Slowjam bassist Darren Davies (1968-2010)

On Sunday August 1st, bassist Darren Davies of the Welsh band Slowjam passed away at the age of 41.

Davies formed the group in 1987 with friends Dave Alderman and Matt Grey, formerly of Cardiff bands the Soldier Dolls and I Mobster. On the band’s 1990 album Crabapple, recorded by Iain Burgess, Slowjam experimented with “the drum machine hardcore of Big Black, the dance rhythms of the Effigies and the melody of DC bands such as Fugazi.” Slowjam supported Naked Raygun on their UK tour, recorded a split with art rock act Crabladder, released a 12″ titled Freefall and another full length titled Pig on Stator. They were active until 1993 when they disbanded to pursue other projects.

Thanks to Welly of Artcore Fanzine for the details on Slowjam’s career. Our deepest condolences go to Darren’s family and friends.
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Kinda Like A Fest 6 to feature Shook Ones, Comadre, Make Do And Mend, Heartsounds

Comadre Kinda Like A Fest 6 is fast approaching. The show, set to take place on August 7th in Half Moon Bay, California, will feature bands like All Teeth, Big Kids, Black Breath, Comadre, Daikon, Glasses, Heartsounds, Make Do and Mend, Seahaven and Shook Ones. The annual event will also feature a vegan/vegetarian bake sale, BBQ, and potluck during the day. Canned food donations to benefit Second Harvest will also get you a few bucks off at the door. You can find out more at MySpace or Facebook.
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Interviews: Chris McCaughan (Sundowner, The Lawrence Arms)

SundownerIt has been well over four years since The Lawrence Arms released their last full length in 2006’s Oh! Calcutta!. While collectively the group has remained relatively quiet (to their standards), individually, they have remained active. Perhaps the most recognizably busiest one is guitarist Chris McCaughan. Under the Sundowner moniker, McCaughan found success in 2007 with his first “solo” record, Four One Five Two. After three years, Sundowner is ready to follow up its debut with We Chase the Waves. Punknews contributor Matthew Bentel caught up with Chris at a Mexican restaurant in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood to talk about the new record, his vision for Sundowner, and – of course – the Lawrence Arms.

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Lemuria sets title, release date for new LP

Lemuria Lemuria have announced the title and release date for their sophomore full-length. The record is titled Pebble and it’s due out on November 9, 2010 via Bridge Nine Records, following up their Asian Man Records-released 2008 debut, Get Better. Pebble was recorded at The Magpie Cage in Baltimore, MD with producer J Robbins. Drummer/vocalist Alex Kerns had this to say about the recording process, as well as the direction of the band’s new material:

“The new songs don’t stray far from ‘Get Better’ but at the same time, our new material is a little more high-energy. We are very proud of this record and can’t wait for the world to hear it … We couldn’t be happier with out the album turned out and have J to thank for it. It was an amazing experience working with him, his catalog and style definitely complimented the new songs we wrote.”

More details are expected to be announced soon. The band will be on the road with New Found Glory soon and will be performing at Best Friends Day in Richmond, VA as well as The Fest 9 in Gainesville, FL. They also have three dates lined up for Canada in September with Anti-Flag.
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Mates of State: “I Will Dare” (The Replacements)

The AV Club has posted the latest chapter of its Undercover live covers series. This week it’s Mates of State – along with guests, including comedian Todd Barry on drums – tackling the 1984 Replacements classic “I Will Dare,” originally found on Let It Be. You can click Read More to watch the performance.

Appropriately, Mates of State released a covers album entitled Crushes earlier this year.
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Cheap Girls begin announcing tour, new music on the way

Cheap Girls Lansing, MI power trio Cheap Girls have begun announcing their touring plans for the fall. So far the jaunt mostly includes dates along the west coast, but more shows are expected to be announced soon.

The band also recently wrapped up recording for two new 7-inches as well as an unnamed cover song. One of those releases is likely their previously announced split with Lemuria for No Idea Records, expected out in late September/early October. Cheap Girls last released My Roaring 20s in 2009.
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Now Available – Alter Ego

Alter Ego is not available on Steam and 10% off until August 10th.

When a series of gruesome murders shake a small town after a strange aristocrat dies and his body goes missing, rumors of a supernatural monster abound. In life Sir William was known to be a cruel and evil man, rumored to be the murderer behind many unsolved crimes. Now in death, this latest spurt of crime has the entire village shaking in fear with some even fleeing. The local police are beside themselves and have made no headway in solving the crimes. Detective Briscol, a man of logic and principles and Timothy Moor, a poor immigrant turned petty thief become unlikely partners to solve these terrible crimes. Alternating between these roles, players will investigate these strange events and gradually reveal a dark secret.


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Fan dies at Warped Tour in Kansas City

A 26 year-old fan died yesterday at the Vans Warped Tour in Bonner Springs, KS, just outside of Kansas City, MO. Details are scant at this point, but with rumors that the death was due to dehydration, the organizers of the tour posted this message to the Warped twitter account:

“There is no confirmation this was due to dehydration, cardiac, other substances, etc. We do provide first aid to anyone who needs it. If this was due to dehydration, the tour is not responsible for water prices and we change venue rules to allow you to bring it in with you. What’s happened today is an unforeseeable tragedy that shouldn’t have happened. We are all upset and shocked and our hearts are heavy. Please remember to be responsible when you are at an event like this. At ANY possible sign of a problem, PLEASE contact a venue member.”

It’s worth noting that yesterday Bridge Nine Records, who has a tent on this year’s tour, posted an update to their twitter account that said the venue in Bonner Springs was charging ten dollars for a bottle of water in 100 degree temperatures. We’ll keep you updated as more details surface.

Our deepest condolences go out to the friends and family of the fan.
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Puzzle Dimension Update Released

Updates to Puzzle Dimension have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

  • Added new “highest” shadow resolution.
  • Added in-game indicator for showing when a level is unpixelated.
  • Added unpixelated indicator to puzzle menu.
  • Fixed broken unpixelate achievement.
  • Fixed a bug where older gamepads/controllers could cause input to behave strange.
  • Support for more gamepads.


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