Sacred Hate – Central Pennsylvania American Hardcore Punk Band, 1986-1987

Sacred Hate Live at The West Shore Democratic Club, Enola, PA 1986.
Photo by Chris & Crystal DiPietro

Sacred Hate were a Harrisburg, PA based hardcore punk band who formed after members met each other at a Beefeater, Late Teens, 2nd Crisis show at Strawberry Square in downtown Harrisburg in May 1986.

Sacred Hate were active from 1986 to 1987, and played a lot of shows that year opening for GI, SNFU, Dag Nasty, etc, and always tried to borrow the bigger band’s equipment very occasionally successfully. Mean age of the band was 17.

Members were:

Sean Linwood – Vocals

Joe McRedmond – Guitar

Mike Harbin – Bass

Craig Montgomery – Drums

Sacred Hate recorded a 5 song demo tape, “Experience the Insanity” in April 1987 at Sawdust Studio with Jeff Meglio.

Sacred Hate changed their name to The Homecoming when they added Hans Bowers to lead guitar and became a five piece, as Hans was present in the studio when the “Experience the Insanity” demo was recorded, and he asked to join the band. Joe McRedmond used Hans’ Fender Stratocaster on the recording . Members later went on to be in Fuse, Admiral, Lost Summer Days, Soft Complex, Hoover, Navio Forge, The Crownhate Ruin, Black River Mafia, etc, etc., and are still active in bands up to the present. Sadly, Craig Montgomery, rest in peace, passed away in 1997.

The “Experience the Insanity” Demo – 1987:

Track 1, Opinions

Track 2, Decide

Track 3, True Questions

Track 4, XoXo – We Hate You!

Track 5, Society’s Discharge

Download the full demo here: Sacred Hate – Demo 1987

Sacred Hate Demo Tape Cover 1987. Designed by Mike Harbin.

Sacred Hate “Experience the Insanity” Demo 1987 Lyric Sheet.

Sacred Hate Experience the Insanity Demo Release Flyer Advertisement

For the hardcore heads, I am including songs from Sacred Hate’s “Boombox Tape 1986” that were not ever recorded in a studio, but were played at the many shows occurring over the 1986/1987 time period:

Track 1, New Instrumental

Track 2, Campus Life

Track 3, Impression on Route 22

Track 4, Anarchy Girl

Track 5, Pizza Deliveries

Track 6, Trust

Track 7, Our Forces

Track 8, Our War Song

Track 9, Tired Eyes

Track 10, Hall of Fame (GI Cover)

Track 11, For Your Love (Yardbirds Cover)

Track 12, Show Us What You’ve Got

Track 13, Impression on Route 22 (Alternate Version)

Track 14, Keep the Spark Alive

Track 15, Elevator

Track 16, Our War Song (Alternate Version)

Track 17, I Don’t Need You

Download the full boombox tape here: Sacred Hate – Boombox Tape 1986

Even the Boombox Tape had a lyric sheet, albeit handwritten.

Opening for SNFU January 1987

Records I'm Listening to

The Never Released “The Boom – 3rd LP” Recorded at Trans Am’s National Recording Studio

The Boom in Germany 1999

After The Crownhate Ruin broke up, Fred immediately started a new band called The Boom. Initially, they rehearsed in the basement where we lived, and then Fred moved and they rehearsed over there. They released two LP’s, “Movin’ Out” and “Any Day of the Night” on Slowdime and did a US tour.

I ran into Fred in the winter of 1999 at The Raven, and he told me they were planning on a European Tour in the late spring of that year. I jokingly said I wished I was going, and also told him that when I saw them recently at the Galaxy Hut, I loved the new songs where he played trumpet instead of guitar. Maybe I could play guitar with you I asked. And suddenly I was in the band. I learned all the songs from mostly Any Day of the Night, and some from Movin’ Out. The line up that rehearsed in the Spring of 1999 was:

Fred Erskine on trumpet

Carlo Cennamo on saxophone

John Wall on bass

Joseph P. McRedmond on guitar

J. Carrier on drums

I believe we played at a party in Mt. Pleasant, WDC right before we left for the tour. We started the European tour landing in Amsterdam by way of Iceland and had a hell of a time and played everywhere. John Wall was booking more shows to the end of trip as we went along.

After we returned home, Fred and Carlo got to work on writing new songs, and recorded a 4 track demo to show us their ideas. It was at this time also that J. Carrier decided to join the Peace Corps, and he left the band to be replaced by Justin Wierbonski. Josh LaRue joined on electric piano.

We played only 2 shows with this line up. One at the Black Cat, and one in Baltimore at the Ottobar. We also recorded the material at Trans Am’s National Recording Studio, which was broken down into 7 tracks, but meant to be presented as one whole body of music. We had a tour planned of the US in August with this line up, but Justin suddenly left the band just prior to the start date and could not be replaced. The tour was cancelled. The gentleman in Belgium who was going to put the 3rd record out disappeared off of the face of the Earth. Fred and Carlo moved to Chicago to form HIM, and John went to Law School.

The songs are below to listen track by track, and if you like, the zip file is available below that for your downloading pleasure.

Track 1