Manifesta: 1) Good, passionate music/art CAN save lives. 2) Everyone’s writing/art/music deserves to be heard/seen/read at least once. 3) We have the right to be heard Fuck Censorship!! 4) We have the right to create our OWN STORY on OUR terms. 5) We refuse to accept corporate, sensationalist, exploitative BULLSHIT as music. 6) We refuse to tolerate bullshit like sexism, homophobia, prejudice, or oppression in art/music. 7) We want to provocative, controversial, and LOUD. 8) We want autonomy over our MINDS, BODIES, and THOUGHTS. [Propaganda is a lie.] NO COMPROMISE. NO SURRENDER. NO FUCKING SHIT. _____________________________________________________________ Contributors: JENN ENDLESS: looking for a sad niche in the wide world. ANITA STATIC: lame poetry and terrible fictional stories. BJ – lovechild of Gandalf & Tom Delonge. SAKU EGON EVON NIELSEN – tired, coffee-a-holic, stubborn, short-tempered poet. __________________________________________________ AÇAI The girl of my dreams Comes from the rainforest Mixed in a bag Of loose leaf tea Her honey colored hair Makes the boiling water sweet Hibiscus colored lips With gentle hints of açai I’ll steep her in my teacup For as long as she needs And I’ll drink every last drop With sugar With cream BY SAKU EGON EVON NIELSEN
NIRVANA @ ROCK N’ ROLL HALL OF FAME Twenty-five years after Nirvana’s first studio album, Bleach, was released on Sub Pop Records, they were inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame during their first year of eligibility. I suppose this means that Nirvana was an exceptionally influential band. Krist Novoselić, Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain’s family (minus his daughter, Frances Bean), and Courtney Love clustered around the podium as they made their speeches. Dave Grohl said that your musical heroes should be people whose posters you can look up at and say, “yeah, I’ll do that, too”. He said there wasn’t any place for intimidation, and also acknowledged Nirvana’s original drummer, Chad Channing, who manned the kit for most of the Bleach album and several songs on Incesticide. It seemed that Courtney Love and the other two members of Nirvana finally got over their petty arguments as Courtney hugged Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselić on stage. What exactly does it mean to be in the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame? Chrissie Hynde from the band, The Pretenders, says that it has turned rock n’ roll into an institution, and as she says, “… that’s not the reason I got into the game.” Well said, Ms. Hynde. Imagining 1992 Nirvana standing on that stage just seems bizarre. I wonder, 20 years later, if Kurt Cobain would be into it. Obviously, people mature (sometimes) but reward ceremonies don’t seem to mesh well with the small-town, skinny-fucker, artistic reject aesthetic that was Nirvana. I don’t know if Cobain would have been into it – maybe he would’ve boycotted the ceremony just like the Sex Pistols several years earlier. And another thing, why is KISS just getting inducted NOW? Somehow, the ceremony almost exactly coincided with the 20-year anniversary of Cobain’s 1994 death, and every publication from Time and Guitar World capitalized somewhat on youth culture’s fascination with his death and music. Personal Note: can’t we talk about Nirvana’s music instead one particular member’s heroin troubles and depressing death? I can’t complain too much though because the Guitar World articles and photos were kinda cool, and they reminded me how much the band means to me and my music. Nirvana was the first sort-of punk record I ever bought. Obviously with Cobain absent, several singers were asked to fill his space at the induction ceremony. I first rolled my eyes at the thought, but then I found out they chose Joan Jett. I don’t “Smells Like Teen Spirit” has ever been cooler. Grohl and Novoselić also hired St.Vincent (cool), Lorde (meh), the Kim Gordon, and J Mascis to join them on stage and sing a song.
NIKON ADVENTURE IN CHICAGO.
