photos by Sarah Coulter

Zounds @ Punk Island

After a run of dates this year that included Punk Island, Zounds are back and will play a matinee at Knitting Factory on 10/15 with Witch Hunt and Skelptarsis as part of the Royal Flush Festival that Lotion are also reuniting for. Tickets are on sale. The date is part of a batch of East Coast shows for the UK band, who will focus their efforts on playing material from 1982's The Curse Of Zounds during the trek. Full tour dates, inluding NJ, CT, RI & MD, are below.

We never posted pictures from the Zounds' Punk Island gig, but we have some (and here they are). More of them with all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Zounds touring, playing Royal Flush Festival, played Punk Island (belated pics & dates)"

Punk Island returns to Governors Island on June 19 as part of the annual city-wide Make Music New York fest (which actually occurs two days later). The main stage will be headlined by UK anarcho-punk pioneers Zounds. The festival is FREE and also features performances by A.P.P.L.E., Stza Crack (of Leftover Crack/Choking Victim/Star Fucking Hipsters) who is playing a solo set, White Collar Crime (reunion show, after 8 year hiatus), and tons more over multiple stages from 11AM to 5PM. The full lineup is below.

Zounds, who are led by Steve Lake (only remaining original member), got their start touring with fellow UK anarcho-punks Crass and releasing an EP on their label, Crass Records. Zounds followed that EP with a full length and 3 singles on Rough Trade before breaking up in 1982. The band's entire history since 1982 is unclear, but you can watch videos of a 1996 performance below, and they reportedly reformed in 2001, though these June performances are also being billed as the band's first-ever US shows. Before Punk Island, Zounds will play a NYC show at ABC No Rio on June 18 with Neon Bitches (feat. Brian of Dropdead) and Zero Content, both of whom also play Punk Island.

Zounds, whose current lineup is pictured above, are set to release The Redemption of Zounds, their first album of new material since reforming. Their 1981 Rough Trade album was titled The Curse of Zounds (also pictured above). According to Steve Lake, "It is as bewildering, absurd, tragic and joyful as it ever was." The album comes out on July 12 via Overground/Plastic Head. Tracklist and album art are below. Check them out along with the full Punk Island lineup, the flyer and some videos, below...

Continue reading "Punk Island happens Sunday (final lineup), Zounds are playing there & ABC No Rio & releasing an LP too"

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!) "

by BBG

Negative Approach at Red 7(more here)

Why Be Something That You're Not chronicles the first wave of Detroit hardcore from its origins in the late seventies to its demise in the mid-eighties. Through a combination of oral history and extensive imagery, Tony Rettman proves that even though the Southern California beach towns might have created the look and style of hardcore punk, it was the Detroit scene - along with a handful of other cities across the country - that cultivated the music's grassroots aesthetic before most cultural hot spots around the globe even knew what the music was about.

The book includes interviews with members of The Fix, Violent Apathy, Negative Approach, Necros, Pagans, Bored Youth, and L-Seven along with other people who had a hand in the early hardcore punk scene like Ian MacKaye, Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson.

The book is definitely something I will check out, and the release has sparked a ton of interesting shows in celebration including (in my opinion) the whopper of them all in NYC on August 28th; look for the destructive Negative Approach to team up with Tesco Vee's Hate Police, Mind Eraser (who are playing dates with Slang), Off With Their Heads (who have a Knitting Factory show of their own), Hellmouth, and New Lows at Santos Party House! Ticket info is forthcoming.

Negative Approach will also be in NYC on June 20th to play Punk Island along with a ton of other notables. The final roster for that festival, and more dates in celebration of Why Be Something That You're Not are below.

Continue reading "Tesco Vee, Negative Approach & others playing Detroit hardcore book release shows & other dates "

by BBG

Battlemaster at Heart of Winter Fest (more by Diana Lee Zadlo)

Call it the "heart of early spring" fest. Two stellar bands that roughed up the crowds at Heart of Winter fest, Battlemaster and Bastard Sapling will re-emerge from their coffins and team up with Inter Arma for The Charleston TONIGHT (Easter, 4/4) with Mutant Supremacy (who replaced Castevet on the bill). Later this year Bastard Sapling and Inter Arma will hit the road for a (much more) extensive US tour. Full tour dates below... lots of TBA's. Contact the band to help out.

Inter Arma have a new LP entitled Sundown due on Forcefield Records this spring. More on that soon.

40% of Inter Arma, 20% of Battlemaster and one Elway (of Celebrity Murders, CR, and Murdock fame) make up the great Bastard Sapling whose unholy rituals I managed to witness when they played Lit with Lightning Swords of Death.

Battlemaster are also on board for the third year of an absolutely insane free festival on Governor's Island. Punk Island returns this year on June 20th. The massive lineup features Negative Approach (!), Midnight, Nunslaughter, Star Fucking Hipsters, Infernal Stronghold, No Redeeming Social Value, and many other notables. The current and currently expanding lineup with some videos and those dates, below...

