L-R: Nao Demand (guitar), Will McAndrew (bass), Mac Kennedy (vox, guitar), Allen Chapman (drums) Photo By Kevin Gray
Poison Ruin’s highly anticipated album Harvest follows the release of their S/T debut which spread like wildfire throughout the punk and DIY community throughout the past two years. The Philadelphian band quickly amassed a following for their lo-fi, catchy metaphoric revolts that stab at the pulsing heart of what it means to live under the permanent midnight of contemporary life.
Harvest gazes at the world with a sense of grave seriousness, its stare softened only by the alluring seduction of a dream world’s open-ended possibility. Its songs move with a type of uncanny confidence, assembling an array of references to past styles and sensibilities that collapse in on one another, congealing into a truly unique sonic landscape.
Just ahead of its release, Poison Ruin share their melodic thrasher, “Torture Chamber” which questions the limits and conviction of one’s own beliefs: “What is a truth for which you’d die? And what are the words that could set you free?”
With Harvest, Poison Ruin aligns their sonic palette to their godless, medieval-inflected aesthetic symbolism, creating a record which strikes with an assured sense of blackened harmony.
“I’ve always found fantasy tropes to be incredibly evocative,” vocalist/guitarist Mac Kennedy notes, “that said, even though they are a set of symbols that seem to speak to most people of our generation, they are often either apolitical or co-opted for incredibly backwards politics.”
Harvest’s lyrics and imagery, Kennedy reworks fantasy imagery as a series of totems for the downtrodden, stripping it of its escapist tendencies and retooling it as a rich metaphor for the collective struggle over our shared reality: “Instead of knights in shining armor and dragons, it’s a peasant revolt,” he explains, “I’m all for protest songs, but with this band I’ve found that sometimes your message can reach a greater audience if you imbue it with a certain interactive, almost magical realist element.”
These are not superficial or self-aggrandizing political statements. Rather, Poison Ruin stares into the abyss of present-day life with a sober and empathetic outlook, portraying our cracked reality as a complex and difficult to parse miasma of competing desires.
Poison Ruin’s Relapse debut, Harvest was mastered by Arthur Rizk. It sees its release on April 14 alongside the reissue of their eponymous 2021 LP which has established the band as one of punk and the underground’s newest beloved treasures. Poison Ruin will tour extensively this year. Next up are two record release shows in NYC and their hometown, Philadelphia just before heading overseas for a full EU / UK run including a performance at Roadburn. See below for a full list of dates.
You often hear of a lot of music collections being described as “essential.” The term gets used to the point of near-meaninglessness, but in the case of Don’t Move, the collection of three years’ worth of material from both incarnations of Indiana synth and new wave legends The Last Four Digits, it’s true. In another universe, The Last Four (4, or 5) Digits are as well known as The B-52s or The Ramones, but in thisreality, their limited output only makes their legend better.
The first eight tracks of this compilation are songs from the first version of the band, The Last Four (4) Digits with Steve Grigdesby (rhythm guitar and vocals), John Koss drums and vocals), Mike Sheets (bass and vocals), and Richard Worth (lead guitar and vocals) – with synthesizers and mixing with Dave “A.Xax” Fulton. They’re all jittery, crunchy punk cuts that remind you of those scary kids you’d see hanging out of the mall in the early 1980s (I was one of them, by the way.). Heck, “Leave Me Alone” is practically a theme song for Generation X. The weird angles of Worth’s guitar and vocals on “Fast Friends” reminds you of Joy Division tracks.
Their version of Bo Diddley‘s / Captain Beefheart‘s “Diddy Wah Diddy” swaps out most of the raunchy guitars for weird synths…and it still works. “Another Sex Crime” has plenty of swagger, and “City Streets” is grungy synth-punk that would make early Devo proud. You’ll want “(I Want to Be an) Undertaker” on all of your Halloween playlists after hearing it, and you might as well add “Coughing Up Blood” while to your “birthday songs” playlists while you’re at it. “(I Sold My Soul to) Fotomat” is perhaps the beginning of what would become one of the main themes of the second version of the band.
