Radio Free Punknews

Check out the Punknews Music page to stream all sorts of new music from recent or upcoming releases. Our latest additions include:

• The latest release form Means Well
• The new collection from Sundials

Also, don't forget to check out the new EP from Black Tusk.

We've also expanded our podcast empire to something that will eventually resemble a network. Be sure to check out the original Punknews Podcast (subscribe via RSS or iTunes), Adam's Ontario showcase Some Party (subscribe via RSS or iTunes), and Greg Simpson and Greg Moore's Two Gregs One Podcast.

July 21, 2013

Hello everyone and welcome to Navel Gazing: your look back in the week in Punknews. I'm Brittany Strummer and I'll be your guide through some of the juiciest, most popular and otherwise noteworthy stories from the last seven days. Remember, every Punknews story is built from tips from our wonderful, good-looking readers, so get to submitting. Here's what got the strange, slow and old community talking this week:

• Vice expressed their distaste for Epitaph's current roster.
• Against Me! released the two-song acoustic EP, True Trans, for free for a limited time.
• Pussy Riot released a music video criticizing Russian's oil industry.
• We started a new format for our reviews by hosting them daily instead of weekly.
• AFI released a new song.
• Rise Against revealed the details for a b-sides and covers album.
• Riot Fest added The Pixies, Joan Jett, Suicidal Tendencies, Andrew W.K. and many more to their already impressive roster.

With that, we hand over this Sunday evening to the Punknews community, where anything is possible, from the next amusing-then-overwrought meme, to the creation of bands and message boards, to alienating sports chatter. So talk amongst yourselves, spin some tracks in the Navel Gazing turntable.fm room and we'll see you Monday morning

The People Must Have Something Good To Read

In the past few weeks we've spoken with a number of bands. Don't miss out on these interviews:

• Dylan Matheison of Tiny Moving Parts
• Joey Cape of Scorpios
• We hosted a live Q&A with Sam Russo, Tim Browne of Elway, and Intruder Blue of Masked Intruder
• Brian Sella of The Front Bottoms
• Chris Cresswell of The Flatliners
• Sam Russo

Tonight We're Going To Give It 35%

Punknews content is syndicated to a handful of your favorite social networks, including Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Join our Last.fm group and contribute your listening habits to our weekly charts. All of our high definition video footage can be found at Vimeo.

Here's your question and answer of the week from the Punknews Formspring:

Q: Do you have any hero(es)?

A: Sure. I've got lots of heroes. My parents and siblings for one. Maybe the reason I've never really fit in with the punk crowd is that I don't hate my parents. In fact, my parents continue to inspire me to this very day.

But, on a less sappy angle, I respect people who go the distance and take chances. A lot of people like to give props to artists that quit while they were ahead… or died while they were ahead…. but to me, I respect the artist who achieves greatness, and then jeopardizes his/her "image" and strives for that same thing again. If I may quote Nas, because last I checked, Nas was the hallmark standard for punk, "Oh, you went platinum? That's nice. now let's see you do the same thing twice, three times, four times, then a couple of more times…"

Platinum can mean any number of things, so I respect artists who dare to keep trying to make good art. To me, that's the true artist and not the guy who makes a few good works and then quits or makes a few good works and then doesn't take any further risks.

So, I respect artists like Keith Morris, The Melvins, Jello, Blag, and all the other guys who kept on keepin on, and making neat stuff later on down the line.

I also respect artists who were prolific and revolutionary for their time. Shakespeare is awesome, yo. I mean, like, really, Shakespeare wrote some awesome stories. Mark Twain is another champion. He has waaaaay more beyond Tom and Huck. Catullus and Plautus are both ultimate homeboys.

Sometimes punk urges to "destroy your heroes," but I think that's a stupid concept. A hero is an ideal which you can strive for, or even just a fuel for your own works. Seeing that Mark Twain wrote so many awesome stories, and had such killer dialogue allows me to say to myself "I'm gunning for your spot, Twainny." It doesn't even matter if the real mark twain doesn't live up to his reputation, because it's the reputation that you sets your saites on, not the person.

