Sunday, August 15, 2010

NOFX

NOFX (H)
Early years (1983–1990)


In 1983, guitarist Eric Melvin met bassist/vocalist Mike Burkett (Fat Mike) and started the band under the name NO-FX, after a Boston hardcore punk band called Negative FX.[9] At this time, they were joined by drummer Erik "Smelly" Sandin. NOFX's first recording was a demo from 1984, produced by Germs drummer Don Bolles, which did not sell many copies. The only people who possess this rare copy were either the people who made it or the people they sold it to, obviously. It is an incredibly rare collector's item. Many have been uploaded online, but barely any are valid. Fat Mike claims no copies exist anymore, though it is unclear whether he or any other members of the band still possess the item. They released their self-titled debut EP NOFX on Mystic Records in 1985, which was later re-released in 1992 as part of the Maximum Rocknroll CD. The band's lineup had undergone numerous changes; however, the original three members had reunited. For a year, Erik "Smelly" Sandin left the band and was replaced by Scott Sellers, and later by Scott Aldahl. Dave Allen was in the band for about four months, until he died in a car accident. In 1986, the band released So What If We're on Mystic! Dave Casillas joined the band on second guitar in 1987 and was featured on the EP The P.M.R.C. Can Suck on This, attacking the PMRC's campaign for music censorship. The original cover was an edited S&M photo; the cover for the re-released version was changed to a photo of Eric Melvin. Prior to the release of Liberal Animation, a compilation of 14 early NOFX songs was released on Mystic Records. The album was self-titled, and featured the songs from the NOFX and So What If We're on Mystic! EPs. The album is quite rare and only printed around 1,000 copies. The price of the album ranges from $80–300 (see "NOFX" article on NOFX Wiki for more details). The album's cover was a remastered version of the cover from the NOFX EP.



They recorded Liberal Animation in 1988 with Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion. Although the title and some of the album's lyrics mocked vegetarianism and animal rights, Fat Mike says that he became a vegetarian after writing the Liberal Animation album.[10] The album was re-released in 1991 on Gurewitz's label Epitaph Records. Dave left the band and was replaced by Steve Kidwiller (a.k.a. 'Steve the Caucasian') after the recording of Liberal Animation. NOFX released their second album S&M Airlines on Epitaph Records in 1989

HI-STANDARD

Hi-Standard

Origin Japan

Genres Pop punk

Years active 1991–2000

Labels Pizza of Death Records, Fat Wreck Chords

Members

Akihiro Nanba

Ken Yokoyama

Akira Tsuneoka



Hi-Standard is a Japanese punk rock band who formed in 1991. The release Making the Road sparked sold-out Japan shows and US/European tours with punk bands such as NOFX, No Use for a Name and WIZO. Although members of Hi-Standard were Japanese born, all of the band's major releases were sung in English. Live footage of the band shows them talking to the crowd in their native Japanese and then immediately changing to English for the songs.



They are ranked at No.63 in the list of top 100 Japanese musicians provided by HMV.[1]



[edit] Hiatus

After recording five albums, the band entered a hiatus in August 2000, shortly after playing "Air Jam 2000". Ken Yokoyama began working on other projects, including BBQ Chickens and Ken Band, which is now simply known as Ken Yokoyama. Yokoyama revisited the bands original label Pizza of Death Records, which has since signed many punk and alternative rock bands. Akihiro Nanba's newest project is Ultra Brain. According to CDJapan, Nanba proclaims their debut album, Neo Punk, to be the birth of neo punk [2]. Akira Tsuneoka now provides the drums for the group Cubismo Grafico Five.



[edit] Discography

Growing Up (1996) Fat Wreck Chords

California Dreamin' EP (1996) Fat Wreck Chords

Angry Fist (1997) Fat Wreck Chords

Weihnachten stinkt! (split EP with WIZO) (1997) Hulk Räckorz

Making the Road (1999) Fat Wreck Chords

Love Is a Battlefield (EP) (2001) Fat Wreck Chords

Last of Sunny Day (2000)

The full length Last of Sunny Day contains songs from their prior releases and original songs. The band have an additional single "The Kids Are Alright" available only in Japan

Hi-Standard performs punk covers of American songs like "California Dreamin'", "Green Acres", "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" and "Can't Help Falling In Love".

MISFITS

The Misfits are an American rock band often recognized as the progenitors of the horror punk subgenre, blending punk rock and other musical influences with horror film themes and imagery. Founded in 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey by singer and songwriter Glenn Danzig, the group had a fluctuating lineup during its first six years with Danzig and bassist Jerry Only as the only consistent members. During this time they released several EPs and singles and, with Only's brother Doyle as guitarist, the albums Walk Among Us (1982) and Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983), both considered touchstones of the early-1980s hardcore punk movement. The Misfits disbanded in 1983 and Danzig went on to form Samhain and then Danzig. Several albums of reissued and previously unreleased material were issued after the group's dissolution, and their music became influential to punk rock, heavy metal, and alternative rock music of the late 1990s and early 2000s.




After a series of legal battles with Danzig, Only and Doyle regained the rights to record and perform as the Misfits. They formed a new version of the band in 1995 with singer Michale Graves and drummer Dr. Chud. This incarnation of the Misfits had a sound much more rooted in heavy metal and released the albums American Psycho (1997) and Famous Monsters (1999) before dissolving in 2000. Jerry Only then took over lead vocals and recruited former Black Flag guitarist Dez Cadena and former Ramones drummer Marky Ramone for a Misfits 25th Anniversary tour. This lineup released an album of cover songs entitled Project 1950 and toured for several years. In 2005 Ramone was replaced by Robo, who had played with Black Flag in the early 1980s and had also previously been the Misfits' drummer from 1982 to 1983. The current lineup of Only, Cadena, and Robo continues to tour and has announced plans to record an album of new material.

