Category Archives: Pop

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes Announce New Album

Perhaps the greatest punk rock cover band of them all, Me First And The Gimme Gimmes have announced an all new gender-bending release Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!  to be dropped on May 13, 2014 on good ol’ Fat Wreck Chords.

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!

After taking stabs at country, R&B, and even Japanese pop, the band continues to surprise their billions of diehard fans with unique covers of songs that everyone has probably heard in a sappy-ass love story or in an elevator.

I laughed when I saw this last night because I was not expecting them to go this route with their punk-infused covers (plus I appreciated the Devo reference).  I just hope one day they take a stab at 90s hip-hop.  Hearing Spike sing Tupac might be the coolest idea ever.

Track Listing:
1. I Will Survive
2. Straight Up
3. Believe
4. Beautiful
5. My Heart Will Go On
6. I Will Always Love You
7. Top of the World
8. Speechless
9. Karma Chameleon
10. Crazy for You
11. On the Radio
12. The Way We Were

Pre-Orders for the new album should be up soon on the Fat Wreck Chords website!

Check It Out: Trophy Lungs

Happy New Year everyone!  2013 may have been a great year for music, but for me, it included a few too many months of solitude in the middle of nowhere.  Needless to say, I feel much better about being back in Ohio.  No hard feelings to New Mexico of course, I do miss them tacos.

Trophy Lungs - No Judgement EPAnyways, a new year brings new music and new posts from yours truly.  Last month (rather, late November), a band by the name of Trophy Lungs got in touch with me asking me to check out their 7-inch EP titled No Judgement that Death To False Hope Records dropped.  I told them I would be happy to take a listen.

2 months later, I am pleased to say I have given that EP a steady listen over the last couple months and finally thought I would take a moment out of my busy life to spread the love.

The threesome, hailing from Boston, have a fun sound to them that is more of a power pop punk approach that found myself digging a while lot.   I found myself digging the band even more when I saw the video they dropped for one of the songs on the EP (see below for that).

After watching all that bull mess on New Year’s Eve with all the crappy bands I have not heard of, it is nice to fall into a band like this.  I look forward to seeing what they dish out in 2014.

I was hoping to score me a copy of the 7-inch of No Judgement, but it looks like this blogger here waited too long and it is perhaps sold the hell out.  Oops.  I will keep searching and at least I can listen to it via the internets.

Check it out:

Check out the video the band release for their song “Dad’s Away On Business”

(nice Iron Chic shirt dude!)

The Ataris Announce So Long, Astoria Reunion Tour

The Ataris

The Ataris made a huge announcement yesterday.  They have decided to get the old band back together to play live So Long, Astoria.

Old man moment.  So Long Astoria was released 10 years ago.  And to think, I thought I was old then… yikes.

Spite me feeling sorry for myself, I am absolutely THRILLED to hear that The Ataris are getting the original lineup together to perform So Long, Astoria in its entirety. This will be a show not to be missed.

The Ataris - So Long, Astoria

For one tour only, Kristopher Roe, Mike Davenport, Chris Knapp and John Collura will hit the road and play So Long, Astoria.  Supporting acts include: Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World and Gasoline Heart.  Tickets for the upcoming tour will go on sale to the public on December 20th.

And yes, there is a Cleveland show.  March 24th at the Agora.

I don’t remember the last time they played Cleveland.  No seriously, I do not remember a single thing.  Someone apparently snuck up on me that night and got me drunk.  I think his name was PBR.  Lucky for me, I have some good friends who put up with me for the night and made sure I make it home safely.

Additionally, rumor has it that there may be a re-press of So Long, Astoria  thanks to Kung-Fu Records

As if that was not enough, The Ataris also released on their BandCamp page 50 demos and unreleased tracks from So Long, Astoria for “pay what you want”.