I think the "no more heroes" idea came from the fact that people saw a disconnect between their concepts of legends and the actual people. Well, boo dee hoo hoo. Get over it. No one is perfect. Just because you can't ever achieve perfection doesn't mean that you shouldn't strive for it.

-John G

P.S. Okay, okay. Men at Work's "Business as Usual" is perfect. Also, Misfits.

Of course your day wouldn't be complete without knowing every inane detail of your humble editors' lives. Follow @aubinpaul, @adamwhite, @howtobepunk, @johngentile, @dante3000, @ameliaaacline, @kiraface, @mcflynnthm, @kidecono, @wackymondo and @BrittStrummer's every move at Twitter. A few of the new fathers on staff have even started a punk dad blog.

Where else are you online? Share your links below and keep connected with the Punknews community.

Radio Free Punknews

Check out the Punknews Music page to stream all sorts of new music from recent or upcoming releases. Our latest additions include:

• The new EP from Black Tusk

Also, don't forget to check out a new song from Teen Agers, the latest release from Harvey Pekar, and the new EP from Bodyfather.

We've also expanded our podcast empire to something that will eventually resemble a network. Be sure to check out the original Punknews Podcast (subscribe via RSS or iTunes), Adam's Ontario showcase Some Party (subscribe via RSS or iTunes), and Greg Simpson and Greg Moore's Two Gregs One Podcast.

July 14, 2013

Hello everyone and welcome to Navel Gazing: your look back in the week in Punknews. I'm Brittany Strummer and I'll be your guide through some of the juiciest, most popular and otherwise noteworthy stories from the last seven days. Remember, every Punknews story is built from tips from our wonderful, good-looking readers, so get to submitting. Here's what got the strange, slow and old community talking this week:

• To celebrate the Red Scare Across America Tour we hosted a live Q&A with Intruder Blue of Masked Intruder, Tim Browne of Elway, and Sam Russo.
• LA Weekly and Henry Rollins posted their top 20 punk albums in history.
• The Village Voice also made a top 20 list but they instead compiled the top 20 New York hardcore and metal albums of all time.
• Masked Intruder released a video game inspired music video for "I Don't Want To Be Alone Tonight".
• The Gaslight Anthem revealed they are they are working on new album for 2014.
• The lineup for Fun Fun Fun Fest was announced with acts such as Descendents, Quicksand, Flag, Blake Schwarzenbach, and many more.
• We tallied your favorite records from June with Queens of the Stone Age leading the pack.

With that, we hand over this Sunday evening to the Punknews community, where anything is possible, from the next amusing-then-overwrought meme, to the creation of bands and message boards, to alienating sports chatter. So talk amongst yourselves, spin some tracks in the Navel Gazing turntable.fm room and we'll see you Monday morning

The People Must Have Something Good To Read

In the past few weeks we've spoken with a number of bands. Don't miss out on these interviews:

• We hosted a live Q&A with Sam Russo, Tim Browne of Elway, and Intruder Blue of Masked Intruder
• Brian Sella of The Front Bottoms
• Chris Cresswell of The Flatliners
• Sam Russo
• Night Birds
• Mike D'Antonio of Killswitch Engage

Tonight We're Going To Give It 35%

Punknews content is syndicated to a handful of your favorite social networks, including Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Join our Last.fm group and contribute your listening habits to our weekly charts. All of our high definition video footage can be found at Vimeo.

Here's your question and answer of the week from the Punknews Formspring:

Q: Favorite punk movie?

A: Honestly, I don't really feel that there are that many fictional movies centered around punk. There's SLC punk, Repo Man. Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, Straight to Hell. There's probably a few more, but nothing really huge. There are a lot of good punk documentaries.

