from TF myspace
Interview has been posted on Punkews.org. Check it here!
Punknews.org finally got my interview with Ki Seok So of the Geeks up on the site. Check it out here
The Last Thing Your Forget - 7 in
Title Fight’s The Last Thing You Forget is on constant rotation in my room this week after a killer show with Trapped Under Ice at St. Stephen’s Church in DC. Stage dives and two steps were prominent, and onlookers were overwhelmed. With two EPs under their belt, Last Thing displays some evolution in Title Fight’s sound. Like the previous EPs – Kings of Kingston and a split with Erection Kids – the sound pulls from melodic hardcore and pop punk ala old Saves the Day, but there’s apparent maturity here. That maturity takes the form of aggression and depth amongst a catchy smoothed over but surly sound.
Shedding some of their poppy skin, Title Fight reveals some aggression here – replacing the majority of singing with gruff screams, slowing down the tempo to emphasize cut-throat lyrics and talented melodic guitar riffs, and improving vocal melodies that appear following gruff screams, giving the sound a lot more depth.
Lyrics seem to have improved also and unfortunately they seem heartbreak-induced. While past releases showed hope and positivity in the lyrics, Last Thing is oozing with bitterness – obviously a companion for creative and relatable lyrics. “No One Stays at the Top Forever” offers some of the best, “I’m knee deep in loosing sleep. You can’t find yourself when you’ve lost everything,” both Jamie Rhoden and Ned Russin collaborate in sing-scream form. Although all a bit whiney, Last Thing’s brilliant aggressive lyrics are extremely catchy.
Through the aggression and combined catchiness, Last Thing demands attention.
My Cobra Skulls interview!
How has the feedback been for American Rubicon?
Mixed. No… good. Well, pretty bad. It seems like the whole “It’s not as good as their last album” line is being used a lot, which is definitely disappointing to me because I think American Rubicon is better in every way compared to Sitting Army. I hope it’s just because it’s new and not what people expected. Hopefully AR helps to define our own sound, though I’m not really even sure what our sound is or what it will be in the future.
In a brilliant and hilarious band bio, Brendan Kelly (of the Lawrence Arms) attempts to explain what American Rubicon really means, but he can’t. Could you help us out in understanding the title of the record and whether or not there is a theme to go along with it?
At first I wanted to do a “concept album”, as cheesy as that is, with regards to how our economy, military, and environment are all related. I believe that we can’t make decisions regarding one of those three issues and delude ourselves into thinking that it will not have a direct effect on the other two. Though there are songs with other themes, I feel that the majority of the songs are related to the general “concept” that I mentioned. I thought of the title “American Rubicon” as a way to define our illegal invasion of Iraq and specifically Baghdad. During Pompei’s time in Rome the Rubicon River was used as a boundary over which Julius Caesar could not cross with his army or it would be an act of civil war. He ended up doing just that and “crossing the Rubicon” has been used as a term to describe a “point of no return”. By illegally invading Iraq we committed ourselves to continuing to build more machines that run on oil, perpetuating a war-time economy, and we may never truly leave Iraq in my lifetime, even with our combat troops withdrawn. We are definitely not going to build 14 military bases there and then just leave it all behind once they’re completed. I could go on, but what really pisses me off is that I found out right after we decided on the title that The Sounds’ new album is called Crossing the Rubicon. Come on! Those Swedes are always one step ahead!
How’d you convince Brendan Kelly to do your band bio, anyway?
Really? I think a better question is “How could I have convinced Brendan Kelly not to do our band bio?” I mean, he writes some pretty funny stuff, but most of it didn’t even have anything to do with us or our music. I’ve loved and admired The Lawrence Arms for years and never thought that Brendan would ever be a fan of any band I was in, so that’s really amazing to me, but I’m not sure if his bio makes any sense. (if you’re reading this, Brendan, I love you and please don’t kick us off tour, like you kicked TLA off Warped Tour)
How do you feel about the evolution of Cobra Skulls’ sound throughout the past three full lengths and two 7”s?
