Punk
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Break Up
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion have broken up, frontman Jon Spencer has confirmed. The New York blues trio announced a hiatus in 2016, but Spencer says the band no longer has plans to regroup. Hot off his time in Pussy Galore, singer-guitarist Spencer formed the Blues Explosion with guitarist Judah Bauer and drummer Russell Simins in 1991, fusing blues and rock and roll guitar carnage with punk and soul. The trio released nine studio albums across their career; their last release was 2015’s Freedom Tower – No Wave Dance Party 2015. In a new interview with Kreative Kontrol podcast, Spencer said that shortly after their last album’s release, Bauer contracted a respiratory illness that made it difficult for the band to continue. “We had a good run,” Spencer said. The artist released his...
Phoebe Bridgers and Sloppy Jane Cover My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade”: Watch
Nothing beats the delirium of the late-night end of a South by Southwest showcase — especially when the bands on the bill start pulling out their best emo covers. Phoebe Bridgers and Sloppy Jane did just that Wednesday night (March 16th), teaming up for a group singalong of My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade.” Bridgers’ label Saddest Factory Records hosted its own showcase at the Austin festival, dubbed the Saddest Factory Records Corporate Retreat. Charlie Hickey, Sloppy Jane, Claud, and MUNA performed at the event, while Bridgers acted as MC (while also hopping onstage with the artists throughout the night). For the big finale, the acts engaged in a “TEAM BUILDING: Karaoke” session. Beyond the always-welcome emo nostalgia, this particular Black Parade magic also gifted fa...
The Linda Lindas Unveil New Song “Talking to Myself”: Stream
Los Angeles teen punk band The Linda Lindas find strange company, or maybe none at all, on their new single “Talking to Myself” and its accompanying visual. The sharp pop-punk cut from the all-girl group — comprised of sisters Lucia (14) and Mila (11), cousin Eloise (13) and family-friend Bela (17) — rips right into feelings of loneliness and self-doubt that swirl together to create a never-ending spiral of human disconnection. Though singer-guitarist Lucia keeps circling around the “bad decisions” and “all the wrong directions” in the lyrics, she ultimately determines to find someone to help release the recurring thoughts from her head. In a statement, Lucia said, “I’m always looking back on conversations and going, ‘Oh, I should have said this, I should have said that.’ But it’s also abo...
Green Day Cancel Concert in Moscow
Green Day have canceled an upcoming stadium show in Moscow in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The punk veterans had been set to play a concert at Spartak Stadium in Moscow on May 27th. However, in a statement released on Sunday the band said they were canceling the gig. “We are aware that this moment is not about stadium rock shows, it’s so much bigger than that,” Green Day said. “But we also know that rock and roll is forever and we feel confident there will be a time and a place for us to return in the future. Refunds available at the point of purchase. Stay safe.” Advertisement Related Video The prominent Russian rapper Oxxxymiron has also canceled scheduled gigs in the country in protest of the in invasion, while Eurovision barred Russia from participating in this year’s conte...
Pussy Riot’s Nadya Launches NFT to Raise Money for Ukraine
Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova has launched a cryptocurrency organization to raise funds for Ukrainian civilian aid groups amid the Russian invasion. Ukraine DAO, a collaboration between Tolokonnikova, digital artist Trippy Labs, and artist collective PleasrDAO, will sell 10,000 NFTs of the Ukrainian flag minted on Ethereum, as well as a separate unique NFT of the flag. Proceeds from the sale will benefit humanitarian groups NGO Proliska and the Return Alive Foundation. Tolokonnikova told Decrypt that the group decided to depict the Ukrainian flag “because it’s not about any specific artists or aesthetics — it’s about something much bigger than all of us, it’s a pure gesture of solidarity.” “Activism is the only reason I joined Web3,” Tolokonnikova added. “Now, when I’m so deeply as...
Fontaines D.C. Unveil New Song “I Love You”: Stream
Fontaines D.C. are back with a brooding new single. Listen to “I Love You” below. Like the curt “Life ain’t always empty” refrain of 2020’s “A Hero’s Death,” “I Love You” pounds its positive message into your skull with music so menacing, you question its intent. “I love you, I love you, I told you I do,” Grian Chatten insists, as swirling, Cure-style guitar fades in over slow-thumping bass. “It’s all I’ve ever felt, I’ve never felt so well,” he speak-sings. Once more with feeling, perhaps? “Ostensibly a love song,” as a press release puts it, Dublin’s favorite post punks fit some local commentary into the song of devotion as well, prompting Chatten to name the single “the first overtly political song we’ve written.” “It’s standing in the center of our beloved home country as a multitude o...
