new interviews

we also have interviews with the following bands:
Oi Boys!
The Flash Attacks
Youth Brigade
The Uglies
Fourth Corpse

bands in italics will be live interviews
bands in bold (Youth Brigade) is just fucking exciting
all the bands are good, we promise

work in progress

we got 2 interviews done today:
dropkick murphys (matt kelly)
sham 69 (dave parsons)

and we got 1 cd for review today:
"sad day we left the croft" honcho recordings comp

and i drew another shitty comic today at work so be expecting one of those in issue #5 as well

upcoming interviews

Sex Presleys
JuiceheaD
Brain Failure
Murphy's Law
Six and Violence
9:18
Constant Fear
The Creepshow
Dropkick Murphys
Sham 69
The Last Resort
Trashed Idols
Lower Class Brats
...and more TBA

the bands in italics have already been interviewed
the rest have agreed to interviews and will be getting back to us shortly
all interviews will be featured in upcoming issues on the zine

look out for issue #5 november 17th, 2007

ISSUE #5 cd reviews

in ISSUE #5 we will be reviewing the following music:

"United We Standardize" - H.C.A.
"God Save the King" - Sex Presleys
"Lambination 2" - Deadlamb Records comp
"The Declaration" - Haunted Life
"Middle Ground 3" - Punk Shit Records comp
"...Ruin Your $cene" - Angleworm
"Filthy Little Beast" - Crapulous Gee Gaw
...and one more TBA

look for it november 17th, 2007

"...and we travel on"

Home to These Explosions
…And We Travel On

Home to These Explosions claims to be a mix of indie, hardcore and pop punk. Well, after listening to their new album released by New York DIY label Raise Your Fist! Records, I have this to say: I can see the indie, and definitely the pop punk, but as for the hardcore aspect of the band? Give me a break, buddy, I’m just not buying that.

At times the band can have a heavy sound with some pretty interesting guitar riffs, but then it seems to lose all of that power as soon as the first verse starts and the vocals kick in. This CD won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but to those in search of a new underground pop punk band to listen to, I suggest to you these guys. Think an angrier, heavier, more musically advanced version of all your Good Charlotte’s out there, and there you go: Home to These Explosions awaits you.

“From the Board Room to the Gallows” is a song that typifies their sound. The lyrics are pretty awesome and (in the hands of the right band) have the potential to be great. Oh, they’re okay in the song as they are, but if you’re like me and prefer less shaky vocals and a thrashier, hardcore sound, then you’d think the same way. Lyrically the songs have definite visible punk influences – angry, pessimistic social-commentary-type lyrics that say what they’re there to say. If paired with different vocals I think that about three-quarters of the songs on the album would be a lot better, but hey, you can’t help your voice so I’m not counting it as a strike against them. These guys have real talent that shows in their writing – you can always feel the passion there behind their words. Which in punk is a usually a good thing. Sometimes that passion crosses over into emo territory (“I’ve bled in my eyelids” and “shed a red tear” for example) which is concerning if you don’t like emo (a genre which I think would best benefit society by spontaneously combusting), but hey, make your own opinions.

“There’s No Hope In Being Hopeless” and “…And We Travel On” both deal with the punk scene, underground bands, and basement shows – some of my absolute favorite things. Honestly, this is not usually the kind of music I listen to or prefer to listen to, but of the tracks on the album I find them the most bearable and I actually found myself enjoying them from time to time. It could have something to do more with the subject matter than the actual song itself, but then again, who knows?

In the end, Home to These Explosions has a lot of heart and some skill, but if you’re looking for band that’s street or hardcore or anything other than the indie/punk band that they are, then this probably won’t be the band for you.

"shred!"

TFA

Shred!

TFA finally came out with their EP, SHRED! Even though it only has six songs, it’s really awesome and gives you an idea of what they are like. The first song, Hit the Ground, is loud and fast, and basically a great song.

