by BBG

Santos Party House, Oslo, Norway

I recently spent the better part of two weeks in Norway covering a doubleheader of events in the capital city of Oslo - first the Santos Party House Annex during the World Snowboarding Championships and then the by:Larm Music Festival. The first part of my trip included shows with Turbonegro (who may be heading back to the US soon), Andrew WK & the WSC House Band, and Dropkick Murphys (who have shows coming up in Long Island and CT), and visits to Bergen, Voss (yes, like the water), and Flam. It's all detailed, many pictures included, below...

Continue reading "my visit to the World Snowboarding Championships in Norway (Turbonegro, Andrew WK & Santos Party House pics, included)"

Folk punk singer/songwriter Frank Turner, who would probably not join At The Drive-In, is currently on a North American tour which includes some dates with Social Distortion and others with Dropkick Murphys, who are both working on new albums. He doesn't hit NYC with either of those bands but he'll stop by Brooklyn during the tour for a small headlining show on March 12 at Knitting Factory. Tickets for that show are on sale now. All dates are listed below.

Punk News points to a tweet that Frank posted last month, "Long day of demoing. 15 new songs of varying quality down. Time for a curry and a pint." As they also mention, it's not clear if he means he is working on a new Frank Turner album or if he is referring to his hardcore side project, which he announced towards the end of last year. He also talked about that project in an interview with NME last week, which you can watch the video of below.

All dates and video below...

Continue reading "Frank Turner announces tour, Knitting Factory show (dates)"

by Keith Marlowe

Late on a dark night you're alone on a surf board. The full moon glistens on the breaking waves as you dodge bodies that were devoured by hungry sharks. Their teeth gnash and blood splatters as the tide crashes on a beach of used syringes and broken glass where treacherous girls with sharp knives beckon and hired killers lurk in the shadows. You gotta find your way through dark alleys lit by barrel fires without getting jumped by marauding gangs to catch a train back to the city... That's the Turbo A.C.'s' take on rock'n'roll, and how they've been doing it since 1994. Subway trains, the mafia, mean streets, wanton murder, pin-up girls, liquor, cheap thrills, hot rods and flash tattoos are filtered through the grime and punk of the Lower East Side to create a unique, original sound, steeped in decades of New York City history and film noir. Probably the best take on surf, punk and rock'n'roll since Agent Orange first did it a while ago......

I got to Kevin Cole's apartment in the LES on a July Wednesday at noon to leave for Sayresville, NJ for their first night on tour with the Dropkick Murphys. I get upstairs and he tells me there has been a slight change of plans; rhythm guitarist Jer, who was in Montreal, was stopped at the border and not allowed into the U.S. So Mike O'Donnell, who was coming along to do merch, is now gonna play guitar. Departure gets pushed back an hour so they can run through the set.

We get on the road with Tim, the bass player, driving while the other three run through the set. Kevin is a guy who just never gives up, approaching every obstacle with the calm assurance of someone who has been in that situation before, and knows, somehow, someway, the gig's gonna happen, no sweat. He, and the band, seem to thrive on adversity. Their logo, a skull over crossed monkey wrenches, was born on a bar napkin in 1996, on the eve of their first full U.S. tour. The night before they were supposed to leave, Blackout Records called to inform them that their entire shipment of albums had been "melted in a chemical spill at the airport." "I was sitting there drinking my beer, thinking that we had no albums to sell, and drew the skull and monkeywrenches, knowing fuck it, the tour is booked. We're gonna go," Kevin told me. "There's no looking back. Not then, not now"

The Turbo AC's first began playing together in 1994, and by 1996 the line-up of Kevin Cole; guitar, vocals, Mike Dolan: bass, vocals, and Kevin Prunty: drums, vocals, came together. They put out five full length albums, produced by rock luminaries like Blag Dhalia, Roger Miret and Billy Milano, and lasted until 2006, when Dolan left and Tim Lozada and Jer Von Duck joined. "I figured if Mike was gonna leave, we should really shake things up, and kinda change what the band was capable of doing," Kevin said.

In true Turbo A.C.'s fashion, the new line-ups first release, Live To Win, was crippled by their label Bitzcore going out of business. They soldiered on, touring the US and Europe with no label support. After a couple years doing everything on their own, it seems like things are really falling into place for the the Turbo A.C.'s again. They have a new drummer, also named Mike, and a new album, 'Kill Everyone,' out now on Stomp Records, are on tour in the U.S. and Canada, and have a European tour booked this fall.

Talking with the band backstage at the Wellmont theatre in New Jersey, I found out that Mike O'Donnell had been filling in with the band sporadically since 1999. At the time, bass player Mike Dolan had to leave the tour, and O'Donnell had been talking to Kevin online....

"He had been writing me, telling me how much he liked the band, and that if we ever wanted a second guitar player he was totally ready, he knew all the songs...." Kevin says.