It’s actually kind of interesting for me to look back on the past four years. We unintentionally started out sounding like a crappy crust/oi punk band. We just couldn’t play very fast as a group. Chad was a bass player, not a drummer, before we got together. We kinda sounded like a shitty, slow Blitz or something. Our old guitar player and friend Chuck was into metal, but we also shared a soft spot for old country and I remember talking to him about how our sound should be a cross between Hank Williams and Slayer, but I don’t think we ever accomplished anything like that. We’ve grown as people, musicians, and as a songwriter I think we have started to found our niche as a punk rock/rock and roll band that every now and then diverges into something random. We aren’t really doing anything new, but hopefully it’s not boring.
It’s challenging to lump Cobra Skulls into one musical genre because you pull from various influences – rockabilly, folk, rock, pop punk. Is this something Cobra Skulls strives for? What are the advantages and disadvantages to this avoidance of labels?
I think that the advantage is that we have a diverse fan base. I see the people at shows we headline and I cannot say there is one group of people. It’s entertaining to see crusties, pop-punkers, skins, greasers, and even the occasional bro all in the same room, though maybe that’s not a good thing. It’s nice to see people from different schools of thought or scenes come together, but I also think that it can be a bad thing that we are hard to categorizes because some people may like one or two songs that are harder and faster, or more punk, but not like our slower or more rockabilly songs and vice versa.
You guys have an incredible tour schedule of the states and Europe – from now straight through November. What’s the motivation behind this intense plan? How do you plan on relaxing, staying sane, and maintaining friendships during that time?
The motivation is that we are basically homeless and want to be proactive. The band is the only thing we have going on with our lives, really. We moved out of our home last July where we were paying rent in San Francisco and toured until mid December. Then we worked odd jobs and stayed with our parents for a few months, toured and recorded for a month, worked another two months of manual labor or whatever we could find and now we are on tour again. We have had two days off over the past few months and that’s because our show in Longview, WA was cancelled last night because the venue had some issues and a month ago I was losing my voice in Mississippi and had to cancel a house show, which was a bummer. There’s nothing worse than having to cancel a show. Other than that we have five days off before we fly to Europe and six days off when we get back before we meet up with Teenage Bottlerocket for a six-week tour. I don’t believe in doing anything half-assed, and we all agree that if we are spending our time, money, and energy on this band together we might as well play as many shows as we can and tour as much as possible. We love to travel and play music so being in a traveling band is like killing two birds with one stone. It can be hard to be practically joined at the hip with two other people 24/7 for 5 months, even if the people are your best friends, so we try and give each other space when we feel like one of us is going a little crazy from such a strange lifestyle.
On a scale from 1 – 10, how stoked are you on touring Europe in September?
Can we make this go to 11?! It’s our second time touring Europe with Gunner Records. We had a great time last October and can’t wait to play some new countries we didn’t hit last time like England, Italy, and Czech Republic. It will also be interesting to see if word has spread since we were there or if anybody comes back to see us in the towns we are hitting again. Touring Europe was like touring the states for the first time and there was never a boring night. One night in Austria we played with an old anarchist a capella choir in a cave where Jews were hidden from the Nazis during WWII. It was a total surprise and were a little afraid the walls would cave-in, but we were stoked to see and be a part of history like that.
Are you headlining that tour?
We’re headlining most of it, but we are also playing a couple festivals like WT Fest in Southampton in the UK and hope to see some familiar faces.
You’ve stuck with Red Scare for the past three full lengths. What has the label done to impress you and keep you coming back for more?
Red Scare has been really good to us and I consider Toby to be our good friend. For practically our entire span as a band we have done without a booking agent, but Red Scare has hooked us up with some great package tours. I would like to see them embrace the vinyl format a little more. We’ve been asked to sign with other labels, but we’ve never had any reason to leave Red Scare and they’re really supportive of whatever we want to do as a band.
You recently covered Bob Dylan on the split with Andrew Jackson Jihad. What kind of influence has Bob Dylan had on Cobra Skulls?
Suburban Home asked us to do a cover for that split series while we were on tour and we basically learned that song on our last day off and recorded it the day after tour. We have never had a cover song on constant rotation in our sets so we didn’t really know what to do, but we knew we didn’t want to cover a punk song. We just kind of decided on that Bob Dylan song because the rockabilly bass line, the blues-ish guitar rhythm and the vocals mesh in a way that seemed to be good for a three piece (even though there is a little guitar soloing as well).
