D.O.A. @ Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008 (more)

Legendary hardcore punk band D.O.A., whose new album Talk Minus Action Equals Zero was released on May, are on tour with hardcore legends Negative Approach. Both bands can be found at Asbury Lanes in NJ tonight (6/18) (flyer below), in Boston on Saturday night, and then at the free Punk Island fest happening on Governors Island on Sunday (June 20). As previously mentioned...

Punk Island returns for a third year in 2010, with more than 130 of the country's loudest bands transforming the ordinarily quiet Governors Island into a daylong punk/hardcore paradise.

Bands will perform on 18 stages scattered around the island, as free ferries transport revelers from Lower Manhattan and DUMBO to Governors Island every half hour, beginning at 10am.

Because Governors Island is closed on the day of Make Music New York, Punk Island will take place the day before, on Sunday, June 20th. Just like the rest of MMNY, all performances are outdoors and completely free.

Ferry info and more HERE.

After Punk Island, D.O.A. continues on tour without Negative Approach who will be back in NYC in August. All DOA dates below...

Continue reading "D.O.A. & Negative Approach touring! - play Punk Island & other dates (including Asbury Park tonight!) "

I can now say with 99,99% confidence that legendary drummer Chuck Biscuits is in fact alive and well! So what the hell happened yesterday? How did the rumor that he died of throat cancer start? Why did everyone believe it? Well, before the chain reaction of irresponsible blog posts and news stories (guilty), it all began with one James Greene Jr. James, according to the Boston Herald (one of the sources I read before posting myself) (and whose story credits Blabbermouth), is "a freelance music writer from Brooklyn, New York".

Though I didn't completely realize it at the time of my own hasty posting, James's Chuck Biscuits obituary was THE source of it all. Before I re-posted his words I had read about Chuck's death - in addition to at the sources mentioned above, in the BrooklynVegan comments, and was told about it via an IM, and saw that someone had updated Wikipedia with his death info (reliable, I know), and noticed via Google that Punk News had even put a "-2009" after his name and date of birth. The news was spreading fast. By the end of the day, at least 50 websites had reported that Chuck was dead.

At first glance James's blog post seemed super legit too. First of all, who would make something up about Chuck Biscuits? (Lars Ulrich maybe, but Chuck Biscuits????). It was a well thought out obituary which even sourced Chuck's family members (a "mass email" even), and (ironically) the post was tagged "Shit That Can't Be Real Yet Somehow Is"!

continued below...

Continue reading "the great Chuck Biscuits death hoax of 2009 (he's alive!)"

UPDATE 3: Chuck Biscuits is alive!

UPDATE (good news): Chuck's death may be a hoax!

UPDATE 2: Chuck Biscuits is not an easy man to get a hold of these days, but someone is now claiming that Otis Link did in fact do that.

Legendary hard rock drummer Chuck Biscuits, whose lengthy résumé included stints in such flagship underground acts as Black Flag and Social Distortion, died Saturday after a prolonged battle with throat cancer. He was 44.

"In response to the inquires, thank you for all the support," an anonymous family member wrote in an e-mail sent this morning. "Chuck did not survive his battle with throat cancer. He passed surrounded by his family on 10/24/09."

Chuck Biscuits was probably best known to the general populous for his work with Danzig. Beginning in 1988, Chuck played on that group's first four albums, which are often hailed as Danzig's best (thanks in no small part to Chuck's powerful drumming style). The percussionist also appeared on 1993's Thrall: Demonsweatlive EP; that release yielded an unexpected chart-burning hit for Danzig in "Mother," a song the band originally included on their self-titled debut. [JG2 Land]

Chuck Biscuits, known not only for his drumming, but for being the member of Danzig without black hair! Chuck also played with the Circle Jerks, D.O.A., Fear, and even drummed on a RUN DMC album. He died way too young. R.I.P. DIDN'T DIE

Videos below...

Continue reading "Chuck Biscuits (D.O.A., Circle Jerks, Danzig), RIP (???)"

Photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

If not obvious by the 2008 Fun Fun Fun Fest coverage so far, I was having the most fun (fun fun) over the weekend with all the punk, metal and hardcore on stages 3a and 3b (two connected stages to avoid long times between sets). Highlights and pictures from day one are HERE. Highlights of day two (9/9) were DOA, Frightened Rabbit, the ska punk, politics and crowd of Leftover Crack, Cro-Mags (jam) (John Joseph w/ one of Cro-Mags' past drummers, AJ from Leeway on guitar and Craig Setari of Sick of it All on bass), what I saw of St. Vincent and Black Angels, the vegan sausage pizza, and Bad Brains. I managed to catch a few songs of Islands who sounded great, but totally missed Spinto Band and Annuals. Also saw pieces of Kevin Seconds, Chuck Ragan, and Ben Nichols's solo-frontmen sets. Saw Black Joe Lewis and most of Trash Talk, but neither lived up to my expectations in the daytime festival setting. I went back and forth between the pre-headliner sets of Minus the Bear and Bouncing Souls, and ran over to watch one song of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah during a Bad Brains reggae segment. Despite the competition, CYHSY still pulled in a respectable sized crowd. The stages were far enough away in general, but I could also still hear Alec Ounsworth's unmistakable voice at times between Bad Brains songs depending on where I was standing (I watched Bad Brains from various areas throughout their set). Clipse were headlining on the stage farthest away from Bad Brains so I totally missed them, and Kool Keith, who played that same stage earlier. Bad Brains ended earlier than curfew which meant I got to run over and catch about 20 minutes of Tim and Eric which was a great way (laughing) to end the hectic two day fest.

One unfortunate aspect of the weekend was the dust. It was a problem at ACL this year too. Dry dirt and wind meant you were constantly breathing it in. A signifigant portion of the crowd was wearing bandanas or other gas mask-like things on their faces. I didn't, but I should have because I think it made me a little sick. More pictures from day two below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008 - (some of) day two in photos "

This past Fun Fun Fun Fest weekend was filled with artists you might categorize as living hardcore and punk legends. There was the Dead Milkmen, Killdozer, Rival Schools (members), Bad Brains, Kevin (7) Seconds, All, and Cro-Mags, and there was D.O.A....

They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, and Minor Threat. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound hardcore. Singer/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithley is the only founding member to have stayed in the band throughout its entire history, however original bassist Randy Rampage has rejoined DOA after a long absence and is in the current lineup. [Wikipedia]

I haven't felt this nostalgic and excited about punk again since CBGB's closed. D.O.A. were pretty awesome. Check out some clips below, along with a few more pictures including one of the setlist...

Continue reading "D.O.A. @ Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008 - pics, setlist & video "