| DECEMBER 2007 | ISSUE 13 | ISSN 1754-3746 | |
COCK SPARRER THIS IS NOT A BAND
Birthday issue!
BAND OF THE YEAR READER POLL RESULTS
AMEN
SLACKERS + AGAINST ME!
MAD MARGE & THE STONE CUTTERS
PLUS!
NOFX: SPECIAL REPORT + CHUCK RAGAN
A SHITLOAD OF GIG REVIEWS, SOME PHOTOS, DISTORTED’ XMAS GIRL & WHAT WE THOUGHT OF 2007...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY... TO US! EDITOR/Co PUBLISHER_ Cerven Cotter
editor@distortedmagazine.com
ADVERTISING/Co PUBLISHER_ Nikola Cotter nikola@distortedmagazine.com ART/WEB/LAYOUT_ www.pixeldeath.com
SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR_ Scuba Steve Noble steve@distortedmagazine.com CONTRIBUTORS_ Lola, John Robb, GrillyX, Tim Drunk, Willa, Fungal Punk/OMD, Eggle, mr Funnel, Russ, James. Contact information_ Distorted Magazine 9 Bridle Close, Surbiton Road, Kingston Upon Thames Surrey, KT1 2JW, UK info@distortedmagazine.com www.distortedmagazine.com Distorted Magazine is published by Distorted Ltd. ISSN 1754-3746 All content is copyright protected © 2006 - 2007. Distorted is a trademark of Distorted Ltd.
Views expressed in the magazine’s content belong to the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers. The contents are believed to be correct at the time of publishing. The publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors, ommissions or for changes in the details given, © 2006 - 2007 Distorted Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in a whole or in part of this magazine is strictly forbidden without prior written consent of the publishers.
I sit here on the eve of Distorted’s first Birth-
day, with a pounding headache, a running nose, my trusty Nightmare Before Christmas coffee cup freshly filled and my cigarette resting in the ashtray waiting for me to pick it up again – and all I can think is, ‘Are you kidding me, has it been a year since we started this thing?!’ Looking back to a year ago, I can remember I how excited we were to deliver Distorted to the world, I can recall the excitement of our friends, I can still feel that pressure to give something to the community that was unique and that filled a void. Would people embrace this media platform? These were all thoughts that passed through my mind as we proceeded to upload the very first issue of Distorted. Sitting back and ‘paging’ through our first issue after it was online was one of the single most liberating points of my life. There, in a digital format, was our blood, sweat and tears. It was there for the whole world to see… Strangely enough many of those same feelings fill me now as I write this month’s editorial, have we achieved what we set out to do? A small part of me knows we’ve made a difference, but I know we can still deliver more – I know I can – and I will, for 2008 will see Distorted move up a level as we aim to become the online publication you want us to be. Why do I say that? The feedback from people since December 2006 has been nothing more than encouraging, and it was some of those uplifting comments that has kept us pushing forward. You have made Distorted the reality it is today. Thank you to you the readers and you the supporters of Distorted, this is your magazine, this is for you, the global punk community. See you in 2008. ~ Cerven Cotter Editor | DECEMBER 2007 | page 03 |
THE ... E D I INS SSUE AY! I
D BIRTH
Features
MAD MARGE & THE STONE CUTTERS... 16
AGAINST ME!... 20
AMEN... 99
COCK SPARRER... 26
READER POLL RESULTS... 34 2007: What we thought... 36
SLACKERS... 42
On the Edge: Chuck Ragan ... 46
REGULARS
NOFX: SPECIAL REPORT... 50 Editor No tes...... 03 Headlines ...... 04 DISTORT ED GIRL S!...... 12 SupportSlo t...... 14
Soundche ck..... 6 Reviews.... 0 .. 62 Under the Radar....... 74 Favourite s...... 90
Birthday issue!
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 03 |
This page: THE PIT © James Gifford. ON THE COVER: Cock Sparrer © Sam Bruce.
H EADL INES News and other things you need to know
The Latest... xray spex featuring Polystyrene will be performing at London’s Roundhouse in Camden Town on 6th Sept ember 2008. The band are in rehearsal for this show which will be the first Poly has done in 17 years. The interest is already massive, so keep a look out here for when tickets are released. to maximise your chances of obtaining one. Northhampton, UK-based The Squids have been forced to cancel their American tour after a dispute over some inflammatory imagery used in the band’s tour posters. According to a local paper, the band used the images of flaming stars and stripes pictures on a MySpace flyer for three New York shows, which prompted the US venues to cancel the band’s gigs. Bouncing Souls have unveiled their plans to wrap up the new year with 60 different songs spread over three nights. The first two nights will feature the first and second twenty favorite songs as voted by Souls’ fans, an the last night will include another 20 culled from the band’s catalogue. CITY INVASION is rumoured to be bought forward to April in 2008 also with a number of bands already confirmed to be a part of the 2 town punk fest. The plan this time is to run over 2 stages at each show too. AGNOSTIC FRONT, U.S. BOMBS, MDC, UNION 13 and STATIC THOUGHT are amongst those involved with full line-up to be announced soon.
| page 06 | DECEMBER 2007 |
US BOMBS to headline city invasion 2008
Household Name Records have a new signing in the form of Former Cellmates (who consist of members of Leatherface, Los Coyote Men and The Golden Virgins). Their second album, ‘Lit Up Like Christmas’, will be out early 2008 DISTORTED has proudly launched our own online store. It will be filled with all the punk rock
merchandise you’ll ever need. So please support us by buying your licensed merch from the all new Distorted Online Store. www.distortedstore.com Got some interesting news? Send it to: nikola@distortedmagazine. com
|| DECEMBER DECEMBER 2007 2007 || page page 07 05 ||
H EADL INES News and other things you need to know
10 MINUTES WITH:
Andrea Witting
(All Grown Up film director)
Tell us about your new film. Well the tagline for the movie is “a documentary about older punks in the punk scene and how, contrary to popular belief, it’s not just a phase” - but it really is so much more than that. It’s about why people hold on so strongly to the things that they believe in and how staying true to yourself affects your life as a whole. I wanted to put a more positive spin on punk by emphasizing people’s personal lives and their inner feelings about life as opposed to just talking about the music. What made you put out this film? How much time do you have? Haha! Well I guess to make a really long story short - the punk scene is something that has been an extremely important thing in my life. In all respects it really did save me - nothing was right until I found it (or it found me, or whatever) - so with that I’ve always tried to dedicate all aspects of my life to helping out the scene whether it be promoting shows, bands, doing ‘zines - all manners of things. I think that a lot of kids are heavily discouraged when they first get into punk whether it be from their parents or their siblings, classmates, etc. etc. and that makes it hard for them to get really into it. Hopefully this movie will help to show those kids that they’re not alone | page 08 | DECEMBER 2007 |
and that it is ok to just be yourself - no matter what anyone else says. Any other film projects in the pipeline? Oh yes! I have a long standing project that I’ve been working on the past few years that I now plan to take to a higher level called Chaos Kitchen. Basically it’s a punk rock cooking show where bands come on and cook their own recipes and instead of commercial breaks we do live music segments and promote shows! All of it consequently gets put onto awesome DVDs (we already have about 15). You can check that out at.chaoskitchen. com. Aside from that, I do have a couple more projects in the works but I’m not ready to talk about those just yet . Who would you like to thank? Everybody who’s shown support for both me and the movie, anyone who’s helped me along the way, everybody that let me crash on their couch/floor while I was making it, my family, all the people that contributed their time and efforts and put up with my insanity...the list goes on and on. And you! Thank you! Buy ‘All Grown Up’ online: www.psykopunkproductions.com
NOTE: Competition only open to SOUTH AFRICAN’s - no flights included, tickets only | DECEMBER 2007 | page 07 |
Wham bam, thank you old man!
The John Robb Column they will be back next year How good was that offorthings more of the same. Great news. Sex Pistols tour? The Pistols were awesome at Man-
I was at the Manchester show in the soulless surroundings of the arena- a venue that seems to have been built to sap the very spirit of rock n roll- but the Pistols rocked it. 20 000 pretty crazy looking people- every leery looking loon from every grubby pub in the north of England pissed up and ready to riot. The Pistols hit the stage to ‘Pretty Vacant’ and the biggest moshpit I’ve ever seen kicked off. Pints of piss flying through the air and mass gurning. Fantastic. Funny, all the reviews I read concentrated on the fact that the audience were quite old and that’s all. People seem to have it in for the Pistols. I guess when you are a smartass like Lydon you are going to be getting a kicking, and I doubt he really cares, he’s sharp enough to answer back and now with his Pistol droogs kicking up an unholy rock n roll racket behind him why should he even care? By the looks | page 10 | DECEMBER 2007 |
chester. A huge rock n roll monster, the sound was crystal clear and the band was so damn powerful, some people whinge that they are not revolutionary but the revolution for the band now is how to actually sound that alive and that good when you are fat and in your mid fifties it turns the very idea of what rock n roll is meant to be about on its head, Rotten revels in his psychotic ugliness, he genuinely doesn’t give a fuck. And that’s perhaps the coolest thing about the band. In this autumn of revivals another mid seventies crew managed to get themselves back on stage. Cock Sparrer have recorded a new album, ‘Here We Stand’ for Captain Oi, which is a punk rock classic, perhaps their best album of their thirty plus year
The Sex Manche
career- packed full of great songs. Last month the band played a sell out show in Wolverhampton and the gig was like the Pistols- a fiery display of rock n roll played at full tilt. Every now and then you need these kind of gigs- a reaffirmation from the old guard, a reaffirmation of the power of the mid seventies bands forged in the frustration of crappy rain-swept UK with a shit football team…times have changed so much since then, mmmm maybe they haven’t! The weather is still shite and the England team is still rubbish ! Older and not much wiser, the
punk rock generation is still here, and is turning out in droves for these events now baulked up by a whole new mob of post Green Day punk rock kids who have their own cool bands to add to the family of punk. That’s why the scene is strongperhaps at its strongest for a long time- great bands and a real sense of community- its like punk rock promised in the first place but actually practises now. John Robb is the author of Punk Rock: An Oral History and is the frontman for Goldblade.
x Pistols live, ester 2007 © Grilly | DECEMBER 2007 | page 09 |
Photo: Beth Cocuzzi (pussycatpinups.com) / MU: Beth Cocuzzi / Hair: Tara A
Distorted
Girls! Name: Kim Falcon Age: 27 Height: 5’6” Hometown: Huntington Beach CA. Occupation: Pin-up Model / Project Coordinator Favourite bands: Social Distortion, Clash, Dead Kennedy’s, Black Flag, Suicidal, Agent Orange, Specials, X, Misfits, Sex Pistols, Rancid and of course tons more, too many to rant about...
‘‘
‘‘
Super driven punk rock chick with great fashion sense, and a love for music that fills to the depths of my soul! I love to pose for the camera because it just seems so natural. I am a true Leo (queen of the jungle) Always one step ahead of everyone else. Love to travel the world to non-touristy jungles! I’ve work hands on with tigers and lions. I love the moon and of course I love, love!! So don’t mess with me! Website: http://www.kimfalcon.com http://www.funeralclassics.com
| page 12 | DECEMBER 2007 |
Alexander
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 13 |
SUPPORT SLOT
with...
The Warriors
Apparently they come from a compost heap , eat loads of pies and the ir band name is spelt wrong. THE WARRIORS soun d like a ridiculous bu nch of punks, who you migh t think because of the ir name are into fighting, TIM DRUNK decided to se e if he could entice bassist , Russ, into a fight‌
| page 14 | DECEMBER 2007 |
Tim: Hey Russ, how are things going with the band? Russ: Yeah, things are going well. We’re going to finish up what gigs we’ve got this year and start recording new tracks sometime in January and then gig as much as we can for the rest of it just to get back in peoples faces and let them know we are about again. Who does what in the band, what music do you play, where are you based, and how did the band come together? Saxby buys the pies, Ben eats them, Dave wonders who ate all the pies and I get annoyed because I didn’t get one. Actually Saxby hollers, Ben bashes skins, Dave fiddles and while I get all basic about it all, we are based in the compost heap and if you don’t know where that is then if you imagine Kent as the garden of England then we’re in the compost heap that is Canterbury, Thanet, and fucking Herne Bay. The band came together again ‘cos Saxby was bored and wanted to have another band, I offered myself up for the job, got Chris who was with Crimewave and Jesus Fix at the time, but then got replaced by Ben when he got offered a job he couldn’t refuse and Sax found Dave through an old mate of his. Do you know there a few bands called The Warriors? Would you fight them for the right to be the only band that can use the name? Er Yes. Who is the ultimate warrior? How do you feel about Zena Warrior Princess? Would you fight her? Well yeah I would, wouldn’t you? I mean she’s got breasts and everything and really fit for a muscly bird... Oh you said fight her
I thought you said something else. The ultimate warrior - wasn’t he a some big bloke who enjoyed throwing people around for money with WWF, WCW, MTV or CBBC or whatever acronym they’re are using now - maybe we should be known as TW do you think it would work? Perhaps I’m reading too much into you band name, but would you want to fight me for asking these ridiculous questions? What ridiculous questions? We were dead serious about them. Why, do you want to make something of it? Nah, just trying to wind you up and see if you live up to your name. Now if you’re not going to fight people and other bands, who would you like to say thank you to and which bands would you like to mention? Thanks to Chris (old drummer) for always being there when we needed him - even now. And to all those who have put us on especially Chaos Collective and have helped us out through various equipment disasters and other things. Gemma and Lisa for driving (us mad mainly)we would like to mention a few bands we played with who have been brilliant, Crimewave, 7 Day Conspiracy, Surgery Without Research, All Flags Burn among others, all the people and bands who added us on our my space which is http:// www.myspace.com/thewarriorsengland or our account punkrockers.com - http:// punkrockers.com/The%20Warriors - if you want to book us, contact us or just add us. And a final cheers to you for getting us wound up with these questions - no Christmas present for you…
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 15 |
Words by the dude touring the world...