Your lyrics often touch on political issues. If any, what effects will the new administration have on that aspect of Cobra Skulls lyrics?
Well if you asked me this question before W. was elected I would have not been able to predict all the mistakes he was going to make. I am less interested with Presidents and more interested in people and how the public deal with political and social issues. I think that the fact that Obama was chosen over McCain is a sign that people are more aware of the facts regarding the issues than they were in 2000 and 2004. If people were really interested in what’s going on I think the two front runners in ’08 would have been Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul, but that would have been too entertaining to be true. Hopefully people will pay attention for a while longer and not expect Obama will be able to fix everything.
You just released a new album and you have a long leg of touring ahead, outside of all that or maybe to coincide with those, what are your current goals for yourself and Cobra Skulls?
I hope to stay healthy and have fun. If those two things don’t happen, then touring and Cobra Skulls is pointless. We’re not curing cancer and we’re not making enough money to pay 12 months rent a year, so if we aren’t having a good time and sharing good experiences with other people, then I think we should do something else. Luckily we are all well and enjoying tour. After tour I plan on working at my family’s citrus farm and nursery and writing more music until we tour again. We were asked to tour Australia in the spring, but we’ll have to save up for that if we’re going to do it.
What new (or old) music have you personally been into as of late? What bands would you recommend to the .orgcore punks here?
Oh, shit! This is the .org interview? Brutal. Obviously there is no point in suggesting new music here. Haha, settle down, I’m just kidding! But seriously, I can’t wait to leave the first comment. …hmmm, well lately I’ve been going through all my Grandpa’s old records and listening to old Chess Masters records. And who knew that Harry Belafonte was so good!? I mean, you hear the name and think it must be some pussy shit, but no, it’s kick ass! The problem with new music for me is that it’s rarely new once I finally hear it. I still haven’t been one to download anything without paying and I can’t afford a lot of new music, but maybe I just don’t pay enough attention to what’s new. Well, I have heard the whole new Sidekicks album and it is awesome (not to toot the label horn).
This can also be found on punknews.org
check ‘em.
Side note: I listened to Timy Barry’s Rivanna Junction twice through today. Yeah. I think I retract my statments. I should go ahead and delete that post. Espcially considering it’s the number three hit on google when you search “Tim Barry lyrics”. Shit.
Shook Ones have really blown me away with the latest album, The Unquotable A.M.H (what does this stand for? anyone? no, seriously…get back to me on that)
It’s been called too poppy and whatever, but I’ve already probably jammed this latest one more than the last two combined. All my love for this album is poured into this review I did for Racketmag.com:
myspace.com/shookones
Amongst positive feedback, it only takes a couple message-board publicized disappointments to have your curiosity sparked and an expectation set. The new Shook Ones LP The Unquotable A.M.H. has already been deemed “too poppy” and been compared to Blink 182. While some wouldn’t find the latter to be insulting, it’s assumed the contributor meant it as such.
Depending on your stance on poppy-ness, an initial anxious listen might prove to be relievable. While they’ve infused guitar riffs with more harmonies, slowed the tempo and pumped some extra melody into the “whoa-ohs”, but they haven’t changed their signature sound. It’s still fast-tempo melodic hardcore, but rather than prominent Kid Dynamite influence, this album leans more in the direction of None More Black and Self-titled-era Lifetime, and hey – most kids went apeshit over the latter mentioned pop-a-thon.
If you’ve deemed The Unquotable A.M.H. too poppy – don’t forget about Shook Ones liberal implication of “Whoa-ohs” and rhythmic hand-clapping on the previous two full lengths – Sixteen and Facetious Folly Feat. According to their myspace, Shook Ones are self-proclaimed “hardcore and pop-punk”, and that’s the simple truth – they’re formed from the ashes of prominent hardcore bands, showing the fun, light-hearted side of hardcore kids. They’ve found an awesome medium between pop-punk and hardcore. Both genres have been loud and clear in every Shook Ones release. In the pop department, The Unquotable A.M.H. doesn’t up the ante too much. While it’s not something you’d expect to hear on Deathwish records, it’d still be startling from Drive-Thru records.
