Dropkick Murphys are as magically delicious as ever. And don't forget The Claddagh Fund which they recently established. Happy Saint Paddy's Day, everybody!

Bu John B. Moore

Aside from maybe The Pogues and The Chieftans, no other band is more closely associated with St. Patrick's Day in the U.S. than Boston's Dropkick Murphys.

According to singer and bassist Ken Casey, the Celtic punk rock band was never really supposed to leave the basement of the barbershop where they screwed around blending bagpipes with distorted guitars.  So it's as much a surprise to the band as anyone else that 15 years later they are spending the week leading up to St. Patty's Day playing night after night to sold out crowds (seven night in all) at Boston's House of Blues.

For those not able to make the pilgrimage this year to Mecca for the Guinness crowd, The Dropkick Murphys are releasing a live record (culled from last year's shows) and DVD this week.

Casey, quite possibly the nicest guy in punk rock, spoke recently about the band, jamming with the hippies at Bonnaroo and the group's newly minted charity.   

***

Congratulations on the new record and DVD. I'm interested in why you wanted to put out another live record.

I think the main reason is because we did the first live album after we had three studio releases and we have since done three more studio albums and occasionally we would look at the track list of the live album and go "Wow,  there's a lot of songs that we play now that aren't on here." And what I'm most proud of about the whole new album is that it's a completely different track listing than the first one. One song, "Forever", is on both, but it's a completely different version. I know some of my favorite bands growing up, I bought every single live album they put out - Live in London, Live in Belfast, Live in Germany - but it was the same songs over and over again. I thought it was pretty cool that we had enough material to span two live records.

Because you guys have so many songs you've done as a band, do you ever have a problem putting together a set list every night?

Yeah, absolutely. You want to make it different, but you want to give people the songs they definitely want to hear and some times, between playing the standards and wanting to change it up from the last time you were in town, we end up playing 28 songs a night. There are only 20 on the album, because that's all that would fit on the CD. It also goes to show that our songs are getting longer... We go to a great deal of effort in changing it up. We save our set lists, so we can see what we played last time we were in town and make sure they get a different set the next time. I'd say that's probably one of the most burdensome things with this band. I spend hours every day looking over the set list a thousand times and trying to write it so it gives people their money's worth.

So have you come to the acceptance yet that you're pretty much going to be playing a show every single St. Patrick's Day for the rest of your life?

Well I guess if you don't want to do that you should start a different type of band then what we started. The whole Boston thing has become a little tradition. When you're in a touring band, you're away a lot of the year and you don't get to catch up with as many people as you like. Honestly, over St. Patrick's Day there are so many people in town it's like a convention almost. Backstage we get to catch up with all our friends and family. It's something we look forward to every year, so it's not like a burden to us.

You guys are playing Bonnaroo later this year. Do you know what you're in for, what to expect?

I looked at the line up and it's pretty diverse. But we play that stuff in Europe in the summer time - just massively diverse festivals - so I think even though we haven't done the Coachellas and Bonnaroos in America, we're very much accustomed to doing those types of shows and I think our music is suited for festivals and just being party music to a degree. We do very well in that setting in Europe and I imagine it will be a good time. I don't know if I'm supposed to say because they haven't announced it yet, but they're putting some other punk rock bands on the bill on that day with us.

It certainly had that reputation of being just for hippie jam bands, but I know they've been broadening the line up a bit with Bruce Springsteen playing last year.

If it's good enough for Bruce, it's good enough for us.

You guys got to play with him recently didn't you?

Yeah, twice last year. That all came about because we've become friendly with Bruce through his son turning Bruce on to the music. We've been backstage when he was doing two nights at the Garden and on the first night he said "When are you going to do a song with me?" and I said. "Whenever you want." He said, "How about tomorrow night?" So obviously we were there the next night and this past summer, he came back and was down at Great Woods (in Massachusetts) and me and my wife were in the audience just watching the show and all of a sudden during the show I get a text from the tour manager "Bruce just told me he wants you up here for the encore." Honestly, talk about inspirational, I've met a lot of musicians that I look up to and 90 percent of them have kind of somewhat let me down with their personality or how they've carried themselves in a business way, but he's just a class act through and through. Here you are up on stage singing with, in my opinion,  the greatest rock band in the world and you feel like you're singing with your buddy's band in a bar because they make you feel that comfortable and at home.

It's seems like it would be tough for guys in bands who spend a lot of time on the road, being away from family and friends. But you have a few kids and a wife and you guys spend a ton of time touring the globe. How difficult is that?

Yeah, it's very, very hard and it's probably the toughest on me because when it's the day to go to the airport I always feel like it's the first day of school. You just don't want to leave. "My wife will call me from the car and say "(the kids) started bawling, but 30 seconds down the road they stopped." You just got to make the most of the time you're together. Right now we're on a ski trip up in New Hampshire. I just have to make sure that when I am home I make up for it. If it all came out in the wash, I probably have more time at home with my kids then the guys on my street that are leaving for work at 7 in the morning to beat rush hour and are not going to be home until 6 o' clock at night. When I am home, I'm taking them to school and all the sports and stuff like that, so I get to be around to catch a lot of the stuff other dads miss. I get to take the good with the bad and realize that I'm very fortunate to have had the opportunities that I've had in this band and to be able to provide for my family. If going away for a bit is what it takes, I always say I could be going to Iraq or Afghanistan, so I'm very fortunate. We've also brought the kids on some of the trips, so they've seen the world, so it's just very cool.

It's also got to be pretty cool for the kids on career day to say "My dad is a rock star."

My eight year old is just now getting that, cause she's on the new DVD step dancing. There's just a little clip of her, but she understands. Before I had three kids, she used to come on tour a lot with my wife and I. My wife would take her to bed in the back (of the tour bus) when we were on stage and after the show when we all came back to the front of the bus, my wife would be asleep and my two-year-old daughter would wake up and come up to see us. On the same token, I really don't think they think I'm cooler than anybody.

Another thing I wanted to ask you about is the foundation you started, the Claddagh Fund.

We've had some great opportunities through the success of the band to be able to help different people, whether it's sending out tickets to shows or signed CDs for auction items to lending the band's name and sometimes playing at charity events. It's just become something that over the years we've become more and more involved in over the years. As we did things for other causes, I always felt as great as this was we were missing the potential to tap into our fan base - who are the most generous fans in the world. The few times we have gone to them in a public way or via the Web site to help a cause, the response has been overwhelming. It makes me very proud to say that. As we started the Claddagh Fund we've done several events. We did a skate at Fenway Park when the Winter Classic ice was down; We just did a celebrity bartending night at McGreevy's and what we're getting ready to launch - which is kind of the end goal of The Claddagh Fund - is the Friends of the Claddagh Fund, where basically people can pledge their help to raise funds in other cities. Kind of almost satellite chapters of the fund. When you think about the potential, if a kid takes on that role in Seattle or Sydney, Australia, you have an army of people raising money and at that point, you're talking raising millions of dollars for good causes rather than $100,000. I'm really excited about this and to see the response of fans.

When did you start the Fund?

We started in late November and did our first event in mid December, so who needs six months to plan an event?   

Are there specific criteria for where the money goes?

Yeah, the mission statement is obviously about community and friendship and helping each other out and those are the attributes of the Claddagh: Friendship, Love and Loyalty. As far as who we directly help, the three causes we mainly focus on, are children's issues - whether its financial or medical or just things like a Boys and Girls Club, Anything that aids in easing their hardship in any way. The second was veteran's issue s and third was alcohol and substance abuse, because unfortunately that has affected many people in my life. As of right now, with the first event we gave to eight local charities, from Boys and Girls Club to the Franciscan Children's Hospital to Boston Family Services to the Fisher House, which is a place where family of veterans can stay when the veterans are receiving treatment in Boston. The last event we did, the celebrity bartending, was for Haitian orphans. At the moment it seems bizarre to not be doing something to help out when there is such a tragedy so close to home. We'll always try to focus on things close to home and pick some national charities as well.

Have you guys started working on any new songs yet for the next album?

Yeah, we're about six, seven songs into it and the goal, depending on what the touring schedule does to us, is to be in the studio by the end of the summer. We're excited about that prospect. By the time an album does come out this will probably be the longest time between records... It seems like maybe waiting a bit will get people excited. Either that or they'll forget about us and move on to someone else. I guess we'll see.

