Last Friday (3/27/09), I headed out to North Philly’s 941 Theater (and wound up stranded up there for a good 2 hours at 2am… fuck you SEPTA). I’ve never been to the 941 Theater before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It definitely looked like an old warehouse with a knee high stage made of plywood on cinder blocks. Hell yeah!

The Forthrights:
First up were New York’s reggae band The Forthrights, and the place was still relatively empty during their set. They played more traditional reggae music, and definitely had talent and solid songs, but with the complete lack of interaction with the crowd made for a boring set. If they could manage to get the crowd more involved, then definitely expect to hear about these guys more often.

Wareika Hill:
Straight up easy skanking! Playing a decent amount of covers, the band got the majority of the crowd dancing to their sweet ska beats. The band was definitely “on”, and played damn tight.

King Django:
King Django is sort of a New York ska legends. Playing in various traditional bands including Skinnerbox and Stubborn All Stars, he and his massive amount of bands mates had some trouble fitting on the cramped stage (the band consisted of all the usual instruments including some extra horns, a ukelele, and a keytar). Their style ranged from traditional reggae, two tone ska, to dancehall, and had the entire crowd getting their groove on to the king. Definitely check him out if he comes to your area.

Hub City Stompers:
Yeees! The easy skanking crowd was definitely not prepared for the NJ skinhead ska punk and the rowdier crowd of the Hub City Stompers. The second the first note of opening “WTFIU?” was hit, a huge pit space was cleared in the middle that consisted of some violent skanking and thrashing about. Hub City definitely played a tight set, although a bit shorter than usual. This show was SUPPOSED to be their cd release show, but of course, their album got delayed (again).

Setlist:
-WTFIU?
-Trojan Night
-Where’s My Hooligans?
-Johnny Date Rape
-Skins Don’t Cry
-Clutch Tango
-Pants Music
-Chatterbox
-Skinhead Boi
-Mass Appeal
-Phantom
-Ska Train To Dorkville
-I’ve Got A Boot
-Ska Ska Black Sheep

MP3:
Hub City Stompers – WTFIU?
Hub City Stompers – Johnny Date Rape

Also Check Out:
Ruder Than You – Big Step
The Slackers – Self Medication
Ska, Nickelodeon Style

Buy
Hub City Stompers

Every review I’ve read said Merit sounds like Bayside mixed with Say Anything and a touch of Paramore… so why the fuck do I like Merit’s “Arson is For Lovers” when I can’t tolerate 2 minutes of any of the previously mentioned bands, or any poppy slightly emo tinged music for that matter?

The biggest difference between Syracuse NY’s Merit and 99.99% of those other bands are the vocals. Frontwoman Brenna has a nice polished voice that actually compliments the pop hooks as opposed to other bands that just has some whiney ass dude crying into their microphone.

Now, there are some songs on here that are a little too slow for me , and I find myself skipping quite a few on the album (except Mourning Dove… that song rips). But the majority are catchy poppy mid tempo rock tunes that may be able to capture the ear of anyone who is a fan of Tsunami Bomb’s slower material. Merit definitely has mainstream appeal, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they completely exploded in the next few months, but their music still sounds more sincere and legit than the contrived forced whines that plague the majority of other bands who play the poppier style of music.

Also, one has got to respect their DIY ethic: their webpage has the entire album for download for donation.

Mp3:
Merit – Cut And Run
Merit – Arson is For Lovers

More music for wusses those in touch with their emotions:
The only good Saves the Day Album
Some band about Blinking and 182.
Jup

Donate:
Merit Webpage

(Photo by Michael Simonic)

So apparently, if I lived in New Orleans, I probably would have just noticed now that there was a flood a few years back… I have an article written up that I was excited to post today (I couldn’t sleep last night because I wet the bed since I was so excited!) But I totally forgot to rip the album to my machine, and don’t have it on me now, so this post will need to wait a bit.

So all you procrastinating, lazy mo-fos out there, this one’s for you!

MP3:
Bomb The Music Industry – Ready…Set…No!!!
The Deviates – I Remember
Gorilla Biscuits – Forgotten
Millions of Dead Cops – I Remember
NOFX – Lazy

More Mixes that I actually was prepared for:
Housewives World Tour: Virginia! Mix
Holy Crap It’s Friday!!!
A Tribute to All You Bored At Work Or School
President’s Day Mix
Darwin 200th Birthday Mix
Dumbass Yuppies Thinking I’m Trying To Break Into Their Car (A Mix)
Songs To Piss Off The Personal Trainer Below Me Mix
Fuck The Flu Mix
Intermission (A Short Mix)

Buy:
Interpunk
Smart punk

It’s hard to believe that Philly ska/reggae legends Ruder Than You released their debut “Big Step” back in 1992 (that’s 17 years… don’t worry mathaphobes, we got your back).

