Strike Anywhere @ Best Friends Day (more by Chris Boarts Larson)

Richmond's Strike Anywhere are joining the throngs of punk bands touring around their appearance at Riotfest. The melodic hardcore/punk band will kick off a round of dates on 9/27 in Asbury Park, NJ at Asbury Lanes before heading to The Studio at Webster Hall on 9/28 with A Wilhelm Scream, The Copyrights, & Bridge And Tunnel. Full tour schedule and video of their entire set from Best Friends Day is below.

Continue reading "Strike Anywhere touring in the fall (dates)"

photos by Chris Boarts Larson, words by BBG

"The pg.99 reunion last night was truly something special. Thanks to all who made the journey." -magicbulletrecs

pg.99 @ Best Friends Day 2011

Friday (8/19) at the Canal Club in Richmond, VA was the place to be, as pg.99 made their triumphant return supporting Converge with Strike Anywhere, Dead To Me, The Catalyst, and Capsule as part of Best Friends Day 2011. The rare appearance was one of two scheduled for the band, who will join Thou for a sold-out show at Black Cat in DC on 8/27 with Circle Takes The Square.

Converge will play NYC TOMORROW (8/24) at House of Vans with Touche Amore (in place of Cold Cave) and the recently added Krallice. The show is FREE with RSVP (which is still open).

Pictures from Day Two and Three are on the way.

Check out full sets of video from Converge & Pg.99 below, alongside pictures of most of the bands who played the first day of the fest (none of The Catalyst or Capsule)

Continue reading "Best Friends Day 2011 - Day 1 in pics & video (pg.99 reunion, Converge & Strike Anywhere included)"

We previously discussed Phily's Riot Fest East that will feature an appearance from the mighty Descendents and The Suicide Machines who they also play with in NYC. Riot Fest East, an offshoot of the Chicago festival, happens on September 24th.

The Chicago version of the festival, October 5-9, previously announced that Weezer, Social Distortion, Descendents, 7 Seconds, ALL (two different eras!), Helmet, and X (playing Los Angeles) were all on the lineup, but left one big announcement for today...

On Friday October 7, 2011 Danzig will headline Riot Fest and perform a career spanning show featuring sets of Danzig, Samhain and Misfits songs with none other than Doyle joining on guitar the Misfits set. We've waited years for this and we can't wait to see the inside of the Congress Theater turn into a churning sea of humanity.

Tickets for both Riot Fest Chicago and Riot Fest East are now on sale, and more band announcements are stil to come(!).

Tickets are now also on sale for the Descendents show at Roseland Ballroom that Suicide Machines and H20 are opening.

X are performing Los Angeles at both Riot Fests AND on two nights at Irving Plaza in NYC. Tickets are on sale for those shows too.

Riot Fest show flyers and some videos is below.

Continue reading "Riot Fest Chicago completes lineup with "Danzig Legacy"! Descendents East Coast shows on sale too"

Chuck Ragan

A reminder: Chuck Ragan goes solo TONIGHT (5/16) at the Bell House, a night of downtime for his tour w/ Social Distortion that hit Asbury Park on Saturday (5/14). Sharks and Sean O'Neill both open the Brooklyn show.

Chuck will hop back on tour with Social D in Norfolk tomorrow night, eventually making his way to Krazy Fest in Louisville where he'll join his still-reunited band Hot Water Music who will also play a few other dates in the coming months in the Midwest, and at NXNE 2011. All tour dates are below. Krazy Fest tickets are still on sale.

In other punk news, The Bouncing Souls have announced the support bands for their upcoming discography dates in NYC & Philly. That includes Hostage Calm, Dave Hause, and Weston on the 7/6 show (dedicated to The Good, The Bad, and The Argyle, Maniacal Laughter, Wild Street, Yuppicide, and Star Fucking Hipsters on the 7/7 show (covering Self-Titled and Hopeless Romantic), Up For Nothing, Iron Chic & The Loved Ones on 7/8 (the How I Spent My Summer Vacation and Anchors Aweigh show), and Lost in Society & Tim Barryfor the 7/9 show (The Gold Record and Ghosts on the Boardwalk). Tickets for 7/8 have gone the way of the dinosaur, but tickets for 7/6, 7/7 and 7/9 are still available. The Bouncing Souls will ALSO make the trek down to Krazy Fest this weekend. All dates and openers are listed below.

