Blackhouse Records To Reissue Tender Fury’s “If Anger Were Soul, I’d Be James Brown” Album

Punk rock and hardcore in Southern California as genres need no introduction. It boiled over in the mid-90’s, but there was one band that were part of a greater family tree of Orange County punk rock before all the media attention, money and major label noise. With darker overtones than their contemporaries, they represented a more artistic approach than the rest. Tender Fury put out their groundbreaking final record that was way ahead of its time before ultimately disbanding and disappearing into the ether of punk rock legend. Blackhouse Records are set to release the fully remastered and reconstructed re-issue of If Anger Were Soul, I’d Be James Brown for the first time ever available on vinyl in North America on August 14th. The album is now available for pre-order and is limited to a one-time run of 500 made with 4 different colored variants, all copies of the album come with a full lyric sheet insert and revamped cover art.

Tender Fury was formed in 1987 by T.S.O.L front-man Jack Grisham and drummer Todd Barnes. After Barnes exiting the band in 1990, The last recordings that became Tender Fury’s final record consisted of a powerhouse lineup of Grisham, Randy Bradbury (Pennywise / One Hit Wonder), Josh Freese (The Vandals) and Frank Agnew (Adolescents / 45 Grave). A precursor to Grisham’s transition to starting The Joykiller in 1994, Tender Fury’s swansong release If Anger Were Soul, I’d Be James Brown was cited by Grisham later as being a turning point in his career in terms of serious devotion to making music in the aftermath of substance abuse recovery.