Blame it on whatever you want, karma, trial-and-error, songwriting skills... but in February 2004, Blink-182 hit songwriting gold with a simply amazing song called I Miss You.
My personal opinion of Blink-182 as a band is that of sophomoric bubblegum-punk for tweens. Whether they were hiding songwriting genius behind a huge barrage of power chords, purposely awful vocal tones and inclinations and a propensity for getting naked in their videos, I can't tell and don't care about finding out any further; all I know is that this song is majestic.
I listen to it often, I've sung it myself, and it has a decorum that I didn't think Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus were capable of; I knew Travis Barker could drum because A. I'm not deaf, and B. I do listen to Transplants, but for the other two members of the band to come up with this miracle of the four-chord variety transcends musical taste.
The video, by acclaimed director Jonas Akerlund (the 2002 film Spun, many Roxette videos, Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up, Madonna's Ray Of Light, Music, American Life and Celebration, Metallica's Turn The Page and Whiskey In The Jar, Smashing Pumpkins' Try, Try, Try, Moby's Porcelain, U2's Beautiful Day (the airport and the eze versions) and Walk On, Ozzy Osbourne's Gets Me Through and Let Me Hear You Scream, Paul McCartney's Lonely Road, Christina Aguilera's Beautiful, The Rolling Stones' Rain Fall Down and Doom And Gloom, and Rammstein's Pussy, Ich Tu Dir Weh and Mein Land), emphasizes the brooding darkness of the song, a true 2000s masterpiece on both ends of the audio-visual spectrum:
Showing posts with label Punk Rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Punk Rock. Show all posts
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Video Of The (Past) Week: Body Count
Kudos to Ice-T and his metal band Body Count for at least trying to update Suicidal Tendencies' classic 1980s punk-thrash song Institutionalized for the 21st century on their 2014 album Manslaughter.
Sure, we're a long way past the terrific self-titled first album in 1992, with had such tracks as The Winner Loses, C-Note, KKK Bitch and the controversial Cop Killer (on the first pressing, replaced with Freedom Of Speech in subsequent releases after the first week), but the band is still trying to hold its own despite no longer having the backing power of Sire/Warner Brothers behind them, and they're mostly successful at it.
They talk about social issues, they make some noise, they're energetic, they play shows and festivals, they get out there and spread their message.
This video, directed by Frankie Nasso and featuring Ice-T's real-life wife (model Coco Austin), is a tad too 1980s-ish for my taste - representing the lyrics a little too literally - but it fits with Ice-T's current message-with-humor theme.
I'll give it a B for effort.
Sure, we're a long way past the terrific self-titled first album in 1992, with had such tracks as The Winner Loses, C-Note, KKK Bitch and the controversial Cop Killer (on the first pressing, replaced with Freedom Of Speech in subsequent releases after the first week), but the band is still trying to hold its own despite no longer having the backing power of Sire/Warner Brothers behind them, and they're mostly successful at it.
They talk about social issues, they make some noise, they're energetic, they play shows and festivals, they get out there and spread their message.
This video, directed by Frankie Nasso and featuring Ice-T's real-life wife (model Coco Austin), is a tad too 1980s-ish for my taste - representing the lyrics a little too literally - but it fits with Ice-T's current message-with-humor theme.
I'll give it a B for effort.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
R.I.P. Tommy Ramone
One by one, all the members of The Ramones will have moved on soon. Already, yesterday, Tommy Ramone (born Erdelyi Tamas), the last surviving member of the band passed away.
He was the first drummer the public associated with the group - Joey had started out on drums but quickly moved to singing. The rest of the original line-up had passed away more than a decade ago: Joey (lead vocals) died in 2004, Dee Dee (bass) in 2002, and Johnny (guitar) in 2001.
C.J. (bass, 1989-1996), Elvis (drums, 1987 and 2004), and Richie (drums, 1984-1987) are still alive, as is Marky (drums, 1978-1982, 1987-1996), who many consider the band's ''real'' or ''classic'' drummer, seeing as he was part of every incarnation of the band with all of its members save Tommy.
The band was inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2002.
He was the first drummer the public associated with the group - Joey had started out on drums but quickly moved to singing. The rest of the original line-up had passed away more than a decade ago: Joey (lead vocals) died in 2004, Dee Dee (bass) in 2002, and Johnny (guitar) in 2001.
C.J. (bass, 1989-1996), Elvis (drums, 1987 and 2004), and Richie (drums, 1984-1987) are still alive, as is Marky (drums, 1978-1982, 1987-1996), who many consider the band's ''real'' or ''classic'' drummer, seeing as he was part of every incarnation of the band with all of its members save Tommy.
The band was inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2002.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Punks Have Feelings Too
If you know me at all, you know my favourite punk rock band of all time were The Dead Boys, originally from Cleveland, Ohio but mainstays in the New York City scene of the late 1970s. They were mostly active 1976-1979, with brief reunions in 1986, and 2004-2005, though more people nowadays are aware of Rocket From The Tombs, the band that preceded them, because they took back to touring in 2003 and haven't stopped yet. RFTT sing about half of the Dead Boys' catalog nowadays, though many of them were existing songs or works-in-progress from the early days anyhow, including both classic songs Ain't It Fun and Sonic Reducer (both of which I also have been singing since I started playing live shows in the early 1990s).