Photo Credit: Kerry Brett. The new Dropkick Murphys album, Live on Lansdowne, is released today, March 16, on the band's own Born & Bred label. Details on it, tour dates, and more at their MySpace page.

Motion City Soundtrack leaves venerable punk label and winds up making its punkest album ever.

By John B. Moore

There are a lot of assumptions when it comes to Motion City Soundtrack.

The Minneapolis band started churning out records during emo rock's peak so they were lumped in with the eyeliner and skinny jeans crowd, despite having more in common with bands like Cheap Trick and Superchunk; they signed to the indie punk rock label Epitaph, but they were certainly not a punk rock band. While the scene kids were busy trying to figure out just where these guys fit in, the band was diligently putting out some of the best synth-backed pop albums since The Cars.

Their latest effort - and first for Columbia Records - My Dinosaur Life is probably their best to date. Ironically, it wasn't until they left Epitaph that they put out their most punk-inspired album.

Justin Pierre (vocals/guitar) talked recently about the new album and the band's contradictions.    

***

Lyrically, the new album seems a little more personal than some of your pervious ones. Were you worried at all that you were sharing too much?

Nope. I tend to write what I know. And being as self obsessed as I am, that is not difficult. I don't think it's that much different from any of the previous endeavors, but I'm not the best one to ask as I am in the middle of the thing being created and not able to look at it from any other angle.

This record also seemed a little more rock focused than past efforts. Was there a conscious decision to change the sound or was that simply an evolution?

That was the only thing we consciously talked about doing; making a rock record.  As far as how we went about doing it, that part was no different than previous efforts.  We just wrote whatever came to mind and worked out as many ideas as we could, finally coming up with around 25-30 ideas/songs.  Then once we got together with Mark (Hoppus. The Blink 182 co-founder produced the record), he helped us choose the final 18-20, of which we recorded 15.  Twelve made the album.

Were you guys listening to anything in particular while writing or recording that had a strong influence on the songs?

For the first time I can say that there was nothing in particular I was listening to while writing this record.

So what else can you tell me about the record?

I am always excited about each of our records when they come out, but this one is by far my favorite.  Everything from the artwork to the order of the songs to the songs themselves to the Producer, Engineer and Mixer is straight up solid gold.  I think of all our records, we came really close to hitting the mark with this one.

You mentioned that you recorded with Mark Hoppus, who you've worked with in the past. What is he like to record with?

He creates a truly relaxed environment within which you are not afraid to try things and fail. Not only is he a musical genius, but he's a patient man and knows how to get great performances out of the bands he works with. I feel that if you listen to the bands he's produced, they tend to sound much more like themselves on that particular endeavor than on any other outing.

Was it a tough decision to leave Epitaph? 

Yes and No.  Our deal was up and Brett (Gurewitz, label founder and Bad Religion guitarist) gave us his blessing, but it was still hard. I hate goodbyes. Luckily for us Columbia has been amazingly into everything that we've wanted to do. It doesn't feel that different from an artist friendly perspective, which is the most important thing to me.

Epitaph is obviously known more for punk bands. Did you ever feel out of place with them?

I think we were one of the first signings that was a little left of the dial and I think there was some backlash from fans of the label, but Brett started signing country acts, hip hop acts, Tom Waits and many truly diverse bands (on his sister label Anti- Records).  That, in my opinion, is the most punk rock thing you could do; something that no one is expecting.

How is the current headlining tour going? Any interesting tour stories yet?

The tour with The Swellers, This Providence and Set Your Goals was amazing. All the bands were completely wonderful humans and a pleasure to watch. I tend to hibernate between shows, so I have no good stories from the road. We did brave the worst snowstorm of the year on the east coast. Unfortunately This Providence and The Swellers did not make it through the snowy cloud of chaos.

What is the thing that has surprised you the most about the music business?

I am surprised that CD sales are going extinct and vinyl sales are rising. This is very interesting to me.  Most people listen to music on an mp3 device of some sort, which is easier than carrying a case of CD's around.

What's next for the band?

Tour, tour, tour.

I'm out of questions, anything else you want to add?

I am currently full of caffeine.

[Photo Credit: Peter Yang]

A Decade of Punk Rock - the Good AND the Bad

By John B. Moore

With apologizes to my fellow Blurt writers, I loathe End of the Year/End of the Decade music lists.

They just seem like a useless game of one-upmanship that gives critics the excuse to trot out their pretentious musical tastes and try to outdo each other with obscure sub-indie references to bands that only dubbed a dozen cassettes of their warbling and handed out to their friends and "Oh, oh I have a copy and realize how brilliant they are". I put it right up there with militant vegans, former smokers and people who claim that they "don't even own a TV".  

... But deep down, I'm a pretentious twit myself (though I love red meat and watch as much TV as possible,) so two weeks into the New Year, here's my list of bands that nearly killed punk rock this decade.... And those that saved it.

Five albums that almost killed punk rock...

• Boys Like Girls - Boys like Girls (2007) Over the past decade, major record labels, not content to just screw up every other genre, decided that they could give a band instant credibility by tacking the suffix "punk" at the end of "pop" on any band's bio. One of the most obvious examples is the Boston top 40 pop band Girls Like Boys. The name isn't the only thing unoriginal about this glorified boy band, last seen lip-synching in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade last month. This four piece was the Trojan horse that helped smuggle in equally pitiful acts like Cute is What We Aim For and Breathe Caroline - not one who ever owned a Clash or Ramones album.
• Good Charlotte - The Chronicles of Life & Death (2004) I pity the real punk rockers with neck tattoos. Thanks to these light weight twins from Maryland who equate ink with street cred, the guys in Rancid and Dropkick Murphys now have to spend the next year getting their tattoos lasered off lest anyone equate them with Good Charlotte. These guys could almost be excused for their Hot Topic brand of bubble gum punk if they had stopped at The Young and Hopeless, but then they had to try and become artists on their third album. The result was a dozen faux serious, whiny odes to being a teenager. Next stop double dates with Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie. Long live punk rawk!
• Powerspace - The Kicks of Passion (2007) Powerspace came to represent just how low the once promising indie punk label Fueled By Ramen had fallen in the 00's. Once the breeding ground for bands like The Pietasters and Jimmy Eat World, the label devolved into mindless drek like this keyboard-fused excuse for pop-punk. Equally mind boggling is the fact that FBR had to compete with other labels to sign this band.
• A Static Lullaby - A Static Lullaby (2006) OK, maybe it's not fair to single out this band in particular, but the Chico Hills-based A Static Lullaby represent a crappy metal/hardcore/scream-o hybrid that had no business associating itself with punk rock. Cookie Monster vocals and mediocre metal riffs equals nothing more than noise from over-privileged suburban kids desperate for attention.
• Cobra Starship - While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets (2006) Labeled as pop-punk, this band wrote a song for the movie Snake on a Plane, which goes to show just how bottom of the barrel scrapping desperate this group was even at the beginning of their existence. Started by former Midtown bassist/singer Gabe Saporta, the group has a freakin' keytar player for Christ sake, going to show that tweens have an extreme level of tolerance for obvious irony... as well as crappy pop-punk.

And 5 albums that saved it.

• Bad Religion -The Empire Strikes First (2004) George W. Bush may have been the worst president in history, but he was great for punk rock. Exhibit A is The Empire Strikes First, a baker's dozen of brilliant angry political punk anthems. Songs like "Los Angeles is Burning" and "Let Them Eat War" stand up against anything the band put out in the 80's and 90's.
• Green Day - American Idiot (2004) And Exhibit B is American Idiot, Green Day's best album in an already decent career. A raised middle finger to Bush and the status quo, this radio-friendly record also showed that there was still a little life left in the rock opera.
• Flogging Molly - Float (2008) With Flogging Molly, The Pogues have finally found someone worthy enough to pick up their Celtic punk rock banner. The LA, by way of Dublin rockers have regularly turned out stellar albums, but Float raised the bar to its highest level with destined to be classic Celtic punk gems like "Requiem for a Dying Song" and "Between a Man and a Woman."
• Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound (2008) Punk rockers have always had a crush on Springsteen, but with New Jersey-based Gaslight Anthem's second full length, the band finally came out and fess up to their devotion. The '59 Sound, also drawing inspiration from influences as varied as Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, is as close as one can come to a flawless record.
• Bouncing Souls - The Gold Record (2006) Fifteen years into an already impressive career, Jersey punks The Bouncing Souls turned in their most evolved album to date with this fantastic record. Sweeping anthems, topped off with surprisingly personal lyrics, The Gold Record is the ultimate sonic promise that was hinted at with the band's five previous releases. Pardon the pun, but pure gold.

