Brooklyn’s punk-circus performers World/Inferno Friendship Society have joined forces with Caden Manson to create what is being billed as a “punk-rock opera for the times.” “Fiend in Wien: Peter Lorre’s 20th Century” chronicles the life of actor and director Peter Lorre, known for his roles in classics such as “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and “Casablanca.” It follows his “unheralded existence from his days with Wedekind and Brecht through the cycle of World Wars to a pitiless fall from grace in the drug-infused quagmire of Hollywood vines.”

W/IFS will be providing a song-cycle for “the multi-media spectacle” to be released in recorded form via Chunksaah this Fall, alongside the stage debut of the opera.

For more information, check this page in the future.

W/IFS released their Chunksaah debut, Red-Eyed Soul, last year.
Source Continue reading World/Inferno Friendship Society working on punk-rock opera following Peter Lorre’s life →

The Action Design, which features former Tsunami Bombers Matt McKenzie and Emily Whitehurst, have posted some rerecorded and mastered tracks from their EP re-release including one brand new song titled “Eyes On Me.”

You can check out the new songs on their their MySpace page.

The band released a limited edition self-titled EP last year.
Source Continue reading The Action Design post new tracks from EP reissue →

Philadelphia’s Rosetta and Minnesota’s Battlefields will be making thier way across the United States in support of their respective new releases on Level-Plane and Init Records.
Source Continue reading Tours: Battlefields / Rosetta →

Indianapolis punk/reggae act Lockstep have posted the first two mp3s from their upcoming release on their myspace page.

Punk act The Indecision Alarm has posted two new recording of songs set to appear on a split release with Enemy Alliance. (“Alienation Process” and “Where Every Fucking Dream Is Killed”) You can find the songs on their myspace page.

Tracks off of the new Aeroplane, 1929 album The Holy Ghost have been posted on the bands myspace and the Topshelf Records myspace. The band will be hitting the road in June 21st to support the release of the album.
Source Continue reading Lockstep (ex-Naptones), The Indecision Alarm, Aeroplane 1929 →

There’s been another bout in the ongoing fued between members of the Dead Kennedys. Bassist Klaus Flouride is claiming that Jello Biafra had him banned from DirkFest, a Biafra MC’d event from July 8th in celebration of the late “pope of punk,” promoter Dirk Dirksen. The event in question was the second night performances, featuring the Avengers, the SF Mutant Non-Allstars (playing Mutants covers), the Contractions, the White Trash Debutants and No Alternative among others.

According to Flouride, Biafra had him barred from the event.

Dirk Dirksen was of course godfather of San Francisco punk. He ran the Mabuhay Gardens “Fab Mab” nightclub and later the On Broadway. He passed away last year at the age of 69.
Source Continue reading Biafra bans Klaus Flouride from Dirk Dirksen tribute? →

Austin, Texas’ Bitter Tongues has have returned from a year and a half hiatus as a new band. While writing and recording with new guitarist Ribs Mason (Pride Kills, 10 Crowns, Iron Age), the band spun off into a new act dubbed Career Criminal. The group is self-described as “stripped-down oi/punk/hardcore influenced in no small part by Sham 69, The Four Skins, Cro-Mags and Slapshot” and features vocalist Richard Crenwelge (Bitter Tongues, HoldxFast, Coptic Times), guitarist Zach Frady (Bitter Tongues, Coptic Times), bassist Colby Holiday (Exit the King, Black Past), drummer Jared Cannon (Bitter Tongues, 28 Cent Solution) and the aforementioned Ribs Mason also on guitar.

The band has a handful of summer shows scheduled with bands like Fucked Up, Down To Nothing and Reagan Youth. Career Criminal will hit the studio this summer with Stan Wright (Death Threat, Signal Lost, Balance of Terror) to record an EP due out this summer. .

Bitter Tongues looks like they’re still around, albeit still on hiatus. The band released Clovis in 2005 on United Edge.
Source Continue reading Bitter Tongues becomes Career Criminal →

Cobra Skulls have posted three new songs from their upcoming Red Scare debut. The record is titled Sitting Army and is due out July 10, 2007.

