The Jack Terricloth Foundation, which formed after the tragic passing of Jack Terricloth of World/Inferno Friendship Society and Sticks & Stones last year, has announced the title and release date for the Jack Terricloth tribute album (the tracklist was released in May and includes Jeff Rosenstock, Catbite, The Bouncing Souls, Worriers, and The Unlovables). It is called Endless Possibility: A Tribute to Jack Terricloth and will be out everywhere October 31.
Late Cambrian, “It’s Always Something” – The creative and romantic partnership of Brooklyn indie pop duo John Wlaysewski and Olive Hu unleashed a monster power-pop banger about nostalgia: “Living in the ’90s twice/ Frente is my secret vice/ Everything still fits all right,” Hu sings.
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World/Inferno Friendship Society leader Jack Terricloth sadly and unexpectedly passed away last year at age 50, and now many musicians have come together for a 39-song tribute album and a series of memorial shows/events happening on and around Halloween. The tribute LP, titled Endless Possibility: A Tribute to Jack Terricloth, features Jeff Rosenstock, Worriers, Ted Leo, The Bouncing Souls, Catbite, The Slackers, The Unlovables, Hatrabbits, Nervous Triggers, Long Neck, Choked Up, Emilyn Brodsky, My Favorite, and more, as well as some tracks by Jack and World/Inferno themselves.
Jack Terricloth Foundation – Bandcamp – FB – IG – World/Inferno – New York Times obituary
Endless Possibility: A Tribute To Jack Terricloth (out Oct. 31 – Halloween)
https://jack terricloth foundation.bandcamp.com/album/endless-possibility-a-tribute-to-jack-terricloth
Sun, Oct 30: A Mischief Night Sinfonietta as performed by The East Coast Smashism Chamber Orchestra @ The New/York Society for Ethical Culture. 5pm to 10pm.
Mon, Oct 31: Special Early Evening Halloween Mass @ St. Anne’s Church in Downtown Brooklyn. 5pm. Limited capacity.
“One of the best ever to do it. Watching him in World/Inferno made me want to be in a band again. Kind, smart and funny. An unstoppable performer.” – Jeff Rosenstock
“If you ever met Jack Terricloth you were left inspired knowing someone like him was out there walking the earth. To know that he is now gone I am left inspired knowing someone like him was possible.” – Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!
“Such an incredibly important presence in punk.” – Damian Abraham of Fucked Up
“He melded punk defiance with decadent theatricality” – New York Times
“Their annual Hallowmas shows which were always elaborate spectacles that, like Jack, were one of a kind.” – Brooklyn Vegan
“A combination of Bruce Springsteen, The Pogues and the noise the devil makes as cities burn.” – NPR
“Terricloth was as much ringleader as singer. He brought levels of showmanship that were rare on the independent music scene.” – Stereogum
“Terricloth is a charismatic and diabolically witty front man whose lyrics exhibit a similarly eclectic range of references, including Paul Robeson, Philip K. Dick, Weimar-era Germany and Zen Philosophy.” – VICE
“A group of 11 (or so) people that dress like it’s 1927, sing about anarchy and drugs and, every year, praise the ancient pagan entity called “The Great Pumpkin” at their annual Hallowmas concert.” – MTV
“Dramatiste circus network of derelicts, desperadoes, and an ensemble that totals over 40 lead by the flamboyant eccentric, Jack Terricloth … Horns, pianos and percussion swirl like a cold breeze entering the room as Jack takes the center stage like a Mephistophelean character.” –Impose
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Jack Terricloth Foundation – Mischief Night Sinfonietta (Oct. 30) – Halloween Mass (Oct. 31) – Endless Possibility: A Tribute to Jack Terricloth
Pete Ventantonio, aka Jack Terricloth, unexpectedly passed away May 12, 2021 at the age of 50. He was a legend of the New York and New Jersey punk scenes, an unbreakably principled mischief maker, and an inspiration to punks around the world. He fronted Brooklyn cabaret-punk collective The World/Inferno Friendship Society for 25 years and legendary New Jersey hardcore outfit Sticks & Stones before that.
