Blog of the Week: Thunderhorse Vintage

22 05 2012

We all know punk and fashion are intertwined. This can be a hot topic as the debate over the phrase “if you don’t wear studs, fuck you” can get a bit intense. But there is a common ground where a magical combination of punk, fashion, politics, and all around rad feminism converge onto one site. The Thunderhorse Vintage blog at thunderhorsevintage.tumblr.com has been a favorite with the folks at the MRR house and many radical punks alike. Thunderhorse Vintage, as a store and site, support DIY punk artisans and uphold the core Maximum beliefs to the highest. The store is located in Sacramento, CA, but punks near and far can experience the magic online. Many posts will make you think, if not laugh out loud, with their political wit and satire regarding all ironic and dumb things punks say, do, and wear, while providing a just critique of the strange times in which we live. Fashion is not just about aesthetics and wearing your safety-pinned heart on your sleeve, but can be a good way to say “fuck off” to the mainstream. The women behind this blog and store are also booking shows in Sacramento and have a history of being in solid bands like Verräterisch. DIY or die! Up punx!


May 22nd, 2012 by Amelia


Monday Photo Blog: Behead The Prophet No Lord Shall Live!!!!

21 05 2012

Well, looks like for this week’s Monday Photo Blog you’ll have to suffer with some photos I took from some years back. How about we step back to 1998, to a time when the PCH Club in scenic Wilmington, CA was thee place to be in the Southern California area. The club was really a two room rehearsal space with a chicken, or maybe it was pigeon, coop at the back. A lot of great bands came through, and due to the small space, it made for some intimate shows. These shots from the time Behead The Prophet/N.L.S.L. are testimony to that. I believe someone from Frankie Alpine is standing up front next to someone in a Batman shirt in a the photo second from the bottom. After viewing these, how about sending us some of your photos for upcoming editions of this blog?

Behead The Prophet/N.L.S.L. at the PCH in Wilmington, CA. April 23, 1998. (photo by Matt Average)

Behead The Prophet/N.L.S.L. at the PCH in Wilmington, CA. April 23, 1998. (photo by Matt Average)

Behead The Prophet/N.L.S.L. at the PCH in Wilmington, CA. April 23, 1998. (photo by Matt Average)

Behead The Prophet/N.L.S.L. at the PCH in Wilmington, CA. April 23, 1998. (photo by Matt Average)

Behead The Prophet/N.L.S.L. at the PCH in Wilmington, CA. April 23, 1998. (photo by Matt Average)

Behead The Prophet/N.L.S.L. at the PCH in Wilmington, CA. April 23, 1998. (photo by Matt Average)

Send your tour photos, bands that have come through your town, the best of your local bands, etc. to: photoblog {at} maximumrocknroll(.)com. Include your name, a link to your website (or flickr, Facebook, or whatever), and the band (or subject), date and location of each photo. Just send your best photos — edit tightly. Three to seven photos is plenty, and it’s best to send pictures of different bands. Please do not send watermarked photos. Please make your photos 72 dpi and about 600–800 pixels at the longest side. Not everything sent in will be posted, and a response is not guaranteed, but we do appreciate all of your contributions. Feel free to submit more than once. Thanks!


May 21st, 2012 by Matt Average


MRR Radio #1297 • 5/20/12

20 05 2012

MRR Radio is a weekly radio show featuring the best DIY punk, garage rock and hardcore from the astounding, ever-growing Maximum Rocknroll record collection. You can find the MRR Radio podcast, as well as specials, archives, and more info at radio.maximumrocknroll.com. Thanks for listening, and stay tuned!

THIS WEEK: Fred, Langford and Pete get suuuuuuuuper high and talk about shapes and partying. I think there was some music in there somewhere. Wait — what were we talking about?

Listen here:  

Download here

Culture Kids (photo by Lea Anna Drown)

Intro song:
FROZEN TEENS – Hopeless City

Fred – Destroy Everything
AGATHA – Sissy Dang
SYNTHETIC ID – Throwaway
LOST SOUNDS – Plastic Skin
LATTERMAN – Our Better Halves
FIGHT – Struggle

Langford – A Spiritual Lesson In the Sacred Geometry (4 Kids)
GERMS – Circle One
HICKEY – Make Sure There Aren’t Any Squares at My Funeral
CRINGER – Petrograd
CAROLEE – Spiral Start
INFEST – Punchline

Pete – Party!
BLACK FLAG – TV Party
MINUTEMEN – Shit You Hear at Parties
THE EMBARRASSMENT – Celebrity Art Party
JAWBREAKER – West Bay Invitational
SCREECHING WEASEL – Teenage Slumber Party

Fred – Keeping the Party Going (Still High)
CULTURE KIDS – I Can’t Take It Anymore
SHIRLEY MACLAINES – Cigarette
PINK TURDS IN SPACE – Indie Crap
BLANK FIGHT – Graveyard

Outro song:
CRINGER – Triangle Part 2


May 20th, 2012 by Fred


Video of the Week: RAW NERVE (RIP)

18 05 2012

This Video of the Week submission came from MRR reader Tyler Bonam. You can contribute to the MRR website too! Just send text, links, and images to webzine {at} maximumrocknroll(.)com. No guarantees that that we’ll post everything we get, but we appreciate any and all submissions… Now take it away, Tyler!

