It’s time for Maximum Rocknroll #399, the August 2016 issue! This issue of the planet’s greatest punk fanzine features a revelatory peek under the mask with St. Louis rocker BLACK PANTIES, a photo essay on ABC No Rio as it faces the demolition of its current location and the construction of a new building, and an interview with PSYCHO SQUATT and Maloka Records covering 30 years of French punk history. If that’s not enough, we also have features covering the standout dark punk of Australia’s MASSES, the Pacific Northwest-based Skate Witches collective discussing projects like Skate Like a Girl and preeminent skate punk band SKITCH, Richmond hardcore ensemble FRIED EGG, Berlin punk/emo group FRIEND CRUSH, Oi!-influenced French punk from SYNDROME 81, the melodic punk of Chicago’s BOILERMAN, Virginia’s RHDP (that stands for Red Horse Drunk Punks, FYI), and Finnish punk photographer Jussi Janis. That ain’t it: MRR #399 also includes photo spreads from Total Attack Fest #6 and a special Moscow Madness edition of the MRR Presents gig series, an Australian tour diary from Singapore’s LUBRICANT, and a scene report from North Texas. All this, plus the biggest reviews section in the world of Serious Music Criticism and over a dozen reports from your favorite columnists; it’s all here, and it’s all happening.
You can also order this issue by mail by sending $4.99 in the US, $7 Canada, $9 Mexico, or $11 worldwide to: MRR • PO Box 460760 • San Francisco, CA 94146 • USA …or just SUBSCRIBE!
Still available: MRR #398 • July 2016 issue…
Ex-Yugoslavian punk retrospective special part II: featuring KAOS, BULDOŽER, KUD IDIJOTI, BESPOSLIČARI, LUBLANSKI PSI, and NIET. Also: Bay Area hardcore from TØRSÖ, Toronto’s MOLLOT, East Anglia’s DOMESTICS, RED RED KROVVY from Australia, a feature on Mabel Valdiviezo’s Prodigal Daughter (an upcoming documentary on growing up in and out of Peru’s punk scene), an Iowa City scene report, and a photo spread from Nothing Nice To Say fest.
“New Blood” is our weekly feature spotlighting new bands from around the world! See below for info on how to submit. Now, check out some killer new shit…
Band name:
SURGE
Date & location formed:
We formed in Dublin, Ireland about a year ago. At the time we had Emmett from Strong Boys playing drums but he wasn’t able to commit to the amount of gigs we wanted to do due to lots of great bands he’s already in but luckily we weren’t out of action too long when our good friend Tommy stepped in and we all gelled together really well.
Reason for forming:
Denise was really angry about a lot of stuff happening in society in Ireland and globally and wanted to vent about it. Lyrics formed in her head and we wrote a bunch of tunes in short space of time and it took off pretty quickly.
What are your lyrics about? Denise: Generally about things that really piss me off, and make me despondent. Stuff I really need to vent about, which there is no shortage of on this fucked up little island. Sexual assault and how certain attitudes perpetuate bullshit rape culture, Ireland’s archaic abortion legislation, and the torture and death that results from state inaction on it, the absurdity of total environmental destruction as a result of rampant capitalism, struggles with self harm ideations, the dangers of mob mentality against oppressed minorities, queer identity and erasure.
Surge (photo by Aleks Andrs Robotiņš)
How would you describe your sound?
A raw mix between Japanese and Scandi hardcore? That’s what we were aiming for anyway but it developed at bit different as always. It’s noisy anyway.
What’s in the future for this band?
We just released a 7 track tape (available through Dogs and Vultures Distro) and have started writing songs for another release, hopefully a split with another queer/feminist hardcore band. We’re up for touring and festivals as much as time allows, we have some trips to mainland Europe in the pipeline already.
Date & location formed:
November 2015 in Andrew’s living room. East Tacoma, WA.
Reason for forming: Steve: I moved to Seattle from KC in September and started hanging with Paul, who lived in KC for a while too. Neither of us had any bands going on and he introduced me to Tyler and Andrew. We all started jamming songs we had written and things kind of clicked between us.
What are your lyrics about?
Wasting time around shitty people, social climbers, feeling stuck in shitty situations, and joining gangs of monsters. Most are written in retrospect about bad times I was having the past couple years before I moved.
How would you describe your sound?
USHC. Poison Idea/Boston/Midwest Hardcore all put into one.
What’s in the future for this band?
Recording again in the next few months and planning a tour for late August/early September. Until then just keep writing songs and playing shows.
Do you have or know of an awesome new band*? It’s easy to submit to be in MRR’s New Blood feature — just email us the following info, and keep keeping’ it real…
1) Band name:
2) Date & location formed:
3) Reason for forming:
4) What are your lyrics about?
5) How would you describe your sound?
6) What’s in the future for this band?
7) Links and contact info:
Along with the answers please send a band photo at least 600px on the longest side (with photo credits), and a logo if you have one, to:
*By “new band” we mean a band that formed within the past year or year and a half.
First lap
KRIMEWATCH – No Sympathy
REPOS – Still Ain’t High
G.L.O.S.S. – Trans Day of Revenge
BIB – Sweat City
Second lap
RAW UNITED – Spindle
BROADWAYS – Lake Michigan
DANGERS – (D)anger(s)
BLACKLISTED – Canonized
Third lap
STRANGE FACES – Who Are They?
CRUDE STUDS – Videodrone
COHERENCE – Bicycle Furniture
A dive into the new bin
BETA BOYS – Real Rockers
Q – Terrqr
SKIPLICKERS – D.E.A.F.
