An Embarrassing Punk Rock Past
Earlier in the summer I received a gift from a good friend and fellow WUSC alumni, Lady Miss Gee, two comics written by Ariel Schrag, those documenting her freshman and sophomore years of high school, “Potential” and “Akward”, I believe. Ariel Schag grew up around the same time I did, in California, and she wrote some of the most accurate coming of age stories. They were laced with many of the same punk culture icons my friends and I were following on a different coast.
I was reading it all around the same time as the most recent Woodstock anniversary, and of course the public radio airwaves were playing to their demographic with interviews and documentaries about this one musical event that, for all it’s iconic power, was basically an apolitical exercise in turning youthful rebellion into money. For the most part, commentary was the sort of self-congratulatory crap I engaged in every week as host of Police and Thieves, the punk show. Most of those interviewed have gotten over the bad trips and moved on to cushy intellectual jobs, and, for the most part, all their fond memories of the event suggested to me that it would have been beyond shitty to have actually been there. The projected importance of the event, really, could be summed up in roughly a paragraph in any high school American history textbook.
I did, however, appreciate Dick Polman’s take on Woodstock, featured here: http://rocnow.com/article/opinion-syndicated-columns/2009908140362
In particular, his frank description of the futility of it all, “this notion that Woodstock was supposed to be more than a party, that it was supposed to define how a generation felt about itself, to crystallize its political and cultural potential. Looking back 40 years, Woodstock has managed only to inflate boomers’ expectations of themselves and, sadly, to amplify many of life’s inevitable disappointments.”
In the commentary he mentions the Abbie Hoffman incident, as if anyone needed another reason to think that the man who wrote “My Generation” was, in fact, one of the biggest asses of said generation. The generation who grew up to look the other way during the last ten years of scandal, the generation who quite literally couldn’t go more apeshit over shutting down Abu Ghraib if they were on LSD at the time that Katie Couric broke the news to them. “Their generation” wanted the political protests to get the hell off the stage.
Which brings us back to the punk rock. Hippies and punks, not so different. Bob Dylan may have traded in his acoustic, but it was my generation that used those electric guitars as god intended- to make protest music as unlistenable as the protests themselves. At this point, I still believe that better subcultures make better people. Without didactic vegan hardcore I probably wouldn’t care where my groceries came from. Without riot grrrl I probably wouldn’t know about minority empowerment. Without punk, as a whole, I would not have any idea of how important it is to make our own media with our own message.
Maybe the more I age the more disappointment I will have in the complete inefficiency of the movement I associated with my youth. I’m technically not out of that youth yet, but I like to think that I know how a real hippie, one who subscribed to the political aspect of the movement, feels when he or she walks into an American Eagle and sees empty symbols screenprinted on cotton spandex blends. After all, the Hot Topic is three stores down.
August 22, 2009
Like a Rhinestone Cowboy
In what is one of the poetic responses to micro-management, I like to tell the story of a man who will remain anonymous, a former manager for Wal-Mart. His district manager was walking him through the store, saying and doing the sort of total creep things that district managers all over the country do. At one point, this unnamed man turned to that district manager and said, “You don’t own me.”
Completely classic. It’s this attitude that I appreciate most in song, from Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It” to Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” to Cub’s “Who the Hell Do You Think You Are” to, well, really anything ever recorded by Public Enemy. I’m actually shocked that there aren’t more songs that fall along these lines, it seems like such a universal topic.
Your assignment is to find the song in your collection that meets these criteria. And if you don’t have a song that meets these criteria, maybe you need to stir up some drama in your life in order to need these sorts of songs, because clearly something is lacking.
April 8, 2009
Why I Can’t Listen to Most Heavy Music.
I like to rock. More than the average person. But I have no patience for things like moronic hardcore boys who sing about destroying shit or moronic hardcore girls who have their myspace pictures with their hair dyed black and their breasts hanging out of their shirts. I have no patience for unkempt facial hair and Nightmare Before Christmas hoodies. I have no patience for fake rebellion in general.
You, whoever you are. Fight this shit. Say something. Don’t waste the poor years of your life listening to or making music that says nothing about your real life. This is just bad. I miss punk rock so much I’d almost take another rap rock movement.
Man.
March 2, 2009
No Police and Thieves this Semester
I’ve decided to take a semester off from Police and Thieves. It’s really gotten in the way of my television watching in the past, so, you know.
Actually, it’s just a lot of work to do a good show and I’d feel guilty doing crap shows. Stay tuned to this blog for continued music posts and news, I will be subbing occasionally and working on some other audio projects, probably to return this summer.
Thanks for listening.
January 6, 2009
Po po and Thieves Dec 8
| US Bombs | Youth Goes | 12/8/2008 5:51:17 PM | |||
| Circle Jerks | Coup D’etat | 12/8/2008 5:51:03 PM | |||
| Dead Kennedys | Kill the Poor | 12/8/2008 5:47:46 PM | |||
| Monsula | Razors | 12/8/2008 5:45:27 PM | |||
| Self | Too Punk for Prom | Operation Spivey | 12/8/2008 5:44:57 PM | ||
| Gang of Four | It’s Her Factory | 12/8/2008 5:32:29 PM | |||
| MDC | Millions of Dead Cops | 12/8/2008 5:32:14 PM | |||
| Deepslaughter | It’s In Order | Thank God/Deepslaughter split ep | 12/8/2008 5:30:26 PM | ||
| Thank God | 2000 Bees Can’t Be Wrong | For Pregnant Virgins | 12/8/2008 5:29:56 PM | ||
| Fugazi | Epic Problem | 12/8/2008 5:29:23 PM | |||
| Black Flag | Police Story | 12/8/2008 5:29:13 PM | |||
| Corrupted Morals | Where is He’ | 12/8/2008 5:29:03 PM | |||
| Pegboy | Field of Darkness | 12/8/2008 5:28:46 PM | |||
| Unseen | We are all that we have | State of Discontent | 12/8/2008 5:17:30 PM | ||
| Against Me | Pints of Guiness Make you Strong | no idea comp | 12/8/2008 5:16:05 PM | ||
| Verbal Assault | Learn | 12/8/2008 5:15:25 PM | |||
| The Dicks | Rich Daddy | 12/8/2008 5:15:05 PM | |||
| Subhumans | British Disease | 12/8/2008 5:14:54 PM | |||
| Sorry | Doomed from the Start | 12/8/2008 5:08:40 PM | |||
| Stiff Little Fingers | 78 RPM | 12/8/2008 5:08:24 PM | |||
| DOA | Amerika the Beautiful | 12/8/2008 5:08:08 PM | |||
| Dils | Class War | 12/8/2008 5:00:46 PM | |||
| Antischism | Failsafe | Still Life | 12/8/2008 4:47:42 PM | ||
| Born Against | Murder the Sons of Bitches (edited) | 12/8/2008 4:45:19 PM | |||
| Agnostic Front | Existence of Hate | 12/8/2008 4:45:05 PM | |||
| Guyana Punchline | direkt aktionists daily affirmation | direkt aktion | 12/8/2008 4:43:02 PM | ||
| Lunachicks | Apathetic | s/t ep | 12/8/2008 4:40:16 PM | ||
| The Vandals | What About Me? | Look What I Almost Stepped In… | 12/8/2008 4:39:48 PM | ||
| Discount | City Bleach | 12/8/2008 4:39:04 PM | |||
| Face to Face | Disconnected | 12/8/2008 4:34:26 PM | |||
| Seven Seconds | Meant to Be My Own | Take it back, take it on, take it over | 12/8/2008 4:32:46 PM | ||
| Screeching Weasel | What We Hate | Weaselmania | 12/8/2008 4:31:54 PM | ||
| Down By Law | Revolution Comprimised | 12/8/2008 4:26:34 PM | |||
| Bad Brains | Let Me Help | 12/8/2008 4:23:37 PM | |||
| The Frantics | Obliterated | Downer | 12/8/2008 4:20:37 PM | ||
| Banned | LA Blackout | 12/8/2008 4:17:51 PM | |||
| Bad Religion | Bored and Extremely Dangerous | the process of belief | 12/8/2008 4:10:08 PM | ||
| Jello Biafra and the Melvins | Halo of Flies | Sieg Howdy | 12/8/2008 4:09:05 PM | ||
| Heart Monster | Communities | st ep |
December 8, 2008
Playlist December 1st, 2008
As a reminder, the new WUSC website has tons of stuff worth checking out, including playlists, blogs and news.
And, sweet lord, this is a great set list.