Background information


Origin Lodi, New Jersey, United States

Genres Horror punk, hardcore punk, heavy metal

Years active 1977–1983, 1995–present

Labels Plan 9, Caroline, Roadrunner, Misfits

Associated acts The Undead, Black Flag, Samhain, Kryst the Conqueror, Danzig, Dr. Chud's X-Ward, Gorgeous Frankenstein, Graves, Gotham Road, Ramones, Osaka Popstar

Members

Jerry Only

Dez Cadena

Robo

Former members

Glenn Danzig

Diane DiPiazza

Jimmy Battle

Manny Martínez

Franché Coma

Mr. Jim

Bobby Steele

Joey Image

Arthur Googy

Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein

Brian Damage

Dr. Chud

Michale Graves

Marky Ramone


 
 

The Exploited

The Exploited

The band formed in 1979 in Edinburgh. One of the first lineups consisted of Big John Duncan on guitar, (Reeba) Alan Martin on drums, Gary McCormack on bass and Terry Buchan on vocals. After a very short time, however, Terry was removed from the band and his oldest brother, Walter 'Wattie' Buchan whom then took over. Inspired by the first wave of punk rock (Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned), the quartet created a simple, no-frills sound characterized by speed and aggression. In 1980, the group founded its own independent record label, Exploited Record Company, and immediately released their debut EP Army Life, which was #6 in the independent charts for eight weeks, then was in the top 20 for 18 months. They then released another single, "Barmy Army", which immediately jumped into the independent charts and remained there for 53 weeks, peaking at #4.




In 1981 the band signed to Secret Records and released the single "Dogs of War", which peaked at #2 in the independent charts and #63 in the national charts. The band then released their first live album, On Stage, recorded during a concert in Edinburgh. Thereafter, the band performed, along with Discharge, Anti-Nowhere League, Anti-Pasti and Chron Gen on a tour called Apocalypse Now

ANTI-FLAG

Anti-Flag is a punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States, formed in 1988, and known for its outspoken left-wing political views. Much of the band's lyrics have focused on fervent anti-war activism, criticism of United States foreign policy, corporatism, U.S. wealth distribution, and various sociopolitical sentiments. The line-up includes singer/guitarist Justin Sane and drummer Pat Thetic, who founded the band; later members are guitarist Chris Head, and singer/bassist Chris Barker who replaced Jamie "Cock" Towns, who had replaced original bassist Andy Flag in 1997 following his departure one year prior. Anti-Flag is known also for their advocacy of progressive political action groups such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International. Most recently, the band has focused criticism on the United States bailouts, which were executed to give massive portions of capital directly towards salvaging the national banks.[2]




Contents [hide]

1 History

1.1 Early years (1988–1995)

1.2 First three albums (1996–1999)

1.3 Fat Wreck Chords (2000–2004)

1.4 RCA (2005–2009)

1.5 SideOneDummy (2009-present)

2 Activism

3 Symbol

4 Criticism

5 Band members

5.1 Former members

6 Discography

7 References

8 External links



[edit] History

[edit] Early years (1988–1995)

Anti-Flag was formed in 1988 by singer/guitarist Justin Sane and drummer Pat Thetic. During the band's early years, various guitarists and bassists moved in and out of the band, including Justin's sister, Lucy Fester (aka Lucy Geever-Conroy) formerly of Chicago band Toothpaste. The band failed to solidify, and it fell apart after playing just one show.[3] In 1993, Justin and Pat reformed the band, now with Andy Flag on bass.



[edit] First three albums (1996–1999)

In 1996, the band released their first album, Die For the Government, on New Red Archives. Andy Flag left the band in the summer of 1996 because of personal disputes between himself and Justin. For a brief time after Andy's departure in 1996, Sean Whelan of Pittsburgh band the Bad Genes filled in on bass. It was during this time that Sean was also playing in another band (57 Defective) with guitarist Chris Head, whom he introduced to the band.



In early 1997, Pittsburgh guitarist Chris Head began filling in on bass. In late 1997, Jamie Cock took over as the new bassist, moving Chris Head over to second guitar, which he preferred. The current line-up finalized in 1999 when Chris Barker, also known as Chris #2, replaced Jamie Cock on bass.



In 1998, the band released their second full-length release, Their System Doesn't Work For You. The album contained all nine Anti-Flag songs from the 1996 Anti-Flag/d.b.s. split album North America Sucks, as well as 10 new unreleased songs. The band decided to release the album independently, and Their System Doesn't Work For You became the debut release for the band's own A-F Records.



In 1999, Anti-Flag released the album A New Kind of Army on Go-Kart Records/A-F Records. The album addressed a wide variety of topics such as political corruption, racism, fascism, troubled youth, police brutality, and unity within the American youth. The cover art page unfolded into a poster featuring the phrase "Too smart to fight. Too smart to kill. Join now. A new kind of army." In addition to this, the band had a disclaimer at the bottom of its album cover saying,"Anti-Flag does not mean Anti-American. Anti-Flag means anti-war. Anti-Flag means unity."

BLACK FLAG

Black Flag


Black Flag performing in 1984. Left to right: Greg Ginn, Henry Rollins, and Kira Roessler. Drummer Bill Stevenson is not visible behind Rollins.

Background information

Origin Hermosa Beach, California, United States

Genres Hardcore punk

Years active 1977–1986, 2003

Labels SST

Associated acts Circle Jerks, Descendents, Minutemen, Dos, Gone, Nig Heist, October Faction, Tom Troccoli's Dog, S.O.A., Rollins Band, Chuck Dukowski Sextet, SWA, Misfits, Redd Kross, DC3

Former members

Greg Ginn

Keith Morris

Raymond Pettibon

David Horvitz

Spot

Chuck Dukowski

Brian Migdol

Robo

Ron Reyes

Dez Cadena

Henry Rollins

Emil Johnson

Chuck Biscuits

Bill Stevenson

Kira Roessler

Anthony Martinez

C'el Revuelta



Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established largely as the brainchild of Greg Ginn: the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes. They are widely considered to be one of the first hardcore punk bands.



