Choking Victim

In 1990, at Humanities high-school, in N.Y.C., Alec Shaheed Mohamed, a young politically active black youth, happened to have some of the same classes with a boy they now call the Stza (pronounced Stizza). They shared not only a love for punk & ska music, but also an intense hatred of white people and their pathetic milk-drinking, Gap-wearing, R.E.M.-listening, 90210 watching culture. Alec played bass & the Stza played guitar and sang, so they decided to join-up and play some music together. Eventually they got a drummer & another singer and started the punk/ska band No Commercial Value. After a couple of years of only playing at ABC-No-Rio and C-squat several times, Alec ditched out to start the 3rd wave ska crowd-pleasers Agent 99 with ex-Slacker Dunia Best, Jay Nugent (now in Stubborn All-Stars) and the wickedest ska drummer since Jar-Jar Binks, Ara Babajian.

In the mean-time, with-out a bassist, the Stza, known as Sturgeon at the time, enlisted Sascha Dubrul, a friend of N.C.V.s drummer. Of course the next logical step was to kick said drummer out of the band as the additional singer left for the west-coast. Sea monkey drummer and local Taco purveyor John Dolan was enlisted and the name Choking Victim was taken from the health department sign that loomed menacingly over John at his job, taunting him (day in and day out, etc.). Three-months and two shows later, John literally hands his drum-sticks to a guy named Skwert during a C.V. practice in Popeyes room at C-squat. A year later, and Sascha quits the group after recording the Crack Rock Steady e.p. & demo.

At roughly the same time, the Biggest-boy fuck-up big-time & Agent 99 breaks-up as a result. So being unloved, dirty, despicable squatters, C.V. take Alec under their filthy wing to record and release the "Squatters Paradise" 7". After that, Alec is kicked out and brought on is dellow C-squatter Pezent Shayne, who's just learning bass, so after a couple of mediocre shows Shayne is re-placed with Alec, who once again shows C.V. that his attentions are not with the band, but in the gutter (literally). He is replaced with the down, but not out, Shayne, whom has become a much more finely tuned and practiced bass machine.

Soon the song "Infested" from the "Squatta's paradise" 7" is contributed to the first "Give'em the boot" comp., and after an overwhelming public response to the track, Tim & Brett offer C.V. a spot on the Hell-Cat roster. With no other offers on the horizon, and being broke-ass homeless/squatting panhandling bums, C.V. realized that this would probably be the only opportunity to ever make a full length record.

So after several years of pain-staking negotiations a three-record deal is hammered out, including a luxurious suite at the Olive motel and the choice to not put a u.p.c. code on their record, at this point Ezra is abroad as a second guitar player. And finally after years of anticipation, thousands of practices & hundreds of shows, on the first day of recording Choking Victim break-up, but not before laying down all the tracks that would become the break-through, smash hit "No Gods/No Managers".

The singer, guitar player & song-writer of C.V. also known as the Stza went on a nation-wide search for a new rhythm section, and after recording a 7"/demo entitled "Rock the 40oz." For Bankshot! Records with members of F-Minus, Blindsided, the original drummer from Suicidal Tendencies plus a resurrected & rejuvenated Alec Shaheed Mohamed, Leftover Crack was in full effect. Soon they contributed the track "Crack City Rockers" to the "Give'em the boot II" compilation. Once again the public demanded more, so once again Tim & Brett dug through their pockets and pooled together whatever balled-up cash and spare-change they could find and offered the good Leftover Crizack the opportunity to join the Hell-Cat family.

They agreed to the harsh terms and accepted the second chance at infamy and global-domination. In April of the year two-thousand, the Stza solidified the Leftover Crack line-up with Alec Shaheed Mohamed on Bass and Ara from Agent 99 on drums. In May they started recording their first full-length record for Hell-Cat and the rest is soon to be history, bitch.

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