When Naked Raygun frontman Jeff Pezzati put together his post NR band The Bomb, he was undoubtedly under a massive amount of scrutiny.

Like a punk rock Paul McCartney moving on to Wings or Johnny Rotten starting PIL - comparisons to his beloved and highly influential first band were inevitable.

The Bomb is clearly nobody's version of Wings.

For about a decade now the Chicago band, comprised of Pezzati, guitarist Jeff Dean (The Story So Far, Tomorrows Gone), bassist Pete Mittler and drummer Mike Soucy (both from The Methadones), have been churning out amazing punk rock. The latest Speed is Everything may just be their best record yet in an already impressive career.

Guitarist Jeff Dean was kind enough to put up with a handful of questions about the new record, working with J. Robbins and punk rock supergroups.

So you guys are in a number of different bands. Does that make The Bomb a supergroup? A side project? Or a full-fleged band?
I don't know if you would call us a "supergroup", but we are a full on band. (Jeff) Pezzati started the band in 1999, and with the exception of us taking a break for about a year, the band has been active since it started.

So do your other bands get jealous when you spend time with another group?
No way! We are all good friends, and I think we all manage our time wisely. I have a lot more time on my hands to work with than the other guys, so I'm able to play in more bands than everyone else, but there is never any jealousy or anything like that.

What was J.Robbins like to work with?

J. has recorded our last two records, so when we were getting ready to record our previous record "Indecision" there was a lot of talk about who we wanted to do it. I've always been a fan of J's bands as well as his producing/recording. Pezzati and J have been friends since when NR (Naked Raygun) and GI (Government Issue) played shows together back in the 80's, so it just made sense to get him on board. I gave him a call and he was really into the idea. J. is hands down my favorite engineer I've ever recorded with. When we were recording "Indecision", all of us got along so well, and he could understand where we were coming from with ideas, etc. We just clicked. So, that is why J will be the only one to record our albums as long as we are a band. At this point, he almost feels like the 5th member! Ha, ha!

Who else is on the album?
This record was a real collaboration between all of us. I still write the majority of the music, with Pezzati writing most of the lyrics. But, this time everyone in the band contributed, as did J. He wrote the music for one of the songs on the record. J also did backups on a lot of the songs too. Dan Yemin (Paint it Black, Lifetime) did vocals on one of the songs, as did Bob Nanna (Braid).

How long did it take to record Speed is Everything?
We recorded all of the music and most of the vocals in about six days here in Chicago at a studio owned by my friend Andy Gerber called Million Yen. Then about a month later, Pezzati and I flew out to Baltimore to mix it and add some additional vocals at J.'s studio Magpie Cage. I think we were there for five days.

Anything else you want to add?
I guess that I hope people check out the new record Speed is Everything. All of us are really proud of it, and if you are a fan of our band or Naked Raygun or whatever, I think you will enjoy it.

The name Star Fucking Hipsters may put off a few folks -- like the merchandise managers at the big box retailers -- but there are worse things they could be called.  Like a side project, for one.

SFH founder Scott Sturgeon (aka Stza) was so bothered by that label that he had the band record a full album's worth of songs just weeks after they finished touring behind their last record. Mainly to prove that SFH was a committed band.

Recorded primarily in his New York apartment and engineered on a laptop, "Never Rest in Peace" manages to sounds even better than the band's studio-produced debut. The songs are tighter, the lyrics clearer and more importantly the band is finally safe from being called a side project.

We recently caught up with Sturgeon long enough for him to answer a few questions:
 
Any lineup changes since the last record?
Yes, we now have Chris Portier from Dread Fabrik and Big Attack! On bass and drummers Alex Charpentier and P.Nut who also plays with Degenerics and Ensign. We still have Yula (Beeri on) bass and Ara (Babajian) on drums. They are very busy and interesting people, but they know that they always have a place in the band. S.F.H. has at least 10 members at this point and no bad feelings. My only thing is that I absolutely need Nico (de Gaillo) and Frank (Piegaro) to be there. They've even played a couple of shows without me, which I am proud to admit.
 
Did anyone ever try and talk you out of the name?
No, I started the band, I deal with almost every aspect of what we do when we're off-stage, so I get to name it whatever the hell I want. I understand that I have a habit of shooting myself in the foot "commercially" but then again, that's exactly why I do name my band something Fucking Something or naming a record Fuck World Trade. Although it may not be very shocking, it definitely keeps our albums out of places like Target or Best Buy; places that I would never want to support financially anyways and I suggest that people find alternatives to these huge global corporations that are bleeding you dry while you think you're saving cash ‘cuz Wal-Mart has a smiley face discount. These stores will decimate your town, steal its money and then they'll leave you in economic crisis.
 
You had a bunch of guests on the last record. Any guests on this one?       
Not quite as many as we were very pressed for time, but we did manage to get Dick Lucas from Subhumans and his band mate in Citizen Fish and Culture Shock Jasper to sing on two of the songs as well as having Bryan (Kienlen) from the Bouncing Souls sing and plays bass on a track and Miguel (Reyes) from Oakland/Citizen Fish plays a horn on "The Civilization Show", a very Citizen Fishy song in my opinion. And we had a bunch of friends sing back-ups from various NYC bands. It's in the liner notes.

You put out "Until We're Dead", toured like crazy, then immediately recorded this new record. Did you have any down time?
I had a bout a month and a half last winter to travel around Central America. I've been slowly learning Spanish over the last eight years. I can speak it enough to get by, I suppose. Other than that, no, I've really not had more than two days off from band business of some sort. I'm planning on taking it easy this winter as much as possible.

Why the rush to put this record out?
We really felt the need to put together a catalog of songs to cement the fact that we are not a side project, but an actual band. Plus we just had so many new songs and we knew we could make a better record than "Until We're Dead", so we figured why the hell wait, let's get this thing out there and break out of the side-project category for real. We will definitely be waiting a bit longer to do our third record tentatively titled "Ska Fucking Hipsters".

Where did you record "Never Rest in Peace"?
Myself and Nico live on the fifth floor of a fairly infamous building in Alphabet City called C-Squat or See-Skwat, depending on who you talk to. We rehearsed there a few times and it turns out that our apartment has a really great sound so we demoed and recorded a bit in a bedroom at P.Nut's house in New Brunswick, NJ, but the record was almost entirely recorded and mixed in three of the rooms on the fifth floor of our place by a fellow named Ryan Jones (myspace.com/ryandjonesengeneering) who is a live soundman that happens to be an amazing recording engineer. He just had a laptop and two little monitor speakers. After we'd record a song take, it would already be mixed by him, he's that good.

Any big inspiration for the songs that make up "Never Rest in Peace"?
Every song has its own separate inspiration. For example my first lyrics on the song "The Civilization Show" were inspired by the events that transpired on the Oakland BART platform last New Year's where a police officer shot a kid in the back of the head while he was hand-cuffed laying on his stomach in front of a lot of civilian witnesses on their way home from their New Year's parties. Later, the officer claimed that the victim was making fun of his mom or some such nonsense, my theory was that the cop was coked out of his mind when he publicly executed the young man.

Can you talk about the song "Banned from the Land"?
That song is about the subjugation of the native "American" tribes when our ancestors committed what amounted to an indigenous genocide and how this is stolen occupied territory.

There's a whole generation of little punk rockers that would put Green Day and Blink 182 on their Mt. Rushmore of punk rock.

But there's a whole slew of stellar punk rock vets out there that paved the way for today's spiky haired rebels. One of the most important, but underrated of that group, is Southern California's Channel 3.

Founded by Mike Magrann and Kimm Gardener in 1980, the band found a way to mesh both hardcore and the more melodic punk rock of bands like The Ramones and The Clash.

After a number of releases in the 80's - including the song "You Make Me Feel Cheap" - the band kept a low profile for most of the 90's. Thanks to a new documentary on the band, a release of their early demos and some recent touring, the group is back.

Magrann was kind enough to put up with some questions recently.
 
Let's start from the beginning. What inspired you guys to start a punk band in the early 80's?
 Well, the old cliché' about hearing The Ramones and deciding, "Hey! We could do that!" It's true. We grew up listening to all those nutty 70's mega groups and the live music experience was about sitting a half mile away from a stadium stage.  So to be able to finally see a band close up, in a club or garage, inspired us to pick up the guitars as well.