While it took a few live renditions of the songs to fully appreciate it, Big Step is a ska revivalist masterpiece. Pulling influences from all waves of ska, reggae, and even some funk thrown in here and there, I honestly haven’t been able to stop listening lately (especially to “Swallow Blood”, what a damn catchy song!)

For some reason, Ruder Than You never gained the same popularity of other contemporaries such as The Slackers or The Pietasters even though they’ve toured and opened for The Skatalites, Bad Manners, and even Desmond Dekker. “Big Step” is one of their strongest releases, and should definitely be part of any ska fan’s collection.

MP3:
Ruder Than You – Swallow Blood
Ruder Than You – Future Girl

More Housewives Than You:
The Slackers – Self Medication
Ruder Than You – God’s Ghetto (Their funk cd)
Pietasters – Willis
Two and A Half White Guys

Buy:
Good luck trying to find it, you can probably buy it used somewhere.

I remember picking up Discharge’s Self-Titled album about five years ago. The college radio station that I had a show with was giving away all of their unwanted music, and allowed anybody to take a total of like 2 albums. Never hearing of Discharge before, the cover looked intriguing (and by intriguing, I mean looked like a punk band), so I picked it up. Thank god I did.

Discharge was a legendary British hardcore thrash punk band who pretty much created a new sub-genre known as “D-Beat” (defined by the intense drum beats). Originally formed in the 70s, Discharge re-united to record the self titled back in 2001.

Back in the 80s, Discharge was put into a box without any social interactions or cultural influences. In 2001, they were finally let out and recorded their ferocious hardcore punk of the 80s without changing up their style at all. What we are left with is furious hardcore recorded with better equipment. I’m pretty sure this is how the Self-Titled came to be.

If you’re looking for something heavy and fast, definitely give Discharge’s Self-Titled a listen.

MP3:
Discharge – Corpse of Decadence
Discharge – Trustem

More facemeltings:
Propagandhi Supporting Caste
Toxic Narcotic
Witch Hunt
Disfear
Raised Fist

Buy:
Interpunk
Smartpunk

Welcome! We got bricks, lots and lots of bricks!

Ahh Virginia, my college state… I lived there for a few years, and besides the initial culture shock of people actually saying hi to you on the street (I was convinced they wanted to mug or rape me), confederate flags (you lost over a few hundred years ago, quit being such sore losers), and “missionary position only” laws (which I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to enforce my a mandatory camera in every bedroom)… I do honestly love it down in Fredericksburg.

After visiting this weekend with some friends, I’ve forgotten how much I really miss that place. So, lets listen to some bands that started in VA!

MP3:
Avail – Simple Song
Inquisition – Open Letter
Municipal Waste – The Art of Partying
Strike Anywhere – Refusal

More Housewives World (or more like east coast US) Tour:
Boston
New Jersaaaaaaay!
Killadelphia

Buy:
Interpunk
Smartpunk

I had a tough decision last night… I could go see Less Than Jake, who I haven’t seen in years… or go see The Slackers who I saw a few months ago. After much debating with myself (I won), I decided to go see The Slackers, on the principle that Less Than Jake tickets were at a LiveNation venue and were charging over 32 dollars with fees.

I arrived at West Chester’s “The Note” not really knowing what to expect since I’ve never been there. It was a laid back, kick ass bar that even had free water and a chill little atmosphere to it. For one, the crowd was mostly over 21 (which is just weird at a ska show).

Last Martyrs of a Lost Cause:

I showed up towards the end of Last Martyrs of a Lost Cause’s set. Hailing from my current city of Philly, I’ve seen these guys on fliers all the time, but never got around to seeing them. With their horn section consisting of two trombones, the band played really tight with each other. They reminded me a bit of Edna’s Goldfish (unfortunately, I do not like Edna’s Goldfish), the band had a few in the crowd singing along.

Ruder Than You:

2008 Joy Moody Photographer

Philly ska legends that I haven’t seen in 6 years! First time I saw them back in 2003, I had no idea who Ruder Than You were… Recently, the band has made quite a name for themselves in the Philly ska scene. They were having some mixing issues in the beginning (feedback, vocals too low), but eventually they overcame it and had most of the crowd skanking along. Their music transcribes much better live than it does recorded, and I would definitely recommend checking them out if they play a show near you. I grabbed the setlist, but they started taking requests, so it may not be accurate.

