It's Sunday, November 25th, 2007. Welcome to Navel Gazing, your look back at this week in Punknews. It's Grey Cup night and I know that our primarily American audience is too enthralled with the Saskatchewan / Winnipeg game to care for my silly intro, so I'll get right to it. , putting the blame on a criminal record and some info the border authorities found on MySpace. Angels & Airwaves' Tom Delonge has seemingly shed his messiah complex, revealing past drug abuse to MTV and generally starting to make sense again. Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal wrote an essay on selling out, looking to see if the label is even relevant today. Fall Out Boy got into some trouble by basing their tour artwork on Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, forcing the band to change it. Radiohead continued to deflate the hype surrounding their digital release, chocking it up to a stunt thought up by management. Of course not a week goes by without more lunacy from the various industry trade groups. This week the MPAA attempted to justify tying college funding to anti–piracy initiatives.
We had the first slate of tour dates from the 2008 Fat Tour featuring NOFX, No Use For A Name and the Flatliners. BYO act A Global Threat has called it quits. We saw a trailer for One Nine Nine Four: Documenting the Birth, Growth and Explosion of Punk Rock in the 90s as well as the new video from Canadian pop–punk act Gob. We had a number of updates on new releases, including a studio video from the Loved Ones and a recording progress update from Millencolin. Pennywise also revealed an ambitious plan to release an ad–supported album through MySpace.
We were also brought news of the death of Hawthorne Heights guitarist Casey Calvert (1981–2007). Our condolences go out to his family and friends. This week featured one of our more interesting interview features in recent memory. Norman Brannon of Texas is the Reason and Shelter, author of The Anti–Matter Anthology: A 1990s Post–Punk & Hardcore Reader, interviews and Rob Fish of 108 in a two part feature looking back at the hardcore scene which spawned the book. You can check out part 1 and part 2. Video of the Week featured ––> The eighteenth edition of Vinyl File featured a conversation with Steve Stevenson, better known as Stevo! from 1–2–3–4 Go! Records. Our Editors' Picks of the week featured music from New Jersey's Endgame. We brought you new music this week including the lead track off This Is Hell's new 7" Cripplers, and six songs from NOFX's upcoming live album They've Actually Gotten Worse Live.
Radio Free Punknews
Check the Punknews Music page to stream all sorts of anticipated new music including all six cuts from the Briggs acoustic Westlake Sessions, the new record from Joey Cape's new band the Playing Favorites, the full length Never Suspend Disbelief by New Jersey's One Win Choice, rock'n'hardcore act The Revenge, featuring former members of Stereotyperider and the new EP from Intro5pect featuring Stza of Leftover Crack. It's Funny, I Don't Feel Like a Winner Crime in Stereo: 'Is Dead' + more
Long Island melodic hardcore ambassadors Crime in Stereo have a new polarizing full-length out entitled Is Dead. Maybe you've heard it? Well, whether you have or haven't, we're giving you an opportunity to hear it on some beautifully colored vinyl. One winner in particular will take home a whole bunch of swag, too.
Raised Fist in Canada (third time's a charm!)
It's like clockwork! Sweden's Raised Fist plan a Canadian tour, Punknews throws a contest, and then tour is cancelled. This December marks the third attempt, and I've got a good feeling that it just might happen. Let's all cross our fingers and win some swag in the meantime. The hardcore band is currently supporting their 2006 full length Sound of the Republic. Click below to enter to win tickets to an upcoming show and copies of the band's last two records. Staff Side-Projects
Your trusty Punknews staffers and reviewers have all sorts of projects on the go, everything from poorly spelled and oft neglected blogs to big official world domination schemes. Make sure to check out editor and videographer Chris Moran collection of recordings online at Vimeo, editor Justin August's blog Kinder Words, editor Adam White's blog 2:59, and staff reviewer Jesse Raub's webzine Bitter Press. Super Powers Enable Me To Blend In With Machinery
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