I decided I should go on an adventure with my Nikon, exploring the diversity in Chicago neighborhoods – each “L” train stop almost seems like a portal into a new world. Instead of booking plane ticket to Heathrow or Charles de Gaulle for a grand, I can take a 30 minute CTA train ride and not understand what anybody is saying. There’s all the bonus perks of overseas travel without the awful layovers – foods with strange ingredients, signs I can’t read, and one entire day’s worth of entertainment. I really wanted to capture Chicago’s cultural landscape – or the human symbols and architecture left on the Earth’s surface – through my lens. I photographed signs, their languages, and varied architecture. I edited and sequenced the photos in Adobe Lightroom, and made a zine. I wanted to explore and find the smaller things most people haven’t seen before. Chinatown is a short ride on the red line from the downtown skyscrapers. The streets, decorated with signs in Chinese and Latin scripts, were lined with small, dark shops with shelves covered in rice, soy sauces, and dried duck. I snapped some pictures of the intricately-painted, porcelain Buddha figurines, ceramic bowls & Qingdynasty knockoffs, or community event signs written in Chinese. Nestled between the smoky shop fronts were small restaurants whose fried-veggie vapors wafted into the streets. The dark alleys, crammed with garbage and fire escapes, are reminiscent of the crowded streets of China. The twelve signs of the zodiac surround the square on Archer Street, where paper lanterns illuminate a two-story pedestrian mall filled with shops and Chinese trinkets. Most available banisters and flags are red. The five-story theatre on Wentworth Avenue, with its pagoda roof, serves as the focal point of the neighborhood, its towers soaring above the rest of the red brick buildings. A ride North to the Belmont stop ends up in Boystown, Chicago’s LGBT epicenter. Multi-colored flags decorate the area around the
Center on Halsted, a safe-zone for queer culture, artistic expression, and sexual abuse awareness and survivor support. Beside multi- colored flags, brightly painted buildings line the streets, and a rack of bikes is a permanent fixture in front of most apartments. Hollywood Mirror, an eclectic shop stuffed with props and feather boas available in every jewel tone color ever. I picked up some pastel purple bug-eye glasses. I started to get hungry and found a couple Indian restaurants, but finally settled on the Chicago Diner, whose sign alerts all passersby that they’ve been “meat free since ’83.” Health foods or banzai trees decorate many windows. A few red-line stops north, the neon lights and stage of the legendary Metro host some of my favorite bands. The train screeches to a halt on the Damen blueline stop in Wicker Park, and old brick walk-ups line the streets. Between the buildings, 30-story murals enliven the walls, and neon signs decorate the record and vintage clothing shops. Random band stickers and poster invade any available space. The legendary venues, Subterranean and Double Door, have hosted loads of indie bands in the last two decades. Any eclectic taste can be satisfied in Wicker Park – there’s vegan restaurants, sake & hookah bars. Just make sure to avoid the self-absorbed hipsters tarnishing the area. One sign read, “Wine – how classy people get wasted.” I located a jean jacket at Crossroads [and proceeded to cover it with buttons], FINALLY found Speedy Ortiz’ LP at Reckless Records, and paid a visit to Quimby’s bookstore where I bought a book written by one of my professors [Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno – seriously check it out]. I ordered a green, kale bowl at Native Food Café, and got the hell out of Wicker Park, already $100+ in the hole. Last, I investigated the South Loop which hosts a youth hostel and my university, Columbia College, searching for something I’d missed before. The South Loop isn’t like the Gold Coast; the tourists stay blissfully far away, and art kids with pastel-colored hair engorge themselves on hot wings and pizza. The shadows from the towering skyscrapers obscure the streets in the afternoon. Conversations are frequently interrupted by the roaring of the CTA trains, and cigarette smoke suffocates any unsuspecting victims. Zines and student artwork litter the shelves at SHOPColumbia, and Columbia makes sure to mark its territory with multiple-story murals of student photography. Reggie’s bar on Clark Street is a record store AND concert venue.