Black Flag forged a unique sound early on that mixed the raw simplicity of the Ramones with atonal guitar solos and frequent tempo shifts. The band was also known for the intense and evocative lyrics found in their songs, most of which were penned by Ginn. Like other punk bands of this era, Black Flag gave voice to an anti-authoritarian, non-conformist message, featuring songs punctuated with descriptions of isolation, neurosis, poverty, and paranoia, themes that would be explored further when Henry Rollins joined the group as lead singer in 1981. Most of the band's material was released on Ginn's independent label, SST Records.



Black Flag was—and remains—well respected among their underground punk culture, with their influence primarily in their tireless promotion of a self-controlled DIY ethic and aesthetic. They are often regarded as pioneers in the movement of underground do-it-yourself record labels that flourished among the 1980s punk rock bands. Through seemingly constant touring throughout the United States and Canada, and occasionally Europe, Black Flag established an extremely dedicated fan base. Many other musicians would follow Black Flag's lead and book their own tours, utilizing a word-of-mouth network.



Over the course of the 1980s, Black Flag's sound, as well as their notoriety, evolved in ways that alienated much of their early punk audience. As well as being central to the creation of hardcore, they were part of the first wave of American West Coast punk rock and are considered a key influence on the punk subculture. Along with being among the earliest punk rock groups to incorporate elements and the influence of heavy metal melodies and rhythm (particularly in their later records), there were often overt freestyles, free jazz, breakbeat and contemporary classical elements in their sound, especially in Ginn's guitar playing, and the band interspersed records and performances with instrumentals throughout their career. They also played longer, slower, and more complex songs at a time when many bands in their milieu stuck to a raw, fast, three-chord format. As a result, their extensive discography is more stylistically varied than many of their punk rock contemporaries.



Contents [hide]

1 History

1.1 Early years

1.2 Rollins joins

1.3 Mid-career

1.4 Later period and break up

1.5 Post-Black Flag

2 Legacy

3 Iconography

4 Members

5 Discography

6 Footnotes

7 References



[edit] History

[edit] Early years

Initially called Panic, Black Flag formed in 1976. Ginn insisted that the band rehearse several hours a day.[1] This work ethic proved too challenging for some early members; Ginn and singer Keith Morris had an especially hard time finding a reliable bass guitarist, and often rehearsed without a bassist, a factor that contributed to the development of Ginn's distinctive, often low-pitched guitar sound. Ginn's brother Raymond Pettibon and SST house record producer-to-be Spot filled in sometimes at rehearsals.



Chuck Dukowski, bassist with Wurm, took a liking to Ginn's group, and eventually joined, forming a committed quartet with Ginn, Morris and drummer Brian Migdol. The band played their first performance in December 1977 in Redondo Beach, California. To avoid confusion with another band called Panic, they took on the name Black Flag in late 1978.[1] They played their first show as 'Black Flag' on January 27, 1979, in Redondo Beach. This was the first time Dez Cadena saw the band.



The name was suggested by Ginn's brother, artist Raymond Pettibon, who also designed the band's logo: a stylized black flag represented as four black bars. Pettibon stated "If a white flag means surrender, a black flag represents anarchy." Their new name was reminiscent of the anarchist symbol, the insect spray of the same name, and of the British heavy metal group Black Sabbath, one of Ginn's favorite bands. Ginn suggested that he was "comfortable with all the implications of the name."[2] The band spray painted the simple, striking logo all over Los Angeles, gaining attention from potential supporters, and thoroughly irritating police. Pettibon also created much of their cover artwork.



There were few opportunities for punk rock bands to perform in Southern California, (Los Angeles club The Masque was the center of the L.A. punk scene, but was also rather provincial, and did not often admit bands from outside L.A. proper). Black Flag organized their own gigs, performing at picnics, house parties, schools, any place that was available. They called club owners themselves to arrange appearances, and plastered hundreds of flyers—usually Pettibon's severe, haunting comic strip style panels—on any available surface to publicize performances. Dukowski reported that the "minimum (number of flyers) that went out was 500 for a show."[3]



Though Ginn was the band's leader, special note should be made of Dukowski's contributions to Black Flag. Ginn was tireless and profoundly disciplined, but he was also rather quiet. Dukowski's intelligent, fast-talking, high-energy persona attracted significant attention, and he was often Black Flag's spokesman to the press. Dukowski acted as the group's tour manager even after he no longer performed with them, and he was probably as important as Ginn in establishing the group's DIY aesthetic and demanding work ethic. Dukowski's bass guitar was a vital part of the early Black Flag sound; "TV Party", for instance, was one of many songs "driven more by Chuck Dukowski's percolating bass line than Ginn's stun-gun guitar."[4]



Morris appeared as vocalist on Black Flag's earliest recordings, and his energized, manic stage presence helped the band earn a reputation in the Los Angeles area. Migdol was replaced by the enigmatic Columbian drummer Roberto Valverde (a.k.a. ROBO), whose numerous clicking metallic bracelets became part of his drum sound. The group played with a speed and ferocity that was all but unprecedented in rock music; critic Ira Robbins declared that "Black Flag was, for all intents and purposes, America's first hardcore band."[5] Morris quit in 1979, citing, among other reasons, creative differences with Ginn, and his own "freaking out on cocaine and speed."[6] Morris would subsequently form the Circle Jerks.



After Morris's departure, Black Flag recruited fan Ron Reyes as singer. With Reyes, Black Flag recorded the Jealous Again 12-inch EP and appeared in the Decline Of Western Civilization movie. This was also the lineup that toured up and down the West Coast for the first time, the version most fans outside of LA first saw.



In 1980, Reyes quit Black Flag mid-performance at the Redondo Beach venue "The Fleetwood" because of escalating violence.[citation needed] For the remainder of that gig, the group played an extended version of "Louie Louie" and invited audience members to take turns singing.[1] In retaliation for his quitting mid-gig, the band credited Reyes as "Chavo Pederast," implying he was sexually attracted to younger boys.



