It’s Sunday, December 2nd, 2007. Welcome to Navel Gazing, your look back at this week in Punknews.

The people must have something good to read on a Sunday

While winter creeps in and the industry starts to hibernate we news on next summer’s big events is starting to flow. The 2008 Warped Tour will boast a roster that features Against Me!, the Bronx, The Devil Wears Prada, and Pierce The Veil. Meanwhile Japan’s Punk Spring 2008 will feature the likes of Rancid, Pennywise, Buzzcocks, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes and Angels & Airwaves. We saw a very interesting discussion on the file sharing issue this week, this time getting a larger-indie label perspective from Revelation, Lookout, 31G and Deep Elm. The nation of France weighed in as well, planning to just kick downloaders off the Internet. We had all types of Fall Out Boy high jinks this week, as band poster boy Pete Wentz got angry about a Ashlee Simpson parody and Every Time I Die defended their appearance with the pop stars. UK band the Squids had a US tour cancelled due to some flag-burning imagery on their show flyers.

Anti-Flag revealed some details on their new album The Bright Lights of America and also announced more tour dates. In fact we had lots of tour dates confirmed this week. Defiance, Ohio is heading out to the US West Coast and Australia. Black Fag, the absolutely fabulous tribute to Black Flag, is taking the show to Europe. A Wilhelm Scream‘s upcoming tour will feature Swellers guitarist Nick Diener. Against Me! played a benefit a to raise money for a marrow transplant. The Bouncing Souls plan to thrill fans at their upcoming year-end shows with a 60-song marathon

We were brought news of the death of Arsonists Get All The Girls member Pat Mason (1986-2007). Our condolences go out to his family and friends. Also, Hawthorne Heights has as expected cancelled their tour with Escape the Fate and the AKAs due to the recent death of guitarist Casey Calvert. In other grim news, there’s been a verdict in the trial of the Finally there’s been some a verdict in the trial of the suicidal driver who killed Silkworm drummer Michael Dahlquist, John Glick, guitarist of the Returnables and Doug Meis, drummer of Exo and the Dials. She got 8 years.

We recently featured one of our more interesting interview features in recent memory. Norman Brannon of Texas is the Reason and Shelter, author of The Anti-Matter Anthology: A 1990s Post-Punk & Hardcore Reader, interviews and Rob Fish of 108 in a two part feature looking back at the hardcore scene which spawned the book. You can check out part 1 and part 2. Our Video of the Week featured The Riot Before live at the Fest 6. The nineteenth edition of Vinyl File featured a conversation with Dan Askew of Second Nature Recordings.
Source Continue reading December 2nd, 2007 →

Crash Romeo‘s forthcoming full-length, Me Against the World, has been set for a March 11, 2008 release via Trustkill Records.

A demo entitled “Popular” can also be found streaming here.

Me Against the World follows up 2006’s Minutes to Miles.
Source Continue reading Crash Romeo set release date, post demo →

Look Mexico has outlined their touring plans for the rest of 2007. The band is currently out for a week and a half with Chase Pagan, and will meet up with One Small Step for Landmines later on in the month for a few dates.

The band released their first full-length, the four-star This Is Animal Music, earlier this year on Lujo.
Source Continue reading Look Mexico with Chase Pagan, One Small Step for Landmines →

Seattle, WA melodic hardcore act Sinking Ships have provided a fairly thorough update via MySpace blog after their recent departure from Revelation Records.

The band will commence writing for their next proper full-length this March, with plans to record it that month or the next. It will be self-released, frontman Danny Hesketh mentioning, “So far we know it’s going to start as 1000 LPs, and we will figure out the CDs when we get to it. I mean, who the fuck buys CDs anymore?”

The band has also completed the writing of two songs that will be featured on a split CD to be released in Japan. The split’s partner has not yet been announced. The possibility of releasing those two songs as a limited 7″ has also been floated.

