Contest: “Tweet” New Found Glory

Punk pop rockers New Found Glory (NFG) are asking fans for help in finding local opening acts for their small club headline shows the are playing in the upcoming months.  They will be touring in support of their new album they released this past Spring called Not Without A Fight.

So how can you help you ask?  Excellent question.

All you have to do is send a “Tweet”  to @xchadballx and @steveisdareason on the popular mini-blog site Twitter the local band you think should open for them. They will pick the bands based upon the number of local requests they get.

What a novel idea…   The dates for their headlining tour (they will also be touring with Dashboard Confessional this Fall too but this contest does not apply to those shows) are listed below.  If you know of a local band you think should open for NFG then I suggest you tweet them a little message.

I have a couple local favorites in mind I will be tweeting them about…  I suggest you do the same.  Hell, even if you are in a band it could not hurt to tell them from perhaps a friend’s Twitter account how awesome your band is.  You never know, they may ask you to open for them!

The above was reshaped and manipulated from a message from Chad Gilbert of NFG. Here’s his take on the whole idea as well as some other words:

Support Your Local Scene!

Before NFG head out on tour with Dashboard Confessional this fall we will be doing a limited amount of smaller intimate club shows. For the past few years NFG have not been able to hook up local bands due to a full traveling line up. We know how important it is to support local bands and local music scenes. That is how NFG got our start. We use to open locally in South Florida for bands like MxPx, the Get Up Kids, Unwritten Law,Bane etc. Playing those shows helped build our band and build our local scene. This tour will give us an opportunity to finally help out a little.

We ask you to “Tweet” @xchadballx and @steveisdareason some suggestions for local bands to open up the NFG show in their town. Please check http://www.myspace.com/newfoundglory for all the tour dates. Make sure you request bands only for our own headline shows, Not the shows we will be playing with Dashboard Confessional.

We do not want to piss any one off or discourage any bands so NFG will not be picking the specific band. We are just compiling a list of bands that we get the most requests for and submitting it to the local promoter to pick.

Also on all of these shows will be a fellow Floridian band called Fallen From The Sky and Pennsylvania’s TITLE FIGHT!

thanks so much and we hope to see you all this fall!

DONT LET HER PULL YOU DOWN the movie coming soon!

your friend always
@XchadballX

Tour Dates (for their headlining shows only)
Oct 18 2009 – Toads Place (Headline Show) – New Haven, Connecticut
Oct 19 2009 – Chameleon Club (Headline Show) – Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Oct 21 2009 – The Chance (Headline Show) – Poughkeepsie, New York
Oct 22 2009 – Northern Lights (Headline Show) – Clifton Park, New York
Oct 24 2009 – Eleanor Rigby’s (Headline Show) – Jermyn, Pennsylvania
Oct 25 2009 – Higher Ground (Headline Show) – Burlington, Vermont
Oct 27 2009 – The Intersection (Headline Show) – Grand Rapids, Michigan
Oct 28 2009 – Peabody’s Downunder (Headline Show) – Cleveland, Ohio
Oct 30 2009 – Southgate House (Headline Show) – Newport, Kentucky
Oct 31 2009 – The Rave (Headline Show) – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Nov 1 2009 – People’s Court (Headline Show) – Des Moines, Iowa
Nov 2 2009 – Slowdown (Headline Show) – Omaha, Nebraska
Nov 3 2009 – Station 4 (Headline Show) – Saint Paul, Minnesota
Nov 5 2009 – New Daisy (Headline Show) – Memphis, Tennessee
Nov 6 2009 – Emerson Theater (Headline Show) – Indianapolis, Indiana
Nov 7 2009 – Pop’s (Headline Show) – Sauget, Illinois
Nov 23 2009 – Cine El Ray (Headline Show) – Mcallen, Texas
Dec 1 2009 – Cat’s Cradle (Headline Show) – Carrboro, North Carolina
Dec 2 2009 – Recher Theatre (Headline show) – Towson, Maryland

Cool Dude: Justin Towne Earle

Have any of you heard of Justin Towne Earle?  Does the last name sound familiar?  Well he is indeed the son of Steve Earle but also is an amazing Americana/Country/Folk artist from Nashville who captured my attention at Bonnaroo this year.