DARK THOUGHTS – Identity Crisis
We miss you, Barker
HUFF STUFF MAGAZINE – Yesterday’s News
WITCHES WITH DICKS – Second Chance
WET SPOTS – Leeching out
Outro song:
NEON PISS – Sickening Wind
Maximum Rocknroll Radio is a weekly radio show and podcast featuring DIY punk, garage rock, hardcore, and more from around the world. Our rotating cast of DJs picks the best of the best from MRR magazine’s astounding, ever-growing vinyl archive. You can find MRR Radio archives, specials, and more at radio.maximumrocknroll.com. Thanks for listening!
“New Blood” is our weekly feature spotlighting new bands from around the world! See below for info on how to submit. Now, check out some killer new shit…
Band name:
PURE PRESSURE
Date & location formed:
March 2016 in Toronto.
Reason for forming:
To play hardcore punk in a low key, low stress band with people we haven’t played with before. Most of us aren’t really that close, and I guess we thought this would be a fun and rewarding way to spend time together outside of shows.
What are your lyrics about? Karla: I was in an abusive relationship on/off for four years, and once I moved to Toronto and was completely removed from that person and the relationship, I realized that I had suppressed a lot of what had happened over those years.
With everything coming back, and that person coming into town for a festival, I began having panic attacks due to the fear of being put into another one of those situations again. But I was very fortunate and I was able to attend therapy sessions so when I was in the same rooms with that person, I no longer felt that fear or anxiety, and it was no longer me who was having to leave the room. So the majority of the writing ended up being about all the different sides to the spectrum of being in that type of relationship, and how devastating the aftermath of it can be.
I have also been displaced for the majority of my life, having spent the first 4 years in Mexico, growing up in the American Midwest (Kansas City), and then living in the Canadian PNW, so touching on the broken immigration systems in both the US and Canada came naturally as a part of the lyrics.
How would you describe your sound? Robert: It’s pretty traditional hardcore punk i.e. early Agnostic Front, Negative Approach, Straight Ahead, etc. When we started piecing together our first songs I kind of wanted to do a throwback to what is, in my opinion, the golden age of contemporary Toronto HC (bands like Urban Blight, Violent Future, and Bad Choice, all of who existed before I lived here). But I don’t really think anyone else in the band thought about it that way, and we maybe don’t sound much like those bands all in all.
What’s in the future for this band?
Write some more songs, play some more shows. We have a couple good ones coming up in the next few weeks, and we are playing Not Dead Yet in October.
Reason for forming:
We all had a want for a place we could come together and create music. Each one of our experiences as women within our community, city, country, and world are all different. We come from different backgrounds, cities, families, cultures yet having a place to vent, talk about our lives, hang out and not feel judgement and write punk was something important to us.
What are your lyrics about?
Sometimes, they’re serious. Sometimes, tongue and cheek. A way to get across: we are all tired. So fucking tired. Of everything.
How would you describe your sound?
Bratty moody punk.
What’s in the future for this band?
We just released our demo about a week ago and have only played two shows. Our next show is with PATSY in July in Austin. It’s goin’ be sick.
Date & location formed:
November 2015 in Bogotá, Colombia.
Reason for forming:
We decided to form the band to do something different than our side projects, our guitar player is also in SECTA, the bass player plays for TRAICION, the drummer’s in TUMBAS, and we all share the same taste in music.
What are your lyrics about?
Our lyrics are basically a cocktail of personal stuff we live through on a daily basis. Stories of raw human decadence, cries of agony, it’s all reflective of our dystopian view of the future.
How would you describe your sound?
We’ve always aimed for the rawest sound possible, taking reference from bands like CRIMEN fom Mexico with their distorted guitars and bass lines, DESTINO FINAL from Spain with delayed and echoed vocals, and last but not least the catchy sound of ESKORBUTO.
What’s in the future for this band?
We are touring in the US west and east coasts and we’re playing at the Latino Punk Fest in New York in August. We’re planning to record a long play record to accompany the demo, and our EP called Muerte that is coming out soon. After that we want to tour as much as we can, get to every corner of the globe, and wait until the Judgement Day arrives.
Do you have or know of an awesome new band*? It’s easy to submit to be in MRR’s New Blood feature — just email us the following info, and keep keeping’ it real…
1) Band name:
2) Date & location formed:
3) Reason for forming:
4) What are your lyrics about?
5) How would you describe your sound?
6) What’s in the future for this band?
7) Links and contact info:
Along with the answers please send a band photo at least 600px on the longest side (with photo credits), and a logo if you have one, to:
*By “new band” we mean a band that formed within the past year or year and a half.
Based on an original flyer for Maximum Rocknroll Radio on KPFA, this is a must for the dedicated fan of everyone’s favorite weekly dose of contemporary and classic DIY punk. Available in sizes XS-2XL. Get yours today!
You can SUBSCRIBE to Maximum Rocknroll for as little as $26.00 and have over 120 pages of punk sent to you every month! Hundreds of record reviews, exclusive features and interviews, all your favorite columnists and much, much more. Get it all right here.
Out now! MRR #399 • August 2016
BLACK PANTIES from St. Louis, ABC No Rio photoessay, PSYCHO SQUATT and Maloka Records from France, Melbourne’s MASSES, Pacific Northwest skate collective Skate Witches/Skate Like a Girl/SKITCH, Richmond’s FRIED EGG, Berlin’s FRIEND CRUSH, BOILERMAN from Chicago, France’s SYNDROME 81, Virginia’s RHDP, Finnish photographer Jussi Janis, Singapore’s LUBRICANT presenting an Australian tour diary, photo spreads from Total Attack #6 and the Moscow Madness MRR gig, and a North Texas scene report.
Recent Comments