The more reliable Dez Cadena - another fan - then joined as singer. With Cadena onboard, Black Flag began national touring in earnest, and arguably saw two peaks: first as a commercial draw (they sold out the 3,500-seat Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, a feat they were never able to manage again); and second, perhaps seeing the peak of attention from police in the Los Angeles area, due to the violence associated with Black Flag and punk rock in general. The band members have often insisted, however, that the police instigated far more problems than they solved.



By the summer of 1981, however, Cadena's voice was worn. He had no formal training or previous experience as a singer, and had severely strained his voice during Black Flag's seemingly nonstop touring, and he wanted to play guitar rather than sing.



[edit] Rollins joins

Twenty-year-old fan Henry Rollins (birth name Henry Garfield) — then living in Washington D.C. and singing for hardcore band S.O.A. — had corresponded with the band, and met them when they performed on the U.S. east coast. At an impromptu show in a bar, he asked the band to perform "Clocked In," and the band offered to let him sing the song. Since vocalist Dez Cadena was switching to guitar, the band then invited Rollins to audition. Impressed by his stage demeanor, they asked him to become their permanent vocalist [7]. Despite some doubts, he accepted, due in part to Ian MacKaye's encouragement. Rollins acted as roadie for the remainder of the tour while learning Black Flag's songs during sound checks and encores, while Cadena crafted guitar parts that meshed with Ginn's. Rollins also impressed Black Flag with his broad musical interests during an era when punk rock music and fans were increasingly factionalized; he introduced Black Flag to Washington DC's go-go, a distinctive take on funk music.



Rollins was Black Flag's longest-lasting singer, and has remained active in music to the present. When he joined Black Flag, he brought a different attitude and perspective than previous singers. Some earlier songs, such as "Six Pack" (a song written about ex-singer Keith Morris) blended a nearly goofy sense of satirical criticism (of apathy and alcoholism, respectively) with driving punk rock. He was a dynamic live performer and powerful singer, who usually appeared onstage wearing only shorts. Ginn once stated that after Rollins joined, "We couldn't do songs with a sense of humor anymore; he got into the serious way-out poet thing."[4]



[edit] Mid-career

"Nervous Breakdown"

Sample of Black Flag "Nervous Breakdown" from Nervous Breakdown EP (1978)



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"Slip It In"

Sample of Black Flag "Slip It In" from Slip It In (1984)



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With Rollins on board, Black Flag began work on their first full length album. The sessions for the record (chronicled in Michael Azerrad's book Our Band Could Be Your Life) were a source of conflict between the band and engineer/producer Spot, who had worked with the band and the SST label since their early years. Spot had already recorded many of the Damaged tracks with Dez Cadena on vocals (as well as Keith Morris and Ron Reyes) and felt that the band's sound was ruined with the two guitar line-up (these versions can be heard on the albums Everything Went Black and The First Four Years). Whereas the earlier four-piece versions are more focused and much cleaner sounding, the Damaged recordings are more akin to a live recording, with little stereo separation of guitars, and somewhat muddy. When asked about the lo-fidelity production, SPOT has said "They wanted it to sound that way." However, the artistic content and expression on the album showed the band pushing punk or hardcore music to a new level, with deeply personal and intensely emotional lyrics. As such, Damaged is generally regarded as Black Flag's most focused recording. One critic has written that Damaged was "perhaps the best album to emerge from the quagmire that was early-'80s California punk ... the visceral, intensely physical presence of Damaged has yet to be equaled, although many bands have tried."[8] Damaged was released in the fall of 1981, and the group began an extensive tour in support of it, forging an independent network for touring independent music acts that would form a cornerstone of the independent music scene for the decade to come.



The previous year 1980 saw the US punk rock movement hitting a peak in popularity. With Damaged and their growing reputation as an impressive live band, Black Flag seemed poised on the cusp of a commercial breakthrough. The record was to be distributed by now-defunct Unicorn Records, a subsidiary of MCA. Trouble began when MCA refused to handle Damaged after MCA executive Al Bergamo determined the album was an "Anti-Parent" record.[9] However, according to longtime SST employee Joe Carducci[10] the "Anti-Parent" statement was not the real reason for MCA's refusing to distribute Damaged; Carducci reported that Unicorn Records was so poorly managed and so deeply in debt that MCA stood to lose money by distributing the record, regardless of its content. This was the beginning of a legal dispute that would, for a period a few years later, disallow Black Flag from using their own name on any record when Black Flag released Damaged on SST Records and placed a copy of the "Anti-Parent" statement on the record's cover.



With their new singer, Black Flag and The Minutemen made their first tour of Europe in the Winter of 1981. During that tour, the band met punk icon Richard Hell and opened a concert for him. Rollins later published his diaries from that tour in his book Get In The Van. As the front man, Rollins was a frequent target of violent audience members, and became known for fist-fights with audience members. Rollins developed a distinct showmanship on stage, where he could entertain an audience just by talking to them.



As the band was about to return home from the European tour, UK customs detained Colombian drummer Robo due to visa problems, and he was not allowed back into the country. This would be the end of his tenure with the band (he eventually was able to get back into the United States and in 1983 would join The Misfits as their drummer). The loss of Robo temporarily put an end to extensive touring for a while. Emil Johnson of the Twisted Roots filled in for one tour, but it was clear he was only temporary.



While on that tour in Vancouver, the band found out that drummer Chuck Biscuits was leaving D.O.A.. He was quickly drafted onboard, traveling with the band for the rest of the tour (cut short because of Henry Rollins' twisted knee) to learn the songs. This lineup recorded the later-bootlegged cassette 1982 Demos, showing the direction the band would go in for the My War LP.



However, due to personality conflicts—In Get In The Van, Rollins described Biscuits as a "fuck up" -- and the Unicorn court injunction-forced inactivity of Black Flag, Biscuits left to join their rivals The Circle Jerks. (Later, Biscuits joined ex-Misfits singer Glenn Danzig's solo project Danzig). Black Flag eventually got Bill Stevenson of Descendents to join permanently (he had filled in from time-to-time before). While the Unicorn Records court injunction prevented the group from releasing a new studio album, they nonetheless continued to work on new material, and embarked on a period which would mark a pronounced change in the group's direction (and that of underground music in general).