RAW NERVE may be dead, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch this video of their last show. Plenty of bass drum/refrigerator/wall dives to keep even the most jaded punk interested. Filmed in Chicago at The Mousetrap back in April.


May 18th, 2012 by MRR Web Coordinator


Blog of the Week: Jason Traeger

16 05 2012

Jason Traeger (R) with Boston's Billy Ruane (RIP) in 1998

My attempts at writing an introduction to Jason Traeger’s blog have so far proven fruitless. The man’s writing really speaks for itself. On his blog you will find wonderful tales and artifacts from the past, anecdotes of discovering punk in the far outskirts of Seattle in the early ’80s, growing up in the scene in Washington state and San Diego, CA, and his journey through other places and music scenes as well. But this is not some random old coot’s boring nostalgia trip. In fact, you get a stern admonishment in that regard from the very beginning:

I’m the last one to cast a misty-eyed glance back at the “good old days.” In my experience the people who take this angle are usually the ones who weren’t there. Whatever mistakes, false starts and missed opportunities I’ve had the pleasure of having, I was wherever I was for better or worse.

This blog is not meant to romanticize any choices I made or any particular era. It’s simply a place where I share stories and take stock of where I’ve been as a way to figure out where I might want to go next. I’ll celebrate some people along the way, some of them you’ll know or know of, others will be new to you. I’m glad to have known every one of them.

Jason Traeger’s list of credentials is possibly too long to present here, but you might recognize his artwork in many of Maximum Rocknroll magazine’s scene report headers, and the cover to the BCT comp LP We Can Do Whatever We Want. He did the classic ’80s fanzine Leading Edge with Martin Sprouse and has performed music as a solo artist for many years now.

Almost all of Jason’s stories I would describe as “heartwarming.” What else could you say about your mom being cool enough to go see the Circle Jerks and the Fartz with you, and even sporting  Motörhead t-shirt for the occasion so as not to look too much like a mom? Or this, my favorite one: a Certificate of Patience made and signed by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson of Minor Threat for waiting for his mail order copy of the first pressing of Out of Step to arrive. Of course I couldn’t go without mentioning his post about MRR‘s role in connecting the punk scene and how it helped hook him up with his lifelong best friend.

You can enjoy all of this and more at jasonotraeger.tumblr.com.

Hey, look at that — I wrote an introduction to Jason Traeger’s blog!


May 16th, 2012 by Paul


Monday Photo Blog: Hey, look! It’s more from Milo from Chicago!!

14 05 2012

One of the more prolific and consistent contributors to the  Monday Photo Blog has to be Milo from Chicago. This is the third installment in less than a year. What’s your excuse? This time around we’re at the Blackhole on April 4 of 2009. Such a heady time, when we were all three years younger than we are now.

Bosque at Blackhole, April 4, 2009. (photo by Milo from Chicago)

Kakistokcracy at Blackhole, April 4, 2009. (photo by Milo from Chicago)

Protestant at Blackhole, April 4, 2009. (photo by Milo from Chicago)

Fall of Efrafa at Blackhole, April 4, 2009. (photo by Milo from Chicago)

Send your tour photos, bands that have come through your town, the best of your local bands, etc. to: photoblog {at} maximumrocknroll(.)com. Include your name, a link to your website (or flickr, Facebook, or whatever), and the band (or subject), date and location of each photo. Just send your best photos — edit tightly. Three to seven photos is plenty, and it’s best to send pictures of different bands. Please do not send watermarked photos. Please make your photos 72 dpi and about 600–800 pixels at the longest side. Not everything sent in will be posted, and a response is not guaranteed, but we do appreciate all of your contributions. Feel free to submit more than once. Thanks!


May 14th, 2012 by Matt Average


MRR Radio #1296 • 5/13/12

13 05 2012

MRR Radio is a weekly radio show featuring the best DIY punk, garage rock and hardcore from the astounding, ever-growing Maximum Rocknroll record collection. You can find the MRR Radio podcast, as well as specials, archives, and more info at radio.maximumrocknroll.com. Thanks for listening, and stay tuned!

