Hello everybody and welcome to Navel Gazing: your look back at the week in Punknews. I’m Adam White and I’ll be your guide through some of the most popular, notable, and otherwise attention getting stories of the past seven days. Each and every Punknews story is built from tips contributed by you fine folks, and here’s what got the strange, slow, old people in the community talking…

Sorry for the slow news day folks. We had some behind the scenes server voodoo to complete, plus it’s Canadian thanksgiving weekend. That means that Aubin, Ben and myself were either binge eating or elbow deep in the Org guts. Everyone else? Well they spent the day failing you. Feel free to judge them.

With the US election nearing its climax more and more artists are speaking out and getting involved. This week saw the Foo Fighters criticize the McCain campaign for the unauthorized use of the “My Hero” from 1998’s The Colour and the Shape. CBS prevents Sub Pop noise-punks No Age from performing on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson while guitarist Randy Randall was wearing a pro-Barack Obama t-shirt. Wasilla, Alaska’s Portugal. The Man discussed their hometown’s most famous export, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, in a new interview. Mainstream pop punkers Fall Out Boy donated $50,000 to fight a gay marriage ban that will be on the Californian ballot in November. Politics aside, this week continued to chronicle the recovery of Blink-182 / Plus 44 member Travis Barker. The drummer discussed his injuries and the jet crash that claimed four lives. His former band mate, Tom Delonge of Angels and Airwaves, also commented on the accident.

Green Day‘s still keeping their post-American Idiot plans under wraps, but word leaked this week that Butch Vig, whose resume includes records from Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, AFI and Against Me!, would be working with the band. Tim Barry discussed his new record Manchester and the future of his much loved band Avail. Hellcat punk act Time Again announced a hiatus while a member pursues more spiritual goals. This week saw a full album stream of Dillinger Four‘s hotly anticipated full length C I V I L W A R. We also had new music from Jesse Michaels of Common Rider and Operation Ivy, another new track from The Bronx and a Nightmare Revisited cover from Tiger Army. We had the final batch of confirmations this week for The Fest 7. Look for the A.K.A.s, Nakatomi Plaza, Valient Thorr, and the Anchor at the Gainesville gathering this Halloween. The Offspring will head to Japan and South America in support of their record. The Ergs! are also on the road, playing their final shows across the US and Canada.

In recent days the music world also said goodbye to the Godfather of Rocksteady, Alton Ellis (1938-2008).

This week we ran your votes through the cold, unfeeling Punknews computer-brain and calculated Your Favorite Records from September. The results saw records from Bridge and Tunnel, Young Widows and the Ergs come out on top.

This week we spoke with Jonathan Coody of Georgia’s Ninja Gun (interview) and Nate Newton of Salem, MA’s Doomriders (interview). We also spoke with Richard Minino, a.k.a. Horsebites. Richard’s art has been seen on releases by bands like Less Than Jake and New Mexican Disaster Squad as well as on the posters of events like The Fest (interview). As always we brought you new Streaming Music including the new EP from San Francisco’s Shuteye Unison, an EP from Long Beach, CA’s Joshua Lanes, and Boca Raton, FL hardcore outfit Fallen From The Sky.

So what’s coming up this week? Look for new releases from The Cure, Between the Buried and Me, Dillinger Four, Comeback Kid, River City Rebels and Lords with tours kicking off from NOFX (US East Coast), Strung Out (UK), Crime In Stereo / Polar Bear Club (US), Saosin (US), and Wednesday Night Heroes (Europe).
Source Continue reading October 12th, 2008 →

This past Friday rocksteady pioneer Alton Ellis died of cancer in a London hospital. He was 70.

The innovative singer-songwriter was born in Kingston, Jamacia in 1938, launching a singing career in 1959 as part of a duo with Eddy Perkins and recording at Coxsone Dodd’s legendary Studio One. By the mid 60s he was instrumental in the launch of rocksteady, a successor to the earlier ska music and a precursor to reggae. His song “Get Ready – Rock Steady” helped name the fledgling genre. Ellis moved to London, England in the 70s where he became known as the “Godfather of Rocksteady” with a sting of hits.

Alton Ellis lived his final years in Northolt, Middlesex and is survived by more than 20 children. Our deepest condolences go out to his friends, family and fans.
Source Continue reading Alton Ellis (1938-2008) →

LA’s Tiger Army have released a cover of “Oogie Boogie’s Song” for Nightmare Revisited, an album of covers from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. The song is available on iTunes, and was the last track produced for the band by the late Jerry Finn.

The band will also be joined by their original drummer Adam Carson for one night only, October 26, during the band’s five date Halloween rsidency at The Grove in Anaheim, CA. Titled Octoberflame 2008, the band will appear on the 23, 24, 25, 26, and 31st.

The band released Music from Regions Beyond last year.
Source Continue reading Tiger Army release new song, Halloween residency →

Sioux Falls, SD’s The Spill Canvas has posted their new video for the song “Saved.” The song appears on the band’s 2007 Sire debut No Really, I’m Fine.
Source Continue reading The Spill Canvas: “Saved” →

Riverside, CA’s Voodoo Glow Skulls will be touring the West Coast and South America in October and November. The band has been busy touring throughout the year.

The band released Southern California Street Music last year through Victory.
Source Continue reading Tours: Voodoo Glow Skulls (US, South America) →

California’s Time Again has announced their plans to take a hiatus for a couple of years. The band had this to say:

as some of you already know, this is going to be our last US tour for a couple years. Elijah is getting ready to go on his two year mormon mission and we didn’t feel that it was right to replace him, so we all agreed to wait for him to get back before we start playing again. we can’t say thank you enough for all the support you’ve given us since the band started. tour isn’t even over yet and we already can’t wait to start touring again haha, but i don’t want to make this sound too sad, because it’s not even over, we’re just taking a little break. we will be back soon and we hope you will all still be there with the same support when we do come back.

anyway, the rest of us are going to be starting a new band. we plan on recording early next year and touring soon after. there’s plenty of information to come, so make sure to keep checking back to see what’s going on.

The band released Darker Days earlier this year. They’re currently on tour with Street Dogs in the US. In November both bands will head to Europe for a tour with Flogging Molly and Skindred.
Source Continue reading Time Again announce hiatus →

Tim Barry recently spoke to Andy Thomas for the Vinyl Collective podcast. In the interview, Tim talks about his forthcoming full length, Manchester, (due out November 4, 2008) and also about the future of his other band, Avail.

You can check it out here.
Source Continue reading Tim Barry talks “Manchester,” future of Avail →

The Clash have a new live video featuring one of the tracks from their brand new live album, Live at Shea Stadium, which was released earlier this week.

Source Continue reading The Clash: “Should I Stay or Should I Go? (Live at Shea)” →

The Status have launched a full album stream of their new full length. The record is titled So This Is Progress and is due out October 7, 2008.

You can stream the full album via purevolume.
Source Continue reading The Status: “So This Is Progress” →

Billboard is reporting that the Beastie Boys have recruited Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Jack Johnson and Ben Harper to join them on the Get Out and Vote tour. The tour will kick off October 28th in Richmond, Virginia and feature shows in St. Paul, Minnesota and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The band is endorsing Senator Barack Obama and explained:

This election is too important to stay at home. We hope that you can come out, have a nice night, dance, sing, get your freak on, and then wake up the next morning and get everyone that you possibly can to get out and vote.

The band released the instrumental album, The Mix-Up, in 2007.
Source Continue reading Beastie Boys plan “Get Out and Vote” tour →