You can check out the songs on their myspace page.
Source Continue reading Three new songs from upcoming Cobra Skulls record →

Looks like all of those taking shots at Fall Out Boy on message boards may want to think before taking it to Pete in person. A recent incident saw a heckler beaten down by Fall Out Boy’s security team.

According to a witness:

A guy started calling Pete a sell-out, asking him ‘Where’s [girlfriend] Ashlee [Simpson]?’ and making fun of his hoodie.

“They did their last song, walked off the stage and headed toward a side door to go out onto the sidewalk. But that’s when the scuffle happened. The crowd surged back, then snapped forward. From my vantage point, I could see Fall Out Boy security was pounding on the guy. The guy was down on floor, shirt ripped, bleeding from ear and nose. There was a lot of blood.

Wentz denies that the incident was malicious, claiming self-defence:

The truth is on the way out the door I had to pass directly next to the guy and I knew it, so I kept my head down and walked out. As I did, the guy reached out and grabbed me and said something I couldn’t really hear — it was a glorious use of the English language, though,” he continued. “As he grabbed me, I punched him. Yell all you want at me, say whatever, but in a situation like that I will defend myself. After that, of course, it got chaotic, [but] we have several independent witnesses that gave statements saying he grabbed me first … I am not worried over the outcome, as I was clearly in the right. Anything anyone else is saying or writing is simply not true

You can find more on the story right here.
Source Continue reading Pete Wentz (and his security team) clobber heckler →

Portland, OR synth-punk act the Epoxies have signed to Philadelphia based Metropolis Records, a label famous for their industrial music offerings. The band is working on a new full length, the follow up to 2005’s Fat Wreck released Stop The Future, for this fall. Prior to that the group will release a 5 song EP through Metropolis titled My New World. It’s set to hit stores on August 21st.

The Epoxies recently released the Synthesized CD EP though Dirtnap, collecting two out of print 7″s released on the label.
Source Continue reading Epoxies sign to Metropolis Records →

Award winning Canadian act Bedouin Soundclash have announced the details and release data for their upcoming sophomore full length, Street Gospels. Due out August 21, 2007, the album was recorded in in Toronto and New York by producer and Bad Brain, Darryl Jenifer.

The band also brought in Money Mark (The Beastie Boys) on keys, Wade MacNeil (Alexisonfire, Black Lungs) on vocals/guitar and the legendary Vernon Buckley vocalist of The Maytones.

The first two songs from the album are available here and you can find the album artwork on the release page.
Source Continue reading Bedouin Soundclash announce “Street Gospels” →

I recently spoke with Nick 13, frontman of long-running Hellcat act Tiger Army. The band recently delivered Music from Regions Beyond, their fourth full length for the label and one with a completely different lineup from their previous album.

Nick and I talked about the record, Warped Tour, speaking Spanish and psychobilly.

Source Continue reading Interviews: Tiger Army →

Think Fast! Records has posted a new track from Between the Wars. The song will be featured on the band’s forthcoming release Death and the Sea.

You can download “For Nothing” here.

The band released Less We Believe last year.
Source Continue reading Between the Wars post new song →

Is anyone else still wondering what happened with that Sopranos finale? Yeah, I get it…Tony’s supposed to always be wondering, blah, blah, blah. Eh, at least the scene where Phil got whacked made up for the lack of ultra-violence we were all expecting. Now, back to the new reviews…

• Punk staples Strung Out released their highly anticipated new album Blackhawks Over Los Angeles
• Former Misfit and dark underlord of all things ghoulish Glen Danzig unleashed The Lost Tracks of Danzig
• Live show reviews of anti-ska pirates Bomb the Music Industry! and shoe-gazer favorite The Fall of Troy
• The punkers from down under Frenzal Rhomb‘s 2006 effort Forever Malcolm Young
• Several more over at the Punknews Review page
  Source Continue reading Tuesday, June 12, 2007 →