// May 7th, 2012 // No Comments » // Videos
Here is a little video we put together from our recent exploits at the Punk Rock Picnic a few days ago featuring a performance by former Dead Kennedys front man, punk icon and Green Party activist, Jello Biafra as well Fear, Drain Bramaged and dozens of other punk bands. But my favorite part is the little punk kid “Lucky” with his temporary “Black Flag” tattoo and mohawk. What’s yours?
// March 4th, 2012 // 3 Comments » // Photos, Videos
What is the sign of a good punk show? Someone loses a shoe!
My ears are still ringing and I’m still on a natural high from the big Youth Brigade Show at Weber’s Sports Bar in Receda, California Friday night. This is my 2nd time at Weber’s and I have to tell you, this is really a good place to take in a show and they are booking some great punk, rockabilly and psychobilly acts.
The difference between a show put on by Weber’s and one of the rip off shows from Rich Vreede / Black Cat is palpable the moment you walk in the door. The audience is taken care of, bands are treated with respect and they are really booking some grade A talent, like the legendary Youth Brigade plus a really, really talented roster of local LA punk and hardcore bands like The Dips and Soto St., the animated and raucous 2 man crew of It’s Casual , plus the long playing LA staple Killroy, featuring a special appearance by their original lead singer.
Soto St.
When we arrived, the owner of Weber’s, Kervin, a real cool cat and super hospitable guy, walked us upstairs, where Youth Brigade were hanging pre-show and we got a chance to chat with Mark Stern, drummer/vocals of the band.
Mark is the brother of fellow founder, guitarist/lead vocals Shawn Stern, whom I’d met briefly a couple years back in Brooklyn when they were touring & promoting their 25th anniversary DVD “Let Them Know… The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records” an excellent documentary and if you haven’t seen it pick up a copy at Amazon HERE or at the BYO Records site. Missed that blog? Check it HERE.
We chatted about Punk Outlaw covering and helping to promote the upcoming big “Punk Rock Bowling” concert in Las Vegas in May (we’ll be there and you should too but if you can’t make it at least you can read about it and see some video here).
I’m also in high hopes of getting YB on tape for an exclusive interview for you guys and for “Punktology… the worldwide influence of punk” in the very near future since we’re all practically neighbors on the west side of LA now. Stay tuned for that.
Mr. Lugey himself (not his name).. of It's Casual
After conversing with the band, the Punk Outlaw Russian intern duo of Tim & Snik and I took in the music. We missed the first couple of bands while chatting with YB but we did catch the final few songs of Soto St. followed by It’s Casual. Both solid and let me tell you It’s Casual is anything but casual. This two man, reverb and hardcore noise making machine knows how to put on a show. I dug the distortion and crazy fast and powerful drum beats.
When you’re just two guys, you gotta make up for it with a lot of fxx’ng noise and they do. My favorite moment was when the lead singer spits a gooey lugey up in the air and as it hangs off the ceiling above the stage, it slowly, starts a long drip back down. He nonchalantly puts the music on hold while he sets up underneath said lugey and proceeds to wait for it to ever so gradually and down right disgustingly return back into his mouth… with a few added germs and microbes from it’s little trip to the ceiling added in for good measure of course. This was no night for the germophobe like myself. I’ll be having bad dreams about that moment for some time to come.
Killroy - Original lead singer (not Mr. Heart Attack)
Next up was Killroy. These guys are no spring chickens and that is what I loved about them. They know what they are doing and the energy was high from song 1 straight through the end of the set. The current lead singer has a powerful, gravely voice that commands the room. He feigned a heart attack early on and I thought “this could be for real”. It wasn’t…or maybe it was and he’s just a really, really tough guy.