Sk | page 16 | DECEMBER 2007 |
“...we want to be like the old blues guys and get a lot of music out in a lot of different ways.”
ka Sessions In between record contracts, The Slackers have taken time out from touring to record another album “The Boss Harmony Sessions”! Dave Hillyard set us right on the current situation with the band, his love of American ska and rich white New Yorkers. | DECEMBER 2007 | page 17 |
Steve: So, a lot has been happening with the band this past year. Can you firstly tell us about your reasons for leaving Hellcat? Dave: Well, we haven’t exactly “left” Hellcat. We had a record contract originally for three records that got extended to six. Right now, we are talking to them about doing another record but it’s taking so long to sort out that we decided to start putting out a bunch of the stuff we recorded on our own. Since the end of “Peculiar” we have recorded about 35 songs and we wanted to get it out to the people while it was still fresh to us. Since we were at the end of a record contract we could do whatever we wanted. So where does that leave you now? How did the distribution of your latest record come about? I recently met Sean from Pama International/Jamdown Booking and was talking to him about getting a release out in the UK. He hooked us up with his label, ‘Rockers Revolt’, which is distributed by Aktive/Universal. Sean has a good grasp of what it takes to put out a CD in the UK right now, from a band and a label point of view having done both. So we jumped at this opportunity and we are really excited to do a CD with him! Hellcat has been good to us but they move very slowly. We write and record a lot and we have always felt it was important to get stuff out when it’s fresh to us. So I guess the short answer is we are very excited to work with Sean and Rockers’ Revolt, hopefully like in the movie, Casablanca, ‘this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship’. We are still friends with Hellcat and are talking to them and to other labels about putting out more music in the future. | page 18 | DECEMBER 2007 |
So, tell us more about your new record the “The Boss Harmony Sessions” and the one you call ‘Mogli’ (Boss Harmony) Dave Orlando aka Mogli aka Boss Harmony used to give us mix tapes when we would come through LA. We would listen to them all the time in the van when we were on tour. Boss Harmony spins at the Dub Club and at the Punky Reggae party in LA. He has got to be one of the most musically knowledgeable people I’ve ever met. Hanging out with him is always a musical education. We took him on tour with us last year and we had a blast. We were down south in the US and one night he would do a psychedelic set, the next day he would have a big video screen of Rastas smoking weed and jamming on drums while he was blasting serious rockers, and then he would do an 80’s post punk set. I think people have strange ideas about what music The Slackers are. So we kept on talking about putting a record together in a similar way to how he made his mix tapes/mix CD’s and then the opportunity actually came up... the rest is history. So how did the recording process differ on this album? It sounds fantastic by the way… The music was done in a couple of steps. The basic tracks were recorded at Version City Studios in New Jersey. Then overdubs were done on The Slackers home studio. Then the tracks were sent out to Los Angeles and Boss Harmony remixed them, sequenced the album, added his little samples and snippets. Then he sent it back to us for final mastering. The latest album catches elements of your live sound very well, a kind of raw powerful sound that begs for some
dancing and merriment....what do you think makes The Slackers live show such a special one? Well, I think this CD is happier than the last two we released on Hellcat which tended towards our morose side. The themes on this CD are sunnier. There are still a couple of dystopian songs like ‘Robots and Body Double’. But there are also a bunch of covers like ‘Mama Told Me (3 Dog Night)’, ‘Wanted Man (Johnny Cash)’, and ‘Minha Menina (Os Mutantes.)’ I think overall the CD has more of a party vibe, maybe that’s because of Boss Harmony, or maybe it’s just our mood at the time. We promise that our next release will be a good return to Slackers traditions of gloom and heartbreak. Are you working on material for a new full length release? Yeah, we still have 21 more songs to get out. So we are working on finishing up another release that will be mostly or maybe all original music sometime next year. Right now, we want to be like the old blues guys and get a lot of music out in a lot of different ways. Your fellow New Yorkers, The Toasters, recently talked about the change of mood in the city, especially with a lack of bands and venues, would you agree the vibe has changed in the city that never sleeps? Hmmm. Well, I would say things are better than they were about
5-6 years ago in terms of live music. There are a lot of clubs that have live music that have opened up in Brooklyn and elsewhere. The people in their late teens and early 20’s in the States are getting into bands again. Unfortunately though, the city has become more and more about rich white people. There is little space for anyone else in the centre of the city. The rest of us have to live out in the far corners of the boroughs or in the suburbs. I was playing last year with Archie Bell, a soul r’nb singer (Do the Tighten Up) and we played in Williamsburg. I was shocked at how white the audience was. Williamsburg used to be a little microcosm of New York City and was really mixed in terms of age, ethnicity etc etc. Now it’s the stronghold of the much despised “hipster”, who to tell the truth, ain’t that hip. The city is still diverse and has people from all over. But the vibe has changed. The city is centred about the rich and privileged who used to only live in a few neighbourhoods. The city’s mood used to be more “wide open” and you felt like you could find your niche with-
“I basically hate 95% of the music that is classified as ‘third wave’ ska. I don’t feel like it should be associated with “ska.” It’s a horrible mix of American hardcore, heavy metal, and marching band horns.” | DECEMBER 2007 | page 19 |
in it. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere goes the song... well, now because of economics that’s not so easy. The city’s more about people who already have it made! Scratch that holiday then... Tell us about your upcoming DVD, and why your keeping it States side for now? It’s not like they need more reason to sit on their backsides? Heh. Yes, our country is fat and overweight, but it’s not like the British are much better!!! You know the British are a major contributor to the USA gene pool! So there! Well, for now, we are just selling our DVD on tour. It’s been out in the States for a couple of months. This guy basically followed us around for a couple of months, went to a bunch of shows, and filmed us. So it’s everything you want to know about The Slackers (and more.) What’s the most lazy slacker like thing you have ever done? Hmmm. I’m actually a workaholic. You’d have to ask Vic or Marcus. They both have pretty incredible lazy tendencies. Seriously as a band you have a pretty accomplished CV - the tours you have done, albums released etc. What’s your biggest accomplishment? Keeping the band together as long as we have. There’s been a version of The Slackers going for 16 years now. Impressive. But there are a lot of quality ska bands emerging from the States, Europe and further a-field. Is there a better, happier form of music, than ska and its alliance with reggae, 2 tone, dub | page 20 | DECEMBER 2007 |
etc? What do you like about it and what got you into it? I think that for the most part American versions of Ska have been terrible. Fishbone was really the first American band to get a distinctive sound that wasn’t aping 2 Tone. They inspired No Doubt, Real Big Fish and a lot of crap music. A lot of music that I really can’t stand. But I give them props even though I’m not as into their music now as I was when I was 16. There has long been a minor undercurrent of bands that reflect a balance between 60’s Ska and various American styles of RnB and Rock. Bands like us, Hepcat, Stubborn All-Stars, Let’s Go Bowling, and The Pietasters. Recently, there have finally been another wave of bands like The Aggrolites, Westbound Train, Steadfast United, Deals Gone Bad, The Debonaires, and the Carolignians that also reflect this balance of Jamaican roots and US soul. It’s nice to hear after so many years of feeling like we were the only band out there doing something that wasn’t ‘third wave’. Let me get something straight. Ska is not “happy” music. It can be happy, but it can also be sad like blues or it can be ominous like punk or roots like Reggae. The first ska music reflected the ups and downs of Jamaican independence. For every happy go lucky song like “My boy lollipop” there was a song like “Reburial” by Don Drummond that spoke of a much more tense reality. 2 Tone was a reflection of the UK in the late 70s/early 80s. It was the product of the first interracial generation of the UK coming of age during the Thatcher regime. I don’t think anyone thinks of the Specials’ song, ‘Concrete Jungle’, and thinks “Wow, what a happy song!” I guess Madness and Bad Manners were on the more party band tip. But with
Madness, I always felt the ‘tears of a clown’ vibe. Its really sad, but in the states, ska became this parody of itself. It became this empty party music. A kind of minstrelsy played by jokers in clown suits. I basically hate 95% of the music that is classified as “third wave” ska. I don’t feel like it should be associated with “ska.” It’s a horrible mix of American hardcore, heavy metal, and marching band horns. You tour prolifically, is that the right formula for success and survival? What places would you like to see you haven’t been to yet and which place stand out for yourselves? It’s kept us alive to this point. It’s tough. To balance 100 tour dates with any sort of relationship with your loved ones at home. I’m a gypsy at heart though. I always want to see what’s on the other side of the hill. I want to go to China, Russia, a lot of places in Latin America and Africa. I would love to see Istanbul. So far I’ve been to Western Europe, Canada,
Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Costa Rica, Japan, and Korea. So that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We are talking about going to Australia and New Zealand next year. We will see if that happens. You guys seem to like the road… a lot! Are there unpaid taxes waiting for you back home, or a body in the basement you’re avoiding? About the latter.... there are theories about our drummer Ara but I’m not gonna say too much cause then I might be the next unexplained disappearance!! And lastly what does the future of The Slackers hold, besides well -slacking off? Get another album out. Keep on the road. Keep alive. Try to make sure that we feel like we are doing something worthwhile with our time!
www.theslackers.com | DECEMBER 2007 | page 21 |
Discussion Closed. Since the release of New Wave, AGAINST ME! have taken a lot of abuse from the punk ‘community’ for pursuing a deal with a major label. However, it seems like this backlash hasn’t bothered the band one bit, so much so, that they choose to no longer discuss it – they simply didn’t respond to our questions with regards to the whole issue. TOM GABEL takes us back to the making of New Wave and some other highlights of the past year.
Against Me!
Hey Tom, how are you doing? I see you’ve just completed your current tour… Tom: We’re in Minneapolis today shooting a video. Our tour with Sage Francis, World/Inferno, and Cobra Skulls ended yesterday.
Have Sage and yourself had a chance to sit down and work on some potential collaborations? Could be something very powerful… The idea has been thrown around. Maybe something will come from it.
How was the current tour been shaping up? It is interesting to see you touring with Sage Francis. What’s it been like? This tour has been great. It’s a good diverse bill and there’s been good diverse crowds coming out.
It’s been almost six months since you’ve released New Wave. What has the response been like? Critically we’ve gotten a great response, our best yet.
| page 22 | DECEMBER 2007 |
Lets talk about New Wave some more. What was it like working with Butch Vig? Any personal highlights on the album? Working with Butch was an incredible experience. Beyond being a talented producer he’s just a great guy. We looked forward to going into the studio everyday. It was the most enjoyable recording experience I’ve ever had, absolutely no stress what-so-ever. The whole entire process of making the album was a “personal highlight”. Rumour has it you spent some time in a hotel writing New Wave? I lived in a hotel for a year and a half. I put all my stuff in storage just before our previous album, “Searching for a Former Clarity” came out. “New Wave” was written while touring for that album. So when we were on tour obviously I was living in hotels, and then when we came home for tour I would check into a hotel in Gainesville. It was really quite a liberating experience. As far as the song writing process for New Wave goes, I would write the songs then bring them to the band. Together we would work out everyone’s individual parts. The subject matter of New Wave is still very much a mix of politics, life and the music industry. Why are these themes to prevalent in your songs? Even the title of the record seems to be a call for a change, was this intentional? Saying that songs are about “life” is really general. Every song is about some aspect of life. Politics and music, those are aspects of my life. It seems obvious why I would write about these subjects. I am a fan of music, I play in a band, I live in a world on the verge, so that’s what I write
about. I wouldn’t say that the album title is a call for change. I think it’s more an observation of the times. We are going through a time of change, that is true for both our band, and the world. Looking back on 2007, what is your fondest memory? I get married on the 15th of December. That kind of trumps everything else. Now that 2007 has come to an end, what does 2008 hold for yourself and Against Me! ? Any new-year resolutions on the cards? We still have a bunch of touring to do in support of New Wave, so I imagine a good portion of 2008 will be spent on the road. I also hope to do a bunch of writing. I’m not sure about a New Years resolution yet. There’s still a month left to the year, maybe Ill have something by the end. Thanks for taking the time to chat to us Tom and see you in the UK again soon. Thank you.
“The whole entire process of making the album was a ‘personal highlight’.” | DECEMBER 2007 | page 23 |
?
| page 24 | DECEMBER 2007 |
Y
2007
What do YOU think?
7 Distorted READERS POLL
Halfway through November we asked you, the reader, to vote for your Band of the Year & your Best Album of 2007, in addition to these 2 categories we also asked you to vote for your favourite cover of Distorted. Turn the page to see the results...
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 25 |
2007 Distorted READERS POLL
Band
of the
Outl4w 1ST
| page 26 | DECEMBER 2007 |
Ye
ear
ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE
2nd DROPKICK MURPHYS
3rd 4th 5th
THE PEACOCKS GOLDBLADE
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 27 |
Album
2007
2007 Distorted READERS POLL
of
Road To Ramp 1ST
by ANTI-NOWHERE
4 5 | page 28 | DECEMBER 2007 |
7
ption
E LEAGUE
The Meanest of Times DROPKICK MURPHYS
2nd
New Maps of Hell BAD RELIGION
3rd
Salvation 4th Internal The Unseen We Stand 5th Here Cock Sparrer | DECEMBER 2007 | page 29 |
Best Cover 2007 Distorted READERS POLL
Issue 9
2nd
1ST 3rd
| page 30 | DECEMBER 2007 |
Your Comments
“I think its a great idea, its good to have a mag with bands in it that you actually listen to!” - Ryan “Excellent mag ,showboating new talent as well as regular articles on the old school punk.” - Phil “Distorted magazine rocks!” - Rowan “Holy shit, what can I say, Distorted is the best thing to happen to punk since the mohawk, leather jackets and Doc Martens. You guys fuckin’ rule! Keep it up.” - Will “Best mag I have ever seen out there! Honestly, it’s nice to see the embrace of punk still exists! Thank you.” - Henrietta “Always an interesting read every month.” - Adrian “It’s a really good read and a hell of alot better than any magazine you can buy in the shops.” – Martin “Superb! Keeps the spirit of Punk well and truly alive.” - Graeme “Fantastic online magazine, this is definitely the way of the future!” - Paul “Thank you. Thank you. Been waiting for something like this for 20 years.” - Demas
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 31 |
2007 - what we t
On the next few pages you’ll find comments from some of the people be
Cerven
Editor/General Creative Monkey
“What could I say? How about a HUGE thank you to everybody that helps me out with this online magazine, yeah, thats a good place to start. So yeah, thank you to everybody for your support and contributions over this past year, it really means a lot to us. And to you as the reader, thank you for dropping by each month to check out Distorted, we do it for you.” Top 5 bands: Monster Squad The Unseen Time Again The Ghouls The Restarts
5 bands to watch in 08: Love and a .45 Trashed Idols Amen Guns on the Roof Outl4w
Top 5 albums: Internal Salvation (The Unseen) Alexa Artiste (Trashed Idols) Life is Wasted on the Living (The Great Deciever) Stand Alone (The Ghouls) Fire the Faith (Monster Squad)
Most anticipated album(s): Time Again, Rancid, Goldblade
| page 32 | DECEMBER 2007 |
thought
ehind this online publication you’re reading...
