Hey everyone. I just learned of something fun that is happening this Friday at Annabells in Akron…and it’s FREE!
The Decline, a NOFX cover band project featuring members of past acts like Friends Back East and D.F.T.W. will be playing a set at Annabells for all who decide to attend.
Local Cleveland punk rockers (and great friends of mine) The Facials have decided to jump on the bill as well as the still smells-like-new Akron act Worship This! (also friends of mine).
If you were once of the seven people that accidentally read my Best Of 2010 post a couple months back, you might remember that The Facials dressed up as NOFX and played a Halloween set at Now That’s Class. It was fun, they sounded good, and everyone in the venue was loving it. I am pretty sure that The Decline will do the very same as they are a group of good guys looking to just have a night of fun.
Doors are at 10pm and admission is free unless you are under 21 and in that case you will need to sell your soul or offer up $3.00 (I think).
Don’t act like anything else is going on Friday night in Akron. Be there.
I am sure I have bragged about this before but… I’m going to be checking out SXSW finally, well sort of. I am going to be missing a few days of it thanks to school but will be able to catch the latter end as I will be arriving in Austin on March 18th around noon.
Why am I telling you all this? Well why wouldn’t I? I’m stoked to actually check some of this amazing span of days in one of my favorite cities.
Plus I am hoping people from Austin will read this and give me a ride from the airport to the city as I have things to do!!! Just kidding, I made arrangements already.
Shirts For A Cure will be putting on a free show at Red 7 that will start right around the time my plane lands. I am hoping I can make it there in time to see Paint It Black, Fake Problems, BANE, Title Fight, Riverboat Gamblers, Dave Hause, and The Flatliners. I am not holding my breath though as I am sure a ton of kids will get there before I do.
Later that night I need to poke around the city and find The Scoot Inn as Screeching Weasel, Banner Pilot, Dead To Me, and The Flatliners (2 shows in one night!) will be playing a later set. I am pretty certain that this show is going to not be free and I will do my best to find a way in as I did not obtain a SXSW bracelet since I am only going to be there technically for two days.
Saturday afternoon it looks like Alternative Press is having a free afternoon of music as well but I am not too sure I am going to dig any of the bands so we shall see. If anything I will spend that day eating good food and seeing good people.
I plan on making it over to Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon (see Ginny on the right) and see Dale Watson and crew play a show on Sunday the 20th. That right there would make my weekend. Plus I hear the chicken-shit bingo is a ton of fun too. Mike B., I’ll be looking for you man!!!
Other than those couple events I have nothing really planned for my 5 days in the coolest city in Texas other than hanging with one of the coolest ladies on Earth. I hope to mingle with some other friends too that I have who live in the area as well as meet up with some of the PR folks who help keep this site awesome including JT and Vanessa.
I am sure I will spend a dollar or two at Waterloo Records and I am hoping to see the cool parts of town and maybe see about getting a permanent souvenir again at Triple Crown Tattoos (not counting on that as Austin is going to be insane, but still…).
Once upon a time there was a melodic punk/indie/rock band called Explosivo!.
Hailing from the quiet town of Long Island, N.Y., the band featured a group of guys who you can now find in acts like Iron Chic, Wax Phantom and Small Arms Dealer. They were good, they were damn good.
Dead Broke Rekerds described them as a mix of “Piebald & Pantera hanging out at Guns ‘N Wankers house.” Sadly they broke up in 2001 so finding anything by them has been quite the challenge.
Lucky for us Dead Broke Rekerds & Limited Pressing were nice enough to re-release a hidden gem of a DIY album. Released digitally on BandCamp (see below) as well as vinyl, it is almost like Explosivo! has been given a second chance to be heard by anyone who might have missed them long ago.
If you are a vinyl fanatic like I am hurry up and grab onebefore they sellout. Act even faster and you might score yourself a glow-in-the-dark version that is limited to 50. At $10 you can bet your grits I already grabbed one! Plus the rest of the Dead Broke Rekerds store is full of awesome swag and shipping is only $4!
Hello to all you happy readers out there. Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but I have been really caught up with school the last couple weeks.
So what have I been up to other than studying too much you ask?