Ruby and the Roof Vandells-Baby Baby Baby Baby (oh wow)
Rocket from the Tombs-Never Gonna Kill Myself Again
Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers-Born to Lose
Plasmatics-Butcher Baby
The Ex-Human Car
Fear-I Don’t Care About You
Gang of Four-Armalite Rifle
Confederate Fagg-Hell’s Jingle Bells
Thank God-Good Thing Highwaters are in Fashion
Descendents-Suburban Home
7 Seconds-Happy Rain
Discount-Is It OK
All-Fool
Screeching Weasel-Acknowledge
Revolvers-Marley
Free Kitten-Feed the Tree
Universal Order of Armageddon-Entire Vast Situation
Wire-Straight Line
Assfactor 4-Is Love Just Jive Turkey
Adolescents-The Peasant Song
The Eat-Silly Drug Songs
Black Flag-American Waste
Tourettes-Horse Girl
Limp Wrist-I Love Hardcore Boys
Los Crudos-Achicados
Guyana Punchline-The Red Sea
Mecca Normal-Flashlight
Heartmonster-Holy Holocaust
The Muffs-Nothing
Mr T Experience-My Stupid Life
Jack Acid-Cheap Tragedies
Babyguts-Badmouth
Impatient Youth-Frontline
Subhumans-Oh Canaduh
Slant 6-Nights x 9
Screaming Noise-Boredom
Seein Red-Earth First
Life Sentence-Punks for Profit
Getaway Car-Sony Radio
Mass Media-Das Jazz
FU’s-Rock the Nation
L Seven-Insanity
Deadline-Authority Figures
Kathy Hoffman-Kathy’s Letter
December 1, 2008
November 17, 2008 Playlist
Adrenalin O.D.-A Nice Song in the Key of “D”
Heart Monster-Washington
Fugazi-Great Cop
The Minutemen-Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing
Impatient Youth-Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
The Left-The Viet Cong Live Next Door
The Stooges-1970
Fugazi-Full Disclosure
Rose Rose-Stop Laugh
J Church-Why I Liked Bikini Kill
Neuroosi-Rock AgainstSeija Isonsaari
New York Dolls-Personality Crisis
The Exploited-Holiday in the Sun
The New Bomb Turks-Born Toulouse Lautrec
Gang of Four-Not Great Men
Gay Cowboys in Bondage-Domestic Battlefield
Eyes-Kill Your Parents
Down By Law-Revolution Comprimised
Rites of Spring-Drink Deep
Ripcord-Can’t You See
Citizens Arrest-Serve and Protect
Confuse-People are Nuclear Poisoning
Stiff Little Fingers-Suspect Device
Storenefrieda-Vegan Macht Sexy
Trust-Egoismo
Mika Miko-See You There
Avengers-Cheap Tragedies
Minor Threat-Screaming at the Wall
Limp Wrist-I Love Hardcore Boys
Pulso-Bolero
Blitz-Attack
Bikini Kill-Bloody Ice Cream
Jaksi Taksi-Zachovejte Paniku
Bad Religion-Voice of God is Government
Lifetime-The Boys No Good
Discount-Half Fiction
Cigarette Man-Fade Away
Dirge-Self Destruct
November 17, 2008
Interview with Blake Schwarzenbach from 2003
Blake Schwarzenbach
This interview was conducted in June? of 2003 by Jordan J and Jason Harper. Abbreviations are reasonably obvious. At the time of this interview, Blake Schwarzenbach was on tour with his band Jets To Brazil, who are on Jade Tree . They were touring in support of their third album, “Perfecting Loneliness”. Schwarzenbach was also formerly the lead vocalist of Jawbreaker who split shortly after signing to a “major” label and releasing “Dear You”. Both in lyrical and actual terms Schwarzenbach has such an amazing voice. At this time, the Jets To Brazil website no longer features the text of his speech given at New York University, tour dates, band or contact information, so it is entirely possible that many parts of this interview are dated. Sorry. Oh, and I don’t know about Jason, but this was my first interview so I’ll apologize for that as well.
JJ: I know you posted something on your website recently the speech that you gave at that (NYU) convention. I was wondering if you had any strong political convictions or if this was something you felt was necessary as a result of the time.
BS: I have begun to have very strong political convictions in the past three years, I would say, more pointed in particular. I’ve always been opposed to abstract authority in a more poetic sense and I just grew up in an insurgent culture, I guess, but I have a friend who’s an activist and I began to think about countries that are affected by foreign policy here so it’s become very particular.
JJ: So it’s thinking outside the boundary, outside the box of the United States is what you’re saying?
BS: Outside the box of my mind, you know it used to be a thing in writing in punk rock about what I call abstract anti-authoritarianism which is well and fine but I would do it poetically and not as pointedly as “let’s look at the middle east right now or throughout history” and now it’s become a more regional thing where I have to do homework and read.
JJ: It seemed that the orange rhyming dictionary seemed to have some political undertones in terms of cultural differences…
JH: In terms of world war II and whatnot
BS: That’s true and that song that you’re talking about was inspired by a biography of Camus that I read and his work in the resistance and it’s very curious because now I know people who are not big Camus fans who are activists, who are radical people who say that he didn’t support French withdrawal from Algeria, decolonization, he was kind of into synthesis which is a little unrighteous seeming now but back when I read I thought this guy is a hero, I already loved his writing and he was sort of a forerunner existentialist, he’s a troubled guy, he’s a philanderer, I like complex characters and he had all that and he was working with the resistance which is a beautiful thing. But it’s always deeper than that.
JH: In terms of a political effect with your music have you ever wanted to write just a political song, something without having an undertone of a political statement, just brutally straightforward “I’m against this” or whatever else.
BS: Yeah, I think the song “disgrace” on the last album is pretty forthright. I can’t help but get into metaphor because that’s the pleasure of writing for me and I worry about cheapening issues by writing songs. You know when I hear unoriginal political songs I could be totally down with the message it’s pretty sad for me, it’s frustrating because you almost have that feeling of “stay off my side”? Sometimes I feel that with really clumsy political writing where I know the intention and the heart is in the right place but it’s almost giving it a bad name, you know what I mean? Like liberals, middle of the road liberals give liberals, or what used to be liberals, a bad name. I don’t even know that liberalism has a meaning anymore.
JJ: Looking back on the recent events, do you feel as if you’ve done enough as an artist to try and prevent these things?
BS: I do what I can you know, I’m trying to keep myself alive as an artist and as a person even, to keep living. I break for my own survival first and some of the political things have actually kept me going and given me another reason to keep trying. So I’m not worried that I’m not doing enough but I’d like to do something every semester, let’s say, when I can. I find it really exhausting, like the speech that I wrote for this NYU thing, I put a lot of energy into it, it was an incredible day. I loved reading that way for students and being a part of it at a level like that but I felt like I couldn’t write for a month afterwards. It’s very draining.
JJ: Was it twice as rewarding, maybe, as opposed to those songs you would have written in that time because of a different audience?
BS: Yea, it was a new thing, which is always a great thing to do. You know, it was an utterly new kind of performance experience for me and now I have people who were there or who’ve read it who respond to it in some way. So that’s really cool because I’m not communicating on an “indie rock” level, indie rock doesn’t mean anything, it’s a stupid thing. There’s great independent rock but “indie rock” as a culture is totally dead. It’s just fucking outfits.
JJ: Yea, it kind of makes me want to cry.
BS: It’s worth crying about.
JJ: Speaking of indie rock going kind of the mainstream way and getting muddied, how do you feel about the FCC and different things that are going on right now that are making it more difficult for any real independent music to get out there?
BS: It gives me hope for indie rock that it may have to act on its name and be forthright about being independent.
JH: On the same level I heard you on XM radio now, which is really cool and I think that’s a format that is good for a lot of independent or unsigned artists, what do you feel about that? Do you care about radio play?
BS: I don’t, our label does. We differ to them on that level I don’t really want to know about it. I try and… it’s a strange way you work with those groups, the larger groups and corporations. I’m cool with them playing our stuff but I don’t want it used in a manner that I find unsavory. For instance, I learned that with MTV, I just learned this from our label, we’ve had songs on the Real World where they just use a loop, and it’s a weird thing, we never asked for that, they came to our label and said, “Hey, we want to use some of your bands.” What I didn’t know about that was that if MTV buys a song or gets the title of a song from the label they are free to use it in any context that they want. They can use it in an ad for the army apparently or in anything they do.
JH: My friend had heard it on the Real World, it was just the instrumental take and then on something called “Real Life”, but it was the same song. Morning New Disease maybe? I know that with Jawbreaker you did one video for “Fireman” which would have kind of been the necessary evil for a major label, what do you take from that?.
