NEWS
Neo 1983, part one: Mr. Surly's Punk
So, I was working on a playlist of contemporary bands that sound like 1983. I was thinking synthpop. 'Cause 1983 was the year of synthpop. This is for an idea for a playlist contest at Salon. I asked for brainstorms from the band. Mr. Surly replied right away, with a bunch of punk bands that could have come from 1983.
First, The Briefs. Could anything be more 1983 than a punk band that hates Bob Seger?
In 1983, Bob Seger wasn't even selling Chevy pickups trucks yet, but he was already the personification dull adult rock. And then Risky Business comes out, and suddenly he's hip. Not really hip, but suddenly all the girls in your high school love him, because he makes Tom Cruise jingle the jewels in his tighty whities. Suddenly, Bob Seger is sexy. Not only beloved by the cousin you go bowhunting with, but by the girls in the honor classes too.
These days, Bob Seger has become a footnote*, and Tom Cruise is twice as creepy as Bob ever was. But for some reason, The Briefs still have a beef. They want to kill Bob Seger.
The Briefs - Silver Bullet
A few months ago, me and Mr. Surly were cleaning up the practice space. He popped in a disc by the U.S. Bombs and talked about Duane Peters, the singer. He's the sort of skater who can extend that skating life out into middle age. His band has extended that 1983 non-quite-hardcore punk out indefinitely, too. Red Rockers, Channel 3, Rash of Stabbings, there were a bunch of bands in the American scene still doing the sing along thing like Clash and Sham 69 well into the 80s. They petered out, but not Peters.
U. S. Bombs - Shut Down
Daggers capture 1983 hardcore with You're Weak (We're Strong). Not metallic yet (that started in 1985, best I 'member) but still strident and full of dubious pride. Let's go beat up some beer drinkers!
* and if you don't mind viewing an ad first, you can read this really strange appreaciation of Seger on Salon.com
posted by bendy @ 6/10/2005 11:24:00 PM [permanent link]
Blackstrap is a rockpunk band that was formed in 2002 by several
disgruntled music fans. Some had played in bands for years, some had
never been involved in music. All of us were upset with the
direction the USA was moving. As you can tell, our impact on all that
has been overwhelming.
We broke up in 2004, just before releasing a debut EP. We still feel
bad about messing up 307 Knox Records
like that. We got back together in
2005. We might drive each other crazy again, so no promises.
We're a band that doesn't have many options as far as
money and time and touring and all those other thing that could make a
band be your life. The web is the main way we promote
ourselves. We figured out we should share what meager knowledge we have
obtained.
RESOURCES
or "Promoting Your Music as the Music Industry We Know and Dislike Dies...."
Websites are a lot of work to figure out, and don't work any magic
on their own. Most people who view your website are already going to know you exist.
Just having a website doesn't mean anyone is going to visit. So don't
worry about securing an Internet domain right away. Stick some
music on MySpace,
and then participate in sites that might actually drive interested
listeners to your music. Blackstrap gets more hits from our link
on ncpunkonline.com than from
higher-profile sites where we get lost in the shuffle.
There are advantages to having your own custom built website and
domain name, but it's only as useful to the extent that it gets linked to.
Here are some sites that are important and help to get noticed. They aren't all music sites, specifically. Alot of them require participation. But hey, you wanted to be on stage, right?
JUST HEARD
WEEKLY FAVS
LOOKING AT...
what else?
DISCLAIMER: I try to find MP3 which are linked to official sites for artists I admire. Other MP3's are up for a limited time and are for sampling purposes only. Music posted here is posted to encourage people to buy CDs, not with the intention to profit or to violate copyright. If you are the creator (or copyright owner) of a song, excerpt, essay, graphic or photo posted on this blog, please send email to the address on the CONTACT page if you want to comment on the selection or wish to have it removed.
photos in banner by bunchofpants.