Well…
Last Saturday I headed to Musica in Akron, OH to check out the amazing folk act Frontier Ruckus. This band blew me away live. I have been a fan of them for some time now but always missed them when they came to Ohio. I made damn sure I was not going to miss them this time.
The band made their final stop in Akron before wrapping up their tour and enjoyed every minute of it. If you have not heard of them yet and like some honest, good folk rock, check them out. Their saw player is amazing (yes, saw player).
The band played through a great set with everyone in the house signing along and enjoying themselves. One kind female fan even showed her approval and tossed an undergarment to the stage. The band loved it and even made the comment that no one had ever done anything like that for them before. Once they found out the owner of the garment, they jokingly asked her to prove it was hers. She had no problem doing so…
Other than a couple of highly intoxicated guys who could not control the volume of their voices, the night was a blast. Frontier Ruckus are one of those bands that sound so much better live and I am glad I finally made it to experience it.
Opening act White Pines were playing when I got there and besides the Kings Of Leon singing similarities, they sounded awesome. There was an opening local act that I missed but from what I heard from the hyper Moby-looking bartender (I mean that in a good way), the crowd loved them.
I took a crappy video of them playing “Junk-Drawer Sorrow” with my iPhone during their encore. The coolest thing about the video I took is that the band pulled the plugs on all of their amps, gathered in front of the crowd and played the song a cappella:
Again, sorry for the crappy quality. I am going to invest in an HD camera soon I think.
Frontier Ruckus was offering a pretty unique FUNRAISER recently (it ended today – 02/25/2011 actually) to help them get a new touring van. See this letter for the reason behind the request for donations. I was just checking out what were offering to raise money for a new ride and I must say I was impressed with the idea.
Bundles were offered as an exchange for a donation and they started at $10 for some demos from the band. The bundles escalated from there.
For a mere $1000 donation you could have received from the band:
Copy of trinity thaw demos
Copy of live at noordbroek Copy of live at eddie’s attic A limited edition I Am The Water You Are Pumping EP
A digital download of Deadmalls & Nightfalls A digital download of The Orion Songbook
The Orion Songbookon vinyl (2xLP)
A frontier ruckus t-shirt
A personalized song written by Matthew
Hand-written lyrics for personalized song
& A house concert for you and your friends
I wish I was able to take some donations on my end to make that happen…
Screw you Valentines Day. I never liked you. You do nothing for me at all and I refuse to buy your stupid cards/flowers/crap to proclaim my love for someone special in my life on just one special day… Granted I am flying solo this year, but still. Screw you!
This weekend is going to be all sorts of red and pink and all lovey dovey and honestly, I am not into it.
Luckily for me (and those who are not suckers for V-Day) there is going to be a sweet house show this Sunday featuring two of my favorite newer acts Daytrader (from NY) and Mixtapes (from Cincinnati, OH).
The show will take place in the basement of the glorious It’s A Kling Thing House located on (you guessed it) Kling St. in tropical Akron, OH. The fun starts at 8 p.m. Local openers Northwestern will be performing their very first show, so make sure you get there early!
Daytrader features current and ex-members of Crime in Stereo, Latterman/Bridge and Tunnel/Monikers, the Motorcycle Industry and Divider. The band recently released an ever-so-addicting EP entitled Last Days Of Rome, a release that I have been listening to daily since it dropped.
I caught Daytrader just before Jesus Day last year at the Grog Shop and they killed it on stage so obviously I have high expectations seeing them again live.
Mixtapes, a band that just can’t seem to stop releasing songs (no, that is not a bad thing), hails from Cincinnati, OH and really have grown on me thanks to my other pop-punk loving friends who insisted I keep listening to them. I started loving them the moment I realized I (at my thirty-ish prime) can actually identify with their lyrics as they sing about staying home and drinking Diet Coke. Recently the band shared a two-song EP on Death To False Hope Records. The first song is a cover to some Nickeldeon show and the other acoustic song titled “Hey Baby” bashes a Strung Out / Tim Burton loving lady who sucks. Grab yourself a copy by clicking HERE.
It’s A Kling Thing House is a donation based DIY house so many sure you bring plenty of donation money to help out these hard-working bands. Merch will be sold there, BYOB, and don’t be a jerk.
Looking forward to seeing everyone out there. Sunday can not come soon enough!
I plan on making it over to 