Nikola
co-Publisher/Writer/2nd in charge
“I can’t believe it’s been a year already since this crazy idea of ours came to fruition. A big thank you to everyone who believed in us from the beginning and helped us to get off of the ground. Thanks to all the readers and bands who make Distorted what it is. See you in 2008.” Top 5 albums: News Maps of Hell (Bad Religion) Internal Salvation (The Unseen) Reggae Hit LA (The Aggrolites) Roll with the Punches (Fuzigish) Build A Nation (Bad Brains)
Band to watch in 08: Time Again - “Things can only get better with the promise of ‘Darker Days’.” Most anticipated album: New Rancid record
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 33 |
2007 - what we t Steve
Senior Contributor
“I would like to say that Distorted has saved my life, but it hasn’t. What it has done, has enable me to fulfil dreams I never thought were possible whilst living in South Africa, wishing I was in front of so many stages watching so many great bands across the planet. It has re-invigorated my passion for solid music journalism, re-sparked any fading light in my belief in punk rock, ska and its affiliates in the underground music scene. And it has provided the platform for the future of music media, in the truest sense of DIY. Lastly it has let me watch and meet great bands and fans, often for free, and thus saved me from further debt! I’m proud to be part of the Distorted family.” Top 5 bands: Outlaw Aggrolites The Unseen Time Again The Peacocks
5 bands to watch in 08: Outlaw Time Again Newtown Kings The Rabble Guns on the roof
Top 5 albums: The Meanest of Times (Dropkick Murphys) The Devil Made Me Do It (Juicehead) Reggea Hits LA (Aggrolites) The Great Awake (The Flatliners) Shall We Dine (The Grit)
Most anticipated album: Chemical Kaos
| page 34 | DECEMBER 2007 |
thought FungalPunk Writer
“Distorted does a sterling job and if this was an actual physical product it would be fuckin’ top notch. Punks have never had it so good! A bit more about the less obvious is always welcome too! The accuracy and speed of production is mind-boggling and the presentation quite admirable. Happy to contribute to a classy piece of punk promotion.” Top 5 bands: Most Likely To Fail The Shadowcops The Epoxies The Objex Flat back Four
5 bands to watch in 08: Gimpfist Prairie Dugz John Player Specials Fanny Pads Asezawallas
Top 5 albums: Attack of the Objex (The Objex) Persecute The Weak, Control The Strong (Riot Squad) Closer Than You Think (Dangers Close) Delerium Tremors (AFS) With Added Cheese (Suspicious Stains)
Most anticipated album: The Asezawallas
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 35 |
2007 - what we t Grilly
Photographer/sometimes writer
“Distorted is a top magazine and it’s been a priviledge to have been able to make a small contribution during the year. I look forward to the new edition every month and have never been disappointed. Cerven and his gang have made their mark in a big way and they are going to be around for a long time. Go read it - you don’t even have to get off your arse!” Top 5 bands: Vice Squad The Briefs Deadline The Adicts Chemical Kaos
5 bands to watch in 08: Dun2Def Love and a .45 Dragster Hatepinks ICH
Top 5 albums: Too Blonde for You (Love and a .45) Take a Good Look (Deadline) Trashed (Dirty Love) 6 for a Fiver (Short Bus Window Lickers) Moving Targets live (Penetration)
Most anticipated album: Chemical Kaos
| page 36 | DECEMBER 2007 |
thought Willa
Photographer/Writer/Hardcore kid
“I first met Cerven and Nikola through a mutal friend’s band when i was still hiding behind amps, taking shaky photos. But they gave me a chance even as I was still getting to grips and getting better, and now when people ask me who I’m taking photos for at shows the name ‘Distorted’ always gets a couple of nods & high-fives. I’m stoked to be a part of it. See you in the pit.” Top 5 bands: Jawbreaker The Blood Brothers (R.I.P.) / These Arms Are Snakes Suburban Legends mewithoutYou / Saves The Day Set Your Goals/ Shook Ones Top 5 albums: Limbeck (Limbeck) Circa Survive (On Letting Go) Ire Words (The Dillinger Escape Plan) The Red Album (Baroness) Liftime (Lifetime)
5 bands to watch in 08: Death Is Not Glamorous Arsonists Get All The Girls The City Bowl Mizers Baroness Anathallo Most anticipated album: “I guess I’ll know in 2008...”
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 37 |
Words by Cerven Cotter. Photos by Sam Bruce. Live sh
“We don’t exist as a band, we exist as a group of friends. “
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hots by LibraSnake Photography
It has been ten years since their last release, but in the tail end of 2007, COCK SPARRER graced the world with their best record ever. Spurred on by Rancid’s Lars Frederiksen (who later mixed the album), the collective of Colin, Micky, Daryl and the two Steve’s, decided it was time for a new record, thus the 14 track ‘Here We Stand’ album was conceived. Only a few days after their album release show in Wolverhampton, UK, we had the opportunity to catch up with the band to discuss Malcom Mclaren, Green Day, football and of course, the new album.
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 41 |
“We would much rather do one off shows and give everyone, who has paid to see us, 100%” Distorted: How was your gig at Wolverhampton earlier this month? Fantastic! We have only played once on our own in the UK since 1983 and that was at the Astoria in London (1992). The other gigs we’ve done in the UK have been part of punk festivals (Holidays In the Sun / Wasted etc). So it was a bit daunting to book a gig in a venue of that size with just ourselves as the main band to fill it. There have also been a lot of gigs / festivals this year in the UK and people have only got so much cash to throw at going to gigs etc so it was a bit of a risk. There were many who doubted that we’d pull it off. Especially as November was going to be busy with the Sex Pistols gigs, Steve Ignorants’ Crass shows and the Speedfreaks Ball. But downstairs sold out quite quickly and although there were a few seats in the balcony left, with guests / bands etc we hit near on 3000 people which is near capacity. The atmosphere was great – and the crowd were loud! Singing along to all the songs, it was like cup final day! Fair play to everyone involved and a big thanks to Darren Russell (Rebellion Promoter) who organized the gig. We gave a free CD to everyone who came with one track from each band playing. The line up was great too. We had Slaughter & the Dogs - who | page 42 | DECEMBER 2007 |
we were on Decca Records with in 1977, the UK Subs who are an essential addition to any gig as Charlie Harper is a legend and deserves much respect, Deadline who are easily the best ‘new’ band to come out of the UK for a long, long time and Goldblade who are amazing live and have so much energy. Demob had to pull out but they were replaced by Riot Squad at the last minute – cheers lads. Why do Cock Sparrer only choose to do select shows? Surely your fans would like to see you play more often? We don’t exist as a band, we exist as a group of friends. We’ve known each other pretty much all our lives and outside of rehearsals, gigs etc we all still meet up, go out for a meal and our families and kids all get on. We’re not trying to make a name for ourselves or earn a living from it, so there is no need for world tours. Family, work and life commitments also mean that touring is difficult. Plus, living out of a suitcase and drinking every night for a month may seem like fun but what if you’re the unfortunate sod that has to watch the band two weeks into the tour when we’re tired and the voice is going etc. We would much rather do one off shows and give everyone who has paid to see us 100%. It’s not for everyone but it works for us. Each gig is more like an event and we put everything in to it. We may not play that often but we’re lucky that when we do play, we always have a great response. Since we started playing again, we have gigged in the UK, Germany, USA, Austria, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain etc which is more than we ever achieved ‘back in the day’. You’ve just released your new album: ‘Here We Stand’ and many people have
been calling it your best release. How do you feel about the album and what inspired you to write it? Daryl is good friends with Lars Frederiksen and they were both in the studio helping out Steve Whale (The Business) with his new band The Masons. Colin was invited down to do guest vocals on a track and we all went out for a social afterwards when Lars got to meet the band. He basically said that if we ever even thought about doing a new album, we should get him to produce it. He’s got great enthusiasm and certainly influenced us to start thinking about doing another album. Once we decided that we were going to do it, we were very aware that it should be the best we could offer. The last couple of albums have some great songs on but the production was a bit ropey, so our one aim was to make an album of strong songs that sound good. We are all very
proud of this album and the enthusiasm for ‘Here We Stand’ from all of us is bigger than any other album that’s gone before – including ‘Shock Troops’ which has become a classic but at the time didn’t have the same feeling as this one. Apparently you really wanted to have Lars Frederiksen and Michael Rosen in to produce the album, but they only ended up mixing it? Unfortunately, Lars wasn’t able to come over and produce the album so we got on with it ourselves. We wrote and recorded it in London and to be honest we did what Cock Sparrer do best – write Cock Sparrer songs. However, we know what we lacked on the previous albums so we sent it over to Lars and Michael to mix in America. They basically gave the album some bollocks. You don’t need to press the loudness button on your hi-fi on this
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 43 |
one which all our other albums suffer from. Now the question begs, why has it taken 10 years to put out this album? We wrote and recorded it pretty quickly once the decision was made to do a new album. It just took a long time to come to that decision! There is never any plan with the band, we take each year as it comes and there was no desire or need for another album in those 10 years. But the turning point was the gig in Blackpool in 2006. 5000 people singing every word to every song in August still had us buzzing at Christmas and over a drunken New Years party we said fuck it, “Lets do another album” and once agreed, the enthusiasm kicked in. How do you find the punk scene today? For every positive, someone will come up with a negative. A lot of people knock the big festivals etc but we think they’re great. Some will say it’s about nostalgia and that’s not what punk was about. We think that it is a great way of socialising with likeminded people and listening to great music. Why is nostalgia a bad thing any| page 44 | DECEMBER 2007 |
“Sometimes it good to remind yourself where you came from and what shaped you.”
way? Sometimes it good to remind yourself where you came from and what shaped you. There is also the element of fun – and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, punk changed things, shook things up and if there was ever a need for the music industry to have a kick up the arse, it’s now. So maybe punk isn’t doing enough about that – or maybe it’s not punks turn this time around. There are some great bands that have come out in the last few years but the initial excitement and energy of punk can never be repeated by the same genre. There is much more of a punk ethic in everything we all do these days, from Myspace to YouTube etc to the internet, mp3’s, home recording etc etc etc It’s all in the ‘Do It Yourself ‘ sprit. Punk was always about an attitude and that attitude is present in many things that are positive – it just doesn’t all come with a coloured mohican! Cock Sparrer is often referred to as the godfathers of Oi! - how does that make you feel? Why did you start writing this type of music? Er… Old! We just wrote about what was relevant to us. We first played together in 1972 and started gigging properly in about ’74 and there was obviously no punk then. We were playing covers of bands that we listened to like the Small Faces etc and then started to develop our own sound and songs. A lot of later punks think that we sounded nothing like a ‘punk band’. We were also obviously around pre- Oi! and if you listen to the leading bands of Oi! such as 4Skins, Last Resort etc we sound nothing like them – so we’re not really sure that we’ve ever fitted in with any
particular area of punk. We think the Oi! crowd took to us as we wrote songs with a street edge like ‘Runnin Riot’ and ‘Trouble on the Terraces’ that had the attitude and spirit of Oi! rather than the sound. But if you come to one of our gigs the balance of punks, skins, male and female is quite healthy so there’s obviously something for everyone. We don’t really have a ‘type’ of music, we’re just five blokes playing what comes naturally and writing about stuff that matters to us at the time. Apparently you’re not big fans of Malcom Mclaren? Why? Well, we met him, so guess you go on first impressions. We were young and a bit boisterous and when he came down we just thought he was a bit of a prick. 30 odd years later I’m not sure we think any differently. He didn’t get a round in and wanted us to support his trendy fashion accessories the Sex Pistols and we thought. “Fuck off we ain’t supporting noone!” But the main reason is that he is like most of the people in the music industry. He is a user and abuser of other people’s talent. These people make their money off the back of others who are on the frontline doing the grafting. He blatantly didn’t have the interests of the Pistols as a group or as a bunch of young kids at heart. Tell us about your affiliation with foot| DECEMBER 2007 | page 45 |
ball - seems like Cock Sparrer has some close ties to the sport. A lot is made about the football connection. When you’re growing up if you want to stay out of trouble there’s football and rock ‘n roll. Being in a band and going to football with your mates means that you have a focus and are not going off the rails. The passion and sense of belonging to a team stays with you for life and we all still follow our team and some of us are still season ticket holders. Speaking of sport, and specifically football, how do you feel about the violent nature of some of the fans? It seems that Oi! and skinheads have a bad reputation for being brawlers? If there’s something to have a row about then fine, we’ve all been there. Football, politics etc are all things that people are passionate about and it’s easy to see how people become defensive about their views. Then when under attack, physically or verbally it’s human nature to fight back. However, as you get older your perspective changes. Personally, we’d all like to take our kids to football without the worry of being attacked just for coming from a different part of the country and having a different colour scarf. There’s no room for mindless violence, indiscriminately attacking people is out of order. However, if one group of brawlers want to fight another group of brawlers then it’s a free world – let ‘em get on with it! Not sure that Oi & skinheads in this country are actually that bad. There seems to be a lot more songs written about it than it actually happening. Can’t remember the last time we saw skinheads ‘brawling’. The scene seems pretty healthy – we have all sorts at our gigs - punks, skins, hardcore, and all football support| page 46 | DECEMBER 2007 |
“...if there was ever a industry to have a k now. So maybe punk about that – or mayb this time
a need for the music kick up the arse, it’s k isn’t doing enough be it’s not punks turn around. “
ers getting on fine. Why fuck up what we’ve got by fighting? Finally, we can get gigs in decent venues etc and those that are in the scene now don’t want to ruin it, which is great. Looking back over the history of Cock Sparrer, what have been some of your greatest highlights? Every first is a highlight – The first time we released a 7” single and held the finished product in our hands, the first time we toured Europe. When we chatted about this, we realised that there were many ‘highlights’ which covered our entire existence so the highlight is being in Cock Sparrer! The early days had things like the Small Faces tour and releasing our first single, then there was the gig at the Astoria London in 1992 which was our biggest gig (of our own) at that point. We hadn’t played for nine years and to come back to that reception was amazing. The first German tour was a real buzz - lots of squats with smaller crowds but people that had traveled from all over Europe to see us. The first time we saw someone with a Cock Sparrer tattoo! Shock Troops. CBGB’s. Morecambe 2001, Blackpool 2005. The biggest highlight at the moment though is the new album ‘Here We Stand’. We’ve got something that we all really like, are really proud of and seems to be going down well with the people that matter – the punters. What do you guys do when the band isn’t performing or writing material? Work, husband, father, football supporter, golf player, drunken fool… Having been present throughout the birth and growth of punk in general, which have been some of your favourite | DECEMBER 2007 | page 47 |
bands? What about new bands that you’ve heard/seen lately? Different for each band member but we’re all fans of The Clash. The Pistols get knocked a lot but if you were there at the time you all secretly thought “shit they’re really doing it”. Every other band would have loved to have caused that much fuss and had that much impact. So they are due the respect for being the ones that actually did it. Bands like Heavy Metal Kids were punk in spirit and great performers. Green Day get a lot of stick for being too commercial etc but it’s 2007 and no punk band is going to change the world this time around so if you put that aside and listen to the songs, Green Day are fantastic songwriters. We chose our favourites for Wolverhampton that reflected what we thought of ‘new’ bands. Deadline and Goldblade are up there with the best of what’s happened lately. The Dead Pets were always good live as were the Filaments for new bands. On the Oi! side of things Perkele and the East Side Boys are probably the best that we’ve come across lately although the ultimate street punk has to be Argy Bargy as Daryl’s in them and Watford Jon is a Tommy Cooper fan – Oi Oi. When will the world be graced with another Cock Sparrer show? The next gig is at Rebellion in Vienna next year at The Arena in Austria. Then we return to | page 48 | DECEMBER 2007 |
Blackpool in August for Rebellion UK. Tickets for these are already on sale. All info at www.rebellionfestivals.com. We are currently planning some shows for the USA for 2009 and we hope to play Germany again too. Anything else you’d like to add or say to all your fans out there? Thanks for the interview. Good luck with Distorted, it’s great to read something that is relevant to our style of music and not full of crap! We’d like to say thanks to all the fans who come to the gigs and give us such a great response. We have no need to carry on with the band so it is the fans that keep the band alive. It is the response in Blackpool that made us do a new album, it is the response to the new album that has made us book more gigs etc and so it continues. It’s the attitude and spirit of the people that show
“Green Day get a lot of stick for being too commercial etc but it’s 2007 and no punk band is going to change the world this time around...”
up that keep us going so thanks. To all of those that haven’t seen us yet, hopefully we’ll catch you somewhere soon. We’re going to be updating our website in the New Year so bookmark www.cocksparrer. co.uk and check it out soon. Finally a big thank you to Mark and Jon at Captain Oi!
