Ryan's Punk Music Blog

Crass spawned anrcho-punk, and they also spawned the Amebix. The Amebix in turn took Crass’ ideals, merged them with sounds influenced by Motorhead and old Killing Joke, spawning a new heavy, sludgy tribal sound.

It was the birth of crust.

This sound was best documented on three EPs from the band’s early days with Spiderleg Records. The EPs had a short run, and then became a history only remembered via poorly recorded bootlegs.

Then, as is the case with many similar recordings, Jello Biafra and Alternative Tentacles stepped in, remastering the records from the original tapes, and releasing the compilation as No Sanctuary – The Spiderleg Recordings, a truly powerful record.

Check out my review of No Sanctuary – The Spiderleg Recordings by Amebix and get ready for some dark, heavy weirdness.

Cover art courtesy of Alternative Tentacles

They just keep coming! The folks at the Warped Tour have added nine more bands to the lineup.

Personally, out of all of the additions, the one that I’m most excited about is the addition of the Street Drum Corps. SDC is a punk spinoff from Stomp that plays tribal-punk all-percussion sets using drums and a host of other chunks of metal that range from trashcans to kitchen utensils. A ton of great drummers are recruited for their revolving cast, and they are sure to be a high-energy part of the tour.

The entire Warped Tour lineup for 2008, as well as the dates they’re appearing on, is listed here. Odds are, there will continue to be modifications leading up to your local show, and you’ll probably want to pay attention to this site to see if anyone has been added or dropped. Then again, no matter who drops off, this is one of the best lineups in recent years, and everyone who goes is going to have a good time.

One thing the Interwebs are great for (aside from this site, of course) is its potential to make advertising, marketing and promotion fun for the audience, instead of treating them as passive receptacles that simply must ingest commercial messages.

All sorts of viral campaigns have been launched to promote new films and games, from the “I Love Bees” campaign that lead up to the release of Halo 2, to the Cloverfield campaign, to the currently running, as yet to be revealed aladygma buzz (which admittedly, has me hooked).

How does this tie into music? Well, "Bang For World Peace is a mini-viral site online right now, just begging for you to solve it. I won’t reveal too much information, other than to say that it’s related to a band we like a lot here, and that it’s not overly time-consuming to solve. And I think the reward is well worth the effort.

You can find the site here.

Spinner.com just posted a listing of their picks of 20 Bad Songs by Good Bands, and I was a little amazed by what they picked. Mixed in with some understandably bad tunes like “Beth” by Kiss were some definite masterpieces by some great punk bands.

For example, “I’ll Be You” by The Replacements came it at number 9, under attack for its college radio-friendly format and TV-friendly video. Despite it being somewhat of a departure for the band, it wasn’t a bad song. In fact, it was well crafted and fun, a probably one of their better tunes.

The same can be said for the Beastie Boys’ “Brass Monkey.” Spinner called it “annoying,” when really it’s anything but, despite the number of times the track gets looped on parties or college radio. This is the type of criticism dropped by the sort of music writer who says that Paul’s Boutique was the best Beasties record because they were told that’s what they’re supposed to say.

The list’s biggest travesty, however, was in their pick for #1. They went for the jugular by picking The Clash’s “Should I Stay Or Should I Go,” essentially citing it for a lack of the political substance typical of releases by the band. This may be so, but it ignores the fact that, like “I’ll Be You,” a departure from a group’s standard fare does not a bad song make.

It’s not like I think The Clash is above criticism; I would have gone for the dreary “Lost In The Supermarket” over Spinner’s choice, or one of several songs off Sandinista! that really missed their mark. Simply calling a song “bad” because it’s too radio friendly or not political enough smacks of pretension, not legitimate musical criticism. It’s the sort of thing one would expect from a writer who pretends that Radiohead and Oasis aren’t annoying.

If it had been my list, I would have slipped few punk gems in there, too. The Ramones are not above reproach; “Pet Sematary” could easily have gone in there for its bad lyrics (bad even for the Ramones) as well as the fact that it tied in to a Stephen King movie – an awful one at that!

