Mixtape: bad baby

As I put together the baby mixtape for my friend, there was a few songs that just didn't make the cut for obvious reasons. So they got put on the second CD, I gave her. Just in case things got so bad she had to let out some frustration.

1. Accidents - Alexisonfire

What if the baby wasn't planned?

2. You Are Pregnant, You Are Dead - Xiu Xiu

3. You Children Are Waiting For You To Die - McLusky

4. Rubber Baby Bugger Bumpers - Austrian Death Machine

Why not an Arnie cover band singing about baby stuff? I was so close to putting "Who is your daddy and what does he do" on here.

5. Birth Plague Die - Trash Talk

 

6. Birth Defect - Helmet

I saw them play this song live about the same time I made the mixtape, so it stuck in my head

7. Afterbirth - Closure in Moscow

8. Baby's First Coffin - The Dillinger Escape Plan

9. When My Baby Smiles at me I go to Rehab - Frenzal Rhomb

10. My Birth - Swans

Needless to say, this mixtape did not get played.

Frenzal Rhomb play even more shows

It seems Frenzal has been a constant touring since they dropped their last album, Smoko at the Pet Food Factory. Being the hard working Australian punk band they are, they don't just hit up the major venues in major cities. In fact, they're coming up for some shows in Queensland and aren't even going anywhere near Brisbane.

While I'm on my nostalgia kick, there's a Recovery video of them. Including an interview conducted by Dave McCormack of Custard fame.

June 8, Kings Beach Tavern Sunshine Coast

June 9, Parkwood Tavern Gold Coast

One sentence album reviews (#18)

It's really built up lately, what with a 2 week blog absence and the push to review as many albums before the end of the year. But here we go:

Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde (2011): Maybe it's the name, but I get a very country feel to this lo-fi rock 4.1/5

Social Jet Lag - The Monster Inside (2011): Generic modern post-hardcore, but with a female that can actually sing. She should do pop instead 2/5

Starfucker - Reptilians (2011): Hipster indie-dance. At times I think Flaming Lips, Of Montreal or Avalanches. The whole time I think "YES!" 5/5

Tennis - Cape Dory (2011): an album seemingly transported from the pop music of a hot 1960s summer 3.9/5

Whirl - Distressor (2010): The Jesus and Mary Chain, if they wrote good music after the 90s. 4/5

White Lies - Ritual (2011): Editors get drunk at New Order concert, hooks up with Interpol; 9 months later their baby sounds like this 3.8/5

Autre Ne Veut - ST (2010): It's a modern Prince album basically, with the same level of annoyance 2.3/5

Tim Blood & The Gutpanthers - Summer Of Our Discontent (2011): lofi pop punk, with a sound that makes me think of a non-folk Defiance Ohio 3.4/5

The Cab - Symphony Soldier (2011): If I was a teenage girl that likes soft contemporary rock, this would make me swoon. Too bad I'm male. 2/5

Nekromantix  - What Happens In Hell, Stays In Hell (2011): Songs about ghosts and devils... Never would have guessed that in psychobilly 2.5/5

Kimbra - Vows (2011): A beautiful funky and jazzy album of soul from a talented kiwi female singer 4.2/5

Bomb the Music Industry! - Vacation (2011): The album starts nothing like a BTMI! album, but luckily the quirky ska comes back at the end 3.3/5

311 - Universal Pulse (2011): A 311 album in 2011 just sounds dated and so forced. Nothing even remotely funky about their current sound 2/5

Regurgitator - Superhappyfuntimesfriends (2011): As disjointed and random as any 'gurge album, but doesn't have a noticeable hit song on it 3.4/5

Staind - ST (2011): Less nu-metal than they used to be, but the song Wannabe makes me laugh so hard I can't take this album seriously 1.6/5

Frenzal Rhomb - Smoko At The Pet Food Factory (2011): Tyical Frenzal: fast songs with very non-PC yet hilarious subject matter 3.8/5

Puddle of Mudd - Re(Disc)overed (2011): This cover album takes everything I love about the original songs and destroys them forever 0.3/5

The Drums - Portamento (2011) & Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams (2011): surf rock albums almost identical, minus the female singer of Dum Dum Girls 3.3/5
(I had those 2 albums queued up back to back and I didn't notice when the album changed. They are so similar, except Dum Dum Girls is louder)

La Dispute - Wildlife (2011): an emotional trip with some of the best lyrics I have heard recently, each song is a story 4.7/5
(it took me ages to listen to the album, as seemingly each song is about dealing with death. Hits close to home. But unlike their last album, I don't think I heard the word "darling" once. In Wildlife the repeated word seems to be "cancer")

Mates of State - Mountaintops (2011): I listened to this 10 times without forming an opinion; which means it is still perfect lofi pop 3.8/5

Bury Your Dead - Mosh N' Roll (2011): In my world, this album is how I imagine all good straight edge hardcore to sound. 3.8/5

Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows - ST (2011): At times he gets close, but Craig Owens' new band just can't sound as good as Chiodos 2.3/5