Check it out:

The Ataris’ So Long, Astoria Reunion Tour Dates:
Feb 28 – Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock (w/Versus The World)
March 1 – Las Vegas, NV – Backstage Bar (w/Versus The World)
March 2 – Fresno, CA – Strummer’s (w/Versus The World)
March 3 – San Luis Obispo, CA – SLO Brewing Company (w/Versus The World)
March 5 – Los Angeles, CA – House of Blues (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 6 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 7 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 8 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 11 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 12 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox at the Market (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 13 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 14 – Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue (Club Sound) (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 15 – Denver, CO – The Summit Music Hall (w/Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 16 – Kansas City, MO – Riot Room (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 18 – St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
March 20 – Minneapolis, MN – Mill City Nights (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
March 21 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
March 22 – Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
March 23 – Detroit, MI – The Shelter (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
March 24 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Ballroom (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
March 25 – Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
March 27 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
March 28 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
March 29 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
March 30 – New York, NY – The Gramercy Theatre (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)

BHP Best Albums of 2013

It’s that time of the year again folks.  Eggnog, booze, maxing out credit cards on tasteless gifts, being nice to family members you would rather avoid,  and also that part where I take days upon days to think about all the amazing releases that came out throughout 2013 and list them on this here ol’ blog.

This year I decided to keep my list to only 10 albums.  That decision did not come too easy for me, so I am doing 11.  Deal.

All can be considered equally awesome and are listed in no particular order.  Trust me, this was difficult as hell to narrow down, but in the end, these were the  albums that really stuck with me throughout the year.

Worship This! – Tomorrow, I’ll Miss You

Iron Chic – The Constant One

Ma Jolie – Polars

Banquets – Banquets

The Flatliners – Dead Language

Worlds Scariest Police Chases – NOFX And Out Come The Wolves Dookie

Rumspringer – Stay Afloat

Two Hand Fools – Two Hand Fools
Two Hand Fools

Sundowner – Neon Fiction

Signals Midwest – Light On The Lake

Restorations – LP2

Best Group Effort:

Tony Sly: A Tribute

Props to all the bands out there that released albums in 2013.  I can not wait to see what 2014 brings.

Happy holidays to everyone.

 

7″ Review (of sorts): Teenage Bottlerocket – American Deutsch Bag

Teenage Bottlerocket - American Deutsch BagJust in time for the holidays, your favorite pop-punk band Teenage Bottlerocket has announced an upcoming 7″ titled American Deutsch Bag”.  

Featuring tracks like “Ich bin Auslander und Spreche Nicht Gut Deutsch” and “I’m the One Smoking Marijuana Motherfucker”, this album is sure to be a family favorite.  At just under 4 minutes long, I think it is safe to say that TBR have put together a masterpiece.

Actually, the songs have nothing to do with the holidays, but everything to do with Germany.  Well, sort of.  The band, after falling in love with Germany, decided to pay their own homage in a humorous way.   I know I enjoyed their new tracks.

The band also threw on their appropriate cover of the late Tony Sly’s “Via Munich”.  This is the same track found on the Tony Sly tribute that dropped just last month.

TBR’s very own Ray had this to say about the idea of the German friendly tunes:

On Teenage Bottlerocket’s last tour in Europe, we made friends with a dude in a Lethal Weapon 2 hat. We referred to him as a Deutsch bag. He was a good sport and found the insult endearing. I’ve always loved Germany. I took German in high school and we sang alot of songs. One of the songs was entitled “Ich bin Auslander und Spreche Nicht Gut Deutsch”. This is roughly translated “I’m not from here and my German sucks”. We decided to make it a pop punk song. If I screw up any of the pronunciation it’s because my German sucks, it’s a pretty good excuse to fuck up the words. We also included a new song about smoking reefer and a song by our dear friend Tony Sly called “Via Munich”. We recorded the 7″ at the Blasting Room with Andrew Berlin. Everything seemed to fall into place. The 7″ will be available on our upcoming European tour with VOLBEAT and ICED EARTH. Guten tag.

Wait.  Did Ray just say they were touring with Volbeat and Iced Earth in Europe?  Bad ass.

American Deutsch Bag drops on November 27th, but you can preorder a copy over at Fat Wreck Chords right now.