Choking Victim

Choking Victim

Choking Victim is a punk group from New York, United States, active from 1992 to 1999. The band is associated with crack rock steady, crust punk, punk, ska and ska punk, and is known for combining ska punk with crust punk in a style it calls crack rock steady.

Style and themes

The group develops a sound rooted in ska and punk with crust punk elements, and its songs include anarchist lyrics. It also uses Satanic imagery and repeated references to a vagrant lifestyle, including crack-smoking, shoplifting and squatting. Its lyrics also contain violent anti-police sentiments. The band presents an atheist stance and often makes sardonic references to Satan in an explicitly offensive register.

New York scene and C-Squat

Choking Victim becomes closely associated with C-Squat on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where the band squats and helps organise shows for its music. That connection places the group within the New York punk scene and its squat-based network.

Recording and later projects

The band breaks up after the first day of recording its only album, but those recordings are enough to form the finished release. After the split, Stza and Ezra Kire form Leftöver Crack, while Skwert and Ezra Kire form INDK.

Members

The group includes Ezra Kire, Skwert, Stza, Shayne Webb and Alec Baillie.