You've guys saw a lot of prejudice from being punk rockers. You talk about that a bit in the documentary.
Yeah, honestly I am surprised. It was a violent, underground thing that seemed to burn out after the late eighties, but the Internet and teen cash changed all that. A lot of guys will rewrite their history and say, "Hey screw that man!  Punk never died, look at all these poseur kids now, we've been in the squat the whole time, blah blah..." But we never had a chance to play proper shows and tours, and get paid a fair amount from what the clubs were making off us.  So, yeah, pleasantly surprised at the chance to play the music for people that would've written us off before.
 
So what are your thoughts on the contemporary punk rock scene?
You can really make or take the scene in any way you care to, really.  Some kids identify themselves as punkers, and think Blink and Green Day is old school hardcore. Some kids are full on crusties that know their Crass history way better than we do!  I guess the blessing and the curse of the instant information age is that all things are available to all people.
 
TKO just put out your early demos. How long have you talked about doing that?
I'd have to give Mark Rainey at TKO and Kimm credit for the idea--I would've never thought there would be much interest in hearing the stuff we did so long ago.  I mean, this stuff was written and recorded before we hit drinking age, and before the Posh Boy hit making machine took over. But we are getting some really nice responses to it.

You kind of kept a low profile through most of the 90's. Did you officially break up or just take some time off?
We did take a bit of time off after the whole bloated five piece thing fell apart in the late eighties... But Kimm and I got back to the four piece structure pretty quick and kept playing in the garage for laughs... venture out now and then for a little gig.  It was really the CD reissues and Web site launch (www.chthree.com) that brought us back to a full time touring outfit again.
 
How many original members are still in the band?
Just me and Kimm, that's all you really need right there.  We've always had a pretty high turnaround rate with drummers and bass players, so it's nice now that we have the longest lasting and hopefully last lineup in place!  Alf Silva's been on the drums for years now, same with Anthony Thompson on bass. 
 
Have you been working on new music? Any plans to record again soon?
Yeah, we always have some new tracks floating around, though it's hard to figure out what to do with them, you know?  We just did a cover of the Nils' "Scratches and Needles" for the BYO anniversary compilation, and have a lot of loose tracks out there, so might be time to wrap up an album's worth and throw it out there, eh?
 
How did the documentary come about?
Seems like you have to have some video presence on the market, but we really weren't interested in just doing a stock concert DVD.  We met Erik Carreon, the director of the DVD, and he was really interested in the story of Kimm and me growing up together and staying pals against the backdrop of the So Ca hardcore scene.  There's a lot of in depth stuff about what it takes to stay in a band when you're growing ever older, but lots of rockin' in there too!

One of the best punk labels around  has been resurrected. Sailor's Grave Records - the sister label to hardcore label Thorp - has been hibernating for the last year or so, coming to life only once or twice to put out Mark Lind's (Ducky Boys) latest or give an update on Roger Miret.

Over the past month though, label founder Andy King has announced four new records SGR is putting out:  STITCH HOPELESS AND THE SEA LEGS, BURNING STREETS, MOUTHGUARD and BEANTOWN BOOZEHOUNDS - all great street punk bands, not too far from the sound of bands that have also called Sailor's Grave home at one time or another (The Welch Boys, Mad Sin and Born to Lose, among others).  Even better is news that the label will be putting out a new album from Boston horn-heavy, punk/R&B band THE KINGS OF NUTHIN.  Almost makes up for year or two of silence from the label.

Twenty years together in a band is pretty damn impressive.  Twenty years together for a punk band is a fucking miracle.

For two decades now, the guys in Simi Valley-based punk band Strung Out have been churning out record after record of politically-tinged melodic punk rock, spiked with a bit of hardcore.  Strung Out is also one of the few punk bands that happen to find itself in the record collection of black-shirt clad metal kids as well.   Having just released Agents of the Underground, their seventh album, the band is about to gas up the bus and heard out on tour.
 
Frontman Jason Cruz was kind enough to talk to Blurt this week about keeping the band together, Hank William Sr. and Scandinavian hookers. 

Congratulations on 20 years. Ever have any idea when you were starting the band that you'd be around this long?
Fat Mike once told me it takes about 10 years to "make it" at whatever you set out to do... Hmmm have I made it yet? If I have where the fuck am I and somebody please save me!

Why do you think you guys have been able to make it for so long when so many other punk bands break up after just a few years?
Because they're pussies and they never really wanted rock up their ass in the first place, that's why. If you are doing this, you really have to get a shitty little job to sustain yourself for a bit. Sell your girlfriend and the dog and get to it!

Got to admit, I'm impressed that the band has done so well with little airplay and no absolutely no help from MTV and the like. Why do you think your music resonates so well with people?
I believe it's because we look so damn goofy and un-cool. I mean who will believe a word the gorgeous kid with Motley Crue hairdo says anyway?

 Is there a theme to the songs on Agents of the Underground, your new record?
The theme would have to be of loss and the certainty of re-birth. Loss is a fact of life we seem to be so afraid of and to confront that fact is not always an easy thing to do. The things you do not let go will be ripped away type thing.

Do you still get approached by younger bands who mention that they grew up with your music? Is that ever weird?
Yes (and) it's weird and I may not have a fat sack sittin' in a fat car parked in my fat pad but I gots respect and to me that'll sink ships any day brotha.

So over the past 20 years, did the band ever come close to splitting up?
Twelve times! Each time had to do with a Scandinavian hooker we all loved at one time or another. She played us and left us for the boys in Avenged Sevenfold ...Good luck boys!

Any regrets with the band?
I don't really regret a single thing with this band; it all happened for one reason or another and led me here. I am healthy, I am strong, and I love the new record. Shit like that don't last so I'm going with it.

In two decade, obviously, you've hit some major milestones. As a band, is there anything else you want to be able to accomplish?   
Big fat royalty checks when I'm seventy?


 

Damn! BYO Records turns 25

Pete Wentz wasn't even wearing eyeliner when brothers Shawn and Mark Stern decided to start BYO (Better Youth Organization) Records 25 years ago. The label, which put out releases by Youth Brigade - the Brothers Stern's own punk band - went on to put out seminal punk releases from bands like Leatherface and 7 Seconds.

To quote the band, BYO was founded as "part political movement, part business venture that began as a way to organize punks to take positive action to help sustain their scene and their way of life."

To commemorate their 25th anniversary - not bad considering how many other labels have come and gone during that time - BYO is putting out a 31-song box set, featuring a who's who of American punk rock. Groups like Bad Religion, Dropkick Murphys, NOFX, Anti-Flag and the Bouncing Souls all took turns covering BYO bands. The set also comes with the documentary Let Them Know, which looks at the influence of the label through interviews with Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Minor Threat, founder of Dischord Records), Fat Mike (NOFX, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, founder of Fat Wreck Chords) and Steve Soto (Adolescents, Manic Hispanic), among others.

Shawn Stern, in the middle of a Youth Brigade tour, took some time recently to answer questions about the label, the band and punk rockin' as a 40-something.

Are you surprised that the label is still up and running 25 years later?
I'm surprised that we were able to put out one record, let alone nearly 120! When we started I never thought I'd be playing music in my 30's let alone my 40's and approaching 50. For us to last this long is kind of amazing to us and we feel extremely lucky.

So how do you think you've able to keep it going for so long when so many others have folded?
Pure luck! (laughs) Well, I think we just put out good music that we like and people seem to respond well. We never did this to make money; we never had any business plan or really any plan at all. We put out records ‘cause we had a band and we put out other bands' records ‘cause we liked the band, the music and what they had to say. I guess we're doing something right, otherwise we wouldn't have survived.

Do you think its easier running a business with your brothers or ultimately harder?
My brothers and I are all very close, so I think it's really easy to work together. I mean we've been doing it all our lives, so it's pretty natural. We can argue - and we do - but we don't take it personally, we just go eat lunch or go have a drink after.

Ever get into any Kinks style fist fights over the band or the label?
Nah, our punching each other out ended in our teens. Screaming arguments once in awhile that we usually end up laughing about is the extent of it.