It is possible that the violence of the previous tour had an effect on the band's direction. The group had also become increasingly interested in music other than punk rock, such as The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and some of the members (particularly Ginn) used cannabis. (However, various members had been fans of such music long before Black Flag, with Ginn being an avid Grateful Dead fan, and Cadena a fan of Hawkwind.) Newer material (which can be heard on The 1982 Demos bootleg) was slower and less like typical punk music, with classic rock and blues influences seeping in. Cadena left to form his own band DC3. He would take some of the new songs he had written for Black Flag with him and record them for DC3's first album.



Additionally, by late 1983, Dukowski had retired from performing with Black Flag (some accounts report he was "edged out" by Ginn[11]); Azerrad reports that Ginn was dissatisfied with Dukowski's failure to progress as an instrumentalist, and made things difficult for Dukowski in an attempt to make him quit, but in the end, Rollins took it on himself to fire Dukowski.[12] However, a few of Dukowski's songs were featured on later records, and he continued acting in his capacity as tour manager.



1983 found Black Flag with fresh songs and a new direction, but without a bass player, and embroiled in a legal dispute over distribution due to SST's issuing Damaged (Ginn argued that since MCA was no longer involved, the Unicorn deal was not legally binding, while Unicorn disagreed and sued SST and Black Flag). Until the matter was sorted out, the band were prevented by a court injunction from using the name "Black Flag" on any recordings. They released a compilation record, Everything Went Black, which was credited to the individual musicians, not "Black Flag". In fact, wherever the original album artwork had the words "Black Flag", they had been covered up with small slips of paper, thus adhering to the letter of the law.



After Unicorn Records declared bankruptcy, Black Flag were released from the injunction, and returned with a vengeance, starting with the release of My War. This record was both a continuation of Damaged, and a vast leap forward. While the general mood and lyrics continue in the confrontational and emotional tone of Damaged, many songs are slowed down, mixing in influences such as Black Sabbath with hardcore. The results were powerful, and the record would prove influential to grunge music as the decade progressed. Lacking a bass player, Ginn played bass guitar, using the pseudonym Dale Nixon. On the May 1, 2007 episode of his radio program Harmony In My Head, Rollins reported that one of Ginn's favorite albums during this era was Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire (1973), and opined that John McLaughlin's guitar work influenced Ginn.



Freed legally to release albums, Black Flag was re-energized and ready to continue full steam ahead. The group recruited bassist Kira Roessler (sister of punk keyboardist Paul Roessler, of 45 Grave fame) to replace Dukowski, and began its most prolific period. With Roessler, Black Flag had arguably found their best bassist. Dukowski was a powerful player, but Roessler brought a level of sophistication and finesse to match Ginn's increasingly ambitious music, without sacrificing any of the visceral impact required for punk rock.



1984 saw Black Flag (and the SST label) at their most ambitious. This year they would release four full-length albums, and toured nearly constantly, with Rollins noting 178 performances for the year, and about that many for 1985. With Dukowski gone, Ginn ceded much of the spotlight to Rollins, who had expressed some discomfort[13] over being the group's de facto spokesman, while Ginn was the recognized leader (Ginn wrote the majority of the group's songs and lyrics).



With Roessler on board, Black Flag began earnest experimentation, sometimes to critical and audience disdain: One critic writes that Slip It In "blurs the line between moronic punk and moronic metal";[5] another writes My War is "a pretentious mess of a record with a totally worthless second side."[14] Rollins reports that Black Flag's set-lists in this era rarely included older crowd favorites like "Six Pack" or "Nervous Breakdown", and that audiences were often irritated by the new, slower Black Flag. Violence against the band (and especially Rollins) was ever-present, although the vocalist was now an avid weight lifter, and more than able to defend himself. Furthermore, to Rollins' chagrin, Ginn's interest in marijuana steadily increased; as Rollins put it, "By '86 it was 'Cannot separate the man from his Anvil case with a big-ass stash.'"[15] Despite the initial resistance to the new music and quasi-psychedelic direction, My War would later be cited as a formative influence on grunge. The group would continue to evolve toward a more heavy metal sound, with 1985's Loose Nut featuring more polished production.



[edit] Later period and break up

Despite 1984-85 being the most fruitful period for the band and their record label, Ginn and Rollins would ultimately decide to eject Roessler from Black Flag, citing erratic behavior. It has also been suggested that Ginn's accommodating Roessler's college schedule created tension in the group. Her absence, and the lack of a steady drummer (Stevenson quit and was replaced by Anthony Martinez), contributed to the comparatively weak reputation of the last few Black Flag tours. However, the live album Who's Got the 10 1/2? shows the evolving lineup, with Kira and drummer Martinez, to be a powerful and entertaining unit.



By 1986, Black Flag's members had grown tired of the tensions of their relentless touring schedule, infighting, and of living in near-poverty. The band had been together almost a decade, and true commercial success and stability had eluded them. The group's erratic artistic changes were a barrier to their retaining an audience - Ginn was so creatively restless that Black Flag's records were often very dissimilar. At one point, Rollins apparently said, "Why don't we make a record that was like the last one so people won't always be trying to catch up with what we're doing?"[16] The next record,In My Head, with its powerful bluesy proto-grunge-metal, did seem to finally be a cohesive followup to a previous album (Loose Nut) - but it would be their last.



Black Flag played their last concert on June 27, 1986, in Detroit, Michigan; this show has been widely available through online music trading services and is of surprisingly good sound quality. By this point the band had become increasingly talented at performing improvised "jams", with Rollins screaming out lyrics quite literally as they came to him (as is evident on this recording), turning some songs like "Louie, Louie" into frenetic, almost unrecognizable blasts of intensity.



In Get In The Van, Rollins wrote that Ginn telephoned him in August 1986: "He told me he was quitting the band. I thought that was strange considering it was his band and all. So in one short phone call, it was all over." Many sources claim the band did not "officially" break up until 1987, but this appears to be false.



