DOWNLOAD: X - Fourth of July (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Early Winters - Fourth of July (X cover) (MP3)

NOFX at Bonnaroo (more by Dana (Distortion) Yavin)

The Bouncing Souls ended their 4-night run at Highline Ballroom last night (7/9). They played all 8 of their albums over the course of the four nights in NYC. A full report and pictures are coming soon. If you missed it, the Souls will now do the same for Philly starting on July 13th. Tickets are still on sale for one of the nights. They also do it in London, Vienna, Denver, and LA. LA tickets go on sale... in September. Bouncing Souls have also added some new US dates in October before the Denver and LA runs too, including a few shows with NOFX.

The NOFX shows are part of a longer North American tour that NOFX headlines in October with Anti-Flag and Old Man Markley. That tour includes two nights at Irving Plaza, 10/7 & 10/8. Tickets for both shows are on sale now. NOFX also tour Europe in August.

Speaking of Los Angeles punk bands playing 2 nights at Irving Plaza, as previously mentioned, X are doing that too. They will head out on tour in September and October, playing "Los Angeles" in full at each show along the way. As previously mentioned that includes Riot Fest East in Philly, Riot Fest in Chicago and two nights at Irving Plaza in NYC. But it also includes September 25th in Asbury Park, NJ and a bunch of other dates which are listed below. Tickets are available for the two NYC shows and the NJ show.

X released "Los Angeles" in 1980. Seven years later the Dave Alvin-written song "Fourth of July" appeared on their album "See How We Are" (which was reissued in 2002). Grab that song, and a recently made cover of it (in honor of last week's holiday), above.

In somewhat related news, Kid Dynamite will, as mentioned, reunite at FYF Fest in LA with Descendents, The Dead Milkmen and many others this September. While we await another east coast reunion, Kid Dynamite frontman Jason Chevchuk's other band None More Black will play some shows to tide us over. They'll play on October 25 at Knitting Factory Brooklyn and November 2 at Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, NJ. Dig It Up, TheCore and Polygon open both shows as part of a tour down to the Fest 10. Tickets for the Knitting Factory show are on sale now.

To bring things full circle, TheCore covered The Bouncing Souls "True Believers" with Chuck Ragan at their show together on February 26 in Las Vegas. Video of that and all tour dates and other videos below....

Continue reading "Bouncing Souls, NOFX, X, None More Black, other punk shows"

photos by Dana (Distortion) Yavin & Graeme Flegenheimer

Primus

Arcade Fire

Two New York men who got arrested here Friday never made it to Bonnaroo. That's because law officers allegedly found they were carrying over a pound of cocaine, 1,000 ecstasy pills, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia.

Alberto R. Almonte, 40, and Joseph Cruz, 29, both of the Bronx, N.Y., are charged with possession of drugs for sale and possession of drug paraphernalia. Almonte is also charged with speeding.

According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, it was around 2 p.m. Friday when Trooper Matilda Mahaney clocked a 2006 Chevrolet Impala doing 83 in a 55 mile-per-hour zone on Highway 111 in Putnam County.

The trooper stopped the car "and discovered that the two occupants were enroute to Bonnaroo in Manchester," says a news release from the THP. [Herald Citizen]

Bonnaroo happened this weekend. Pictures of Karen Elson from Day One are HERE, with the rest of Day one HERE. Pictures of Decemberists from Day Two HERE. Days 3 & 4 & stuff coming soon. The rest of Day Two below....

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2011 -- Day 2 in pics (Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, NOFX, Grace Potter, Lil Wayne, Primus & more)"

"The lead singer from the band NOFX is under fire for giving out free shots of Patron during a recent show -- shots that appeared to have been watered down ... with the punk rocker's urine.

The guy accused of pissing everybody off -- Fat Mike -- put on a solo performance as his alter-ego "Cokie the Clown" at last week's South by Southwest festival in Austin ... covered by punk news website DyingScene.com.

Mike began the show by passing out the shots to fans and even downed a couple himself. But after a bizarre half hour in which Mike described his friend hanging himself, smothering his dying mother to death and milking a fan, Mike decided to show the crowd a very, very disturbing video.

The video appears to begin just moments before Mike took the stage and shows the singer urinating into a bottle of tequila ... and then serving it to the audience. The video did not appear edited.

So far, cops are not investigating the situation, but when we called the Austin Health Department to ask if they had taken any action, they told us they were unaware of the incident ... but would be looking into it.

Fat Mike told TMZ, "I confirmed that urine was not classified as a biohazard waste and not subject to the risks of legal ramifications of blood, semen, or feces." [TMZ]

The show took place at Emo's (who reportedly have banned Mike from ever coming back) on Saturday, March 20th (it was the Fat Wreck Chords showcase - 3 days after the BV show at the same place). Check out the TMZ-uploaded video of the incident, and information about the new restaurant Fat Mike is co-opening (yum?) in Park Slope, below....

Continue reading "Hopefully NOFX's Fat Mike doesn't serve pee at his new Park Slope restaurant (like he did dressed as a clown @ SXSW) "

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) "

by Black Bubblegum

Dillinger Four and Municipal Waste have teamed up for a one off show at Danbro Studios in Brooklyn on Oct 14th with The Measure and The Ergs. Tickets are on sale online and at Academy Records in Williamsburg. The show is a record release party, celebrating the release of the long delayed Civil War by Dillinger Four on Fat Wreck Chords (Fat Mike of NOFX's label).

Municipal Waste will hit the road for a mini-tour with The Casualties leading up to the Brooklyn show, including a date with Caustic Christ in Pittsburgh and appearances at two noteable punk festivals.

The first, Riot Fest in Chicago, is headlined by the reuniting All, and also features The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, TSOL, DOA, Jay Reatard, Bouncing Souls, Paint It Black, and many many others. The second, and much larger The Fest 7 in Gainesville, will feature eight stages over three days and will include over 250 bands including Coalesce, Young Widows, The Holy Mountain, Valient Thorr, Ampere, Capsule, and the final show by New Mexican Disaster Squad.

Following Brooklyn, Municpal Waste will play a few more shows including one with Lamb Of God, and an appearance at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin (they replaced Flipper) followed by a UK tour in December with the mighty Iron Lung.

After The Casualties split away from Municipal Waste, they'll team up with Caustic Christ, Absurd System & Guilt Trip to play the Knitting Factory on Oct 17th. Tickets are on sale.

NOFX have scheduled a three shows in the tri-state... at Irving Plaza on Oct 15th & Oct 16th (both sold out) and Starland Ballroom on Oct 17th (tickets here). Dillinger Four opens all three shows.

All Municipal Waste and DF dates below....

Continue reading "Municipal Waste tour dates, the new Dillinger Four record, Riot Fest, The Fest 7, NOFX & the Casualties"

Brian Posehn on strike (cred)

Mess With Texas, an annual party thrown in Austin, in the south by southwestern region of the US, at the same time as a certain other major music festival, has expanded in its second year to a massive, outdoor, FREE, ALL AGES event with three stages and an exclusive Austin performance from headliners The Breeders and NOFX and A-list comedians likeJaneane Garofalo, MTV's Human Giant and Brian Posehn.

Continue reading "Mess With Texas messes with SXSW"