Setlist (what they had written, but they played requests so it may be wrong):
Not Deaf Yet
Baby Tonight
On A String
Creation Sounds
Drive Your Car
Reggae Rub-A-Dub
Brand New Day
Swallow Blood (Request)
Paranoid
Future Girl
Meet The Beat
Yo Ho Down
Justice

The Slackers:

Do The Slackers ever put on a bad show? Everytime I’ve seen them, The Slackers completely own it live, and I’ve always had an awesome time. Last night of course, was no different. They brought West Chester (and Philly… since half the crowd drove from the city to get there), their sweet, sweet style of revival ska, and the crowd skanked through their entire set.

At one point, Victor (vocalist, keyboardist) said it was kind of nice to be in the bar as opposed to the sweaty Philly church basement for once, although kind of weird. Halfway through their set, they decided to just play a bunch of requests, and so the setlist I have is definitely not accurate, but what the hell:

Setlist (Missing some since they just played request halfway through)
-Rider
-Married Girl
-Eviction
-Keep Him Away
-Every Day is Sunday
-Fried Chicken
-Wanna Man
-Old Dog
-Please Decide
-Rude And Reckless
-Sarah
-Have The Truck
-Been Waiting
-Happy Song
-Feed My Girl
-WWW
-The Fool
-Pedophilia

MP3:
Ruder Than You – Swallow Blood
Slackers – Everyday is Sunday

Rude Housewives Articles:
The Slackers – Self Medication
Slackers Live In Philly (9.5.09)
Ruder Than You – God’s Ghetto (Their funk cd)
Pietasters – Willis
Two and A Half White Guys

Buy:
Interpunk

The Dead Pets – W.M.C
The Dead Pets – Tokyo Crush

More Sweet Haikus By Shel “silverunity”stein:
Municipal Waste Haiku
SNFU Haiku
Good Clean Fun Haiku
Violent Society Haiku

Buy:
Interpunk

Growing up in New Jersey up until I was 18, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with NJ hardcore. On one hand, there are definitely some solid ones (Vision anyone?).

On the other hand, when I was growing up there, most Jersey “hardcore” bands were actually screamo, tainted with “oh so emotional” breakdowns that every douche bag in NJ started listening to because their girlfriend liked Finch and From Autumn To Ashes. These kids would go to shows with the intent to pick fights with everybody (including some dude’s mom, who was hit in the back with a chair) trying to impress their girlfriend in some sort of tough-yet-emotional mating ritual…. (I wish I was making this shit up).

Needless to say, although I love my homestate and most of it’s music, I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth as far as hardcore goes and whenever I saw flyers for One Win Choice, I simply assumed they were one of those screamo bands. One listen to Define/Redefine blasts those assumptions right out of the murky Jersey water.

Playing hardcore in the veins of early Static Radio NJ (think “One For The Good Guys” EP), Define/Redefine adds a bit more melody than the average hardcore band. While their newest EP isn’t exactly groundbreaking, with every band trying to be “something different” these days, it is kind of refreshing and groundbreaking in it’s own way to just listen to some straight up hardcore. Definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of melodic hardcore.

MP3:
One Win Choice – Failure To Quit

More Melodies, More Hardcore:
Bars (Members of Give Up The Ghost and Hope Conspiracy)
Comeback Kid
Kid Dynamite And The Art Of Moshing Everywhere
Static Radio NJ

Pre Order:
Jump Start Records

“Driving out pagan bitches so you could get wasted and wear tacky green beads since 387 AD.”
(Photo By sicarr)

Alright all you Irish people, Catholics, and people who pretend they’re Irish so they have an excuse to get wasted… Today’s your big day!

So go grab a cold one (or if you don’t drink like me, drink some kiwi juice or something), wear something green, and wear those shamrocks!

MP3:
Real Mckenzies – Bugger Off (Irish Drinking Song)
Dropkick Murphys – Amazing Grace
Flogging Molly – Light of a Fading Star
Smoke or Fire – Irish Handcuffs
Greenfire – The Knocknaboul

More Mixes To Get Your (Non-Alcoholic) Drink On:
Holy Crap It’s Friday!!!
A Tribute to All You Bored At Work Or School
President’s Day Mix
Darwin 200th Birthday Mix
Dumbass Yuppies Thinking I’m Trying To Break Into Their Car (A Mix)
Songs To Piss Off The Personal Trainer Below Me Mix
Fuck The Flu Mix
Intermission (A Short Mix)

Buy:
Interpunk
Smartpunk