The place was full of tough guys BTW. There was a brief fight in the pit. Glasses were broken, people were kicked. Afterwards, one really big bruiser dude at least 220 lbs in a slightly too tight Tiger Army T-shirt tried to pick a fight with one of my Russian interns who weighs all of 140 lbs. Come on dude! #1 Pick on someone your own size and #2 show some fxxing hospitality! Nobody tried to kick my ass when I visited Russia.. I’m so embarrassed. I’d like to apologize on behalf of our country to our Russian guests.. pathetic!
Back to Killroy, heart attack or no, the guys have a big following in LA and for good reason, they put on a hell of a show working the crowd up into a lather waiting for the punk legends to hit the stage.
Mark Stern of Youth Brigade
FINALLY it was time. Our buddies, the legendary Youth Brigade hit the stage. I had already been knocked around like a rag doll trying to get some photos & videos of the opening acts, so I could imagine how crazy it was going to be for Youth Brigade which is probably the most democratic band ever, in terms of letting fans on stage to belt out the songs with them. (Exhibit A – see the video for “I Hate My Life” below).
We went all the way to Russia for our interns/bodyguards (Tim of Tim & Snik)
I instructed my Russian interns/bodyguards (note to self, next time get some bigger interns to be my bodyguards!) to stand behind me so I don’t get whay-layed and bust up the Cannon camera (who knows after the Black Cat-Rich Vreede Rip off if I can afford to replace it you know?). Maybe too tight Tiger Army Tshirt bully guy would like to be an intern for Punk Outlaw?
Fat Mike from NOFX, longtime pals of Youth Brigade but not in attendance Friday night unfortunately, would be proud. I was definitely was going to have a few bruises to show what a good time I had from this show. I just didn’t want a busted up camera as further evidence.
Shawn Stern - Youth Brigade
As soon as the show began, Tim & Snik bravely sacrificed their bodies to the cause of democracy and they took the brunt of the blows on their thin and waify like bodies, as I snapped away at the front of the stage. But even the combined heft of Tim & Snik was no match for the rollicking crowd as I eventually sprawled face first for the 2nd time of the evening onto the stage, thankfully with said Cannon safely above my head.
If you think this is useless information like your high school geometry class, it isn’t. By holding the camera out in front, away from your body and above your head, you are able to absorb the blows with some cushion for the camera. How does this benefit you, you ask dear reader? Try this technique when in a crowded room drinking beer. You will only spill it on other people, not yourself.. see, I told you it was useful info. You really should have paid attention better in high school geometry class.
Crowd was rowdy.. as it should be
Back to the show. Eventually, the lead guitarist for YB felt sorry for us and invited us up on stage with “relative” safety from the over enthusiastic (is there such a thing) crowd. I say relative because before too long YB was belting out my favorite tune “I Hate My Life” (who can’t relate to that song at some time or another?) as the crowd poured onto the stage and I’m cowering in the corner to the left of Mark Stern’s drum kit, leaving intern Tim, who was running flip-cam duties, to fend for himself. Intern Snik had long ago abandoned the pit and scrambled to the safety of the merch table at the back of the room.
On stage with Youth Brigade
That’s when I had THE MOMENT of clarity. That moment that reminded me why I loved punk music and why, oh why, do I write this blog, travel the planet under often less than ideal conditions videotaping bands and punks for the documentary and spend $ on something I probably will never make a dime at. Why do I get robbed in Argentina (fake taxi driver) and Los Angeles (Rich Vreede – Black Cat Entertainment), simply to pursue what is probably best described as an expensive hobby (and getting more expensive with each subsequent robbery).
From a business perspective, it defies common sense. From a punk lover’s perspective, it makes perfect sense.
Crowd pours on stage to sing
I’m on stage with one of the most legendary punk bands still playing today. Terribly influential guys to the entire punk movement. Guys that toured with Social Distortion and Minor Threat in the 80′s on the famous “Another State of Mind” Documentary (a classic must see. Buy it HERE). Guys that started their own record label, BYO Records, in 1982! Talk about DIY, that was not only pre myspace, facebook, twitter, etc that is when that meant literally recording and pressing your own music and selling it out of the back of the van or mailing cassette tapes or vinyl all over the world via snail mail; guys that have literally toured the world; guys that regularly collaborate with the likes of aforementioned Fat Mike of NOFX to organize tours and festivals like the aforementioned “Punk Rock Bowling”.