Have you always had a defining principle or set of principles that BYO was founded on?
Well, like I said, we never had a plan we just did things as they came up. The principles have always been those that our parents and grandparents instilled in us as kids, think for yourself, life is about learning and giving back, helping people. From that we devised our own ideals about what punk rock is to us, that one should question everything and decide for yourself what makes sense. Don't be a sheep, don't follow anyone. I was heavily influenced in my senior year in high school by an existential lit class I took. I read Dostoyevsky, Kierkegaard, Sartre and Camus and the next semester I had an entire class on Herman Hesse. They all had a profound effect, but Albert Camus' "The Stranger" and the "Myth Of Sysiphus" were almost life changing for me. I think those ideals will always stick with me.

What was always the deciding factor in putting out a band's music?
We put out bands that we like as people, whose music we like and believe in and we feel we can help them. There's lots of bands that we like and would like to work with over the years but for one reason or another it just didn't work out.

Do you get a sense of enjoyment of watching major labels falter and grasp to stay relevant?
Hmm, I'm not really someone that takes pleasure in other people's failure. I don't really worry about other labels, it's not something I can control or be a part of. But I'm not gonna lose sleep over the fact that a multi-national corporation leaves the music business, because in my view they only look at music as nothing more than a way to make money and I think that is not good for anyone. So the more of them that leave music, the better it is for music and all of us.

Was it difficult deciding who would be on the album that comes with the box set? More important, was there a fight between bands to cover "California is Sinking"?
We just asked all the bands we like and they all said sure. Now getting them to actually get in the studio and record, well that's another story. Everyone is busy, when they are recording a new record they are concentrating on that and putting together a cover sometimes isn't at the top of their list of things to do. Picking songs was up to the band, there were a few that wanted to do a certain song but someone had already picked it, but there were no "fights." Worked out really well I think. Well, I guess everyone can listen to the record and decide for themselves, but it's a pretty amazing record.

A lot of folks cite you guys as influences in starting their own labels. Did you really have anyone to emulate or learn from when you were starting BYO records?
No, there were very few labels at the time doing punk rock on the level we did it when we started. Slash and Dangerhouse were about it in L.A. but we just sort of figured it out on our own. Ask questions, call around, talk to the guys at the pressing plant about how to do things ‘cause they had been in the record business for years and they knew the basics. A lot of it was just logic, go around to stores and ask them to take the record. That was our early distribution.

Why did the band ultimately decide to call it quits?
Adam had left the band to go back to school in '84, we got Bob Gnarly in the band and changed the name to The Brigade and our sound got a little more "poppy" I guess you could say. The punk scene was dying, the hair bands were taking over the sunset strip and we were burnt so we just decided it wasn't fun anymore.

So was it an easy decision to get the band back together and tour?
Yeah, we were all playing music again in different bands. I had a band, That's It and my brothers had all started the band Royal Crown Revue and met up on tour in Germany. People had been asking about Youth Brigade on both our tours, so we talked about doing a "reunion" and I said if we wrote new songs and make a record then I would do it. We all agreed, it was pretty easy and we've been going strong ever since.

Did you find that you missed playing together?
I think we found that we had fun playing together. Mark (Stern) and Adam (Stern) and our other brother Jamie were all playing together for a few years in Royal Crown Revue and having fun. That's the bottom line, it has to be fun. Otherwise what's the point!?

Was it surreal participating in the documentary?

No, not surreal. We put it together but we tried to not involve ourselves too much in the planning. We wanted to let the film makers make the movie, not us. We told them people they should talk to and gave them a chronological line of what/how things happened, but we let them put it together. I think they did an amazing job.

Listening to the interviews, were you surprised at how influential the band was to so many?
I'm flattered. I don't know if I'm so much surprised ‘cause I think there was only a handful of bands in the punk scene that have lasted all these years and odds are they have lasted because people like the music and that's ‘gonna influence bands that are coming after.

Any chance you'll revive the BYO split series?
Oh it isn't dead, just been on hiatus. The box set was such a huge undertaking, the biggest project we've ever done, so it took up nearly three years of our time. We've had quite a few bands interested, just haven't managed to work it out. But we will hopefully soon.

I hate Led Zeppelin. That's not true. I don't hate them; I just don't buy into all the hype.
I've tried to fit in... especially in high school. I had a couple tapes though never really listened to them. Just kept them around for appearances. I even drew the ZOSO symbols from their fourth album on the white rubber part of my Chuck Taylors in 9th grade. I chalk that one up to peer pressure.
Robert Plant has a cool voice; Agreed. Jimmy Page is a great guitar player; No argument here. John Bonham kicked ass on the drums; No doubt. Individually they are brilliant. But put them all together and you've got a rock decent band, with a jones for old blues songs, but not THE defining moment in rock. They are pretty much the Blue Oyster Cult with better PR.
What most Zeppelin fans won't ever admit (regardless of how often these deep dark thoughts creep into their sweaty little heads) is that the idea of Led Zeppelin, the legend behind the band - everything from the wild groupie sex stories to the rumors of Satan worship - is far, far greater than the band's actually musical contribution.  
Name a song that you can't possible live without. "Stairway to Heaven"?  "Whole Lotta Love"?  "Rock and Roll"?  I'll take a Replacement's song any day of the week.

Every year, Jesus People USA (yup, that's the group's real name) puts on the annual Cornerstone Music Festival outside of Chicago. The event boasts six days(!) of Christian Punk, Christian Metal, Christian Rap and Christian Hardcore... and I can only assume Christina Ska and Christian Rockabilly. 

Call it the born again's answer to Lollapalooza.

In honor of this year's festival line up, what follows is a run down two of my two favorite 90's bands that Jesus took away from me.

THE SMOKING POPES

Though they are now back together, the reason the Smoking Popes broke up in ‘99 was because singer Josh Caterer decided to embrace Christianity. Not just show up at church every now and then, but the "I'm-going-to-quit-rock-and-everything-it-stands-for, turning- my-back-on-everything-I've-created-fuck-the-fans" kind of embrace. A great band cut down way too early. A couple years ago, the band decided to get back together to play a handful of shows and record a live album. In an interview around those shows I asked Josh about the whole God thing and he said he simply wasn't happy with all the drugs and drinking that surrounded the band. He became born again and quit rock music all together for awhile, focusing solely on uplifting religious tunes. Crater slowly got back into rock through a new band Duvall, then finally realized God probably doesn't necessarily hate good music and got the band back together. I caught one of their comeback shows at The Masquerade in Atlanta and they were amazing (though Josh did take the opportunity to preach a few times from the mic, making the others in the band visibly squirm). The Smoking Popes had a decent comeback record last year, but still not quite as stellar as their earlier efforts.

SUPERDRAG

OK, this one took me by surprise. The Knoxville power pop band turned out a slew of brilliant records in the 90's and early 2000's. (Though "Sucked Out" is still the only song people remember.) I found out, like the Smoking Popes, were doing a series of reunion tours last year (which, by the way makes me feel old as shit when bands I dig are now qualify for reunion shows). In doing research for an interview, I discovered front man John Davis had another one of those spiritual awakenings that seem to be going around, again thanks to booze. Copying off of Josh's paper, he also started working exclusively on Christian songs. I finally spoke with Davis in 2008 and he was super cool, but I chickened out and didn't ask him about God (so no big answers for you. Sorry). Like the Smoking Popes, they also had a decent, but not great comeback record out this year.

AND HERE'S A FEW YOU HE CAN KEEP...

Former Korn guitarist Brian Welch

In his case, I think he's just using his sudden conversion to Christianity (I think it's Christianity) and cult-like new life as an easy excuse to walk away from a truly crappy band.

Alice Cooper

The same guy who used to guillotine himself on stage in the 70's is now a golfer, PTA dad and (gulp) Republican. He's also found Jesus. Again, in this case, I think he woke up one day and realized that he was a washed up irrelevant former rocker whose biggest accomplishment was playing "School's Out" on an episode of the Muppet show.

So after given this a little thought, I'm left with two separate conclusions to the question of why rockers turn to Jesus:

1.     Years of hard partying and meaningless groupie sex makes you search for a deeper meaning.

2.   God is actually a roadie, converting the masses, one musician at a time.

Punk rock and a rainbow flag: a conversation with Pansy Division founder Jon Ginoli

Since the late 70's there have been endless debates about what is and what is not Punk Rock.

You could certainly argue that Punk Rock IS being openly gay in an all gay band in the early 90's and playing clubs through the South and Midwest, singing songs about hooking up with dudes. In comparison, putting on a dog collar and playing songs of rebellion inside NY's CBGBs doesn't seem all that dangerous.

