While sitting here recovering from getting a cortisone shot to the spine, I just posted the latest episode of LFCM. After numerous tours among other things delayed production, episode two of the new season is up and ready for download.

You can download the episode right here. And the show website has older episodes and the podcast feed for those who want to subscribe to it.

For those who are new to this site, LFCM is Live From Combustion Manor, a classic punk radio show hosted by myself and the members of Destroy Everything. We drink, play rare old punk vinyl from the depths of The Punk Vault, and entertain you with our drunken tales and punk rock news.

Narcoleptic Youth - Barbi in Bondage 7″
Dr. Strange Records

When I placed this single on my turntable and started it, I thought for sure this must be a reissue of some old punk single that eluded me in my youth. I thought wrong as Narcoleptic Youth formed around 1992, but it’s pretty apparent that they were raised on 1980’s punk rock.

Three of the four songs on here could easily fit in on any number of 1980s punk compilations and you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between them and bands that actually were from that era. The music is fast and punchy but it’s not thrash. There’s a bit of melody lingering in the music and a bit of a UK feel at times too with a singer that is reminiscent of Cliff Hanger from The Freeze at times. The four songs on here are short and to the point and all pretty damn catchy.

This 7″ was originally available once before and is long out of print, however this new edition features a bonus track which is a Ramones cover. I think the cover was pretty unnecessary, especially considering the strength of their original material, however it is nice to have something extra that the first pressing didn’t have.

There were two variations of this record pressed: pink vinyl and shit brown vinyl. Both can be acquired direct from Dr. Strange records. It’s nice to hear a newer band with an older sound that doesn’t sound completely generic and this single will enjoy a lengthy life here in The Punk Vault.

Related links

Narcoleptic Youth website

Narcoleptic Youth myspace

Dr. Strange Records

I just updated The Punk Vault Store with some new limited and old/rare vinyl. The store has also be retooled so it displays your shopping cart on the sidebar and most importantly non-U.S. customers can now finally use the online store instead of having to email their orders in and wait for a total.

Now please buy some of this stuff so I can afford to get my back fixed!

Once again my two favorite ladies in the punk record business, Lisa and Betty from Frontier Records, have made my day by sending over the latest in color vinyl goodness. The first of which just so happens to be my new favorite variation of the particular release.

Christian Death - Only Theatre of Pain on translucent purple vinyl

Adolescents - Welcome to Reality 10" on translucent purple vinyl

Adolescents - LP on opaque red vinyl

All three of these lovely colors are available in limited quantities direct from the Frontier Records website. If you happen to stop by there, tell them MXV sent you. Thanks again to Frontier for the latest color vinyl fix!

After Mayday Parade, I walked clear across the venue to the Vans Highway 1 stage to actually see a band I had heard of before!

Street Dogs

Street Dogs

Street Dogs

Street Dogs

The Street Dogs were the reason for my lengthy walk. They had a pretty huge crowd waiting to see them play and there were Street Dogs banners set up out in the audience. They played a catchy style of street punk complete wtih a lot of sing along parts that the crowd ate up. I didn’t stay for their entire set, but unlike the last time I saw them, this time what I saw of their set was cover-free which made me appreciate them a lot more than the last time I witnessed them. They were one of the few actual punk bands on the tour so it was actually kind of cool to get to see them.

Since it was so close to the halfpipe and the skating was still happening, I stopped by and took another break from the bands to watch some more skateboarding trickery. This also served to kill some time for me as my next destination was the very same stage the Street Dogs were playing on.

Against Me

Against Me

Against Me

Against Me

Against Me was the next band I checked out and the one that I made a point to want to see. I had heard of them for quite some time and knew that they were fairly popular among modern punk record collectors (I think there is something like 20 or more different pressings of their Reinventing Axl Rose album!) so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Having seen them I sort of understand, they were excellent. They had power but were still a bit melodic and their sound totally fits on the No Idea label so it made sense to me that they had records out on that label. I’m going to make it a point to pick up at least one of their albums. I stuck around for nearly their entire set which made them the band I spent the most time watching the entire day.

Katy Perry

Katy Perry

I went over to the Hurley.com stage again to check out Katy Perry. For those who don’t know, she’s the one with the big hit song, “I Kissed a Girl” that apparently is a mega hit that is played on the radio every five minutes. I never listen to the radio ever and the only reason I knew about the song was from the fact that they talked about it on the Howard Stern Show and Sal the Stockbroker went so far as to make a song parody of it. When I got there she was already playing so I was only able to snap a couple photos before security kicked out all the photographers. As I suspected she made the crowd sit through a full set of her other songs before saving the big hit for last. While watching from afar I overheard a bunch of kids saying things like, “just play the song already, enough”. Her other songs weren’t bad and were in more of a rock vein, but it was pretty clear the large crowd of young teens she drew were there for one reason and that was to hear the one song. Unfortunately for Katy Perry she’s likely destined to make it on a future episode of VH-1’s One Hit Wonders. Live the song was still pretty catchy but without all the fancy production it sounded kind of flat.

Bring Me the Horizon

Bring Me the Horizon

Bring Me the Horizon

Next door on the Smart Punk stage Bring Me the Horizon took the stage as soon as Katy Perry was done. They attracted a pretty good sized crowd of kids that were there for the crowd surfing and the moshing. Their metallic hardcore hybrid was a strong contrast to the pop songs that were on the adjoining stage just minutes before. Their songs were fast and hard and laced with metal licks and growling vocals. The crowd ate it up as if they were rebelling against the girl pop they sat through waiting for this band to play!

