punk

CBGB (Mixing Board and Bench) CBGB music club saw it all – the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Sonic Youth and so many more. The layers of flyers and playbills, graffiti, stickers and spilt beer seemingly coating the club’s every surface were as dense and sticky as the history of the place. Joe Holmes’ photos put the viewer right into the space – looking into the mixing board area, one can’t help but wonder at the cacophony of sounds that bounced off these heavily plastered walls. Purchase...Read Full Story

CBGB (Stage) by Photographer Joseph O. Holmes ARTIST STATEMENT: “In September 2006 , I spent 10 days shooting the interior of legendary NYC rock club CBGB . Six weeks later the club closed its doors forever, and the fabled walls and stage were dismantled. A year after that, as former owner Hilly Kristal succumbed to cancer, a high-end clothing store negotiated to take over the space. The club had been a favorite venue for countless rock and punk acts, but for those few days my...Read Full Story

In 1979 I was fifteen years old living in small-town Canada, and a revolution was taking place. The only things that really matter when you’re fifteen and stuck between wanting to make a difference and being different are music, girls, getting into trouble, and music. Yes, music was very important. Popular music in the mid-seventies was filled with gesticulating middle-aged shamans who sang songs that our parents knew the words to. Or, there were the bands with their fifteen minute guitar...Read Full Story

A British artist's personal perspective on the Godfather of Punk's life… Malcolm McClaren , punk impresario, manager for the Sex Pistols , scourge of the chattering classes, and all round troublemaker has died at 64 of cancer. Shepard Fairey has written a great piece in Swindle Magazine about the life and times of this and hated (in equal measures by the majority of Britain depending on your background/class – yes class still exists), eccentric genius of the independent British music scene...Read Full Story

The 10% riders, a group of pleasure seekers, in a wild revery stumbled upon the truth, they were enchanted by its beckoning call and they approached it.  but, while doing so they realized they were being dragged too close and were powerless to stop themselves as it pulled them into its embrace it was too close for them and it burnt their minds, their brains didn't melt away like wax though, instead, it melted away the membrane which had been blocking the truth. A waking dream overtook them as...Read Full Story

Some good things come in chapters. Maybe not too many folks know Miriam Linna was the original drummer for the Cramps. Maybe not too many folks know who the Cramps were. Both shall be corrected by reading a thrilling, honest, well documented and highly entertaining biography of sorts being digitized by Miriam Linna on her site Kicksville 66. I've known who Miriam is for most of my life! You can know her too, and read a REAL rock and roll tale yourself. Probably one of the last real rock and...Read Full Story

This is a great record. Blanka's punky, proggy 2009 demo was one of my favourite local releases of the year, an opinion shared by Uptown Magazine 's Jared Story, who gave it an A+  and compared Blanka to the likes of Refused and Dillinger Escape Plan. This disc was available for free on A1 Records before the label shut down , so we're preserving it here, as it deserves to be heard. This is actually a curiosity in the A1 catalogue in the sense that it was, as far as I know, the only A1 release...Read Full Story

Radio Birdman is to Australia what the Stooges and the MC5 were to the US. Although the best-known band of the early Australian punk scene of the late '70s was the Saints, the first band to wave the punk rock flag in the land down under was Radio Birdman. The group influenced the work of many successful, mainstream bands, and is now considered to be one of the most crucial bands to Australia's musical growth, but their main legacy was their towering influence over Australian indie rock in...Read Full Story

Our pals the Class War Kids (from Newfoundland) have released a four-song EP of cover tunes entitled "Twinkles Last Stand" (I'm assuming that should read "Twinkle's Last Stand" or "Twinkles' Last Stand," but whatever... it's for charity, so I'll stop complaining). It's a digital download, and all proceeds from the sale of the EP go toward Haiti relief, specifically Batay Ouvriye , a community centred trade union, one of the labour organisations that represent the factory workers and the poor...Read Full Story

By Jacob Cottingham It seems like Eastern Europe is finally starting to get some respect from Americans. Nico Bellic and the GTA giant made thick accents cool. Gogol Bordello has been able to take his mustachioed gypsy punk to a mainstream audience while smaller acts like Golem and The Sway Machinery are putting a fresh spin on ancient sounds. The Sway Machinery’s Hidden Melodies Revealed: “Anim Zemiros” The Machinery boasts an incredible lineup of musicians who’ve played with Arcade Fire...Read Full Story