The Last Four (5) Digits had Sheets switch from bass to guitar, kept Joss on drums, and brought Fulton out from behind the mixing board, and added Brad “Mr. Science” Garton on keyboards and vocals and Julie Huffaker on bass and vocals. As the liner notes of Don’t Move will tell you, they embraced “Abstract Commercialism” and began including TV themes, commercial jingles, and advertising concepts in their songs and live shows. “Don’t Move” takes on a darker tone that some of their other tracks, which I love.
“Liquids” is a great example of their love of commercial culture, sampling early 1980s ads and singing about drinking colored liquids, eating colored foodstuffs, and taking lots of drugs. “Act Like Nothing’s Wrong” is a fun song about trying to figure out what’s wrong with a lover while also trying not to piss off that same lover while doing it. “Babaloo No More” is a tale of Lucy Ricardo killing Ricky after he has an affair and Fred and Ethel threatening to boot her out of their apartment if she can’t make the rent. It’s funny, weird, and gives a hard kick in the junk to re-run TV. Their cover of “Mack the Knife” is equally strange, and “I Have Rental Car” is the sound of entitled people yelling about crap that doesn’t really matter.
The last eleven tracks on Don’t Move are a recording of their performance at CBGB‘s on Valentine’s Day 1982. They open with the simple announcement of “Hi. We’re The Last Four Digits,” and then go straight in to “Liquids.” Huffaker’s bass is so heavy on the live version of “Leave Me Alone” that it almost levels the room. They turn the grisly “Coughing Up Blood” into a pogo-inducing rocker, but change the lyric “Coughing up blood on your birthday!” to “Coughing up blood on your Valentine!” in honor of that night.
They cover of “Return to Sender” and then throw down a thudding version of “Act Like Nothing’s Wrong,” followed by a nearly panicked version of “Babaloo No More.” Up next come covers of “Mack the Knife” and the theme to the wild sci-fi film The Green Slime. The live version of “I Have Rental Car” is even more frenetic and unhinged than the studio version.
It’s a crucial collection if you’re into vintage no wave / new wave stuff, and the addition of the live tracks is a boon for collectors and enthusiasts. Don’t skip it if you can find it. I scored it for 99 cents at Reckless Records in Chicago earlier this year – a massive steal.
I almost didn’t come to this show. The venue, Sleeping Village, was over two hours’ driving time from my house. It was on a Tuesday night, and it started late – 9pm Central time, which is 10pm in the Eastern time zone where I live. I worked an eight-hour shift that day and had to work another the following morning. I guessed I wouldn’t get home until 2:30am if I was lucky.
Then I learned that this would not only be the first time Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs would be in Chicago, but it was their first U.S. tour ever. That’s when I knew I had to be at this show, and they’d already announced tickets were running low. I snagged one of the few remaining tickets and got in a disco nap before making the drive.
This was also the first show I’d seen at Sleeping Village, which is a nice, small venue. The stage and viewing area are in a space smaller than some convenience stores. As soon as I walked in and saw the size of the space, and knew how powerful a Pigs x 7 show could be, I thought, “They’re going to destroy this place.”
First to start the demolition were local noise-psych rockers The Tomblands. They brought a wall of guitars, two drummers, and a ton of energy to the stage. They also encouraged all the locals to get out and vote in the upcoming Chicago mayoral election.
The Tomblands
The lads from Newcastle Upon Tyne came out at 10pm (Central) sharp and kicked things off with the raucous “Mr. Medicine” off their new album, Land of Sleeper. The power they unleashed felt like someone threw open the door of a blast furnace.
(L-R: Adam Ian Sykes, John-Micheal Joseph Hedley, Matthew Baty, Sam Grant)
They tore through “Rubbernecker” and “Halloween Bolson,” with lead singer Baty bouncing, stomping, and prowling around the stage like a kabuki performer, bassist Hedley played like his guitar he was holding an electric eel, and Sykes and Grant kept trading shredding solos.