PASTEL ROSE She’s that punk-rocker with bleached hair, tips dyed red with lipstick. black eye circles stained with late nights her ragged voice clawing at people’s ears. there she is screaming CAN WE PLAY ROCK N ROLL FOR REAL AND CONQUER THE WORLD? she and her band, lonesome wretches chain smokers & liquor connoisseurs rank & stench of 3 unbathed days it’s 5AM and blinding lights from the show last night make the pale sun unbearable. A delinquent at 16, she left home singing. Punk rock is that thing, the only thing that keeps em breathing A hidden realm of dilapidated houses her parents refuse to understand decorated with graffiti and vagrant youth WHAT IS IT ABOUT WHERE THEY’VE BEEN? ALL THAT MATTERS IS WHERE THEY’RE GOING. her guys in ripped jeans she with think, paper hearts pinned to her sleeve without families, just punk rock n’ roll infecting their thirsty souls. Late nights with bodies reeking, cigarettes, choking on words she’s dying to say when in reality, she transmits the truth between mumblings, insomnia and vivid dreams she and three cynics, searching for a friend that isn’t stale – sensitive but not gutless.
I thought I was (nearly) the only vegetarian in the world – until I packed my shit and went to art school in the city. Up in the windy, Wisconsin corn fields not eating meat is grounds for a serious visit to the shrink. Before you abandon this article, I DO realize there’s loads of stigma surrounding vegans/vegetarians and their “strange foods”, but 1) not everything we eat is green, kale juice and 2) we’re not all bohemians. I’ve tried the juice – it’s not that great – and I can’t stand Phish. Vegetarians who definitely AREN’T hippies: Joan Jett, Mike Dirnt (Green Day), Paul McCartney (maybe debatable) and Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz). Eastern philosophies promote a meatless diet. Hindus believe the flesh of a suffering animal is tainted with its anxious and fearful emotions which affect the psyche of the consumer; Buddhists extend their philosophies of love and compassion to include animals, and to Jains, the idea of ahimsa, or non-violence, means abstaining from the slaughter and torture of any living creature. Yeah dude, I get it – some vegans/vegetarians are ass-holes – snooty fuckers who think they’re worldly and better than you. If you’re one of these people, calm the fuck down. You make the rest of us look bad. Lame. Most vegetarians/vegans are more excited about the new restaurants/recipes they’re trying or the kitten they’ve just rescued from a shelter. So what’s the point of becoming veg? 1) The more veggies you eat, the less likely you are to get sick. The proteins and other nutrients can be covered with a healthy, 4-part diet – grains, legumes [beans, lentils], fruits & veggies, so arguments about anemia are pathetic. 2) Going veg lessens the pollution emanating from large-scale, confinement operations and deforestation of rainforests. The meat industry creates more pollution than airplanes & automobiles combined! 3) Going veg is a non-violent way to prevent unnecessary animal cruelty & torture. Research in slaughter houses and confinement operations show that animals are rarely sedated before being slashed apart, and some animals, like chickens, are scalded alive in burning, hot water. Most animals in the meat & dairy industries are confined to small, dark spaces, unable to roam and feel the sun on their skin. 4) If the efforts and money put into the meat industry were concentrated on producing grains, several hundred million more starving people in impoverished regions could be fed. Instead, grains are fed to livestock for slaughter, later to be served on plates that impoverished families can’t afford anyway. A study on Counting Animals blog shows the amount of animals that vegetarians actually save each year – he even threw in loads of complicated, economic equations that I couldn’t even begin to understand – but the end result was this: VEGETARIANS SAVE 406 ANIMALS A YEAR. This was all determined by looking at people’s eating habits and the amount of meat & dairy product imports/exports per year. These numbers showed that one vegetarian saves 30 land animals, 225 fish, and 151 shellfish each year to equal 406 animals total. I endured small town bullshit and persevered so I can now say that I’ve saved nearly 3,000 animals… http://www.countinganimals.com/how-many-animals-does-a-vegetarian-save/ *photo : yummy vegan shit (rice, adobo paste, fajita peppers, pico & salsa)
Chicago Zine Fest – 16 March When most people were off getting wasted at the St. Patrick’s parade, somewhere on Columbus Drive, I went to the Chicago Zine Fest hosted by Columbia College Chicago, in the South Loop. Tattooed people with multi-colored hair and patched jackets milled around in the lights glowing from the large window panes illuminating little tables covered with homemade zines and indie books. A zine with Xeroxed child-like drawings was labeled, “Left-Handed Drawings by Right-Handed People.” At one table, I took a survey about the zine fest experience in order to score a free button – I chose one with “Fuck Capitalism” printed across it and pinned it to my jean jacket. I tasted a vegan cookie made by one of the zinesters. The place was packed; people who showed up late were forced to wait around awhile before visiting some of the popular tables. A few zines, like Columbia College’s Ramen, I recognized, but most were alien. You learn things at a zine fest. I picked up a zine called, “Motor City Kitty” with a label underneath it reading, “perzine” or “personal zine.” Didn’t know that term existed. It chronicled the writer’s journey in a cross-country “zine tour”, visiting zine fests all over the USA. Seriously, zines can be about absolutely ANYTHING: punk, gender, feminism, vegan food & recipes, band photos, black metal, abusive relationships, graffiti in the Tokyo Shibuya district, gothic art, trips to Thailand, queer culture, fashion, eating disorders, and more. Some zines were venues for artists to publish their fiction stories, comics, anime, or sketchbooks. Many were filled with musician interviews. Indie publishers and bookstores like Quimby’s in Wicker Park, Chicago paid a visit to the fest, and informed ignorant zinesters like me where the cool books are to be found. Chicago independent radio, CHIRPRadio put in
an appearance at a booth, and I scored a free, Chirp button which I also pinned on my jacket. A hand-written sign was posted to a wall and labeled “Words That Should
Be Removed From Your Vocabulary.” Words like “fag”, “dyke”, and “gyped” were scrawled across its surface in Sharpie. The same zinester that made the sign displayed a zine on her table the provided a crash-course in proper pronouns so that everyone was respectfully acknowledged. One girl sorted through the discarded trash in her purse and created xeroxed images of the various grocery receipts, todo lists, and parking tickets within. She called the final piece, “Paper Hoarder.” Some zinesters came from as far away as Los Angeles and Torono.. in Canada. It was still cold, so I
definitely couldn’t understand the logic of visiting the windy city for a zine fest, but it’s their prerogative. Really, I was searching for new ideas to fill this zine and better formatting ideas. Some black & white zines lined the tables, but others flashed bright and brilliant colors at unsuspecting passersby. Buttons of all sizes littered almost every table – some were funny, like a little green button I found, labeled “Nerd Punks,” and others carried a serious tone like a “Friends don’t eat Friends” button decorated with a smiling pig. Some zines followed photographers as they explored the graffiti-ridden streets of Tokyo’s Shinjuku district or punk rock bands in the local Omaha, Nebraska scene. One author related her experience as a queer woman of color in the punk-rock scene and how punk-rock, a culture of alienated kids, related to her experiences as a minority. One author filled the pages of their zine with their personal journey of discovery while exploring the steamy jungles and busy cities of Thailand. One of the most popular zines in history, “Maximum Rock N’ Roll”, even made an appearance, and graphic novel artists sold their stories to the thick, roaming crowd. I picked up a zine whose author interviewed several punk legends, including Henry Rollins and Screaching Weasel, in order to once-and-for-all define and solve the whole disagreement about pop punk. Henry Rollins summed up his argument by telling the interviewer to stop wasting time and just get out there and play punk rock. There’s always a small, underground scene of punk-rockers and socially conscious people, but I think indie culture is returning (somewhat) into the consciousness, especially with the success of recent indie bands. Schlock rock is finally
going to die! (fingers crossed). Maybe because our country is starting to recognize the need for equality of ALL people, minorities, queer culture, punks, and feminists are starting to hear their voices heard. I learned at the zine fest that zines are about EVERYTHING, and there are loads of them out there. More people are discovering zines, and even classics in the culture, like riot grrrl zines, then before (thank you Esty). One regret, I should have brought some copies of “Zasshi” in order swap & trade. Next time, I promise. After a couple hours of browsing zines and indie comics I obtained some sweet ass loot (several buttons, pop-punk zine and “Motor City Kitty” zine) and stuffed my face with vegan cookies. Basically, the world of DIY zines
and punk is more diverse than I thought; people can’t attempt to label it. All you can say is that those people write and publish indie zines – that’s pretty much all they have in common. What one thing means to one is completely opposite for another. Finally, indie publishers and bookstores are everywhere (as long as you’re usually in a large city.