Steve Albini Suggests Juggalos Are Better People Than Deadheads
Here’s a new one for your Steve Albini hot take bingo card: The famously opinionated Chicago producer has come to the defense of Juggalos, even going so far as suggesting that Insane Clown Posse’s fans are better people than Deadheads. “Yes, I’m saying the Juggalos are good,” Albini tweeted on February 7th. “A non-judgmental, inclusive community for people on the fringe, built on a beautiful communion they call ‘family.’ They remind me of punk/queer chosen families and I love them. I haven’t heard much of the music, it’s atrocious. Who cares.” Albini’s take on the fans of the Insane Clown Posse arrived after screenshots of a 2020 Violent J interview with Stereogum went viral. In the interview, the rapper owned up to past instances of homophobia in the duo’s music, calling himself a “fool” ...
NOFX Confirm Four Punk in Drublic Festivals for 2022: Pennywise, Face to Face, and More
NOFX are set to headline four separate dates of their Punk in Drublic Craft Beer & Music Festival this spring. The fests are set for March 19th (Mesa, Arizona), March 26th (San Diego), March 27th (Ventura, California), and May 7th (Sacramento, California). The bill varies by each city, with NOFX headlining all dates. The most recently announced lineup on May 7th in Sacramento features a stacked bill including Pennywise, Face to Face, The Bouncing Souls, The Bombpops, Get Dead, and more. Other dates include Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, T.S.O.L., and more notable punk acts. Advertisement Related Video Tickets for Punk in Drublic Sacramento go on sale Friday (February 11th) at 10 a.m. PT via Ticketmaster, with a pre-sale beginning on Thursday. Passes to other three dates are available t...
Operation Ivy’s Jesse Michaels and Tim Armstrong Reunite to Perform “Sound System”
For only the second time since Operation Ivy’s disbandment in 1989, frontman Jesse Michaels and guitarist Tim Armstrong performed music together live on stage. On Saturday night, Michaels made a surprise appearance at Los Angeles’ Musack Rock and Roll Carnival, where he joined Armstrong’s band The Interrupters for a performance of Op Ivy’s “Sound System.” Michaels previously shared the stage with Armstrong and fellow Op Ivy bandmate Matt Freeman during a Rancid concert in 2006, where the trio reunited to play “Unity” and “Sound System.” During a podcast appearance last month, Michaels said he “wouldn’t object to” a full-fledged Operation Ivy reunion, but added that “I don’t know if it could happen for various practical reasons.” Advertisement Related Video “We have gotten offers, other peo...
Jesse Michaels Addresses Possibility of Operation Ivy Reunion: “I Wouldn’t Object to It”
Operation Ivy is one of the few bands who has thus far resisted reuniting. The Bay Area quartet, made up of singer Jesse Michaels, guitarist Tim Armstrong, bassist Matt Freeman, and drummer Dave Mello, existed for only a brief two-year period between 1987 and 1989, and released only one studio album. But what an album it was: 1989’s Energy successfully bridged two-tone ska and punk rock into what would become the template for modern pop punk, making it one of the most influential albums of its time. After Op Ivy’s demise, Armstrong and Freeman formed Rancid, Michaels explored other interests such as painting, and Mello bought a ranch. In the three decades since then, the closest we’ve gotten to a reunion was a surprise appearance by Michaels at a Rancid show in 2006, during which he joined...
Patti Smith Honored With Key to New York City
Patti Smith has been New York City nobility ever since she rose to prominence as one of the initial voices of the city’s punk scene in the 1970s. But now, the multi-hyphenate’s mark on the Big Apple is official: Mayor Bill de Blasio honored Smith with a key to the city today (December 27th). “There are many artists out there, many musicians out there, but there was only one Patti Smith,” de Blasio said at the ceremony. “Patti Smith had an authenticity and has an authenticity that you just didn’t find that many other places — an ability to cut through all the swirl around us and speak some more profound truths.” “I came here in 1967 from a rural area of South Jersey,” Smith added. I had just a few dollars in my pocket, nowhere to stay, no real prospects. But I came here to get a job and see...
Henry Rollins On Retiring From Music: “There’s No More Toothpaste In the Tube”
Few — if any — artists have left as much of a legacy on punk rock as Henry Rollins, so it makes sense that fans were surprised at the former Black Flag frontman’s decision to stop making music 15 years ago. In a recent appearance on producer Rick Rubin’s podcast, Broken Record, Rollins explained how he arrived at the conclusion. “The smart thing I did as a younger man was one day I woke up in my bed and I went, ‘I’m done with music. I don’t hate it. I just have no more lyrics. There’s no more toothpaste in the tube,’” Rollins said. “Luckily, I had enough movies, voiceover, documentary work, writing, talking, where that just filled in, and now I’m busier than ever. But I walked away before I had to start saying, ‘Hey, kids, remember this one?’ So I didn’t have to put it on and go up t...