Gods & Queens are scheduled to play the 7/15 date in Philadelphia, and also recently played Public Assembly with Coliseum, Rise & Fall, Masakari, and Psychic Limb.

All tour dates and a video is below.

Continue reading "Krazy Fest is coming, Chuck Ragan is here, Bouncing Souls announced openers, Hot Water Music playing dates too"

The Bouncing Souls were supposed to kick off their 4th annual 'Home for the Holidays' run of shows at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park last night (12/26), but...

"We are concerned for everyone traveling and have no choice but to postpone. [Sunday]'s events will be moved to THURSDAY Dec 30th. Show time will still be at 7pm. The Great Explainer and Strike Anywhere will still play, but sadly A.O.D. will not be in NJ by then. We are also moving the afterparty at the Asbury Lanes to Thursday night. We will still be playing the first 2 albums on Thursday. The other nights' schedules will remain unchanged. We hope you can join us on Thursday. If you can't, please request a refund at the point of purchase by noon on Thursday. Be safe, stay warm. With heavy hearts we remain yours."

As you can see, I crossed out "and Strike Anywhere" because they have since announced that The Loved Ones will replace them on the rescheduled show. Meanwhile the 2nd, which is now the 1st, show hopefully happens tonight, though opener Fake Problems have so far announced that they can't be there.
UPDATE: Tonight's show is cancelled too:

Holy smokes!!! For those of you outside the Jersey Shore zone of disaster: there is a lot of snow (2-5 foot drifts!!) and gnarly winds. We are under a state of emergency and transportation is impossible. The roads are not plowed in Asbury park and are impassible. We have no choice but to cancel tonight's show. Please go to the point of purchase for a refund. If you purchased your ticket from Chunksaah Online, we will refund your PayPal account in the next 3 days (4 day pass holders will get back $25). This is really disappointing for all of us, not the festive holiday party we planned at all! I just spoke to the Fake Problems camp and they are unable to get a flight. Lemuria were more than willing to attempt to get here but I told them to stay safe in Syracuse. The crazy kids in The Swellers made it all the way to the Asbury exit of the Garden State Parkway (represent Flint, MI!!!). We are so grateful to everyone for these heroic efforts!! The poster signing for 4-day pass holders will now be on Wednesday at 6pm. The shoe sale will be Wednesday at 7pm. If you are stuck in town... Check back later, we will try to have a get together later if we can ever get anywhere... With sighs and mopes we deliver these sad tidings... -K8

Stay tuned to BouncingSouls.com for more updates, and check out the whole week's schedule (as of now), below...

Continue reading "Bouncing Souls 'Home for the Holidays' is underway (sort of)"

by BBG

Snapcase

It's 1PM in Texas and I just tied a bandana around my face before its time to get down to business. I'm not some outlaw out to rob a bank and hop on a speeding stagecoach; With the dry dirt and the hordes of kids in full-on circle-pit/floorpunch mode, a bandana or a surgical mask is a key tool in dealing with the clouds of dust that form around the chaos.

Chaos it was, off-stage that is, as the crowd popped for the likes of Suicidal Tendencies, Snapcase, Dwarves, Municipal Waste, Gwar, Mastodon and others on Fun Fun Fun Fest's Black Stage (where I spent a good bit of my time). Though I wandered to the Orange Stage to catch amazing performances from Cap'n Jazz, The Hold Steady & Descendents (among many others) and the Blue Stage to catch scorching shows from Big Freedia, Pharoahe Monch, Dam-Funk, and A-Trak, but it was the Black Stage where I caught pretty much every single band in action.

And that's a lot! One of the great things about the Black and Orange stages is that they are actually TWO stages each. A band will finish their set, and then on a stage right next to it, another band will line check and play. Times between bands varied (due to set time length and on occasion, technical difficulties), but there were moments when it was as low as 5 minutes between sets. More music and less downtime.

