After the departure of some of Fat Wreck Chords‘ most beloved bands to other labels, Boston/Richmond group Smoke or Fire was left carrying the torch. With two solid releases since their moniker change, 2005’s Above the City, and last year’s This Sinking Ship, the band continues to tour relentlessly and put out great music.
Seattle’s Akimbo have announced via their MySpace page and their homepage that their new record, titled Jersey Shores, will be released via Neurot Recordings. The band had this to say:
In February we were lucky enough to play with Neurosis out here in Seattle. The times? They were good. Good times. Pret-tay pret-tay pret-tay good times. Neurosis blew me away. I’ve been a long time fan but had never seen the dragon beyond it’s cave, never heard the bull roar from atop the mount, never felt the itchy kiss of that beard. Apparently, Neurosis had never seen us either (crazy!), but the smitten-ness was a two way street and the bards made merry.
AKIMBO (the good guys) will be releasing our first ever concept record on NEUROT RECORDINGS. The album is called “Jersey Shores”, the concept is “nature will fuck you up”, and the theme is “sharks, in particular, will totally fuck you up.” The subject matter we have harvested and immersed in to forge this piece of music is actually much more robust and historical than I am letting on here, but in the interest of comedy I have decided to remain base and neanderthal. Ha.
The record is six songs, about 45 minutes long, and is an intergalactic portcullis that will unlock the secrets of time travel for the benefit of man. It was recorded in the same session as Navigating the Bronze (two albums in one session? oh yes we did) by master Chris Owens in dirty dirty dirty Louisville, KY.
Stay tuned for details. Currently we’re looking at a mid – late 2008 release.
Members of Pinhead Gunpowder have purchased a brand new sound system including a new mixing board for legendary venue, 924 Gilman. According to the SFBG blog:
Weeks before the show, the band – which not only includes Billie Joe Armstrong, but also Green Day’s tour manager, Bill Schneider, and their touring second guitarist, Jason White – offered to donate money to the club. Instead, Gilman told the group that a new sound system would be the best way to help, and it would also make the sound better for their show. The band immediately obliged by installing beautiful new JVC speakers, and later provided a new mixing board as well. According to the club, the band instigated the donation on their own and was not encouraged to make one.
In celebration of the recent live CD/DVD release from Inquisition; the band and No Idea Records (who are releasing the collection) are offering three lucky Punknews readers the chance to win a copy and some other exclusive schwag.
The release details the band’s reunion weekend last May with an audio CD featuring tracks from both nights, and a DVD with footage from both nights and a documentary. The release hits stores March 18 and can also be purchased at No Idea Records.com.
Against Me! have two more acoustic performances, these were recorded on March 2nd during the band’s in-store acoustic performance at ZIA Records in Phoenix, Arizona on March 2nd.
Atreyu have announced the details for a extended edition of their 2007 Hollywood Records debut, Lead Sails Paper Anchor. The record is due out April 15, 2008 and will feature three new studio recordings, video profiles of the band, behind the scenes footage from the road, a digital booklet and other content.
NOFX has announced the details for their long-promised documentary covering their recent world tour. The show will be aired on Fuse and includes their visits to o Singapore, Peru, Israel, South Africa, Turkey and South Korea. They explained:
So we got the bright idea to take two cameras dudes on this sketchy tour we booked and make a documentary. After a few weeks we realized there’s way too much semi-interesting, sorta funny, kind of embarrassing stuff going on. How are we gonna fit all this on a DVD? So we thought maybe TV? Nah, that’s never gonna happen—we’re not nearly as funny as Travis Barker. But we made a little trailer anyhow and showed it to some of our friends at Fuse. They loved it and showed it to some of their bosses. Their bosses didn’t get it at all and told us they would call. We knew what that meant, so it was back to the DVD idea.