The two main protagonists in the Dead Boys were singer Stiv Bators (né Steven John Bator) and lead guitarist Cheetah Chrome (Gene O'Connor to the I.R.S.), with Jimmy Zero (rhythm guitar), Jeff Magnum (bass) and Johnny Blitz (drums) completing the line-up. Bators and Chrome were the main songwriters, though most of the band shares songwriting credits on their first album, Young, Loud & Snotty (1977).
Bators died in 1990 in France at age 40, after getting hit by a cab, which caused a blood clot to form and causing a brain aneurysm in his sleep that night. Filmmaker John Waters (who had worked with him for Polyester) says Bators' then-girlfriend snorted some of his ashes before spreading the remainder of them over Jim Morrison's grave; Bators was a huge Morrison fan, as were many punks from Ian Curtis (Joy Division) to Iggy Pop.
Speaking of Iggy Pop, here is what he had to say to Bators' parents when he wasn't able to attend their son's funeral:
The two main protagonists in the Dead Boys were singer Stiv Bators (né Steven John Bator) and lead guitarist Cheetah Chrome (Gene O'Connor to the I.R.S.), with Jimmy Zero (rhythm guitar), Jeff Magnum (bass) and Johnny Blitz (drums) completing the line-up. Bators and Chrome were the main songwriters, though most of the band shares songwriting credits on their first album, Young, Loud & Snotty (1977).
Bators died in 1990 in France at age 40, after getting hit by a cab, which caused a blood clot to form and causing a brain aneurysm in his sleep that night. Filmmaker John Waters (who had worked with him for Polyester) says Bators' then-girlfriend snorted some of his ashes before spreading the remainder of them over Jim Morrison's grave; Bators was a huge Morrison fan, as were many punks from Ian Curtis (Joy Division) to Iggy Pop.
Speaking of Iggy Pop, here is what he had to say to Bators' parents when he wasn't able to attend their son's funeral:
Monday, February 10, 2014
Video Of The Week: Infectious Grooves
Long considered a Suicidal Tendencies spin-off band because they shared a frontman (Mike Muir), a bass player (Robert Trujillo, now in Metallica rather than ST) and guitarist Dean Pleasants (from 1997 onwards), as well as a range of influences that dive deep into funk, punk rock and metal, Infectious Grooves also had among its ranks art-alternative-rock Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins and guitarist Adam Siegel.
And while ST's crowd appreciated their metal-meets-skate-punk style with funk undertones, Infectious Grooves puts its funk in front and everything else is complementary (though one could argue that in the mid-1990s, both bands did influence one another and almost became interchangeable and/or symbiotic, to the point where they released dual-band compilation albums) in a way that was original to them. Heavier than the Red Hot Chili Peppers and not as ''out there'' in terms of free-range experimentation as Faith No More (whose guitarist Jim Martin now replaces Siegel in IG...), the Groovers are in a special category of the funk-punk spectrum that is all their own.
Truth be told, I was more a fan of Infectious Grooves than Suicidal Tendencies, though I feel ST got the better lyrics and IG went so far in being humourous that they used (pretty dumb) skits too often between songs, messing with the pacing of their records, and were a tad too conceptual, based around a fake family of psychotic clowns not unlike the Juggalos, just less ridiculous.
Still, they rocked. Here, they can be seen and heard doing what they do best, Punk It Up:
After a long hiatus, Muir and Pleasants revived the band in 2008 with hired hands instead of the rest of the original members, though most came back in the fold in 2013, except for Siegel, replaced by Martin.
And while ST's crowd appreciated their metal-meets-skate-punk style with funk undertones, Infectious Grooves puts its funk in front and everything else is complementary (though one could argue that in the mid-1990s, both bands did influence one another and almost became interchangeable and/or symbiotic, to the point where they released dual-band compilation albums) in a way that was original to them. Heavier than the Red Hot Chili Peppers and not as ''out there'' in terms of free-range experimentation as Faith No More (whose guitarist Jim Martin now replaces Siegel in IG...), the Groovers are in a special category of the funk-punk spectrum that is all their own.
Truth be told, I was more a fan of Infectious Grooves than Suicidal Tendencies, though I feel ST got the better lyrics and IG went so far in being humourous that they used (pretty dumb) skits too often between songs, messing with the pacing of their records, and were a tad too conceptual, based around a fake family of psychotic clowns not unlike the Juggalos, just less ridiculous.
Still, they rocked. Here, they can be seen and heard doing what they do best, Punk It Up:
After a long hiatus, Muir and Pleasants revived the band in 2008 with hired hands instead of the rest of the original members, though most came back in the fold in 2013, except for Siegel, replaced by Martin.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Video Of The Week: Pearl Jam
Here's another one that's grown on me, the lead-off single to Pearl Jam's forthcoming (and ridiculously titled) album Lightning Bolt. As is their habit, PJ made people aware of Mind Your Manners little by little: first through a 15-second clip, then 30 seconds, then audio-only, and now a full, half-animated video.
With verses and riffage reminiscent of Minor Threat and Dead Kennedys (and PJ's own Blood, as well as Spin The Black Circle and Comatose), the Seattle veterans go soft-hardcore punk, if such a thing even exists, but from the second listen on, they actually make it believable - and listenable.
Of course, the days when frontman Eddie Vedder's lyrics were almost like sung poetry (in the vein of Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison and Richard Desjardins) are far removed (which pretty much happened around 1998's Yield, when he started letting other band members write some), but there remains familiar enough reference points throughout to appease long-time fans as well as new ones, such as the ever-present visual theme of water as a force to be reckoned with.