Mike continues, "I remember typing all this crap, I'm the best, I'll destroy your face, nobody can touch me on guitar, just going off...and then I get this message from Kevin, 'that sounds great, our bass player left the tour, can you fly to Iowa tomorrow to get ready for a show in Chicago?'...and I didn't really know the songs that well at all. They totally called my bluff, but I went."

"We played a Halloween show at a VFW hall, and everybody went nuts. We totally pulled it off," Kevin says. "But that's not even the end of the line of shit he talked us, boy....After that, he lets us know that he has this great van, and if we ever need to use it we can. Sure enough, before a tour, our van breaks down. We borrow his van and it almost explodes on us. It overheats to the point that flames are coming out of the console in the front. Our drummer had to wrap shirts and duct tape around his leg so he could push the gas pedal without burning his leg while we drove to get it fixed. It melted the whole dashboard."

"Oh yeah, that van was a total deathtrap," Mike laughs.

"You sold it to a guy right?" Kevin asks.

"Yeah, it broke down and he lives in it in front of my house now. Seriously." Mike tells us and the room erupts in laughter.

Over the last seventeen years, the Turbo A.C.'s have carved out their slice of rock history, sharing the stage with bands like Turbonegro, the Hellacopters, the Dwarves, Flogging Molly, the Slackers, H20, the Buzzcocks, the Hives, the Riverboat Gamblers, Deadbolt, US Bombs, At the Drive-In and Unsane, just to name a few.

The photos in this post are from both New Jersey shows where they shared a will with Chicago's Tossers and Boston's Dropkick Murphys.

The Turbo A.C.'s are next headlining the 11th annual Rumblers Car Club show this Saturday (8/20) at 484 Union Ave under the BQE. The club was founded in 1996, they have seven chapters across the U.S.A. and a new one in Hamburg, Germany. The car show starts at 10, the bands start at 3 at Union Pool with Those Hated Hearts, Three Blue Teardrops and The Memphis Murder Men. The Turbo A.C.'s go on at 7:30.

Pictures from NJ shows and the "Rumblers" flyer, below.

Continue reading "on the road w/ the Turbo AC's (who play Rumblers Car Club show Saturday) --- pics from Starland & Wellmont"

Against Me! are currently in NYC to play two shows with Dropkick Murphys over at the recently-burned Roseland Ballroom (3/10 and 3/11), and while they're here they'll stop by the very small Mercury Lounge to play a Saturday afternoon show. Tickets are on sale now. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Against Me! playing Mercury Lounge matinee & other dates (on tour now w/ Dropkick Murphys, tickets on sale)"

Say Hi headlines Bowery Ballroom on March 7th. Tickets go on sale at noon.

Noah & the Whale headlines Bowery Ballroom on March 22nd. Tickets go on sale at noon.

Tickets to both upcoming Jayhawks shows at Webster Hall are on AmEx presale now. General sale begins Friday at noon.

Tickets are on AmEx presale for the Royksopp show at Webster Hall. General sale begins Friday at noon.

The recently added (3rd) Decemberists show at Beacon Theater is now on AmEx presale.

The Decemberists play the Beacon on January 24th, 25th and 26th. BRYAN ADAMS plays there on the 27th and 28th. Have you ever really loved a woman? Tickets are on sale.

Speaking of sexy, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs and Donald Fagen are touring as "The Dukes of September Rhythm Revue." They play the Beacon on 12/6 and 12/7... one night after Hall & Oates who play one night after Hot Tuna finishes a two-night run.

Back to January, Robert Plant and the Band of Joy play the Beacon on January 29th and January 30th. Tickets are on sale.

Move over Banana Schpeel, tickets, still on presale, go on general sale Saturday at 11am for the many shows the Allman Brothers are playing at the Beacon in March.

Moving away from the Beacon, a show we know Bruce Springsteen would enjoy, Dropkick Murphys and Against Me! play Roseland Ballroom on March 10th - tickets are on sale.

Irish week continues at Terminal- 5 on March 15th, 16th and 17th with the Pogues. Tickets for all three shows are still on sale.

Radio City shows currently on sale or presale include Robyn, Interpol, Bright Eyes, Cold War Kids... and John Mellencamp.

Continue reading "Decemberists, Jayhawks, Noah & the Whale, Say Hi, Rokysopp, Dropkick Murphys, Michael Mcdonald & other tickets"

I wonder what he thinks of Wavves. Listen to him say it in the Sirius XM clip below...

Continue reading "Bruce Springsteen likes Best Coast... "

After a hectic day of updating the constantly updating Bonnaroo lineup page, the entire thing has been announced. Gwar, Norah Jones, and the rest of the lineup below...

Continue reading "the complete 2010 Bonnaroo lineup (Stevie Wonder, The Melvins, Kings of Leon, Isis, Local Natives & many more) "