This Bloodshot Records artist thankfully kept going after he was fired from playing in his father’s band due to bad habits and overcame them.  I may have mentioned him before here on the BHP site but today I was killing some time today and came across the video for “Midnight At The Movies” and was reminded of how much I really love this guy…

Honestly I feel like this guy is a modern day Hank Williams.

I recently found out that Justin Towne Earle will be coming to Cleveland for a December show with Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) and his protege Jessica Lea Mayfield.  You can bet your you know what I will be there that night.  That is going to be an amazing show to end the year with.

Until then I have my copy of Midnight At The Movies I will continue to spin here and there as well as the internet to watch countless videos and live performances.

I also found some downloads from his Daytrotter session.  I adore his cover of The Replacements‘ “Can’t Hardly Wait”.  Click HERE to check it out for yourself as well as a few other great tracks.

Here are a couple videos I found lately that I enjoy…

Father and son:

His politeness and well-mannerisms kill me…

The Suck: Poison The Well’s Van & Gear Stolen

Further proof that some people out there just SUCK.

Miami’s Poison The Well have just announced that after the first night of their US tour w/ Canadian rock act Billy Talent, in support of their new album The Tropic Rot (out now on Ferret Music), the band has been robbed of both their touring van and all of their instruments and personal belongings.

The band had this to say about what happened:

So this morning we woke up at our delightful Marriott Courtyard hotel (priceline, get into it) and walked outside to get in the van to head to Chicago for our second show of the tour. Only problem, it isn’t there. Either someone is pulling some Merlin shit on us and just waiting for the perfect moment to unveil it and calm our shot nerves, or a talented scumbag stole our van and trailer with literally everything we own inside. Needless to say, we’re crushed. Our most beloved instruments are gone, and trust me, we’re gear nerds.

After a great deal of scrambling and deliberation, we found a way to stay on tour, after a few days off to get some gear and a rental van together. Having something like this happen is the worst thing that can happen to any band short of someone dying, and we’re incredibly stoked to finish this tour with Billy Talent and play every night doing what we love.

Our most sincere thanks to everyone who offered to help us in any way, our friends mean the world to us and everyone who has reached out today is absolutely mind blowing. Huge huge ups to the entire Ferret Records Family (Carl cause hes got the cash and Rick cause he calls the shots), Issac and the entire Indie Merch and Jakprints family, Tour Dog Leasing and Rental (thanks for driving to detroit to come get us), Jimmy and First Act Guitars, Russel Blair and Orange Amps, Derek at Ernie Ball, Tyme Rogers and Tech 21, Evan Obrien and Korg, Scott Uchida and Jim Dunlop, Jon “Shabba on the spot” Linton, John “Badge” Chidley. Some of these people have always helped us out and are further making our lives better. Some of these people barely know us and have helped us this with this shit time.

If you want to help out, we’ll have a limited edition shirt online sometime soon that makes fun of our situation and is awesome, and all proceeds from that will go to wiping away our tears and some new tumbleweeds for the insides of our wallets.

See you in a couple days. Pissed about our gear and passionate about this band as ever.

Love,
PTW

Good luck guys.

Poison The Well – Exist Underground

Thanks to Solid PR for the heads up.

Teenage Bottlerocket – They Came From The Shadows – CD Review

It’s not every day that you hear about a Wyoming band cranking out amazing, fast-and-fun punk-rock tunes but that is what Teenage Bottlerocket does best. The foursome, hailing from The Cowboy State, ditched the clichéd Wyoming lifestyle, threw on black leather motorcycle jackets, grabbed their guitars, and created some of the catchiest punk tunes I myself have heard in years.

The band recently released their fourth album, entitled They Came From The Shadows, which happens to also be the band’s first release with the independent punk rock label Fat Wreck Chords.

The band intrigued me with their prior release, Warning Device, when I checked it out last year. With Ramones-like similarities, their pop-punk elegance proved attention-grabbing throughout the disc and I found myself won over by one of the more intelligent bands on the punk scene.