LEGENDARY ROCK VENUES
1) CBGB – NEW YORK CITY, USA [Closed] Legendary punk rock venue CBGB was opened on New York City’s Bleecker Street in 1973 and launched the careers of the Ramones, Patti Smith, Joan Jett & the New York Dolls. Originally a “country, bluegrass and blues club” (where the club got its name, CBGB), bad business decisions shut its doors in 2006. 2) THE CROCODILE – SEATTLE, USA [Open] Called “the Croc” by locals, the club opened in late 1991 and hosted many of Seattle’s grunge bands in the early 1990’s. Among its most notable shows was the surprise concert Nirvana played on 3 October 1992 with Mudhoney, billed as “Pen Cap Chew.” 3) THE METRO – CHICAGO, USA [Open] This venue in Chicago was originally called the “Cabaret Metro” when it opened in 1982 and hosted some of the loudest alt-rock bands in the 1990’s including Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Oasis and the Breeders, but before alt-rock graced the screens of MTV, the Metro launched the careers of Big Black, the Smashing Pumpkins and Veruca Salt. 4) TROUBADOUR – LOS ANGELES, USA [Open] One of the first clubs to open on Hollywood’s legendary Sunset Strip, the Troubadour began as a coffee house in 1957. In the 1970’s it hosted punk rock and new wave bands before cementing its identity on the LA landscape with heavy metal and glam rock bands like Mötley Crüe and Guns N’ Roses in the 1980’s. 5) WHISKEY à GO GO – LOS ANGELES, USA [Open] Opened in 1964, Whiskey à Go Go was the first club in the USA to be modeled after the same club in Paris and spread the “go-go” dance craze. It was the sight of Led Zeppelin and the Who’s first US shows in the 1960’s, and, after a brief stint as a bank, it was reopened in 1986 just in time for the glam rock movement in the late 1980’s, with Guns N’ Roses as one of its inaugural bands. 6) ROXY THEATRE – LOS ANGELES, USA [Open] The Roxy Theatre opened as a nightclub on the Sunset Strip in 1973 and hosted the very first US screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The venue makes an appearance in the Ramones’ 1979 film, “Rock N’ Roll High School and has hosted many famous artists to pass through LA – Guns N’ Roses, Jane’s Addiction, NOFX, David Bowie, Nirvana and more. 7) THE VIPER ROOM – LOS ANGLELES, USA [Open] Johnny Depp opened the club in 1993, and it quickly became popular in LA and hosted passing alt-rock & indie bands. Before being refurbished by Depp in 1993, the Viper Room was a jazz club, and on Halloween Night 1993, actor River Phoenix collapsed on the front sidewalk after ingesting a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine. Twenty-One years old!
