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.

Guest post this week from Michael "Mick" Flores of my new fave band, Gidgets Ga Ga, self-described as a "Midwestern powerpop trio with grit, wit, spirit and musicality. Imagine The Replacements getting jumped by The Beatles and The Monkees then molested by The Who & Nirvana." I couldn't have said it better. Take it away Mick...



Dear 7-year-old Me,

I'm writing this letter to you because you are 7 years old and you don't know what life has in store for you. So I am going to fill you in on some things.

I'm still knocked out by the musical tsunami I heard in the basement. You know exactly what I am talking about. When you heard that song for the first time. It still happens to you when you hear it.

Music was and still is the answer. Music is your call. You will never have a doubt that music is calling your name. You were scratching before it was cool and an art form. (Note to self: scratching a record with a needle makes it skip!)

Remember when Mom gave you your first guitar? It was really a gift to Mom from Dad for Valentine's Day. Mom wanted to learn how to play but it was too hard on her fingers so she did what any good mom would do. She gave it to you. Remember her handing it over and looking you in the eye when you told her you wanted to be a musician? And her words of wisdom as she handed it to you were: "That's great son, just remember musicians suffer and a musician's life is a hard life. Great musicians have to suffer and you have to suffer to make great music. You my son, have not suffered enough." So you said what any smart-ass kid would say and told her, "Let the suffering begin!" Needless to say, that guitar wasn't any kinder to you than it was to Mom. It was a lot harder on your fingers as they blistered, peeled and bled out.

I still admire the fact that Mom has a deep understanding of the heart and soul of artists and musicians. Although she was not a musician herself, she sure knew how to enlighten you as an aspiring one. She still does to this day [...]

A Triple-A radio programming veteran, Kate has served as Music Director of the Loft at XM, Midday Host at WYEP, Evening Host at both WNCS and WUIN, as well as Content Supervisor for Pump Audio. Currently, she's the CEO of Outlandos Music, a new-music discovery service for grown-ups. Kate has been nationally recognized for her ardent presentation of music and her ability to champion talented, compelling artists.

Out ‘n' about in the City of Angels - and Memphis - with Blurt's roving shutterbug (11/16 - 11/30).

By Scott Dudelson

(above) GWAR & Dead Fetus - Live @ House of Blues (www.houseofblues.com) - 11/16

GWAR Loves Crack - Live @ House of Blues (www.houseofblues.com) - 11/16

A Fine Frenzy (Alison Sudol) - Live @ El Rey Theatre (www.theelrey.com) - 11/17

Among the Oak & Ash (Josh Joplin & Garrison Starr) - Live @ El Rey Theatre (www.theelrey.com) - 11/17

Royal Crown Revue - Live @ The Mint (www.themintla.com) - 11/18

Snoop Dogg - Live @ Club Nokia (www.clubnokia.com) - 11/19

DJ Quik - Live @ Club Nokia (www.clubnokia.com) - 11/19

KISS - Live @ The Honda Center (www.hondacenter.com) - 11/24

Gene Simmons with KISS - Live @ The Honda Center (www.hondacenter.com) - 11/24

The Black Crowes (Chris Robinson) - Live @ Club Nokia  (www.clubnokia.com) - 11/28

New Found Glory (acoustic) - Live @ Troubadour (www.troubadour.com) - 11/30

Dashboard Confessional (Chris Carrabba) - Live @ Troubadour (www.troubadour.com) - 11/30

***

Scott Dudelson is a music journalist and concert photographer based in Los Angeles.  Scott is also the Chief Operating Officer of Prodege, LLC, the company behind www.swagbucks.com.

Lately, I grumble a little less every time a school loan payment is due --- even though, nearly 15 years later, I'm still paying the bugger off.

Who knew that a degree in Fiction Writing would be so handy? Not just English but English with a relatable plot, a storyline rooted by emotion/connection?

Now that everything's online, compelling equals currency. Suddenly, we’re all micro-broadcasters. And writing counts. E-mail, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, newsletters... the clever manipulation of the written word, when used to communicate both information and persona --- i.e., meaning --- has become increasingly valuable. Not only do you have to make great music, you have to learn to write about it.

Four overarching writing components to keep top of mind:

1. Present valuable information/idea [...]

A Triple-A radio programming veteran, Kate has served as Music Director of the Loft at XM, Midday Host at WYEP, Evening Host at both WNCS and WUIN, as well as Content Supervisor for Pump Audio. Currently, she's the CEO of Outlandos Music, a new-music discovery service for grown-ups. Kate has been nationally recognized for her ardent presentation of music and her ability to champion talented, compelling artists.

