It's Sunday November 19th, 2006. I was off the grid last week and found it quite easy to resist dropping convertible pesos on internet access to check in here. More money for cigars and rum. It's nice to see that the Org rumbled along without a hitch in my absence, but I'm quite certain any further time off would have killed Chris. Oh, he did an admirable job filling in last week… but I've seen him since. Blood shot eyes, the shakes, questionable bowel control, soulless and adrift. Navel Gazing can crumble the strongest of men.
The people must have something good to read on a Sunday
Political punks Anti-Flag threw their support behind this year's Buy-Nothing Day, and the usual rabble that follows all news from the Pittsburgh act was back in full swing. The fog is slowly lifting on the long awaited new Dillinger Four record. Fans have been clamouring for news on the band's follow up to Situationist Comedy and the group reciprocated with a brief update this week. While they may not have the same buzz these days, the Offspring continue to soldier on with news on their next record as well. This was a week of new media from several major label punk acts, as the first single from Fall Out Boy's new record surfaced, along with a full album stream from Brand New and a new video from Rise Against. Former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra announced a performance with improvisational comedy and sketch comedy group the Upright Citizens Brigade. Finally street punks the Unseen were the latest in a long line of bands to be robbed on the road, as they had gear pilfered in England.
This week our Video Of The Week featured footage of Ignite performing in Virginia Beach, VA. We spoke with a ton of artists this week, including Darkest Hour guitarist Mike Schleibaum (interview), the legendary J. Robbins of Jawbox, Government Issue and the new act Channels (interview), Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 and now Plus 44 (interview), Blood Brothers guitarist Cody Votolato (interview) and Dan Sena of Bullet Train to Vegas (interview). On the audio front we posted a stream of Bad Astronaut's newest album Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment.
Click Read More to see this week's streaming music, contests and other highlights.
Radio Free Punknews
Check the Punknews Music page to stream all sorts of anticipated new music including breakneck punk act Bullet Treatment, cover stars Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, the Street Dogs, 1-2-3-4 Go!'s new Replacements tribute We Will Inherit The Earth, melodic hardcore act Shook Ones and the Lillingtons.
Suntans are for Winners Free Shows and Schwag for the Kids: Streetlight Manifesto in VA Beach, VA
We're teaming up 151 Productions to send you and a friend to skank till you drop at the Virginia Beach, VA date of theStreetlight Manifesto tour. Plus, the grand prize winner will get an autographed copy of Streetlight's highly-praised debut, Everything Went Numb and a Streetlight Manifesto t-shirt. We'll also have a runner-up, getting two tickets and one t-shirt as well.
Lifetime 'Two Songs' 7" test press
Continuing in the recent tradition of giving away awesome limited vinyl here at the 'Org, Fueled by Ramen / Decaydence has teamed up with us to give one lucky winner a(n extremely limited) test press of Lifetime's forthcoming two-song 7" single, the appropriately titled Two Songs, as well as a shirt to sport along with it. You can enter and find all the rules and regulations at this handy contest page.
Casket Salesmen - New shoes, new CDs, new stuff
Our friends in Casket Salesmen recently released their debut full length which marked a stark departure from the post-hardcore of their former band, A Static Lullaby. Infused with touches of hardcore, metal and rock. The album, Sleeping Giants is drawing comparisons to everyone from Bleach-era Nirvana to Queens of the Stone Age and King Crimson. The band and their label offered to give away a pair of new shoes, a CD prize package and a whole lot of other merch. Check out the record and then get your name in the running.
Victory "Tuesday of Terror"
Recently Victory dropped five new releases on the world; the discs span every genre - from the theatrical Aiden to the bone-crushing hardcore of Scars of Tomorrow. The label has decided to commemorate the releases by offering five winners, one copy of each of the five releases which hit this Tuesday as well as a shirt and poster from each band. That's a lot of music and merch.
80GB iPod, Logitech accessories, albums from Sparta, Sugarcult, more Fanscape was all like "Yo Punknews, want to give some stuff out?" And I was like "Like what yo?" And they were all "An 80 gig iPod and the new albums from Sparta, Sugarcult, Plain White T's, the Summer Obsession and others." So I was like, "Aight." Sorry about that. In truth, one grand prize winner will indeed win all of the above, as well as an AudioStation and Z-10 interactive speakers from Logitech.
Isis "In the Absence of Truth" Isis recently released their new album, In the Absence of Truth. In order to celebrate it's awesomosity, Punknews.org, Ipecac and Insound have joined forces to give away a bunch of stuff including the album itself, a DVD, an InSound Gift Certificate and more.
Win swag from Plus-44
In a week, Plus 44 will be releasing their full length debut. The band features two members of Blink-182 as well as members of Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, The Forgotten and The Nervous Return. To celebrate the event, the band is offering twenty fans a big pile of swag. Specifically, said swag will include huge posters, t-shirts, a limited edition 7'', and stickers.
Life at Disconnect
We've theorized that you visit other websites out there, and we know it can be tough to leave the calming blue glow of the `Org, so we'll help by infecting the rest of the web with Punknews content. Waste some time on the Punknews.org and Punknews Records MySpace pages or contribute your listening habits to the weekly charts Last.fm group.
Come Join Us
Why register on Punknews.org? Registered users can rate bands and reviews, building recommendations and links between artists for the whole community to share and discover. Users get their own profile page showing recent comments, top rated bands and favourite records and more. So go ahead, cast off the cloak of anonymity and create your account today - it's free, easy and private.