We kept the camera dudes on tour with us for the next year and some pretty cool stuff happened. Well…not cool for us, but cool for the DVD. Stuff like not getting paid, cops shutting down shows, Muslims getting pissed at us, Jews getting pissed at us, scoring the wrong drugs, getting beat up by Japanese women in latex, getting beat up by a Russian man in a pointy hat and basically having a super great time.
We finished the tour in South Africa and came home. We figured we might as well show it to the Fuse people again. (We showed it to HBO too, and they told us that maybe if we were U2 they would consider it…diss.) By this time Fuse had hired new people and the new folks loved it. They said they wanted to make it into a documentary series. Coolage! We signed the papers and now we have a TV show.
After months and months of editing and fighting amongst ourselves, we have 8 episodes of a show, but after you account for commercials it’s only about the length of a really long movie. Think Titanic meets Spinal Tap. NOFX never had a video on MTV, but now we have a documentary on TV. Weird how things work out. Anyhow, it comes out in April sometime. My neighbors are never going to speak to me again.
Vancouver, BC’s The Real McKenzies have completed work on their upcoming album, entitled Off The Leash. The album will be available in July on Fat Wreck Chords, and a record release show will be held July 3 in Berlin as part of the previously announced European tour. After the band finishes up in Europe, they’ll be joining the 1,2,3, Punk tour that’ll take them through Canada.
The Briggs are in the studio working on their latest album with producer Joe Gittleman from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The yet-to-be-titled this album is the follow up to Back to Higher Ground and is expected to be released in June.
The band just finished touring with Dropkick Murphy’s and will be leaving once they’re done recording for a full US tour with Anti-Flag and Street Dogs. The Briggs will also be on the entire Vans Warped Tour this summer. SourceContinue reading Tours: The Briggs in the studio→
Oslo, Norway’s Turbonegro have announced a new drummer after asking former drummer Chris Summers to resign. The band had this to say:
It is with our deepest regrets to inform you that after his 6 month hiatus due to a damaged foot, personal problems and a focus on other projects, we have been forced to ask drummer Chris Summers to resign from Turbonegro.
Those of you who have seen the band during the last 60 shows have already been introduced to our new drummer, Tomas Dahl.
Tomas – a drummer from the age of 6 – is also known as Caddy, a veritable one-man songwriting and recording machine of international reknown (“the son of Paul Stanley and Brian Wilson”, according to a review of one of his two full-length albums) with two radio hits to his name and to quote Nick Oliveri (who scoped him out with intense interest nightly during our tour with Mondo Generator) “one of the best rock’n’roll drummers I have ever seen”.
The powerhouse that is Tomas has been part of the Turbo family ever since he at the tender age of 18 played drums on The Vikings’ original recording of “Good Head” (Knut and Tom actually wrote the song about him; “sweeping floors at the mill all day”, Tomas had recently dropped out of school to work as a janitor and driver at a local grain storage), contributing with backing vocals and vocal production on both Scandinavian Leather, Party Animals (during which an astonished producer Steve McDonald re-christened him “The Magic Truckdriver”) and Retox. For a sample of Tomas go to myspace.com/caddymusic
We wish Chris all the best in the future, and look forward to shifting gears into a new Deathpunk Era with Tomas behind the wheel!
Young Livers has recruited a current member of Glass and Ashes for their current tour. Touring bass player, Mike Carter will join the band on their upcoming tour and is the current bass player/vocalist for Glass & Ashes.
Pittsburgh, PA’s Gene The Werewolf have posted a new song on their MySpace page. The group features members from Punchline, ClearviewKills and The Berlin Project.
Capeside Records has signed Bellville, Ohio based death metal band Artillery Brearth The band will be heading into the studio soon to record their full length tentatively set for a June release.
After the departure of some of Fat Wreck Chords‘ most beloved bands to other labels, Boston/Richmond group Smoke or Fire was left carrying the torch. With two solid releases since their moniker change, 2005’s Above the City, and last year’s This Sinking Ship, the band continues to tour relentlessly and put out great music. 
In celebration of the recent 
