Cancerous Growth
Cancerous Growth began in a bedroom in Burlington, MA in 1982. Charlie Infection (drums) and John Malignant (guitar) finally found a bassist (Rich Shitface) and a singer (Harvey Rotten) and came up with a makeshift demo tape that got a bit of local college air play. Rich and Harvey were replaced by Mike Sores (vocals) and Generik Erik (bass )who proceeded to write many new songs for a “radio tape” which was recordedat the legendary Radiobeat Studios and recieved airplay via WMBR and WERS,both respected college stations. Erik was replaced by Marc,a high school friend of Sores and the band began to playlocal all ages shows, both in western mass and Boston, opening for many greatssuch as TSOL and Crucifix.
They returned to Radiobeat to record “Late for the grave” with producer Steve Barry and had since formed an alliance with local peers Psycho and the LP was released on Ax/ction Records in the summer of 1985.
Marc had left to be replaced by Terminal Tom,a work associate of Charlie’s. They did a short tour through the midwest and returned to have longtime guitarist John to depart to be replaced by Marc, who had been promised the guitar slot years before. This marked a productive period for the group resulting in many new songs with a slightly more metallic slant. The lyrics and delivery remained the same of a hardcore band, resulting in a “crossover” sound.
Mike Sores was reluctantly dismissed after much discussion and the band continued as a trio, each contributing to vocals. Many of the songs written with Mike had become staples of the bands set ,which they played to audiences in both the USA and Canada. They released a 7″ ep on Ax/ction titled “Today’s Society” with the title track quickly becoming a fan favorite and garnering positive reviews from MRR and Flipside, both regarded fanzines at the time.
They continued to play local shows with COC,GBH as well as out of state weekend gigs with Psycho,who had fast become a sort of brother band to them,due to drummer Charlie’s membership,which continues to this day.
Tom’s status with the band was iffy at this time though his energy and contribution remained,he was replaced at different times by Keith Bennet and Bill Normal, the original bassist of Psycho, until they finally settled on sudbury resident Mark “Waldo” Small who played on the band’s final lp “Hmmlmmlum”.
At this point the band had changed direction a bit, adding more melody, straying from the original intent, though the resulting LP had many interesting moments.
Wisely noting musical differences and time constraints, after doing a short tour of the USA in which Waldo was replaced by Ed Lynch of Psycho, the band decided to call it a day. Their last gig was in Trenton, NJ opening for the Descendents and Rollins Band at the venue City Gardens. “Cancer Causing Agents” is the first ever digital release by the band.
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