punkrock Blog and Journals

Why does this band rule so hard?  More bands need to play from the heart like them.  Now that I have accumulated all of the songs from the song of the month thing they were doing this year and the four bonus tracks (Quick Check Girl on a Ukele?  Yes, please).  I want to go see them live so I can sing along to all of their new songs, which they are releasing on cd (and hopefully vinyl) in January.  Unfortunately, their "Home For the Holidays" shows are sold out.  Le sigh.

LA based band the Dirty Filthy Mugs have signed with DC-Jam Records to deliver the groups first full length release.

Oct 16, 2009 – LA based street punksters, the Dirty Filthy Mugs, have signed a deal with DC-Jam Records to deliver the groups first full length release. 

This, the bands third record, will be tracked in Southern California over the next two months and is scheduled to hit music store shelves in late February or early March,2010. 

"DC-JAM RECORDS is a great label for us because they've shown themselves to be passionate about the music and bands they work with" stated Ace Facial, Dirty Filthy's guitarist and one of the bands original founding members. "I don't know what they see in scruffy yobs like us, but here we are now on the same roster as some bands I've been a fan of for years. This is gonna be good!" 

Based in Los Angeles, the Dirty Filthy Mugs are best known for their live stage performances that have included the use of hundreds of silly string party poppers, beach balls and blow-up dolls that are injected into the crowd while the band plays. They have shared the stage with such names as Kevin Seconds, Throw Rag, The Swingin' Utters, The Dwarves, & Duane Peters Gunfight', among others. 

Stated Darron Hemann, President of DC-Jam Records, "We couldn't be happier with the Dirty Filthy Mugs decision to join us. This new record is going to be alot of fun to produce and we're looking forward to it".

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DC-Jam is a midwest based record label that primarily focuses within the genres of Punk, Alternative and Experimental music.

Head over to Rebel Noise for a free download of our new song, "Frontline Hooligans"!

http://rebelnoise.com/viewshowreviews.php?id=400

So, this year there's been a lot of controversy about certain acts on Warped Tour.  Certain acts who don't really seem to capture the "spirit" of Warped Tour (two of which have been caught lip synching on stage) have been an unfortunately amount of the focus leading up to the supposed "Punk Rock Summer Camp."

But after spending this past Wednesday at the tour's stop in Pittsburgh?  This is the year that punk has started to take their f*cking tour back.

My day began with Flogging Molly.  Well, actually it began with some delightful misadventures involving Pittsburgh road construction and needing to find a gas station.  So, more accurately, my Warped 2009 concert experience began with Flogging Molly.  Irish punk was alive and well and drinking Guinness for breakfast (no, seriously, that was what they announced when they hit the stage.  "Hello, Pittsburgh!  This...is BREAKFAST!") when the band hit the Main Stage.  And despite having an electric banjo, an electric fiddle, an accordion and an ELECTRIC MANDOLIN in their mix of instruments, they were still punk. 

Rule #1: Real punk is NOT about the instruments your band plays or whether they play instruments at all.

From there, I had to bolt to the Hurley Ernie Ball stage to catch Tat.

Oh, Tat.

Look, in case you haven't gotten this from me since I got a chance to sit down and interview the band last year?  Tat rocks.  Just...flat out rocks.  They had a smaller crowd at the beginning of their set, but as fans drifted in for the Attack!  Attack! set immediately following?  I heard a good number of them talking in amazement at how good Tat was and especially about how hardcore lead singer and guitarist Tatiana De Maria is.

Backwards over-her-head guitar solo, motherfuckers.

Rule #2: REAL punk doesn't care if you're male, female, straight, gay, black, white, whatever, just so long as you can rock.

After Tat there was some wandering around with Miss Gwen Artax (who, by the way, wrote an epic blog about how not to be a total douchebag at a concert), during which we managed to catch a bit of Jeffree Star's set as we passed by the Smartpunk stage on our way to get lunch.  And you know what?  Take away his vocals and it's decent dance pop.  And maybe his vocals would be more tolerable if they weren't being performed by a racist, misogynist, do-anything-for-attention douchebag.

