Listening to Asra's debut The Way of All Flesh brought back so many memories. Memories of better languid times. Times of ruthless grindcore music. Grindcore music with no artificies. No artificies means no gimmicks. No gimmicks music means it's good. Damn good. Read On and Spread the Word!

by Andrew Hernandez, drummer for NY grinders ASRA

Man, there are some good bands in NYC, it's just that you would think there would be more!  We have some good bands though and they're all different, bringing that NYC melting pot to underground music... bands like Tombs, Defeatist, The Communion, Deathcycle, Celebrity Murders, Leader, Wetnurse, Villains.  They're all pretty much bro's and the scene is pretty incestuous. I alone play in a band with the Tombs founder, another band with the former Wetnurse bass player, and of course my main band ASRA.  The scene here is small, but it's getting better again. 

Back in the day you had Ralphy Boy from Disassociate booking these sick ass shows at CBGB's. These shows were legendary -- the Loud Az Fuck fests were some of the best shows I have ever been to in my life, if not the best.  Unfortunately when I moved here CB's was about to shut down and aside from ABC NO RIO there really was not a venue for underground extreme music.  I mean, sure, we can go out and see the latest brutal headliner at some big club in Manhattan, but as far as a scene, it was pretty scarce in 04'.  While some may not agree about my summation of a growing scene, you can look at that little list of bands I mentioned and chalk that up as fresh blood that was considerably absent just a few years back.  There certainly is hope.

Speaking of the scene and NYC and Manhattan, I pretty much could eat sushi every fucking day of my life. I needed to put that expletive in there just to get this point across! Sushi is the best!  Seriously. There is this sushi restaurant down St. Mark's Place called Sushi Lounge. It is awesome.  If you spend more than $10, sushi is half off. I usually get some serious amounts and it's never really pricey... Damn, I wish I had some sushi right now!

Loco Burrito, I love that place, it's not the cleanest and it's not hip, but give me a burrito and I shall eat it and on the fourth day the lord gave unto the man the burrito and it was good.  I'm into clean eating as much as possible and that's pretty hard when you don't want to drop some serious loot, but the good place for that is Better Burger in Chelsea. You can get Vegan, Veggie, Turkey or Beef burgers and the animal products are organic, no hormones, good clean food... I don't know if it's grass fed, that's the shit.  Oh and also, Angelica Kitchen is super overrated, the food is bland, overpriced and not very good, so if you are a vegan and you think you've found your mecca, think again. I personally do not believe the hype (sorry Greg.  Dude, I could talk about food all day. Last and certainly not least is Westville (I've yet to go to Eastville), located at 210 W 10th St, Btwn Bleecker & W 4th St. The food there is REALLY good and they have some awesome vegetable plates, some serious things. Their garlic mashed potatoes are awesome.  Check it out if you're in Manhattan and around that area, but it's small and you may have to wait a hot minute outside for a seat.

I'm biased about bars, man. I don't go to bars often, I don't really like them. I know that [ASRA guitarist] Monty's favorite bar is Mars Bar.  That place is the biggest dump I have ever seen.  It is classic NY. Last time I checked they still didn't have lights inside!  Crack den.  Lit is cool, Curran does Precious Metal Mondays there and there are some good beers there, not a huge selection, but it's worth the metal... I like Bembe (in Williamsburg Brooklyn) a lot, a whole lot. The place has awesome Brazilian drinks. There is this concoction with coconut milk, it is so fucking good, seriously. I just swore again so you should believe me.  I hate the crowd there, but they certainly have lots of good ales on tap.  Barcade is cool and you can play a game of Centipede while you nurse your drink while quietly scowling at the trust fund faux art, fake ass, retro coke skinny ass mother fuckers that litter the place... I don't go there much.  My favorite bar in NYC is on my couch, on my friend Thomas's couch, Hunter's couch or the practice place stoop. We keep it real up in here.  So seriously, if you are in NYC and these foods seem good: EAT... If these bars sounds interesting: DRINK... And if you like any of the bands' names: SEARCH AND DESTROY.

Read the Deaf Sparrow review of Asra's The Way of All Flesh here
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