(www.captainoi.com) who are top blokes at a great label and gave us the opportunity to record ‘Here We Stand’ and are now having to do a hard days work selling a new Sparrer album! Cheers and see you at the bar – it’s Colin’s round. | DECEMBER 2007 | page 49 |
ON THE EDGE:
CHuck RagAN GOES SOLO
Words + Photos by Willa
We sent Willa to meet up Chuck Ragan (ex Hot Water Music) at his debut London show as a solo artist. They discussed Chuck’s solo career and a few pending family decisions. Willa: Was this your first time playing in England since Hot Water Music? How does it feel? Chuck: It was wonderful. The response was overwhelming and the shows in general were a blast. Played with some great artists and reconnected with loads of old friends. It was great to be back! Besides the obvious, in what ways does your own personal music differ from
when you were in Hot Water Music? Besides the obvious there’s not too much difference to me. In the lyrics, the drive, the purpose or the ethics, it feels the same completely. As far as the obvious goes, playing and writing alone rather than with Hot Water Music is a world apart. It’s extremely if not more so liberating to write, control, and complete songs and records by my say. It’s a bit tougher and intimidating but all and all a great feel-
ing of accomplishment. Did being in the band change your personal music/style? Being in the band changed everything about me in everyway possible. They’re family and we all grew up together in Hot Water Music. So as far as changing within the band goes, I guess it would be just as much as any young man may change from the age of 19-33 years old. What are your plans regarding your personal project? Has having a family changed your personal music? We don’t have children yet. We talk and plan for it quite a bit but it cannot happen living the touring travelling lifestyle that we’re living now. We operate and run all of this ourselves for the most part with the help of our labels and booking agent, so it’s fairly consuming. It’s simply not conducive with a family life unless one wishes to be an absent parent or partner. Being a father is truly something that has been inside of me for a long time and I very much look forward to raising children with my lovely wife Jill. Even when those days come though, the music will never stop. I look forward to keeping music as
a strong foundation and backbone in our household but still lending all the freedom in the world to the ‘lil ones to choose. I plan to stay off the road for long term trips then but also plan to write and record records until I’m physically or mentally unable to do it anymore. What are your favourite lines from “Feast or Famine”? “I want to dance like nobody’s watchin’ and sing like nobody cares!” and “Mind the world that’s dying, it isn’t yours to kill.”
SPECIAL REPORT
:NOFX
So NOFX tore through the UK and then flew to the southern most tip of Africa to tour South Africa for the very first time. STEVE NOBLE tells us about the London show, while Distorted Competition winner, TIM BLAND shares his experience of seeing NOFX in his home city of Johannesburg.
UK! Brixton Academy, London Supporting the king of silly punk, all encompassing genre heroes, are Tat. The Female led band has some sway with the growing crowd from the onset. Nice guitar work and energy, and in addition, crowd response and interaction, their energetic brand of punk (more) rock goes down well but isn’t standout. The Loved Ones, using the opportunity to support NoFX to further increase their profile in the UK, perform a pretty tight, impressive show, showcasing at least one new song from their new album out next year. They win a few more fans on this evening, and on a sold out looking show, is possibly the biggest crowd they have played to yet, and they play it very well. With the usual lack of comprehension of professionalism by standard gig etiquette, Fat Mike walks on followed by his band of merry men, and lazily comfortably strums
the first of many a chord and joke for the evening as the crowd banter, jokes of Jews, and humour filled set that their fans have come to love and their detractors hate. This show is all about their supporters, and each song is met with shrill excitement and dozen or so mini pits forming in the masses in front of the bare looking stage of Brixton. With some favourites played before a baying loyal and young fan base, all musicianship mistakes are quickly forgotten, laughed about and provide another opportunity for El Hefe or Fat Mike to embark on another stand up set of (what may be drink or other) fuelled comedy. They even play the epic “The Decline”, asking fans who don’t know the song to step to the bar for the next 16 minutes or so. Its not the best set list choice I’ve seen them play, but its a nice selection of old and new, fast and slow, from ‘Liza and Louise’, ‘She’s Nubs’, ‘Linoleum’, ‘The Cause’, ‘Dinosaurs will Die’ and with Rancid cover ‘Radio ‘still a personal
NOFX in London © Tim Drunk
favourite. As the show winds down, they play a selection of a dozen or so 20 second songs, adding after each one “OK, one more” -for some the joke gets old, for NoFx well they are getting old! 40 years old... so let them play and enjoy. The real final encore ends with ‘Sticking in My Eye’, and the meter wide banner that fills the backspace is finally lit up by the house lights to call quits on a night out of fun, drunk revelry. How long, or if they return to Europe is anyone’s guess, but for now they head of to the tip of Southern Africa.
SOUTH AFRICA! Bassline, Johannesburg
It’s been 14 years...hell maybe even longer since I first heard NOFX. As far as I remember it was White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean... yeah.And it kicked my ass. Sure, I had my Bad Religion tapes, damn, I’d even done the obligatory Pistols phase… but this was something new. Something different. And I liked it. The tongue-in(ass)cheek lyrics. The frantic drumming. The speedmetal leads. The dirty harmonies. And the just plain good songs. I was hooked. Now let’s put this into perspective: back in ‘94, South Africa wasn’t the most popular place on the planet - sure ,times they were a changin’but the big stuff was still coming. Hell, seeing international artists was but a dream, and we had almost resigned ourselves to the fact that we’d never see anyone here ever, with rock shows reserved for those who could sneak overseas and get lucky... Let’s skip forward 14 years. The political climate has changed. Crappy bands visiting South Africa are ‘de rigueur’. My musical tastes have shifted, severely. But somehow I still have the same spot in my heart for a band of guys who seem to exist in a musical neverneverland, refusing to grow up. Refusing to lose their delightful sense of humour. And that’s why I love ‘em. So, when an opportunity came up to see ‘em, I was excited. In fact, my
head nearly exploded. But then I saw the ticket prices and did a double take - look, 300 South African rand ain’t a lot to pay to see a band you love, but R300 is R300 if you don’t have it lying around. That’s when I saw Distorted magazine offering a chance to win some tickets. I jumped at it. Two weeks later I got word - the tickets were mine! Skip forward 6 weeks. By now I’m pretty hyper. NOFX. In South Africa. TONIGHT! We arrive at the Bassline...jabbering like meth-kids on Christmas morning. It was finally gonna happen... We waited in the longest line (sorry, couldn’t avoid that) as the anticipation built up. (As if that was possible by this stage!) By the time we got to the door, things had reached fever pitch. The brothers VanTon from Architecture of Aggression were manning the door. Familiar faces. Smiles. A handshake. When I mentioned I was picking up some tickets I was greeted with a “So you’re the lucky guy who won ‘em?!” and a high five. Things were looking good. We got in and made a move for the bar... before things got too hectic. Fuzigish hit the stage about 10 minutes after we got there. And they tore shit up completely. JayBones, Chest, Willy, Ampie and Lee rocked us stupid. This was going be a hard act to follow... but hey! It’s NO-F-
El Hefe & Eric Melvin enjoy the South Africa weather © Rockwell
Fuggin-X! If anyone can do it these bitches can! The first thing I noticed was how damn young they looked. This could have been the cover of White Trash...! And then they started. I think I stood still for about a minute. Not even for one song. The thought ringing in my head was “Hey champ - this is NOFX. Not something you see every day,” so I hit the pit with a vengeance. The next hour was a blur of swirling people and bouncing bodies. Punctuated by triumphant singalongs whenever a chorus hit. Sardonically raised fists for the “Kill
A dedicated fan © Rockwell
all the white man”. This is punk rock. This is what I’d waited 14 years for. I got a chance to catch my breath when Fat Mike stopped the show to call out some kid who had decided that spitting at the guys entertain-
Fat Mike © Rockwell
ing you was the done thing. Mike was pissed. The guy did it again. I love your country, but ‘I hate you’ was the response. The music fired up again. The pit erupted with a sense of urgency. If something was going to cause the show to stop, we wanted to get as much as we could, before it did. The band played with more energy than before. They were on fire. I was astounded. These guys have been doing this since ‘83. And they still look hungry. Still look like they’re having fun. It was awesome.
When the last chord finally rang out we were broken. Broken and completely satisfied. We had just witnessed something that South Africa had never seen before. We had just witnessed South African punk rock history. Shit, South African musical history. Never before had I seen a band of 40something year olds rock out like this. And I don’t know if I will again, unless I’m fortunate enough to cross their paths again. All that was left was to slowly evacuate the venue, ears ringing, hearts thumping and drenched in sweat. Sure, the next day we’d be bruised and swollen. We’d be battered. But who cares. Tonight would outlast tomorrow, the memories would outlast the physical damage. I glanced to my left and caught the eye of someone I didn’t know from a bar of soap. She smiled knowingly. I smiled back. We both knew what we had witnessed. Thanks to Distorted Magazine for giving me the chance to be there. Respect!
Jay Bones in the frontman of Fuzigish (main tour support for the NOFX tour in South Africa) and one of the people behind Punk Safari, the company that brought out NOFX to South Africa. We caught up with him shortly after the tour to see what it was like. Hey Jay Bones, you guys have just completed a tour with NOFX. How did it go and what was SA’s response to the punkers? Hell yeah - the response was supreme. All the shows rocked and were full. I mean NOFX are legendary and SA showed the love for them. Which of the stops was your personal favourite? Johannesburg. It is my home town, and the sound was the best there and the Bassline was the best venue on the tour. They played two shows in JHB, and both sets were different. One night they played “The Decline” which a lot of people really like and get emotional about. It is way too long for me and I got through three drinks and they were still playing the same song. That means walking all the way to the backstage rooms, about 100m, searching for booze and returning three times. I like the short songs. Your company Punk Safari was responsible for bringing out NOFX, was the tour successful and did it meet all your expectations? Total success. All the shows rocked. We have done three tours, Lagwagon, Mad Caddies and now NOFX. They have all been successful. NOFX
were awesome live and I am an old fan from years back so it was great for me. It was good to meet all the band and the crew. Any personal highlights or gossip from the tour? Melvin got the squirts in SA and I heard he had to be rushed to thehospital in Spain. I think he just missed SA, but they say it was severe food poisoning from SA. Eeek. El Hefe eats a lot of popcorn - like every day at least once a day, I would see him munching on some popcorn. Fat Mike is a funny guy and Smelly is very aware of people walking behind him whilst he is playing drums - well it seemed to me. In strange way, sitting in the airport drinking beer and eating peri-peri chicken with Melvin and Mike and hour before they left SA was a highlight.
| page 15 | FEBRUARY 2007 |
Soundcheck:
Scourge of River City
Members:
with the Black Veins (RIP) & The Scrape on the worst drumkit ever.
Chris: drums Rob: guitar Smalls: double bass Greg: sings
Best gig played:
Tour support with Goth Glam-Rockers Wednesday 13
Releases:
DIY 3 track demo, full length album out in Cherry Bomb Records in early 2008.
Influences:
The Bronx, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Smiths, Murder City Devils, Hot Snakes, Johnny Cash and Rocket From The Crypt plus many more.
How long have been together:
they
Two years.
When & where did they play their debut show: The Roundabout in High Wycombe, UK,
Dream tour:
Playing with any of the bands or artists on their influences list.
Drink of choice (for each band member):
c
Smalls: Guinness Chris: X Greg: A real ale like ‘Topless Granny’ Rob: Lager Gareth: Lager sometimes Cider.
Bands They Recommend:
Hot Rocket Trio, Tortuga, Radio City Riot, Horoviche
URL: www.myspace.com/thescourgeofrivercity
| DECEMBER 2007 | page 51 |
Literal Lo
Words by Steve noble. Main photo by Tres Noir. Others by Oldhcdude.com
Brimming full of confidence with a fresh line-up and killer new album, the Simpson’s episode-named Southern California band, Mad Marge and The Stonecutters, gave us a chance to operate a lobotomy-literal of front lady Marge, exposing all her motherly instincts, little girl shyness, and band front-women ambitions. Steve: What’s with Rockabilly and long ass names? Tell us about yours? Marge: With Rockabilly, I think it is supposed to follow a sort of traditional band naming system. Back in the day they were all that way, Bill Haley and his Comets, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. I think a lot the traditional bands do it as a homage to the past. For us, we just thought it was a cool name. It’s one you either can never remember or one you can never forget. Indeed Marge, for those readers who don’t know you, please tell us a little about how the band formed and who plays in the band. The band consists of myself, Mad Marge on vocals, my husband Mateo on guitar, Brian on second guitar, Matt on double bass and Pumba on Drums. We’ve been around for about three and half years and we’ve been lucky enough
to release two full length albums in our career, the latest of which has just been released on People Like You records. Who has the best tattoo in the band, and who has the best hair? Hmm… best tattoo… my personal preference would probably Pumba’s tattoo of an alligator with a dagger in it’s head with a banner that says ‘Dad‘ on his forearm. It always makes me laugh. Best hair? Everyone but me. Sometimes I’m tempted to shave it off like the rest of the band! Rockabilly has seen a massive resurgence, as much as most bands hate labels, you fit into the genre, agreed? Who would you say influences your sound? I don’t think we are really a good fit in the rockabilly scene at all. People tend to classify us as such because we have an upright bass, but the
obotomy
truth is there is very little rockabilly in our music. Luckily the rockabilly scene still accepts us. The best part about our sound is that all of us have such different influences which I think shows in our music. I love Billie Holiday who I used for inspiration on the new record, Matt our bass player is into jazz, our drummer loves Oi and so on. Everyone brings their ideas to the table and we just let them all blend together. Rockabilly is incredibly stylized and thematic. Do you find yourselves having to adhere to the confines of what people think you should look or sound like, despite not quite fitting in? Absolutely NOT! I think that is partly why we have come as far as we have, we
don’t really fit in to any style, mould or idea and I think perhaps that is appealing to people. I don’t feel pressure to write any certain things or dress any particular way. I think if we did feel that pressure we probably wouldn’t being doing this. There is enough stress just in everyday life so we choose not to feel more from people who think they understand who we are and what we should be. This year you have gained increased exposure, by performing along some great bands and on tours like Warped Tour. How does that help the band? Do you feel intimidated playing along more established acts or is it an opportunity to learn? The more established the act the more
we destroy. We always do our best on stage but when we know a killer act is following us, we just make sure we keep them on their toes. Warped tour was cool but we didn’t feel very intimidated because most of those bands were not of our musical styling or preference. The best thing to learn on tours like those, are who to get to know and what to do to get noticed. It’s a pretty brownnosed industry. I have to say that I was pretty intimidated asking Greg Graffin from Bad Religion for a photo. He is an influence of mine and one of my favourite lyricists, I felt like a little girl when he put his arm around me and smiled for the camera! Yeah, it happens to the best of us. Double bass, are pretty common place these days, and they add a fantastic sound and dimension. Can your bass player do any neat tricks with his? He goes nuts with that thing! He lifts it over his
head, throws it around, does fancy twirls and hits me in the head every once in a while! That explains a few things... Your new record “Liberated” was released earlier this year and your line-up changed significantly for this record compared to your début. How is the Stonecutters family today and what has the response been to the record? Yes, We added another guitarist and replaced our drummer and bass player. It had a significant impact on our sound but overall it resulted in a very progressive sound. Some people are against that, especially when you use the word Psychobilly, but the truth is if you can’t move forward you are dead in the water. We didn’t want to make the first record again so we developed our sound and recorded ‘Liberated‘, which I consider a more grown up sound. The album isn’t out in the US but the response when we play the songs live is
overwhelming. What drives the band and the song selection with Mad Marge? Typical horror themes are evident of course! I just let lyrics flow naturally, I don’t have ideas in mind when I write them, I just jot them down and make sense of them later. Sometimes I will write lyrics when an idea comes to mind and fit them to a song after the fact (I really wanted to write a song about Ned Flanders ’Dial Z’). I think things I see on television combined with the crazy thoughts in my head lead to some of my more abstract lyrics. The new album was written with more of my emotions in mind, a lot of what I was going through and how I interpreted all of it.