BS: I take the whole thing as experience, more than anything. My whole Geffen experience was a really intense year of something that I never want to do again. I don’t know that I’m grateful for the experience, exactly, because I know it kind of damaged me, but I have to say that in the end I’m glad that I did it and I’m glad for some of the things that happened. So I think it’s a strange two way street where, as an independent artist, you want to use some of those channels. Fine, play our song, I hope it does us well as a band, but you don’t want to do anything for them. It’s a strange relationship. This tour, for instance, we’re not doing any clear channel venues, so we had to rebook a number of gigs that we had scheduled. You don’t even know anymore it’s really insidious how they’re buying up every club. So, a week before the tour started, Bryan our guitarist sent emails to all of us that said, “Look, I found out that these three clubs are clear channel as of last month” or something. So then we went to the booker and said, look, lets get out of these things can we do alternate venues for these cities? And you know they’re Boston or Philadelphia, like major markets. It’s not hard, you can do it. We just kind of do what we can.
JH: When you’re writing music, or playing music, is your main concern, like conveying some sort of message to a member of the audience or is it just trying to get your message out and hope somebody picks it up.
BS: I’m trying to have the spirit move me. That’s the only way I could describe it. I become moved by music or words, then I think that my message is correct and it’s totally instinctual, you know. I don’t even often know what I’m writing, it’s kind of an unconscious writing and then the message comes together in editing later.
JH: Is it some sort of spontaneous prose then?
BS: Yeah.
JH: Does the music come before it?
BS: It happens concurrently a lot. I do typing at home. I get drunk and type sometimes, I’ll be straight and type, wake up, I do lot of early morning writing and then I take sheets over to our rehearsal space and I’ll just play music until something starts to happen.
JH: Do you write on a standard typewriter?
BS: Yeah, an old corona that someone gave me for my birthday. It’s about to die, it’s really getting wobbly.
JJ: On the topic of commercial music, I heard one of Joe Strummer’s songs on a car commercial recently, but you also had some nice things to say on your website about Joe Strummer. Does the loss of someone like that affect the way you write music or perform music?
BS: Um, it only makes me feel that there are very few people like that anymore, so I feel that absence. Being truly eclectic and a pop phenomenon at the same time seems to be very… not happening now. He seemed to embody that this kind of impossible character so I feel sad that that isn’t more in the world these days.
JJ: Do you think it ever will be the way that communications is going these days?
BS: Yeah, one day. You know there’s great artists alive. I have to believe that as shitty as it is above ground it has to exacerbate the underground wherever that is. Now that the underground is above ground there has to be something beneath that that will boil to the surface.
JH: Even the supposed underground kind of makes it to MTV or some of the clear channel stations. So you’re hoping that there’s something even under that?
BS: I mean I’m sort of an outsider in indie rock. I don’t hang out in New York City. I don’t like a lot of the bands there. I don’t like a lot of the people there. I’m kind of an asshole in that sense. I’m actually hostile towards the community.
JH: Well that’s sort of a normal New York City attitude.
BS: Yeah and I think there’s a lot of hostility in the music scene it’s very careerist and like “Fuck you, my band’s beautiful”, you know. In a way it’s kicking my ass into this new weird where I’m further outside and I’ve got this band that works around that system and we’re popular in it to a certain extent. I assume that happens to everyone and if Jets To Brazil is too popular it makes someone angry they do something else.
JH: It’s the same thing that happens with a lot of bands. They say they get too popular or get too much name recognition and then everyone says, “Oh, well that band’s always sucked”. What do you think about that?
BS: I think it goes too far. You miss good work and you don’t appreciate people in their time. Artists lose and bands lose because they might come to like you later. That happened with Jawbreaker in a certain extent.
JH: I thought that “Dear You” was an incredible album. It was more polished than any of the other albums you had done, or course it was on a major label so it sort of had to. The understanding was that you had a polyp removed, did that force you to change your singing style?
BS: I elected to. I felt like I was becoming a different kind of songwriter. I felt like I was using my “voice” voice more and my breath more. It wasn’t a physical physician’s mandate.
Yeah, at this point the opening band, Retisonic, started playing, and we’d already sucked up a lot of Blake’s time so the rest of the interview is a lot of “thank you’s” on our part.
November 16, 2008
Joe Strummer Tribute Show
The Clash-Know Your Rights
The 101ers-Letsgetabitarockin
The Clash-Rudie Can’t Fail
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros-Junco Partner
Joe Strummer-Island Hopping
The Clash-Janie Jones
The Clash-White Riot (alternate version)
The Clash-White Man in Hammersmith Palais
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros-Cool n Out
The Clash-Career Opportunities
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros-Johnny Appleseed
The Clash-I’m So Bored with the USA
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros-Xray Style
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros-At the Border, Guy
The Clash-Spanish Bombs
Stiff Little Fingers-Strummerville
The Clash-London Calling
Joe Strummers and the Mescaleros-Yalla Yalla
The Clash-Remote Control
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros-Mega Bottle Ride
Attila the Stockbroker-Commadante Joe
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros-Silver & Gold
Greg MacPherson-Bankrobber
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros-Redemption Song
The Clash-Police and Thieves
November 10, 2008
Missing J Church
This is a song from one of my favorite records. It’s a split that J Church released with Discount, two of the best pop punk bands squished into seven magical inches. “Faye Wong” is classic J Church, the love and respect of a fringe-pop culture icon, like “Why I Liked Bikini Kill” and “Jennifer Jason Leigh”, songs that feel like crushes but are also really, really positive for women. It’s better than hugs.
J Church frontman Lance Hahn died just over a year ago on October 21, 2007. I’d been listening for awhile, but it seems like every time I start to piece together a show, I find more music that he was somehow involved in, from his involvement with some of the early KRS bands to the music released on the Honey Bear record label, it was just good, positive music. Every Police and Thieves starts with J Church’s “Fascist Radio” and, often enough, we try to squeeze in at least one more J Church or Cringer song. The Honey Bear Records site appears to have lapsed, which is a real loss of a piece of punk history. There is this memorial blog, but you can talk about how much one man’s music changed your life and never really convey how incredibly personal it all feels. Many of the J Church albums are still easy enough to get ahold of, and several albums are available on internet stores like itunes. The official J Church website also offers several MP3s. Also worth noting is Cilantro.
November 9, 2008
Playlist November 3, 2008
J Church-Fascist Radio
Stiff Little Fingers-Alternative Ulster
Scherzo-Promise Me
Phantom Tollbooth-Sweat Blood
Dayglo Abortions-Stupid World
Detonators-Denied
Mission of Burma-Academy Fight Song
The Damned-Smash It Up
Plasmatics-Fast Food Service
Self-Brown Eyes
Thank God-Breathing Concrete
The Map Says-Golding Green Massacre
Dag Nasty-The Godfather
Rabid Lassie-Contragate
White Flag-Question of Intelligence
Antischism-Take Your City Back
Subhumans-America Commits Suicide
Isocracy-Confederate Flags
Verbal Assault-Complain, Complain
Nausea-Clutches
Essential Logic-Collecting Dust
Undertones-Billy’s Third
Pegboy-Field of Darkness
Husker Du-Something I Learned Today
Bratmobile-She Said
Trusty-There Goes Sally
Murder Media-DIY (playing at NBT on November 5th with the Toasters)
Born Against-Murder the Sons of Bitches
Reagan Youth-New Aryans
TSOL-Property is Theft
Face Value-Someday
Mika Miko-Capricorinations
Zoinks!-Stumble
New York City Dolls-Trash
Bikini Kill-Tell Me So
Fugazi-Epic Problem
Descendents-Suburban Home
Discount-City Bleach
The Jam-Going Underground
Dead Milkmen-Punk Rock Girl
Poison Girls-Real Women
Naughty Kids-Jesus Christ Didn’t Exist
November 3, 2008
October 20th Playlist
J Church-Fascist Radio
Bikini Kill-New Radio
Discount-It’s the End of the World
Avengers-Release Me
Johnny Fever and the Frantics-Kid Named Crazy
Fearless Iranians from Hell-Holy War
Fugazi-Provisional
Dicks-I Ain’t No Nazi Friend
Andrew Jackson Jihad-But I Love You
Dils-Class War
Supervillians-Twenty Excuses
The Jam-In the City
Oxymoron-You’re a Bore
Thank God-One Hand Over Yr Mouth
Guyana Punchline-Until You Faint
Rosa Yemen-Herpes Simplex
Filth-The List
Bread and Circuits-Trophy Room
DOA-Nazi Training Camp
Assfactor 4-I Reckon
Baby Guts-Staplegun Flies
ISM-I Think I Love You
Antischism-Path of Destruction
The Eat-Nixon’s Binoculars
Misfits-Lost in Space
Mika Miko-Jogging Song (He’s Your Mister)
The Dickies-Donut Man
Fear-Let’s Have a War
Rites of Spring-Drink Deep
Orchid-Le Desorde, C’est Moi
The Scuds-Millions of Dead
Descendents-Suburban Home
Rotters-Sink the Whales
Suicide Machines-High Anxiety
MDC-Born to Die
Fugazi-Break
Heart Monster-Communities
XRay Specs-I Am a Poseur
October 20, 2008
Playlist from October 13th, 2008
J Church-Fascist Radio
The Banned-LA Blackout
Face to Face-Disconnected
PC Kids-the Applicators
Subhumans-America Commits Suicide
DRI-Closet Punk
TSOL-Peace Thru Power
Thank God-Ahh the Magical 90′s
Please Inform the Captain this is a Hijack-Karma Collection Day
The Nips-Vengeance
Client-Trap
Sorry-Doomed from the Start
Minor Threat-Good Guys
Avengers-We are the One
5,6,7,8s-Wooly Bully
End of the Century Party-Older than Dead
Manson Youth-An Eye for an Eye
Action Patrol-EQ45
Gameface-Gibberish
Tired from Now on-A Friend, No Trend, The End
J Church-Travelers
Citizens Arrest-Serve and Protect
Plasmatics-Monkey Suit
Bikini Kill-Rebel Girl
New Bomb Turks-Born Toulouse Lautrec
Kamikatze-I Hate Kids
Minor Threat-Screaming at the Wall
Assfactor 4-Goodies Powers
Econochrist-Petty Ways
Agent Orange-Everything Turns Grey
Alice Bag Band-Gluttony
Dead Kennedys-Moon Over Marin
Born Against-I Am a Idiot
Sa Int-Odutus
Xray Specs-My Mind is Like a Plastic Bag
Bad Brains-Let Me Help
Essentials-I Don’t Get It
Angela Davis-What is to Be Done?
