teenage bottlerocket sign to fat wreck chords

(tbr @ knitting factory cmj '08)

fat wreck chords, who has brought us great music from such acts as dillinger four, the loved ones, nofx, descendents, and screeching weasel (to name just a few), has just signed laramie wyoming punk outfit teenage bottlerocket.

this is great news for everyone! tbr will finally get the kind of exposure that a band like them can hope for, fat wreck adds another stellar band to their already legendary roster (see above) and fans of both label and band will have better access to the band's music.

teenage bottlerocket's first release is scheduled for later this year.

(tbr @ knitting factory cmj '08)

(tbr @ knitting factory cmj '08)

and some pictures through out december 08

the king kahn & bbq show @ the wired store 12-03-08

golden bones @ pete's candy store 12-03-08

midnight masses @ zebulon 12-07-08

the dirty pearls @ mercury lounge 12-18-08

white suns @ cake shop 12-28-08

the loved ones - distractions ep

3 february 2009 - fat wreck chords

(the loved covers?)

philadelphia punk band, the loved ones, released what i'd like to think of as a filler ep while i wait for their next lp last tuesday. distractions features three new songs along with three covers all of which can be heard streaming on the bands myspace. at a glance, i was excited to hear the loved ones' interpretation of three classic songs by three artists who are known worldwide as legends. the first cover is johnny 99 by bruce springsteen. both springsteen and loved ones' singer/guitarist dave hause choose to go solo on the song. and while hause's vocals do a great deal of justice to this ominous song the distorted reverb of the guitar takes me away from the story that bruce captures. the second song covered on distractions is lovers town revisited. a short lil ditty by billy bragg. going against the original on this track by bringing in the full band to blow through the seventy-five second song. its just too short of a song for me to even critique the song. the drums add a new dimension but the guitars aren't attempting anything new or unique and vocals don't even stray from the original save one moment at the beginning of the third verse. the last cover on distractions is coma girl by joe strummer and the mescaleros. this selection is my personal favorite. coma girl ends coming across as the most original of the covers on the ep. the band has minimal involvement with the song. a tambourine here a soft guitar line there no discernible bass. the song by the late, founder of punk pioneers the clash would be proud of the loved ones discernment of his song.

the three primary songs on the album are obviously the new material being put forth. all three songs, distracted, last call and spy diddley, are wonderful to listen too. last call, has a great piano line in the chorus and organ pulling the bridge together adding new depth to the bands sound. while spy is, what can be perceived as a, straight forward punk rock song.

i personally prefer the first three songs over the latter three, but each song has its place. i foresee this as the start of a creative year for the loved ones and i don't have to wait ages and ages for a long play album to come out. (and i hope that last call makes onto the full-length...maybe a little reworking of the track? a new mix? or mayhaps they'll just scrap the entire recording and do it all over again?).

experiencing music through pictures(and a couple videos) thus far 09

i'm trying to play catch up, so here's a quick visual overview of the shows i caught..lucky for you i inherited the gene that causes you to have a camera super glued to your hand...

1/3/09 freeblood @ death by audio

(a band i forget the name of...i think it was science?)



free blood

1/9/09 world inferno @ webster hall

emannuel and the fear @ bowery poerty

1/20/09 fucked up @ market hotel



80s hardcore

vivian girls

pissed jeans

fucked up

2009

well i don't know if this is going to start the next stage in this simple blogs life, but for now i'm making another attempt to transmit my thoughts on music art and everything pop-culture.

i have to be honest, i kinda felt disheartened by the end of 2008. maybe it was just my state of mind, but it wasn't really what i thought it would be...musically.

2009 (MMIX) however is a new leaf for me in many ways. while losing my mind over everything as we all counted down another end to another year i found some solace in the music from my adolescence/teenage years. a cluster fuck of punk, hardcore, noise and grunge that back then seemed like flashes in the pan and various bands that were "huge" (in the minds of lost kids everywhere). but in some way brought me to a nostalgic stasis that i can only liken it to coming to terms with something that is undeniably a part of who i am, not was...and i'm taking in this new found um...er...musical revelation [for lack of a better term].

this post being all about new beginnings, let us start of by mentioning some long overdue, much appreciated news about nj band the wrens.

now for anyone who doesn't know me, brooklyn is actually my third home. i've spent more time jumping between philadelphia suburbs and south jersey absorbing the culture [see above] and leaving it all behind for a career in the music industry (its okay to laugh mockingly here). during my time in the garden state i was introduced to a band called the wrens by a local record store clerk named ,steve or jeff or mark, i forget. what i do remember is the sounds of seacaus playing over the stereo. it was more or less love at first listen and one of my few impulse buys that i wouldn't regret later. i took the album home and listened to it on repeat until i was sick of it and then i played it over the stereo as i slept. i was too young to understand why this band was so good. i knew it was good but it wasn't until much later as i moved through social circles and relationships that i would have the knowledge to start grasping it all. even now when i go back to the wrens i find new things, new lyrics, new chords, new emotions that i missed before or just neglected to catch during one of my many fawning sessions. needless to say i love the wrens, so when news of them playing a show or a rumor about them recording a follow up to their 2003 album the meadowlands, i become more attentive than a kid watching sesame street.

enter magnet magazine...a staple in the philadelphia music scene for 15yrs now and you'd probably be hard pressed to find another publication that supports the wrens as much as they do.

well magnet updates their site far more often then the wrens website (sorry guys its true), and i caught the header in my rss reader...as seen her .

anyway long story short...wrens...new songs here and here...promising progress from a band who puts out a record one every 7 years...and i hear they're experimenting with the sousaphone.