Thrice - Major/Minor (2011): The post-hardcore sound is almost fully gone, but it has been replaced with some amazing rock song writing 4.6/5

Trivium - In Waves (2011): Enough heavier thrash for old fans & melodic metal for newer fans. Summary of their career really... 3.2/5

The Rapture - In The Grace Of Your Love (2011): They've lost the dance-punk edge and this album just sounds like modern elevator music 2/5

Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You (2011): A watered-down version of their past (needs Frusciante!) that would be suited for AM radio 2.4/5

I Break Horses - Hearts (2011): This Swedish male/female synth-pop duo stands out from the pack because of their My Bloody Valentine influence 4/5

Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost (2011): They've lost a bit of the dreamy hipster sound and now almost sound alt-country. My Weakness! 4.3/5

Primus - Green Naugahyde (2011): The first new album from Primus in 12 years sounds as if it is from the Brown Album years. Funky and quirky 4.3/5

Ladytron - Gravity the Seducer (2011): Very quiet ambient synth music, like every Ladytron album. Just no stand out songs on this one 3.4/5

Eskimo Joe - Ghosts of the Past (2011): A very brooding mainstream-rock album, I can imagine the radio loving it. It just sounds cliche to me 3/5

Owen - Ghost Town (2011): Absolutely beautiful folk/indie/acoustic album, with just subtle touches of his noodly emo past showing 4.5/5

Skyway - Finders Keepers (2011): Imagine New Found Glory circa 2000, but Australian. That is this album. 3.6/5

The Arena: a tribute

Last night's Teenage Bottlerocket and Frenzal Rhomb gig was a blast from the past. Not because of Frenzal Rhomb (although they did play a plethora of really old songs) but it was because it was the first time the Arena has played host to a concert in years.

Ahh, the Arena. For 5 years it was a second home for me. One of the first shows I ever saw after moving back to Australia was Cypress Hill there. Inside the painted black walls with the sticky floor and the slightly dive-bar atmosphere, it just seemed right that everyone would light up joints right in front of security. Because that is the beauty of the Arena, no matter the band, they never seemed out of place. Over the years I saw indie, hip-hop, metal, punk... I pretty much was able to satisfy all my musical desires in the one venue.

Walking back through the thick red doors last night, it all came flooding back to me. I felt bad for Michael, my friend who was with me, as he moved up from Adelaide after the venue shut. As such, he had to listen to me ramble as I strolled down memory lane. I had to explain to him about the low ceiling in the men's toilet, and how the air conditioning vent at one corner meant you had to limbo to get to the urinal. About the dancer's cage on the second floor that used to be able to hold people, but would probably collapse now. The beauty of having bars both upstairs and downstairs and how they would only open the upstairs ones during all-ages shows. The two giant poles in front of the stage, right in the mosh where you don't want to get pinned to it. The couches hidden at the back and the even more secret back room on the second floor, full of couches and away from the noise.

But you can't blame me for this old-man reminiscing. I've seen so many good shows at the Arena that for a person like me, with such a religious-like link to music, it is my temple. I still can't forget when the Norma Jean lead singer climbed up to hang off the roof in their final song (Memphis May Burn maybe?).

Or the first time I saw Rise Against. I lost my belt in the mosh, then my pants, but I stayed up the front singing along to their acoustic cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I was probably the only person in the crowd who knew the song.

Or the very first time I saw Frenzal Rhomb and was in fact pinned up against the pole on the left side of the stage.

Or the very first time I saw NOFX. Phil got knocked out in the first song, but I had my shirt torn off me by the third song by a violent mosher and the rest of the night was a blur of a minor concussion.

Or the entire crowd singing Sink Florida Sink while impatiently waiting for Against Me to get on stage.

Or how the dickhead Frenzal Rhomb crowd kept spitting on the Lawrence Arms to get them off stage so Frenzal could play.

Or the epic 3 hour Mars Volta set (no opening act) with one of the first times they ever played the song Frances the Mute live.

Or when the firehose got pulled out during Less than Jake and sprayed all over the crowd and stage, shorting out the equipment.

Or when Moneen joined Alexisonfire on stage to sing Accidents together. After that song I lost Phil, only to find him walking the streets of the valley wearing only a single sock.

And especially who can forget the Parkway Drive show. The one that supposedly sounded the death of the Arena and the changing of the all-ages licensing laws in Queensland, seeing the demise of all-ages shows in licensed venues. The riot police, the fire alarms, the little kids going crazy and apparently the fire lit in the venue that started it all.

After that night, the venue was doomed to shut down. A few months later Frenzal Rhomb played the last show there. It then became an R & B nightclub. Oh how my heart ached at the misuse of the venue! All the shows that would normally play there got moved to the HiFi. The HiFi, don't get me wrong, is a lovely venue. It's just too nice. It lacks the gritty character and even to this day, after the amazing shows I've seen there, it still doesn't seem to have a connection with me. It's a great venue, but it has no soul or spiritual signifigance to me. It's just a venue.