But, really, as a fictional movie that incorporates punk, I think Repo Man pretty much nails it. Instead of making punk rock the central point of the movie, it uses punk as sort of a backdrop. Plus, the film is really neat because the story is set up like the classic man vs. man structure, only to reveal itself as an entirely different type of movie at the end. Also, the characters in the movie, particularly the repo man, are so classic. They're weirdoes, but they are just barely believable.

Plus, the soundtrack is all killer no filler. Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Plugz, Fear, amazing. On top of that, if I remember correctly, the Black Flag recording of TV party is exclusive to this release, which a lot of people don't know, making it a rare third version of tv party. (I dont feel like digging out the record right now, so I may be wrong) But, I am sure that I have an exclusive acoustic Circle Jerkss recording of when the shit hits the fan and is the ONLY circle jerks recording to feature drummer chuck biscuits, with the irony, of course, being that chuck biscuits doesn't play drums on that particular track.

Yeah, so, despite some of the b-movie feel of it, and some of the poor acting, Repo man rules, warts an all.

-John G

Of course your day wouldn't be complete without knowing every inane detail of your humble editors' lives. Follow @aubinpaul, @adamwhite, @howtobepunk, @johngentile, @dante3000, @ameliaaacline, @kiraface, @mcflynnthm, @kidecono, @wackymondo and @BrittStrummer's every move at Twitter. A few of the new fathers on staff have even started a punk dad blog.

Where else are you online? Share your links below and keep connected with the Punknews community.

Radio Free Punknews

Check out the Punknews Music page to stream all sorts of new music from recent or upcoming releases. Our latest additions include:

• A new song from Teen Agers
• The latest release from Harvey Pekar
• The new EP from Bodyfather

Also, don't forget to check out the latest release from The Radio Reds.

We've also expanded our podcast empire to something that will eventually resemble a network. Be sure to check out the original Punknews Podcast (subscribe via RSS or iTunes), Adam's Ontario showcase Some Party (subscribe via RSS or iTunes), and Greg Simpson and Greg Moore's Two Gregs One Podcast.

July 7, 2013

Hello everyone and welcome to Navel Gazing: your look back in the week in Punknews. I'm Brittany Strummer and I'll be your guide through some of the juiciest, most popular and otherwise noteworthy stories from the last seven days. Remember, every Punknews story is built from tips from our wonderful, good-looking readers, so get to submitting. Here's what got the strange, slow and old community talking this week:

• To celebrate Canada Day we created a mixtape comprised of songs from some of our favorite Canadian artists.
• 6131 Records unveiled plans to reissue the major label debut from Handsome which featured members from Jets to Brazil, Helmet, and Quicksand.
• Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! announced the dates for a solo tour in support of AM!'s latest album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, which the band finished tracking last week.
• Heartsounds released a video of what they're currently working on in the studio.
• After 6 years together Sharks decided to call it a day.
• AFI released yet another teaster for their upcoming album.
• Former drummer for The Ramones, Richie Ramone, unveiled plans for a solo album.

With that, we hand over this Sunday evening to the Punknews community, where anything is possible, from the next amusing-then-overwrought meme, to the creation of bands and message boards, to alienating sports chatter. So talk amongst yourselves, spin some tracks in the Navel Gazing turntable.fm room and we'll see you Monday morning

The People Must Have Something Good To Read

In the past few weeks we've spoken with a number of bands. Don't miss out on these interviews:

• Brian Sella of The Front Bottoms
• Chris Cresswell of The Flatliners
• Sam Russo
• Night Birds
• Mike D'Antonio of Killswitch Engage
• Jordan Pundik of New Found Glory

Tonight We're Going To Give It 35%

Punknews content is syndicated to a handful of your favorite social networks, including Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Join our Last.fm group and contribute your listening habits to our weekly charts. All of our high definition video footage can be found at Vimeo.

Here's your question and answer of the week from the Punknews Formspring:

Q: Biggest punk douchebag ever?

A: Well, I'm not going to just start naming names because I'm not looking for beef right now. Also, I will say, the VAST majority of artists that I've met in punk rock have been totally awesome people.