Guys that despite no visible “mainstream” success (whatever that means these days), are considered punk royalty, yet still are so cool and down to earth that they let a filmmaker/photographer/vlogger/blogger or whatever the hell I am these days jump on stage with them and freely shoot until my heart is content; guys that not only let the crowd pour on stage to sing with them, they actually invite them up and encourage them to sing.
These guys are punk but more than that, these guys are why I love punk music… and these guys, along with cool people hanging at Weber’s Rockabilly Bar (Big Tiger Army Shirt bully dude notwithstanding), have reignited my faith in the fact that most people are indeed good and cool.. most people are not looking to simply make exploit others for personal gain. In a foxhole… well, I wouldn’t want to be in one but if I had to be in one, then I’d want to be with these guys.
There is a sense of community, comradeship and respect for the fans that emanates from Youth Brigade and the Stern brothers. Shawn Stern never flinches when the microphone is suddenly pulled from his hand and a drunken punk butchers his song (usually, but not always, off key).
Mark Stern invites a guy onstage to sing his own version of whatever song he wishes. The guitarist who saved our asses doesn’t get pissed off when the microphone busts him in the mouth because some young, intoxicated fan in her enthusiasm stumbles and projectiles the mic stand sending it straight towards his pearly whites, busting his lip.
This, my friends, is what punk is about. This, my friends, is Youth Brigade at Weber’s and this my friends is how you put on a REAL show! Take note scam artist promoters and take note poser bands. THIS… IS… PUNK!
Enjoy more photos from the Youth Brigade show HERE and enjoy the videos below.
Thanks again to my interns Tim & Snik, the cool crowd, Kervin and the whole crew from Weber’s and especially Youth Brigade.
“SINK WITH KALIFORNIJA”
“I HATE MY LIFE”
// March 1st, 2012 // No Comments » // Events
Our good buddies Youth Brigade are coming to Los Angeles! Oh wait, they live here. OK, our good buddies, Youth Brigade are playing in LA! Ok, they are not our good buddies, we met the lead brother, Shawn Stern once in NYC but hey, he was cool and he seemed to like us. He really did.
OK enough namedropping. We know, we know, we sound like a Hollywood douchebag.. And why do I keep referring to myself in the plural “we”? I have no idea.
Anyway, we’ll be covering the show (in this case, I do mean we, it’s me and the Russian interns, Tim & Snik), so look for us if you go and if you don’t for some silly reason, like say, geography (living in South America or Russia is no excuse to miss this show dear reader), then look for photos and videos on Saturday.. or Sunday.. or Monday at the latest.
Here’s a little flipcam video from that show in NYC a few years back with Youth Brigade.. singing my all time YB favorite song ”I Hate My Life”.. and you know what.. sometimes I do.
// February 23rd, 2012 // No Comments » // Photos
More on this band coming soon, but I’m pretty fired up about this band “Normandie Blue”. My buddy Alex Blue from the band’s namesake (you may remember him from psychobilly heavyweights Calavera back in the day), gave me the CD after one of their gigs and I have to tell you, now, it is on full time play on my ipod. There are a good 4 or 5 songs on the CD and I wear the ‘play” then “repeat” button out on my ipod.
Alex has assembled a crack team of musicians and put out a work of art they should be proud of. In the meantime, here are some photos from Normandie Blue’s recent show at the Old Towne Pub in Pasadena, CA. Enjoy!