[edit] Post-Black Flag

Since Black Flag's break-up, Rollins has had the most visible public profile as a musician, writer, and actor. Most Black Flag members have also remained active in music, especially Ginn, who continued playing with groups such as Gone, October Faction, and Screw Radio, and Stevenson, who continued on with Descendents, ALL, Only Crime, and the reformed Lemonheads. Kira Roessler continues to record and perform with the band DOS, a duet with ex-husband and Minutemen bassist Mike Watt.



In September 2003, Black Flag played three reunion shows, two at the Hollywood Palladium and one at Alex's Bar in Long Beach, to benefit cat rescue organizations (a current passion of Ginn's). The line-up for the shows was Dez Cadena on vocals, Greg Ginn on guitar, ROBO on drums, and C'el Revuelta on bass. Professional skateboarder and singer Mike Vallely also sang all the songs from My War at these shows.



[edit] Legacy

Throughout their ten-year career as a band, Black Flag’s experiences became legendary, especially in the Southern California area. Much of the band’s history is chronicled in Henry Rollins’ own published tour diary Get In The Van. Black Flag were reportedly blacklisted by the LAPD and Hollywood rock clubs because of the destructiveness of their fans, though Rollins has claimed that police caused far more problems than they solved.



SST Records, an independent American record label that was initially founded to release Black Flag’s debut single, released recordings by influential groups such as Bad Brains, the Minutemen, Descendents, Meat Puppets, and Hüsker Dü. As well, SST released some albums by Negativland, Soundgarden, and, for a short period, Sonic Youth. Black Flag were involved in legal battles when they attempted more mainstream distribution for their records.



Black Flag's career is chronicled in Our Band Could Be Your Life, a study of several important American underground rock groups. Many members of the grunge scene cited Black Flag's My War album as being influential in their departure from the standard punk model. Steve Turner of Mudhoney stated in an interview, "A lot of other people around the country hated the fact that Black Flag slowed down ... but up here it was really great — we were like 'Yay!' They were weird and fucked-up sounding.".[17]



Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea has a Black Flag decal on one of his signature Modulus bass guitars, and guitarist John Frusciante has cited Greg Ginn as one of his early influences as a guitar player.[18]



Punk band Rise Against portrayed Black Flag in the 2005 Lords of Dogtown film, and their cover of "Nervous Breakdown" is on the Lords of Dogtown soundtrack. Rise Against also does a cover of the Black Flag song "Fix Me" in the video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.



Initial Records released a Black Flag cover album in 2002 (re-released with additional tracks in 2006 by ReIgnition Recordings), Black on Black: A Tribute to Black Flag. The compilation features 15 hardcore and metalcore bands,— including Most Precious Blood, Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Drowningman, and Coalesce.



[edit] Iconography



The band's logo was created by artist Raymond Pettibon to symbolize their themes of rebellion and anarchy. As the band gained popularity the logo was graffitied in and around Los Angeles, drawing the attention of the police to the band's activities.[19]Black Flag's visual imagery and artwork complemented the themes found in the band's music. Greg Ginn's brother Raymond Ginn, under the pseudonym Raymond Pettibon, created the artwork for all of the band's studio releases with the exceptions of Damaged and the "TV Party" single, as well as providing artwork for the band members to transform into merchandise and gig flyers.[20] When the band found it necessary to change their name from Panic in 1977, it was Pettibon who suggested the new name Black Flag and designed their iconic logo: four vertical black rectangles comprising a stylized rippling black flag. The logo evoked a number of meanings: it was the polar opposite of a white flag of surrender, as well as a symbol for anarchism and a traditional emblem of pirates.[21] As the band gained popularity the logo was graffitied on numerous highway overpasses and other public and private surfaces in and around Los Angeles, drawing the attention of the authorities and contributing to an increase in police presence at Black Flag shows.[19]



Pettibon's artwork for the band's albums and flyers was equally stark and confrontational. He typically worked in one panel using only pen and ink, so the message conveyed had to be direct and powerful due to lack of space and color.[20] According to Michael Azerrad in Our Band Could Be Your Life, the artwork "was a perfect visual analogue to the music it promoted – gritty, stark, violent, smart, provocative, and utterly American."[20] It also provided a cerebral aspect to the band's image: as the mainstream media caricatured Black Flag as a mindlessly aggressive act, the pairing of their music with high-concept artwork hinted at a greater intelligence at work that was unknown to outsiders.[20] Henry Rollins, in his journal collection Get in the Van, notes that Pettibon's artwork became synonymous with Black Flag and that before Rollins joined the band he would collect photocopies of their fliers that had circulated from California to Washington, DC.[22] The album cover for Nervous Breakdown had a particularly strong impact on Rollins: "The record's cover art said it all. A man with his back to the wall baring his fists. In front of him another man fending him off with a chair. I felt like the guy with his fists up every day of my life."[23] Another image which drew considerable attention was the artwork created for the "Police Story" single, showing a police officer being held with a gun in his mouth with the speech blurb "Make me come, faggot!" The image was plastered on flyers all around Los Angeles and added to the police pressure on the band.[19] Pettibon later remarked that "my values are relativistic, and I’ll give a cop the benefit of the doubt. If that’s me with my gat – my gat’s larger than the one depicted – we can have a discussion, and he can answer me just as well with my .357 barrel in his mouth, or on his cheek, or on his adenoids, or down his throat. I’ll listen to his whimpering cries."[24] After joining the band Rollins would sometimes watch Pettibon draw, admiring his work ethic and the fact that he did not make telephone calls or sit for interviews.[25] The drawings themselves rarely bore a direct connection to the music or its lyrical themes. Pettibon himself recalls that "These drawings just represented what I was thinking. Except for a few instances, the flyers weren't done as commercial art or advertising. You could have stuck anything on a photocopy machine and put the band name and made an advertising flyer, but these weren't done like that. I was vehement about that as much as my personality allowed."[26] Pettibon also sold pamphlet books of his work through SST, with titles such as Tripping Corpse, New Wave of Violence, and The Bible, the Bottle, and the Bomb, and did artwork for other SST acts such as the Minutemen.[20]





