MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL » 2010

Video of the Week: Animals and Men

12 05 2010

We try to keep a healthy balance of the old and the new here at Maximum Rocknroll, and ANIMALS AND MEN embodies the best of both worlds. They are a great, fairly obscure DIY-style punk band that started in the ’70s, inspired by the likes of Adam & the Ants and Pere Ubu. They later evolved into the impressive minimalist punk/blues band THE TERRAPLANES, and eventually faded away. But as with so many unsung gems of punk’s past they were rediscovered and re-issued in the ’00s on Hyped To Death‘s Messthetics CD series, and an LP reissue on Mississippi Records of their three 45s and early demos.

And as seems to be de rigueur nowadays, they went ahead and reformed, played some gigs, and got some new material together to record a 12″, which was released in 2009 on Convulsive Records. As predictable as all of this is, the real shocker is that the new record is fucking great! In this writer’s opinion, it’s at least as good as the old stuff. To prove the point, here is a live version of “John of the Sword” from said 12″, which I guarantee to get stuck in your head, in a good way…

May 12th, 2010 by Paul
Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Video of the Week

Monday Photo Blog: Hungary! Serbia!

10 05 2010

Dance or Die at Vendelék Tanyája, Szatymaz, Hungary 1 May 2010 (photo by Tamás Bernath)

Unison at Vikendica Mlin, Kanjiza, Serbia 23 April 2010 (photo by Tamás Bernath)

Let's Grow at Bunker, Budapest, Hungary 3 March 2010 (photo by Tamás Bernath)

Ground Zero at Garaboncziás, Szeged, Hungary 29 April 2010 (photo by Tamás Bernath)

Lömbihead at Vendelék Tanyája, Szatymaz, Hungary 1 May 2010 (photo by Tamás Bernath)

Five killers from Tamás Bernath! Check out more of his photos HERE. Lots of great photos…

Wanna submit a photo for the MRR Photo Blog?

If you shoot shows and have photos you want to submit for the MRR Blog, send them to: photoblog {at} maximumrocknroll(.)com. Be sure to put “MRR Photo Blog” in the subject. Include your name, the band, where and when it was shot. Just send your best photos – edit tightly. Three to five photos is plenty. We will be exercising a little quality control here…not everything sent in will be posted. Please size your photos so they are 500 pixels (72 dpi) at the longest side.

There are a lot of awesome photographers out there shooting shows…and there are a lot of unseen archives of old shows. Show us what you’ve got!

May 10th, 2010 by icki
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Blog!, Monday Photo Blog, Photos

MAXIMUMROCKNROLL #325 • June 2010

9 05 2010

It’s time for another issue of MRR! Numero 325, the June 2010 issue, features interviews with San Francisco garage punk TY SEGALL, plus we got Hungarian hardcore courtesy of RÁKOSI, and heavy noise wildness from Canada’s NÜ SENSAE. From England we have the WANKYS, who are aiming for a sound closer to CONFUSE or GAI than anything outta their homeland, and we have LOTUS FUCKER, who are also drawing from that Japanese hardcore sound with some added East Coast crust brutality, plus some heavy yet nuanced crust courtesy of MORNE from Massachusetts, and New York’s POLLUTION adding further mutations to the idea of what hardcore is. Chicago’s DAYLIGHT ROBBERY evoke the darkness of the WIPERS with the best male/female vocal trade offs we’ve heard in a long while. We have classic, genre defining Australian punk with X, just prior to their first ever US tour, some off kilter 1980s West Virginian hardcore from TH’INBRED, and the BAD SPORTS demonstrating some early punk influences filtered though a Texan lens. All of this, along with the usual news, columns and the most extensive review section in punk!

Go to our BACK ISSUES page to order this issue.