They also avoided the monumental task of going after bands that were once good, but went on to produce drivel. I’m not just talking about all the Green Days and Blink 182s that started out as good pop punk bands before moving on to catering to 13-year-old girls and Top 40 Radio; I’m also referring to later-career slumps hit by bands like Siouxsie And The Banshees and Buzzcocks, when it seemed like maybe they needed to take time off before recording that record.

Honestly, it may come down to a lack of opinion, but really, their justification for classifying some of their picks as “bad” didn’t seem very, well, justified. If you’re interested in reminiscing about some other tunes that are actually bad, you can see the list here.

What do you think? Who are some punk bands you’ve dug who’ve managed to let you down with a song or two, or even an entire album or career slump?

The war against music piracy, peer-to-peer networks and filesharing is almost as old as the Interwebs themselves, and organizations like the RIAA are constantly looking for new ways to enforce laws and educate a younger generation of music fans to their side of the issue.

One organization has a new approach to spreading their message, and it appears like they are trying to drag some unwilling participants to their side.

The Australian music industry has just launched a campaign to discourage illegal file sharing has created a 10-minute film which is being distributed for free to all high schools in Australia. The film features several musicians discussing the issue, except that at least one punk artist was lied to about the reason for the video, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Frenzal Rhomb guitarist Lindsay McDougall said he was told the film was about trying to survive as an Australian musician and that no one told him the anti-piracy stance the video would take.

Most telling is this quote, which points out that he, like many other musicians, feel that this is a problem for the record labels, not the bands:

I'm from a punk rock band, it's all about getting your music out any way you can - you don't make money from the record, the record companies make the money from the record. If they can't make money these days because they haven't come onside with the way the world is going, it's their own problem.

It does seem like a desperate act on the part of the industry – have they reached to point where they can’t find anyone else like Lars Ulrich to speak out, and so have to lie to musicians to get them to (seemingly) support their cause? It really seems like a PR debacle on the part of the labels.

To cleanse your palate from all the heavy backhanded dealings (and to help point out McDougall’s position), here are three free Frenzal Rhomb MP3s for you to download. It’s OK, and you can also feel free to share them with your friends.

• ”I Went Out With A Hippy & Now I Love Everyone Except For Her”
• ”Had Enough”
• ”You Are Not My Friend”

Photo by Nick Laham/Newsmakers/Getty Images

Hardcore is not often the music one thinks of when thinking of innovative music styles, and yet it seems like hardcore has, over the past few years, been one of the punk genres most intent on furthering it sound and exploring new options. Bands like O Pioneers!!!, Lion of Judah and Mouth Sewn Shut are taking their hardcore roots and influences, combining them with new sounds and ending up with exciting combinations.

Now you can add Spark is a Diamond to that list as well.

Spark is a Diamond takes their hardcore influences and beats them into a danceable package. It’s the sort of thing that should be awful, unless the band went at it with 100 percent seriousness – which they do. From beginning to end, the album is wrapped in sincerity. There's no cheekiness that would have caused the record to fall flat rather than to rise to the ranks of the best records to be released this year.

Check out my review of Spark is a Diamond’s Try This On For Size and get ready to pump your fist or tap your feet – whichever you’re more into.

Cover art courtesy of Pluto Records

The T. J Martell Foundation, a group dedicated for research into the treatments and cures of leukemia, cancer, and AIDS, has teamed up with the Warped Tour to auction off ticket packages for the Warped Tour this year.

The winner’s of the auction totally score, too. In addition to a pair of tickets, the auction winners will also get backstage access and the opportunity to watch their favorite band from the side of the stage.

Therein lies the dilemma. You only get to pick one band to watch from the stage. Should you bid and win, who’d be the band you’d pick and win? Based on the bands lined up for Detroit, I think I’d go with Reel Big Fish or Set Your Goals, but elsewhere around the country the options change. Depending on where you’re at, you could be up there with Paramore, the Bouncing Souls, Rise Against or one of a host of other choice options.