The Jack Terricloth Foundation was created in the wake of this tragedy to keep Jack’s memory alive. The Foundation is creating a grand event honoring the life of a performer who’s touched so many lives, featuring a long weekend of Inferno members honoring their friend through song and ritual. Simultaneously, the Foundation will be releasing a tribute album of World/Inferno and Sticks & Stones songs featuring Jeff Rosenstock, Ted Leo, Bouncing Souls, Catbite, The Slackers, Worriers and more, entitled Endless Possibility: A Tribute to Jack Terricloth (out Oct. 31). The Jack Terricloth Foundation was made to raise money to help artists in need and its first donation will be to support MusiCares. All proceeds generated from the tribute album now through Halloween will go towards the MusiCares charity organization.
For the Record Release party, The Foundation is creating a grand event honoring the life of a performer who’s touched so many lives, featuring A Mischief Night Sinfonietta where The East Coast Smashism Chamber Orchestra will play the songs of The World/Inferno Friendship Society. The instrumental string ensemble will be made up of some of Jack’s former musical collaborators and they’ll be performing songs arranged by Peter Hess, Scott Hollingsworth, Franz Nicolay, Rebecca Schlappich, Ken Thomson, and Pat Muchmore. Orbiting that anchor event will be a long weekend of celebrations showing love to their friend through song and ritual.
In a live session with Paste Magazine in 2019 Terricloth coyly states, “Everyone has a favorite dead punk rocker. I hope to be yours one day,” before going into a swing-punk rendition of “Jeffery Lee,” a song about his favorite dead punk.
Members and ex-members of The World/Inferno Friendship Society are spending a long weekend of tribute and reverence to their fallen friend from Oct. 28-31. They’ve had a membership of over 40 players, led by singer Jack Terricloth, the only constant during the group’s 25-year history.
Members of the World/Inferno gang have started/joined bands like The Hold Steady, Deals Gone Bad, Balkan Beat Box, Kiss Kiss, Mariachi el Bronx, The Dresden Dolls, Nine Inch Nails, Violent Femmes, Leftöver Crack, The Slackers, Against Me! & Matt Pond PA.
The World/Inferno’s annual Halloween show, Hallowmas, was always their most anticipated performance of the year, known for its elaborate theatrics and esoteric surprises. Past Hallowmases have included a burning effigy of frontman Terricloth, an ethereal string quartet, an entire gospel choir, circus performances, fire breathers—even a zombified marching band appearing on stage for the finale “Pumpkin Time”—a Peanuts referencing song the band only performed at Hallowmas shows.
“I was born a Great Pumpkinist, and I’ll die a Great Pumpkinist,” Terricloth once said. “I keep Halloween holy.”
Years ago, they brought in gigantic weather balloons decorated to look like pumpkins, which were so large that during the concert they actually lifted people off the ground.
“One of the balloons exploded,” Terricloth said. “It wasn’t very high up so no one died. It was a beautiful scene, though. The next year, we wanted to blow one up on purpose, but the art space we were at said we couldn’t, so we just lit giant effigies of the Great Pumpkin on fire instead.”
Another year, the band ended up in the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. World/Inferno was assigned to the same float as Z100 (a top 40 station). As the radio station tried to drown out the band with RnB hits, a troop of punks stormed the float and began to stage-dive off of the moving platform during the parade. “The radio station’s turntable got disconnected somehow,” Terricloth said. “I didn’t see a thing.”
Terricloth was known for his pointed commentary during shows, tackling subjects of anarchist politics and punk rock ethos, while his lyrics often concern historical or biographical subjects such as Peter Lorre, Philip K. Dick and occasionally the death of a friend, like Grace Talicious of NYC punk outfit The Paranoid Style.