Their music is pretty impressive, especially when you realize that there are only 3 guys making it. The second song, Never Last, is my personal favorite on the EP. It reminds me a lot of minor threat (because of the vocals and pace changes…). A lot of their stuff reminds me of minor threat, actually.

Anyways, the third song, Time to Party, is awesome. There’s not really much to write about it, actually, the name kind of explains itself.

The fourth song, Shred!, is the longest on the EP, weighing in at 1 minute, 52 seconds. It’s (obviously) the one that the EP is named after, and maybe that’s because it’s an awesome song. I can’t really think of anything the song reminds me of, other than TFA. Its fast, catchy, and overall, its just good music. That’s what I think of TFA.

The fifth song, Skate, is the shortest one, (31 seconds), and I think the chorus sums up this song: “All I wanna do is skate!”

The last song, Myspace Whore, is a great way to end the CD, because it’s a great song. This one most of all reminds me of minor threat, because of the pace change in it. Enough about Minor Threat though, this is TFA. They are awesome, so it’s no surprise that their EP is awesome. If you like good music, check out TFA. You won’t be disappointed.

"stupyd cow demo"

Stupyd Cow

Stupyd Cow Demo

Another pop punk band in the same issue of DIY PUNK? you ask. Yes, I say. Another pop punk band. Why? you ask. Because they're fucking good, that's why, I say. Stupyd Cow is pop punk out of Maryland, influenced by bands including (but not limited to) Social Distortion, the Ramones, Pennywise, The Suicide Machines, Rancid, and Anti-Flag. An okay list, as far as influences go, I would have to say.

They sound more new-age pop than oldschool/Ramones/'77 style (whatever you refer to it as) punk, but that doesn't mean they suck. Quite the contrary, I actually really enjoyed the demo. At only four songs long, it's a pretty short CD - one I found myself listening to over and over again. All of the songs were good, not everybody's taste I'm sure, but probably a good majority of you kids would like this band if given the chance to hear them.

I actually believe that this band would be best to see perform live over listening to the CD. Of course, in most cases that is the better of the two options because seriously, who wouldn't want to go to a show over sitting in their room listening to a CD? Not many people, that's who. Either way, this is a high-energy punk band which I'm sure plays a good set and would be fun to mosh around to before the headlining band.

Every song on the album was good and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing, although I must admit that the last two songs were by far my favorites. Some days you just get into one of those moods where pop-punk ballads are all you wanna hear (well, that may not be the case, but let's just pretend, shall we?), and on those days I would definitely throw in my Stupyd Cow demo and, well, fulfill all of my pop-punk ballad needs. "What It Means" is an awesome song, but honestly all that I have in my head right now is "Canadian Song" so I'll just skip over to that.

If I were a Canadian (dude) I might be really pissed at this band, if I took offense to everything I heard. This song is hilarious and makes out this random Canadian guy to be gay, then blames it all on his Canadian-ness. Like being a Canadian is really an excuse for being gay! Hah! It's just a really funny song that's catchy and good and I can't stop listening to it. The best verse to sing along to comes near the end where they challenge you to sing along with them: "Well this is a Canadian song / And all you fucking Yankee bastards better sing along!". I mean, with writing like this, what's not to like?

Stupyd Cow is a cool band that doesn't seem to take themselves, or anything else, too seriously. Which is good considering they're on the poppier side of the punk rock spectrum and therefore they aren't expected or required to sing about anything more than funny, random, whatever-they-feel-like type songs. To me they sound like a mix of The God Awfuls (another pop-punk band that rocks) and Social Distortion. You won't want to listen to them when you're looking for something hardcore or aggressive because this won't cut it, but if you're looking for something to listen to that's poppy and fun then this would be it.

"the nights i can't remember i can't forget"

The Knockdown

The Nights I Can't Remember I Can't Forget

After listening to The Knockdown's album, "The Nights I Can't Remember I Can't Forget", I can actually say that I am speechless. For once in my life there are no words coming to my brain or out of my mouth. And no, in this case, that may not be such a good thing.