I started out my Saturday (11/6) with Black Congress, whose powerful post-hardcore impressed the early crowd. Hatred Surge followed, and even with a new singer in tow, the brutality has stayed a constant. Power Trip was next, and they do crossover-thrash that is less DRI/ Municipal Waste, and more serious/furious. Bands this good shouldn't play this early.

I'm very picky about sung vocals and punk rock, so it's sort of no surprise that I didn't care for either Bad Religion (who had no guitar in the mix for the first three songs), The Briggs or The Vandals, but I did enjoy what I saw of Strike Anywhere's live set (even though I am not into their recorded output). Dreadlocked singer Thomas Barnett is as energetic a frontman as I would see on the Black Stage all weekend, and really added tremendous power to the band's melodic hardcore.

Muncipal Waste (more here)

Strike Anywhere is from Richmond, and the band got a "Richmond represent" shout out from the great Municipal Waste that day. The band thrashed their way through one of my favorite sets of the afternoon, complete with thrown trash cans, a wall of death, stage diving, and an "execution" courtesy of fellow Richmond band Gwar. Gwar was fun in a kitschy way and delivered a great set later in the day, but the crowd energy and the precision of MW's live show was the most memorable.

Also on the Black stage were Valient Thorr and The Casualties who both delivered energetic sets, with the latter giving a crusty spin on the Ramones classic "Blitzkrieg Bop". The mohawk-ed kids went ape, and a wall of death, which was later faux-mocked by Municipal Waste when they initiated their own wall of death, was called upon by vocalist Jorge Herrera.

On the Orange stage, I managed to catch Woven Bones, The Appleseed Cast, and Jeff The Brotherhood. Jeff The Brotherhood is a staple of the small stage in NYC, so it was a bit odd to hear that guitar tone blaring out of 50 feet of PA speakers. Odd, but no less fun/impressive.

Along with Municipal Waste, Big Freedia was another one of my favorite sets of the day. Her nonsense odes to ass, ass, and ass-clapping were a pure sugar-rush and left 90% of the crowd in hilarious amazement and the other 10% with a big old "WTF" look. The Freedia set was tamer than her usual appearances, but no matter, it was still much fun and much booty-shakin. Dam-Funk would also get the crowd moving on that same stage hours later.

Seeing Big Freedia meant missing a good portion of Cap'n Jazz, who announced on stage that Fun Fun Fun would be their last show. Unbelieveably kinetic and powerful, Cap'n Jazz reminds me that emo is short for "emotional" and not just a psuedonym for pop-crossover. Mesmerizing and awesome.

Peelander-Z

Sunday (11/7) was a late start for me, so I got to the venue to see the tail end of Junius (who played 2nd, after Eagle Claw on the Black Stage). They're a band I'm very familiar with for their latter-Isis crunch-and-clean vocals steelo. It was surprisingly the next band that really got me going: Peelander-Z. With a large crowd looking on, Peelander-Z delivered an incredible mix of energy, stage presence, audience participation, fun and simple song-craft, and plain old good times. They played from the crowd. They stage dove. They led the audience in a giant game of limbo. They had a footrace. Totally fun.

I have a lot of recent experience seeing OFF!, High on Fire, Kylesa, Floor, Mastodon, and The Bronx, who all played the Black Stage that day. All gave predictably excellent shows though Kylesa in particular seemed a bit more energetic that usual (lots of Laura pogoing). It might have been the fact that FFF marked the end of their US tour with Torche and High on Fire, but they were particularly good on that sweltering Sunday afternoon. Floor was great as usual, though I enjoyed them more at Red 7 later that night... possibly because their music felt like a bookend to a great weekend. Both High on Fire and Mastodon's setlist delved into all of their recorded efforts which, as a long time fan, was comforting.

I'm not particularly scared of anyone, but Human Furnace of Ringworm gives me the shakes. His gravelly voice propels the rest of the Clevo-hardcore band forward and blew my mind that afternoon. They were one of my highlights of the day, and if I had only seen them and Snapcase on Sunday, I would have been content.

If my dad listened to modern music anymore, he would go apeshit for The Hold Steady. The band cranked out a crunchy Springsteen-esque set and sounded better than I have ever heard them before. Though they were killing on the Orange stage, I made the hard decision to bounce to catch the rest of Suicidal Tendencies' set.

