Mashup by Go Home Productions.
It’s ok to like this. Ya know why? Because it’s freaking awesome and anything that has Phil Lynott in it automatically gets a pass from the “too cool for school” police.
Just enjoy.
The indie film boom that started with Stranger Than Paradise ended years ago, maybe as far back as the Boondock Saints disaster. Unfortunately, most aspiring filmmakers still have yet to realize this and still follow old traditions like film festivals and pretending to be Quentin Tarantino.
So it’s nice to hear that this bygone movement is over from the guy who’s still ripped off the most by no-budget indie filmmakers, Kevin Smith. While discussing how to fan-finance his horror film Red State, he wrote:
If there’s enough loot from Red State sale to do so, idea would be to fund two low budget flicks a year. Ultimate dream: Indie Movement, v.3. Because with the shuttering and impending sale of Miramax comes the sober realization that the specialty business has just died completely. The 90’s are long over and Indie Movement v.2 has come to a sad close. Until that market is vibrant and thriving again, maybe this is a small way to keep the home-fires burning. I know we’re supposed to let all things run its course, but can’t help it: I don’t wanna see the indie film world I knew go away forever. I’m an idealist and a silly-heart, and I’ve got a dream.
His whole plan is naively hopeful, but at least he’s trying. The only movements we’ve had in the last decade were the narcissistic mumblecore phase and Four Eyed Monsters‘ ‘Vote To See It in Your City!’ internet plan which everyone should’ve jumped on, but was only used as a tool for Paranormal Activity. It sure would be nice to see something new start up, and who knows, maybe Kevin Smith will actually figure it out.
First single off the album of the same name out February 23 on Heart & Skull / Epitaph.
I really didn’t like the new album on the first 3 or 4 listens but the single is growing on me. It’s very From Here To Infirmary sounding which is not exactly the “back to the roots” sound they teased but I think it’s about as close as we’ll get.
I don’t know guys. Is it just me? Am I the only person that thinks this is just kind of lame? I mean, as I said before, I’m all for bands putting their own personalities into cover songs but c’mon, do we really need to hear a bunch of nerds from an Ivy League school take all the soul and feeling out of one of my favorite Rancid songs? Maybe if they were from an OPERATION Ivy League school. Ha! No? Hmm… fair enough.
If I wanted to hear the white man bastardize roots music I’d listen to The Police.
Punk Rock Monday is a feature on Switchblade Comb where Rich takes a look back at some of his favorite punk rock albums of the last 30 years.
Band: Various Artists
Album: Punk Sucks
Year: 1995
Back in the days before the internet and file sharing there were only a few ways to find out about new bands. One was mix-tape trading, another was to ask the old, long haired guy at the record store, and the other was to buy cheap compilation cd’s. Cheap comps were all the rage in the mid-nineties. For a while there everybody seemed to be starting record labels and the best way to get your name out there was to put out a compilation cd with a bunch of super sweet bands on it.
The Punk Sucks compilation was, without a doubt, one of the best of the cheap punk comps from that time. It was a great mix of bands featuring a number of the marquee acts of the era like Pennywise, Good Riddance, and No Use For A Name, the obligatory ska bands (Sublime, and Homegrown), and some really great underrated bands that never really got their due (Jugheads Revenge, 88 Fingers Louie, and Funeral Oration). Oh, and it also featured a little known garage band called Blink (this was pre-182 suffix) who would end up becoming the biggest pop punk band in the world.
Crucial Track: Jugheads Revenge – “49 and 61″
Tonight I was randomly youtubing, and I ended up on this clip from 12 years ago when Norm MacDonald went on Letterman after being fired from SNL’s Weekend Update, which was actually one of the high points of his amazing career.
I remember seeing this when it happened, and realizing that television and comedy and life politics were totally fucked up and that Norm was pretty much the funniest person on the planet.
Before this, as a tiny child, I’d told my own mother that everything I aspired to be in life was to be David Letterman . . . not a late night talk show host, but Letterman himself. The fact that my mom let me watch Letterman when I was so young and impressionable enough to cause me to form this opinion makes me think that I’m the luckiest kid alive.
Do I have a point here? No, not really. Only that this clip is the best.
A weekly look at the Minnesota concert calendar from your friends at Switchblade Comb. The full list can be viewed HERE.
Minnesota Shows List:
08 – Roseanne Cash (Guthrie Theater)
08 – Fallen Idol (Heights)
09 – Brother Ali + Sage Francis + Sims + Muja Messiah (First Ave)
11 – Roma Di Luna (Turf Club)
11 – It Came From Kuchar (Walker)
11 – Will Work For Food (Bryant Lake Bowl)
12 – Head East (Medina Entertainment Center – Medina, MN)
12 – Liverpool (Walker)
12 – 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Trylon)
12 – Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Uptown Theatre)
12 – Cory Chisel (Triple Rock)
13 – The Suburbs + Suicide Commandos (First Ave)
13 – Mr. Dibbs + Kanser (Nomad)
13 – Sims (Sauce)
13 – 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Trylon)
13 – Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Uptown Theatre)
13 – Arrest Bulldog Drummond (Parkway)
14 – Rebecca (Heights)
14 – Arrest Bulldog Drummond (Parkway)
For those unaware (first of all shame on you) ANTiSEEN is one of the rawest bands on the planet. They’re equal Parts GG Allin, hardcore wrestling, and the human equivalent of 4 gallons of Jim Beam standing onstage. This is true, not for the faint of heart punk rock and I couldn’t be more excited that this show is happening.
ANTiSEEN + Joe Buck Yourself
Thursday, May 20
Triple Rock Social Club
8:00 PM | $12 | 21+
ANTiSEEN – “Cactus Jack”
I’ve come across two interesting Replacements covers during my internet journeys the last few days and thought I would share them with you.
The first is by the U.K. band Kindness and comes courtesy of the excellent Aquarium Drunkard website. Their take on “Swingin’ Party” is a little too Blondie “Heart of Glass” for my taste but I give them credit for switching it up a bit.
The second is by the always entertaining Duane Peters and his new band The Great Unwashed. The version of “Skyway” they do is very reminiscent of GG Allin’s cover of the Warren Zevon classic “Carmelita” as featured in the movie Hated. It’s scratchy, slightly off-key, and feels very off the cuff.
In both cases I’d rather listen to the original version but I always enjoy hearing how other bands interpret the Replacements’ catalogue. If nothing else they’re both a hundred times better than THIS unfortunate trainwreck.
Nice to see our second favorite Abe show up in this moderately funny ad.
Hey Joe… here’s another documentary about some rock music history you probably don’t know about.
Born in Edmonton as Kendall Chinn (aka Kenny), Mr. Chi Pig was the front man for one of the biggest names in the first wave of Canadian punk rock: SNFU. Like a lot of those original bands, they never found fame themselves but they influenced an entire generation of musicians from Jello Biafra and Moe Berg to Corb Lund, Matthew Good and Hot Hot Heat. The band’s visibility faded even if their influence didn’t, Kenny’s world filled with more drugs and alcohol, and he moved closer and closer to living on the street and suicide. What surprised everyone, including Mr. Chi Pig himself, was what that drug addiction masked, an even greater threat to his whole well-being: schizophrenia. Reluctant to take drugs to treat it at first, he quickly realized that he was already heavily self-medicating just to deal with the day-to-day and slowly, his life began to turn around.
Available now on DVD.
Trailer
