Cro-Mags (jam) @ Fun Fun Fun Fest (more by Tyler Nutter)

Knitting Factory closes its Tribeca location for good on New Years Eve. I think that's one of the reasons so many good shows are starting to pop up there, one of which is the Anticon anniversary party on December 18th, and another of which is the Cro-Mags (jam) show happening in the main space of the club on December 28th...

Rocks Off Presents The Cro-Mags featuring John Joseph, Mackie, AJ from Leeway & Craig from Sick Of It All plus special guests Wisdom in Chains, Trapped Under Ice & more TBA!

That's the same Cro-Mags lineup I just saw in Austin. Read/see/watch more about that HERE and get tickets to the NYC show HERE.

Also coming up at Knitting Factory:

• "Complete Control NYC & Guillotine present One Big Crowd: A tribute to the legendary A7 club w/ over 30 old & new school bands incl. Reagan Youth, Urban Waste, Jerry's Kids, False Prophets, Fatal Rage, Ism, Butch Lust & the Hypocrites, more!" This one is on December 6th, on all three floors. Tickets are only $20. flyer below.
• Tributary Productions Presents: Absolution, No Escape (reunion), Vision, Backtrack. This is December 21st. Tickets are on sale.

This will be at least the third time Absolution played a reunion show in NYC since their first one at Knitting Factory in August. Live video from that one below.

Madball (with Mackie on drums) are going on tour with Suicidal Tendencies in December. They play Irving Plaza in NYC on December 4th.

H2O's November 23rd show was moved from Fillmore/Irving Plaza to Blender/Gramercy Theater.

Murphy's Law play Trash Bar in Brooklyn on December 12th.

Killing Time, as recently seen opening for Bad Brains at Irving Plaza, play Fins Pub in Oakdale, NY (Long Island) on the same day as the A7 Fest (12/6).

The video, a whole bunch of flyers, and even more dates, below....

Continue reading "Cro-Mags (jam) @ KF, Absolution (again), an A7 club tribute, Killing Time, Madball & other hardcore news "

photos by Tyler Nutter

"Cro-Mags (jam)" were great, and a huge hit, at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin on Sunday, November 9th. They played to a massive, enthusiastic crowd. Who knew there were so many hardcore fans, in Texas, and in Texas and willing to to go see bands at an outdoor festival? I'm sure it helped that the bill also included Bad Brains, not to mention Bouncing Souls, Integrity, and DOA.

As previously posted, the difference between Cro-Mags and Cro-Mags (jam) is that the "jam" version is John Joseph with a mostly new Cro-Mags band that doesn't include Harley Flanagan or Parris Mayhew. And, as previously mentioned, the "jam" band at Fun Fun Fun Fest consisted of an impressive lineup of hardcore alumni. They were John Joseph, AJ from Leeway on guitar, Craig Setari of Sick of it All on bass, and Mackie Jayson (one of Cro-Mags' past drummers and a former member of a million other bands, and currently in Madball) on drums. Collectively they ripped through at least 14 songs that mostly came from the Cro-Mags' 1986 debut album The Age of Quarrel and also included a cover of Wire's "12xU". Lots of people were going nuts. Lots of people knew all the words. Lots of people were slam-dancing, and I think there were more (and more experienced) stage-divers than during any other band's set at the fest.

John Joseph was on a roll with his between-song banter as well. He gave shout-outs to lots of other bands on the bill including Walter and Sammie of Rival Schools, and, of course, Bad Brains who John was also later seen watching from the stage. John also spoke about the government, about living with Ian Mackaye and Henry Rollins after he went AWOL from the military, asked what happened to punk and hardcore meaning something, said 9/11 was an inside job, and found it symbolic that the stage was clearly facing the lit-up Texas State Capitol building that happens to be located in Austin.

More pictures, the setlist, and some videos below...

Continue reading "Cro-Mags (Jam) @ Fun Fun Fun Fest, Austin - pics & setlist"

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 "

L.C.H.C - Liberty City Hardcore

Liberty City HardcoreDJ: Jimmy Gestapo
Genre: Hardcore Punk

Tracklist:
Murphy's Law - "A Day In The Life"
Maximum Penalty - "All Your Boyz"
Underdog - "Back to Back"
Leeway - "Enforcer"
Sick Of It All - "Injustice System"
Cro-Mags - "It's The Limit"
Sheer Terror - "Just Can't Hate Enough"
Bad Brains - "Right Brigade"
Killing Time - "Tell Tale"
Agnostic Front - "Victim in Pain"

That's just the hardcore channel. Justice, Les Savy Fav, !!!, LCD Soundsystem and even Cheeseburger are among those who made it on the new video game soundtrack too.