Charles Bronson-Chicago
Neuroosi-Suutarinemannan Kehtolaulu
Frigora-Mardrom
Jello Biafra w/ DOA-Power Is Boring
Adolescents-Amoeba
Naked Raygun-Gear
Police and Thieves would like to thank our new underwriter, Hip Wa Zee. Hip Wa Zee is located at 940 Harden Street in Five Points. They sell a variety of vintage clothing, costumes, jewelry, wigs and accessories. They are open Monday through Saturday from 11am until 6pm. The phone number is (803) 376 1500. WUSC wants to give big college radio hugs to Hip Wa Zee for their generous support of our programming.
October 13, 2008
October 6 Playlist
The Slits-So Tough
Bad Religion-Bored and Extremely Dangerous
The Banned-Get Outta My Face
Dangerous Girls-I Don’t Want to Eat
Steve Treatment-Tempest Fashion Baby
G Spot-Pest
Bikini Kill-DemiRep
Disorder-Today’s World
Olho Seco-Isto e Olho Seco
Bratmobile-Girl Germs
Paper Tulips-Sanitation
TVTV$-Take Your Radiation Like a Man
Sa Int-Hamahamahakki
Fugazi-Great Cop
Pegboy-Strong Reaction
Face to Face-Blind
Antischism-Foreign Policy
Lazy Susan-Marlon Diaz
Terveet Kadet-Mull on Lilia lyhyt Sanky
X-White Girl
Stiff Little Fingers-Alternative Ulster
Idoli-Plastika
Bush Tetras-Too Many Creeps
The Lewd-Public Execution
The Misfits-Where Eagles Dare
Mau Mau-Xangai
Zone-Stance
Goodbye Harry-I Need to Know
The Butchies-No You Don’t Even Know
State of Confusion-TV Mutation
Noam Chomsky-Why Do They Hate Us?
Dead Kennedys-Forward to Death
Born Against-Mary and Child
Thank God-Lay Down Lula
Discount-Clap and Cough
Christ on a Crutch-Nation of Sheep
Chronic Sick-Mucho Macho
Mika Miko-See You There
Operation Ivy-Yellin’ in My Ear
Minor Threat-Screaming at the Wall
Crass-Bloody Revolutions
Impatient Youth-Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
Gears-Don’t Be Afraid to Pogo
Wire-Start to Move
Xray Spex-Oh Bondage Up Yours
The Jam-In the City
Dead Milkmen-Punk Rock Girl
The Dicks-Rich Daddy
And, as always, thank you Body Rites Tattoo.
October 6, 2008
We Make Zines and Thanks to Kevin
If you have a minute, check it out. Excellent network for people continuing the tradition of self-published print.
Also, thanks to Kevin for covering Police and Thieves this week. I’ll be back next week and I’ll try to hunt down his playlist for today.
September 22, 2008
No Police and Thieves this Monday?
Due to circumstances beyond my control or the control of others who plan to do anything about it, it looks like Police and Thieves will be canceled this week. Please be sure to tune in next week as we resume the awesomeness.
In other news, Police and Thieves would like to extend a huge “thank you” to Body Rites Tattoo, they are located in downtown Columbia at 2009 Greene St STE 112 across the street from Papa Jazz. The Telephone number is 803-799-2844 and store hours are: Tuesday-Saturday 12-10pm, Sunday 1-7pm, and Monday by Appointment only. Body Rites specializes in traditional, Japanese, and photorealistic tattoos and they were also the recipients of the Free Times Best of Columbia Award. Thank you, Body Rites, for supporting WUSC.
September 21, 2008
Columbia, SC-Hotbed of Awesome Music…
In the interest of promoting our awesome local music I am on the hunt for youtube videos of current and former Columbia, SC-based bands. I was tipped off to the first video via DJ Pat Wall of the Locals Only Show which airs every week from noon-2pm on Saturday. He’s awesome.
The latest video from the Heist and the Accomplice…
And some old footage from Assfactor 4
Antischism…
Brave Horatius
In/Humanity
Stretch Arm Strong
Alaska the Tiger at the Art Garage
And a personal favorite, Danielle Howle
In taking a moment to look at some of the awesome bands from Columbia, it really makes me wonder why Athens and Chapel Hill get all that attention.
September 20, 2008
Butchies Show Review NBT 2004
In an effort to catalog some of the old material from my zine that ran from 2002-2006, Monkey Plus Musical, I’m posting some of the old articles for archival reasons. This is a review of a show from summer ’04 at New Brookland Tavern in West Columbia, SC.
The Butchies with opening act Namedropper
New Brookland Tavern
June 3, 2004
There’s nothing wrong with the guys in Namedropper, really. They all seem like nice guys who love what they do and really just want to rock out. On a personal level, I find it next to impossible to forgive a band for making me sit through both a Kenny Loggins cover (not even “Footloose”!) and a Pink Floyd cover. So, ultimately, I think these guys could really benefit from never ever listening to 93.5 again because they could be alright if they didn’t sound so “modern rock”. The Butchies, on the other hand, kicked ass. They had actually rescheduled from an earlier cancelled show, which is respectable in that most bands would blow off a town of Columbia’s size. It’s a true testament to how screwy the “local” music scene is in that two of the best shows I’ve seen in Columbia, the Butchies and Ted Leo (post-Sin Eater, pre-Pharmacists) have had a combined total of fewer than twenty people at the show. I mean, whatever. If people want to listen to bad music that doesn’t mean dick then I guess I can’t really stop them from showing up in droves to see Stretch Armstrong and staying at home when the Butchies and Ted Leo play New Brookland Tavern. Irregardless, the Butchies were awesome. In spite of a low turnout they played an awesome long set. They rocked out in stylish matching outfits and played mostly new material from their 2004 album released on the Yeprock label, which turned out to be really good. Ultimately a high energy great set. Check them out at www.thebutchies.com
September 19, 2008
Old Interview with Mary Prankster
This is an old interview from about eight years ago with Baltimore punker Mary Prankster. It originally appeared in the Monkey Plus Musical zine courtesy of Jason and Rachal.
Mary Prankster is a Baltimore native punk rocker who tours the east coast extensively with some of the smartest songs being made today. Check out her website at www.maryprankster.com and for God’s sake buy some of her albums, they’re all really good.
Summer 2003
Interview by Jason Harper, Rachal Hatton and Michael Knight
Abbreviations
MP=Mary Prankster
J=Jason
M=Michael
R=Rachal
M- Where is the band? Did you fire them?
MP- Which band?
R- You had a band last time you were here.