For nearly 20 years, Jon Ginoli, founder of the world's first gay pop punk band Pansy Division, has been waving the punk rock flag high. The band has just finished a documentary ("Life in a Gay Rock Band") and released their sixth album "That's So Gay," both on Alternative Tentacles. Ginoli also just wrapped up a book tour supporting his memoir Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division, a frank and often laugh-out-loud look at the band's early days.

Ginoli took some time recently to answer a few questions, talking about everything from bad decisions to never fully being embraced by the gay community.

So what made you decide to finally write a book about your experience?
The realization that a lot of what seemed to be visible in the 90s was now becoming invisible and forgotten.
 
You touched on this a bit in the book, but looking back, what are your biggest regrets about the band and decisions you guys made?
When we stopped touring, we weren't making enough money to continue. I wished we had made the effort to get a new booking agent and tried to play more colleges, which paid better. It might have made it easier, but on the other hand it might have made us breakup. Who knows?
 
In the book, you mentioned the rainbow flag sticker you keep on you van, saying "even though we're not big fans of what the flag has become." Can you explain that a little?
There was a time, before the mid 90s, when companies and corporations were afraid of being associated with gay events. Since then, they'll slap the rainbow flag to promote anything. So it's an acknowledgment that progress is a double-edged sword.
 
You also talked about not feeling fully embraced by the gay community because you didn't listen to bad disco and Whitney Houston. Do you think the gay community has finally started to listen to better music?
Hell no!

If you were just now starting Pansy Division, how do you think the band would be received by the fans and the music business?
If we were starting just now it would be at a time when there were already lots of out queer musicians, so it would be completely different.
 
You talked a lot about the generosity of bands like Green Day. Do you still keep in touch with them?
 No, not directly, but I know how to get a message to them if I need to.
 
I know you just got back home, but what's next for the band?
We just did a tour of the East Coast and Midwest, and are doing the West Coast in September. At some point we'll start looking at songs for the next album. Since all four members live in four different cities on both coasts, it's a process.
 
       
So you just finished the tour and the book, what's next for you specifically?
Good question! I quit my job to do months of my book tour and band tours, so I have to figure that out soon. What we do isn't a living; it's just a bit of money now and then.
 
So what have you been listening to lately?
 Jarvis Cocker, Bratmobile, Bruce Springsteen, The Shoes, Nick Cave, some old country, The dB's, ‘60s soul compilations, ‘60s-era Bee Gees (pre-disco!), The Wave Pictures, Bunker Hill, Vampire Weekend, The Wipers. Among other things.



 

Yesterday's Ring

The divide between hardcore punk bands and acoustic cradling country crooners is growing narrower nowadays.  Avail's Tim Barry, Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan and even Social Distortion's Mike Ness have all added a little Highwaymen outlaw vibe to their solo records of late.

Yesterday's Ring, comprised of a handful of members from Montreal's hardcore heroes the Sainte Catherines, prove even Canadian's aren't immune to power of the twang and a good drinking song.

Yesterday's Ring, lead by singer Hugo Mudie have just released their third full length (and first for Suburban Home Records) "Diamonds in the Ditch".
Hugo was kind enough to answer some questions recently about the new record, the future of the Sainte Catherines and why punk rockers can't say no to country records.

Prior to this band, you were known more for a harder punk rock sound. What made you decide to play alternative country?
We still play in our punk band the Sainte Catherines. We started to enjoy listening to softer music while on the road with the Sainte Catherines. Our old drummer really liked country and he kind of turned us on to it. It was perfect for driving through the south of the states.
 
So you haven't always had country music influences?
No I think it started around the year 2000 while on tour with the Sainte Catherines. But growing up my mom was a big fan of Kenny Rogers and John Denver and my dad was a into Springsteen and Dylan...I guess I got it from them also.


Do you approach writing songs for Yesterday's Ring any differently than the way you write and record Sainte Catherines' records? 
Yes, definitely. The Sainte Catherines is more of a collaborative effort. Yesterday's Ring is a band, but it's written more in the songwriter tradition, where someone from the band comes up with a song and we work around it.

There are actually a lot of punk rockers who have started writing more country and folk-influenced records (Tim Barry, Chuck Reagan, Frank Turner, etc.). What is so appealing about this type of music that it attracts so many former punks?
It's simple and heartfelt like punk rock but it's not so fucking loud (ha).


Are the audiences any different or the same punks who came to see you with the Sainte Catherines?
There are more girls at Yesterday's Ring shows and more NOFX fans at Sainte Catherines shows.

Do you still plan on writing and recording more albums with the Sainte Catherines?
We just started writing a new record for the Sainte Catherines. We are really excited about it. I think it's gonna be a lot catchier and rock than previous records.

What music have you been listening to lately?
Colin Moore, John Prine, K'Naan, Steve Earle, Dirty Tricks, Koriass and Lake Of Stew.


 

There is something impressive about a band that's managed to stay together for two decades, without the help of radio airplay, a single MTV appearance or even a crummy 30-second ipod commercial.

New Jersey's Bouncing Souls, along with a handful of brethren on both coasts, helped punk rock bridge the lean times between the late 80's, through the pop-punk explosion of the mid-90's and up to the current state of the genre. The band has always been fiercely independent, holding true to the DIY ethics of the movement's founding fathers, but has still managed to record some of the catchiest punk rock songs since the Ramones. 

Front man Greg Attonito took some time recently to entertain a handful of questions about the band's legacy, the occasional thoughts of splitting up and what's next for the Bouncing Souls.

So 20 years. How have you guys been able to stay together for so long?

It's been hell, man. Those guys never shower! Just kidding. We love the music, we love performing, we love to get people stoked on music and life, and we love the adventure. Those things always outweighed whatever difficulties we have had to face.

During that time, did the band ever think about calling it quits?

I have thought about it. More seriously sometimes than others. I think I somehow realized that I will always be a Bouncing Soul whether I like it or not. Ha! So, it was a matter of making things work personally and with the whole situation at any given time in those 20 years. Constant adjustments need to be made and sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's not so easy.

Do you have plans to make the 20th anniversary series of singles you've been releasing all year available on one complete CD?

Yes. We are talking about how and when we will release it now. We will let the world know when we know. It will be coming out on Chunksaah (Records).  It's just a matter of when.

You're playing Warped again this summer - how many times does that make it for you?

This is always fun: part of ‘97, ‘98, all of ‘99, ‘01, ‘04, ‘06 and ‘08... whew! 

What's the best and worst thing about playing Warped?

The best thing is spending some quality time with a broad scope of people and musicians that are on the tour. We are an extended family on the Warped tour so it is kind of like going to a summer camp/family BBQ where everybody knows you and is looking forward to seeing you. The worst thing about is when you are on the entire tour. It's a long, long tour, but this year we are on it for 16 shows...ah perfect.

I'm assuming you get slipped CDs all the time by young bands. Do you listen to them? Have you ever discovered any great bands that way?

I listen to them sometimes. I have not been blown away by any that I can remember.  

Have your musical influences changed much in the past 20 years?

They have broadened. I'm open to more and more music all the time and the way I listen to music has changed. Shanti, my wife, bought a two dollar record set in a thrift store that is amazing. It is a four record set that was made for radio stations to play in 1977. It's the top 50 number one songs of 1977 complete with Casey Kasem's voice introducing the songs with little anecdotes etc. To me, it was incredible to listen to because it was like I was instantly transported to the shotgun seat of my Dad's Monte Carlo in 1977. But now all those songs sound totally different to me. I hear all the instruments, the performances, and the production quality of them. It's really cool...so yes musical influences are always changing and evolving with new music I hear and music from the past.

. 

An Interview With Punk Legends Cock Sparrer

Thirty-five years ago - long before you could buy an entire punk rock persona at your local mall - a few guys from London's working class East End were bashing together songs that would eventually help define punk music.

Though bands like the The Sex Pistols and The Clash got most of the ink, the guys in Cock Sparrer were just as vital to defining the sounds of London youth beginning in the mid-70's, and helped to found the grittier street punk and Oi! subgenres  of punk rock. It's fairly safe to say groups like Rancid and the Dropkick Murphys would likely never have existed without Cock Sparrer first putting together the blue print. 

