Gainesville, Florida’s Towers of Hanoi recently unleashed their third release upon us and Paranoia for the New Year is a shining example of what post-hardcore can be even while being brought down to earth by simple hard rock influences. It’s the kind of album that makes you wonder, “Whoa, how did they do that?” In an effort to find out,… Read more »
Label: Kinger Recordings Released: September 11, 2007 Considering the album cover, a not-so-clever Pink Floyd parody, I had relatively low expectations for Cheater Pint. It didn’t take long for the music to change that though. Cheater Pint play raw tunes that at times conjure up images of X, the Replacements, the Ramones, Cheap Trick and late-Angry Samoans even. The common… Read more »
Label: Bad Reputation Released: November 2007 in Europe (June 13, 2006 in North America) The Flairs play a brand of hard rock that falls somewhere between glam and punk. Shut Up and Drive is a peppy album of chunky rhythms and snotty vocals that seldom lets up. Aside from a 3/4 female line-up, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. The… Read more »
Label: Nuclear Blast Released: November 6, 2007 One of the earliest NYHC bands, Agnostic Front was also one of the first to cross over into metal back in the mid 80s. The 90s found them getting away from the heavy riffs and more into the singalong Oi! that influenced hardcore in the first place. Their latest release finds them returning… Read more »
Label: Red Leader Records Released: October (?), 2007 One of the best recent trends in punk rock is the burgeoning punk/folk (or punk/roots or punk/country) movement. While this may seem to have its roots in bands like Uncle Tupelo and the Violent Femmes, that’s only partially true. Bands like This Bike is a Pipe Bomb and the amazing though little… Read more »
Everyone has their own idea of what makes a good Halloween compilation. For me, it’s pretty simple: the Misfits. Not Samhain or Danzig, just the Misfits. Their corny darkness and B horror movie simplicity manage to encapsulate the holiday’s mix of fun and fright perfectly. Unlike Danzig’s approach to his subsequent projects, the Misfits never take anything too seriously and… Read more »
Paul “Foxy” Fox of Ruts fame died yesterday of cancer. It’s a sad day for punk rock. There’s some more info on his Myspace page.
From Side One Dummy Records: Los Angeles, October 19, 2007. The second annual ROCK TO ROLL charity event spearheaded by SideOneDummy Co-Founder Joe Sib is happening this year at the Avalon Theater in Hollywood, CA on December 11th. The event will directly benefit the non-profit organization WHEELS FOR HUMANITY. Headlining the event this year is FLOGGING MOLLY just back from… Read more »
Label: Rhino Released: October 2, 2007 I have but one complaint about this DVD although I have no reasonable solution to remedy it: I wish the DVD was made up of complete concerts rather than songs culled from various shows over the years. Of course the sacrifice would be the variety of shows that a career overview should cover, so… Read more »
Niki Thunders and the Temperamentals is the side project of Skitzo Calypso singer/guitarist Brad Cox. It’s a bit of an alter-ego, drawing more influence from punk, 80s pop and glam than the melodic hard rock of his main project. Niki Thunders offers three moody songs on Myspace that are somewhat varied musically, yet very cohesive. “To Die Like Morrison” begins… Read more »