Go! for the Throat

"Everyone who walks in on our live set seems to mistake us, at first," Go! for the Throat’s Brian Kantorek jokes, "for DRI doing Anthrax covers." Kantorek’s good-natured and obvious humor aside, Go! for the Throat are, in fact, comparable to the long-running Anthrax in terms of their dedication and work ethic, and akin to DRI because they do, quite simply, kick out the crossover jams, replete with old school angst and metallic fury. Go! for the Throat’s Here and Now, on Uprising Records, will leave fans of Kid Dynamite (for whom guitarist Colin McGinniss was once roadie), Dag Nasty and Sick Of It All clamoring for more. Their upbeat, aggressive and by-the-numbers old school, direct approach and sing-a-long pit worthy anthems is of a caliber oft unparalleled in the contemporary hardcore scene, dominated as it is by rehashed metalcore and pseudo artsy-pretensions. Go! for the Throat are a hot knife through the creamy mediocrity of the underground’s lazy status quo, slicing through lesser acts with their dexterity, energy and passion for the scene, and commitment towards representing the interests of the common man.

The band formed when McGinniss met up with drummer John Ilisco and formed a project called Pipewrench. "We had a very youth crew sound," Colin recalls. "Then [bassist Kantorek] came on. I had known him for at least ten years." Pipewrench was around for three years or so, writing songs and trying out singers in their native Philadelphia. At some point, they changed the name to Go! for the Throat because, as Colin points out, "it’s hard, it’s the time we live in, and it sounds cool." Enter vocalist Ed Olsen, a high school friend of Brian’s, a school teacher, and a kindred spirit down for the working class politics shared by the band. With the line-up complete, the guys recorded a demo and started playing out live. Go! for the Throat credits one man with hooking them up with Uprising - a fellow Philly resident who has played with McRad, Bad Brains and Underdog. "Chuck fuckin’ Treece!" Colin exclaims. "He heard the demo and told [Uprising label owner] Sean [Muttaqi] to look out for us. He told us to send one to him and that was that."