It’s been around 20 years since both were released, but Ganthet’s 2005 7″/CD and 2006 Demo are now available on Bandcamp. Started around the demise of Thrashasaurus Rex in 2003, Ganthet was formed by the Smither brothers, Joh, and Jared looking to play more traditional hardcore/hardcore punk, be it spending all of practice doing Bane or Judge covers, or going back and dipping heavily into The Misfits. The first demo was recorded by Bryan who soon afterwards joined the band. The Excelsior record was recorded by Chris Owens at Headbanging Kill Your Mama Music, and put out under “Louisville Hardcore Records”. The 7″ contained the core originals, while a CD dropped into most record sleeves had outtakes and covers alongside the 7″ songs. A year later, the band had grown quite a bit and demoed some new tracks as well as some samples the Smither bros had been playing around with as their joined interest in hip hop grew. The band ended up calling it quits not long afterwards, with few of the 2006 Demo CDs being produced, and largely handed out at shows. Both releases have been largely forgotten unless you saw a copy of Excelsior in used record bins around town. Now, for the first time in the ‘streaming’ era, these releases are up on Bandcamp to stake their claim and regain some visibility in Louisville’s punk/hardcore history.
The Excelsior 7″ can be streamed from Bandcamp, or the 7″ purchased- there’s still copies left of the green vinyl variant. There’s no telling what a bunch of high schoolers wrote on the side B blank labels soooo.. apologies for what you may find there.
The 2006 Demo is only available for streaming or purchase/download. Twenty years on, the band is just happy that anyone would care enough to check it out, but hopes you like what you hear.