What makes you stand a cut above the rest besides sweet vocals and great music? Well I guess it would be folks like you that determine that! I just do what I love and I pour all of myself into it. Maybe it is my sincerity that stands out. What about female fronted bands seeming to draw more comparison to other female fronted bands than male counterparts. Would you agree with that, do you find it difficult to cut a niche? I absolutely agree. It’s
“I think things I see on television combined with the crazy thoughts in my head lead to some of my more your songs abstract lyrics.” incredibly
And are infectious, and your voice is sexy rock and roll.
mainly because there aren’t many females out there making a stink. I think is important not to copy or intentionally emulate another female because that would make it practically impossible to make any impression in the music world. Nicely said. You guys have toured Europe previously correct? What major changes are there across the pond besides the obvious (languages, monies and intelligence?) In both Europe and Japan people don’t applaud much. In America they hoot and holler but over there they show their appreciation for you and your music just by being there. At first we thought they hated us in Japan, until a local informed us if they didn’t like us they wouldn’t be there still watching. Who would you recommend we look out for in terms of up and coming bands or unappreciated bands? Well we are from an odd part of Southern California that has produced some great bands in the last few years. Key ones to note: Dirtbag, Killdozer, Spitting on Cops.
Will look them up, thanks. Does Marge keep the boys on line on tour? Who is the peacekeeper and who is the instigator? Well my motherly instincts force me to be the nag of the tours. Unfortunately those boys never really cared what their mothers told them so I become another sound amidst the noise. I like to be very punctual and professional so I become a basketcase on tour when the boys are completely opposite. I won’t comment on the instigator... might get me in trouble! What future plans and ambitions do you have? I would like to finish my pending college degrees within the next 2 years, lay some reggae tracks with my husband (possibly some kind of EP), see London again, write a book, build a house and have kids. But life throws me curveballs like they serve pizza in New York City so who knows what will happen! Just a few goals then! Any kind parting words? Ummmmm… Bye! myspace.com/thestonecutters
under the radar with FungalPunk OMD.
Social Schism
Social Schism are a band who make ‘pissed off ’ have a new meaning. When I first spoke to Ben Schism I found someone who was committed to the scene with a band who were only to ready to back that up with a fast and aggressive sound as any punky dude would wish to hear. They have many messages and they are certainly not afraid to say what they think - an aspect which is vital in the punk scene. Honest, hard-working and damn fine company, Social Schism are well versed in the punk scene and do what they do out of sheer love and enthusiasm. Coming out of the run down seaside town of Southend-on-Sea in Essex they have a lot to say and when I caught up with these ‘erberts they certainly said it.
| page 74 | DECEMBER 2007 |
Social Schism - young, angry and chomping at the bit. Tell us about your aims as a band, the main messages you try to get across with your music and about your influences and heroes. Ben - Our main aims are to carry on releasing good quality music that people will look back on in years to come and still play! As with messages that the band are trying to get out there I suppose you can hear that with what we’re singing about. We are pretty much a left wing band. We don’t believe in racism and in war for the most part and we like to rant about how shit society is today and the mainstream capitalist shit that’s being pulled in general day to day life! Myself and Aaron were brought up in a very musical household that always had music being played which is why I’ve got a very varied and wide ranging musical taste. My Grand-dad was a jazz musician as well so I suppose
being a musician runs in the family. Thinking back I suppose what really, really got me passionate about music was the Grunge movement as it came about just as I became a teenager and all the hormonal anger coupled with the discovery of bands like Black Flag, Dead Kennedy’s, The Circle Jerks and 7 Seconds just set off the chemical reaction. I went back and started listening even more to the old 70s stuff that I liked when I was a kid (I mean I remember jumping about when I was 6 to ‘Pretty Vacant’ or ‘Ace of Spades’ when it was shown on the old Top of the Pops re-runs)! But for me the 80’s Hardcore in America and England was what really did it for me - the aggression and urgency in the music just spoke to me and still does... .although there are some fantastic bands about now like P.A.I.N and The Inner Terrestrials! Aaron- I’m taking each day as it comes as you never know what’s going to happen... I could have a stroke tomorrow or a giant squirrel could kill me and eat my flesh! I’m just enjoying playing the music! I pretty much agree in what Ben said apart from that I think war is unfortunately necessary sometimes. As for my influences I guess you can hear Steve Harris from Iron Maiden in my bass playing as I play quite like him using my fingers instead of a pick and he was one of the people that influenced me to pick up a bass. Will - For me it’s to get more gigs and get our name out there even more and get more exposure and play with some of the bands that have influenced us! Just listen to our songs and you can hear what we believe in. There are loads of influences for me from Sabbath to Sepultura, Clash and the Ramones, Bob Marley, Pink
Floyd, Ozric Tentacles etc. Lots of different bands influence how I play drums for this band and I’d probably say the biggest influences to me are Minor Threat and Bad Brains - in fact I am always finding new musical influences. Tell us about the Southend scene and some of the bands to keep an eye on down there. Ben - The Southend Punk scene is still very much active but it’s not as big as it used to be due to people moving away or just becoming apathetic. There are some very good bands about like The Death Skulls & The Keshi Heads plus there’s a band called Wasted Effort who are all aged between 14 - 17 and have some real good songs which bodes well for the future. Also there are The Cunt Flaps (plug, plug) which is collaboration between Social Schism and The Keshi Heads. The Optic Nerves are worth a mention as they have just started and have their first gig coming up. It’s a hotchpotch of members from other bands and they are definitely worth checking out. All Systems go are pretty much arseholes though and play
“...because we weren’t born in the right time frame we aren’t considered worth seeing. To me these people aren’t fucking punk because that’s not what punk is about.”
under the radar with FungalPunk OMD. shitty pop punk and Fat Penguin are very much an over-rated rock band. CB6 are fucking excellent if you like your Thrash Metal. Aaron - Personal bands I would recommend are CB6, Cinders Fall, Fat Penguin and All Systems Go. That’s a pint each they owe me - drunken days here I come. Are any of you involved in any other ventures in the punk scene - bands, promoting etc. Aaron - I play in a band called Miasma but it’s a grungy hardcore band so not exactly punk but it does have a punk sound. Ben - As mentioned I play in a band called The Cunt Flaps which is sort of a mixture of street punk and Hardcore. It’s a lot more of a fun band and less serious lyrically than Social Schism. I also pretty much put on all of the punk gigs in Southend and also put on a punk fest once a year and have started putting on shows in London as well. If that ain’t enough I co-run a label called Thought Crime Records as well with my better half Northern Marie from The Keshi Heads and our mate Jake Filthy from Ipswich. We have already got a few bands on the label and a couple of releases.......www. myspace.com/thoughtcrimerecords1 Will - Nothing really apart from drumming in The Cunt Flaps although I’m always up for jamming with anyone else. What are your main joys and gripes about the current scene and how do you hope to get Social Schism more noticed and improve your general lot? Aaron - What I love about the scene is the variety of people that we meet when we’re gigging but what I hate about it is how
lazy people can be and that they won’t come out to see a gig or travel a short distance. I suppose to get more noticed we should just keep doing what we are doing and gigging and releasing our music. Will - We shall get a helicopter and a megaphone and fly about and shout about us!!! That should get us more noticed ....or arrested. Ben - My main gripes about the scene is pretty much what Aaron said but also something I know within the band and have spoken with you about is people only coming out when there is a big band from the 80’s or 70’s on and not fucking checking out bands like us who aren’t jaded and have got something to fucking shout about. But because we weren’t born in the right time frame we aren’t considered worth seeing. To me these people aren’t fucking punk because that’s not what punk is about... these people are just leeches on the scene and need to get off their fat arses and actually help and support promoters like myself and you the Fungal One and other people across the country and also the many hard working bands that are paying out of their own pockets to travel across the country and play to people. Will - When you sort out a gig and bands don’t turn up or pull out right at the last minute with a feeble excuse. Aaron - And its always the more well known bands that don’t turn up because they start believing their own hype and think that ‘it doesn’t matter if we don’t turn up’ and they don’t give a fuck if they’re helping the scene or not. I like the balls of Social Schism’s attitude
and also the generally friendly people you lot are. The ‘Nick Griffin’s Guilty’ is a bold statement and shows a band who aren’t afraid to speak their mind. Tell us about the song and its sources of inspiration and any other political problems you are planning on dealing with in future outbursts! Ben - I guess I sat down and wrote the lyrics for that song after watching the news and realising that once again that bastard had got away with what he was saying and because of the courts inability to sentence him with something it actually gave him an even better platform to promote his vile shit. So for me it was just a statement saying that I thought he was guilty and ask people to look at what he had said, done and believes in. I also touched on the subject in the song at the time I wrote it that for the first time the BNP had come down to Southend and were giving out flyers in the main town centre. Unfortunately in the last council election they also got involved too. As for future songs we are keeping the political content and are currently working on a song called ‘The My Lai Massacre’ which deals with an episode in the Vietnam war and also a song about the anti-Semitism growing and growing across England and Europe. There’s a real problem with that up in Manchester as far as I’ve heard! Tell us about some of Social Schism’s best gigs to date and any real stinkers you have had and what do you feel is it that makes a good/bad gig? Ben -We’ve played some really good squat gigs where the crowd are right in your face due to there being no stage and people actually flying right past you or into
you. Then there was the all day festival in Finsbury Park which was the first time we’ve ever got to play outside instead of a shitty club plus the UK Subs were headlining. Aaron - The Square in Harlow as the place was packed although it was mostly full of 14 year old emo’s but they did go mad and there was a massive mosh pit. Will - Gasworks in Bradford - the first gig of our two week tour last year was quite good and obviously the Finsbury Park one and most of our local gigs we normally do. Ben- I’d also say the two days we played on the S.A.S fest this year as I thought we played really well on the first day and even better on the second and we were the first band to really pack out the place on the second day which was a Sunday. The worst gig was a few days before on the same tour in Chesterfield were everything went wrong......the drums fell apart, I broke a string, Aaron’s bass went wrong as did his lead all at different points during our set!!
REVIEWS
Don’t take our word for it, make up your own mind!
HERE WE STAND CockSparrer (Captain Oi!)
What is there to say about a Cock Sparrer release? So this is their first release in ten years, it’s mixed by Lars Frederiksen, it’s fuck’n great. No really, I’m not the biggest Oi! punk type fan but this album has a little something for everybody. Nearly every song has it’s very own infectious singalong chorus but the best track by far would be ‘Spirit of 76’ - it’s is a little quicker than the other songs but boy does it suck you in some some awesome hooks. See if you can spot a certain bands riff in this song - it was a pretty neat idea squeezing it in if you ask me. Get a copy today if you don’t have one yet. ~ Tim Drunk.
20 YEARS IN SIN SIN Mad Sin
(PeopleLikeYou) Have you heard of the Nekromantix? You like them? Next question, do you like Mad Sin? If you’re answering, ‘I’ve never heard of them’, then you need to go to your bathroom and stick your head in the toilet and flush repeatedly. I’d go as far to say that most pyschobilly bands wouldn’y sound like they do if it wasn’t for Mad Sin. They’re have championed this genre since the outset and 20 years on they are still leading the pack. Standout songs would have to be ‘50 Miles to Nowhere’ and the very cheeky ‘Viva Le Rock’ ~ Pyscho Pete
“They’ve actually gotten worse live!” NOFX
(FatWreck) Funny how some bands thrive on being good at being bad, perhaps NOFX are the reason for all of it. Even though they may always protest about being the worst band around and now with this new live album, it really isn’t too true. Maybe the only thing that is getting worse is their jokes... If you’re fan of the band, you’ll hae already added this to your ever growing collection. This is still a ‘special’ live album featuring ‘new versions’ of songs such as Murder the Government, The Longest Line, Franco Unamerica amongst others. ~ Tim Drunk
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS
QUICKIES
MARTYR IMMORTAL
MILKING THE SACRED COW
(DeathWish)
(CherryRed)
Pulling Teeth
Is this metal? Fuck, I don’t know. I’m sitting on this fence that might as well be barbed wire - boy is this a tough decision. Between the vocals and Slayer like guitar leads, I’m really not sure if this should actually be reviewed in Distorted, after all this is where punk stuff gets reviewed. Perhaps Pulling Teeth are so metal they’re punk? Or could they be so punk that they’re metal. Hey, either way, Martyr Immortal kicks some serious ass. It’s fast, it’s gnarly, it’s brutal, as I said, it’s probably too metal for your tastes but not if you’re in Sick of it All and a side helping of Slayer. ~ Tim Durnk.
Dead Kennedys
Let me get this right, the playlist on this release is as follows: California UnerAlles, Police Truck, Kill the Poor, Dcaadoymilibaino (WHAT??!), Nazi Punks, Too Drunk to fuck, Viva Las Vegas., Moon over Marin, Halloween, MTV Get off the air, Soup is good food and Jock-orama - and the last two songs are live versions. It seems like everything is in order for a decent Dead Kennedy’s listening experience. So if you’d like all the songs mentioned on one CD, then starting milking this sacred cow... ~ Tim Drunk.