I hope now the Arena comes back in some form. Walking through the doors last night you could tell things had changed. The walls had satin material. The dance floor had been relaid. The toilets fixed (and a bloody odd mirror placed directly above the urinal). The couches were nice and new. There were plants inside! The bar fixed. New lighting! Most importantly, a working air conditioning system. But under that slight face lift, it was still the Arena I know and love. That little bit of botox and cosmetic work could not hide what the venue truly is. As I moshed along to Teenage Bottlerocket, continuously slipping on the floor, I couldn't help but smile. The old girl, she's back.

Frenzal Rhomb/Teenage Bottlerocket

I woke up this morning to a very lovely picture message:

Thanks for sending it Ellis. Despite it being blurry as all hell, it's bloody exciting. If you can't read the poster, I'll explain why it's good on two fronts.

1. It continues Frenzal Rhomb's long standing tradition of bringing great overseas bands with them. If it wasn't for Frenzal, I would never have seen the Lawrence Arms. And now, thanks to them, I get a chance to see Teenage Bottlerocket, a great USA punk band. I've been blaring their new EP, Mutilate Me, for the last few weeks, and I love their style of old school pop-punk (pre-2000's, the way it should be).
2. It's bringing back the Arena. THE GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING ARENA. A place where I have spent most of my life. In fact, I was at the last Arena show, which happened to be Frenzal Rhomb as well. I can't wait to get reacquainted with the sticky dance floor, the upstairs bars and hidden couches, the dancing cage, the giant poles in the middle of the mosh pit and the urinal with no head clearance so I have to lean backwards. I love dive bars. I love places that play good music. And the Arena was just my dream combination of it all.

Frenzal Rhomb/Teenage Bottlerocket
September 9, the Arena.
SQUEE!

Teenage Bottlerocket MySpace, for listening pleasure.

I'm back, here's the news

After a great week spent rocking out in freezing cold Melbourne, I'm back with a musical todo list the size of Peter North's tackle. I went to shows, I drank a bit, ate some good food, met some friends, did some shopping and took pictures. I'll try and blog/share some of the shows information later on, but for now, here's the news that I missed:

Rise Against/Sick of it All/Break Even tour
Rise Against used to be one of my favourite punk-bands. Then they released the album Appeal to Reason. Sick of it All are one of the best NY hardcore bands ever. EVER. Yet they only ever come to Australia as opening bands for other internationals. And Break Even are swell dudes from Gero. Put them together, we have a great tour. I hope.

July 18, Entertainment Centre

I have a few problems with this tour. First, the price? $70. Second, the Entertainment Centre is a crap venue, especially for hardcore/punk. Third, I'd really only be going for Sick of it All, unless Rise Against's new album is a return to form.

Frank Turner
He was one quarter of number 5 in my 2010 best of gigs list, but now the hardcore-turned-acoustic Frank Turner is coming out for a solo tour. He'll be playing Thriller at Rosies on April 16. 18+ of course, and it may be worthwhile buying tickets in advance.

Frenzal Rhomb
They must be broke again, because it's been about a year since their last tour. May 6 at Coolangatta Hotel, May 7 at the HiFi. Both shows 18+ and will be full of drunken revelry and swear words.

Swans cancel
It was one of the highlights of my post-holiday 3-gig week, wrapping it all up in a noisy swath of post-punk bliss. But now it's been cancelled. The Swans gig for Friday at the HiFi is canned. It's the only show in Australia not happening and they've given no reason why. I guess I will never get to see them then.

The Wombats get another go
The Wombats are in the country for Groovin' the Moo, and they've already got one night slated for a Brisbane show. Apparently it's a popular thing, as they've announced a second, all-ages show on May 5 at the Tivoli.

No Sleep Til festival

I mentioned it a while back, but there's an official release now for the festival featuring the Descendents. It is the No Sleep Til festival.


The poster says it all. December 19th at the RNA Showgrounds. Apparently it's going to be about $140 a ticket. And feel sorry for Perth, they pay the same and don't even get all of the bands.

New punk festival

Originally for me, the Soundwave lineup announcement was overshadowed by a text message I received at about the same time. The Descendents are coming to Australia for the first time. And they are going to be playing at the Riverstage in a new punk festival.


For those of you (unfortunately probably most) that don't know the Descendents, they are a pop-punk/melodic-hardcore band first formed in 1978. Unlike most of their contemporaries, they sang about light-hearted subject matter. In this way, they pretty much started pop-punk as we know it.

Apparently this festival includes NOFX, Me First and The Gimme Gimmes, Dropkick Murphys, Killswitch Engage, Atreyu, Frenzal Rhomb, Parkway Drive and "about 10 other internationals (all punk, metal or hardcore)."

WOW. I am stoked. This could be better than Soundwave. It's happening December 19th at Riverstage.

Descendents MySpace
or come over and I will spin you their 1982 record, Milo Goes to College.

EDIT: FUUUUUUUUUCK. It's the same day as the Gorillaz. What to do?!