I was hoping Vedder would take a cue from his pals from Queens Of The Stone Age and invite other songwriters and guest musicians on board for this record - perhaps the Queen leader himself, Josh Homme - after sub-par showings for the eponymous Avocado record and the uneven, great-at-the-time-but-I-grew-tired-of Backspacer, but this is showing some promise, at least on the catchiness and earworm level for now.
Like Nine Inch Nails' Came Back Hauted, it gets better at every listen, and can easily take my mind of Macklemore and Robin Thicke when they start getting embedded in my brain.
With verses and riffage reminiscent of Minor Threat and Dead Kennedys (and PJ's own Blood, as well as Spin The Black Circle and Comatose), the Seattle veterans go soft-hardcore punk, if such a thing even exists, but from the second listen on, they actually make it believable - and listenable.
Of course, the days when frontman Eddie Vedder's lyrics were almost like sung poetry (in the vein of Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison and Richard Desjardins) are far removed (which pretty much happened around 1998's Yield, when he started letting other band members write some), but there remains familiar enough reference points throughout to appease long-time fans as well as new ones, such as the ever-present visual theme of water as a force to be reckoned with.
I was hoping Vedder would take a cue from his pals from Queens Of The Stone Age and invite other songwriters and guest musicians on board for this record - perhaps the Queen leader himself, Josh Homme - after sub-par showings for the eponymous Avocado record and the uneven, great-at-the-time-but-I-grew-tired-of Backspacer, but this is showing some promise, at least on the catchiness and earworm level for now.
Like Nine Inch Nails' Came Back Hauted, it gets better at every listen, and can easily take my mind of Macklemore and Robin Thicke when they start getting embedded in my brain.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Cash-Making Punks
About a month ago, the D.I.Y./punk/music website Dying Scene ma a list that showed the ''10 Punks Who Are Richer Than You Think''. Here it is:
10. Marky Ramone: 2 million
9. Lars Frederiksen (of Rancid): 10 million
8. Tim Armstrong (founder of Rancid, Transplants, Operation Ivy, and label Hellcat Records): 13 million
7. Davey Havok (of AFI): 20 million
6. Ian Mackaye (of Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Evens and founder of Dischord Records)
5. Billie Joe Armstrong (of Green Day): 55 million
4. Dexter Holland (of The Offspring): 65 million
3, 2 and 1: Blink-182, who have two members worth roughly $60M each, and drummer Travis Barker (also of Transplants) who would be worth 85...
Notable absentee were Henry Rollins (whose worth is etimated at $12M but includes revenue from spoken performances and film work) and Brett Gurewitz, co-founder of both the band Bad Religion and the biggest punk label Epitaph. Then again, the list was about those you didn't expect, and you sure as hell expect those two to be on it.
Also, Green Day, The Offspring and AFI haven't been ''punk'' in a long time, and Blink-182 might never have been...
I've had many an argument with some folks about the veracity of these estimates, particularly Tim Armstrong and Ian Mackaye.
Let's start with Mackaye. As owner of Dischord, who not only sold their CDs to stores worldwide (mom-and-pop shops as well as huge surfaces) but also by mail at $10 a cassette and $12 per CD. They have released nearly 250 titles, some of which sold very well. Fugazi themselves have three albums that sold over a million copies each.
Of the 12 bucks, say 3 goes to the band, 6 to the label, and 3 to overhead and distribution... the band revenue gets split 4 ways, the label profits gets split in two. Mackaye gets shares of both for all of his projects, plus songwriter revenue (he always writes at least half the songs); he gets label revenue for all the other bands he puts out. Then there's touring revenue - not all that high considering Fugazi played for years with tickets prices below $10 a pop, but it's safe to say they at the very least didn't lose money touring. Just through Fugazi, Mackaye would have made 5-10 million, easily. He doesn't drink nor take drugs, either, so it didn't go up in flames - or down in vomit. Add the rest, you get your 25.
Once that is established, the case for Tim Armstrong becomes intriguing: Rancid are much ''bigger'' than Fugazi, but Hellcat Records are distributed by Epitaph - which means label shares are smaller. Armstrong isn't as clean as Mackaye, so some of the money he's earned did go to, uh, waste. On the other hand, he did venture outside of punk, writing a few songs for P!nk, producing records for Jimmy Cliff and a bunch of punk bands, and collaborating with mainstream artists such as Cypress Hill. Also, Transplants licensed a song to a shampoo commercial that ran for three years - and Rancid's music was in a Gap ad. On the other hand, he did go through a really messy divorce with Brody Dalle (of The Distillers fame, now married to Queens Of The Stone Age head honcho Josh Homme). Those cost money...
10. Marky Ramone: 2 million
9. Lars Frederiksen (of Rancid): 10 million
8. Tim Armstrong (founder of Rancid, Transplants, Operation Ivy, and label Hellcat Records): 13 million
7. Davey Havok (of AFI): 20 million
6. Ian Mackaye (of Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Evens and founder of Dischord Records)
5. Billie Joe Armstrong (of Green Day): 55 million
4. Dexter Holland (of The Offspring): 65 million
3, 2 and 1: Blink-182, who have two members worth roughly $60M each, and drummer Travis Barker (also of Transplants) who would be worth 85...