The Grit Surrender Look, it’s a single from the Grit. Cool. It has 3 songs on it, Surrender (the radio version), Accosted and a live song featuring the King Blues called A Geordies Song. The Grit are on tour now, even more cool. Various Paid in Black Perhaps Johnny Cash would be turning in his grave if heard how these pyschobands were covering his music... but I’m sure that is exactly what these pyschobilly tribute payers are after. A great collection of ‘Cash rock’ with a pyscho edge. axis of apple meat Yum Yum Sounds Like many mid 90s punk acts that sadly faded away (actually maybe early Lagwagon/NoFX?). Nice though, not great,
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS DVDs
PSYCHOBILLY & ROCKABILLY MAYHEM THE WESTERN STAR PROMO COLLECTION
Oh crap, there is a ton of stuff on this DVD. First off, you’re going to need to set aside roughly 85 minutes of your time to get through this bad boy. Basically this DVD is a collection of promo videos by bands such as Jack Rabbit Slim, The Sharks and The Bad Detectives. Most of it is centred around the Western Star recording studio & label run by Alan, frontman of the Sharks. It is apparently a must see for anybody remotely interested in pyscho and rockabilly (that’s what the box says anyway...) ~ Psycho Pete
BOOKs
The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists By Amy Wallace and Handsome Dick Manitoba
Completely pointless yet totally entertaining, this book delivers what it promises, lists pertaining to punk rock. From ridiculous punk rock names to the most offensive songs, 6 Great Moments in Puking to Gobbing’s Greatest Hits, there is never a dull moment contained within. A personal highlight was 108 punk rock subgenres offering up such gems as pigfuck, ironic retro garbage and krishnacore. The only downside to the book was the complete irrelevance of any information pertaining to Brody Dalle, nothing personal against her mind you. As suggested this book makes for perfect bathroom reading material.. . ~ Lola
R E V I E WS Don’t take our word for it, make up your own mind!
Send us your gig reviews! info@distortedmagazine.com
Capdown / King Blues / Desperate Cycle Islington Academy, London, UK 29 October 2007
The farewell show from the New Revolutionaries of ska punk: Capdown, a band we can thank for the burgeoning of a once near invisible scene and the breakout of a whole heap of home-grown talent. Seven years of relentless touring and a reputation built around explosive live shows – and this was definitely a show to remember. Desperate Cycle opened the show, a hard-edged energetic young band with pitch perfect harmonies – but they failed to impress and only moved the crowd to the bar. The King Blues warmed up the crowd with their politically fuelled mix of dub-infused ska and reggae and a nobullshit punk attitude. Delivering favourites ‘Come Fi Di Youth’ and ‘Mr Music Man’ prompted hand claps a-plenty and the first of many crowd sing-a-longs as they put on a sterling performance and created an unbreakable atmosphere of dedicated fan familiarity. Enter Capdown. As the first note of ‘Cousin Cleotis’ rang-out from SimsFielding’s saxophone, the entire Islington Academy were whipped into a ska-core frenzy. Old-skool anthems ‘Positivity’ ‘Pound For The Sound’ and ‘Dealer Fever’ created a wave of crowd surfing and an adrenaline soaked mosh pit, with
WARNING! THE FOLLOWING PAGES CONTAIN a SHITLOAD OF GIG REVIEWS! the newer sounds of ‘Keeping Up Appearances and ‘Home Is Where The Start Is’ being just as well received. Capdown seemed to lack vocal aggression and onstage energy but still didn’t fail to please the packed out venue. An encore of ‘Bitches And Nike Shoes’ had everyone chanting ‘no more, this time...’ before the whole place exploded with the final song ‘Ska Wars’. It’s the end of an era for a band most people at this gig grew up with, but if this farewell tour is anything to go by – skacore is not dead. ~ Sara Anders.
Against Me!
Electric Ballroom, London, UK 1 November 2007 There is always a media angle and an agenda with Against Me! Whether it be their outspoken views, recent signing to a major label -splitting their fan base- or coffee house bust ups... They don’t always help the situation out at the best of times, or maybe very slyly have increased their mainstream profile through the increased publicity. How much you can delve into the politics and ambitions of a band are in the end all speculation, they themselves are the only ones who know. On-stage however, for the second time this year they have utterly stood their ground with enormous steely conviction and delivered nothing short of a powerful middle finger response to their
RE V I E W S Don’t take our word for it, make up your own mind!
Send us your gig reviews! info@distortedmagazine.com
detractors. They first sampled their new album to their London fans in the cosy confines of the 100 Club a few months ago, and after a brief UK stint including performances at the Carling Weekend in Reading and Leeds, they have subtly let their new record seep into the coarse veins of some very opinionated fans. Any of these supporters who don’t favour their latest offering, are clinging to nostalgia and know little about the importance of progress, and what at the end of the day is a great fucking album. From Tom Gabel’s ever surprising booming controlled angst full voice, the non bearded one, in all his vein popping glory is the heartbeat of the band. His three facial haired companions are no less important to the on-stage delivery and attitude that is so important to their performance. They suck you in with each song, to bring out raised fists, sing alongs and dancing shoes. Playing a large selection of “New Wave” is no surprise but scattered throughout are their finest selections from previous records. “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong”, “From Her Lips To God’s Ears (The Energizer)”, “Problems” etc. Crowd pleaser’s are important to the cohesion of the show, but everyone seems to know the new record just as well, “Thrash Unreal, White People for Peace” “Americans Abroad”. Against Me! I think can feel the sour reports of despairing fans a few months ago have largely disappeared. Whether these are the new legions that will support a band that has always overcome adversity or are old ones converted
is trivial. At the encore of a damn fine outing, Against Me! return with “Baby, I’m an Anarchist!” and cap a show that was full of energised, blood pumping, “We are here to stay- like us or leave us” arrogance that has left the fans of this show more endeared to the folk punk rock(now dancing) heroes. ~ Not Steve!
Punk Unity Fest III
Deadline / Sick on the Bus / Love & a .45 / Lucifer Star Machine
Camden Underworld, London, UK 2 November 2007 Getting to shows late can be a real bummer, it’s “okay” if you miss the first band but to miss both of the first bands, that is just not cool. From all accounts, both Love & a .45 and Lucifer Star Machine did a really brilliant job of warming everybody up for the 3rd instalment of the Punk Unity fest. And unity was the theme for the evening with members of DUN2DEF, The Warriors and many other bands in attendance. It seemed as if most of the local London scene was present, which in itself is always amazing to see. After another quick smoke break in the cold, I was met with Sick on the Bus tearing through their set with reckless abandon in that punk as fuck Motorhead-esque style. The crowd was eating it up. Somewhere along the line, I had found myself at the bar, cider in hand,
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS Deadline @ Punk Unity III. © Grilly
more greetings exchanged, another smoke break and then Deadline started their set. Just looking around you can see the amount of respect this female fronted band has earned. Their songs are catchy, almost sticky but at the same time ooze attitude. As each song was delivered, the crowd responded getting louder and louder. Deadline have a reputation, and tonight they prove that they are one of London’s premiere punk groups. Roll on Punk Unity Fest 4 – it’s going to be a blast! ~ Tim Drunk
Cock Sparrer / Slaughter & the Dogs/ UK Subs / Deadline / Goldblade / Riot Squad Wolverhampton, UK 3 November 2007
We got to the venue just before the doors opened. Walked straight into the Sparrer merch stall then off to the bar and as a consequence some of us missed most of Riot Squad, managing to catch the last two songs including a ferocious version of Sparrer’s ‘Riot Squad’. Riot Squad did a good job standing in for Demob, even though they were playing to a very small
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audience as everyone was filtering into the venue. Goldblade were up next after a swift change over, ‘Fighting In The Dancehall’ ensued with an ever enthusiastic John Robb bouncing all over the place, whipping up the ever growing crowd into a frenzy, jumping off the stage to involve the audience more (Slaughter noting later that there should have been no barriers). John invited Andy K from Demob onstage, to assist with backing vocals for ‘Mutiny’. Andy looked gutted over Demob having to pull out of the gig a week before – but nice gesture. John continued to involve the audience doing the preacher hand on heads thing and imploring people ‘Do You Believe in the Power of Rock ‘n Roll’? but the set was over too soon. We can’t wait for the new album. Deadline are always good, Liz is one of the few female singers that can pull it off and as usual put her heart into it as did the rest of the band, but having seen them do a blistering gig the night before in Camden (with Sick On The Bus, Love & A 45 and Lucifer Star Machine, all of who impressed) this wasn’t quite as good… but for those that hadn’t seen them for a while or before, you cant go wrong with Deadline and they were a magnificent warm up for the next band. Well, what hasn’t already been said about the UK Subs? They always put 100% into it and always get the crowd going. I can’t remember the last time we went to a bad Subs gig... ever. Charlie Harper gave a salute to the late Paul Fox of The Ruts
with ‘New York State Police’. Riotous versions of ‘CID’, ‘Stranglehold’, ‘Teenage’ and ‘Endangered Species’ ensued with some of the audience chanting for ‘Warhead’ in-between each track. They were the first band to get the entire audience singing along to their most popular track. Another quick change and Slaughter & the Dogs were up on stage. Having never seen Slaughter before, Russ wasn’t expecting very much 30 years down the line after he originally wanted to see them. We were really surprised, they were absolutely superb after the initial battle with the sound (all of the bands suffered this fate – isn’t that what sound checks are for?) they just got better as the set went on, superb versions of ‘Mystery Girls’, ‘Cranked Up Really High’, ‘You’re Ready Now’ and ‘I’m Mad’. There was a deranged version of ‘Victim of the Vampire’ with Barrett menacing about the stage from one side to the other laughing maniacally. Then there was the inevitable but required ‘Where Have All The Boot-boys Gone’. Superb, we are definitely going to see them again after this performance. But even after five enjoyable sets you couldn’t help feeling that everyone was waiting with baited breath, nervous anticipation and high expectations for the final act. Cock Sparrer didn’t disappoint anybody. Everyone’s plastic glasses just went into the air, full or not, it was pointless holding on to the flimsy things. All the bands had filled the stage well but Sparrer just
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS made it look small and by ‘Working’ the entire audience, balcony included, were leaping about, pumping fists into the air and singing along with every word. We were treated to every Sparrer classic as well as tracks from the new album, which fitted perfectly into the set along side the old songs. Sparrer ploughed into the opening track and new single ‘Too Late’ and then ‘Gotta Get Out’ which was kindly given away on a free gig CD on the way in the door. Then back to the classics in no particular order ‘Argy Bargy’, ‘Secret Army’, ‘Because You’re Young’, ‘Watch Yer Back’, ‘What’s it Like To Be Old’, ‘Tough Guys’, two more new songs and an almost entirely audienceled rendition of ‘Where Are They Now’ followed by the proper version. It seemed over all too quickly. After a very lack lustre shout for more (everyone was probably knackered from leaping about for a few hours) they came back on with Daryl Smith saying “Thank fuck that’s over, now we can go fucking mental” and proceeded to rip into ‘Sunday Stripper’, ‘Running Riot’ and ‘Chip On My Shoulder’. Everyone would have been well satisfied, but just maybe the best was yet to come. An audience of roughly 2000 singing along to a completely amazing version of ‘England Belongs To Me’ and ‘We’re Coming Back’ rounded the night off perfectly. ~ Russ Black/Gemma Eggle
The Unseen / Strawberry Blondes / Moral Dilemma
Camden Underworld, London, UK 8 November 2007 Up first on this cold evening were London locals Moral Dilemma. They got straight to it and thrashed out a particular style of punk rock that only the underground can deliver. With political twists galore, this three piece have the attitude to backup their talk but tonight they seemed a little off, not as tight as I had hoped for, leaving them sounding a little muddy. Hopefully next time I see them their set will sound more like their album that I’ve come to love. Strawberry Blondes seem to always appear on London stages in support of touring American bands, not a bad thing as their sound is very much reminiscent of their heroes Rancid. They’ve got some great songs that get the crowd moving and many of them join in on numerous choruses. The ‘blondes, complete with a new bassist, raise the temperature up to a very cozy 21 odd degrees, I think… Fresh off their recent Warped Tour stint, The Unseen return to the UK this time to headline their own tour and from song one they prove that they can hold their own despite not having bassist Tripp on tour with them. Mark Unseen prances around the stage with a huge smile on his face as the frenzied crowd scream every word back at him. The energy and passion flows out of the amps and feeds the crowd pushing the temperature up to boiling point. The pit becomes a flurry of
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bodies with Mark leaning into them offering them a chance to echo their voices through the already booming PA system. If this London show was anything to go, I’d say the Unseen deserve to headline any tour – so what’s this talk of ‘newbies’ Gallows having the Unseen open for them… go figure. ~ Tim Drunk
Penetration / Teasing Lulu
100 Club, London, UK 8 November 2007
Penetrations’ Pauline. © Grilly
“Pauline… fahrk the Sex Pistols!” cried some twit in the crowd. Not sure if Pauline understood a word of it, her of the big black eyes only speaks Geordie (“Weer fram Nyoocassell”) you see… But we all agreed with him. If you were one of the thousands who got conned into the rush for the “only” Pistols night, paying £100 on ebay for a ticket only to find a deluge of dates announced over the following hours, you would have missed this gem of a gig in the real home of punk rock in Oxford Street. We kicked off the night with Teasing Lulu, who arrived late from Brighton, apparently having trouble finding - London? I often do that, though I have to be completely shit-faced to do it. I’m told the trick is to head for the great big fuckoff city with a zillion houses in it and you can’t go wrong. No really, they played us a great poppunk set with a Stranglers fetish thrown in. A really big punter decided to pogo around wildly and made a lot of room for himself in front of the stage until he was taken out and heavily sedated. There were some lovely vocals, to which Bev Anorak in the crowd sang along the whole time and just missed punching me in the face a few times - but then I think she knows the words to every song ever written. And so onto Penetration. Mysteriously, having declared that they were going to perform the whole of Moving Targets
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album, they wrote themselves out some song lists - did they think they might miss one? Nick came up to me before the start and said “It’s gonna be a great night”, and he was right. The timeless grind of the Stooges’ ‘Penetration’ gave way to the real Penetration and they churned out the good stuff relentlessly all evening. Pauline was swooning her way through ‘Life’s a Gamble’, ‘Lovers of Outrage’ and all the rest, you know them all and it’s just incredible when you realise you have been playing all this for the last 30 years. Christ we’re getting old. Robert Blamire beamed the whole evening, doubtless relieved that so many of the crowd were still alive and able to turn up. They reached ‘Reunion’ and the (feeling youthful) crowd really got going, the momentum keeping up through ‘Nostalgia’ and finally ‘Free Money’; before the icing on the cake as they treat us to an “encore” of singles (not wanting to fight their way to the dressing room they just stayed on stage - “Weer gunna pree-tend ter guhr off ”), ‘Firing Squad’ and ‘Don’t Dictate’ being the cherries on top. Eat your heart out Mr Rotten, on a plastic tray. ~ Grilly
The Sex Pistols
Brixton Academy, London UK 9 November 2007 Ten minutes ‘til show time and I was more drunk then I had planned on being
considering that seeing the Pistols live was the culmination of a thirteen year dream. I blame it on two things: The god-awful DJ set that seemingly lasted for an eternity and the fact that I had an experience with the creepy looking one from My Chemical Romance and his man-mountain of a personal bodyguard. Both events required booze to block them out. So the point being that here I was, mere minutes from Pistols heaven and I was seeing just slightly less than double. Considering that I had a review to write, it was not a good situation. Still, when the show began it was everything that I imagined. From Johnny’s posturing and sarcasm to a rousing rendition of ‘I do like to be beside the sea-side’ the Pistols blistered through the classics that we all know and love. Sure, some would say it’s taken them 30 years to perfect one album but nobody could ever do it better than Messrs Lydon, Matlock, Jones and Cook. I have blurred memories of laughing, jumping and screeching along to all my favourite songs and having the show close with ‘Bodies’ was the icing on my proverbial punk rock cake. I’m pretty sure it was the best night of my life. (Although I wasn’t quite drunk enough to block out Glenn Matlock’s gold waistcoat…oh well) If you need more information than that, you simply should have been there. ~ RubyRock.