We also managed to catch a little bit of Big D and the Kids Table, who brought us both back to high school when it was okay to openly like ska.  Seriously, if you get a chance to listen to them at all?  Do so.  Even if it's just a few minutes before you bolt back to the Main Stage to see...I dunno...Anti-Flag?

Oh, Anti-Flag.

Look, these are local boys.  They come from Pittsburgh, and we love them for it because they have never and will never forget it.  And so they made fucking sure their hometown got one hell of a show.

The set was loaded with politically charged punk and repeated messages of rebellion against the institutions that send us off to die in wars we don't believe in, that give money to CEO's who have finally run out of their own workers to screw, that encourage us to hate each other for things like religion and sexual orientation and other lines that DON'T need to be drawn in order to distract us from the fact that our hate, our rage, our anger SHOULD be aimed at THEM.  They tell us which consenting adults can and can't marry.  They tell us who does and doesn't deserve healthcare or an education.  They tell us what we can and can't do with or put into our own bodies.  They are what needs to be brought down.

They also covered "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" by The Clash in double time.  But this leads us into...

Rule #3: Real punk makes you angry in a way that makes you want to do something to change what you're angry about.

We ended our day with Bad Religion.  And this is where I point out this year's mainstage line-up including:

• Flogging Molly
• Anti-Flag
• Bad Religion
• Less Than Jake
• NOFX

Well, now, that looks like a decent number of PUNK bands, doesn't it?  And at other stages you had acts like Tat, Big D and the Kids Table, The Maine, There for Tomorrow, VersaEmerge, Bayside and many, many more who have roots in punk, no matter which way they've chosen to go with it.  But they have STAYED TRUE to those punk rock music roots and continue to tour in shitty vans, play whatever venue will take them, struggle to get from city to city.  And, to agree with Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low, THAT is a dying art, my friends.  That is something we're not seeing as much anymore, we're not seeing bands who understand the struggle to make it, the "do anything for exposure" attitude which is a far cry from "do anything for attention."

And with that rant ended, somewhat?  Bad Religion.

If you want to know what punk is?  If you want to be reassured that punk is not dead, will not die easy and will go down fighting with a switchblade?  Go listen to Bad Religion while they're on tour.  I do not joke.  This was a band formed in 1980 that got more people moving and on their feet than just about any other band I saw that day.  Their crowd was a mix of old fans, young fans who have found them any number of ways and fans who were waiting impatiently for 3OH!3 who got caught up in a punk rock mix and, hopefully, walked away with a new appreciation for punk.

Rule #4: REAL PUNK ROCK WILL NEVER DIE, SO LONG AS SOMEONE IS SCREAMING FOR CHANGE.

And you know what?  We NEED punk rock these days.  Because, yeah, in the last election we voted in someone more likely to listen to our ideas and our needs and our wants than that last douchebag.  But we STILL have to scream for change.  Because now that change is possible, it's our duty to put it into motion and move it in a way that will mean when we grow up, my generation, the generation below me and the generation comprised of my friends' children, we will inherit what is left.  So why not start molding that future now?  Why not start using everything we have: punk rock, politics, blogs, art, soap boxes, Garageband, whatever, to scream loud and clear: WE REJECT YOUR WORLD ORDER AND WILL BEGIN BUILDING OUR OWN OUT OF RESPECT, PASSION AND SMASHED GUITARS.

Rock on, Buzznet.  Rock the actual fuck on.

http://www.punknews.org/article/33989

"My thought is this: You don’t have to like Brokencyde, or Jeffree Star, or the Millionaires, and I’m not saying that I do necessarily. But they are doing something, capturing something, stirring up controversy. Punk bands used to stir up controversy; if you’re taking that as the definition of “punk”, these artists could fall under that category." ~Kevin Lyman

Can a band be "punk" simply by stirring up controversy? Or is there more to it? Does it need to include certain styles of music, or appearance, or message... is there a "punk" ethos and aesthetic (perspective, values, attitudes, customs, traditions) that is not all inclusive of every artist who elicits controversy (or even public outrage)? Or is "punk" an attitude not umbilically connected to any one genre?

