What could be cooler than having a band write a song about you in tribute? Well, as long as the song is complimentary of course.
Here's some toonage that fits the subject!
It's my birfdae dis weekend. I'm gonna shave my head. And get drunk. And feel sorry for myself. That's my presents to myself.
My presents to YOU are below:
Here's some music from bands that you should research, fall in love with and support. They play both kinds of music: Punk & Rawk.
Action 45- California based mofo's who can actually play play their instruments. Sorta like Social Distortion meets Cock Sparrer. There's alot going on in the music... all of it good. Anthemic and tight. Sorta like the way you wished Green Day would sound. Best of all, lead singer Deuce X. Machina wears a hat better than anyone. Except for me.
Kitty And The Kowalskis - Kitty has got more punk rock in her blood than pretty much anyone. She's been killing it in NYC for many years and is cool enough to have been a Ramone. Her voice always reminded me a bit of Debbie Harry, but her band has got a lot more balls than Blondie ever did.
OFF! - I know, I've written about em before. Too bad- They're great. Total old skool punk rock (Decline 1 era)- Here, former Circle Jerk Keith Morris does a tribute to the legendary leader of The Gun Club.
Yeti Girls - Poppy ala the fabulous Ramonesy brothers. I think they're German. Kind of fey vox, but the lyrics are nasty and the hooks are there. Plus, they get bonus points for a band name that must have come after many bong hits.
The Jam - Of course you know who The Jam are. This demo (just Paul Weller and guitar) of Thick As Thieves chokes me up. We all have friends who we disconnected with; much to our horror, disappointment and sadness. Right?
It can be for older, drunken douchebags too! Like me!
The annual CMJ fest in NY brings 100's of wet behind the ear little scumbuckets; who think My Chemical Romance is an oldies act and have only heard of Social Distortion from Hot Topic.
Into this maelstrom of ignorance and hipsetrism, your intrepid reporter ventured forth. No so much to see a billion bands that are weak and fey enuff to make Justin Bieber feel manly; but to sample the kinds of bands that I dig- YEAH, PUNK ROCK!
This past Saturday I said fukkit and went all out. Armed with a press pass (yeah, I be a member of the 4th estate), I went into the gaping maw of black clad nincompoops from the Tea Party states and took my chances.
My first stop was in Manhattan to see the mighty OFF!. Led by former Circle Jerk and Black Flag screamer Keith Morris and Redd Kross bass gawd Steven McDonald, OFF! was in town to show the little peckerheads how old skool punk rawk was really done. Supporting their new 4 song ep (4 songs 3:45 minutes!!!!!!), OFF! shredded the stage and kicked major ass.
OFF! Live CMJ
The OFF! thing was a pr event sponsored by vitaminwater and fader magazine. It took place in a huge space ugly with tons of college age squids. None of whom pretty much had a clue that Punk Rock wasn't invented by Green Day.
However, the venue had all the free spudweiser and vodka you could drink (and, ahem, I can drink alot of free swill). I ran into Steve McDonald before the show and innerviewed him (the McDonald interview can be found here and here) - sorry for the drunken slurring, but, I did mention the free beer and vodka, didn't I? )
OFF! were great- totally punk rock with an average length of one minute per song. Keith kept mentioning how no one there was old enuff to remember punk rock (he was right)- most of the people there were there for the "scene" and maybe the other really shitty synth twee pop crap bands and house music d-jays.
I could have hooked up with a 19 year old stripper chick who looked like Slash's sister and who kept rubbing up against me, but her very gay friend dragged her away after a few minutes- he said he had seen Black Flag one year at lollaforlosers. I corrected him and said maybe it was the Rollins band, and then he said- "who's black flag, I meant anti-flag".
One nice part was the beer was free as I mentioned and the kiddies were weaklings, I kept sending various sucknuts to fetch me more suds as I sat in a leather comfy chair.
Afterwards, I ended up meeting with my drummer j-lo and we headed over to Brooklyn (aka- Satan's armpit). This was to see Me First And The Gimme Gimme's- America's favorite cover band- punk versions of everything from "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" to "Desperado" to "Science Fiction Double Feature". The show was waaaaay sold out, but I was very drunk, and figured i could talk our way into the show. Which i did very easily. The bruthers at the door did not want to deal with a drunken Nazz and gave us entry.
Heckling Me First
Once again, a venue packed with cmj assholes. The bands were all good- old guy punk rock - I was chatty and had some encounters with stupid little girls (one was wearing a Queen 1982 tour shirt- i asked her the story behind the shirt and she said she had picked it up at Hot Topic by her college in Virginia). Oh, also things got weird with me, jlo and some older chick with a louise brooks/betty page haircut- she went out to ganjy with us and she essentially was daring us to molest her in an alley way. No kidding. Her Danish boyfriend (who was very cool and had a Joe Strummer/Robert Gordon haircut that must have cost $1000 krona or whatever they use for money) was back inside (line of the nite- I asked him if he had trouble making decisions - Hamlet!!!! Get it??????)
Me First were great- lots of insults thrown back and forth from/to the audience. I heckled Fat Mike. Alot. I kept calling him a hippie as i was standing 5 feet away from him. He was getting really really pissed.
Afterwards it was $2 taco's at the Mexican food truck.
So, we get to look forward to the next couple of years of Palin's "punditry". No doubt, by the end of the summer she'll have her own show on Fox News (you know - the "fair and balanced" station); and then of course, the 2012 Presidential run.
Bottom line is; if Obama can pull off what he's trying to do (and I pray he can), Jesus H Christ himself couldn't win for the Repugnikkkans in 2012.
To keep with this "patriotic" theme, a couple of days late and a dollar short, here's a "something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue" selection for the Fourth Of July. Or something.
All files posted on this site are for educational, testing and entertainment purposes only.If you like what you hear, please buy recordings, t-shirts, dvds and other merch from these bands. This is a non profit site and is here to give some publicity to deserving bands and artists. If you’re in a band whose music is found on this site and you want songs removed, please let me know. Songs and other media will be up for only a short time. After that, just like our hopes and dreams, they're gone.