MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL
I steeple my hands with palm fronds. The plant does not speak back. I remind myself I wasn’t talking out loud so I’ve no right to be annoyed. Back in Sydney after seven months in exile in London, or is it the other way around? Tropical rain is still rain. It would serve you well […]
Read full "No More Bad Future" column
[E]verything that was in opposition was good… —Michael Baumann, How It All Began, 1975 No one who likes swing can become a Nazi. —Arvid (Frank Whaley), Swing Kids, 1993 It was Movie Night at Maximum Rocknroll at the old Clipper Street headquarters circa 1994. The featured movie was Thomas Carter’s 1993 film Swing Kids. It […]
Read full "What’s Left?" column
I started this column the same way I have the past 9 months or so—I opened up a spiral notebook to look at a list of barely half thought-out column ideas. Most of these ideas are only a few words long, and probably thought up in the shower. A few days after each month’s deadline, […]
Read full "Generally, I Don’t Speak Ill of the Dead" column
Bandmates require time, attention, patience, forgiveness, stimulation, trust, and a general sense of commitment, same as a partner, and I believe that band relationships are just as important as any romantic relationship. They’ll become a part of your life, good or bad, and if you’re going to stay together all these things need to be […]
Read full "Band Drama" column
A few weeks ago, during a lazy Sunday afternoon, a woman rang my bell and asked my opinion on the point of life. I cut the conversation short and told her I would not join whatever cult she was recruiting for. A few hours later I was wondering whether she was ready to experience the […]
Read full "Awkward Raging" column
LET’S NOT SAY GOODBYE… LET’S JUST SAY SO LONG FOR NOW… Imagine you’re riding up a roller coaster. Slowly you ascend to the top. The intensity level builds, then over the pinnacle you go, plummeting downward, feeling as though the car is going to go off the track or completely out of control…” Those were […]
Read full "" column
This is my last ever column for MRR in a print manifestation; the first column that I wrote for was in the July 2015 issue, which means that I’ve been doing this for almost exactly four years now. I had absolutely zero aspirations to be a columnist, and it’s honestly not something that ever crossed […]
Read full "Futures and Pasts" column
Might was well start by addressing the biggest news of the year: my five year old son Montgomery wants it to be known in no uncertain terms that the BUZZCOCKS are his favorite band and that “What Do I Get” is the best song ever written. So now y’all know. In terms of that other […]
Read full "" column
Safer Sex Work Last April, the US government signed two federal acts into law: the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA). These laws are intended to help stop sex trafficking by shutting down websites where people can advertise and solicit sex, but the unintended (or intended?) consequences […]
Read full "Overamped: Harm Reduction for the Modern World" column
Like many people I was shocked to read that MRR was ceasing publication. As a columnist I am not involved in any of the decision-making nor was I even aware that such measures where necessary or being contemplated. I am sad to see this happen and I feel like some effort probably could have been […]
Read full "Fin de SiÁ¨cle Angst" column
I first encountered the Maximum Rocknroll magazine in my teenage years, where copy after copy of new issues and back issues were stacked in the now long gone Repoman Records. I visited regularly after school, scrolling through the records and carefully picking something worth the modest paycheck from my job at the local supermarket. I […]
Read full "Europe: A Beginner’s Guide" column
If I could see one band that isn’t around anymore do one song live, it would be FUGAZI doing “Suggestion.” It’s one of those songs that blew my mind wide openthe first time I heard it. I was in 7th grade, and read about it in a book on riot grrrl. It’s got that weird […]
Read full "Blank Generation" column
What’s up, Maximum. Rather than write you a goodbye love letter, this is a love letter to my band. I don’t remember if I started this column first, or if we started Correspondences first, they started around the same time, and I’ll always associate their beginnings. I moved to Portland, Maine in 2010 because my […]
Read full "I Don’t Think That I Need to Sit Here With You Fucking Dildos Any More" column
An opening thought for all you readers going down with the ship before my final column commences in the last issue of our dear Maximum Rocknroll. I am sure that this issue will be filled with nostalgia and farewell columns, letters, articles, etc. Personally, I decided to get that out of the way last month […]
Read full "Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel" column
Martin Sorrondeguy is a queer, Latinx punk. He sings for bands you may have heard of like LIMP WRIST and LOS CRUDOS, he runs the record label Lengua Armada, is a longtime shitworker for MRR, directed the 1999 punk classic film Beyond the Screams: A U.S. Latino Hardcore Punk Documentary, and is a top-notch photographer […]
Read full "Teaching Resistance" column
What the hell? Why is MRR ending run as a print fanzine? How the fuck did this happen?! And more frequently asked questions…
Read full "MRR RIP FAQ" interview
Tim Mohr’s deep dive into the punk movement of East Germany from the twilight of the ’70s, through the penultimate fall of the devilish wall dividing the nation, is a heavy and captivating read. Mohr follows the travails of punks of all ages feeling their way through this new vehicle of opposition via the music, fashion, […]
Read full "Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall" Review
Holy crap! This book tears at the eyes and dares you to take hold of it. No corners cut on the production end of this project and this is evident the moment you take it in your hands. The details and attention put into this project needs mention, the authors/designers went all out and were […]
Read full "Tomorrow Is Too Late" Review
We Are The Clash: Reagan, Thatcher, and the Last Stand of a Band That Mattered picks up where most Clash histories end: The US Festival, 1983. Financed by Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, The US Festival was a last grasp towards some confused idea of corporate hippie values. The Clash played with a new drummer, having sacked […]
Read full "We Are The Clash: Reagan, Thatcher, and the Last Stand of a Band That Mattered" Review
«Dicen que el tiempo pone a cada uno en su sitio, pero igualmente podemos pensar que el tiempo es un tanto canalla y que en esta vida rara vez se hace justicia.» —Andoni FernÁ¡ndez Azkarai, autor de Mierda de Bizkaia. Bizkaia, mierda, rock’n’roll. Con un punto de partida limitado Mierda de Bizkaia es, sin embargo, un […]
Read full "Mierda de Bizkaia" Review
