A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Crisis Point LP by Subhumans. Mark Twain once said that, in order to truly find one’s way to genuine inspiration, “First, get your facts straight – then distort them at your leisure.” Now forty-one years after they started (thirteen since last the band release a full-length album of new material), it can be assumed that Subhumans learned all their lessons and got all their details aligned because, in listening to Crisis...
The Pale Lips should be the biggest thing in punk rock right now. There’s absolutely so much to love about them: they bring the riffs, they’ve got the melodies, their songs are catchy, they sing about the things we care about (like romance and the spooky stuff) and everything about them sounds fun. They’re one of those bands that you feel glad you discovered and can’t wait to tell people about. I know for me, with it being Halloween and...
Photos by Jen Vesp...
I often admit to being late to the game with a lot of bands, but I think I got into Jenny Lewis at just the right time. I had often been exposed to her whenever my wife controls the music on long drives, and I had found that it varied from powerful to uninterestingly derivative. My wife, being a huge fan, wasn’t going to miss out on a performance when Jenny Lewis came to town, and seeing that her new...
As an old school Against Me! fan, let me just say that I’m getting excited about them all over again. Particularly because they’ve recently welcomed old bassist Andrew Seward back to the lineup. This band is resembling more and more the one I fell in love with all those years ago. All they need now is the return of Warren to the lineup. Is that gonna happen? Who knows. But what I do know is that they’re playing 4 albums...
The Fleshies Introducing the Fleshies photo: sorrystaterecords.com The Fleshies conjure up distinct memories in my brain. No, not of circle pits and skateboarding empty pools. The Fleshies remind me of the Pennsylvania country side. It’s in my long drives where I would most often consume albums in their entirety without interruptions. I knew I had always enjoyed the Fleshies (or just “Fleshies” as they used to be called), but on a 2 hour drive through the aforementioned Pennsylvania countryside I...
All photos by...
Mike Watt, the Pedro man with the bass in his hand has nothing left to prove. He’s shown himself a musical man in the very sense of the word ever since the Minutemen and has been a formidable presence, with collaborations with everyone from Nels Cline, Kira Roessler, Iggy Pop, and Todd Congelliere. The man has had a career of making music, both as personal expression and as part of a greater whole. He has seen and been through so...
”arrrrrrgghh, wouldn’t you now it be international talk like a pirate day when me + my missingmen be shoving off for moe’s alley in santa cruz, ca to kick this ‘dick watt tour 2019’ off w/a gig there tonight? aye, it be.” Thus begins and ends Mike Watt’s announcement on his Instagram page that they’re going on tour. Grammatical mistake and all. This is good news… the part about them being on tour. I’ve been doing band interviews on and off since 2008, without...
WHO: SNUFF WHAT: There’s a Lot of it About WHY: Snuff will always be one of the underappreciated bands in punk rock. A shame, because they’re the band that made Fat Wreck more than just a punk label. There was a debt and silliness to them that made them both approachable and underrated, and whenever I listened to their albums I could expect something familiar, completely different, and still find something new to discover every time. Their new album is...