Issues were produced here and there switching to a newsprint format after issue #3 and running a total of 7 issues the last in early 1996. Running concurrently was Japankore tapes and Japankore Records/Label.
7 Tapes were released, most of them US versions of demos released by then current Japanese bands but also unique releases such as Disclaim-Studio&Live, Disclose-Fear of the War and out first
compilation "Oh What A Great!" with favorites such as Disclose, Battle of Disarm, Insane Youth, and Unwise alongside Condemned (whose only non-tape appearance was on Final Noise Attack comp 7" on MCR '94) and Ace of S**t (As far as I know the only release by Overthrow Records boss Mori's band) and in an attempt to continue the Japanese tradition of mixing "industrial" noise (probably now known as "power electronics" to most) with punk going back to the early 80s with Hijo Kaidan doing collaborations with Stalin, GISM and SOB, I included a noise track by C.C.C.C. The 4 records released back then didn't fully conform to Japankore purity standards with the first release being 1/5th of the repress of Dropdead/Crossed Out 5", the 2nd release being a split 7" with IAF from Spain and Under Threat from Brazil. The third release was the split with Disfuse (Dropdead side project) and Power of Idea. The final release of the 90s was Japankore Omnibus Vol 2: Hardcore Mess. The original concept was a 7" comp of all Japanese all-woman bands, I had Gana from Gaia ask a bunch of bands she knew and it turned out to have more music that would comfortably fit on a 7" so I decided to make it a 1 sided 12" and add a track by 1/2 female band "Melt Banana" who are still friends. The other bands on the release Gaia, Sink, No Real, Gurento, Bonecrusher, Honey Bee and Yumefuda ended up displaying a wide variety of punk sounds, all of them listenable and memorable, I personally think it's the best release on the label. After the Dropdead 1996 tour and the rise of the internet pretty much eliminating the paper fanzine Japankore sort of just faded away. I did put up a website with the aborted contents of Japankore Zine #8 and a Japanese hardcore discography in 96-97. These sites are long gone now and there hasn't been any activity until late 2016 when I found a box with left over Disclose Fear of The War tape covers. I had an agreement with Kawakami back in 1994 that I could produce 250 tapes, I made all the covers back then and 1994 USA wasn't ready for Disclose yet and between 1994 and 1996 when the label basically ended I sold about 30 copies. So I had 220 covers left over and about 70 patches left over for that original run from 1994, so I had professionally dubbed tapes done to fill the rest of the covers and sold them very quickly. I was then thinking about all the Japanese reissues I've seen in recent years, the veil of mystery about Japanese hardcore in the US had been lifted sometime in the late90s/early 00s and really accelerated after 2005 or so when you'd find 75% of people at a hardcore/punk show had a Gauze, Confuse, Deathside, Framtid or other Japanese patch or shirt on. Things sure have changed! I am not sure what else is in the future but right now I am excited to release those Crusade demos from so long ago (25 years?!?!). Box 8511
Warwick, RI 02888