Comic books are some of the coolest things ever printed on paper and if anyone tries to tell you differently, stop talking to them immediately. There is so much more happening in this awesome medium than Superman flying around and punching things. Not all books are based on superheroes – obviously – in fact some of the best right now have nothing to do with them; however I will tell you about a really cool superhero book. Saga, for instance is an independent comic being published by Image Comics. It’s about a man and a woman, two members of different alien races who are at war. In all the fighting and crap that’s going on, they fall in love, have a baby (the first baby ever born between alien races) and run around doing cool shit. There are spaceships, hilarious ghost babysitters, magic assassins (in space), awesome bounty hunters and a cat who hisses “Lyinnnggggg” whenever someone tells a lie near it. The writing and art make a great book well worth the money you’d spend on it. I’ve gotten so many people into comics in general, just by getting them to read this single book. When people come back to the shop I work at, they go “Brad, holy shit, that was the best thing I’ve ever read, give me more.” This is never unexpected, because Saga is awesome. I tell them to read Rat Queens – a fantasy story meets modern bar hopping lifestyle is one of the funniest comic books I’ve ever read. The female mercenary group, called the Rat Queens go out, collect bounties, kill shit, cast spells, come home and drink, do drugs, party and get laid. This comic has heart and it really does a great job of making readers care about the characters. Now, conversely, if you’re into tights and superpowers and huge fights and that shit, you don’t need to get lost in the decades of history of Marvel or DC, you need to read Invincible. It’s current tagline is “The ONLY superhero book you need!” and it’s true. The book harkens back to the beginning of Spider-Man, with one consecutive story that feels fresh and new. We see a character develop and when change happens, things stay changed – a character doesn’t die only to come back five issues later, they stay dead as shit. One of the main draws is that the series is on issue #111, so when you finish one paperback, you can always keep on reading. I mean, can all of Saga come out already or what? There are so many other awesome titles that you should read. Instead of listing them and droning on about them, you should go to a comic shop, ask about comics like these three and see what they say – maybe their taste will match yours or something, I don’t really care. What you should take away is that you should read comics, make other people read comics, have kids that read comics and keep comics alive and rad.
SPEEDY ORTIZ I asked Sadie Dupuis whether or not studying poetry helped her write the music, and she answered, “not at all.” She told me she studied English as an undergrad, but I guess that has not much to do with rock n’ roll. I was curious because her lyrics were intriguing and worth reading just by themselves. [to avoid clichés I WILL NOT say they’re poetry]. I sent her an email asking some interview questions, but I found out I’m crap as a music journalist and the most of the questions were lame. She answered anyway. I came across the band at the end of 2013 – when I saw them open up at the Metro in Chicago with the Breeders. I didn’t even know who they were because I was basically there to hear Kim Deal’s voice and revel in her melodic abilities as a songwriter. First though, out walks this band from Massachusetts equipped with Fender Jazzmasters, and I’m just able to see the lead singer, Sadie Dupuis, through about six rows of heads and hair – probably helped that most of the spotlight was on her. I like bands that make noise, and not just random cacophonies, but melodic noise, too. Unfortunately for me, Speedy Ortiz and the Breeders aren’t bands that incite mosh pits, so seeing the band between jostling bodies was as close as I got. It was enough just to listen, though. Speedy Ortiz quickly became my new favorite band of 2014 (new to me at least), and I stalked every record store in the city until I found their full-length, Major Arcana on the shelves. I don’t like any of that downloading shit. I even got the balls up to ask Sadie about the digital vs. analog debate: “I don’t download music online really because I like having physical copies of things, but I don’t really have a problem with someone downloading our record.” Hey, if the internet ethers help music reach more people, it can’t all be that bad. Sadie also added, “If 1/10 people downloading the record results in someone buying a tape or record, that’s awesome.” I wanted to know where Speedy Ortiz’s sound came from because, despite the rehashed comparisons to Sonic Youth I’ve seen in almost all music publications, in between some uncommon time signatures and alternate tunings, I heard something more. Sadie says, “I happened to listen to a lot of guitar-oriented albums around the time I started writing. Sebadoh, Letters to Cleo, The Clash, The Specials and Weezer were definitely formative bands. She also mentioned Fugazi & Blonde Redhead as influential bands, adding several bands in the local music scene on Exploding in Sound Records: Grass is Green, Krill, Two Inch Astronaut. Too many bands have inspiration coming from one place; Speedy Ortiz comes from a mélange of records and artists. Their sound is something new, familiar but with their own signature scrawled on their scene, and that’s what drew me to them. They aren’t regurgitating someone else’s shit. The band started as a solo project by Dupuis, and I was curious about how that translated into a full band: “I send the demo to the band and we try to learn from there. The structures don’t change tremendously, but people’s individual parts often vary from [what] I first wrote.” I asked her about the show at the Metro, wondering what thoughts course through someone’s mind on the other side of the well-known stage: “Playing with the Breeders… was pretty amazing. [The Metro] is a historic room and the crowd was great and the sound was perfect. We could almost feel the spirit of Wesley Willis.” The band’s name sounding familiar, I asked where it came from: Love & Rockets. I should’ve know that.
