal. They went on to mock such things in the scene as Nazi’s, capitalism, the straight edge movement, and even openly taunted and mocked such bands as Napalm Death, The Sex Pistols, Suicidal Tendencies, and DRI. They often chose to point out what they believed was wrong with the current punk scene and would openly scorn those not to their ideals of what punk was.

Inititally with the release of their debut "Death To Capitalist Hardcore" EP and "Unhindered By Talent" full length (both released in 1987), the band played a proto-grindcore and crustcore sound. The band played short songs, usually under 10 sconds or sometimes lasting up to no more than a minute.

In 1988 they released their album "Disgrace to the Corpse of Sid." It was a cacophony of noise that contained over-the-top guitar distortion, blast beats, screams, grunts, and a myriad of sound samples. At the release of the record, Sore Throat can be seen as one of the earliest examples of a clear defined version of "noisegrind". Though the albums A side contained a large portion of then brutal music, their B side contained more doom inspired crust punk, a la Amebix.

Their 1989 release, "Never Mind The Napalm... Here's Sore Throat", saw the band playing a more crust punk sound minus the grindcore elements. And upon future releases the band would often change their names with slight variations, including such things as “Soar Throat” and “Saw Throat”. The band broke up in 1990 due to internal conflicts amongst its members.

The band members are now involved in other musical project. Rich Milita played in doom metal bands Isen Torr and Winter Solstice as well as current hardcore punk bands Warfear and Wartorn. He also runs the doom metal label Miskatonic Foundation. Brian Talbot played in Doom and numerous other hardcore acts and currently plays in doom metal band Lazarus Blackstar (once known as Khang.) John Doom is a Kerrang radio DJ and also plays in hardcore act Hexen.