The band has been on-again, off-again for the past three decades, but is thankfully back on-again... for now. San Francisco's Pirate Press recently made their latest record, the phenomenal "Here We Stand," available in the U.S. and Cock Sparrer is promising a handful of dates later this year in Chicago, San Francisco and Texas (not a typo, apparently the thirst for Oi! Music in the Lone Star state is unquenchable).

Band founder Colin McFaull and newcomer Daryl Smith (new by the band's standards. He actually started playing with Cock Sparrer in 1992), were patient enough to sit down to an e-mail interview this week.

***

What was the band doing in the 10 yrs. between the last two records?

Colin: Not a lot really. We played a few select gigs and started to write the songs for "Here We Stand". The thing about Sparrer is that we exist as mates outside of the band, so even when we're not playing we still get together for a few beers and a night out.

Daryl: I was playing quite a bit with other bands (Argy Bargy, The Crack, etc.) and was still very much part of the live punk scene in Europe. I noticed how things had started to change and gigs were becoming safer, more fun and a really healthy scene was growing. Being part of that meant that I could let the band know which promoters/venues, etc. were ok to do. We played about 10 times between 1997 and 2007 but each gig became an event and it was great that we could play without the fear of trouble, etc. Finally punks, skins, hardcore kids etc. could all come along and enjoy the music without any other agenda. It's this atmosphere and the fact that we're all mates that has made us continue. It's great that the scene realises that no-one else likes us and this is all we've got, so lets not fuck it up by smashing a venue up or something stupid like that. There's a lot more common sense now than there was 20 years ago. It really feels like a big family.

So there are legendary rumors about why you guys didn't sign with Sex Pistols puppet master Malcolm McLarem in the 70's (you wouldn't cut your hair; he wouldn't buy you a round; etc.). Why did you decided not to sign with him? Ever regret that decision?

Colin: It's one thing that we definitely don't regret. We certainly wouldn't be the same band today if we'd taken that particular path. We may not even be mates today or alive. Burge and one of our roadies went to see him in the shop that he and Vivian Westwood had on The Kings Road, Chelsea and persuaded him to travel across to East London to watch us rehearse above a small pub in East London. To our surprise he turned up the following week. It was pretty obvious from the outset that we wouldn't get on - bondage trousers meet Doctor Martens. He listened to a few songs, made a few suggestions (which went down well!!) and offered us a gig supporting The Pistols somewhere. We declined his kind offer and our paths never crossed again.

"Here We Stand" is a fantastic album. How was it to work on?

Colin: We enjoyed making the album. The whole process took about a year from the writing, to rehearsing and arranging the songs to finally recording them. Some of the songs changed quite a bit from their original shape but it was great to finally get in the studio and record them. We were lucky in being able to use Pat Collier to put the tracks down and his studio in Perry Vale was ideal for what we needed. Daryl had worked with him before and he had a pretty good idea of what we were trying to achieve. I think that this was the first time that we actually used the money that we had been given to record an album on the actual recording and not down the pub. We still had the odd disagreement but nothing ever came to blows. Having a great label like Captain Oi in the UK behind the album made us all work a little bit harder and having Pat behind the desk made it a pleasure.

Daryl: Personally, I couldn't wait to get involved with recording a new album. I've only been in the band 17 years, so didn't appear on the older albums! The thing that frustrates me is that although the songs are great, the production always sounds weak next to more modern CDs. So this was a chance to record something that we were not only proud of songwise, but would also SOUND great - without being ‘over produced'. Lars Frederiksen (from Rancid) had always said that if we ever recorded another album, he would love to produce it. He also encouraged us to get off our backsides and do a new album. Unfortunately, he was not around to come and produce it, so we did it ourselves. The way it worked out was great as we probably know ourselves better than anyone else. So Here We Stand is a true Sparrer album. However, we sent it over to the U.S. for Lars to mix. That was a great decision as we could get on with doing what we do best (write, record and produce the songs) and Lars could fill the gap that had always let us down and that was making it SOUND great. I recorded the songs as we went along at rehearsals and so we had a chance to live with them and improve them over the months. By the time we hit the studio, we knew the songs pretty well and knocked the album out in two weeks.

With" Here We Stand" finally being released in the U.S., is this a sign that the band is back for good? Will you be releasing more records?

Colin: The band has never been away. We've just chosen not to do stuff at certain times. We had the opportunity to record albums in the 10 years between "Two Monkeys" and "Here We Stand" but didn't feel as though the songs were strong enough. We'll certainly do another album if the materials there and someone's willing to fund it.

Daryl: If we record an album next year (2010), the band would have had albums out in five decades!! So that would be a cool achievement. But we wouldn't do it for the sake of it. As Col says, we had the opportunity to record in the past, but if we don't feel that the material is good enough we just wouldn't do it. Also, the music industry needs to change and find its feet again. Physical releases such as CDs and Vinyl just aren't selling like they used to and although everyone is downloading etc.; no one seems to be paying for it. Great if you're a consumer but how are the labels going to afford to put bands in a studio in the future if they're not selling anything? It could work out well and put the focus back onto live music and the D.I.Y aspect but at the moment it's hard to fund the record that a band would WANT to make against a record a label can AFFORD to make. Gonna be interesting how it all works out in the end...

Do you plan to tour the U.S. when the record comes out?

Colin: We're coming over three times in 2009. Texas in May, Chicago in October and San Francisco in November. Because of everyone's work commitments, (we all still have real jobs) undertaking a three month promotional tour is really a non-starter but we'll come back whenever we can.

Daryl: Speak for yourself! I don't have a real job! I play in punk bands, put out punk records and do graphic design for punk labels. That's not a job - that's fun! We'll be back in the US whenever we can although it's the logistics that make it difficult.

Obviously there's an entire generation of Oi! bands that are influences by you. What were your influences when you were first starting the group?

Colin: I was 16 when I first joined up with the rest of the boys and like all young school bands you're influenced by what's in the charts at the time, what records your brothers have bought that week and the stuff you read in the music papers. Both of my brothers were "old school" Mods and therefore our house was always full of Tamla and Stax records, as well as the British stuff like The Small Faces and The Who. When Cock Sparrer started we didn't write our own stuff straight away and covered songs by the likes of Slade, The Small Faces and Alice Cooper.

Daryl: Obviously they're all a bit older than me (which makes conversations difficult - my mates are still talking football, drinking and fighting, the band are talking about golf and their pensions!) So my influences were early punk (Pistols / Clash, etc.) the Oi! scene (Business / 4 Skins etc) but I grew up with 2-Tone so bands like The Specials and Madness were a big influence. Outside of the scene I listened to Rose Tattoo and Heavy Metal Kids a lot. But ironically, a lot of my influences on song writing came from Cock Sparrer when I was younger. Never thought I'd end up in the band and looking after the old boys! I'm fortunate to have met and count as friends most of the Oi bands that were influences to me when I was younger.

What are your thoughts of the current punk scene versus what it was like the late 70's and early 80's?

Colin: I think the scene today is very healthy even though it could be considered underground. It gets very little media coverage except for from dedicated magazines and it does seem that while of all the current popular genres, Metal, Rap, Indie, etc. gets loads of press, unless you're Green Day, "Punk" gets little or no attention. But while that can be frustrating it's also great to be part of something that so few people actually "get". One of the things that caused Punk to implode in the 80's and fortunately aided the advent of Oi! was the perceived need to spend thousands of pounds on "Punk" clothes to look the part. Today it's more a case of DIY and who gives a shit what others think about the way you look. Much more how it was intended to be in 1977.

Daryl: There's probably more need for the attitude of the original Punk movement now than at any other time. Economically, politically, socially and musically. Plus we're in a stronger position now because the trendy fashion element that was ripe in 1977 is not so prominent. We've also got the Internet, access to music sharing, etc. that makes the scene more DIY than it ever has been. Unfortunately, kids seem to be more interested in playing computer games than starting a revolution! There's always been a youth movement, Teddy Boys, Mods, Rockers, Hippies, Glam Rockers, Punks, Skinheads etc but since the dance/rave/hip hop scenes there doesn't appear to have been any identifiable youth culture that has any chance of making a difference. It's all so watered down. So whilst I think that we COULD have a better scene than the ‘70's, I don't think we will because there's too much apathy. That said, we don't need mass media coverage and I'm happy playing to the fans we've got and enjoying our own little scene.

Any new Oi! bands that have impressed you lately?