Notable absentee were Henry Rollins (whose worth is etimated at $12M but includes revenue from spoken performances and film work) and Brett Gurewitz, co-founder of both the band Bad Religion and the biggest punk label Epitaph. Then again, the list was about those you didn't expect, and you sure as hell expect those two to be on it.
Also, Green Day, The Offspring and AFI haven't been ''punk'' in a long time, and Blink-182 might never have been...
I've had many an argument with some folks about the veracity of these estimates, particularly Tim Armstrong and Ian Mackaye.
Let's start with Mackaye. As owner of Dischord, who not only sold their CDs to stores worldwide (mom-and-pop shops as well as huge surfaces) but also by mail at $10 a cassette and $12 per CD. They have released nearly 250 titles, some of which sold very well. Fugazi themselves have three albums that sold over a million copies each.
Of the 12 bucks, say 3 goes to the band, 6 to the label, and 3 to overhead and distribution... the band revenue gets split 4 ways, the label profits gets split in two. Mackaye gets shares of both for all of his projects, plus songwriter revenue (he always writes at least half the songs); he gets label revenue for all the other bands he puts out. Then there's touring revenue - not all that high considering Fugazi played for years with tickets prices below $10 a pop, but it's safe to say they at the very least didn't lose money touring. Just through Fugazi, Mackaye would have made 5-10 million, easily. He doesn't drink nor take drugs, either, so it didn't go up in flames - or down in vomit. Add the rest, you get your 25.
Once that is established, the case for Tim Armstrong becomes intriguing: Rancid are much ''bigger'' than Fugazi, but Hellcat Records are distributed by Epitaph - which means label shares are smaller. Armstrong isn't as clean as Mackaye, so some of the money he's earned did go to, uh, waste. On the other hand, he did venture outside of punk, writing a few songs for P!nk, producing records for Jimmy Cliff and a bunch of punk bands, and collaborating with mainstream artists such as Cypress Hill. Also, Transplants licensed a song to a shampoo commercial that ran for three years - and Rancid's music was in a Gap ad. On the other hand, he did go through a really messy divorce with Brody Dalle (of The Distillers fame, now married to Queens Of The Stone Age head honcho Josh Homme). Those cost money...
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Video Of The Week: Billy Talent
I wasn't gunning for two straight very-political videos about the youth revolting in Canada, it just happened that way. As a matter of fact, I'd been waiting for Queens Of The Stone Age to release a full-length video (instead of just teasers) from their upcoming album to feature them again, but I've been caught up in listening to Billy Talent's second album (II) a lot this week, and well, it just became obvious that I had to go that route.
At first known as Pezz, the Mississaugua (Toronto) band was huge in Canada at the turn of the century. I didn't like their first record myself (I particularly disliked Try Honesty, an emo-semi-hardcore number that especially lacks honesty), but the second one, on the strength of Red Flag, Devil In A Midnight Mass, and Fallen Leaves (also, on a smaller scale, Surrender) got inside my brain.
I'm featuring the Floria Sigismondi-directed Red Flag today because it is a fine piece of art, at times reminiscent of the one she made for Sigur Ros' Untitled 1 (Vaka) - albeit a whole lot less dark; the song in itself is also gripping, and the breakdown at the end (where it's just the chorus and the drums) is arena-rock power the likes of which Van Halen could only dream of.
At first known as Pezz, the Mississaugua (Toronto) band was huge in Canada at the turn of the century. I didn't like their first record myself (I particularly disliked Try Honesty, an emo-semi-hardcore number that especially lacks honesty), but the second one, on the strength of Red Flag, Devil In A Midnight Mass, and Fallen Leaves (also, on a smaller scale, Surrender) got inside my brain.
I'm featuring the Floria Sigismondi-directed Red Flag today because it is a fine piece of art, at times reminiscent of the one she made for Sigur Ros' Untitled 1 (Vaka) - albeit a whole lot less dark; the song in itself is also gripping, and the breakdown at the end (where it's just the chorus and the drums) is arena-rock power the likes of which Van Halen could only dream of.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Video Of The (Past) Week: The Mahones With Dahmnait Doyle
The Mahones are a Canadian Irish punk band that is in Montréal so much - they even record here, and their shows always feature a special guest, it was the Dropkick Murphys' Scuffy Wallace the last time - that I tend to forget they're originally from Kingston, Ontario, with band leader Finny McConnell being originally from Ireland.
Their music is inspired by The Clash and The Pogues first and foremost, a mix of the original punk ethos and traditional Irish songs; most of their songs are about Ireland, missing it or living in it - and/or drinking. But mostly, as I would say if I were their biographer, ''about love''. Fade to black, cue music.
I chose this video in particular because it features Dahmnait Doyle, one of my favourite guilty pleasures. From Labrador City of all places, she rose to prominence in the mid-1990s. I'm not ashamed to say I first purchased her album and EP because of her looks, as I was soon smitten by her talent as well. If Samantha Fox was my 1980s crush, Dahmnait Doyle was my 1990s one. With Demi Moore somewhere in between.
But I digress. This is a love song, pure and simple. It's not hidden between layers of rock and booze, it just is what it is, and the video references Federico Fellini's classic, 8½.
Their music is inspired by The Clash and The Pogues first and foremost, a mix of the original punk ethos and traditional Irish songs; most of their songs are about Ireland, missing it or living in it - and/or drinking. But mostly, as I would say if I were their biographer, ''about love''. Fade to black, cue music.