MP- Well this is a solo acoustic show. This is a long story, but you asked. The band I played with last fall’s tour with was not the band that played on the album. The band that played on the album and I had been together for roughly four years and we all lived together in an apartment and it was very much like the monkey scenario that I always figured was like my rock n’ roll dream. We recorded the album, we had the fall tour planned and we just weren’t getting along like we had just sort of outgrown each other and gotten on each other’s nerves. It wasn’t really that great anymore, so we decided that this last fall’s tour would be our last tour together. It was a great album and you know, we already had the tour booked the poster’s were already out and everything. So we did the CD release party, we did a couple of more shows. A woman named Wenona Daniels, who’s been a photographer forever and she’s my best friend. She decided to do a documentary about the band. At first it was a documentary of like the story of the band and then we decided we were going to break up, so then the documentary became the story of the last tour of this band and like where we’ve come from and where we’re going and then two weeks before the away portion of the tour was to begin, the guys bailed out on it and they said they didn’t want to do it and it was just kind of like a final F you to me. They were like, you know, go do it yourself and I was like, oh god. So I had to move out of the apartment and find other people to do the tour with two weeks to go before a two-month tour.
J- And to learn all the new songs..
MP- They had to learn three albums worth of stuff and because I hadn’t seen this coming, I had solo gigs booked up until the tour so there were only really four days that I could practice. So I called everyone I knew the night that guys told me they weren’t gonna do it. So every musician in Baltimore, a bunch of people from central Pennsylvania, a couple guys from new jersey, everyone I knew who played an instrument I sent CD’s all over the place. Mostly what I heard from bands was, we’d love to do it, but there’s no way we can do it on this short a notice. You know, we’ve got jobs, we’ve got lives, like we can’t just disappear for two months with two weeks notice, so I was really stuck. The guy who played piano on this last record sent me an email out of the blue and said, hey how’s it going, how’s the record going, blah blah blah, and I wrote him back and I’m like, look, I’m in a jam, do you know anybody who could pull this off. He said he knew a bass player and if I could get him, he was totally worth it, and he was a total ace. He said he was gonna tell the guy about me, so I was like great. So the next day I got an email from this guy who said he was a bass player and he played with neko case and he had ESP and could learn material in advance without ever actually having heard it. I was just like; well that sounds like the guy! So I called him up and I was like, do you know a drummer? He said that he might, but the catch was that they lived in Winston Salem, NC and I was in Baltimore. He was like, maybe I can come up to Baltimore next week and we can talk about it and I was like dude, we don’t have that kind of time. I had a gig in Virginia Beach that weekend, so I went from Virginia Beach to Winston and met up with Andy Mabe who was the bass player and Terry Kwok who was the drummer. It turned out that Andy not only played electric, he also played upright and he could do any type of music from like punk to rock to country, swing, ragtime, anything. The drummer, Terry, was in a band called Jody Foster’s army which is a minorly legendary skate punk band from Arizona and was also like an Afro-Cuban percussion ace. So all of a sudden these guys were like everything I could have possibly wanted. So we had four days to practice and the producer of the last record is a guy named Mitch Easter and he has a studio down there and he lent us his parent’s garage to practice in. I called him up and I told him, dude I’m in trouble, help. So we had like 4 eighteen-hour practices and then hit the road. So we rented van and we picked up Wenona the documentary filmmaker and her camera guy and a tour manager. Our tour manager actually bailed out a week before the tour because he got a job offer to be a data warehouse administrator, so he was like, yeah, sorry, I can’t do it. At that point, I’m like; My life is falling apart. So we found this other guy that came out with us and we had a ball. The first show was in Philly and it was awful. It was just a nightmare. After that, it progressively got better and after a week, it turned a corner and we started having a blast. Then we started doing things like jamming in soundchecks and I was bringing out all these songs that I could have never done with the old band. These guys were like oh yeah, I can do this and that, so all of a sudden, doors were opening and it was fantastic. So we did this two-month tour and it was great fun. There are pictures from the documentary, which is coming out this fall, which are up on the website now. There are going to be trailers on the website a little bit later this summer and through the fall. It’s a wild story. It turned out great, you know it’s very cinematic, the whole thing, and it’s great fun. Because of the 11th hour of how this all came together. I mean we were total strangers before we met. So they were hired guns and the tour had been with the old band, would have been the first time we would have ever made money touring. Instead it ballooned into this crazy out of control budget. I had to rent a van and I had to pay the guys. So after that tour ended, the original plan with the old band was that we were each going to have a little nest egg and decide where we wanted to go from there and take a break and just kind of get our heads together. That was not to be. So I had schedule a whole bunch more solo shows to pay off the tour that was supposed to pay off the record, but didn’t. I’ve just been pretty much touring ever since, and since I haven’t had a place to live, it sort of lent itself to that. So I’ve just been travelling around, couch surfing when I haven’t had gigs. Very soon, the debt is going to be paid off, which is great. This solo acoustic tour is the last southern tour before I move, cause I also got a place to live and I’m moving to NYC in the second week of July. After that I’ve got about two weeks off the road and that will be good. I’ve been doing a lot of travelling. It’s all been fun, but I’m ready for a break. So that’s the story of the band. The guys I toured with last fall, Terry and Andy, we’ve done a couple of shows since then. We did a big show at the 9:30 club and that was a gas. That was about a month ago and the first set was all rock and punk, so the second set we brought out the piano player from the album and did the whole thing. They came out in suits and I wore a dress with heels. Andy played upright, terry played with brushes, we had the piano player and I did acoustic. We brought an accordion player and we just had a ball. It was almost Like Hank Williams III. He did something very similar like the split set thing and brought the house down and it was a lot of fun. So, you asked for it.
R- That’s a great story
MP- It’s so rock, and it’s all on film. That’s the crazy part. She’s got it from the CD release party with the old band loading in from the CD release in DC to them bailing out. The night that they bailed out, I’m in her bedroom, sending out press kits, just like, something’s gonna happen. Something’s gotta happen when I’m frantically calling. She has the first practice with these guys and everything that happened after that. It was really something.
M- She was following some other bands around at the same time, wasn’t she?
MP- Everywhere we went. That story was sort of the illustration of why people do independent music to begin with. Everyplace that we went there are cool bands. In Bowling Green, Ohio, there is a band called the T-shirts. They are just tremendous. They are everything that’s good about T. Rex, Boston, and Queen. They are so much fun and their songs are dynamite. Are they gonna make it big? Probably not, so why are they doing this. Why bother? It’s because it’s so much fun and they entertain the hell out of people. You can go to their shows and just be thoroughly rocked from head to toe. It’s definitely worth it all the way around. It’s not for material rewards or status. It sounds like a very kind of indie thing to say, but it’s just so true. What would you do otherwise with your time? It is so worth it. They were one of the bands. There’s a band from Baltimore called Valium, I think she interviewed them. Then other places that we went, like independent radio stations talking to the people there. The real independent kind of those. The one’s that are community supported. They are there because people want them to be and no other reason. It’s like why do you do this? You’ve got a day job, you’ve probably have another job to make money so you can do this as your third job. So why bother? There’s a college radio promotion company that worked our last record and we talked to them too. A lot of their clients are independent. They’re not the major label people. So then we ask, why do you do this? You’re not going to get the glory of a major promoter kind of thing or a 401k or any of that stuff so why do you do it? The answer is that they’re just true believers. They really believe in it, they’re moved by music and they want to bring that to more people.
R- You’re the do it yourself Queen I hear. You sent out 500 press kits, you do your own promotion, you do your own booking.
J- you have your own record label
MP- I have a booking agent. I did my own booking for about 4 months and I simply killed myself. It is the most thankless job in the world. Have you ever done it? It’s horrible. Most of the booking agents I know, they are real serious masochists. There is something in them. You really have to want to make phone calls and haggle over money and what not.
J- I’ve done stuff in one city before and gone completely crazy. I can’t imagine doing it for different areas of the eastern United States or wherever you end up touring, that would be crazy.
MP- Yeah, I did it for four months and I talked to everyone I could find like club owners, other bands for leads on booking agencies because I wanted so badly to have it taken out of my hands. I sent out probably 50 press kits and nothing. Nobody wanted to take on any new acts. I was just beating my head against a wall. I was like, oh please, I swear to god I’m good, just take me. It didn’t happen. Then the guys from SR-71 who happen to be from Baltimore had one of the legs of their tour booked by this guy named Alex Ross who used to work for sfx and then he went independent and started his own thing. He asked who was good in Baltimore and they referred me. This guy has been doing it ever since. The great thing is he’s almost totally agoraphobic. He rarely leaves his apartment, so he’s on the phone all the time. He’ll walk to 7-11 for cigarettes, but otherwise, he doesn’t go out much. He just stays at his computer and mans the phones. You couldn’t ask for a better booking agent.
