N.O.T.A.
None of the Above - N.O.T.A. for short - were an under appreciated hardcore band from Tulsa, OK. Despite an 8 year run from 1979 to 1987 the band only produced a modest body of work. 1983 saw the release of their demo tape Live At The Crystal Pistol, which directly lead to Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll including them on Welcome to 1984 international compilation. In 1984 N.O.T.A. released their first EP, the Moscow 7″, on the Unclean label. 1985 saw the band switching to the Rabid Cat label (at the time home to the Offenders and Scratch Acid) and releasing the Toy Soldiers EP and an eponymous album. While some of the material sounds dated, a good portion still sounds fresh, a testament to N.O.T.A.’s ability to temper their breakneck hardcore with elements of classic, catchy punk. Some tracks*
*Apologies in advance, some of the tracks, especially the Toy Soldiers ones, suffer from poor production, surface noise, static, etc. My attempts at using Goldwave to reduce the noise and add some low end may have actually made the sound worse. Just so you know.
from the Moscow EP:
N.O.T.A. - Taking Away your Rights.mp3
N.O.T.A. - Moscow.mp3
from the Toy Soldiers EP:
N.O.T.A. - Toy Soldiers.mp3
from the None of The Above LP:
N.O.T.A. - Identity Crisis.mp3
N.O.T.A. - On The Pavement.mp3
N.O.T.A. - Self Destruct.mp3
>> N.O.T.A. reformed in the ’90’s and released a couple of records that may still be available. From what I remember it was more in the speed metal vein. Eh…
>> Prank Records has reissued the Live at The Crystal Pistol demo, which serves as an excellent introduction to the band. I remember playing my nth generation dub of this tape having excellent sound, so I imagine the reissue sounds great. As far as I know all of the other material is OOP. Buy Live at the Crystal Pistol
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was this the same n.o.t.a. that did a record or 2 on havoc records?
Jeff… same band, they released a split 7″ with Brother Inferior on Havoc in 1997. I haven’t heard it though
Hell yes! Great choice! I never did own any of these guys’ records, but I’ve liked what I’ve heard over the years, and these songs definitely remind me that I need to track down some of these jams…
You’ve made my day with this post! Easily one of my favorite hardcore bands, and it’s criminal that more of their early stuff isn’t available on CD.
the bro inferior split rules. found it in a used bin for a buck last year.
wonder if anyone plans to reissue? stuff is getting pricey and I no longer own any of it.
I read somewhere that someone contacted the singer for N.O.T.A. sometime recently about re-issuing the bands early material on CD, and I guess the singer’s response was that the masters were in really bad condition and would have to be re-mastered to release it. I damn hope that this stuff gets re-released. I paid much for the LP recently and I’d love to have a CD version of it, all of what i’ve heard of this band rocks. Totally underappreciated, and just as good (if not better in some cases) as the celebrated bands of this time period.
N.O.T.A. WERE IN MY OPINION WERE THE ALL TIME BEST HARDCORE BAND. DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY WERE FROM HERE IN TULSA AND WERE GEOGRAPHICALLY LIMITED THEY STILL WENT ON TO BE ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENCIAL AND POPULAR BANDS IN THE 80′S.
I KEEP IN CONTACT WITH JEFF FROM N.O.T.A. YES THE OLD STUFF IS GETTING VERY PRICEY. THE L.P. WENT FOR 128.00 ON E-BAY A FEW WEEKS AGO.
JEFF SAID HED PROBLY GET AROUND TO RE-RELEASING THE OLD STUFF ONE OF THESE DAYS. FOR NOW JEFF IS CONCENTRATING ON HIS CURRENT BAND “THE BEER MONGERS”.
IM A HUGE N.O.T.A. FAN AND COLLECTOR AND I HAVE ALL OF THERE RELEASES AND THEN SOME. IVE EVEN GOT N.O.T.A. STUFF FROM EUROPE NOT AVALIBLE IN THE US. IF ANYONE HAS QUESTIONS ON ANYTHING ABOUT N.O.T.A. E-MAIL AT notarules@hotmail.com AND IM SURE I CAN HELP.
N.O.T.A. RULES!!!!!!!!!!
N.O.T.A. WEB PAGE - http://www.papaskin.com/~nota/
BEER MONGERS WEB SITE - http://www.beermongers.com
Grew up going to most of the shows in the early ’80s. Great live band. Still have the Toy Soldiers e.p. and Moscow e.p. from way back.
Crystal Pistol is great rock n’ roll.
Agrees with Big Al.
BTW, whatever happened to Russel after he moved back to Arkansas?
JEFF SAID THAT AFTER RUSSEL MOVED TO ARKANSAS HE DIDNT THINK HE EVER PLAYED IN A BAND AGAIN.
NOTA did indeed live on into the 90’s. Check out Give ‘em Enough Dope, released in the mid 90’s I think. I sure wouldn’t call it speed metal. It’s a pretty well polished album with some really good live stuff in addition to the studio stuff. quit a contrast to Crystal Pistol. I like it alot. Check out the Beer Mongers. Unfortunately the Mp3’s on the site don’t really depict the sound of the original band and the current band as they are now back to their original 3 piece. They have some really good songs that they came up with recently. Also of note is the fact that former Brother Inferior drummer Mikey has been a member since the get go. They have a song they recorded not long ago as 3 piece on an album called Back Streets of American Oi. It’s part of a series and I can’t remember the volume number.
Ah, yes. NOTA in the ’90s. I saw every show. I drank with Jeff and Martin (bass/production) somewhat regularly at the same watering hole. I recorded 3 crappy demos in the same space they cut their ’90s material, and there was always at least a dozen crushed beer cans in sight in Martin’s basement studio.
My last band (before I gave up on the punk scene) got to use all their gear. Their drums, Jeff’s huge marshall rig, and Martin recorded us right there in their studio. We sucked, but they were so kind and supportive - and Jeff even did some background vocals for our demo. If we’d stuck together, it might have been a good story to tell the grandkids. But it was not to be.
Alas, I will never forget the heyday of the early ’90s when NOTA, Concept of Nonsense and several other really good hardcore bands kept Tulsa from being the boring fucking place it is now. I would love to see all of that happen again. I’d be front and center.
And FYI, NOTA of the ’90s was a cleaner sound, but was by no means ‘metal.’ They were more of a modern, american interpretation of early Clash than anything else. The recording might betray that; I can’t quite remember. I know they spent months on Give Em Enough Dope. That album aged everybody quite nicely, lol.
I DONT KNOW WHERE THE WHOLE “SPEED METAL” DESCRIPTION STARTED BUT IVE SEEN IT ON A FEW SIGHTS DESCRIBING N.O.T.A. THIER LATER STUFF IS NO MORE METAL THAN THEIR EARLY STUFF. YES THE LATER STUFF MAY BE A LITTLE HEAVIER BUT IT IS STILL HARDCORE. SONGS LIKE “THESE STREETS” AND HELL HOLE” ARE JUST GOOD POUNDING HARDCORE SONGS.
[…] Check HERE for a previous N.O.T.A. post done by the always great SOMETHING I LEARNED TODAY site. […]
[…] Notes: >> My original NOTA post from a couple years back >> 7inchpunk has the Toy Soldiers EP - check it out >> Official NOTA webpage - amazing, it’s not on myspace […]