The most prominent change can be seen by glancing at the track lengths. The Unquotable is at least doubled in length because the tempo has slowed, hitting the mid-tempo mark. The tempo change is most apparent on tracks “Birds on Ice”, “ Double-Knot That”, “T. Monk”, and the closer “Tip The Weatherman”. Shook Ones typically push their tempo to the limit – so decline was the only option for change. This decision has allowed Shook Ones to more establish their own style and begin pulling away from that cloned Kid Dynamite sound. The tempo change made room for more creativity, harmonies, emotions, and clearer vocals. Scott Freeman’s vocals still manage to charm while simultaneously hoarse and slurred – similar to the influential Lifetime. This LP has allowed for clearer vocals, making nearly a fifth of lyrics decipherable – exciting!
Third time’s the charm. While the previous two made for fun background music, this LP demands attention and has earned the “Repeat: All” setting on iTunes this week. A standout track is “T. Monk”, otherwise the entire album is a standout track. If you’re into old Saves the Day, Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, None More Black, or Latterman – you want to hear this – it’ll only take 31.4 minutes of your time.
I think I found my favorite album of 2009! Get into it, and if you’re in Europe check their space for tour dates. Also look for them at Sound and Fury fest.
…curse my desire to travel keeping me from a zillion awesome shows constantly. *self pitiful sighhhhhhhhhhhh*
2008 Thawed Out demo
There would probably be some copywright issues involved, but I’m just going to go ahead and say the Hoth Wamapa from Empire Strikes Back has some badass theme songs. Juding by their myspace page and demo artwork, a new band in the DC area – Thawed Out – are cleary fans of the ice monster and they’ve put out some serious good quick paced, slightly thrashy, hardcore punk. I’m convinced the anger-laden, scratchy vocals are produced by vocal chord clones of The Suicide File’s Dave Weinberg – in fact I’d name them an apt comparison for the punkier side of Thawed Out. The angry vocals go well with lyrics such as “You gotta watch out – I kill randomly, I kill randomly” on “Fit of Rage”. Not the most genius lyrics, but they’re portrayed in such a way that you won’t notice because UR MOSHIN’. They just finished their ‘08 demo with Joe Mitra and it’s well worth a listen.
Check out the space.
Extra points for sampling Falling Down and the abundance of Hoth Wampa promotion.
myspace.com/ironchicmyspace
Good poppy stuff from NY. Mostly upbeat mid-tempo pop-punkish, org-core-ish rock ‘n’ roll. Reminescint of O Pioneers!, Latterman, and Shorebirds.
Omg I’m so lazy and don’t feel like writing anything else.
These guys are really good!
Here’s a pretty damn good review I did for Racketmag.com . . .
The Measure's latest full length, One Chapter in the Book
If I were to weigh the two full lengths from The Measure, neither would come out on top. To be more optimistic, they’d both be on top. The first has that classic original quality and the second twists and elaborates on that classic style. One Chapter in the Book doesn’t need time to grow on you with multiple listens. It will grow all over you as it plays from start to finish. This new album doesn’t take any giant leaps in one direction or the other, so fans shouldn’t be let down too much unless they discriminate against slightly better recording quality – which won’t surprise me. As The Measure continues to run with their already established awesome sound, this new full-length comes out after one full-length, multiple split 7”s and an EP – making for a tasty Measure Oreo.
The Measure do what they can with folk, alternative, and pop punk to produce a fast-paced, fun, and honest sound. Impressive drumming quickly involves the entire set and contributes greatly to the liveliness of The Measure’s sound. Quick, sharp guitar chords ring under glossy vocals. Melodies tend to stay upbeat, latching on to your short term memory with their catchiness.
The girl – boy dual vocals from Lauren and Fid add a depth to their creations that abandons the majority of music these days. We, as in women, are squeezing our way into various genres of rock music, and the field of folky pop-punk is currently thriving – Bound to Bolt, This is My Fist, Lemuria, etc.