M- A booking agent who would never go to a club
MP- Well he goes to clubs, but only in Baltimore. He doesn’t travel. He doesn’t like to fly. He’s great. In the space of a couple of months after I started working with him, something that was exclusively a mid-Atlantic phenomenon. Since then I’ve been all over the country. It’s been great. Other than that I do all the promotion myself with pretty good results. So far, no complaints. The only problem with that is when I’m on the road; there is no way to do the other stuff. The schedule has been so heavy recently because I’ve been playing so much to try and pay down the debt that I haven’t done the promotion as well as I’d like to. For the last fall, I had spaced it out so I had about 6 weeks of lead-time when you send out your kits for the press to get reviewed and all that stuff. For that it was great. I had the whole thing staggered and I could do all the follow up. We got really terrific press as it is and the tour was really good. With this it’s been a matter of go home, do laundry, pack up the car, out on the road, so I haven’t been able to do that. Hopefully, with the time off it will be nice, I’ll get my office set up again. The personal touch is good, sometimes it really works. The only reason I started the label was because of distribution. I was with a distribution company for a while and I left my old label and they wouldn’t work with individual artists. Many artists run into this, which is a shame. I understand how it is that they don’t want to deal with you unless you have a representative of you and a whole bunch of other people, so they said that didn’t deal with independent artists. So I said, well what do you need. They said you need to have a label. I was like ok, so I went down to the board of taxation and assessments and I was like, incorporate me. So, that’s all it took was a tax I.D. number and a logo. Then all of a sudden I was label. Then I was trying to soundscan stuff, because that’s how people in the industry find out about you. I had been told for years and years that you really should be soundscanning all of this stuff and I told people how many albums I sold and they wouldn’t believe me. They would go on soundscan and it would be just a fraction of that number. That’s a racket too, it’s very very difficult if you’re an independent outfit or even if you have just a couple of people working with you. You have to be a label incorporated for two years or more. You have to have more than one act. You have to scan the stuff in and send in your reports every week. There are web sales and show sales and each have a different deadline. One’s Monday and one is Wednesday and they go to different departments. You have to upload an FTP file of the zip codes of the places to which you’ve sold the CD’s, the sku number of the CD’s and the quantities of your web sales. Then for the show sales, you have to fax in copies of what you sold, where it was, the capacity of the place, the address, the name of a representative of the venue and their signature and the date. Then you also have to send an email attachment and both have to be there Monday morning by 4. So there’s a great scene. I hope they didn’t cut it out of the documentary, of me having a total breakdown at a truck stop around 4 in the morning. I had been doing this on tour. I had a laptop and I would very diligently have these people fill things out because I figured that’s how I’m going to advance my career. It’s the only way. These are the rules and I’m gonna do it. I don’t wanna be a slacker and I don’t wanna pretend like it doesn’t matter. I had all these people filling things out and I was really on top of it. I’m at this truck stop and it’s four in the morning and we just played a gig and I’m beat. I’m typing this thing in to upload the FTP stuff and I’m sending the email attachments because they had data ports at the counter and I get it all sent in and I’m gonna make the deadline, sleep in the van and then shower in the truck stop shower. That was my reward. Then I go to the fax machine and the woman behind the counter goes, “fax ain’t workin’”. I was like what? She said, “don’t know what’s wrong with it”, let me try this. So she pushes a button and it starts spitting out 4 days worth of faxes. All these advertisers for truckers and stuff. After about 45 minutes, we try mine. She puts it in and it just won’t send. It wouldn’t connect at all. A couple of days later I just had a full meltdown. I had done everything right and I just couldn’t fax it in. Then it’s one of those things where it’s like, ok, well is my career over? If I don’t soundscan the stuff will anyone ever know? Is this the one thing that’s holding me back from being super huge? I’m doing my best. There’s film of me in a hotel room just spewing nonsense. I was just like, I can’t do it, it’s stacked against me. There are advantages for having an organization behind you for sure. It’s difficult to do it on your own. There are a lot of things I’ve learned. It’s bizarre. It’s a strange system. I can never tell if I’m doing it right. Some days I’m like, yeah, this is absolutely the way to go. Other days I’m like, well, I don’t know.
R- But you wouldn’t do it any other way, right?
MP- Well, I haven’t had the opportunity. Then you see other bands that are always further along. My old band, one of their big things was like, how come we don’t have a tour bus. How come we’re not signed, how come we don’t have roadies, how come we’re not signed to matador, how come we don’t have this and that. It really makes me feel like a failure. To see other bands that do have those things, it’s like, why them and not me. Then you think about how many bands have been signed and have gotten large advances and stuff and whatever reason, like their label would be bought out and their album will just get shelved and shoved in a vault. The record that you think you’re whole life is leading up to is heard by no one. You don’t own it, you can’t get phone calls returned because they’ve disconnected the phones of you’re A&R rep. These terrible stories with the buyouts, you just relinquish all control. I think of how good I have it. I have three records that I am so proud of with exactly the songs that I want, the arrangements I want, the sound exactly as I want them to. I got to work with one my heroes on the last record and maybe not a huge number of people have heard these albums, but they’ve been heard.
J- On the last record, a lot of people saw it as a departure from your first two albums, roulette girl and Blue skies over Dundalk. A departure in the sense of people seeing you as a dirty rock princess.
MP- That’s a good name for a boat
J- IN terms of using curse words to get a message across. It wasn’t as prevalent on the last album. There was a little different type of music on the last album. In terms of a piano being put in among other things. Was there a reason for the departure or do you feel like you’re getting more mature as you get older or is it just coincidental, changing as an artist.
MP- Yes. I’m biased obviously. I think it was sort of a progression but some of the songs on tell your friends, pre dated some songs on roulette girl and blue skies. It was they same with the other albums, there were songs written at different times. For whatever reason I thought it was better to bring them out in order. Arms length is one of the oldest songs I ever wrote. It’s very sad and not at all wacky. I also think it’s one of the better songs that I’ve written. It was years before I felt confident enough about my ability to bring a song like that to the studio, so I wanted to wait till I had the experience so I could really do it properly and give it a good setting. Progression wise…. With the first record, even though all songs weren’t written simultaneously, it seems to be just thematically proper to put them all together. The first record was the novelty album, and the second records, showed like; this is a shape of things to come. It’s one of those that was all over the place. Then this record I would call the rock record. It’s definitely the most conventional so far. I write all different types of songs so it’s hard to know what to do with them, so I just try to make the whole album as thematically consistent as possible. I don’t know what the next album is gonna be. Maybe it will be a country swing thing, which could be cool. I do think growing older probably has a lot to do with it as well. I look back on the first record. I was 19 when I wrote a lot of the songs and they’re ballsy as heck, but I’m like wow, you cheeky little monkey. I’m 28 years old and I’m just like, kid you’re making me blush. Old Mary looks back at young Mary, woah. I’m like go girl. Maybe I’m just getting old and laming out, that’s entirely possible too. The steely Dan record is not to far in the future.
J- Then you go for the Grammy at that point.
MP- Yes, then I win the Grammy and I start doing duets with Sting.
J- I saw something a few months ago where your former band members hocked some stuff on Ebay. Were you aware of that?
MP- I heard about it. I can’t believe they sold my pajamas.
J- Yeah, pajamas, a jersey, and the alarm clock used in roulette girl.
MP- I met a guy who’s friend in Iowa bought my pajamas. I was like, you’re kidding. I asked why. He said because she knew that I wanted them, and I was like oh, and he said do you want them back. I was just like how much did she pay for him. He was like 50 bucks and I was like are you serious.
J- I just thought it was kind of bizarre. They sent an email through the Mary Prankster mailing list to let everybody know about it.
MP- It wasn’t the Mary Prankster mailing list. Right before the tour, they cleaned out a bunch of names from the mailing list and apparently appropriated them. It made the tour difficult because the first email I sent out about it, I noticed it only went out to about 500 people and there are like 4,000 names. It took a while to recover what they’d taken. I mean it was ugly. It was a horrible breakup.
J- Are you in contact with them at all any more?
MP- Hell no, it was miserable.
J- Are there any bands that influenced you more than others or any particular style that influenced you more than others. Or did you set out to make your own style and not really care about what else was out there?
MP- There were lots of bands that I liked that are pretty important to me. There is nothing I could point to though that’s like yeah, I wanted to be like that.
J- Are you touring now to push more towards a national audience or are you still trying to stay just East Coast?