Nothing against Mike Muir, but he isn't in the same shape that John Joseph of the Cro-Mags is (Muir and the rest of the known universe). No matter, it doesn't stop him from zigging and zagging back and forth on stage as the rest of Suicidal Tendencies runs through hits like "You Can't Bring Me Down" and "I Saw Your Mommy". High energy stuff; I can't imagine running in circles while trying to recite the words to "Institutionalized". Catch Suicidal and Cro-Mags together at Terminal 5 on November 14th.

If I was to pick two of my favorite sets from Sunday, the winners easily go to Snapcase and Descendents. Snapcase was brutal, technical, confrontational, and totally fun; the crowd gave back every ounce of energy that the band put in. From the opening notes of their third song, "Zombie Transmission" from Progress Through Unlearning, I knew that this was going to be a highlight. We need more shows from Snapcase.

Descendents, who we also need more shows from, are one of the few bands that pass my "no clean vocals in punk rock" test. Their songs are funny without being goofy, melodic without being overtly pop, and driving/hard when they want to be. Classics like "Suburban Home", "Bikeage" and a good portion of Somery, "Everything Sucks" and many of the highlights from that LP, and tons of others all made their way onto the setlist that night. And yes, the band made sure to fit in "All" and "Weinerschnitzel". Too fun, and though I left Mastodon early to catch them, I have no regrets.

As far as pictures go, we already split the fest up into ten other posts, my pictures from Saturday included. This post is number 11 and it includes all my pictures from Sunday (and it is our final set of Fun Fun Fun pics from this year) which continue, below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest in review w/ more Day 3 pics (part 4) - Snapcase, Floor Suicidal Tendencies, Kylesa, Ringworm & more"

by BBG

Digital Retribution: When I last interviewed you, you said of the Dead Kennedys reunion, "I thought it was fucking pathetic, though, when The Dead Kennedys went out without Jello as their singer." What I meant to say instead of whatever monosyllabic witticism I spouted is: What's the difference between DK and the reformed Misfits, who GWAR toured with?

Dave Brockie (aka Oderus): I think there is a big difference, but don't expect the original product in either. I like Jerry and I would rather have him out touring and having fun than have him working in his machine shop. You can't blame him for wanting to cash in on how great The Misfits were, and enjoy himself in the process, plus give all of his pals jobs in his crew, and show his kids the time of their lives! So in that aspect, I think Jerry and what's left of The Misfits is cool, as long as you don't go in there expecting to see Glenn Danzig! I feel Jerry has earned the right to do whatever the fuck he wants through 30+ years of dedication to this music. Jerry never lets up, he is always gigging. Whereas the Dead Kennedys thing was just a one-shot money grab. They knew they could get away with it, do a year or two, cash in, and bail...and also, The Misfits actually got away with replacing their singer, with Mike Graves, and did a couple of great records! That was when we toured with them, and that was great! American Psycho is a great fucking album!

With 46 acts spanning multiple genres, all worth at least checking out, and most worth more than that, playing on four stages in a 10 hour period along with side attractions like a bungee jumping thing and a mechanical bull, and with three of us at Fun Fun Fun Fest, it shouldn't be surprising that it took us ONE, TWO, THREE, and now FOUR posts to cover just the pictures from Saturday. They continue below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 - Day Two in pics (part 4) - Gwar, Jeff the Brotherhood, Municipal Waste, Dam-Funk & more"

photos by Tim Griffin

Big Freedia

The 2010 edition of Fun Fun Fun Fest is now complete. You saw pictures from the first night. We have lots of possitive things to say coming up, but for now here is a part two of our photos - all from day two aka Saturday (11/6). They continue below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 - Day Two in pics (part 1) - Big Freedia, Antlers, Wavves, Devin the Dude, Os Mutantes & more) "

photos by Katie Hovland

Bouncing Souls @ Riot Fest 2010

The Bouncing Souls have announced their 2010 iteration of Home for the Holidays, now in its fourth year and featuring as many nights of shows at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. Tickets are on sale for all four shows: 12/26, 12/27, 12/28, 12/29. Each night will have a different set of support, as 12/26 will get Strike Anywhere, Adrenaline OD, & The Great Explainer, 12/27 gets Fake Problems, Lemuria, & The Swellers, 12/28 gets Leftover Crack, The Menzingers, & Top Soil, and the final night (12/29) gets H20, Yuppicide and Dirty Tactics.