Continue reading "Punk Island's initial 2010 lineup (Negative Approach & MANY more), Battlemaster & Bastard Sapling tour dates "

"The Highline Ballroom, along with Liberty Event Management & Water Taxi Beach, is proud to announce the Beach on Governors Island. This unique venue will quickly become New York's premier live outdoor venue, resting on the coast of the New York Harbor, providing stunning views of Lower Manhattan. In addition to the concert area, the Beach will feature a café, several bars, and a shaded courtyard beer garden. The Beach isn't just a concert venue; it's an experience.

Governors Island, in the heart of New York Harbor, is only 800 yards from Lower Manhattan, and even closer to Brooklyn. The Beach @ Governor's Island, will operate in conjunction with NY Water Taxi, who will be providing continuous ferry service to the island for ticket holders on their fleet of boats." [The Beach on Governors Island]

The beach, which is currently a parking lot (I heard they drop the sand around July 4th), will be operating a lot like Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City. You can take a water taxi there and hang on the beach, and drink and eat. Most days will be deejays, and AEG and Highline Ballroom are working with Water Taxi to also bring bands there. The stage will be set up at the end of the beach, and you'll watch from the sand (or at least some people will... I think there will be some non-sand places to watch from too). The first big beach show announced is The B-52's...

The Highline Ballroom is proud to announce the addition of The B-52s to our second annual Governors Island Concert Series: The Beach on Governors Island. The B-52s on The Beach will be a rain-or-shine, all-ages performance scheduled for August 18th on beautiful Governors Island, located only 800 yards off of Lower Manhattan.

To add to the fun, the fifty-two girls (and "girls") attending the show dressed in the most creative beach or nautical attire (sailor suits, bikinis, marine uniforms, mermaid costumes, etc) attending the concert will be given free tickets to a future show at The Highline Ballroom.

Tickets for that show are currently on AmEx presale. General sale starts Monday, June 29th. Girls, ready your nautical attire. Guys leave it at home?

Other acts at the Beach this summer include Erykah Badu on August 4th, and a free show with Tragedy, an "All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees". Many more shows TBA, but you can see the full lineup for now, below. Some shows are free. $52 tickets for Erykah Badu go on sale Saturday, June 27th at noon.

The Highline/AEG-produced shows aren't the only music events on Governors Island this summer, though not all events there happen on the beach. Folks on the Island will happen on the island, and, Punk Island, a Make Music NY event in its second year, took place there on Sunday, June 21st. How did that show go? It looks like, despite the rain, headliner Reagan Youth drew a pretty sizeable crowd. Videos below.

The B-52s performing "Love Shack" with country act Sugarland at the CMT Awards on June 26th, is also below, along with with the full Beach at Governors Island schedule with all upcoming B-52s tour dates...

Continue reading "concerts on the BEACH ON GOVERNORS ISLAND - Erykah Badu, the B-52s & more TBA ++ Punk Island happened"

...NYC punk is alive and kicking hard.

Abundant proof will be found at the second annual Punk Island, on Sunday, June 21st on Governors Island, when Make Music New York transforms the ordinarily quiet outpost into a punk/hardcore paradise.

Over 70 bands will appear on twelve stages scattered around the island, as free ferries transport revelers from the Battery Maritime Building at the tip of Lower Manhattan to Governors Island, every half hour beginning at 10am.

Just like the rest of Make Music New York, all performances are outdoors and completely free.

Full lineup and more info below...

Continue reading "Punk (Governors) Island 2009 - full Sunday lineup, 12 stages"

Punk Island @ Make Music 2008 on Governors Island (makemusicnewyork)

Make Music NY 2009 is happening around New York City on Sunday, June 21st. The free, outdoor-music event will turn street corners, sidewalks, and parks around the city into one-day music venues. One of those spots is Governors Island, where MMNY will again host a "Punk Island" lineup. Announced bands for 2009 include '80s hardcore punk band Reagan Youth (who played last year's event), Blanks '77, and "dozens more" to come.

Both bands are also scheduled to play the Underground Revolution Fest on May 22nd - 23rd at the Gramercy Theater, though no ticket info for that still.

Governors Island is also home to a new concert spot dubbed The Beach at Governors Island. The Highline Ballroom, who also three shows on the island last year, is presenting the first scheduled show at the location -- Dark Star Orchestra, Keller Williams, Pete Francis and Barefoot Truth on July 11th. Tickets are on sale.

Also planned again for Governors Island this summer is Folks on the Island, a series of folk concerts, one of which will be headlined by Judy Collins on Sunday, July 26th.

"Punk Island" videos from last year, with hours and directions for Governors Island, below...

Continue reading "Governors Island hosting more concerts in 2009 - Punk Island, Folks on the Island, Hippies on the Island, and more"