MP- We did a national tour the May before last. There are folks all over the country. The last record had a really great college radio following behind it. There were places like Juneau Alaska and Arizona playing our record. So I’m hoping to go back and visit with all of those folks. Because the mid-atlantic, my home is such a transient place, in terms of people travelling to all different places, then fly out and spread the word as well.
J- In regards to having your own record label are you ever going to take on other bands?
MP- For the time being the plate is kind of full. I don’t know that would be awesome. You always hear stuff that’d you’d love to be a part of. Or just would love to be able to say, yes I helped further that along. Everywhere I go, I see people that I think it would be awesome to put something like that out.
J- One thing that I’ve noticed is that I’ll tell people about you, send them to the website, but finding your CD in stores is very hard to do.
MP- They’re not in stores. I have an arrangement with a local chain called record and tape traders and a handful of other places. The problem with getting stuff in stores is that in order to get your stuff in stores you have to deal with a distributor, they don’t wanna deal with bands, they wanna deal with labels. That’s fine. I had national distribution through one of those companies, but they would send stuff to places that had never heard of me and my albums would sit on shelves for six months then get sent back and I would get charged postage each way. When I would go to stores and see my album on the shelves, They would be on sale for like 18 bucks. What the heck? I mean I wouldn’t pay 18, I mean it is a fine record, but that’s just too much money.
J- That just shows the cut they take on top of that, it’s ridiculous.
MP- Yeah, then out of that I would get a much smaller percentage. Cutting out the middle man was great because I could lower the prices of the CD and not price myself out of somebody who would buy something just of curiosity and the profit was greater to me which means that smaller quantities of sales are ok. Because it makes enough to continue to make CD’s and records which is the whole point.
J- Since music is your life are you looking to just make enough to pay the rent or break even or whatever. Do you ever have hopes to do more with it? I know as an independent artist it’s hard to make money to survive from time to time. Making enough for gas money can sometimes be difficult. I’m sure as you become more established it becomes a lot easier, but is it still a difficult process?
MP- It’s about finding out what you really want and what’s important. I mean having a booking agent is great because the places that I go in, usually for the first time I know going in that I’ll gave enough to cover gas and it helps you figure out your budget. I know that it’ll take this much for me to get from here to here. Couch surfing as opposed to staying in motels, you know, I love it when people are just like do you stay in hotels when you travel? I’m like hotels? Try motels or notels. Forget it.
J- It’s like Red Roof in is the high end?
MP- I wish. I usually just carry a sleeping bag. I also have an army cot, which is great, because a living room is a palace if you have an army cot. Also buying groceries instead of eating restaurant meals. Just being very frugal on that kind of stuff. Luckily I’ve been very fortunate with merchandise. People usually want to buy the CD’s after the show whish is awesome then they’ll burn them for their friends and those friends will come to the next show and buy albums. Mike Watt calls it jamming econo which I think is great. That’s how you do it, you figure out what’s really important then lifestyle wise you figure out what you really want. If I have enough money for good, quality gear, a trusty vehicle to get me around and I can pay my rent, pay my bills, I can feed myself, and I have enough for studio time to make albums, I’m happy as a clam.
R- Do you have health insurance?
MP- No, I don’t. That’s problematic. I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t have health insurance.
R- Most musicians don’t have health insurance. 24 million people in America don’t have health insurance.
MP- Doesn’t that seem backwards?
J- It’s a catch 22 because I’m sure insurance companies would cover musicians. They know you won’t have a lot of money, but you may be a risk travelling so much and as you get older.
MP- You can get it through ASCAP. I’m a member of them as well. You can get health insurance through them but it’s expensive. If you’re just scraping by and you’ve got your basic bills covered it’s really hard to make another 200 dollars a month appear for health insurance. You would still have to pay for doctor’s visits and it doesn’t cover all your prescriptions. So I eat real healthy and I take a multivitamin.
J- At least you’re smart about it. The last question I wanted to ask was this. You’re 28 now, correct?
MP- yep
J- Do you still see yourself doing this in your late thirties?
M- Late thirties?
J- Late forties? I don’t know. Do you still have intentions to do this forever or do you have any ideas for other stuff you’d like to do in the future. Maybe go into production or something else at that point since you’ve had a lot of experience with your own label.
MP- That’s a good question. I’ve got some more songs that I’d really like to put out. I’ve got more recording that I would like to do. There is some more travelling that I would like to do as well. There are still places that I haven’t been. One of the great parts about this job is that you get to see a lot of stuff that you ordinarily wouldn’t get to see. You just meet a bunch of people that you would never meet if you had a job in a town and you went there every day and that was kind of it. So that’s great and I’m not done with that yet. Production wise, there’s a single that’s coming out this summer and fall on a couple of different compilations and was initially offered just as a free download a few years ago. It’s reggae single. Love has a rumble is the name. I produced that and wrote it and I was very happy with the way it came out. I do like production and I like putting songs together, so the future is kind of open. I have also always wanted to be a cartoon voice. So I would do that too.
J- Do you practice current cartoon voices?
MP- I do voices, but I’ve always wanted to do cartoon voices. Right now I do lots of websites.
J- Can we hear a cartoon voice
MP- No, that’s like Magnum from Zoolander. I can’t unleash it right now.
J- But when it does come out; everyone is going to be so amazed
MP- It’s beautiful.
September 19, 2008
September 15, 2008 Playlist
The Applicators-PC Kids
Los Crudos-Achicados
DOA-I’m Right You’re Wrong
Tired from Now On-A Friend, No Trend, The End
Mika Miko-Capricorinations
Born Against-I Am a Idiot
Christian Lunch-Jokes on You
Heart Monster-Communities
Frumpies-She’s a Real Cutie Pie
Orchid-We Love Prison
Self-Hell on
Alice Bag Band-Gluttony
Universal Order of Armageddon-Entire Vast Situation
X-We’re Desperate
Murder Media-Obese Nation
Embrace-Give Me Back
Minor Threat-Screaming at the Wall
MDC-Born To Die
Mekons-Never Been in a Riot
Operation Ivy-I Got No
No Use for a Name-GangWay
Lifetime-The Boys No Good
Avail-Violent Femmes
Nation of Ulysses-Sound of Jazz to Come
The Dicks-Dicks Hate the Police
Screeching Weasel-Your Name is Tattooed on My Heart
Raincoats-Fairytale in the Supermarket
Trust-Egoismo
Bikini Kill-Hamster Baby
Fugazi-Waiting Room
Discount-Half Fiction
Descendents-Suburban Home
Atom and His Package-Seeds
Mr. T Experience-Unpack Your Adjectives
Bratmobile-Girl Germs
Verbal Assault-The Price We Pay
Bad Brains-I Against I
Black Flag-TV Party
Free Kitten-Party With me Punker
Face to Face-Ordinary
To find out information about the New Brookland Tavern shows mentioned today check out their concert calendar here.
September 15, 2008
September 8, 2008 Playlist
Muchos Gracias to our special guest Lydia who brought some excellent tunes to spin and also promises to learn to play the bass. More girls in the band. Now. Take a moment to check out some of the links from the local bands we played.
Avengers-We are the One
Upright Citizens-Government Wins!
Born Against-Murder the Sons of bitches
Los Crudos-No Te Debo Nado
Bad Religion-Supersonic
Misfits-Where Eagles Dare
Storenfrieda-Vegan Macht Sexy
Black Flag-Louie Louie
The Dishes-I’m a Man
Murder Media-The End is the Beginning
Augi and the Fat Kids-Coming Together
Bikini Kill-New Radio
Public Insult-Emo is Dead
Subhumans-America Commits Suicide
Rabid Lassie-Contragate
Melt Banana-A Dreamer Who is Too Weak
Thank God-Ahh the Magical 90′s
Fearless Iranians from Hell-Peace Through Power
Circle Jerks-Golden Shower of Hits
Gang of Four-Not Great Men
The Dicks-Dicks Hate the Police
Corrupted Morals-Where Is He?
D.R.I.-Closet Punk
Fear-I Don’t Care About You
Circle Jerks-Red Tape
Adolescents-Amoeba
Sweet Baby Jesus-She’s From Salinas
Murder Media-Who’s Got the Crack
X-White Girl
X Ray Specs-I Am a Poseur
J Church-Faye Wong
Lazy Susan-Marlon Diaz
Discount-It’s Been Years
Baby Guts-Tetnis
Social Distortion-Telling Them
Suicidal Tendencies-Institutionalized
Subhumans-British Disease
Bread and Circuits-Trophy Room
The Eat-Nixon’s Binoculars
September 8, 2008
Little Things I Should Have Said and Done…
Hey, the new Police and Thieves zine hits the streets tomorrow. You can probably find it at your favorite coffee house or record store if you’d really like a copy. I’m posting the text from the zine right here on this blog to make it easy for everyone. I’m admittedly running a little sluggishly today, having rediscovered Willie Nelson’s recording of “You Were Always on My Mind”. It’s almost too much to handle.