Colin: There are loads of good young bands coming through at the moment. One of my favourites is a band from Blackburn in England called Middle Finger Salute. They're all about 18 and write good songs. They've been on our bill a few times and thanks to the good boys from Rancid are doing the East Coast leg of this year's Warped Tour.

Daryl: There are a few young punk bands that I like, Middle Finger Salute, The Exposed, Vas Deferans. There's not too many new Oi! bands around at the moment. There are a few that I rate that weren't part of the original scene like Discipline, The Agitators, Stomper 98, etc.

Anything else you want to add?

Colin: Just wanna say a big thanks to Skippy and his fellow Pirates for giving us the chance to get "Here We Stand" out in the US. We hope you like it and maybe we'll see you soon.

Daryl: Thanks to all the promoters and labels such as Captain Oi, TKO, Pirates Press, etc. that continue to support us. It's a team effort and that includes the fans. If we all work together and behave ourselves we can continue to get to see the music we love being played in a bar/club in a town somewhere near you soon. - Cheers

[Photo Credit: Samantha Bruce]

I have two big music regrets in my life.

The first: in 1994, I blew off a buddy who wanted to go check out this new punk band from California playing a tiny show in Pittsburgh. Despite the fact that it was a couple of guys from Operation Ivy and he ended up drinking with them all night, I turned down the chance to see an early version of Rancid to cover a show for my college paper. The band I opted for? Hootie and the f-ing Blowfish. Awesome!

The second: I had a crush on a girl that lasted all of about three weeks and opted to go see The B-52s ("Love Shack" era) and Ziggy Marley with her and some friends, rather than watch The Replacements and Tom Petty play. The Replacements turned out a couple more albums than decided to call it a day, ensuring I would likely never see them perform live. The B-52's however, play just about every outdoor festival imaginable. I wouldn't be surprised if they were playing at the park down the street when I take my daughter over there later tonight.

Which brings me to reunions. It's the summer music festival season. The time when concert promoters throw truck loads of money at fractured bands in the hopes they can get them to put aside years of bitter feelings and online feuds long enough to run through a few classics on stage, before heading over to the bank.

Despite constant rumors that The Smiths would be getting back together for a set at Coachella this year, they didn't.  Apparently Morrissey remembered that he once said something about rather eating his own testicles than reforming the group. Those who have reunited recently - though no word on whether eating testicles was part of the deal - inc

lude Faith No More, The Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus Lizard and Blur.

Christ, even bands like Creed, No Doubt and Blink-182-who have each been broken up, what a few years? - are getting back together. At least give us a chance to decide whether or not we want to miss you before you come barging back into our lives.

Even the New York Dolls managed to bury the hatchet in 2004, after a 27-year break, and ha ve kept it together beyond traditional reunion tour cash grab and have turned out a couple of new albums, including the just released  "'Cause I Sez So." That still leaves a slew of punk bands who have yet to reform.

* Top of the list is The Replacements. Guitarist Bob Stinson died in 1995 and longtime/original drummer Chris Mars left before the band officially called it quits and has sworn on several occasions that he would not be part of a reunion. Paul Westerberg and bassists Tommy Stinson however have each hinted at the idea of at least one more show.

* The Clash. Sadly not an option since Joe Strummer died in 2002 of a congenital heart defect. If surviving members Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon did ever decide to resurrect the band with some half-assed Joe Strummer sound-alike (kinda like the 20^th Century Doors) expect rioting in the streets that would make the '99 WTO protests seem like a middle school dance in comparison.

* Black Flag. A reunion of Black Flag is actually not that unrealistic. The band got together for a few benefit shows in 2003 and Henry Rollins has been in some unbelievably crappy movies since leaving the band, proving he'd be up for anything (Anyone see "Jack Frost" or "Wrong Turn 2: Dead End"?) But does anyone really want to see a bunch of 50-somethings playing classic Black Flag songs? Yeah, I probably do too.

* Operation Ivy. With only one full length to their name, Op Ivy managed to influence a whole generation of punks. Though Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman went on to form Rancid, the fact that both have managed to find time for solo records and side projects, and the lack of any real acrimony between band members makes an Operation Ivy reunion a possibility. Though front man Jesse Michaels dismissed reunion rumors two years ago, citing logistics and a vague reference to lawyers.

* The Sex Pistols. Reunion? They won't go away! The band had one proper album (fantastic as it was,) and imploded. But Johnny Rotten - when not appearing on celebrity realty shows or in butter commercials - still manages to round up the lot for the occasional bank heist... I mean reunion tours (1996, 2002-2003, 2007 and any day now).

Music worth listening to this week:

Electric Owls - Ain't Too Bright

Chris Wollard and the Ship Thieves - self titled

Ten-year Old Kids with Mohawks

You know what's cool about a 10-year-old kid sporting a Mohawk?

Not a damn thing.

At the risk of coming off like a 30-something Andy Rooney, I'm going to start off this blog with a rant and a final plea to save punk rock. The argument I'm putting forward is certainly not new, but worth being made at least one last time.

I was at an outdoor festival in Atlanta this weekend and lost count of how many pre-teens I saw walking around with Mohawks and Ramones shirts. When did punk become just another accessory for the Sponge Bob set? Mohawks and anarchy symbols used to scare the crap out of parents, now they're just another cute look for little Dylan and Kara, by couples desperate to be thought of as the cool parents (and don't think I haven't been there. I have two little girls and my wife was the only voice of reason that kept me from buying Sex Pistols onsies off of Ebay). And putting a Clash sticker on the back of your minivan doesn't make it any more cool to be seen in (again, I speak from experience).

 Trust me; it's safe for old punks to age gracefully. Not all of us can tour the world in shitty vans and make great music. Leave that to your heroes. Keep rocking the boat in your chinos and changing the system from the inside, but don't try and turn your kids into a punk rock mannequin to prove how cool you still are. 

Which brings me to my second rant... as a freelancer punk writer, I am about to throw my hands up in defeat. Born in the early 70's and coming of age in quite possibly the worst time in the history for music (hair metal anyone?), I withstood the auditory assault of bands like Danger Danger and Pretty Boy Floyd for years before finding salvation in the music of Bad Religion, The Buzzcocks and The Clash. For the past two decades or so I've kept up with the evolving music scene, watching punk move from basement shows and VFW halls to arenas (not necessarily a bad thing). What once was a mail order business is now neatly packaged and priced inside your local Hot Topics (again, not the end of the world. Punk rockers deserve to make money too). You used to discover new punk bands thanks to poorly dubbed tapes passed on from a friend; Now you can hear "punk rock" on The Hills (ok, nothing good can come of that).  The most jarring change, however, is what is currently being peddled as punk rock. I am certainly open to all genres of music (I, for one, am lobbying for Willie Nelson be added to Mount Rushmore), but I have a problem with the bait and switch tactics being perpetrated by publicists and record labels lately.

If you make pop music, be proud of it and call yourself a pop band. Punk rock was a reaction to crappy, bloated corporate rock of the 70's (Styx, Journey, etc.). It railed against oppressive authority figures, racism, sexism and homophobia. It was not 12 mediocre songs about high school crushes on your self-titled debut, with liberal use of Auto-tune , currently being peddled under the guise of "pop-punk". It was about rebelling against the status quo, wearing homemade clothes with hand-painted messages of defiance, not wearing those tacky neon-logoed t-shirts and hoodies you picked up at the mall and pair with matching Ray Bans.

That's not to say there is not legitimate punk rock being made right now. Anti-Flag is still fighting the good fight (with a new record out soon) and the Teenage Bottlerockets might actually be The Ramones reincarnated.

Here's the deal, if you play punk music, play it loud and play it proud. If you play pop music, call it what it is, make a ton of money and be happy.

I've admittedly strayed a bit from my general thesis, but here's a recap: Aging hipsters, you're getting older, so deal with it. Don't try and turn your kid into Lil' Johnny Rotten just because you're getting fatter and losing your hair. Blare NOFX as loud as you want in the minivan, just keep the windows rolled up at the stop lights. And kids, don't try and pass yourself off as the next Joe Strummer when your punk rock influences go back no further than Blink 182's third CD.  You're in a pop band, no matter what the guy in the fancy suit tries to tell you. Rock on pop star!   

Music worth listening to this week:

Left Alone‘s self-titled record (http://www.myspace.com/leftalonepunx) and Ninja Gun's "Restless Rubes" (http://www.myspace.com/ninjagun).