SEE THE FULL NORMANDIE BLUE PHOTO ALBUM HERE:
// February 13th, 2012 // 16 Comments » // Events, Photos, Videos
There were near riots in downtown Los Angeles this past Sunday night at the Mayan Theater. No, Occupy LA didn’t gear back up, but Rich Vreede of Black Cat Entertainment was back in action… spreading his unique brand of concert promotion and “nice guy” misery, which means a packed house but unpaid bands, ripped off “investors”, people on the verge of tears trying to maintain their dignity and in the end, a police escort out of the building among a throng of the pissed off for a guy some have dubbed the “Bernie Madoff of Concert Promoters”.
The approximately 650 attendees paid their $20-$25 at the door of the Mayan Theater for the Valentine’s Ball and spent unknown thousands at the bars (beers at $8 a pop) and would have no idea that most, in not all the bands they just enjoyed would end up not getting one penny owed them by the promoters.
Waiting in line to buy Tickets
There were hardworking and respected guys like Elvis Cortez from the bands like Left Alone shaking their heads in disbelief that they had to put up with such amateur behavior just a couple of hours after the show. A booking agent for another band said that in all her years of booking, this would be the first time she’d never gotten paid.
The Surf Rats from the UK who flew all the way over for the gig told me that in the Europe they were always paid their due, even when the crowd was light, much less when the crowd was packed. Word was, and I wasn’t able to substantiate it personally but believe it to be true, that even the lead band Frantic Flintstones got stiffed. My buddies from Italy, Evil Devil good naturedly took it all in stride, just saying “he hasn’t paid us everything just yet”. Good luck fellas! At least you got a trip to the U.S. out of the deal.
Packed house at the Mayan.. yet no one gets paid?
And then there was the pissed off “investor”, a stocky, muscular dude with an indiscernible accent that I would never, ever even think about crossing up with financially, who after frantic searching, found Rich and reportedly got him in a semi-headlock before security could intervene and break it up.
By the end of the concert there were people floating around Rich like so many flies around cow dung. And yes I dear reader, I am sad to report, that I was indeed one of the unfortunate flies. Yes, I was one of the pissed off (or pissed on), who had been suckered into thinking I was going to be helping a nice guy that I thought I knew. A guy who, though sometimes seeming a little disorganized at times, had always managed to pull off some pretty good events for over 10 years.
Where does all the bar money go?
Oh, but little did I know then, when I loaned my “friend” some money for a deposit he needed to make to secure a venue for the event (which was originally supposed to take place last September at the Music Box), that once money is obtained (in my case under fraudulent circumstances which I can prove in court) by the “Bernie Madoff of Concert Promotions”, your chances of getting money back depend on where you are in the pyramid scheme of payments, not how tight your legal agreement (mine is water tight) or how long you have known the guy (I’ve known him since 2006).
For me, it’s a relatively small business hit. If I never see it, I’ll absorb it in stride as part of the cost of doing business, but for the bands who had set aside the dates, refused other gigs and in the process promoted their hearts out so that someone else could make all the money with what turned out to be their free music? Well, it is an understandably bitter pill to swallow. We all know the stories of musicians who make extreme financial sacrifices to make their music, just to work their way up to a level where they can actually get paid at a gig like “The Valentine’s Ball”. It’s not right, that once they finally get that opportunity, seemingly morally challenged promoters then screw them out of their hard work. Some people I’m sure were sorely depending on that money.
I recently learned the list of bands shorted by Black Cat over the years reads like a “Who’s Who” of psychobilly acts. From the famous to the not so famous, the bigger the tab, the less likely the band is going to get paid.
I’m not sure who made all the money at the Valentine’s Ball at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles last night, but it sure wasn’t the hardworking and talented people who the people paid to see. And I gather from the angry crowd, the police escort, the Mayan Theater Security Guards who kept insisting that we turn off our cameras and go home and the weasley way our Rich had to slither out of the building under heavy police escort (seriously, there 6 police cars and as many or more officers), that it wasn’t Rich either. I mean he’s not that crazy is he? Or is he?
There was some rumor of some other mystery guy who disappeared with the money, but nobody knew who this guy was or why he was involved since all the contracts were with Black Cat. But one thing is for sure, with this packed house, somebody made off big… like a bandit.
Evil Devil with Rich from Black Cat (Striped Shirt on the Right)
There is more to this story and I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of it soon. Yeah right, ha, ha! But why let it die? Lets put a little sunshine on this dark little business.
Over the past few months, I kept thinking about the money I loaned the guy on good faith and a rock solid contract that now seems to not matter anymore. I certainly don’t trust the California justice system but I’ll give it one shot in this instance on principle alone and because there are few other options. Hopefully, they’ll prove me wrong and I’ll write a mea culpa. At least I have the resources to chase the guy. Some people will have to try to simply move on.
For me, that money had been set aside for marketing for the new Punk Outlaw Records, a digital label we recently began. I thought it would be a good way to help a “buddy” out while also promoting the label, and then when the INTEREST FREE LOAN was paid back as promised and agreed to on the day of the concert, I could promote some of my own events and maybe even bring a band or two from South America to play in LA.
But when it became clear I was dealing with a con (apparent to me the very next day after my check cleared, when my phone calls, which up to that point had been returned immediately, began a markedly slower pace of returns or were downright ignored) and not a reputable business relationship, I needed to program myself with different motivation to keep doing the crazy, mind boggling stuff you have to do to try and get money from someone who doesn’t to my knowledge have a job; someone whom I once treated to a Social Distortion concert and didn’t even have the common decency to buy me one beer as a thank you.
I pledged to myself that if I got any of the money back, I’d offer it as microloans to people who really need it. People in places like Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, Haiti, etc. who literally don’t have much but just need a little boost to try and survive. Microloans are tiny loans (as small as $25) that can help people who are trying to lift themselves out of impossibly bleak circumstances by doing something that our buddy Rich doesn’t seem to understand… a little thing I like to call “working”.
With as little as $25, you can actually help change an entire family’s life by loaning them money to buy cows, pigs or chickens or a piece of farm equipment for their farm, or perhaps a sewing machine so a single mother can start a tailoring business for her village, or whatever the case may be (I also bet you stand a better shot of actually getting it repaid).
I had already set my sites on Kiva, a fine organization that passes all scrutiny and is recommended by major media outlets like CNN, etc. (yes, charities have their own Bernie Madoffs who do the same thing so do your homework).
Turn a negative into a positive.. provide a small microloan to a poor family
I knew I’d have to document every bullshit email exchange, every little facebook encounter, text and telephone call where the guy said one thing and did another time after time and I’d have to try and keep my cool. It was exhausting and the only thing that kept me going was the thought that maybe I could allocate that money, borne in such a negative, shitty circumstance of one person trying to con money out of another (some rob you with a pistol, others with a pen), and give it to someone who genuinely needed it. Someone who’s life would literally change overnight. Out of the cracks of the sand in the desert the most beautiful and colorful flowers so often grow, that was my admittedly cliche but optimistic and obviously unrealistic hope in this situation.
But alas after chasing the guy down Friday night at the Pre-Valentine’s Ball party where he said “whatever your thinking is happening, put it out of your mind, it’s not”, after numerous emails and promises that I’d for sure get paid back all my money the night of the concert “if not before” (can’t tell you how many times I heard that one), from “nice guy” Rich of Black Cat, I was ultimately made painfully aware that if I were to get my money, I’d be standing behind a long line of people, many who probably need it much worse than me. To add insult the the wound, Rich didn’t supply much of the marketing support he’d promised in our agreement as well, breaching the agreement almost before the ink was dry by putting out flyers without our logo included.
Evil Devil puts on a great show, despite getting shorted
It’s a shame that one person can cause so much pain, negativity and misery for so many. One buddy told me a story about how on another occasion the guy stiffed some artists from Europe and one poor soul, this big, intimidating psychobilly musician with a Mohawk was literally crying in his hotel room lamenting “I don’t understand why we can’t get paid, this never happens in Europe. Why do people do business this way?” Good question.
Well, I could be cynical and say welcome to Los Angeles, the music industry or the psychobilly scene my friend… but that would not be right. There are many good promoters in the music industry and in the psychobilly scene in LA. I guess it’s welcome to the land of Black Cat Entertainment, a parallel universe where a guy who rarely pays anyone, keeps a promise or apparently tells the truth, still is able to keep promoting concerts and people still go and bands still perform and suckers like me are still born every minute. I say that madness has to stop and I hope it stops with me and anyone reading this blog. See you in court Rich.
If you’re reading this post and especially if Black Cat screwed you over, I invite you to visit Kiva and offer a microloan for $25 or $50 or whatever you can afford whenever you get to where you can afford it again. I know it sound weird to lose money and then give some more away, but I think maybe we can help offset the miserable karma put out by people like Black Cat and the ilk by doing some actual, real good in the world.
Has Black Cat or another promoter screwed you over? Then shoot us an email at info@punkoutlawrecords.com or leave us a comment. Our new site www.ScumBagPromoter.com will hopefully be up and running soon and we’ll tell your story and publicly out some of these shady promoters and maybe, who knows, we can even help clean up the scene a bit.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: It should be obvious, but in case it’s not, we want to go on record to say we do not under any circumstances condone the threat or use of physical violence or emotional harassment. How he has gotten away with this for so long is indeed mind boggling and it is frustrating, I realize, but there are legal steps we can take that while they may not recover everyone’s money or peace of mind, will prevent Black Cat from ever promoting in the state of California again and we are going to pursue them. Fraud is a very serious charge and when it is backed up by multiple counts then indeed there are some things we can do. Stay tuned for updates.
// February 11th, 2012 // No Comments » // Events, Photos, Videos
Evil Devil at the Meet & Greet Friday Night in Reseda, CA
Our good buddies from Italy, psychobilly band, Evil Devil are back in Los Angeles to play the Valentine’s Ball on Sunday night at the Mayan Theater.
Evil Devil will be performing with Frantic Flintstones and Left Alone. We caught up with our buddies from Italy at the Pre-Valentines Ball meet-n-greet in Reseda, CA last night, where we caught a performance of LA’s “Dr. Bizarro’s Victims” . We bolted thereafter but we heard the “Howlers” played as well as “Evil Devil” performed a few songs in a preview of whats to come Sunday night.
Dr. Bizarro's Victims @ the PreValentine's Ball Show on Friday
If you missed the Friday night event, well no worries, because the big event is this Sunday at the Mayan Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Punk Outlaw will be there with our table with stickers, CDs from Punk Outlaw Records, and of course, the Punk Outlaw tanks and tees. Be the first cat to come up to the table and say “I want my free Punk Outlaw Tee” and we’ll get you a shirt along with your choice of a Dorado’s Rockabilly Trio or “Punktology Vol. 1″ CD.
Look For Punk Outlaw's Booth @ The Valentine's Day Ball on Sunday Night @ the Mayan in LA
And of course, we’ll have some in depth coverage including photos and videos after the event next week, so stay tuned.
More information about the event can be found HERE.
Be the first to hit the Punk Outlaw Booth on Sunday and get a free Dorados Rockabilly Trio CD
Enjoy a short clip from Dr. Bizarro’s Victims below as well as our feature on “Evil Devil” from 2010.
// February 6th, 2012 // No Comments » // Videos
Our buddy, cameraman Francisco Mora with Juan Carlos (former member - drums) & Paul Roman (founder/vocals/guitar) of The Quakes
It took a little longer than we anticipated, having interrupted our work flow by traveling to Latin America and all for a year, but we did finally get interview edited from our good buddies The Quakes.
They had just played a gig in Los Angeles and we were able to catch up with them the next day. We get the scoop from the original, U.S. psychobilly band that helped pioneer the genre in the U.S. and are still going strong (even if they aren’t crazy about the genre’s name).
These guys are really respected at home and abroad and are my personal favorite psychobilly band of all time bar none. Grab one of their CDs and I think you’ll understand why.
Special thanks to Francisco Mora (camera) and Camilo Mendoza (editor).
// December 14th, 2011 // No Comments » // Photos, Videos
So this weekend I made my way East (Living in Santa Monica, I can’t go much further west), to the Irwindale Speedway to take in the big Mooneyes Car and Music Festival. It’s an annual X-mas event that’s been around for quiet sometime but it was my first. And what better way to get into the spirit of the season than some vintage hot-rods, hot pinup & rockabilly girls, hot rockabilly and surf music and some even hotter weather? Now that is my kind of Xmas celebration. 
The cars were the main draw. There were all kinds of hot-rods from the 1920s all the way to the 1960s and beyond. If your a muscle car buff this is your show and/or if your a rockabilly or psychobilly enthusiast, this is your show.
If not for the cars, you might mistakenly think this was a tattoo convention. I think myself and maybe one old lady were the only folks not tatted up Mike Ness style.
But overall Mooneyes is a family event. I mean they do sell beer, have drag races and host some pretty good rockabilly and surf music, with vendors from all over the rockabilly planet but in many cases the whole family was in tow, some kids towed along in some customized strollers! Kids with mohawks and all tatted up (ok, no tattoos on the kiddies that I actually saw but plenty of mo and faux hawks).
Mooneyes is like many of the other events and get togethers on the west coast where punks mix in seamlessly with psychobilly psychos and rockabilly fanatics.
Lets see, you’ve got your
- Betty Page and Marilyn Monroe lookalikes – Check!
- Surf and Rockabilly Music – Check.
- More tattoos per square inch than you can count – double check,
- Customized Hot Rods – triple check
- Mom and pop vendors and artists plying their wares – check..
- People drinking beer and in general haveing a good time and looking pretty cool – check, check and check.
Yep, I’m on the west coast of the U.S. of A, the home of psychobilly and rockabilly subcultures and it feels great. Feliz Navidad yall!
Enjoy the pics and the video from this cool little rockabilly band!
// January 11th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // Videos
Social Distortion
Not sure what’s in the water these days but there is a lot of new music on the horizon. I mean Social Distortion has a new CD out in a matter of days and that happens less often than a presidential election (The last Social D. full release was in 2004).
But a healthy music scene isn’t just judged by the legends touring and putting out new music, but new bands bursting onto the scene.
For me 2010 was a great year of discovering new music from many, many diverse places. Off the top of my head my new music discoveries that are still sticking with me include the “Cobra Skulls” which I saw the Knitting Factory in NYC and wrote about HERE.
Other cool punk bands I discovered in 2010 were from Chicago (I gotta get there soon) called “Juicehead” which I heard on Sirius radio and another one called “Pegboy” which a friend recommended.
On the international front, new music I discovered in 2010 included my boys “Rudos Wild” a punkabilly band from Uruguay and “Los Suziox” a talented punk band from Colombia after visits there for the documentary Punktology.
2011 is off to a quick start as a couple of new bands have hit me up recently telling me about their new releases and while I normally only write or share about bands I’ve actually seen, I thought I’d share the info with you guys, because why should I keep all the goodies to myself.
Tucson's "Moovalya"
The first is an indie pop punk band called Moovalya from Tucson, Arizona. Their sound is very radio friendly and you could definitely imagine them on the Warped Tour some day.And while my taste run a little more narrow and a lot more hard core, there is no arguing the guys are good musicians. You can check out their video below and judge for yourself.
On the complete other end of the spectrum and next up on my radar is a new LA psychobilly band called “Cold Blue Rebels” who have a debut CD coming out as well. Now eventually, when I’m finished with my South American tour of duty sometime in 2011, we’ll be heading to Los Angeles to live, work and generally soak up the punk, psychobilly and rockabilly scenes. Cold Blue Rebels give me a chance to get a nice head start.
Below is a little Q&A I had with CBR, followed by their music video from their forthcoming CD! Check em out and let me know what you think.
Here is hoping 2011 brings just as much good new punk music as 2010! We’re off to a good start.
Cold Blue Rebels
1) HOW LONG HAS COLD BLUE REBELS BEEN AROUND?
CBR has been around just over a year now. Things have happened incredibly fast for us. The timing for this band has been perfect. We’ve gone from formation, rehearsals, gigs to record deal and release in one year. Dreams really DO come true!
2) HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC?
Rockin’ Horror Psychobilly, heavy on the ‘billy! A cross between the Stray Cats and Alice Cooper, with tongue firmly planted in The Munstermobile.
3) WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES?
Ramones, Gene Vincent, Elvis, Nekromantix, The Clash, Stray Cats, Herman Munster, Johnny Cash, KISS.
4) TELL ME ABOUT THE NEW CD? IS THIS YOUR FIRST? WHERE CAN PEOPLE BUY IT?
Yeah, this is our debut CD and it’s called “Blood, Guts n’ Rock & Roll” It is distributed worldwide by Horror High Records and is also available online at AMAZON & iTUNES:
Our CD has 12 tracks on it including a psycho cover of Wanda Jackson’s “Riot In Cell Block #9” , and every song on it is definitely going to stick in your zombie fucking heads! There is some neo-rockabilly, some punk, and even some doo wop on there! We wanted to make an album that stands out from the rest of the psychobilly bands out there, and I think we’ve done it!! It was important to us to not just be another “punk band with an upright bassplayer”… We’ve got some chops in this band, and when you got it baby, flaunt it!
5) WHATS GOING ON WITH THE PSYCHOBILLY SCENE IN LA RIGHT NOW? IS IT GATHERING STEAM?
It depends who you ask really. I’ve been to gigs that are just slammin’, many events by Black Cat Entertainment and Tiger Mask and other promoters around town. Some of the bands are legendary! Guana Bats, The Polecats, Mad Sin… But what I love are the crowds… when it’s an all ages event, they are just tops!
6) ANY PLANS TO TOUR? WHERE?
Yes, definitely A LOT of touring in 2011! We’re doing a Northwest run with The Rocketz during March, and expect to hit the mid-west and Great Lakes shortly after that. Meanwhile we are constantly touring the Southwest all year long because we are conveniently based in Los Angeles.
7) WHY DO YOU THINK PSYCHOBILLY IS SO POPULAR ON THE WEST COAST?
I think it’s partly because there are many great bands from here, or at least based here. Bands like Tiger Army, Nekromantix, The Rocketz, The Chop Tops. We’ve also got great festivals here that support the genre like Viva Las Vegas, Ink & Iron, and a long list of Car Shows and car clubs.
California is the perfect place to live if you are into rat-rods and old cars, too, which many psychos and ‘billys are into… (I oughta know, I drive a ’56 Ford that I call “Ratty!”) Cool cars and rock n roll music have always gone together. Mix in a little old time California surf music and culture and some classic Hollywood horror film imagery… it’s really the perfect place for all these ingredients to come together.
ANY PARTING THOUGHTS?
Yes, thanks for helping us get the word out there. People, buy our CD and come out to see us when we are playing in your area. We love to hang out with and meet our fans. Don’t be shy. We’re hoping to be around for many more years to come, so come on out and cultivate a relationship with us! Cheers!
// September 23rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Downloads
The latest NY Hard Times issue is out and it features good stuff as usual.
If you didn’t get enough or missed it before, you can see Punk Outlaw’s Reviews of the “Black Cat Psychobilly Festival” in Los Angeles and the “Bad Brains” and “The Bots” show at the Afro-Punk Festival in Brooklyn over the summer.
You can download the full issue and read our coverage on page 4 at the link below. Enjoy!
Punkoutlaw Tweets