Lately, when not painstakingly converting vinyl to digital for your Police and Thieves enjoyment, I’ve been enjoying some of my favorite country classics, in particular the aforementioned and Juice Newton.
And stay tuned for zine content and info about Monday’s show.
September 7, 2008
September 1, 2008 Playlist
Ripcord-Poetic Justic
F.U.’s-Do We Really Want to Hurt You?
Bratmobile-Cherry Bomb
Husker Du-Writer’s Cramp
The Circle Jerks-Wild in the Streets
Mars-Helen Fordsdale
Bad Brains-Banned in D.C.
Assfactor 4-Is Love Just Jive Turkey
Team Dresch-Song for Anne Bannon
TSOL-Property is Theft
Face Value-Someday
Kleenex-Eisiger Wind
Citizens Arrest-Serve and Protect
Confuse-People are Nuclear Poisoning
Plasmatics-Monkey Suit
The Fall-Totally Wired
Dow Jones and the Industrials-Ladies with Appliances
The Dead Milkmen-Punk Rock Girl
The Dickies-Banana Splits
AntiHeros-National Debt
Estrategia lo Capto-Palabras
Pulso-Bolero
Monsula-When Will it End?
Bikini Kill-Rebel Girl
J Church-Travelers
Challenger-Unemployment
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists-Bomb. Repeat. Bomb.
Operation Ivy-Yellin’ in my Ear
Fugazi-Epic Problem
The Butchies-No, You Don’t Even Know
Stiff Little Fingers-Suspect Device
Gang of Four-Ether
The Buzzcocks-Harmony in my Head
XRay Spex-I Can’t Do Anything
London PX-Mayhem
The Adverts-New Church
Kamikatze-I Hate Kids
El Banda-Przejdzie Mi
MDC-Dead Cops/America’s So Straight
Hissyfits-Lock and Load
The New Bomb Turks-Born Toulouse-Lautrec
Face to Face-Disconnected
Minor Threat-Screaming at the Wall
The Eat-Dr. TV
September 1, 2008
DIY Screen Printing
Screen Printing is so easy everyone should be doing it. You can alter the traditional methods to make screen prints using cheaper stuff you have around the house, too. This is the fancypants version, it requires photo emulsion and a more involved setup. Photo emulsion is easy to use, and readily available in craft stores. I recommend making your purchase online, however, because those little Speedball emulsion kits are comparably much more expensive.
I recommend trying some of the stencil methods before sinking the money into photo emulsion. You can screenprint with paper stencils, which is certainly okay for a couple of shirts or posters. I recommend this method, printing with contact paper, because it’s a lot more durable than paper stencils and will stick to your screen. That Threadhead link is actually a really great tutorial that’s easy to follow. Here’s the super super cheap route, using glue to block out the image and an embroidery hoop. More great cheap screen printing instructions. Craftzine.com also has some excellent resources.
Here are some prints that I did by drawing directly onto a screen with a blocking fluid:
And a print that I did using a paper stencil:
And a print done with photo emulsion developed on a bathroom floor:
Tomorrow’s show should kick ass, be sure to tune in 4-6pm on WUSC-FM Columbia 90.5 or listen online at wusc.sc.edu
August 31, 2008
Helpless People on Subway Trains
Can enough be said about “Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult? This is where language fails to express the greatness of human artistic achievement. I can say honestly that, while other BOC hits aren’t offensive, they fall short of what I consider one of the greatest rock songs of all time. Sure, “Burnin’ for You” is a tolerable classic rock song, but “Godzilla” is poetry, it evokes a lumbering Japanese monster in the most efficient words and sounds. My favorite moments? Glad you asked. In particular, I enjoy the way that the tasteful bending of the guitar strings mirrors the line about pulling down the high tension wires, it is a musical element that forces a visual association. And then, just as you feel that you’ve got this song pegged, they bust out with the George Clinton-esque “Godzilla” breakdown. As if this funk and metal fusion* weren’t enough, I really feel as if this song has great punk elements. Obviously, not punk, totally punk. It reminds me of the Dickies “Gigantor”, or really any pop punk song about movies or supervillians, of which there is no shortage. It’s good subject matter for nineteen year old guys in bands. Beyond that, we are left with this great social message, “history shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men.” Anti-establishment to the core.
*When talking about music, the word “fusion” normally means “sucks ass”, but not in this case.
August 28, 2008
August 25th, 2008 Playlist
J Church-Fascist Radio
DOA-Amerika the Beautiful
Stiff Little Fingers-78RPM
Tilt-Redemption
Sorry-Doomed from the Start
The Damned-Smash It Up
Dry Rib-Quail Seed
Zone-War
Scuttle-More Haste Less Speed
One 3 Four-Buried Alive (Recorded at Jam Room)
Seein’ Red-Poverty on the Rise
Limp Wrist-I Love Hardcore Boys
God’s America-Prune Tools
Guyana Punchline-Something About Smashism
Subvert-What Does it Mean?
The Map Says We’re…-Track 2
End of the Century Party-Older than Dead
Struggle-Tradition
Bad Brains-Don’t Bother Me
False Prophets-Blind Obedience
Minor Threat-Good Guys
Sheer Terror-Boys Don’t Cry
Manson Youth-An Eye for an Eye
Mika Miko-Take it Serious
Bad Religion-White Trash (2nd Generation)
Bikini Kill-I Hate Danger
Eastern Youth-Breaking the Vow on a Dare
Down By Law-Right or Wrong
Gameface-Gibberish
Dogs on Ice-On a String
Discount-Keith
Action Patrol-EQ45
All-Fool
Assfactor 4-I Reckon
Born Against-Movin’ On Up
Descendents-Suburban Home
Dead Kennedys-Kill the Poor
Heart Monster-Pennsylvania
Samiam-Insightful
Fugazi-Great Cop
Terveet Kadet-Ei Enaa Koskaan Sotaa
Nausea-Here Today…
Bratmobile-Eating Toothpaste
Radon-Wash Away
Everready-Get Along
Chuck Ragan-Between the Lines (playing New Brookland Tavern in Columbia, SC in November)
August 25, 2008
Heart Monster.
Final Show Spring 2007Heart Monster. One of my favorite ridiculously underrated South Carolina bands. This band gets frequent spins on Police and Thieves.
At any college radio station in America dozens of packages arrive in the mail every day. In these packages are cheesy one page descriptions comparing usually mediocre unknown bands to totally badass well-known bands. Lately, with any band that has a drummer and a couple of guitar players, the write up reads “sounds like Fugazi”. Now, of course these bands never sound like Fugazi. More importantly, they hardly ever embrace any of the political ideals that made Fugazi amazing. The lyrics are heavy on the esoteric and even heavier on the “who gives a fuck about your ex girlfriend”.
And then there’s Heart Monster. While involved with WUSC, I caught a couple of free shows that Heart Monster played, one of them a benefit for WUSC. Booking benefit shows for WUSC was always a real pain in the ass because you had to deal with collegeboy egos on a grand scale, but these guys weren’t like that. We hardly knew them and they agreed to travel over an hour to play a free show for the radio station. And they brought free eps for the audience. The music was so good you expected to have to overlook a lot of bullshit band attitudes to enjoy it, but Heart Monster was just awesome.
Another thing, you listen to the music and you know that these guys are great musicians, but they don’t jerk off with three minute guitar solos. The live shows they played were fluid and the band was charismatic, it really is the only show I’d feel comfortable comparing to seeing Fugazi live. Only way less people were there.
And there’s the issue. Heart Monster just didn’t get the fanbase that they deserved. I don’t get it and I never will.
But here’s your opportunity to hear what you’ve been missing. They’ve continued the awesomeness by making their recordings available to all interested parties. Click here. Highly recommended.
August 24, 2008
Police and Thieves back on the air…
After a few semesters off Police and Thieves is returning on Monday, August 25th. The show will air in that 4-6pm drivetime slot, so you 9-5ers have no excuse for not tuning in, unless you’ve just officially given up on your ideals, in which case I’m sure there’s some syndicated drivetime show on the modern rock station.
Where to listen:
90.5 WUSC FM and HD1 Columbia, within about a thirty mile radius of the University of South Carolina campus
Or… online at our webstream wusc.sc.edu
The kids are complacent, it’s time to ween them off the adult contemporary that’s been masquerading as college radio.
August 23, 2008
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