Some of us finally got a mosh pit started by the time they got to “Ultimate Hammer” and continued to floor the audience with their combination of metal, doom, and punk. “Big Rig” was especially wild, and “GNT” and closer “A66” were downright fierce.
Ewan Mackenzie back there on drums.
I got to shake hands and chat a bit with the porcine quintet after the show and asked Baty how the tour had been so far, especially after it was so long coming after 2020 shut it down the first time.
“It’s been…fucking amazing,” Baty said. “We thought we’d be playing shows to, like, fifty people, and they’ve all been like this. It’s incredible.”
It was.
Keep your mind open.
Thanks to the nice young lady who let me snap this photo of the set list she scored.
[Don’t forget to subscribe before you split.]
[Thanks to Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs for the show, autographs, and chats!]
RBBP released their new album Doom Wop in September 2022. Hear Doom Wop on your favorite streaming service HERE. Revolver Magazine recently premiered the official video for “Heel”HERE. (Direct YouTube.)
With their 5th studio release, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol is putting a name to the style of fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. In 9 concise, no bullshit songs, RBBP demonstrates their ability to blend the merciless low end of Leo Lydon’s 8-String guitar, Aaron Metzdorf’s masterful chordwork on the bass, and Sean St.Germain’s driving drumwork. Lydon and Metzdorf’s vocal melodies cut through the high frequencies to deliver fresh layers to the hooks that RBBP fans have come to love.
As the name implies, Doom Wop is a heavy, melody-driven, party metal album. With riffs as big and dumb as ever, and lyrics that stab at the worst members of society and ourselves (while keeping tongue firmly in cheek), listeners will find all the elements that make up the soul of RBBP on this record.
Doom Wop is available on CD and download, released on September 23rd, 2022. Vinyl LP coming in May. Pre-orders are available HERE.
RBBP LIVE 2023:
04/21 Houston, TX – Black Magic Social Club
04/22 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
04/29 Denton, TX – Thin Line Fest
05/06 Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival
05/07 Nashville, TN – The 5 Spot
05/09 Charlotte, NC – Snug Harbor
05/10 Washington, DC – Quarry House Tavern
05/11 Cambridge, MA – Middle East Upstairs
05/12 Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus
05/13 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
05/14 Pittsburgh, PA – The Funhouse at Mr. Small’s
05/15 Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle
05/17 Oklahoma City, OK – The Blue Note
06/09 Los Angeles, CA – Permanent Records Roadhouse
Photo credit: Naomi Petersen Photography, courtesy of Chris Petersen Images/Punk Life Naomi.
Frenetic, coarse and frequently atonal. Nothing is more a distillation of that sound than the mighty BL’AST! ’s final studio album, Take The Manic Ride (1989). Over 30 years later, and the album is getting the reissue treatment on Southern Lord.
In June of 1988 BL’AST! went into the studio with Black Flags’ live sound GOAT: Dave Rat (RATSOUND), and the breakneck Take The Manic Ride was recorded. This version was later destroyed after the band was dissatisfied with the original production. Now, this unmissable piece of hardcore history has been carefully restored under the strict guidance of mastering engineer Brad Boatright (also remastered the other BL’AST! albums re-released by Southern Lord). Manic Ride will be released by Southern Lord on March 10th.
Mike (Neider, guitar) comments on the reissue:
“The release of Manic Ride is essential to finish the history of past BL’AST! releases. It displays how off the beaten path BL’AST! is and always has been. The music and lyrics does not tread lightly. We’re grateful to have Manic Ride’s affiliation w/ Rat Sound/Dave Rat, SSTRecords and Southern Lord and for all of our friends, fans and family, as well as the BL’AST! blood brotherhood. For this to be released in our fortieth year as a band is truly amazing.