How intelligent? Well it just so happens to be that two members  of the band are engineers. Another fun little fact: two members are identical twins.

“Skate Or Die” starts off the album with an ode to younger years of tearing it up complete with classic skate references to the Bones Brigade, street skater legend Rodney  Mullen, and even some ’80’s lingo like the term “poseur.”  I love the fact that this song is all about the old-school days of skateboarding before it went mainstream.

The girl dodging “Don’t Want To Go” tells of missing the show to avoid the girl at the show. This classic high school tale of shunning from the ex is a cool, likable track. 

“Bigger Than Kiss” cracks me up as the band verbally assaults the aging Detroit Rock City make-up wearing men, declaring “Ace Frehley can play guitar but he ain’t no f@cking Kerry King” and shouting, “Calling Dr. Love hey get a load of this, Ray beat the piss out of Peter Criss!” The hilarious song continues to brag that Teenage Bottlerocket will one day be bigger than Kiss and by the end of the song the band seems to think they have proved their boast true.

The disheartening “Not OK” is one of my favorite tracks on the album.  I can’t help but to relate this song to many times in my past. “Call In Sick” should be the working class’ national anthem.  I could only think of ’80’s punk bands like Black Flag while listening to the song, not because of its music but rather its uncomplicated lyrics that tell a truthful story about the feeling many deal with on a day-to-day basis. “Fatso Goes Nutzoid” contains many elements of ’80’s speed punk, especially with the rifling off of the lyrics.

“Without You” is another track I find myself digging over the others and I love the dual vocals along with the fast-paced drumming. The song bums me out, but in a good way, as it describes missing a special someone who no longer is in the picture. It’s songs like this—you know, the ones you relate to— that make me appreciate music all the more.

The songs on They Came From The Shadows are simple but fun and directly to the point. The album seems to end just as quickly as it begins, begging for another listen. I think that is what I love so much about this band: the simplicity. Not one song here exceeds three-and-a-half minutes, but it doesn’t matter to me at all.

It’s nice to see Teenage Bottlerocket skip out on the extra bells and whistles to sound different. They keep it straightforward on this album (and their previous one, for that matter) and make it sound almost too easy. Fans of the Ramones, Screeching Weasel, the Vandals, and even pre-famed Green Day really need to check out this band if they have not already done so.

Look for Teenage Bottlerocket on tour in support of They Came From The Shadows this fall. From what I have heard, this band is amazing live and I know when they roll though my town next month I will be there to witness it for myself.  Click HERE for a complete list of tour dates.  This is a punk show not to be missed!!!

DOWNLOAD THIS!Teenage Bottlerocket – “Skate Or Die”
DOWNLOAD THIS!Teenage Bottlerocket – “Don’t Want To Go”

Here is the hilarious video for “Skate Or Die”.  I can not stop thinking of Gleaming The Cube

Here’s a video of “In The Basement” off of their previous release Warning Device:

Good Times: Greg Ginn & The Texas Corrugators @ Blue Arrow Records – 09/15/09 – Cleveland, OH

I would like to announce that the Greg Ginn in-store performance presented by Addicted To Vinyl & yours truly, Broken Headphones, was a success.

Thanks to Pete at Blue Arrow Records, a previously loved vinyl store, music fans were able to catch a free show by Greg Ginn & The Texas Corrugators.  The band played for just under an hour two extended versions of their instrumental songs.

Here is a quick video I took with my iPhone 3GS:

Greg Ginn and his band were super friendly and really put on a great show.  I have to admit with this being the first time I have coordinated something like this, an in-store that is, I was a little nervous what to expect but it panned out perfectly.

Major thanks to Pete for hosting the event and special thanks to Matt for helping me make this happen.

FYI, Greg Gunn mentioned to me that all his music is available for download free of change.  Visit http://www.txcorrugators.com/ and follow the links.  If you like what you hear Greg Ginn just asks that you just make a donation to a animal rescue organization of his choosing.  That is a deal right there friends…

Here are a couple photos I managed to take with my no-so-good camera.

Here is video I took with my digital camera to give you even more of a taste of the great little session they had: