MINDSET - Baltimore Straight Edge

Mindset at Championship in Lemoyne, PA
Photo by irish.blood

So I thought I'd do a segment on the upcoming Baltimore straight edge sensation, Mindset. Formerly known as the Anti-Wasteoids, Mindset has changed their sound from a thrashy style hardcore band to a more youth crew style of a band.

This album is probably the point in which they changed from the Anti-Wasteoids to Mindset. It appears that on the cover the band is Mindset and the album is entitled Anti-Wasteoids, but when you search for this album via the internet it shows up as the band name being the Anti-Wasteoids and the album being Mindset. In either case, this is a great album and I recommend picking it up. It has a great sound, in my opinion, and it's not set on a particular style. Some songs remind me of Turning Point while others have a more thrashy approach. I'm not sure how much longer it'll be available so I would get it while you still can.

Now I first heard of this band during the Verse 5 year anniversary show earlier this year. Though I liked the majority of the line up at that show, I was probably most excited to see The First Step. After edge day's performance I was just counting down to the time I would be able to see TFS again. Before hand, I had planned on giving Stephen TFS an interview for my friend's zine Too Deep Until Now Zine. I talked to Stephen via AOL instant messenger and he said he was up for it. Sometime after their set I approached him about it we were on our way outside to do it, when Stephen was approached by a drunk Scott Vogel (Terror), who insisted in engaging in conversation with Stephen. That's when I met Mike and Chad of Mindset. I remember walking to Store 24 or something talking about vegetarian/veganism and the likes and eventually we were brought up about music. They said they were in a band called Mindset and that I should check them out. They gave me on of their demos entitled 2Kgr8 (two thousand great). So later on I went home, listened to it, and fell in love instantly. I love this style already, and the lyrics and raw energy put into this demo was amazing. You can definitely hear the Youth Of Today and Turning Point influence, but they take it and add their own originality to it making it a really solid demo.

Fast forward to Connecticut Punk Fest which I attended just a few months ago. I was excited to see Fired Up and Mindset above all, but came to find out Fired Up wasn't playing. Though that was a bummer, I did meet a bunch of great people there. I was also able to see Mindset again, and having both the demo and the Anti-Wasteoids cd I knew a lot of the words so I went nuts. I met the singer, Ev, who was a very nice dude. Hopefully in the future my band Alert can do something with Mindset.

So in closing I say check out Mindset. They are energetic, passionate, and in your face. Soon to be coming out with an EP by React! Records in a few weeks, they are gonna take the scene by storm. www.myspace.com/mindsetsxe