Rest In Power to the artist of the Manic cover, Justin Forbes.”
Having formed in 1983, the highly influential Santa Cruz hardcore legend BL’AST! released their first album, The Power of Expression in 1985. This debut album went on to become one of the highly sought after, must-have hardcore albums from the 80s.
BL’AST! were beyond intense, continually pushing the boundaries of hardcore with their advanced musicianship, unstoppable energic delivery and explosive live performances. This overwhelming power caught the attention of SST records, who released the band’s second album, It’s In My Blood in 1987. Their third album, Take The Manic Ride, was then released in 1989.
BL’AST!‘s wide-eyed, ambitious approach and intense perseverance became an influence for many bands to come. Shortly after the release of Take The Manic Ride the band broke up and their story was, for some time, buried by time and dust…
The band reformed in the 2000s, and released the 7” EP, For Those Who Grace The Fire, from 2015, which featured Dave Grohl on drums and Chuck Dukowski on bass. They then released Blood!, an album consisting of then-lost recordings, and remixed by Dave Grohl, in 2013. Later on, they also did a split 7″ with Eyehategod, contributing “Cut Your Teeth” in 2017.
It’s kind of amazing that it took me so long to see Weird Al and his band in concert. The level of musicianship on display was jaw-dropping. I lost count of how many styles and genres they played, and Yankovic’s ability to remember so many complex lyrics was stunning.
“They play like their hair is on fire.” is how my friend described this set from Frankie and the Witch Fingers, which blew the minds of everyone at the LevitationFrance festival that night. People were absolutely bonkers by the end of it.
Easily the best sound quality I heard all year, especially in such a large open-air venue, this stop on Elton John’s farewell was humid, but still an amazing performance that cover classic hits and newer tracks. The set was impressive, as was John’s energy as he revved up the crowd the entire time.
Speaking of farewell tours, this one from Midnight Oil was a barn-burner. The place was packed, which only gave the band more energy to unleash in what would be their final Chicago performance. They raged harder against every machine than most bands half their age.
A powerful performance on all levels, plus those of us who bought VIP tickets got to attend their sound check and meet Failure before the main show. It was like two concerts in one from one of my favorite bands whose music can be life-changing. I don’t use that term lightly. Getting to tell them face-to-face how “Another Space Song” has become even more meaningful to me since my wife’s death was an honor I’ll never forget.
I’ve already started seeing bands this year (Dry Cleaning), so 2023 is off to a good start. Who are you excited to see this year?
As soon as I heard “Shoo-In,” I knew this was going to be one of my favorite records of the year. These Austin, Texans play fuzzy garage rock that covers such subjects as drinking, sex, partying, break-ups, jerks, and weirdos. In other words, everything.
Cosmic rock keeps expanding, which is great news for people like me who love psychedelic sounds that are fit for exploring the desert or other planets. King Buffalo’s newest album fits the bill and sends you into orbit into the surprisingly warm void of space.
This is the best dance-rock record I heard all year. It’s a groove-filled EP with scathing lyrics about politicians, consumerism, the internet, celebrity, toxic masculinity, and sex.
And here’s the best punk record I heard all year. The Chats came back with a new guitarist and a renewed anger (and sense of humor) after the pandemic and gave us this wickedly sharp and funny album of barn-burners about the price of cigarettes, hot rods, and, of course, getting drunk.
The epic Mosswood Meltdown is returning July 1st and July 2nd, 2023 to Oakland’s Mosswood Park. Today, the festival announces its first wave of the lineup, which features Le Tigre for their only Bay Area appearance of the year, Gravy Train!!!!, The Rondelles, and Tina & the Total Babes for their exclusive, only shows of 2023, Quintron & Miss Pussycat, and more. And of course, it wouldn’t be a Mosswood Meltdown without our iconic and punkeriffic host, John Waters. The lineup thus far can be found below and early bird tickets for the festival (for a holiday special pricing) are on sale this Friday at 9am PST/noon EST.
MOSSWOOD MELTDOWN 2023 TEASER Le Tigre (1st Bay Area gig in 15 years!) Gravy Train!!!! (Only gig 2022/2023) Tina & the Total Babes (Only gig 2022/2023) The Rondelles (Only gig 2022/2023) Quintron & Miss Pussycat
Midnight Oil are the 29th act to throw support behind Support Act’s Roadies Fund through the Australian Road Crew Association (ARCA)’s awesome Desk Tape Series.
The Series was created by ARCA to raise funds to provide financial, health, counselling and well-being services for roadies and crew in crisis.
The recordings are made off the sound desk by a crew member. MIDNIGHT OIL LIVE at the OLD LION, Adelaide 1982 was recorded by Mark Woods, and is another fantastic tribute to the great sounds engineers produced for the early Aussie pub rock scene. This live tape is released on ARCA’s Black Box Records through MGM Distribution and on all major streaming services.
THE BAND
Peter Garrett – lead vocals Peter Gifford – bass, vocals Rob Hirst – drums, vocals Jim Moginie – guitars, keyboards Martin Rotsey – guitars
CREW
Mark Woods (sound) Michael Lippold (stage/ production manager) Ron “Wormy” James (lights)
TRACK LISTING
1 Written In The Heart 2 Brave Faces 3 Armistice Day 4 I’m The Cure 5 Bus To Bondi 6 Quinella Holiday 7 No Time For Games 8 Burnie 9 Cold Cold Change 10 Powderworks 11 Koala Sprint 12 Back On The Borderline 13 Don’t Wanna Be The One 14 Wedding Cake Island 15 Stand In Line 16 No Reaction
The MIDNIGHT OIL LIVE at the OLD LION Adelaide 1982 live tape and all the ARCA Desk Tape Series recordings are available through Black Box Records – ARCA (australianroadcrew.com.au) and the following: Amazon, Anghami, Apple Music / iTunes, Boomplay, Black Box Records, Deezer, MGM, Pandora, Shazam, Spotify, TenCent, Tidal, TikTok, YouTube Music.
The Old Lion show on Friday March 26, 1982 was part of a two-week run through Victoria and South Australia. At that stage, the band were doing 180 shows a year, and firing on all eight cylinders.
Rob Hirst admits: “I’m exhausted listening back to the tape, it’s relentless! We were, excuse the pun, a well-oiled machine, angry young men against the world.”
Mark Woods, who filled in as sound engineer on the run, called it the “Speed and Dust Tour.” It was hot and the tour moved at a frantic pace. Woods had just finished a run with Men At Work, with two weeks off before MAW’s first US visit. When the Oils’ run ended in Whyalla in regional South Australia, he drove 14 hours overnight without sleep back to Melbourne, in time for the Los Angeles flight with Men At Work.
Woods didn’t mind: he was a massive fan. “I thought they were the best band in the world. On this run they were at their absolute peak. Much of the set was from Place Without A Postcard, which was just released four months before, so the songs sounded fresh. It wasn’t that they were loud, it was the power. They weren’t ‘screamy’ or harsh listening, they just had a very full solid big fat sound.”
“They were all red hot players”, Woods recalls, citing how Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey’s guitars intertwined, and how the Peter Gifford/ Rob Hirst rhythm section locked in.
“I loved Giffo’s playing, he was the perfect bass player for them and at his best on this tour. There was something about his beat which worked well with Rob’s drums, they were right on the beat, really driving it forward.”
Gifford left a few years later to become a businessman in Byron Bay. Michael Lippold spent as much time on stage as the band, unravelling Pete’s mic leads from the guitarists’ legs as he danced manically about. Hirst’s drum kit had to be nailed down. Not only did he attack them with exuberance, breaking pedals and sticks, but he’d also jump into the air off his stool for greater power when he landed.
Listening to the Old Lion tape, Hirst chuckles, “It reminds me of the breakneck speeds we used to play those songs! The album versions chugged along but the live versions were 30% to 40% faster, if not faster. It’s almost as if we couldn’t wait to get to the (hire cars) and fishtail out of there!”
Also giving him a buzz on the tape were how the guitars sounded so distinctive and Garrett’s onstage patter recalling which politician or issue was irritating him in 1982. The tape shows how the Oils were starting to musically move around at that time. In 1981 when famed English producer Glyn Johns (Stones, Who) saw an Oils show at Selinas in Sydney, he invited them back to England to record in his new studio in Surrey.
“It was supposed to be our big break,” Hirst relates. “It wasn’t.” Hirst says Johns expected them to arrive with 12 fully formed songs, but he and Moginie, as the Oils’ main writers, had been unable to write songs due to the band’s hectic touring schedule. Even worse, Johns failed to capture the Oils’ live roar on the record.
Hirst: “The creativity and the song writing was getting stronger. But we were frustrated with the sound on the albums so far. They didn’t grab you by the throat and wrestle you to the ground. It was only working with Nick Launay (in 1982, on the 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 album) and disassembling the Midnight Oil live sound in the studio and starting again that we started to understand studio craft.”
Johns had a deal with A&M Records in America to release his productions. A&M wanted the Oils to go back to the studio and cut a single for the American market. The Australians gave them a two-finger salute and returned to Sydney.
The Old Lion tape captures how some of Postcard songs should have sounded. “Armistice Day” was an example of their new found song writing depth.
“I’ve always been obsessed with my family’s military history,” the drummer explains. “Songs like ‘Forgotten Years’ were about my father and grandfather’s military service. We knew as soon as we recorded ‘Armistice Day’ that no matter what happened to the rest of the album, it was going to be the lead track.”
“I Don’t Wanna Be The One” was in the spotlight when the Oils were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006.
LIVE At The Old Lion Adelaide 1982 is the latest initiative by the Oils to support roadies and crews in crisis. Hirst readily admits that the members relied heavily on their crew, “we had the best sound and lighting guys in the business. It is the crew that helps with any band’s success.”
On their farewell tour in 2022, Hirst’s drum tech for nine years, Clem Ryan, wanted to sit it out. Rob rang him, “I’m not doing this tour until you’re doing this tour.” Long-time front of house Colin Ellis wanted to retire before the run. They talked him out of it. “Retire? You’re younger than us!”
LIVE At The Old Lion Adelaide 1982 also highlights how dedicated the fans were.
Woods recalls: “Big lads, well charged up, a happy blokey crowd which sang along, boisterous, rowdy but never unpleasant.”
“Raw” might be the best way for me to describe The Anomalys‘ newest record, Glitch.
Hailing from Amsterdam and touring around the world, The Anomalys have a simple mission – to rock your socks off and maybe frighten you a bit while doing it (in a good way, like a classic Universal Studios monster film).
Rémi Pablo‘s opening drum salvo on “Smart Patrol” gets things off to a roaring start, and then Looch Vibrato and lead singer Bone unleash guitar fury. “Trooper” has a growl throughout it and bounces around like a hopping rhinoceros in your living room. “Anomalys Rise” is a fierce instrumental, which I always appreciate. It blends their love of surf with goth / monster rock.
“Dead Friends” is a lament to those who have gone on before us and wondering when we’ll all be able to have another drink together. “Panic” is a straight-up shot of surf without a chaser. Just hold on for dear life and hope you don’t get crushed by it. “Everything’s gonna be okay,” Bone sings on “Ready to Die” – a swaggering, groovy cut. Speaking of cuts, “Bleed for Me” is dangerous with its snarling guitars and vocals.
You can practically hear Vibrato and Bone’s guitars protesting in “Far Ahead” as they seem to bend them like professional wrestlers trying to make them tap out. “Steppin’ Out” isn’t a Joe Jackson cover (although that would be wild), but rather a jagged, punchy track to send the album out on a sweaty note.