Pettibon's drawing of a police officer being held at gunpoint was used on flyers and merchandise promoting the "Police Story" single. The speech blurb reads "Make me come, faggot!" The text to the left reads "Art: Chuck Higby", a pseudonym.[19]In order to adapt Pettibon's artwork to meet the layout requirements of their albums and flyers, the members of Black Flag would alter it by cutting and pasting and adding their name, logo, and gig details to it. They would then make photocopies and put up dozens of flyers to promote their shows. Rollins recalls going out on a flyering mission with roadie Mugger in 1981 in which the pair would put a layer of paste onto a telephone pole, stick up the flyer, and then cover it with an additional coat of paste so that it would last for up to a year. The band members and their crew would do this for miles around, using dozens of flyers to promote a single performance.[27] Pettibon, however, did not always appreciate the band's treatment of his art, which he provided to them largely for free.[28] "To me my work was the equivalent of a band like Black Flag or any other band who was righteously self-protective of recordings. I would give them original art and it would come back to me scrawled upon and taped over or whited out, and I'd always ask nicely, 'Could you please make a copy of this first and then do that?' Their master tapes were deemed sacrosanct, while my work was seen as completely disposable, but I'm not venting or complaining, just stating fact."[26] Pettibon also felt pigeonholed by his association with the band, and had a falling out with them in 1985 over artwork used on the cover of the Loose Nut album, which had been used for a flyer several years earlier. Ginn resurrected it without telling his brother and turned it over to drummer Bill Stevenson to do the layout, who cut it into pieces and used them as elements for the cover and lyric sheet. Pettibon became irate and he and Ginn stopped speaking for some time, though his artwork continued to be used for the remainder of the band's career.[28]



Tattoos of the Black Flag logo have become widespread since its creation.[29] In 2009, a project entitled Barred for Life was started by a Philadelphia based group to photograph people with Black Flag tattoos for an upcoming book.[29][30]





[edit] Members

For more details on this topic, see Black Flag band members.

Vocalists

Keith Morris (1976–1979)

credited as Johnny "Bob" Goldstein on Everything Went Black

Ron Reyes (1979–1980)

credited as Chavo Pederast on Jealous Again and Everything Went Black

Dez Cadena (1980–1981, 2003)

Henry Rollins (1981–1986)

Bassists

Raymond Pettibon (Raymond Ginn) (1976)

Glen "Spot" Lockett (1976–1977)

Chuck Dukowski (Gary McDaniel) (1977–1983)

Kira Roessler (1983–1985)

C'el Revuelta (1986, 2003)

Guitarists

Greg Ginn (1976–1986, 2003)

Dez Cadena (1981–1983, 2003)

Drummers

David Horvitz (1976–1977)

Brian Migdol (1977–1978)

Roberto "ROBO" Valverde (1978–1981, 2003)

Emil Johnson (1982)

Chuck Biscuits (Charles Montgomery) (1982)

Bill Stevenson (1983–1985)

Anthony Martinez (1985–1986)





[edit] Discography

Main article: Black Flag discography

Studio albums

Damaged (1981)

My War (1984)

Family Man (1984)

Slip It In (1984)

Loose Nut (1985)

In My Head (1985)

SUM-41

SUM-41

Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario,[1] active since 1996. The current members are Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jason McCaslin (bass guitar, backing vocals), Steve Jocz (drums, backing vocals), and Tom Thacker (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboard).




In 1999, the band signed an international record deal with Island Records. The band released their debut album, All Killer No Filler in 2001. The band achieved mainstream success with their first single from the album, "Fat Lip", which reached number-one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and remains the band's most successful single to date.[2] All Killer No Filler was certified platinum in the United States, Canada and in the UK.[3] The band has since released three more studio albums: Does This Look Infected? (2002), Chuck (2004) and Underclass Hero (2007). All three albums were certified platinum in Canada.



The band often performs more than 300 times each year and holds long global tours, most of which last more than a year.[4] They have been nominated for seven Juno Awards and have won twice (Group of the Year in 2002 and Rock Album of the Year for Chuck in 2005).

Friday, August 13, 2010

punk rock malaysia

Famous Malaysian punk bands include the anarcho punk Carburetor Dung and streetpunk/oi! A.C.A.B..

The first punk rock scene in Malaysia started in Terengganu in 1978/1979. It started in the small town of Dungun by a group of friends influenced by British music magazines such as NME, Melody Maker, Sounds and Zig Zag, as well as their brothers and friends studying or living in the more modern West Coast cities who would pass them the magazines and music.

It was known as the Malaysian capital of punk rock throughout the late 1979 and the 1980s but there were no bands then as the punks were too poor to afford the equipment. The scene then was more a covergence of pioneering punk rockers trading pre-recorded music and fanzines acquired from pen-pals and friends from overseas while dabbling in home-made DIY punk fashion.

Most of the trading material came from friends studying overseas, friends living in the West Coast cities and also punk rockers from UK, Europe and US who sent tapes and magazines. Irregular trips were made to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (and Georgetown, but rarely as it was too far) to dub punk rock records at the music stores or buy pirated tapes.

Some fishing villages would have the most punks and thus became the center of activities. The main two villages were Kampung Mengabang Telipot (an hour north to the city) and Kampung Tanjung (right at the mouth of the city's river system). In Mengabang Telipot, there was a small punk community library with fanzines, magazines and music, which the kids would share. This library was actually a wooden cupboard situated at one of the punk rockers' houses, it was called as "logen".

The first Malaysian punk fanzine came out from this scene. It appeared in 1986 with the title of Huru Hara (meaning "chaos"); it was written in Terengganu slang by editor Mamat Hitam but never distributed on a large scale. The first fanzine to do that was Aedes, which lasted until 1996.