I chose this video in particular because it features Dahmnait Doyle, one of my favourite guilty pleasures. From Labrador City of all places, she rose to prominence in the mid-1990s. I'm not ashamed to say I first purchased her album and EP because of her looks, as I was soon smitten by her talent as well. If Samantha Fox was my 1980s crush, Dahmnait Doyle was my 1990s one. With Demi Moore somewhere in between.
But I digress. This is a love song, pure and simple. It's not hidden between layers of rock and booze, it just is what it is, and the video references Federico Fellini's classic, 8½.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Video Of The Week: The Ramones
The Ramones. They dressed like ''rockers'' (blue jeans, black leather jackets, Beatles-esque haircuts of varying lengths), shared a fictitious last name inspired by one of John Lennon's alternate names when checking into hotels, and sang songs that lasted less than 3 minutes.
They are widely regarded as having kick-started the punk rock movement, both in the U.S. as part of the New York City scene (cemented by their many appearances at C.B.G.B.'s) and U.K. (their first tour is said to have inspired acts such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash to take up instruments, as well as U2) and, between 1974 and 1996, performed 2263 shows, had 5 drummers to play on their 14 studio albums, and influenced hundreds of bands.
They also sang a Christmas song, which I'm offering you this week.
They are widely regarded as having kick-started the punk rock movement, both in the U.S. as part of the New York City scene (cemented by their many appearances at C.B.G.B.'s) and U.K. (their first tour is said to have inspired acts such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash to take up instruments, as well as U2) and, between 1974 and 1996, performed 2263 shows, had 5 drummers to play on their 14 studio albums, and influenced hundreds of bands.
They also sang a Christmas song, which I'm offering you this week.
Friday, May 4, 2012
R.I.P. Adam Yaunch (a.k.a. MCA) Of Beastie Boys
Shit, man. 47 years old. That's younger than both of my parents. Fucking cancer.
Not that I was a huge Beastie Boys fan - their records left me lukewarm (apart from Paul's Boutique, which I liked a lot, I'd usually just go for 3 to 5 songs per record), and their 1998 concert at the Molson Centre was disappointing to say the least. But still.. I thought Adam Yaunch was going to beat this thing, because he can't, he won't, he don't stop.
His band's videos will live on forever, as does his participation in the mid-to-late-90s Free Tibet movement.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Video Of The Week: The Sainte Catherines
It's really happening. As Montréal punkers The Sainte Catherines are pulling the plug on 13 years of ramen noodles, white econoline vans and getting drunk all over the continent, they're releasing their final video, the aptly titled I'll MissThe Boys.
Full disclosure: I've had the pleasure of working with two former members of the St-Caths, bassist 'Wood' Nadeau and drummer Mike Sokolyk for two of my own songs, including Hep C. We're talking about grounded, down-to-earth, socially active, bright individuals who were in a band that was a revolving door of such individuals. And they all love poutine.
The Sainte Catherines were legends that just went under-appreciated in terms of local recognition from the major media; like AIDS Wolf before them, they're just now getting a shitload of attention as they are promoting their farewell shows. They released an album on Dare To Care Records - a creation of friends Eli Bissonette and chief St-Cath Hugo Mudie - before releasing a bigger, international one on Fat Wreck Chords, only to have to go back to local company Indica Records for their final album.
It means they got respect from their peers, as all these labels are run by musicians, but those labels just kind of failed at broadening the band's exposure. GrimSkunk's fans already probably buy Sainte Catherines stuff; NoFX fans had already seen them in opening slots. What they could have used was help crossing over to other scenes, like Rancid's, or in Europe.
Or maybe I'm just sad that a decade's worth of honest music and quality shows is now the stuff of memories. Now, when I come across Mudie at my local Lafleur, I'll be looking at a full-time dad and husband who occasionally plays duet shows with Fred Jacques and whose country-punk-bilingual side-band Yesterday's Ring is on indefinite hiatus rather than the active punk superstar showman I saw in action the week before.
Maybe I'm reminded of my own mortality.
Or maybe I should quit whining and just be stoked that there is a farewell show on April 27th. See you there!
Full disclosure: I've had the pleasure of working with two former members of the St-Caths, bassist 'Wood' Nadeau and drummer Mike Sokolyk for two of my own songs, including Hep C. We're talking about grounded, down-to-earth, socially active, bright individuals who were in a band that was a revolving door of such individuals. And they all love poutine.
The Sainte Catherines were legends that just went under-appreciated in terms of local recognition from the major media; like AIDS Wolf before them, they're just now getting a shitload of attention as they are promoting their farewell shows. They released an album on Dare To Care Records - a creation of friends Eli Bissonette and chief St-Cath Hugo Mudie - before releasing a bigger, international one on Fat Wreck Chords, only to have to go back to local company Indica Records for their final album.
It means they got respect from their peers, as all these labels are run by musicians, but those labels just kind of failed at broadening the band's exposure. GrimSkunk's fans already probably buy Sainte Catherines stuff; NoFX fans had already seen them in opening slots. What they could have used was help crossing over to other scenes, like Rancid's, or in Europe.
Or maybe I'm just sad that a decade's worth of honest music and quality shows is now the stuff of memories. Now, when I come across Mudie at my local Lafleur, I'll be looking at a full-time dad and husband who occasionally plays duet shows with Fred Jacques and whose country-punk-bilingual side-band Yesterday's Ring is on indefinite hiatus rather than the active punk superstar showman I saw in action the week before.