World/Inferno started in early ‘94 as New Brunswick, N.J., band Sticks and Stones collapsed. Frontman Pete Ventantonio moved to New York and transformed into the anarchy-praising, noir-styling, soliloquy-spouting Jack Terricloth. Shortly thereafter, Terricloth created The World/Inferno Friendship Society. A punk band unlike any other, they mixed the power chord with the horn line, combining punk with cabaret music, borrowing equally from Darby Crash and Tommy Dorsey. After their initial release, the thunderous single “Tattoos Fade,” World/Inferno became an elite touring unit whose shows regularly include odes to property theft, indictments of police activity, and segments for waltzing.
They’ve been putting out albums since ‘97, but their latest batch have seen the band taking on specific themes. Red Eyed Soul (2006) is a massive double LP that embraces ideas of police mistrust, seduction, grudges and theft. Addicted to Bad Ideas (2007) tells the story of perennial character actor Peter Lorre. The album spoke of fame, dames and heroin use. In fact, it was such an artistic triumph that the band took it to the stage, creating a multimedia experience. Reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s stage show for The Wall, the live version of Addicted to Bad Ideas was heralded as creative, daring and utterly unique.
The Anarchy and the Ecstasy (2011) was a more reflective, somber album. Instead of gleefully getting chased by the cops, they watched their own reflection drift by in the Raritan River. Instead of championing the success of civil rights leader Paul Robeson, they pondered the increasingly intense and paranoid thoughts of Philip K. Dick.
In 2013 the band released a new EP, Turnstile Comix #2, on Silver Sprocket Records. It was packaged with a comic book by Mitch Clem featuring several classic World/Inferno tales, including a brawl between the band and Snapcase, which inadvertently, was a predecessor to The Adicts smash up in which World/Inferno were kicked off the tour just before the last three dates due to an argument over drug use.
This Packed Funeral (2016 via Alternative Tentacles), was a concept album set at the wake of Grace Talicious, the singer for NYC punk outfit The Paranoid Style who was hit and killed by a bus. The album presents ten songs that are either covers of The Paranoid Style or written from the perspective of people at Talicious’ funeral.
Their final album All Borders Are Porous to Cats (2020 via Alternative Tentacles), is a mercurial record about Cat, or Mr. In The Hat who’s gotten into some legal troubles after illegally crossing the border.
Terricloth and World/Inferno have always been on the fringe, and that’s where they liked it. It’s a secret club for the initiated. It’s a project of passion and not of grand financial rewards. “I don’t give a shit,” Terricloth said. “If I had more than two wits about me, I’d probably be a senator by now. I have a contempt for all capital.”
Terricloth was a man of the old punk-rock guard. An anarchist. A leader who hates leaders. Terricloth looked forward to bringing the spirit of ‘20s vaudevillian horror and an ’80s hardcore party to every Hallowmas show. This year, his friends, family and fellow Infernites will honor his memory through song, dance and ritual on their most holy night of the year.
Friday the 28th
6pm: Tail Light Rebellion w/ special guests @ Project Parlor. 6pm. (special guests are two former Inferno members).
8pm: Res Novae & Out of System Transfer @ Bar Freda. 8pm. First show for a band with 4 former inferno members.
Saturday the 29th
4pm: Community gathering. Details will be posted on the World/Inferno website in October.
Sunday the 30st
1pm: Hallowless. Second annual gathering of fans covering Inferno songs in Tompkins Square Park. Free show.
5pm: Jack Terricloth Foundation: A Mischief Night Sinfonietta. World/Inferno songs performed by The East Coast Smashism Chamber Orchestra @ The New/York Society for Ethical Culture. The main event!
Monday the 31st – HALLOWEEN
5pm: Jack Terricloth Foundation: Early Evening Halloween Mass @ St. Anne’s Church in Downtown Brooklyn.
“Poppy, upbeat, infectious… a lush musical atmosphere [that] could pass as something Radiohead may have concocted… an impressive feat that is testament to the unique partnership between the duo.”