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Speedfreaks Ball 3
Pontins Holiday Centre, Hemsby, Great Yarmouth, UK 9-12 November 2007 (Ed’s note: We sent Mr Funnell to this event with the explicit orders for a solid review. Owing to his penchant for hard liquor, what we received was this drunken diary.) Speedfreaks is a name that makes me hung-over with its mere utterance. Last year, if asked to review the Saturday of last years Ball, I wouldn’t be able to tell you a thing. I further cemented my reputation as a drunken fool and awoke to no phone. It is a legendary tale amongst five people present, if only I could remember it all. So onwards to 2007, this time with my journalists hat. It is not a literal hat as in one with journalist written on it or indeed with a press pass in the trim. Oh no, this is a club style Pork Pie often sporting an out of date travel card in the trim. We arrive in good spirits and begin on the Sailor Jerry Rum. I am now name dropping and so whilst on the subject, it’s mine and the Mrs’ favourite tipple. Maybe they want to sponsor me, I’ll drop in the name every now and then for the odd bottle? So drinking the amber nectar seems a good start, or maybe bad, as soon we have met with some chums, so
get tarted up and we drink more before we head to the ball. Forward two hours and we are raging and decide to drunkenly view some bands, one of our party, who shall remain nameless, are held back by vomiting. We stop for no one, so leaving them with a bucket our platoon heads for the carnage. It’s late now and apologies to those involved, but I missed everyone bar Neville Staple and The Meteors. Neville Staple is great, a kind of best of The Specials with his own pretty damn good party songs, this drunken monkey wobbled while he played. I think he ended with “Enjoy Yourself ” though I could be wrong... The Skinheads dance and psychos bob their heads a bit, I think to myself “I chuffing well love Speedfreaks!” The bobbing Psychos move forward as the skins move to the bar in preparation for Kings of Psychobilly, The Meteors ! This band should need no introduction, as P.Paul Fenech and his motley crew hit the stage. Now the booze is affecting my memory as to songs, but they were great as usual, I think. And it’s off to the arcade for me for some (drunk) arcade driving, house of the dead and one of my companions accidentally setting off the 2p machine alarm! Hurrah! Saturday: Hot Rocket Trio play, ‘kin fabulous as always. Feel sick though. Sit in chalet feeling fragile and watching Pontins TV. It’s
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a bit weird, involves a duck dancing to Leo Sayer. I really need to get out, so we do the market, the bar, then Goldblade. I love this band, literally the most fun ever. They’re getting on a bit now but Jesus Christ they rock. John Robb bounces about like a jack in the box on speed and they are tighter than a nuns c**t. Next Mad Sin. 20 years on and still the best party in town. Literally. Intimidating whilst inciting somewhere between a party and a riot. The show culminates with fireworks, yes actual fireworks! Worth 80 quid on their own I reckon... I am hungover and drunk again, I could have seen more bands, but my memory isn’t as it was and Speedfreaks isn’t too good for my remaining grey matter, so I forget.
market, another go on the arcades, then in to the main stage for The Grit. First up though The Duel. Erm, yep they’re okay. No one really watching and bad sound. They would be better on a smaller stage I reckon, but when The Grit come on their memory, or indeed the memory of any band pales in comparison. ‘Kin marvelous. They own the place, like the Clash but Northern, with a double bass, more of a party ethic. That’s a lazy comparison though cause The Grit are something else unique to themselves and better and better every time I see them. “Angry Cunt” brings the house down as usual and it’s a drive down The M4 for us, hanging over, full of burgers but content, Speedfreaks is my favourite event of the year. ~ Mr Funnell.
Sunday: We have acquired a new roomie, Wally from Hot Rocket Trio (Yep, I’m name dropping but he’s great). We all sit round drinking tea and drawing pictures until it’s time for Henry and The Bleeders. Young’uns, but bloody good’uns. Sometimes sax backed, always rocking with Henry and of course his Bleeders playing some foot tapping neo rockabilly. Ones to watch. Missed Frenzy. Can’t remember why or even if they played on Sunday, but they’re always great so four K’s stars, D’s or whatever to them. I’ve got to leave tonight so try and make the most of it all. Another trip round the
The Adicts / Goldblade / Deadline Islington Academy, London, UK 15 November 2007
The last time I saw The Adicts in London they were nominally headlining what was actually an attempt by CockSparrer to present a low-key but triumphant return to the home-town stage. The fervour that greeted Sparrer’s Astoria set was accompanied by a brooding menace which led to the evening ending with a naked Monkey, sieg-heiling stage invaders, and sirens wailing the length of Charing Cross Road. Its hard to believe
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that just over a decade later the hate fuelled scum that tarnished a scene has been banished to the shadows and the most joyful rock ‘n roll experiences to be had on the planet quite simply starts with Riot Squad and ends with Viva La Revolution. Still, CockSparrer never played London again. The Islington Academy has drawn a sizeable crowd but it’s not sold out. A travesty I know, particularly with Gold Blade as whores d’oevres, but then its pretty damned expensive being a punk rocker in London around now. Never mind the usual bollocks of the punk gig merry-go-round, if Pistols’ tickets haven’t blown a £40 hole in your wallet there’s special shows by solo Siouxie, Stranglers remember Rattus at the Roundhouse and coming soon Buzzcocks at the Millennium Dome and the Damned playing with Chainsaw Freaks as the circus comes to the Forum, oh yes and the false Sham and the sham Jam too. And so the masters of the grand entrance kick off with the Ode To Joy ready to Dazzle in their whiter than whites and straight into Joker In The Pack. Monkey sports a topper which represents the missing link between Noddy Holder and Boy George and from now on it’s Non-Stop. Highlights include ‘Bad Girl’ from the latest album (although we all know it as ‘You Naughty Naughty Girl’) and ‘Go Genie G’o from the previous one. Otherwise, it’s mainly oldies based
around circus games interspersed with an argument about spilling beer before a trip to the Chinese takeaway (Whooh Whooh Whooh). The Adicts may have emerged a couple of years after the first punk revolution but they would have fitted in just as happily a couple of years beforehand ‘cos they really are as glam as punk ... the Glitter Band you’re not afraid to mention. If you needed further evidence that life affirming events can occur on Thursdays in November then just check the encore. ‘My Baby Got Run Over By A Steamroller’, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and ‘I’m A Bad Bad Boy’ all accompanied by tinsel, bubbles and giant beach balls. Adicts have cracked it. ~ Herbert
Arms Aloft
Acton Town Hall, London, UK 15th November 2007 The event -and I purposefully use that title and not ‘show’- that played out at Acton Town Hall on November 15th will forever stick in my heart and mind. All those lucky enough to have caught Joe Strummer live, whether it be in the form of the Clash, pre-Clash or the Mescalero’s, are said to have been witnesses to something quite special. The Clash, for me personally, is my most inspirational and, when push comes to shove, favourite band of all time. So when the announcement was
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS Billy Bragg @ Arms Aloft. Š Steve Noble
made some months ago about Arms Aloft (named after one of Joe’s songs) event to serve as a multipurpose fund-raiser and commemoration to the memory of Joe Strummer, attendance was a no brainer. It was 5 years ago in 2002 that Joe last graced the stages at Acton Town Hall, standing side by side in brotherhood with fire fighters as they fought the government on public sector issues. That stand probably forever united fire fighters with Joe, but it was not just fire fighters with whom he was standing on that night, it was a stand with all public workers, a
stand for all fights against wrongs, a fight that is eternal but one that needs to be fought none the less. In addition on that night, Joe was joined for the first time in a very long time by former band partner Mick Jones, the often underplayed character in what made The Clash so very successful and appealing in terms of music. This event in 2007, would be graced initially by Take the 5th, a band that did its very best to play classic Clash songs. And they did play a great set, something which I think they tried to put their very soul into, and the crowd reacted
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favourably for the most which was encouraging. Starting off with ‘London Burning’ and ending with ‘White Man (In Hammersmith Palais’ is as good as you can ask for. Outside in the stalls area, the widely mixed group of punters drank, chatted and reminisced. Another benefactor of the night was Billy Bragg’s Jail Guitar Doors, an ongoing initiative to provide guitars to inmates. A raffle was held for this cause with the prize being an opportunity to not only win one of the guitars, but also to perform onstage during the encore of the evening. More than enough incentive to support the cause, I’m sure you’ll agree. Before Take the 5th, a few members of the Fire-fighters and its Union provided impassioned speeches about the relevance of Joe playing in 2002 and about this very evening too. And of course the recent events where fire-fighters were killed performing their duties acted as a sobering moment. A one minutes silence was exceptionally adhered to, and then the festivities continued with more than one remembrance in the air. After a musical interlude from Jerry Dahmers on the decks, Chris Salewicz was asked onstage to read an excerpt from his book. “Redemption Song” probably the most authorative and complete on Joe Strummer to date. Tymon Dogg, ex-member of The Clash albeit for a brief stint, and long term friend of Joe and The Clash, (and member of The Mescaleros) played on next with his band the Quickening, an
organic group of talented musicians who blend with his folksy, roots and Latin flavoured style borrowing from all his worldly travels. In such stark contrast to the rest of the music for the night, it mellowed instantaneously in the nicest possible way, and only served to tighten the solidarity of the crowd and the night. With his triangular pyramid shaped instrument, dual drummers, guitars, keys and violins, it was an utterly captivating show, climaxing with him and his stunningly attractive violin companion shredding their strings. (In fact the only downside of the night were the middle -aged non sober men up in the front trying to get lewd photos of the violinist) Otherwise- amazing stuff. As the mood reached a crescendo, Mick Jones was bought onstage to rapturous applause, and he and Tymon were presented with axes which are usually reserved for those that have been in the service. Another touching moment in an unforgettable night. Finally Billy Bragg came onstage and played an intro (to tune his new guitar) and started properly with “To Have and To Have Not”. In between songs, Billy Bragg would talk about fond memories of Joe, the reason behind the Jail Guitar Doors, and diminished any barriers that existed between stage and crowd. He could have been playing your lounge it was that comfortable. Even in between more tuning he squeezed in some requests. But by en large it was an example of his fine standing as a musician, spokesperson and activist. Reminding
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS us of 30 years next year since the Rock Against Racism show that sparked his own adventures into activism and his fight against apathy and with it racism, discrimination and politics. In between his own crowd pleasers and personal favourite songs, he got one of the biggest sing alongs to one of Joe’s favourites - ‘Redemption song’. As Bob Marley’s eternal epic was sung through the voice of Billy Bragg and a thousand others on this night, I think a tiny lump was bought to everyone’s throat as the sentiment and words truly hit home. As his own show came to an end, the winner of the guitar raffle was announced and all the stage performers for the night including Mick Jones joined in for an encore unparalleled in revelry, meaning and memory. The fitting climax to an event that will have roused fond memories, created new everlasting ones and hopefully sparked action. Thank you to all involved and thank you Joe. RIP ~ Steve Noble
Tiger Army / Street Dogs
Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, USA 16 November 2007 Returning to their home in Los Angeles, Tiger Army played a double sold out set at the The Wiltern Theatre. Since the release of their debut album in 1999, Tiger Army have steadily been on the rise. The high energy sound of this punkabilly trio has been attracting and converting fans all over the world. But tonight, stand up
Tiger Army © PhotBret
bassist Jeff Roffredo, drummer James Meza, and vocalist Nick 13 were here for their LA fans. As with many Tiger Army shows, the crowd consists of a collection of different genres, from the psycho’s and greasers to the old school punks, once again proving Tiger Army’s broad appeal. They played a different set for each night, kicking up the speed on the first night, giving the band a more psychobilly influence. As always, the band continued their appreciation of their fan base, thanking the crowd repeatedly for the continued support throughout the years. Opening the show was Boston style punk band Street Dogs, fronted by Mike McColgan, former lead singer of Dropkick Murphys. Having the Street Dogs open the show is somewhat ironic as back in 2002 Tiger Army were opening for the Dropkick Murphys. Live show upon live show, album after album, Tiger Army continue to prove that they will never die. ~ Jane Gibson
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Demented Are Go / The Creepshow / Devilish Presley
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Camden Underworld, London, UK 16 November 2007
Frontman Sparky is quite a sight in a drape jacket, zombie makeup and a voice like Mariella Frostrup from beyond the grave. Classics including “PVC Chair”, and “Be Bop a Lula” sit easily alongside newer material and are an intimidating force as much now as then. The bands are almost caricatures of benchmark psychobilly in a genre that is in so many ways a caricature which is why I love it so much, which is why I love this band so much. First class. ~ Mr Funnell.
Now let’s get this started right. I missed Devilish Presley. I am gutted about this as I am a fan, but cannot give you an accurate review. So I am gonna say they are shit hot and you must check them out. Deal? Next up, The Creepshow, (cue spooky echoed voice and lightning) wahaa ha ha! Horror Punk, Hellbilly, whatever the “hell” the genre is called. Okay, as in not bad I guess, bit to squeaky clean for me. I want Horror bands to be well, horrible, I guess. The problem is they are too damn nice, thanking people for dancing/singing/wrecking etc. The drummer is good though, like real good, the singer is “well fit”, so maybe check ‘em out, kinda Horropopslavigneacore. Yep, I just invented a genre. Demented Are Go need little introduction. Survivors amongst the original batch of psycho bands and still going strong despite a biography that reads somewhere between the Motley Crue story Sparky, Demented Are Go © James Gifford and a James Herbert novel.
