Punk Column

Just when you thought punk was dead, buried and forgotten and it seemed only a glowing recession of unpaid credit and national distrust of the Government could possibly resurrect a generation of discontented youth…

Punk collective Vive Le Punk presents ‘77 band the Rezillos performing their album ‘Can’t Stand the Rezillos’ in its entirety. They play Edinburgh’s Liquid Rooms on the 22nd.

Dairy Crest, who own Country Life Butter and fronted a £5 million advertising campaign which featured John Lydon (Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten) have reported a drop of more than a quarter in its share prices after airing the commercial. Not sure they chose the best man to sell it to the masses…

BrewDog, a brewery in Fraserburgh, Scotland, is being investigated for encouraging irresponsible behaviour after launching Punk IPA and Hop Rocker. The main seller, Punk IPA, reads ‘this is an aggressive beer, we don’t care if you like it’ on the label. Co-founder of Brewdog defended his Punk beer label saying that the aggression was in reference to the taste rather than anything physical: “The word ‘aggressive’ is used because of the biting bitterness in it. It’s a heavily hopped beer. It’s not something you can drink a lot of.” 

‘Punk Rock Karaoke’ are set to release a new CD/DVD featuring guitarist Eric Melvin (NOFX), bassist Steve Soto (Adolescents), drummer Derek O’Brien (Social Distortion) and guitarist Greg Hetson (Bad Religion, Circle Jerks). The disc will spit out 10 tracks for you to shout along to, including tunes from Black Flag, Stiff Little Fingers, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat and the Buzzcocks and comes out on October 28,2008. Flipper are re-releasing their albums on vinyl after a long period of them bring out of print.

There seems to be fuck all on in Edinburgh in the run-up to the Winter Festival. Perhaps all the punks have gone intro hibernation, using the chilly months to cultivate their hairstyles and nurture their spiky jackets. The alternative is that they are traveling en masse down to Sheffield or London, where Discharge will be bashing out their legendary d-beat noise. They’re flogging their new CD at the shows, so if you go down, pick up a copy and drop it by the Veritas office. A little birdie told me they may be playing in Scotland early next year. However, the birdie may be slightly unreliable as they are always wasted by 11 am, especially if it’s a week day.

Anyways, seeing as there isn’t really much to do, I suggest getting really drunk and going on the Ferris Wheel in Princes Street. Ten points if you manage to puke on a tourist. 20 points if it’s while you’re ice skating.

Originally published in Veritas December 2008 Issue 101. Co-written by Demian Hobby.

dead kennedys… i heard they sucked live

before you ask, yes my dj set was great.

actually teaze was pretty good, there were a lot of different burlesque dancers. although it was no club noir, there was a chick that blew fire. but not for very long, which kinda sucked. they also kicked me off early to get the techno on, but loads of people came up to me and said that i should have been on longer and that i should get the last song. i completely agreed with both statements, but the higher powers seemed to be more into drum & bass than drum and bass and vocals and guitar.

i’m not sure how i feel about burlesque these days. ages ago i was going to get a pin-up girl tattooed on my arm, rather than sharkie the shark that i have now, but i changed my mind after reading andrea dworkin’s book pornography. bearing in mind it was written in the ’80s and porno then totally sucked, she points out how much violence against women is depicted in pornography. even when it’s girl-on-girl, there is always an element of submission. while the girls were shaking their shit on stage this friday, i couldn’t help thinking, ‘who are you doing this for? yourself or some guy?’ someone was like ‘well, maybe it makes them feel sexy.’ it just reminds me of meat, really.

however, i digress. i didn’t go to the dead kennedys, but i spoke to a couple people that did and they said it was really lame. apparently it was kinda out of time, and there was no energy. that is exactly what i expected, so i’m glad i avoided having the mental video of what they would be like, pieced together from live albums and footage of old shows, ruined.

the band’s myspace has a review of the show. according to the reviewer, the show was good, but it’s not very enthusiatically written, leading me to think that he’s either lying or being nice.

also spoke to a mate about the cute lepers gig. he said they were alright and not too poppy, but he really likes oxymoron, so sometimes his opinion is not to be trusted. don’t tell him i said that though.

HEADS UP:

benefit show in dunfermline at pj’s sunday june 1st. 12am to 12pm. overspill, 4 past midnight, down to kill, threats and more. £3 in, which is literally as cheap as chips… and a smoked sausage. let’s be realistic here. in support of fife stop the war coalition.

free 13th birthday show at carlton studios saturday 14th june. the exploited are headlining, with a couple of other bands playing. i totally saw the flyer on friday night but cannae mind who the others are. dunno when it starts either. i’m rubbish.

DELIBERATION OF THE DAY:

you have to realize that someday you will die. until you know that, you are useless. it is only after you have lost everything that you are free to anything. – crimethinc

TURN IT UP AND TUNE OUT:

the meteors – wrecking crew. jesus christ, i have had this cd stuck in my head for like a week. you know how you get a song stuck in your head? not one song, the whole cd. it has affected me so much i am quiffing my mohawk this weekend when i go out. that much. the opening song insane will get you running for your creepers and shaving in a flat top, i guarantee ya.

edinburgh uber alles: dk to play liquid rooms

so just found that dead kennedys will be playing at the liquid rooms on friday may 23. i am djing at a burlesque night so i don’t think i’ll be able to catch the show.

they are touring to promote their new comp ‘milking the sacred cow’, which is available to buy in hard copy and also to download. the premise is that the comp’s playlist is the top ten downloaded dead kennedys songs. the only new songs on it are live versions of ’soup is good food’ and ‘jock-o-rama’, hardly a reason to spend $8.98 plus shipping or the same on a copy from itunes. the other hook is the promise of new artwork, but there is no way anything could live up to winston smith’s bad-acid-trip drawings forever associated with the band.

‘milking the sacred cow’? it doesn’t count as sarcasm if it’s true.

back in the day i would have totally freaked out and camped outside ripping records to get a ticket, but now i wouldn’t go see them even if i didn’t had something else to do. their most recent singer, jeff penalty, left the band in march of this year. on the dead kennedy’s website, they stated the split was due to scheduling conflicts but penalty described his departure from the band as “not amicable”. he mentions arguments about creative differences, whether or not they should appear on mtv (a ludicrous proposition from a band who penned ’mtv get off the air’) and about hiring a band manager whose stable of clients includes a christian folk singer (the song ‘religious vomit’ springs to mind).

penalty’s sign-off sums it all up: “and jello, you’ve been wrong about a lot of stuff, but you were certainly right about not trusting those guys… ” this is an allusion to the band’s six-year civil war over royalties and the rights to the band’s music. while i don’t think any party was totally right, you can’t help but seethe along with biafra when you hear about ’holiday in cambodia’ being featured in an edition of guitar hero. wtf?

the icing on the proverbial cake, dh peligro won’t even be manically banging the drums! he is apparently taking “personal time off”. one wonders if this has anything to do with penalty’s depature.

anyways, east bay ray and klaus flouride will be making an appearance, but from the sounds of it, they will be probably be requesting only evian water and blue m&ms in the dressing rooms.

i think i’ll be washing my hair that night.

go to ripping records for tickets (support independent, don’t buy from tickets scotland!)

HEADS UP:

show at Bannermans Friday 9th May. doors 8pm. certain death, peep show, the dirty pickups. £4 in. it’s a fundraiser for Auld Reekie Roller Girls with raffle prizes and a “cookie fest”.

s.x.p.p. all-dayer at carlton studios saturday 10 may. 12:30pm to 3am. loadsa bands with the u.k. subs headlining. £17 in. come get drunk.

DELIBERATION OF THE DAY:

in a secularised society of individuals it is no longer religion but celebrity that is the opium of the masses – j. dik

TURN IT UP AND TUNE OUT:

i’ve been burning a hole in my crass – penis envy cd. sometimes brushed aside as it is their feminist album and eve libertine does lead vocals, the beginning of bata motel kicks my ass every single time it blasts on.