Bands like The Pilgrims, Carburetor Dung, The Bollocks, A.C.A.B and A.R.T were playing in the underground gig circuit 90's around Kuala Lumpur, sharing the same stage with other bands playing different genres. The Oi! scene was also popular with street punk music by bands like A.C.A.B, The Official & Roots N Boots, with the look of the mods and skinheads. Joe Kidd (Carburetor Dung), who was a journalist from Malaysia's The Sun newspaper, wrote his column called 'Blasting Concept' which reviewed most of the records and demo released by D.I.Y bands in the 90's. There was also reviews of concerts and shows all around Malaysia. Joe Kidd now owns a D.I.Y shop called 'The Ricecooker' which is located in the heart of the Malaysian underground scene, Central Market.

A new generation picked it up again in the late-90s with bands, DIY labels and intermittent gigs.

There are still a lot of active punk-influenced bands such as Dirty Divider and The Goodnight Goodies, and hardcore/experimental/trance Mad Monsters Attack.

Friday, August 6, 2010

My Chemical Romance-The Ghost Of You (video)

My Chemical Romance - "Helena" Music Video

sum 41-with me

199x-water

BASS GUITAR

The bass guitar[1] (also called electric bass,[2][3][4] or simply bass; pronounced /ˈbeɪs/, as in "base") is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb (either by plucking, slapping, popping, tapping, or thumping), or by using a plectrum.
The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length, and four, five, or six strings. The four string bass—by far the most common—is usually tuned the same as the double bass,[5] which correspond to pitches one octave lower than the four lower strings of a guitar (E, A, D, and G).[6] The bass guitar is a transposing instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds (as is the double bass) to avoid excessive ledger lines. Like the electric guitar, the electric bass guitar is plugged into an amplifier and speaker for live performances.
Since the 1950s, the electric bass guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the bass instrument in the rhythm section. While the types of basslines performed by the bass guitarist vary widely from one style of music to another, the bass guitarist fulfills a similar role in most types of music: anchoring the harmonic framework and laying down the beat. The bass guitar is used in many styles of music including rock, metal, pop, ska, reggae, dub, punk rock, country, blues, and jazz. It is used as a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, Latin, funk, and in some rock and heavy metal styles.

GUITAR

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, played either with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number but sometimes more, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with either nylon or steel strings. Some modern guitars are made of polycarbonate materials. Guitars are made and repaired by luthiers. There are two primary families of guitars: acoustic and electric.
Acoustic guitars (and similar instruments) with hollow bodies, have been in use for over a thousand years. There are three main types of modern acoustic guitar: the classical guitar (nylon-string guitar), the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the archtop guitar. The tone of an acoustic guitar is produced by the vibration of the strings, which is amplified by the body of the guitar, which acts as a resonating chamber. The classical guitar is often played as a solo instrument using a comprehensive fingerpicking technique.
Electric guitars, introduced in the 1930s, rely on an amplifier that can electronically manipulate tone. Early amplified guitars employed a hollow body, but a solid body was found more suitable. Electric guitars have had a continuing profound influence on popular culture. Guitars are recognized as a primary instrument in genres such as blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, jazz, jota, mariachi, reggae, rock, soul, and many forms of pop.

CAREER TO BE MUSIC PLAYER

Career

The Music all met at Brigshaw High School and began playing in 1999. In 2001 the song "Take the Long Road and Walk It" circulated as a demo before being released by Fierce Panda as a 1000-copies-only single, a rarity from its day of release. Around this time the NME and Steve Lamacq were describing them as the best unsigned band in Britain. The band were quickly signed by Hut, who released their first EP You Might as Well Try to Fuck Me.
In 2002, following another EP (The People) they released their eponymous debut album which reached #4 in the UK album charts. Their debut single was re-issued as part of a two-disc set to promote the album, and reached #14 in the singles chart. Two further singles from the album, Getaway and The Truth is No Words reached #26 and #18 respectively. June 2003 saw them filling in for an absent Zwan on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival. [1]
In autumn 2004, they released their second album Welcome to the North and the accompanying single Freedom Fighters, before touring with Incubus. August 2005 saw the band play at the dual-venue V Festival. In late 2006 they played a few UK gigs and subsequently posted on their site the video new song entitled, Fire, which would eventually be released on Strength in Numbers two years later. The site also featured a video for unreleased track Kill 100 by X-Press 2 featuring Robert Harvey.
The band signed a new deal with Polydor in 2007 and spent the rest of the year recording their third album with producers Flood and Paul Hartnoll.
During this time Harvey also revealed the reason for the band's extended absence. On The Music's official website, he told of his initial abuse of drugs in his mid-teens: "the addiction began to sit into its groove. At first it was a joy then later became a habit and a way of escaping". He later quit drugs, but around the time of the band's second album, had replaced the addiction with alcohol: "Drinking became the place to hide. I'd have a bottle of wine before 7pm, then go out and make a fool of myself. The next day was always panic and more questions; it took a close friend to say to me 'Robert, you are depressed'". He sought help at the end of 2005, and undertook a program that included medication.[2]

DRUM!!!!!!!

The drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, technically classified as the membranous.[1] Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a drumstick, to produce sound. Other techniques have been used to cause drums to make sound, such as the thumb roll. Drums are the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years.[1] Most drums are considered "untuned instruments", however many modern musicians are beginning to tune drums to songs; Terry Bozzio has constructed a kit using diatonic and chromatically tuned drums. A few types of drums such as timpani are always tuned to a certain pitch. Often, several drums are arranged together to create a drum kit.[2]

about punk rock and history abot it

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY (do it yourself) ethic, with many bands self-producing their recordings and distributing them through informal channels.
By late 1976, bands such as the Ramones, in New York City, and the Sex Pistols and The Clash, in London, were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world. Punk quickly, though briefly, became a major cultural phenomenon in the United Kingdom. For the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies.
By the beginning of the 1980s, faster, more aggressive styles such as hardcore and Oi! had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a broad range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk and the alternative rock movement. By the turn of the century, pop punk had been adopted by the mainstream, with bands such as Green Day and The Offspring bringing the genre widespread popularity