Clearer lyrics on this album are welcomed, providing memorable chants full of creative honesty that’ll resonate once the track stops. Lauren Measure leaves fear behind in her lyrics. She sings thoughts that are undoubtedly backed by girls all over the world. At least I’m with her on “The Moment that You Said Yes” as she calls out typical asshole boyfriend behavior and degrades girls who “spend their whole lives planning their wedding” or who “wear their body weight in make-up”. This track has presented itself as my favorite track along with the openly melancholy “Old Crew”. While sadness somewhat stayed in the closet on Historical Fiction; disguised by non-stop quick tempos and upbeat melody, One Chapter in the Book uses an acoustic guitar and swaying tempo to present obvious sorrow on “Old Crew”. Overall, this album does slow it down at times – sometimes going up and down with tempo in a single track, and with the addition of two more tracks, the play time has at least doubled compared to Historical. However, through various tempo changes, The Measure hasn’t lost their patent style. That style has just been elaborated upon.
Miss MLIW, Suicide File, or Give up the Ghost? Well Dangers is a terrestrial band from Ponoma, CA that has conveniently rolled the threefold styles into one like a delicious hardcore sushi. MMmm.
Compared to recent hardcore out of CA that’s been a little drugged up and thrashy, Dangers has a more calm and composed feel. A hard hitting sound that’s not super heavy or fast. Predominantly mid-tempo, angry, and melodic with honest, hoarse lyrics that intertwine to create a striking impression.
www.wearedangers.com for more info.
They get extra points for a song referencing
“The Wonder Years”, naming their cd “Anger” so it practically rhymes with their band name, and adding rhino to their album cover.
The Real Danger (www.myspace.com/therealdanger) – Screeching Weasel-ish , Decendents – like, D4 – esque pop punk that’s nice and smooth, fast-paced melody + talent.
New O Pioneers!!! (www.myspace.com/opioneers) – I have been stoked on the two O Pioneers!!! releases I own consistantly for 1.5 years, and their new album sounds really solid. They’ve added a bass player, therefore some more depth to their sound. They’re kinda just reinventing Hot Water Music, but I love it nevertheless.
This made me chuckle.
“Sounds like a cross between Husker DUH and the Chemical Brothers…”
(from the myspace) I love two things about this pic - the Mark Hoppus jump and the shirt this dude is wearing
Whoa. When was the last time you saw a band live that jumps 3 feet into the air while playing their stringed instrument??
I’m embarassed as usual that I didn’t catch this band earlier. I’ve got their demo stuff from ‘05 and ‘06.
I’m freaking 3 – 4 years late on this Saves the Day/ New Found Glory-ish amazing melodic punk/ hardcore.
Yeah, there’s a ton of bands out there falling under that label all the time, but this shit merits more recognition than sellout-drenched Set Your Goals (Lols).
This band gives me a good dose of nostalgia with sounds reminiscent of Drive-Thru records.
Take Saves the Day’s “Can’t Slow Down”, and (ironically?) slow it down a bit + clarify the vocals and make them more audible.
Title Fight combines the best of whiny pop punk and mid-tempo hardcore.
Check out a new 7″ soon and check them at United Blood Fest.
I’ll be in Korea…>=/
Good stuff.
Hjertestop plays quick punk rock. They’re pretty fast-paced and they manage to keep fun melody infused into each track (that I’ve heard…the ones on their myspace). Both hard hitting and fun, I can hear traces of old school hardcore such as Black Flag or Adolescents as well as newer melodic punk rock like Rancid.
While the music is wild, their stage antics seem to be wilder and overly disgusting . . .
From the myspace:
Watch out for this band!
Last weekend we had a concert in Berlin with 2 bands from Copenhagen. And one of them, called “Hjertestop” were total idiots.
One of the guys punctured his body with several injection needles, and threw the bloody needles at the audience with the words:
” I have AIDS!”.
To everyone not pleased with this form of acts at their concertplaces, this might serve as information.(TAKEN FROM A GERMAN MESSAGE BOARD AFTER A CONCERT THERE)
www.myspace.com/hjertestop
I’ve had to review a couple albums for Racket Magazine (racketmag.com)
Apparently they pick and choose what’s good enough to appear on their site and so far they’ve only allowed one…
EDIT
they have allowed more than one :]
Look Mexico – Gasp Asp