H20, on board for the 12/29 date at The Stone Pony, will also hit Highline Ballroom the next night (12/30) with Trapped Under Ice and Wisdom In Chains. The show is part of a short stint of confirmed dates for H20 (12/27 - 12/30) with more to be announced (12/2 - 12/5). Tickets are on sale to the all-ages, no barricade NYC show. Plus, the band is giving the audience the opportunity to pick the songs for the set from over 60+ choices including covers by Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys and others.

Leftover Crack has a headlining show in NYC too, as the band will play Music Hall of Wiliiamsburg on 12/26. Tickets are on sale. Leftover Crack related project Star Fucking Hipsters will play NYC a month prior, hitting Knitting Factory on 11/28. Tickets for that are also on sale.

The Bouncing Souls played Riot Fest in Chicago (October 6th - 10th) alongside bands like Bad Religion, Cap'n Jazz, Circle Jerks, Off With Their Heads, and Propagandhi. Belated pictures from that show, as well as Bouncing Souls and H20 dates, are below.

Continue reading "Bouncing Souls Holiday Shows & other Leftover Crack & H2O dates ++ pics from Riot Fest "

by BBG

Indecision at Irving Plaza 2008 (photo by Jason Jamal Neklah)

NYC hardcore band Indecision technically threw in the towel in 2000, but since then the band (which contains members of Most Precious Blood, The Judas Factor, Millhouse and others) has periodically gotten back together for one off dates (like they did in 2008). The band is back again and have scheduled an NYC show at Knitting Factory on July 10th with Backtrack, Incendiary, (who are playing Black & Blue Bowl this weekend) and Thirsty!. Tickets are on sale.

Touche Amore killed it last week at Santos (and at Red 7 in March), and will be back again to whip the crowd into a frenzy when they support Strike Anywhere and Bane alongside Lowtaker at Knitting Factory on June 20th. Tickets are on sale.

And finally Off With Their Heads will headline Knitting Factory alongside Dear Landlord, Detournement, and Dirt Bike Annie on June 23rd. Tickets are on sale. OWTH will welcome their new LP and Epitaph debut, In Desolation, via Epitaph Records on June 8th.

Full Off With Their Heads and Strike Anywhere dates are below...

Continue reading "Indecision, Touche Amore, Off With Their Heads, Strike Anywhere & other upcoming hardcore shows (dates) "

Strike Anywhere @ Knitting Factory, NYC - March 1, 2008 (CRED)

Crain's New York contacted Knitting Factory after hearing about the possible NYC move to 14th St......

We are in an active search for a new location and 14th Street is a highly desirable area" said Jared Hoffman, president of Knitting Factory Entertainment, Inc. When asked if he would consider buying out the spot at 74 Leonard St., Mr. Hoffman said "a rock venue underneath newly-converted condos would not be desirable."

A spot on 14th Street--the above address is at Avenue A--would be the Factory's third location, after starting at 48 East Houston Street around 20 years ago. The concert hall has been on Leonard Street for the last 14 years.

But even with a move, the club stands little risk of going the way of knitting itself. Last year, Knitting Factory Entertainment launched a service with ShopText Inc. that allows music fans to buy concert tickets through cell phone text messaging. And in 2006, the company acquired a majority interest in Boise, Idaho-based concert promoter Bravo Entertainment. Mr. Hoffman has said Knitting Factory Entertainment will continue opening new venues throughout the country.

UPCOMING @ KNITTING FACTORY, NYC
March 03 - Saturday Looks Good To Me, Salt & Samovar (tonight)
March 04 - Boris & Growing
March 05 - White Williams & Pterodactyl
March 06 - Variety Shac (comedy)
March 21 - Tilly & The Wall
March 22 - Why? & Panther