But, what I will say, is those artists that people think are douchebags sometimes are the complete opposite and those that purport themselves to be paragons of virtue sometimes turn out to be pretty reprehensible creatures.

At this point, I've done over 200 interviews, so I think it's fair to say that I've had my fair share of interactions with punk artists. Now to be fair, an interview, even a three hour one, won't give you the complete picture of a person, but I do feel that there are certain cues that betray a person's true nature. Also, comparing people's words to their actions also gives you insight into his or her true being.

I've found that when interviewing some artists, they they hold themselves out to the public to be a sort of model of behavior. But, I've found a lot of these guys to be straight up phony bologna. I think, now, more then ever, if a person adheres to a certain diction, expresses certain point, and maintains a certain demeanor (usually one of a certain reluctant assuredness) then punk fans will say "so and so is a great human being." But then, when you really see what these people do, and see how they run their business and relations with other people, you learn that it's all a gimmick and that these "great guys" are just as greedy and malicious, and perhaps even more so, then artists who don't act as if they represent any range of thoughts.

More specifically, what particularly annoys me, is that some artists will say that they always tell the truth and always say what they mean, and really use that avenue as a way to passive aggressively rag on their friends. I particularly remember one interview I did where the artist in question, out of the blue, brought up his/her friend's album and started talking about how much it sucked. I think that's lame. Really, isn't the classier approach, in contrast to 100% honesty to the point of boorishness, selective discussion, and instead of saying "Yeah, my friends last live show was terrible," just saying "It wasn't really my thing," or even "I thought it was pretty good?" Isn't it better to give your friend the benefit of the doubt than using "honesty" as a catty way just to be nasty?

In contrast, I've found that guys that aren't known for being nice, are actually the nicest, and most truthful people in punk rock. The reason people don't think that they are "nice" is because they don't necessarily adhere to pre-establish guidelines of thought, diction, and behavior that other segments demand as the only proper way to conduct oneself. I'll take truth with a little bit of an edge over false niceness every day of the week.

Straight up, in my experience, Blag Dahlia (Dwarves), Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Flag), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), Danzig, Dave Brockie (Gwar), Eugene Robinson (Oxbow, Blackface), Buzz Osborne (Melvins), and many others have all been class acts. They say what they mean, stand up for their personal beliefs, and treat people as they expect to be treated. Give them just a normal amount of respect and it is returned in kind. I've found that this isn't the case with the aforementioned paragons of virtue. And more so, I've found that "the not nice guys" aren't nearly as often on a high horse like the "nice guys" are.

Lastly, I know people are expecting me to say "Ben Weasel." The fact of the matter is that I don't know Ben Weasel and he may be a jerk… or maybe not. I don't know. Ben Weasel represents a larger point- It seems to me, punk has become especially susceptible to gang mentality and if a few people pile on someone, everyone else does too. Isn't that what punk is supposed to be against?

I mean, look at Danzig. People make fun of him for liking comic books, for being weird, for being shot, and for liking horror movies. If you do that, how are you any different than the jock mentality that punk rock is so opposed to? I suggest that when the tide is turning for (or against) someone, people be less quick to jump on the wagon and stand back and think for themselves.

-John G

PS Oh, all right, the biggest douchebag in punk is Brittany Strummer. Did you know that during girl scout cookie season, she sets up a table right next to the girl scouts and sells generic equivalents at 50 cents cheaper and then pockets the profits? What a jerk.

Of course your day wouldn't be complete without knowing every inane detail of your humble editors' lives. Follow @aubinpaul, @adamwhite, @howtobepunk, @johngentile, @dante3000, @ameliaaacline, @kiraface, @mcflynnthm, @kidecono, @wackymondo and @BrittStrummer's every move at Twitter. A few of the new fathers on staff have even started a punk dad blog.

Where else are you online? Share your links below and keep connected with the Punknews community.