Maybe I'm reminded of my own mortality.
Or maybe I should quit whining and just be stoked that there is a farewell show on April 27th. See you there!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Video Of The Week: L7
''What's up with what's going down?
In every city, and every town''
These words rang in my yellow Sony walkman from 1992 until... well, until it broke, then in every subsequent device I've had, including my current iPod. There's no separating me from L7's Pretend We're Dead (also, from the same album, Shitlist), of which I even purchased the CD single - which also included Shitlist.
L7 (50s lingo for ''square'', as seen in Pulp Fiction) were often lumped into the ''grunge'' category, because they toured with Seattle bands and participated in the 1994 Lollapalooza traveling festival (with The Breeders and Smashing Pumpkins), but they were punk. In fact, when they formed in 1985, there was no such thing as grunge, and no one knew what a Kurt Cobain would look or sound like. Good times.
L7 are also notable for starting the Vote For Choice movement, later endorsed by the likes of Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
In every city, and every town''
These words rang in my yellow Sony walkman from 1992 until... well, until it broke, then in every subsequent device I've had, including my current iPod. There's no separating me from L7's Pretend We're Dead (also, from the same album, Shitlist), of which I even purchased the CD single - which also included Shitlist.
L7 (50s lingo for ''square'', as seen in Pulp Fiction) were often lumped into the ''grunge'' category, because they toured with Seattle bands and participated in the 1994 Lollapalooza traveling festival (with The Breeders and Smashing Pumpkins), but they were punk. In fact, when they formed in 1985, there was no such thing as grunge, and no one knew what a Kurt Cobain would look or sound like. Good times.
L7 are also notable for starting the Vote For Choice movement, later endorsed by the likes of Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Video Of The Week: The Cramps
I've been sitting on this one for 10 days or so, changing the featured song - not the band, though - twice a day.
It's been three years since the passing of The Cramps' lead singer Lux Interior, and the void for a charismatic rebellious frontman of an important band has yet to be filled by a nubile rocker.
To neophytes, it's easy to dismiss the band as little more than ''Elvis-rockabilly-with-a-punk-twist'', but they are in fact so much more than that: they capture Americana at its finest, with lyrics about stock cars, drag races, and bountiful women (ranging from the femme fatale to the pure evil), but also the excesses of drugs and partying - all delivered with a larger-than-life persona mixing the New York City night life, drag queen culture and a healthy dose of underground decadence.
I decided to go with Ultra Twist as my featured song because the video adds an S&M twist to their already sexed-up image, what with everyone in the band dressed in black leather (or vinyl), including guitarist Poison Ivy. And black and white boobs on the screen in the background helps, too.
It's been three years since the passing of The Cramps' lead singer Lux Interior, and the void for a charismatic rebellious frontman of an important band has yet to be filled by a nubile rocker.
To neophytes, it's easy to dismiss the band as little more than ''Elvis-rockabilly-with-a-punk-twist'', but they are in fact so much more than that: they capture Americana at its finest, with lyrics about stock cars, drag races, and bountiful women (ranging from the femme fatale to the pure evil), but also the excesses of drugs and partying - all delivered with a larger-than-life persona mixing the New York City night life, drag queen culture and a healthy dose of underground decadence.
I decided to go with Ultra Twist as my featured song because the video adds an S&M twist to their already sexed-up image, what with everyone in the band dressed in black leather (or vinyl), including guitarist Poison Ivy. And black and white boobs on the screen in the background helps, too.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Video Of The Week: Chix N' Dix
Chix N' Dix is a terrific Montréal punk band who recently released their first full-length, Zebras In Reverse.
From Kryztera Oi!'s smart lyrics and energetic delivery to Jessica Kaye's reserved guitar virtuosity (the Chix) and a rhythm section comprised of bass player Kyle O'Shea and drummer Tomass Durdon (the Dix) who are smart enough to play frenetically while giving their charismatic female counterparts center stage, the band has often won over crowds of better-established bands by their sheer passion and delivery.
Each year, their hundreds of internet-savvy friends vote them near the top of the Montreal Mirror's list of best bands, giving them an added visibility I hope they will enjoy soon.
In this video, CND are seen traveling (and playing) amidst Montréal's subway system (''metro''), spending perhaps more time at the Crémazie and Lionel-Groulx stations than is advisable for health reasons, but rocking out all the same. I particularly enjoyed the scene where they are filmed in the up-and-down escalators and the time where the train stops at a station and the people there decide to walk into another wagon rather than be subjected to the band - feels real.
And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Kaye being an important solo singer-songwriter in her own right. And now for the video...
From Kryztera Oi!'s smart lyrics and energetic delivery to Jessica Kaye's reserved guitar virtuosity (the Chix) and a rhythm section comprised of bass player Kyle O'Shea and drummer Tomass Durdon (the Dix) who are smart enough to play frenetically while giving their charismatic female counterparts center stage, the band has often won over crowds of better-established bands by their sheer passion and delivery.
Each year, their hundreds of internet-savvy friends vote them near the top of the Montreal Mirror's list of best bands, giving them an added visibility I hope they will enjoy soon.
In this video, CND are seen traveling (and playing) amidst Montréal's subway system (''metro''), spending perhaps more time at the Crémazie and Lionel-Groulx stations than is advisable for health reasons, but rocking out all the same. I particularly enjoyed the scene where they are filmed in the up-and-down escalators and the time where the train stops at a station and the people there decide to walk into another wagon rather than be subjected to the band - feels real.