Now don't get me wrong -- I'm not saying that they suck, because in all honesty they don't. Let's just say they're not the typical band you'd find in any given punk's record player - they're more of a new-age/post-hardcore/emo-type band that I feel only about 3% of the kids reading this will really appreciate, if that. For what they do they are pretty good at, but if you aren't a fan of that type of music (which I admit that I am not) then I am pretty sure that you will not find this band or CD very enjoyable.

At best I found the songs tolerable, and even that got old after a while. This could very well have something to do with my deep-seeded hatred of all things remotely emo, or because before putting on the CD I had high hopes and expectations that this just never lived up to. With a name like The Knockdown and a CD title involving drunken endeavors, I had hopes that they would have been something great - straight up punk, or folk punk, or hardcore. And after reading the lyrics to the first song, "Squirrelaholic", there was still hope - after all, it looks like it could have been written by Anti-Flag or some other political pop punk band with all of the big words and "holler back now"s and talk of useless wars going on. But alas, it was not meant to be - no matter how much you rationalize or tell yourself that they'll be good and that they'll be hardcore, as soon as the song starts you know that there is no hope. Nothing in the known world will be able to save you from the emo whinefest that you have just willingly subjected yourself to.

Three of the five songs on the album sound like any other pop-emo band you've ever heard before, with slightly depressing lyrics, the emo whine, indecipherable metaphors, everything. Take this line for example and tell me it's not emo/teen angsty: "Well I'm sure that a savior's born every fucking day / But they learn not to care before anything is saved". Ouch.

The only songs that I found tolerable were "Squirrelaholic" (the first track on the album) and the hidden bonus track. "Squirrelaholic" is the least emo and most pop, and I could definitely see it being on MTV or MTV2 or any other station like that with all the pop-emo they play nowadays. The "whoas", "heys", everything in the song comes together to form a junior highschool-esque ballad about bastard sons and stolen lives. Without a doubt this was the catchiest song on the album, and one of the best in my mind. The other song, "Basements and Houses", is probably their best song. I actually really liked it, so much so that if I were to make a comp with songs I liked on it, this one very well might be one of them. In a lot of ways it reminds me of a Rancid song...the lyrics are along the same lines of Rancid's "Radio", and at the end they have the whole clap-while-singing with no backing instruments thing going on that Rancid also seems to enjoy doing. The vocals are not whiny and are actually pretty okay, they especially impressed me with their harmonizing in the chorus "This is all you wanted / What are you waiting for? / Now is the time to sing along". It's a pretty solid song, and if I was in this band it would be the one I wanted people to remember when they thought of us. (Of course, I'm not in this band so that really was a pointless thing to say).

Basically this band is emo, emo, emo (or indie, indie, indie...whatever you prefer calling it) with some slightly good tendencies picked up from better bands. But just as soon as you start to give in and give them credit for something tolerable, they'll pull out a good charlotte/fall out boy-type song that makes you regret your previous thoughts of them. This band is not for everyone and certainly not for me, but I will admit that musically they are good at what they do and if you like emo/post-hardcore/whatever this band claims to be, then you might want to give them a listen.

updates

issue #4 will be out soon soon soon, we promise. in new news, we've got some sick interviews scheduled for issue #5 (that's right kids, we're talking six and violence, murphy's law, the creepshow, and more). keep an eye out for that, it should be the best issue so far...

we're trying to get a printing press to hook us up with a contract/deal-type thing, so this will probably end up looking like the real deal...you know, newspaper-type magazine... if we can't get them to agree we're gonna need some help from our readers (you know who you are) as to ideas of how we can get this motherfucker printed... if you've got any ideas for us please don't hesitate to shout em out to us...you can do that via email.

diyctpunk@hotmail.com