GIRL PUNK! GOOD THROB: London, UK. “Don’t pay for music.” Good Throb Review --> “Fuck Off” starts with a drum beat which builds, adding bass, guitar and finally vocals. That voice assaults your eardrums with strident and raspy female voice that compels the listener to pay attention. It’s the stripped down sound of riot grrrl – unnecessary instrumentation avoided in favor of a feminist message. The vocal emanating from what sounds like a small room and diffused through a filter adds gritty character to the tracks. “Mummy, I’m ugly” pairs a screeching vocal shout with a jagged, disconcerting drum beat. It’s what I imagine Kathleen Hanna would sound like if she smoked more cigarettes. The bass line in “Central Line” sounds like the soundtrack of a horror movie, eerie and foreboding; “Don’t touch my shoulder. Don’t touch my bag. Damn the sluts,” is uttered like a threat. The slow cathartic guitar part on “Pale Grey Suits” is reminiscent of Adickdid before all instruments join the clamor and fade through a reverberating sustain in the chorus. The album ends abruptly with the energetic, immediate and loud, “Dog Food Dick.” http://goodthrob.bandcamp.com/ http://goodthrob.tumblr.com/
SHADY HAWKINS: Brooklyn, NY. Witchcore. Shady Hawkins Review --> An eerie witch scream begins “Dead to Me,” something between a maniacal laugh and the scream of a woman about to me slashed by a chainsaw. The vocalist, Suzy X sings with conviction while the riff is racing behind her. She commands her position in the band. She’s got the hard rock chops of a punk singer like Mia Zapata of the Gits before the music rises to a climax of guitar & vocals. She means it. Six-Inch Blade is my favorite track – the awkward riff at the beginning sounds like something Mecca Normal would write and should be the soundtrack of an indie film about a feminist antihero, driving a convertible and flicking cigarette ash out the window, escaping after her revenge on the man that treated her wrong, Pulp Fiction style. “Never Looking Back. Watch your step,” drowning in guitar feedback. “Dude Complex” starts with intermittent guitar that accompanies “can you hear me now? Gonna turn me out?” before rising to a declaration of disgust and angst, “I’ve had enough!” Suzy X laments, “Kept me waiting in the darkest corner of my life,” in “How Long?” and it sounds like a melancholy blues requiem from the film noir era, straight from the vocal chords of Billie Holiday. Then it hits you all-of-a-sudden: punk-rock. [update 12/2014 RIP Shady Hawkins] http://shadyhawkins.bandcamp.com/
drugged on fast-food chemicals & lipstick [INDIE ROCK RESUSCITATION]
1) Speedy Ortiz – Northampton, MA [Casper 1995 – Major Arcana 2013] 2) Ringo Deathstarr – Austin, TX [Chainsaw Mornings – God’s Dream 2014] 3) Swearin’ – Brooklyn, NY [Kenosha – Swearin’ s/t 2012] 4) Honeyblood – Glasgow, UK [Super Rat – Single - 2014]
5) The Joy Formidable – London, UK [Whirring – The Big Roar 2011] 6) the Hysterics – Olympia, WA [Outside In – Can’t I Live EP 2014] 7) Perfect Pussy – New York, NY [II – I have Lost All Desire For Feeling 2013] 8) Ruby Pins – San Francisco, CA [Chameleon – Ruby Pins s/t 2013] 9) Warpaint – Los Angeles, CA [Teese – Warpaint s/t 2014] 10) Dum Dum Girls – Los Angeles, CA [Just A Creep – Only In Dreams 2011] 11) Savages – London, England [City’s Full Silence Yourself 2013] 12) Nightmare & The Cat – Los Angeles, CA [Blackbird Smile – Simple 2014] 13) The Eeries – Los Angeles, CA [Cool Kid – Single 2014]