And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Kaye being an important solo singer-songwriter in her own right. And now for the video...
Thursday, August 4, 2011
If It Wasn't For Who They Voted #1...
Rolling Stone magazine - who loves to publish top-10 and top-100 lists and used to come up with them on their own - asked their readers to vote on a top-10 lists of the best punk bands of all time.
Here are the results:
10. Bad Brains
9. Social Distortion
8. The Misfits
7. Black Flag
6. Iggy & The Stooges
5. The Dead Kennedys
4. The Sex Pistols
3. The Ramones
2. The Clash
1. Green Day
Now, these bands all deserve a spot on the list... but Green Day at #1? Really? Seems like their fans did quite a bit of ballot-stuffing... and aren't aware of what came before them.
I won't complain about their presence altogether - Dookie
still sounds good and American Idiot
was a surprisingly loud and clear political statement from a band used to singing about poo and futile teenage issues, but some of the most important bands were robbed of a better position (The Clash, for one, should have been on top, as could have been The Stooges).And some of the omitted bands deserved much better, particularly Bad Religion
, Rancid
, Richard Hell
, Television, and Jim Carroll
; and acts like The Avengers
, The Germs
, Subhumans (U.K.), Fugazi
/Minor Threat
, The Minutemen
, Crass
, The Exploited
and American Devices should at least have been mentioned in an ''honorable mentions'' segment.And that's not counting my personal favourite punk band of all time, the Dead Boys
.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Video Of The Week: Ramones
Inspired by my Facebook Status Battle Of The Bands (every day I ask my friends to vote between two music acts, a winner is declared and moves on to the next round), in which today's battle is: Ramones Vs Sex Pistols.
My choice is Ramones - and so far it's 9-0, a landslide I didn't quite expect, but one that makes an awful lot of sense when you compare the numbers: the Ramones came first, released 14 studio albums, 13 (!) compilation albums, and 6 live albums - to the Pistols' 1 studio album, 7 compilations (!!!) and 4 live albums.
Oh, and 2,263 shows in 20-some years with something like 4 different drummers, that's pretty impressive, as is having a Mötorhead
song named after you. Oh, and dressing minimalistically as a statement, rather than being a pre-fabricated, glorified Boy Band.
But I also didn't want to ''just put a Ramones song'' here, I wanted something special, and I found it in their 1995 cover of the (1992) Tom Waits
track I Don't Wanna Grow Up
. Waits if perhaps my favourite songwriter out there, his songs touch me deeper than anything else, and he changes musical styles completely every 5 years or so, reinventing not just himself but his stories altogether. He is a huge Ramones fan - and they sent their love right back, like here:
Vs Sex Pistols.My choice is Ramones - and so far it's 9-0, a landslide I didn't quite expect, but one that makes an awful lot of sense when you compare the numbers: the Ramones came first, released 14 studio albums, 13 (!) compilation albums, and 6 live albums - to the Pistols' 1 studio album, 7 compilations (!!!) and 4 live albums.
Oh, and 2,263 shows in 20-some years with something like 4 different drummers, that's pretty impressive, as is having a Mötorhead
song named after you. Oh, and dressing minimalistically as a statement, rather than being a pre-fabricated, glorified Boy Band.But I also didn't want to ''just put a Ramones song'' here, I wanted something special, and I found it in their 1995 cover of the (1992) Tom Waits
track I Don't Wanna Grow Up. Waits if perhaps my favourite songwriter out there, his songs touch me deeper than anything else, and he changes musical styles completely every 5 years or so, reinventing not just himself but his stories altogether. He is a huge Ramones fan - and they sent their love right back, like here:Thursday, July 22, 2010
2 Autographed Rick Trembles Books
Talk about symbiotic - a post I can put in 3 different blogs - my regular one, my collectibles one, and my film criticism blog!
Last night, I went to a show at the Fantasia Film Festival
called Lost Myths, a dual slideshow/storytelling performance, with the first half consisting of texts and narration by Claude Lalumière
over art by Rupert Bottenberg
, and the second half consisting of an oral history of Rick Trembles
' autobiographical film criticism comic strip Motion Picture Purgatory
, that runs in the Montreal Mirror and often has Trembles himself in them, and at times also mentions his ''weird punk'' band American Devices
(whom I have featured in my Video Of The Week segments here); the MPP is kind of a cross between film criticism, the honesty and autobiographical themes of Harvey Pekar
's American Splendor
series (especially those with the art of Robert Crumb
) and the sex scenes of Caligula - with more shit - literally - and a sensibility for humour reminiscent of Hunter S. Thompson
's.Since the show was part of Fantasia, I'd classify the 'performance shorts'' as short ''films'', as it was, indeed, an audiovisual feast for both the eyes and ears. I did enjoy the Lalumière/Bottenberg piece, as it was a fun and innovative look at how myths may have been written in the first place, but the (perhaps Bible-like) repetitiveness of them became an issue after the first half-dozen or so, seeing as (too) many of them had a baby-God born from an unworthy mother who would die during childbirth; unless that is a real-life issue Lalumière is trying to deal with through his art, it had run its course and become redundant way before the last story. But the storytelling itself, tongue-in-cheek and with a certain beat, was fun - and the art was beautiful. Most of the images would make awesome gig posters.