You know the drill. In Short this week at Outlandos focusing on, surprise surprise, thanks.

For most of us, it's easy to remember the big things: life, health, happiness, friends and family, the end of Oprah, leftover turkey sandwiches. But then there's the day-to-day and the people who help us retain basic sanity.

So I'm going to get all touchy-feely on you. Take a moment to thank the people who work with/for you. From your postman to your VP. Without them, you'd likely be screwed.

1. Interns I don't know what I'd do without them. These guys do all kinds of banal stuff for me and in exchange, I pledge to give them as many free concert tickets as I can and someday plan to write them a recommendation that hopefully lands them their dream job. Mostly, I tell them how friggin spectacular they are ad nauseam. John, Jay, Elijah: I can't thank you enough. I'm incredibly fortunate to have you on the team and am grateful every single day for the outstanding work you do. Without you, I would most certainly lose my mind (even more). I owe you like, forever.

2. Partners People helping people. Oh boy, I told you, it's like I'm my own Oprah. But seriously, we're all stronger together. So it only makes sense to partner up with people who get it. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. It's all in good faith and Outlandos has some amazing partners. In part because we're such glass-half-full, anything's-possible, nothing-to-lose folks [...]

A Triple-A radio programming veteran, Kate has served as Music Director of the Loft at XM, Midday Host at WYEP, Evening Host at both WNCS and WUIN, as well as Content Supervisor for Pump Audio. Currently, she's the CEO of Outlandos Music, a new-music discovery service for grown-ups. Kate has been nationally recognized for her ardent presentation of music and her ability to champion talented, compelling artists.

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!

Carrie Prejean is just what the Republican party needs and I love her for it. Mind you, this isn't puppy love. This is an unabashed, honest-to-God, slap-me-I'm-seeing-fireworks-kind of love. Where do I begin? That flowing mane, those vixenish blue eyes, fluid hips (more on those in a second) and that fearless intellect of hers. After all, it's about time we had somebody speak their mind under the Miss America stagelights--no more of the usual "I-just-want-world-peace-and-to-teach-the-illiterate children-of-the-world-how-to-read-the-bible" pap from Prejean. She spoke from her heart (or at least something resembling a heart--at press time, we're not able to confirm its existence). And although she's now a disgraced former beauty queen, her popularity (and my love of all things Prejean) continue to grow exponentially. 

The news last week of the leaking of several sex tapes have led to further controversy. Said tapes reportedly have Prejean in sizzling solo bedroom performances--with Lee Greenwood's searing "Proud to Be An American" as musical accompaniment--each of which end in crescendos that would move any real American who chooses to watch. These private recorded moments portray a woman's love for her man (whom they were clearly intended) and the freedom she has to record them in The Only Country That Matters. Unlike those Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian sex tapes, where the sex is hedonistic, dispassionate and clearly immoral, Prejean's celluloid debut should reaffirm her allegiance to God, Country, and No Gay Marriage. 

Clearly, the Republican Party needs their own Paris Hilton (who, when contacted for this story, wasn't familiar with the term "Republican", but did perk up at hearing the word "Party"). Having their own sex tape celebrity could potentially elevate their image with the college-age fence-sitters afraid of the parties extreme right wing. Look, if the Elephants in the room were to ask me, I'd say allow heavyweight porn distributor Vivid to release the tapes and let the world see what a red-blooded American girl is capable of when she puts her, um, mind to it. Why not drape Carrie in an American flag on the DVD cover, and pass them out free at every Tea Party event from Bakersfield to Birmingham? 

With each passing day, my hope for Prejean's popularity and further ascent into the ranks of fellow A-list conservative celebrities like Spencer Pratt, Heidi Montag, Meghan McCain, Jessica Simpson and Wilford Brimley stays strong. After all, a woman is only as good as the company she keeps, right? Carrie, I love you--and all of the embarrassment you bring to the party that wanted nothing more than to make you one of their own. And I love you most of all for offering them more of what they know best--shame.

Out ‘n' about in the City of Angels - and Memphis - with Blurt's roving shutterbug (11/2 - 11/15).