3OH!3

3OH!3

3OH!3

I stuck around to see 3OH!3 because the girls I was in charge of said they were going to watch them so I wanted to check out what it was they were excited about seeing. They were an odd band that was mostly a sort of electronica dance band with a bit of hip-hop and rock thrown in. Calling them a dance party band would be a pretty accurate description. There were a lot of people dancing and shaking their asses throughout their set.

Horrorpops

Horrorpops

Horrorpops

About a half hour later on the same stage the Horrorpops started playing. I was curious about them as I’ve heard good things. I instantly recognized their guitar player as being from the Nekromantix. He doesn’t sing in Horrorpops though, instead they have a female singer who also plays the stand-up bass. She had a really good voice and I was digging their psychobilly rock sound. I watched a few songs and then went to collect the kids and catch a couple songs of the last band of the evening.

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack had the distinction of being the final band of the show so they had a very large crowd of people watching them, plus a sea of people stopping by for a few minutes on their way out of the venue. They were a very melodic pop band and they had more than their share of young fans. I snapped a few photos and listened to a couple songs and then hit the road to grab dinner and drop off my caravan of teens.

Overall this years Warped Tour was a pretty decent way to spend a day outside. The perfect weather made checking out a bunch of bands that normally aren’t my cup of tea a pretty pleasant experience. If I was about half my current age, there would have been a lot more to my liking this year. I’d have liked a few more actual punk rock bands but the lineup was pretty diverse overall, just lacking any “classic” bands who are still active. For what they are charging for admission it is still pretty much the best deal out there as far as summer concerts goes and there is plenty to see and do.

Additional photos from Warped Tour will be posted tomorrow on MXV’s flickr stream.

Saturday I spent the day over at the Vans Warped Tour at the First National Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, IL. I had two tasks: cover the show for this site and play chaperone to a car full of 14 year old girls. Either one of them means a day of non stop walking around in the sun, put them both together and it is a bit of an endurance test. The mission I set for myself was to try and see more bands than I did last year which I easily accomplished.

Unlike last year, this time around there were no old punk bands playing that I grew up listening to.  In fact, this year’s lineup was very heavily weighted with newer bands, much more so than previous Warped Tours. Picking bands to me consisted of a mix of the few bands I was somewhat familiar with mixed in with stopping at stages along the way to see what was going on. It ended up being pretty good exercise whiile sampling a lot of bands and different styles of music all in one confined area.

Alesana

Alesana

Alesana

First off over on the Smart Punk stage I caught Alesana. They had a pretty sizable and enthusiastic crowd of kids watching them. They played mostly accessible emo rock with your occasional screaming. It was a big hit with the kids in the crowd but I prefer my music to be a lot angrier and aggressive for the most part. They seemed to have the formula down for this style of music which meant they didn’t really sound any different from the countless other bands in their scene.

Fear Nuttin Band

Fear Nuttin Band

Fear Nuttin Band

After watching them for awhile I went for a walk to check out the rest of the venue and get a feel for the layout. It was very similar to the one last year but the stages were in different spots or named differently than they were last year in some cases. Over near the halfpipe was a small stage and I stopped by for a few mins and checked out Fear Nuttin Band. They were a reggae band with a bit of rock thrown in for good measure. I’m not much of a reggae fan but mixing it with some traditional rock sensibilities made it a lot more palatable.

Oreskaband

Oreskaband

Oreskaband

Over at the Hurly.com stage I caught the tail end of Oreskaband. They were an all-female Japanese Ska Band. That was quite the gimmick and they all dressed sort of like mod schoolgirls. I can safely say it was the only ska band I have seen that I didn’t want to smack the band in the head with their own horns in an effort to stop them from playing. It was fairly entertaining the the small dose I got of them.

I wandered back out of the pavilion and over to the halfpipe where they had some skaters showing off their stuff and competing in some kind of contest. These guys were pretty impressive with their tricks and lack of pads or helmets. I could have easily watched the skating for the rest of the day and skipped a ton of bands and felt like it was a fun afternoon.

Casket Architects

Casket Architects

Casket Architects

Casket Architects

After I pried myself away from the skateboarding I went over to the Kevin Says Stage (who is this Keven anyway?) to see the Casket Architects. I was intrigued by their name and the fact that one of their member was wearing a Skinny Puppy t-shirt. I figure if someone in the band has such good taste, then his band was worth checking out. That theory proved to be correct as I found their Locust inspired brand of noisy punk rock to be most entertaining. In fact they stood out as one of the bands I enjoyed most at the show.

Mayday Parade

Mayday Parade

Mayday Parade

Mayday Parade

Over at the Hurley stage (not to be confused with the Hurley.com stage) there was a pretty big crowd going crazy for Mayday Parade. I stopped to snap some photos and see what all the excitement was about. Wouldn’t you know it, they were an emo pop band. The very young members of their audience were going crazy and crowd surfing and eating it up. I’d bet that these guys end up having their music featured in some CW Network show if they haven’t already. It is during these times that I really start to feel my age!

Check back tomorrow for part two!