Malfunction PublicAccess TV - Ice T schools Warped Tour 1999 audience about "punk"

The Millionaires at Warped Tour 2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

"Hello....this is the writing of Eric Ozenne, otherwise known in todays world, as an illusion....As many people know. I am in Portland, Oregon living with my fabulous seven year old daughter (yes my dear fans of the Nerve Agents era, who remeber when she was born...you are now officially old!).

I have been in school for five years now, working on a social work bachelors degree.
I have been extremley buried in graduation stuff this year, senior projects and what not.

I recently got accepted into graduate school at Portland State University.

Said Radio, due to all of this, has been on hiatus. There are no Summer plans in place for touring. We three unfinished songs that need to be finished and released. The hope is that in September, we might be able to pull ourselves together and come see some of you and finally release those songs.

Death metal. Alternative. Pop. Rock. Power-Pop. What the fudge man? Where's all the punk now-a-days? So I have this friend at school named Zia (if you don't know how to pronounce it, it's like zay-uh, not zee-uh) and he's all about punk. I was listening to his ipod today, since he forced me too, and i realized his ipod consisted of all this amazing punk rock. Social Distortion, Sex Pistols, Blink 182, Ramones, and other punk music/bands. Stuff I used to listen to growing up. What i've realized now is "Where has it all gone?". You NEVER see any bands putting out stuff like Institutionalized by Suicidal Tendencies, which is an amazing song by the way. But i guess people don't like telling stories that don't go along with rhythems and beats anymore. Or rockabilly stuff. I miss the times when mohawks, plaid pants, chains, combat boots, and shirts with Britain flag on it were cool. Times like old warped tour days. well, not that old. like...2003-05 old. 4 years. Not that bad.

But my question is, is punk REALLY dead?
will it somehow rise from the dead?
Zia swears he's going to start the new face of punk rock, and i don't doubt him a bit.

It's now available at amazon.com (book only) This book is available @ fastgeekempire.com, vinylcollective.com and interpunk.com

Order anything from fastgeekempire.com and get Charly "the city mouse" Fasano's CD "Rocket Ship to Obscurity" FOR FREE!!!!! Features his stories accompanied by LUCERO, DRAG THE RIVER and a guest reading by Joey Cape of Lagwagon and more!!!!

FAST GEEK READER: A COLLECTION OF POETRY AND FICTION


It is an opportunity for folks to check out writings from: Karl Alvarez (ALL and Descendents) Garin Daum, Novelist Brian Polk, Nathen Maxwell (Flogging Molly), Vincent Fasano (artist), Abe Brennan (Wretch Like Me) Scooter James (Pinhead Circus and Love Me Destroyer), Joey Chase (Fight Like Hell), Zach Boddicker (Drag the River and 4H Royalty), Lee Sanders, Charly "the city mouse" Fasano and many more.
Front cover art by Doug Spencer (Monofog)





Includes a download code for FAST GEEK READER Audio so you can listen to an acoustic song by Karl Alvarez called "Problems At the Starlight", The Presidents Wives, poetry by Lee Sanders, Zach Boddicker, Vincent Fasano, Charly "the city mouse" Fasano accompanied by OVERJOID (Roy Berry from Lucero), Joey Chase, Ryan Honaker and a story by Brian Polk.




Available NOW!!!!! at fastgeekempire. com and vinylcollective. com
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AVAILABLE NOW @ fastgeekempire.com


The TEAM BAND cassette tape. They are a great band from Chicago that plays humorous and fun punk rock. Again, we are only putting out 100 copies that will include a mp3 code.