By Scott Dudelson

(above) Neko Case - Live @ Minglewood Hall (in Memphis, TN: www.minglewoodhall.com) - 11/04

Ian McLagan (of Small Faces / Faces) - Live @ Hi-Tone Cafe (in Memphis, TN: www.hitonememphis.com) - 11/05

Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull) - Live @ The Wiltern (www.myspace.com/thewiltern) - 11/06

Widespread Panic - Live @ The Orpheum (www.laorpheum.com) - 11/07

Dave Schools (of Widespread Panic) - Live @ The Orpheum (www.laorpheum.com) - 11/07

Eleni Mandell & Inara George (of Bird & The Bee) - Live @ The Bootleg Theater (www.bootlegtheater.com) - 11/10

Fu Manchu - Live @ The Troubadour (www.troubadour.com) - 11/11

Huey Lewis & The News - Live @ Club Nokia (www.clubnokia.com) - 11/12

Chris Barron (of The Spin Doctors) - Live @ The Mint (www.themintla.com) - 11/12

The Raveonettes - Live @ Henry Fonda Music Box (www.henryfondatheater.com) - 11/13

***

Scott Dudelson is a music journalist and concert photographer based in Los Angeles.  Scott is also the Chief Operating Officer of Prodege, LLC, the company behind www.swagbucks.com.

Been digging through the holiday stacks here at Outlandos HQ, getting ready to program THE DAILY DOSE for December. I tell you, it nearly killed me trying to figure out what to play next to the McKenzie Brothers doing the 12 Days of Christmas. But it's my favorite holiday song so I have to have it play it for you guys. Be sure to check in each day to see what we've got cookin’ for the holidays along with our hand-picked wine and cheese recommendations to go with each song. Yes, we are bonkers.

That said, if you haven't already, join THE DAILY DOSE on Facebook and become our friend (it still always feels sooooo high-school asking that). We'll look forward to checking out pictures of you when you were 12... or whatever it is you've got posted there.

Now for what's been playing at Outlandos HQ so far this month:

1. WDST's Unleashed



One of the best new music shows out there. Mostly new but they pipe in some older gems as well. Sound familiar? Ida and Dave have killer taste [...]

A Triple-A radio programming veteran, Kate has served as Music Director of the Loft at XM, Midday Host at WYEP, Evening Host at both WNCS and WUIN, as well as Content Supervisor for Pump Audio. Currently, she's the CEO of Outlandos Music, a new-music discovery service for grown-ups. Kate has been nationally recognized for her ardent presentation of music and her ability to champion talented, compelling artists.

A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he'll never crow. I have seen the light and I'm crowing." -Muhammad Ali.

I have spent the better part of my youth trekking around this great big country of ours hauling around songs and wearing out the soles of my shoes, and I believe I have seen the light, many times over. I've seen it in the eyes of young kids screaming back at me they're belief in a song, I've seen it in the middle of Texas broken down and lost, and I've seen it in my own sleep deprived eyes, to name just a few. Its been the darkness, though, as of late that has got me crowing. The darkness of my country lost and my place in it.

I have written song after song about this and that; fuck the war, fight the power, kill your scene, and all that and such. Most of it has been a reaction to what I felt powerless over or just tried to understand. Now in a time of rebuilding and introspection we seem more lost than ever, though. Yes, I've seen more depression in cities, boarded up metropolis and jobless eyes than ever before, but most of all I've seen this complete void of any kind of cohesive unity. Now maybe I sound a bit naive and it never existed in the first place but only in idealized speech and song.

Today more than ever, I feel a country without any kind of identity. I mean we are all from the same place just different worlds, right? Economics are the religion of the day, the bankers are the clerics and god is a fleeting, vague image of comfort and a new car. I was born of a generation that grew up punk as fuck. We were the evil empire, we lost Vietnam and then started a bullshit war in the Middle East and murdered for capitalism and this "ism" and that "ism," and blah fucking blah fucking blah. Where is the love I ask myself ? What do I latch on to as 'culture'?

Skateboarding and the underground music I loved was the culture of my youth. To you it may have been school, or fashion, or art, but what has grown from that? How has that culture rich in creativity, innovation, and spirit failed us so? I mean, who the fuck are we? Are we merely surviving our parents mistakes only to repeat them? I sing in a Punk Rock band and don't think for a second. I don't look at bridge or beautiful piece of architecture or artificial heart and go "damn, am I doing enough?". What am I doing to further not just my country, but my generation?

All these things I write will just help me better understand my feelings and probably just tangle my head even further. I do love being alive and I love this country. We created Blues, Jazz, Country music and Rock and fucking Roll for god sakes! I want to be this country, I don't want to kill for it or die for it. I want to create it from the ground up again and stand beside and be proud of it... Anyone else in?
      

Your friend,

 Jason Cruz