May 9th, 2010 by MRR Web Coordinator
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : MRR magazine, New Issue

It needs to be said…

7 05 2010

May 7th, 2010 by MRR Web Coordinator
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : News, Video of the Week

Blog of the Week: Borneo DIY Hardcore

6 05 2010

Time to get out yer atlases, punks… In keeping with this week’s Southeast Asian theme, here’s a blog site dedicated to the current punk scene in, of all places, Borneo! The Borneo DIY Hardcore Punk site is mostly dedicated to promoting local shows, and is worth perusing for some rad flyer art, if nothing else. But what caught my attention was the blog’s mission statement, which is impressive and inspiring. Read on about the site, in its own words, while I watch this awesome looking documentary about Malaysia’s independence that I found here…

This blog is established in the late 2008 with the intention to promote and facilitate the DIY Hardcore Punk (and any DIY music genre, really) in the continent of Borneo, split into three by political borders bordering Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. It is our hope that this blog would function as a platform, a bulletin and a means of communications for all the scenes and individuals spread in this part of the world.” Having said that, this blog is non-partisan and would like to communicate with all the bands out there, all over the world to communicate with us. It is a sort of method to claim our existence in the global punkosphere.

Please get in touch with us! We would like to host any bands out there on our couches or floors at our home! The fact remain that there has already been a strong DIY Hardcore Punk/anarchist/activist network that has already been established. Take this blog as an extension to share with other friends who are not fortunate enough to have such network, so that all of us could benefit from it.

This blog is a community-based blog. We welcome all sorts of contribution to make this blog happen. This blog is run by a crew of odd people doing all sorts of odd jobs with one thing in mind: to see a more fertile scene happening here. By the punks for the punks.

Leave a comment on any of the post, or email us at: agentprovo {at} gmail(.)com should there be any inquiries, comments, feedback, notifications of gigs and events happening in Borneo.

No homophobic, sexist, racist, non-DIY stuffs, CDs, events, merchandises would be accommodated. I’m sorry but this is not the channel for those stuffs! Thank you.

May 6th, 2010 by Paul
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Blog/Website of the Week

Video of the Week: Punk in Love

5 05 2010

Whoa! How did we not know about this one before?

Punk in Love came out in Indonesia about a year ago, but it looks like there’s still no English subtitled version. Maybe that’s OK though ’cause it seems so corny that it might be best to make up your own dialog. This sentence, culled from Film Asia‘s synopsis of the movie, probably tells you as much as you need to know about the plot:

“With just adequate money and punk hairstyle as their trademark, the four friends make a trip to Jakarta and their mission is to prevent Maia’s wedding to Andra from happening.”

The entire is film is up on YouTube, starting HERE. Let us know if you have any more info on this one!

May 5th, 2010 by MRR Web Coordinator
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Video of the Week

New Band Spotlight: Blood Thirst Spider

4 05 2010

Alright! We got a demo in recently from an ass-kicking band from Bangkok, Thailand, called BLOOD THIRST SPIDER. Yes, that’s “thirst” not “thirsty”. They’re not exactly new, but if you haven’t been in Thailand in past year or so, you probably haven’t heard of them yet. Robert Collins gives their demo, entitled Rock’n’Roll Destruction, this review in the upcoming issue of MRR magazine:

Fukk Yes!!! Thailand punx deliver old school hardcore with sinister snarled vocals. The buzzsaw bass drives the whole band along, and there are some seriously demented and awesomely out of place guitar leads that make me just shake my head. Clean, almost surf guitars from time to time, and there are a couple of tunes that have a kind of old school R’n’R feel to them, like the good ’80s So Cal bands did sometimes. This is badass — the demo comes with a sticker and a patch, and I suggest you fire off an email to them right away! ed_rudy {at} yahoo(.)com

The latest news is that they’re recording a full-length (CD-only probably), and if you happen to be in or near Bangkok this month, you can try to catch them “covering a traditional Thai country song BTS style” at the Siam Old School show on May 22nd in Ekkamai.

May 4th, 2010 by MRR Web Coordinator
Comments : 11 Comments »
Categories : New Band Spotlight

Monday Photo Blog: Eclypso

3 05 2010

We have a special treat for you this week. Photographer Catharine J. Anderson sent three photos from her new book, Eclypso. Cat was taking pictures in the Bay Area in the early ’80s at all the local clubs: Berkeley Square, The Stone, The Keystone Berkeley, Le Disque, The I-Beam, On Broadway, The Mab and on and on. Her book includes over 100 killer black and white band photos, most shot with Tri-X film, pushed to 1600. 1-2-3-4: