by Andrew Sacher

Hot Water Music

Chuck Ragan (of Hot Water Music) is taking The Revival Tour 2012 across the US and Canada this March and April. Like past Revival Tours, the shows feature a number of singers (usually of the punk scene) and their acoustic instruments collaborating on stage in a traditional folk music fashion. This year's tour hits NYC on March 30 at Bowery Ballroom, and in addition to Chuck Ragan, features Dan Andriano (of Alkaline Trio), Tommy Gabel (of Against Me!), and Lucero-associate Cory Branan. Tickets go on sale Saturday (2/4) at noon. The Revival tour also has ticket bundle options available with tour samplers, vinyls, posters, and more.

Nathaniel Rateliff, who released his debut album back in 2010, is on a number of the dates too, but unfortunately will not play at the Bowery Ballroom show. However, he will play in NYC one day before that show as part of the Communion-presented "Austin to Boston" tour, which kicks off at this year's SXSW in Austin. That tour hits Mercury Lounge on March 29 and also includes Ben Howard, The Staves, and Bear's Den. Tickets are on sale now.

Chuck Ragan's band Hot Water Music, who have been reunited since 2008, have announced that they're working on their first new album since the reunion and since 2004's The New What Next. They've been recording the album with Bill Stevenson (Descendents) and it should see the light of day this May on Rise Records, the label they signed to over the summer. Hot Water Music released the single "The Fire, The Steel, The Tread," b/w "Up to Nothing" in September of 2011. There's no word of whether or not these songs will appear on the new album, but you can stream them both below.

Hot Water Music have a few shows scheduled in 2012 including Bamboozle in Asbury Park, NJ and SXSW. Single day passes for 5/19 when HWM plays Bamboozle, along with The Promise Ring, A$AP Rocky, Action Bronson, and others, are on sale now. HWM doesn't have many other shows announced at the moment but maybe they'll schedule a NYC show when they're in the area for Bamboozle like The Promise Ring did.

All dates, streams, and tour fliers below...

Continue reading "Revival Tour announced w/ Chuck Ragan, Tom Gabel, Dan Andriano & Nathaniel Rateliff (who has his own dates too)"

Ted Leo posted the following today:

LOOKOUT! IST KAPUTT.

I've been getting a lot of Twitter questions about why a bunch of my records have disappeared from all the digital services (Sportify, iDudes, Mandora, etc.). It's because our beloved Lookout Records, which ceased releasing new material in 2006, but carried on keeping the catalog in print until this past December, has, sadly, shuttered it's windows for good. A better eulogy should be forthcoming, but just to answer these questions, this means that these records have reverted to my complete ownership, which is kind of cool in some ways, I guess, except that it also means I have to basically run my own label for them now unless I wind up licensing them to someone else in the future. In the immediate, I have to go through some legal stuff with the digital services to get the records back up online, and I'm hoping to have that all taken care of very soon. Physical records are now officially out of print and will likely not be repressed for a while (but I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually). I do have a bunch of stock laying around with no plans to tour for quite a while, so if there's interest, maybe I'll set up a web-store so you can buy direct from me if you want. Please feel free to email or tweet me with ideas for that. All entertaining ideas will be entertained!
And thank you, seriously, for giving a crap. I'm not happy to see Lookout gone, but having complete rights of usage and total and direct revenue from sales now, can ultimately turn this into a positive situation. I just have to get creative about it. Might try to bang one out more special Tyranny of Distance event before the 10th anniversary year is over this spring...

Other bands who have called Lookout! home include Alkaline Trio, Ann Beretta, Avail, The Avengers, Bratmobile, Citizen Fish, The Donnas, Engine Down, Go Sailor, Green Day, The Groovie Ghoulies, The Hi-Fives, Hockey Night, Mary Timony, Neurosis, Operation Ivy, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Queers, Rancid, Screeching Weasel, Vagrants, The Mr T Experience, The Zero Boys, and many, many more.

Ted Leo will be appearing at a few upcoming comedy shows and a benefit in Austin.

Continue reading "Lookout! Records is no more (so Ted Leo now completely owns his own records)"

Australian duo An Horse saw the release of their sophomore full-length, Walls, today via Mom+Pop Music (it's streaming now at Spinner). The band will celebrate tonight, 4/26, with a show at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn with help from openers Nik Freitas and Secret Music. They're then on the road through the end of May, part of the time with Manchester Orchestra. They hit California for a few shows in June and return in August to play Lollapalooza.

Kaki King, who makes an appearance at LPR tonight, toured with them last year. You may have caught them also in 2009 when they were on tour with Telekenisis supporting their last record.

All current tour dates below...

Continue reading "An Horse released an album, now on tour, in Brooklyn tonight"

Cursive @ SXSW 2009 (more by Leia Jospe)

Cursive is going on tour with... with Alkaline Trio and openers The Dear & Departed. It starts February 16th in California and ends in Los Angeles on the second day of April. Before that the tour hits a slew of US cities and venues including NYC's Nokia Theatre on Friday, March 12th. For the days on either side of that, they stay close by. The tour stops on March 11th at Philadelphia's Trocadero and on March 13th at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ.

Tickets for the NYC show currently have a few presale options. All dates give you the chance to preorder Alkaline's forthcoming record, This Addiction. For NYC, there's currently an AmEx presale, and from 8am to 8pm today (1/7) there is a password presale (Password: ADDICTION). Philly tickets have the password presale too. All those and Starland tickets go on general sale Friday (1/8) at 10am.

All dates are below...

Continue reading "Cursive going on tour w/ Alkaline Trio (2010 dates)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Cock Sparrer - "Spirit of '76" (MP3)

First of all, Riot Fest Chicago is not a celebration commemorating the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention. There are no cops in attendance (unsympathetic ones anyway), and no one is there to "set the record straight".

In 2005 Mike Petryshyn started Riot Fest... With one eye on the legendary Chicago punk scene and the other on the bands that inspire them, he started building the festival, with an ambitious multiple show/venue format despite his inexperience. He put special emphasis on reuniting influential punk and underground bands who hadn't shared the stage in years and Chicago's rich punk history has always been a huge part of the Riot Fest roster, this year 11 bands from the area are confirmed so far.

Year five of Riot Fest in Chicago is systems-go from Oct 7th-12th and with an enviable punk rock lineup of Butthole Surfers, Naked Raygun, Cock Sparrer, Dead Milkmen, Murder City Devils, NOFX, 88 Fingers Louie, Screeching Weasel, Pegboy, Off With Their Heads, and many many more. Full lineup and flyer (with New Bomb Turks not listed) is below.

Besides the obvious awesomeness of Naked Raygun, who played their first reunion gig at Riot Fest in 2006 (and who are playing NYC soon, tickets on sale), and a few key others, one exciting band on the lineup is the UK's Oi! pioneers Cock Sparrer:

Cock Sparrer (initially Cock Sparrow) are a punk rock band formed in 1974 in the East End of London, England. Although they never enjoyed much commercial success, the band is considered one of the most influential streetpunk bands in history, helping pave the way for the late-1970s punk scene and the Oi! subgenre. Their style was influenced by pub rock, glam rock and raw 1960s beat music as delivered by bands like The Small Faces and The Who. Their lyrics mostly dealt with topics related to the daily lives of working class people.

Cock Sparrer recently played Chaos in Tejas. Riot Fest and a two night stand at The Great American Music Hall in San Fran are currently the only US dates that the band has lined up for the future (dates below).

Cock Sparrer just released their first album in 10 years, Here We Stand, which washed up on US shores last month via Pirates Press. The 14 track LP was recorded by Pat Collier (The Vibrators) and mixed by Lars Fredriksen (Rancid) and includes "Spirit of '76" which is downloadable above.

Meanwhile, Riot Fest is also spreading it's wings out west to bring Los Angeles it's own taste from November 12-14. Lineups are to be announced, but look for those bands at the participating stages of The Palladium, The Wiltern, Key Club and The Roxy. More details are to come.

Continue reading "Riot Fest Chicago - 2009 lineup (Cock Sparrer, Dead Milkmen, Butthole Surfers, Naked Raygun, Murder City Devils & more) "