Blackwall Hitch

Milwaukee Burning

Members

• Jeff Winkowski - Vocals
• Andy Freeburg - Guitar
• Trevor Broskowski - Bass
• Erik G - Drums

Additional Images

• Back Cover

Additional Information

Blackwall Hitch was a hardcore band started by Andy Freeburg and myself (Jeff Winkowski) shortly after 9/11, while I was putting the finishing touches on “What Do we have to do” (A Violent Femmes Tribute), and folding my music magazine, Actionman.

Andy and I were really longing to get back into a primal hardcore band and be very serious about the production of the records and prolific in our frequency of playing out. We also were keenly aware of the sound we wanted, now in our mid twenties. The move at the time was the Cave-In faux prog. stuff which I liked but it did not fit the urgency of the music we were trying to manifest. Thus, we auditioned a handful of technically proficient drummers and bass players and wished them well.

Enter two kids: Erik G. Trevor “snake” Broskowski. They were younger than us and just as no frills, yet had the chops to play fast and hard and the desire to practice religiously. Trevor gave us the name of our band and of our seven inch ( “Milwaukee Burning”) and Erik gave us four takes for four songs in our recording session, no mistakes after doing thirteen shows with us in just a two months.

We recorded on 1/4 inch tape at Eugene III’s studio ( The Etiquette). We were all really pleased with the grit and the quality at once that both the tape and Eugene’s supervision provided.

The night we did the back up vocals we invited a youth crew. Jeremy Ampe and the Laval Blessing guys were in attendance as were some really young punk rockers who were hanging out on Brady Street. Lighting started striking nearby and the tape machine began to hiss. The equipment was not easy to replace nor was it cheap. We called it a night and did the backups the next day by ourselves.

The record turned out great and after two seasons more of shows I moved to Chicago. I gave my blessing on our buddy Dan from TAB (Thrash and Burn) to take over on vocals. We were all friends.