But the true headliner of the night, the one who got the loudest applause, was without a doubt Trembles. His work for the Mirror is read by some 300,000 people weekly, and since he incorporates his own life into the strips, we all know he is in his second stint with them (since 1998), as they had also published him in the 80s but fired him when they deemed one of his pieces to be too controversial and obscene. He - again - told us all about it, with a few strips shown to emphasize his points, but he also delved into his past, such as the fact that his father had also been a cartoonist, and who his influences were.
Of course he also talked about his band, and about a few short films he made. Once it was all over, he even took the time to show us the three animated shorts he made: God's Cocksuckers - based on a drawing he made and keeps recycling into his other works; a video for his band's De-censor-tized song; and the Canadian government-funded coup-de-grâce Goopy Spasms, which, despite being an animated short drawn in the style of '60s counterculture icons with an endless array of things stuck up the animated Trembles plug-hole, is as real a piece of cinematic truth as anything I've seen since Gaspar Noé'
s Irréversible - ironically enough, reviewed in one of the MPP books. It was realer than a political documentary.But the best part of the night came after the show, as I approached the table where Lalumière, Bottenberg and Trembles were sitting, selling their books and offering to sign them. I made my way to Trembles' side and he just looked at me and said: ''You're Mr. Hell?''
To have someone who music I've been listening to for over 20 years, whose writings and drawings I've been reading for over a decade - and to whom I had never spoken to before - know who I was... it made my week. It was way more intense than when Jeffrey Ross asked me which bar he should go drinking in.
So I purchased both Motion Picture Purgatory books, and he signed them in blue ink, with a different blurb for each, both a play on my name.
Good times!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Video Of The Week: Desert Owls
Animals rule; they inspire us to reach taller heights, run faster on longer distances, reproduce whenever we can, and to eat our young. One act who can take care of themselves in this dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest world is Montréal's own Desert Owls.
Desert Owls was formed in late 2008 when drummer JP Aubin joined co-songwriters Freedom Sebastian and Luca Fantigrossi to rock and roll our butts back to grooveland, like a Lennon/McCartney for Generation Y. Aubin left after a few months, and when a succession of fill-in drummers worthy of quoting Spinal Tap weren't deemed enough to push their sound forward, the pair enlisted Tomas Matthews to beat the skins to a suitable tempo.
This song (and video), ''Who?'', lead-off title track to the EP released just last week, fully captures The Spirit Of Rock In Montréal, fast-paced, dark as the night but lit by bright flashy colours, claustrophobic and voyeuristic - okay, I might have just added that last one in myself. Either way, you decide. The song was recorded at current ''it'' studio, Digital Bird Studios (where Nightwood recorded theirs, and Tasha Cyr is about to for hers), and the video was directed by J-P Lamarche (more credits precede the video).
Desert Owls was formed in late 2008 when drummer JP Aubin joined co-songwriters Freedom Sebastian and Luca Fantigrossi to rock and roll our butts back to grooveland, like a Lennon/McCartney for Generation Y. Aubin left after a few months, and when a succession of fill-in drummers worthy of quoting Spinal Tap weren't deemed enough to push their sound forward, the pair enlisted Tomas Matthews to beat the skins to a suitable tempo.
This song (and video), ''Who?'', lead-off title track to the EP released just last week, fully captures The Spirit Of Rock In Montréal, fast-paced, dark as the night but lit by bright flashy colours, claustrophobic and voyeuristic - okay, I might have just added that last one in myself. Either way, you decide. The song was recorded at current ''it'' studio, Digital Bird Studios (where Nightwood recorded theirs, and Tasha Cyr is about to for hers), and the video was directed by J-P Lamarche (more credits precede the video).
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Video of the Week: Dead Messenger
I started a new weekly feature just last week, Video Of the Week, and I nearly didn't post one this week... so much for continuity, eh?
Well, in the hopes of maybe getting myself to follow through on something for once in my life, here's a video from Dead Messenger that they did last summer (so it's still relatively recent). The song is 'Fat Black Heart', one of the best from their recent CD 'Love Is The Only Weapon', and usually the song they end their live sets with - not bad, considering they're one of the best live bands in this stinking town.
The song starts off as a convenience store in-line camera, then just slowly evolves into random acts of randomness that happen every day in town: people dancing in the streets, people walking down the streets with TVs on their heads, people hanging out in the middle of cinder blocks - and shots of Dead Messenger rocking out.
I like this song so much I've already linked the video four times on my Facebook page, and have used their chorus as an intro to a song of mine at a few live shows of late - and I like the band so much I've booked them for a fifth UnPop show in 5 years this Fall. I also plan on booking and opening for them for a future show at Barfly early in 2010.
Well, in the hopes of maybe getting myself to follow through on something for once in my life, here's a video from Dead Messenger that they did last summer (so it's still relatively recent). The song is 'Fat Black Heart', one of the best from their recent CD 'Love Is The Only Weapon', and usually the song they end their live sets with - not bad, considering they're one of the best live bands in this stinking town.
The song starts off as a convenience store in-line camera, then just slowly evolves into random acts of randomness that happen every day in town: people dancing in the streets, people walking down the streets with TVs on their heads, people hanging out in the middle of cinder blocks - and shots of Dead Messenger rocking out.
I like this song so much I've already linked the video four times on my Facebook page, and have used their chorus as an intro to a song of mine at a few live shows of late - and I like the band so much I've booked them for a fifth UnPop show in 5 years this Fall. I also plan on booking and opening for them for a future show at Barfly early in 2010.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)