THIS WEEK: Part two of CONQUEST FOR DEATH’s trip “Around the World” with MRR Radio. On this show we visit the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Africa and China. Conquest For Death has toured all over the world and now they are bringing you music from some of the countries they have played in. And don’t forget to go back and listen to part one from a few weeks ago! Many nations, one underground.

Listen here:  

Download here

Intro song:
CONQUEST FOR DEATH – Mga Agwat

Devon of Conquest For Death (photo by Rafael Yaekashi)

CFD plays Philippines
ISTUKAS OVER DISNEYLAND – Fairy Tale in the Philippines.
CHOKE COCOI – Beauty
G.I. AND THE IDIOTS – Damn You People
KILL RATIO – Blessed Be the Wardead

CFD plays Indonesia
COMPLETE NGEHE – No Future For Politic
STRAIGHT ANSWER - Hantam Prasangka Buruk
EMPATBELAS – Minority Suffering
GRAVE DANCERS – Head Bang Mosh Stage Dive & Circle Pit

CFD plays Singapore
RECOVER – Realize Recognize
AUM – Compiled Fragment
DISTRUST – Alcocider Punk

CFD plays Malaysia
SARJAN HASSAN – Did You Know
APPARATUS – Hardcore Horror
KAROSHI – On Their Knees
CARBURETOR DUNG – Aku Buku & Auku

CFD plays Japan
COSMIC NEUROSE – Image Damn
ELEKIDZ – New Waver
CHARM – Shikami

CFD plays South Africa
TKDM – Scum City
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT – We Live in a War
SLEEPING & THE POPES – The New South Africa
WARSPIKE – Terrorist Attack

Outro song:
SMOKETOWN – Sexy Party (China)


May 13th, 2012 by Rob


Punk in North Korea?

11 05 2012

The public radio program The World on Boston’s WGBH (Charged!) had this very interesting report the other day about Ri Seong-Woong, “North Korea’s most famous punk rock star.” While Ri Seong-Woong, and any form of punk rock in North Korea, does not actually exist, the extent to which the purveyors of this “hoax” went is impressive, as is the music itself.

But could there be some inkling of truth, or potential truth, to the idea of punk in North Korea? Luk Haas, our intrepid explorer of the world’s most hidden corners of punk and rock ‘n’ roll writes, “It is true that in North Korea, in the springtime, on days off young people gather in parks with alcohol and acoustic guitars for picnics. They love singing together, all the North Korean patriotic propaganda hits, and some are quite tuneful, like ‘We Will Meet Again’(about reunification of Korea). But nobody would dare singing anything remotely punk or even rock.”

Still, we have Ri Seong-Woong, as interpreted here by South Korea’s 악어들 (The Alligators)…

Find out more about this “project” here and here.


May 11th, 2012 by Paul


Video of the Week: Welcome Friends

8 05 2012

One of the first rules of storytelling is “show, don’t tell.” Jordan E. Lopez adheres well to that rule, and so will we… So sit back watch this nice little 5-minute film about Carbondale, IL‘s long-running punk house, Lost Cross.


May 8th, 2012 by MRR Web Coordinator


Monday Photo Blog: Jimmy Farabi

7 05 2012

For this week’s Monday Photo Blog we go to Chicago via the camerawork of Jimmy Farabi, with photos of Cülo, Vile Gash, Raw Never, Merchandise, Sickoids, and Manipulation. Who’s the man who appears to be singing along at the Manipulation show? For more work from Jimmy Farabi, check out the blog chicagoisnowhere.

Manipulation at the Mouse Trap, April 14, 2012. (photo by Jimmy Farabi)

Culo at the Moustrap, April 14, 2012. (photo by Jimmy Farabi)

Raw Nerve at the Mousetrap, April 14, 2012. (photo by Jimmy Farabi)

Merchandise at the Mousetrap, April 25, 2012. (photo by Jimmy Farabi)

Vile Gash at the Mousetrap, April 14, 2012. (photo by Jimmy Farabi)

Sickoids at Crown Tap, April 26, 2012. (photo by Jimmy Farabi)

Send your tour photos, bands that have come through your town, the best of your local bands, etc. to: photoblog {at} maximumrocknroll(.)com. Include your name, a link to your website (or flickr, Facebook, or whatever), and the band (or subject), date and location of each photo. Just send your best photos — edit tightly. Three to seven photos is plenty, and it’s best to send pictures of different bands. Please do not send watermarked photos. Please make your photos 72 dpi and about 600–800 pixels at the longest side. Not everything sent in will be posted, and a response is not guaranteed, but we do appreciate all of your contributions. Feel free to submit more than once. Thanks!


May 7th, 2012 by Matt Average