Tension "Agent Of The People" (1996)

Last night, I was asked for the next post to upload Tension's lone full length "Agent of the People".  I do my best to give the people what they want so here it is. I did a high quality rip of the CD (VBR) and scanned the layout (traycard and CD included). The insert was a little difficult since it was a 3 panel fold out and my scanner wouldn't allow the whole thing to fit. I improvised and what you see below is the best I could do. All of the layout photos below are included in the download link (see below description). If you never heard or heard of Tension, they were South Florida straight edge. They were THE band in the mid-90s, a good mix of old and new. Members were in and went on to Endure, Shai Hulud, Strongarm, Ikthus, New Found Glory, Further Seems Forever and (the very shortly lived) Rebuilt.

Here's some info from their old Myspace profile:

"TENSION (1993-1997) A long time ago, in a neighborhood not so far away... A band was formed, a band that brought the house down on its good days, a band based on friendship, a band that unfortunately didn't last for very long... That band was Tension... In 1993 Singer Mike Hurley at the time was the frontman for Endure, which many members of Strongarm were also in, and they were a great band that many would go see... Mike Hurley met Guitarist Joe Keit, who was helping out in a band called the Murrychesstoes and the 2 quickly became good friends... They both already were good friends with Chris Michealis, and Mike & Chris began plans to start a new band and to them Joe was the man for the job on guitar... Joe started playing guitar very young and along with Matt Fox of Shai Hulud formed a few bands in their teens. Joe was used to writing his own music and lyrics from an early age and together with Mike Hurley some great songs and lyrics were born... Nick Dominguez from Strongarm & Endure came in on bass guitar and together the 4 created the orginal frame of Tension... After the 1st phone conversation between Joe, Mike & Chris, Mike decided to meet that very night, and in that night 6 songe were written... The songs of course sounded similar to each other, but were very raw and became the 6 songs recorded 2 weeks later in the studion as Tension's 1st release "In Our Time"... Tension quickly began playing shows and right away friends and new fans came out and supported Tension and helped make the shows exciting & fun... Tension was being aired on College radio and was doing small tours throughout Florida and the east coast trying to get the music out... With the formation of Strongarm, Nick Dominguez left to play guitar with them and Ray Rodriguez joined in on bass... The song writing was getting better and more intense new songs were being developed and shortly after the next ep "Sickness of Our Age" was released... In the studio that day, a girl Joe was dating broke it off, and Chris & Joe had an arguement which really helped fuel the fire to give "Sickness" that anger and edge it definitely has... To this day Tension fans agree that "Sickness of Our Age" is the best and most raw of Tension's releases... After more shows and more songs and the sucess of Tension, drummer Chris Michalis took a leave to pursue other things and long time friend and old band mate of Joe's Eric Leon joined up... After Eric Leon Joined up, the shows and songs were more intense and better than ever, Tension was at its peak and realization of the little Bomb from Florida that it really was... So many of the friends of Tension made what was accomplished back then possible... Tension was awarded a Slammie Award for best new band, and was in negotiations with a few major record labels to try and get a release and tour... Being from Pompano and being probably the most ghetto and broke hardcore band, Tension put out an ep on Endless Fight Records (Sickness of our Age) out of Conneticut and later that same ep was re-released by Uprising Records out of California along with Tensions last release, an LP "Agent of the People".... While in negotiations with a record label in Germany, Tension recorded a single called "Stand Aside", which is the only recording featuring drummer Eric Leon, this single was only released in Germany....... Due to reasons unmentionable, Eric Leon had to leave Tension and was replaced by drummer Mike Mcdermit who was with "L.U.N.G.S.", Mike was a great addition to the band and an amazing drummer, he is the drummer on "Agent of the People".... Also Tension had more members than "Spinal Tap".... Included in the band were long time friends: Matt Fox (Shai Hulud, Murrychesstoes), Ray Souza (Hit the Morror, LOAD, Murrychesstoes), Little Chad (New Found Glory), Kenny Fontaine (Kenny Steel, the steel is for real), John Wiley and a few more here and there...... Tension has played with some great bands and some big names, from Shelter, Earth Crisis, Hatebreed, Strife and believe it or not, Maryilyn Manson... hahaha!..........We hope this myspace page and can be a place for old friends to re-unite and for us to remember some great tracks by a group of friends who love to bring the house down..... Thank you all for your support in the past and for your interest in TENSION.... let's keep it real......"


Tension "Agent Of The People"