Riot Fest 2011 day one: X at Bottom Lounge 10/5/11
October in Chicago can only mean one thing (not including halloween): Riot Fest! Riot Fest is celebrating its sixth birthday this year and it started the festivities last night at the Bottom Lounge. This evening was a special one for old punk rock fans as the legendary Los Angeles punk/rock band, X, returned to the [...]
OFF! 7/17 at Reggies
Pitchfork weekend in Chicago means there’s a lot going on in the world of the Chicago music scene but all the action isn’t limited to that hipster-friendly festival. Over at Reggies last night they were doing a sort of Pitchfork Fest “after-show” featuring OFF! and three local bands. OFF! played the day before at the [...]
Dayglo Abortions and Verbal Abuse 6/4/11 at Cobra Lounge
Last night two legendary hardcore bands from the 1980s joined forces to play together at the Cobra Lounge. One of the bands hadn’t been here in well over two decades, if not longer despite the fact that they never stopped playing. Those bands were the Dayglo Abortions and Verbal Abuse. Chicago natives, Eske, took the [...]
A History Lesson Part 1 DVD
An interesting little trip back through time covering four great old CA punk bands whose sole flaw is the sound quality of the live footage. Rating: A History Lesson Part 1: Punk rock in Los Angeles in 1984 – DVD Historical Records/MVD Visual When it comes to punk rock in the United States in the [...]
T.S.O.L. 5/14 at Reggies
Saturday night after a ten-year absence from touring through the Windy City, T.S.O.L. made their long, long-awaited return to Chicago to play to a venue of excited fans, some of whom were babies the last time the band rolled through town! They headlined a four band bill over at Reggies in the South Loop which [...]
The Exploited – Punks Not Dead vinyl reissue
While I was never a fan of The Exploited, I knew plenty of people who were. The band was an early point of entry for a lot of punks in the early 1980s and turned on a bunch of people I knew to British punk rock. Their music wasn’t overly original for the time but [...]
The Adicts 3/11 at Reggies
Thursday night a massive crowd of mostly young punk fans stuffed themselves into Reggies for the long-awaited return of The Adicts to our cold city. It may have been cold outside but the band got a warm and crazy reception from the crowd. A local band, Curtains, started the show to a nearly full club. They [...]
Casey Royer of D.I. overdoses, gets arrested
Found on TMZ.com of all places. According to them, Casey Royer of D.I. overdosed on Heroin right in front of his son, who then ran next door to the neighbors for help. Casey survived and was subsequently arrested. Check out the details right here. It’s always disturbing to hear of any band members who fall [...]
Mexican Cheerleader – Genghis Puss
Super catchy, infectious, and punchy melodic punk rock that sounds familiar yet timeless. A solid LP full of great songs. Rating: Mexican Cheerleader – Genghis Puss LP Underground Communique Records I first heard of Mexican Cheerleader last fall when they played one of the Riot Fest shows. I was immediately impressed with them and I [...]
1978: Crashed Memories of an L.A. Punk Rocker
1978: Crashed Memories of an L.A. Punk Rocker – Book by Ger-i Lewis There have been many books about the early punk rock scene and a couple specifically about the Los Angeles one in general but for as good as all those books are, none of them tell the story of just one person. The [...]
Social Distortion to perform on Conan Tuesday 1/18
In case you missed them a month or so back when they played Jimmy Kimmel, Social Distortion are making another TV appearance tomorrow night. This time around they are playing on the Conan show. Having just had Cheap Trick on last week, Conan is really scoring a lot of cool points by booking these good [...]
Circle Jerks – Wild in the Streets LP reissue
As vinyl continues to regain its former popularity more and more old punk records have been reissued and the Circle Jerks are no exception. One of the oldest and best punk rock bands from the West Coast, the Circle Jerks are hardcore legends and pioneers. Everyone is familiar with their first (and best) LP, Group [...]
Weirdos – We Got the Neutron Bomb purple vinyl
One of the oldest and certainly one of the finest first-wave Los Angeles punk rock bands just got a new colored vinyl makeover. The band I’m talking about is The Weirdos. The Weirdos are legendary in the annals of Southern California punk history as they were one of the earliest punk bands from that original [...]
Get Rad – What the Fuck Happened to Common Sense
Rad is an accurate description for this hardcore band with a familiar classic feel and energetic and catchy hardcore. Rating: Get Rad – What the Fuck Happened to Common Sense 12″ EP Underground Communiqué Records Get Rad is a hardcore punk band from Milwaukee, WI that features a former member of Since By Man, who [...]
Explode and Make Up 12″ EP
A really strong debut EP of melodic hardcore that has an old-school feel to it and great loud guitars. Rating: Explode and Make Up – Self-titled 12″ EP Underground Communique Records Explode and Make Up is a relatively newer band from Chicago, IL. They have been around about four years now but this is their [...]
The England’s Dreaming Tapes
A wonderful book of interviews with most of the key members of the early punk scene that revolved around the Sex Pistols. A literal encyclopedia of that punk secne. Rating: The England’s Dreaming Tapes – Book by Jon Savage University of Minnesota Press From 1988 – 1989 Jon Savage conducted countless hours of interviews with [...]
Nomeansno 10/15/10 at Reggies
Friday night Reggie’s scored again with the return of one of Canada’s finest punk rock bands from way back in old times, Nomeansno! They headlined a three band bill that a lot of people were excited about as evidenced by the very large turnout. Vicelords played first. They are a local act that has been [...]
Adolescents LP orange vinyl
As Frontier Records celebrates its 30th birthday one of its many all-time classic releases is but one year shy of that same milestone. That release is the first (and best) Adolescents LP, commonly referred to as the “blue album”. This self-titled punk rock masterpiece turns 29 this year. It is shocking to think that this [...]
Riot Fest 2010: Articles of Faith 10/9/10 at AAA
After the day-long festivities at the Congress Theater a real treat was planned for the evening over at the AAA. For one of the “secret shows” of the evening, the worst kept secret thank to the band announcing it the night before was Articles of Faith doing a special performance at the AAA building. This [...]
Riot Fest 2010: Pennywise, Snapcase, Anti-Flag 10/9/10
Now that the weekend started, it was time to expand Riot Fest to start early in the day. There was a full array of bands taking turns entertaining the large crowd a the Congress Theater on Saturday First up, The Swellers. These Flint, MI natives played a short set of melodic pop-punk. They had a [...]
Street Dogs – Self Titled
A solid album of sing-along upbeat street punk from these Boston veterans. Rating: Street Dogs – CD Hellcat Records Boston’s Street Dogs return after a two-year gap with this new self-titled album. In the past two years the band wasn’t just sitting around though as they went on a bunch of tours and of course [...]
Slimy Cunt and the Fist Fucks – Bastards EP
Slimy Cunt and the Fist Fucks – Bastards 7″ Patac Records With a band name like this you pretty much guarantee that you want to be noticed and that your options are fairly limited as to where you can sell your records and even advertise. In a way, the band is more punk rock than [...]
Tutu and the Pirates – Sub-urban Insult Rock for the Anti/lectual
Tutu and the Pirates – Sub-urban Insult Rock for the Anti/lectual LP Factory 25/Regressive Films Tutu and the Pirates have the distinction of being Chicago’s first punk rock band or at least that it how they are acknowledged in the history books. The band played tons of shows and were part of what became the [...]