Finally an argument to counter all those self-absorbed morning people! Who says being a night owl, prowling in the darkest hours of the night doesn’t have benefits? For me, the most words are written and/or read when other people are sleeping and the TV junkies have finally given it a rest. I don’t have creeps breathing down my neck when I’m trying to write a riff, edit photos, or sketch out a drawing. I’m also not interrupted when my nose is buried between the pages of a novel, and isn’t it romantic, the image of a writer putting words down on the page to the flickering rhythms of an oil lamp? Honestly the flickering is a shitty fluorescent bulb, but the concept is still there. People are a nuisance; art happens in quiet, introspective moments and this is best done at night, when the mainstream world is unconscious somewhere else. Perhaps there really is a 6th sense that’s obtained through hits of acid or long, euphoric stints after an injection of heroin that helps artists find that tricky inspiration for whatever they might be creating at the time. When it’s time to pass out, cocaine just keeps you up long enough to write those brilliant ideas down. Have you ever seen the “Don’t Use Jelly” video by the Flaming Lips? Where did that inspiration come from if not drugs? When you’ve been up too long, and you’re starting to hallucinate, some Ambien & alcohol should get you napping in no time. Well we could say that drug-users are willing to try new things and experiment, right? That’s definitely indicative of open-mindedness, an integral characteristic of most people with higher-thanaverage IQ’s. In order to progress as a society, people need to be allowed to be sexually liberal and express their love and emotions (as long as they’re not violent) freely. Being sexual liberal means that you’re not allowing other people to define your sexual identities or shame you for “daring” to live your life as you want. Refusing to follow the standards of hundreds of years old institutions is a good thing – everyone knows that followers aren’t the one changing/improving the world. Besides, sex obviously gives musicians and writers more experiences to relate to their audiences. Kerouac, Led Zeppelin, Bukowski, & Guns N’ Roses are impossible to imagine without sex. Getting “out there” forces you to meet new people and, once again, try new things. Also, living and/or sleeping with diverse groups of people makes someone able to coordinate with and adapt to different people and situations. Being flexible and open-minded is important, right? Many artists, musicians and writers [which I’m assuming have a higher IQ than the average loser] have indulged in gratuitous sex, drugs, and many, many sleepless nights. It’s not a coincidence, I think. Seriously, have you ever read “On the Road” or listened to “Appetite for Destruction”? Jack Kerouac’s main character, Dean Moriarty, who definitely “over-indulged” in life simply wanted to live and experience his life to the fullest extent possible. Late night hours, spent passing philosophical ideas from mouth to mouth until the sun rose proved that Moriarty rarely slept, he was so concerned with absorbing as much knowledge as possible. Banging several ladies gave him an idea of humanity and how fucked up humans are at times, and alcohol added to his genius and madness. Moriarty was constantly traveling from coast to coast, and I think he (or his real-life counterpart, Neal Cassady) knew more about the world and its inhabitants than the rest of us. We’re all just lost, unsure people looking for our sad niche in the wide world.
パンクの雑誌 シカゴ市 2014年6月 麺を食べたい Can’t ever have enough Brody Dalles…