In addition to releasing the recent Ten 7″ on Revelation, the band actually self-released another 7″. The latter was tour-only, featured a pressing of 500 and was recently only available at July’s Sound and Fury Festival and the preceding European tour with Ruiner. However, there are 200 left and the band promises to add several to their webstore soon.

Drummer Andy has moved to Boston to work for Deathwish Inc. and join the relatively heavier Meltdown; however, the band promises he will remain with SS for touring and, seemingly, recording purposes, with “local or small shows” to be handled by ex-Shook Ones drummer “Nasty” Nate.

Touring-wise, the band is done for 2007, with plans to hit western U.S. shores in January or February 2008, Japan in March and Europe in June. “We probably won’t be getting out there as much as we did last year,” mentions Hesketh, “but we’ll do our best to tour as much as we can.”

Hesketh also adds, “…and just because we are doing this next one ourselves doesn’t mean we are swearing off labels all together. So far we haven’t had the greatest experiences, but hopefully we will work get to with someone else down the road.”

The last proper full-length, Disconnecting, was released in 2006.
Source Continue reading Sinking Ships provide massive update →

These Arms Are Snakes have announced two free shows coming up later this month. Both will also feature recent Suicide Squeeze signees Russian Circles.

TAAS released their second full-length, Easter, in 2006 via Jade Tree. RC released their debut, Enter, the same year via Flameshovel. Both bands are planning proper followups to be released in 2008.
Source Continue reading These Arms Are Snakes announce free shows with Russian Circles →

Anaheim street punks The Scarred have cancelled their current tour, commenting:

I’m sorry to announce that The Scarred had to cut their loses in Oklahoma and come home. Too many shows were getting cancelled and they weren’t getting their guarantees. It was pretty much impossible to keep going. They had to borrow money to get back home. Everyone is bummed but they pretty much had no choice. The Scarred will be playing around L.A. till they can get out of debt and back on the road.

The Punkcore act is supporting their 2006 full length No Solution along with this year’s reissue of their earlier release Repression.
Source Continue reading The Scarred cancel tour →

Stolen Transmission has split from their backers Island Records due to restructuring at the major label. Label co-head Sarah Lewitinn commented on her blog:

Stolen Transmission started IN MY BEDROOM as an indie label putting out hand made cds of bands that me and Rob Stevenson believed in. We werent funded back then, and we were really happy. We did everything because of how much we loved music. Now that I’ve had my experience with Island/Def Jam, I know how to actually do what’s necessary to release an album and develop artists, and I helped set up 9 amazing releases from Permanent ME, the Oohlas, Monty Are I, Bright Light Fever, the Horrors, Schoolyard Heroes, PlayRadioPlay!, Innerpartysystem, and the Photo Atlas. I’m so fucking proud that the label went from me and a bunch of interns sitting in my bedroom smoking and watching degrassi and eating guac i had just made to me sitting in meetings once a week with JayZ and now it’ll just go back to being run from my apartment again. We plan on continuing with Stolen Transmission and are really excited to be returning to our indie roots.

…

So it’s business as usual here! we’re just working from a different location. we’re still working all the bands we released (no bands we were working with had anything unreleased — cept for innerpartysystem who are still in the studio and will remain there til they’re done). We’re still doing everything the same as before, for the most part. this is actually an incredibly liberating and exciting thing and i can’t explain how happy i am. we’re still supporting our bands because we’ve made a commitment to them and we love them.

The now-independent label was formed by Rob Stevenson, an A&R executive responsible for the careers of Thrice, the Killers, Fall Out Boy and Sum 41, and co-run by Sarah Lewitinn, a former writer for Spin magazine, a VH1 TV personality and online blogger.
Source Continue reading Stolen Transmission splits from Island Records →

Underground Communique has been tapped to release the vinyl versions of LIHC outfit Capital‘s catalog. The label will release the albums Signal Corps (Iron Pier) and Homefront (Revelation) sometime near the end of January.
Source Continue reading Underground Communique releasing vinyl of Capital’s albums →