Regardless of your pick, it’s a great time to be had while supporting an excellent cause. You can learn more about the T. J Martell Foundation on the charity’s site, and bid on the dates here. On May 5, the auctions for the current series of dates ends and a new run of dates will go on the block, so if you want to bid on a date later on the tour, pop in then.

What goes into choosing an opening band for a tour? Sometimes, with a smaller headliner, the opener is a local band chosen to open in each city. Sometimes they are label mates; sometimes just friends of the band. However they’re chosen, a good opener makes for a great show. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen great bands with lousy openers, but I can easily recollect the packages that made for a great show all night long.

Here’s a new one, though: Anti-Flag is letting its fans choose the band’s upcoming tour mates.

At this time, they’ve taken nominations and assembled the 32 most popular, setting them up into brackets. Now, one round at a time, they’ll be hosting polls, band vs. band, until one champion stands.

You can also get into the fun by plotting out the brackets and registering your picks, entering them for some wicked-sweet prizes.

Take a look at the brackets here, and get ready to vote. Who’s your favorite? Personally I’m indecisive as of yet, as the choices range from the Dropkick Murphys to the Casualties. There’s a wide range of sounds on there; and one needs to be cognizant of who’d make a good match up. Granted, NOFX would be fun, but maybe Rise Against is a better pairing with Anti-Flag.

Photo © Nicole Lucas

Just in case you missed MySpace broadcast of the Jane’s Addiction performance (with the original lineup) on last night’s NME Awards USA, the first videos have hit YouTube.

Granted, at times they looks like they were shot while the videographer was dancing, head banging and riding a unicycle, and you hear more of the crowd singing than the band, and it really looks like the clip was uploaded just so the shooter could flaunt his/her close proximity to the stage, but you can at least tell the band was having fun while they played “Ocean Size” and “Mountain Song.” Hopefully, this spawns a reunion tour, so our only proof of this reunion isn’t this jerky clip, which could be retitled The Punk Witch Project (you can see the videos here).

Also on YouTube, the guys from Steer Clear, one of the best new bands to come out of SXSW 2008, have posted a little tour diary of their trip to Austin. It’s fun, shows a little bit of the showcase we saw them at and seems pretty indicative of the fun that can be had on the road. Check them out here.

Photo © Nicole Lucas

If you’re not doing anything tonight and you’re in the mood to watch a show on your computer, you could do worse than catch the first-ever NME Awards USA, which is airing on MySpace.

Normally, I’m pretty “meh” when it comes to award shows, and this one isn’t much of an exception, but they do have some decent performers lined up, including Mick Jones with Carbon/Silicon, the Lemonheads (which features former members of the Descendents) and the one I’m most stoked about, Jane’s Addiction with the original lineup, reunited exclusively for tonight.

Jane’s Addiction will always be one of my favorite bands, and I’m not alone. They bridged a gap between punk, glam and hair metal, and managed to recruit fans from every circle. It’ll be pretty cool to see the original lineup back together, and even better if they decide to tour. Why not do it just for the money, even? That’s what got the Sex Pistols running again.

On the award end of things, I’m having a hard time wading through the award titles even, because they all seem to be a slightly different configuration of “best indie/alternative band”, with one word added or changed to make it an entirely different award. But there are a few good names in the list, including Paramore, who are up for “Best New Indie/Alternative Band (supported by Yahoo! Music)”, and Foals, up for” Best New International Indie/Alternative New Band.” See what I mean about the award titles? I didn’t make this up; those are direct quotes from NME’s official list of nominees.

The award show airs at 9PM PST tonight (do the math to figure out when it’s going to be on in your area) on NME’s MySpace Site. I’m going to try to watch, because even though we don’t really need another awards show, if it’s just an excuse to get Jane’s Addiction back on stage, it has already justified its existence in my book.

Photo courtesy of NME