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS The Toasters / Deskarats
SalaCaracol, Madrid, Spain 19 November 2007 After failing miserably with my basic knowledge of Spanish in the capital, I eventually stumbled across the venue and discovered The Toasters eating their pre gig dinner. I had beer… There was already a steady flow of Spanish punters passing through. What struck me immediately was the clash of styles in Spain and London. No hawks at all, and loads of crusty haircuts and loads of ponytailed Dungeon master looking type. That said from the moment local Spanish support started they were skanking along, none of this British wait and see, or impress me first nonsense that is so prevalent these days. Deskarats, took a while to get the whole room moving, but when they did, with their highly infectious ska, fantastic horns and enigmatic front man it was easy to see why. This was a proper seven piece with each member fitting into the puzzle and as a whole they play a decent set of upbeat tunes. Their set started late [Well normal then by non UK standards] and went on for a while too, but instead of losing interest I felt they got better with time, maybe feeling the crowd out at first and playing them into their hands? Still, a band to look out for. The Toasters, with the crowd well oiled started with their familiar “2 Tone Army” and from the get go, the mood and tempo rose another notch. Everyone
edged forward and the dancing stretched all the way to the back doors of the venue. They raced through a lot of songs from their large selection and most of the crowd seemed to know them all or pretended they did. When frontman Buck recently told us they know what The Toasters fans want and that’s why they have not tried to reconstruct their sound over the years I could see what he meant. The crowd was steady and energetic with the songs ticking by, obviously more vocal with their personal favourites. As the encore came, quite quickly for what was a long set and a long night, they climaxed with ‘Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down’ their now signature farewell. As Adios was said to Madrid, the band would make their way onto the next Spanish stop on a tour which is a stark reminder of the bands significance in ska, good quality music and showmanship. ~ Spanish Steve.
Social Distortion / The Hedrons
House of Blues, Los Angeles, USA 23 November 2007 Social Distortion kicked off another double sold out set at the legendary ‘House of Blues’ in Hollywood. Their fan base ranges in all ages and genres, including old school punk rockers and new school kids. The Hedrons, a punk band out of Scotland, opened the show and this all female band grabbed the attention of the crowd
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> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS with high powered vocals and intense stage persona. Even as the petite lead singer stage dived into the crowd, she managed to keep all her vocals exactly on cue. The band got a roaring cheer from the audience as they left the stage and I’m sure they’ll be back soon. As the anticipation reached fever pitch, Mike Ness appeared on stage to grace the crowd with fresh roses. The band quickly joined him and they launched straight into a triple set of country acoustic, before breaking into their well known, hard slamming punk sound. They kept the fans guessing by mixing new country tunes in with their classics. As the band played, Mike Ness encouraged fans to sing with him to songs such as “Mommy’s Little Monster” and “Sick Boy”. Wrapping up the night was none other than Johnny Cash cover, ‘Ring of Fire’, which sent the crowd wild. A brilliant song to finish off a brilliant show which left the fans wanting more and with Social Distortion’s tour schedule, it shouldn’t be too long of a wait before they return to the House of Blues. ~ Jane Gibson.
someone else told me he’d done a gig in Walthamstow about 18 months ago. One thing was sure, and that was the only guy who really, really wouldn’t have a clue which was the right answer was Johnny himself. If ever a legend was in need of imminent and lengthy hospital attention it would be Johnny Moped. I was introduced to him just before the gig, and wondered what to say. “Well, it’s good to see you’re still alive,” was the best that I could manage, to which Johnny replied “murrghghhwaaarmmm” and headed off to the bar. Don’t think much has changed in the last 16 years then. Or is it 28? Fortunately for all of us, Moped has managed to surround himself with enough more-than-useful musicians to bang out a decent evening’s entertainment, and the crowd enjoyed a cracking sing-a-long set of rock ’n roll Moped-style. ‘Something Else’ blended seamlessly in with ‘Incendiary Device’ (twice) and the classic Moped tune from that now-antique Roxy album ‘Hard Lovin’ Man’ (also twice), and we all loved it, every bit. – Grilly
Johnny Moped
The Loyalties / Radio Dead Ones
Slim Tim Slide came back on stage to announce the arrival of the legendary Johnny Moped: “His first gig for 16 years….” said Tim. Or is it Slim? The previous day someone had told me it was Johnny’s first gig for 28 years, and
Many familiar faces filled the upstairs area of the Intrepid Fox for this rather intimate show. Starting things off and losing their London gig virginity were German punks Radio Dead One’s. Regardless of whether they had fans
Ocean Rooms, Brighton, UK 24 November 2007
Intrepid Fox, London, UK 24 November 2007
RE V I E W S Don’t take our word for it, make up your own mind!
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in the people gathered, every song was met with a shower of appreciation in the form of applause and hoots. You may have rocked up to watch The Loyalties but I’m pretty sure many people walked out as a fan of Radio Dead Ones. I’m confident we’ll be hearing more from these German punks soon. The highlight of the evening was indeed The Loyalties. Perhaps more straight up rock ’n roll than punk, this band, comprising of former members of the Yo Yo’s and Black Halos sure know how to write great music. From the first song to the last, each song had its own identity, and because of that, each song stayed with you. Take a section of Social Distortion, add some Backyard Babies attitude with the hooks of The Wildhearts and you’ll begin to draw the picture that is The Loyalties. Keep an eye out for them and make sure you see ‘em in the smaller venues now before they start playing the bigger ones, because if this show is anything to go by, they won’t be confined to bars for too much longer. ~ Tim Drunk.
Pronghorn / Hobo Jones & The Junkyard Dogs / Los Salvadores / Belinda Carbuncle. Pipers, Folkerstone, UK 24 November 2007
Now I have received a lot of stick for never having seen or heard Belinda Carbuncle before and so was really looking forward to the show. The three lads from
Kent set out to entertain from the start with a track entitled ‘Sound Check Song’ which was hilarious and then went into a string of songs that were pretty much about wanking. Their work was original and extremely funny with a few lyric reworkings of some classics. A must see. I hadn’t see Los Salvadores in ages so was glad to see they hadn’t lost any of their spark. The folk punks gave a show full of energy with fantastic leading harmonies and fast paced rhythms, and a sing a long to ‘The Drinking Song’. I also picked up their long awaited album ‘Attack Of The Clones’ which is superb and made me smile all the way home in the car. A must buy if you fancy something a little different, but these boys definitely have to be seen live to appreciate the complexities of their music. I thought Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs were brilliant as a cover’s band, bringing ‘Skiffle’ to the masses. The first ever skunk rockers (skiffle-punk) gave an acoustic set of punk and rock classics performed on washboard, tea-chest bass, guitar and kazoo with highly entertaining banter in between songs. Headliners, Pronghorn, did not disappoint. These cow punker’s sound was quite folksy with an almost Irish twist, with a lot of the tracks being driven by the violin and banjo. Great for dancing with the deep gravelly vocals spurring you on. We even had a stage invasion with a stick solo. By the end of the night I felt like I was at a ho-down in a barn, not in a night club... one of the best gigs I’ve been to in ages. ~ Gemma
Cursed. Words by Cerven Cotter. Photos by James Gifford
THE CASEY CHAOS
INTERVIEW
Their sound is unique. Their lyrical content is outspoken and controversial. Their work ethos is unmatched. Their live performance is unrivalled. AMEN is without a doubt a punk band. As Casey Chaos wraps his boots up with silver duct tape, he becomes concerned that I don’t have a drink. ‘Would you like a drink?” as he looks around the dark, equipment littered room. As he moves towards the fridge, I decline his generous offer as I’m good with a full pint of cider and I’m sure that everybody backstage wouldn’t be too thrilled that some writer was drinking ‘their free’ drinks. Casey continues to get prepared for upcoming show at London’s Underworld, he sits down to ensure his boots are on tight again, then he stands up to sort out his shirt. It is
hard to comprehend that this rather soft spoken and polite individual is the driving force behind a punk phenomenon known as AMEN. However, its Casey’s blood
dried scratched arms, which allude to his legendary madman ethics.
As a pro skateboarder in his youth, Casey met fellow pro skater Duane Peters, who introduced him to Black Flag. The
very first time Casey saw Black Flag live, his whole world changed. From
that moment, Casey would find himself pursuing a somewhat doomed career. The band, AMEN, became a result of Casey’s band known as Casey and the Skate Punx which later became Disorderly Conduct. Ironically, they would only release one album titled ‘Amen’. It may seem like AMEN have had things easy, but 2007 has been a rough year with the band being accused of not honouring advertised tours. “The last promoter ripped us off,” explains Casey with regards to the ‘fake’ tour, “And he ripped off a lot of people. He didn’t even have the deposit money for our flights, so we couldn’t get over here (to the UK).” Casey looks at the members of the bands touring with AMEN, “So these guys here, lost like £4000 because they bought into a tour that didn’t happen. They then offered to do a tour anyway because they really wanted to do it.” Despite two previously advertised tours, one being cancelled due to Casey’s health, AMEN still managed to hit venues across the UK in a sneaky, underground, no hype way. Casey admits that this tour is a form of damage control. He feels as if many people were like: “AMEN fucked us over and this and that thing.” It couldn’t be further from the truth. “Now we’re playing all kinds of places, like outside, we played a backyard party the other night,” says a rather excited Casey. “It was great show.” He continues to explain the rea-
sons for the current tour, “It’s not really the bands fault, but we’re here cleaning up the mess that that other guy left. We just want to make sure people understood that it wasn’t the bands fault. So now we’re playing these smaller venues, secret shows really, and getting some new material out there.” It’s this dedication in the face Casey’s personal health issues and the loss of his father earlier in the year that makes AMEN a special band. After this UK tour, Casey has the task of dealing with some labels with regards to the new album, the fourth AMEN full length. With three full-length albums on three major labels, Casey hasn’t had the best relationships as far as it comes to the music industry. Surely he knows exactly what he’s looking for in a label?
“I don’t think anybody can say that, the whole music industry is fucked.” Casey is
lucky as he has been on several different labels and has learnt some tricks along the way. “I make the music I want to make and put it out there for the labels and if they don’t want it, there’ll usually be someone else.” Casey’s forward thinking will see him pursue licensing deals to ensure the music of AMEN gets out there. “We’re going to do what a lot of black metal bands do, and just license the album, so you should be seeing a number of AMEN releases in the new-year.” He goes onto make mention of the release of the Damned record, a live recording from the gig where he fronted The Damned at the 100 Club in 2006. According to Casey, this will be released as a CD/DVD set. Despite
sounding confident about how everything will pan out, Casey seems realistic about the whole deal, “That’s the plan anyway, but who knows what will happen.” So why has it taken so long for this new album to happen? “I took some time off to do a few things after doing that Damned thing and then I went to Norway to record the guitars and bass. I did the drums in LA with Larkin, the same drummer as on all the other records. I tried for the same musicianship as on all the other records with me playing all the instruments. I tried to recreate the same vibe as the Scum record, as the work ethic was so much better there.” With rumours of the new album being AMEN’s ‘most brutal’ up in the air, I had to find out more. “We’ve got 68 songs and yeah, most of the material is under two minutes for each song, with a few that are around three minutes long.” However Casey goes onto to say the last song on the album will be much longer, “I’ve done the music, and just need to do the vocals for it.” Casey’s idea behind the record is to replicate the feelings he got from bands such as Bad Brains, Black Flag, Discharge and a ‘million other influences’. “So that’s the idea, but by far it will
be the least commercial record we’ve done… I doubt there will be a chance to do a video or anything,” laughs Casey. “I think it will be as far opposite of that as it could be.”
Is making this record as un-commercial as possible the main objective? “That’s what the ‘Parents’ record was supposed to be but
I just want to recreate the energy of the American hardcore movement that I experienced. It just feels like the label still put it out…
the rest of the world never understood the
American hardcore thing. Nobody got it. Like over here, you had all the bands playing the Roxy, you had the anarcho bands and you had the different scenes, peace punk bands, and your fuckn’ crust punk bands and blah, blah... In America it was different, it was just one big melting pot of styles all coming together. We had bands like the Big Boys, X, the Germs, Cro-Mags, Minor Threat and on, and on. They all played together, so, I just wanted to create, record…” As Casey’s train of thought shifts, he continues, “There are a lot of people that made that music and that inspired me, who listen this band (AMEN) and in a way wanted to do this for them,” explains Casey. It was a special moment for him when they performed on the Henry Rollins show and all he wanted to do was to perform ‘I Gotta Run’ by Black Flag. “I just wanted to play a song to show him how much he matters to me and what he’s done for me,” admits Casey. After being sidetracked by his recollection of being on the Rollins show, Casey comes back to the album, “I didn’t care about anything else, all I was interested in was the vibe of the record.” He goes onto explain how they sat around picking bits out of Casey’s music collection that he could use in the new record. He recalls the process, “You hear that on that song, let’s use that, but recreate it and use it like this.” The labour of going through the older stuff was a lot of fun for Casey and even as he talks about it now, you can see it in his eyes – he can’t wait to get these new songs out to the fans. And what is the new album called? “There are a few things but nothing set
in stone just yet,” says Casey, “there’s nothing I could tell you that I feel comfortable in putting out there just yet.” With the new album in the bands immediate future, what is the next step for AMEN. Will Casey call it a day after this record as the rumours suggest? It’s like he gazes into his own future as he says, “I’ve always said this would be the final AMEN album, but if I feel like doing a new record, then I’m going to do one. I don’t know anything else, this is all I know.” Even if AMEN doesn’t release anything again, Casey makes suggestions about perhaps working within the industry as he mentions Keith Morris (Circle Jerks) who works as an A&R guy. It seems like no matter what the newly-wed Casey pursues, it
always going to something within music, something creative, something where is surrounded by his friends.
During this entire conversation, Casey has managed to prepare himself for tonight’s show. His signature worn sleeveless shirt and leather wristband all now in place. I shake Casey’s hand and wish him luck for the remainder of the tour. Within the next hour, he will take to the stage and along with his band-mates, they will destroy the Underworld and restore the faith in their fans. However, only a few days after this interview, AMEN would be forced to cancel the remainder of their tour and return back to the States for a funeral… will AMEN be cursed for ever?
Up front The Photo Gallery
Take the 5th photo by Where in the world is Steve?
The Demented Are Go pit Š James Gifford
The Hedrons Š PhotoBret.
StreetDog. Š PhotoBret
AMEN Š James Gifford
A few of my favourite things...
Daniel Dart Time Again
1. Band: I would have to say Rancid, songwriter i would have to say Bob Dylan 2. ‘77 punk band: The Clash 3. Drink: Coke 4. Food: Turkey & mash potatoes 5. Book: On the Road by Jack Kerouac 6. Album: Wow, hard to answer. Depends on my mood. Anything by Rancid or Bob Dylan I would say 7. Movie: Almost Famous 8. Gadget: A guitar, is that a gadget? Could be I guess 9. Pet: Our dog, Beemer 10. Things to do aside from band stuff: Reading, I always got a book close by.
“Darkest Days” due out in 2008. (photo by Grilly)