by BBG

Vatican Commandos

Vintage punk and hardcore must be in the air, as a ton of classic bands and members of punk royalty will hit NYC in the coming months.

Early 80s Connecticut hardcore band Vatican Commandos, who called it quits in 1985 (!), will play Mercury Lounge on July 17th along with their most famous member....

Disorder came together in Darien, Connecticut, in 1982. The original members, who had been playing together for several years under different names, were Jim Spadaccini on vocals and bass, John Farnsworth on vocals and guitar, and Chip Moody on drums. Lindsey Anderson joined on second guitar, and Chuck Weaver soon took over vocal duties. When they discovered a band from UK with the same name, they changed their name to the Vatican Commandos.
Farnsworth and Anderson were soon replaced by guitarist Richard Hall, aka Moby. In 1983, the Vatican Commandos put out the "Hit Squad for God" EP on their own Pregnant Nun label, before Moby departed and Mike Pollack stepped in. By the year's end, the band had released their second 7" as well as recorded compilation tracks for Javi Bastard's Big City Records out of New York City. 1984 saw a new 12" EP titled Point Me To The End, and the band had plans for a full-length LP, but didn't stay together long enough. They broke up in 1985.

Long-running hardcore band Up Front, Ed Gein's Car and Loud Youth are also on board for CT-heavy show at Mercury Lounge in July. Tickets go on sale Thursday 5/13 at 6PM.

Reports from Europa were near unanimous, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine killed it at Europa in March. Luckily, if you missed that show you can catch the ex-Dead Kennedys frontman and his new venture on a Rocks Off cruise on May 28th with Shake Rattle Rattle Shake. Tickets are on sale. It's one of two boat cruises in support of UXO, an organization for soldiers who are against the war, with the second being the political hip hop duo The Coup with the great Wayne Kramer on May 31st (tickets).

Long running Southern California punk band D.I. will be at Europa on June 28th as part of a few east coast dates for the band. Tickets are on sale, and full D.I. dates are below.

Deathrockers 45 Grave will be on the east coast starting this weekend, and Dinah Cancer and the band will be in attendance at a Meet & Greet at Beauty Bar on 5/16 before their Europa show the next day (5/17) with The Dead Sextons and Psychocharger. Tickets are on sale.

And finally, Jimmy Gestapo and Murphy's Law are still going at it, and will take over a Rocks Off Cruise on August 12th. Tickets are still on sale.

Full tour dates and some videos are below....

Continue reading "Moby reuniting w/ Vatican Commandos for a CT NYC hardcore show + D.I. dates, boat shows, 45 Grave, Jello & more "

Black Lips @ Brooklyn Bowl in March (more by Gabi Porter)

Rock Off have updated their summer schedule of NYC Boat Cruise shows, which, like always, has focus on punk & garage (though there are other genres too). It includes Jello Biafra on May 29th, Electric Six on July 15th, Murphy's Law's annual Jimmy birthday show on August 12th, The Bouncing Souls on September 13th, and an August 2nd show with the Black Lips (who are in town much sooner a free but full RSVP-only show at Knitting Factory on April 29th with Pierced Arrows).

Other gigs includes Dam-Funk on April 24th (TONIGHT), Budos Band on June 11th, three NY Night Train parties, and The A-Bones on June 23rd. Tickets for most of the shows are on sale. No ticket info for Bouncing Souls yet. Black Lips go on sale Friday, April 30th.

Punk and punk-like boat shows are listed below...

Continue reading "Bouncing Souls, Black Lips, Jello Biafra & other boat shows "

Street Sweeper (Staciaann Photography)

"Nine Inch Nails and the original Jane's Addiction lineup will embark on a May/June co-headlining tour that will see these seminal artists sharing a stage for the first time since the historic debut of the Lollapalooza festival in 1991...

The NIN/JA tour will feature a streamlined NIN with Reznor on vocals, guitars, keys, Robin Finck on guitars and keys, Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass and keys, and newest NIN member IIan Rubin on drums and keys. NIN's stripped down configuration for the upcoming dates was inspired by a pair of club shows toward the end of last year's wildly ambitious Lights In The Sky tour. Leaving the massive production in the trucks for those two nights freed up the band for spontaneous performances including several seldom-aired NIN classics and inspired NIN to take a similarly unencumbered and unpredictable approach to the May/June dates, which include previously announced NIN appearances at the Sasquatch and Bonnaroo festivals...

...Support for all NIN/JA dates will be Street Sweeper, a collaboration between Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine/The Nightwatchman and Boots Riley of The Coup.

Tickets go on sale beginning March 13th, visit NIN.com, JanesAddiction.com and LiveNation.com for additional ticket and tour information.