The New Wild

Freakish Blues

I heard The New Wild (TNW) a few months ago with literally nothing in way of having any expectation for their sound, even what genre they were. I went in completely blind. Since listening to them the first time I have noticed they have classified themselves as “Freakish Blues” which I think is beautiful and fitting.

            When I flicked on their EP I was delighted to hear slurry, sloppy, frothy blues come out of the speakers right away. No build up. No warning strums to get me ready for the blues that were to come. I have only recently gotten into down and dirty blues like George Thorogood (most of his tracks being about whiskey has nothing to do with it, okay!) and Joe Bonamassa and I’ve been looking for a new band to get into and actively listen to so I can satisfy the bluesy hole I had. It looks like turning on TNW’s EP was a wonderful choice.

            With their grungy, growly vocals and rough, bluesy guitar they’re the perfect answer to a musical question. “Is there a place for blues, true blues, in a world where blues music is tragically become more and more scarce?” Well, obviously the answer is yes. Although the EP is a short one and in that way leaves the listener feeling a little unsatisfied, the tracks are so musically, well, interesting that even with just four tracks it at times feels like a full album. They do not leave any stone unturned. They don’t leave any leaf untouched. The shortness of their EP is easily made up by its efficiency to tell the tale they came to tell.

            TNW, with an odd twist, add different genres and sounds to their tracks throughout the EP. With little warning, their sound and overall genre shifts so fast that you they have already shifted back to their default sound before you’ve even noticed what’s happened.

            The first song on the album, Dallas is a perfect example of this. At first I was a little confused about the track. I didn’t really find where it fit with their overlying sound. It sounded an awkward pick for the vibe I was getting from them in the previous track. But then I realized that I was looking in all the wrong places. I was searching for a cookie cutter. Their previous song had established something for me that TNW had no plan of establishing. Then, to both mess with me and explore their musical boundaries, the sound started to change.

            With the inclusion of a garage-rock type sound in Dallas, though I now understood where the motivation stemmed from, I was still foggy on the influence. Until I did some extensive research and read their bio and noticed the first band on their influences list; The White Stripes. This little bud of knowledge served me well in two ways: 1. I was finally unburdened with having to figure out where this seemingly new/random style was stemming from and more importantly where it was going and 2. The EP actually started talking to me as an album and not just a random compilation of songs and sounds that were haphazardly thrown onto a disc.

            Also on said influences list are The Black Keys and Flat Duo Jets which are so wonderfully prominent on the EP that I dare a listener not to see their finger prints all over it.

            My favourite track on the EP is Wail. Not just due to the radio friendly sound and the light story about music, sex and love but because that wasn’t the only interesting and thought provoking thing that caught my attention on this track. As soon as the song started when I heard it for the first time I was all ready to start blasting it on having poor balancing. The guitar was way, WAY louder than everything else. I’m glad I continued to listen instead of making a silly first glance judgement because it only took a minute to figure out why. Although a pretty simple track, technically speaking, its simple qualities are easily forgotten once that loud, bluesy, rough, gooey guitar shows its face in-between each chapter of the story. The guitar work in-between these chapters I can only really describe as “cool”. Another great surprise on the EP.

            Finally, Play it By Fear is by far the most complex track on the EP. Starting off with loud, overdriven guitar feedback flowing into a guitar riff that I can only describe as Hendrix-y, the styles that are explored on this song are as numerous as they are difficult to seamlessly flow into one another. Let’s go through a few of the styles that I found on this track. The song starts with overdriven rock guitar into a Hendrix-y acid rock riff, then as the verse cuts in, all distortion disappears and it sounds like Nirvana is doing a guest session with TNW then to break up the verses it slips into a heavy rock kind of sound (although it could be argued that that Nirvana was still visiting as it does remind me quite a bit of the chorus of Smells Like Teen Spirit). I think I may be able to safely say that I have never heard these genres come head to head in one three-minute song. And the complexity and sheer craftsmanship of the songs seem to naturally come secondary to something that is ever-present throughout the EP… It is just so cool.

            The New Wild is a great, unconventional “freakish blues” band that going in I had absolutely zero expectations. All I have to say is that they surprised the shit out of me and I’m glad they did. I have added them to my normal playlist on my iPod and I highly suggest you do too.

The New Wild Stuff:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenewwild?ref=br_tf

Bandcamp: http://thenewwild.bandcamp.com/

- Justin

Frank Turner

Celtic/Folk/Punk/Rock

            I’ve loved Celtic/folk/punk music since the first time I heard The Fields of Athenry, an old Irish folk song covered by The Dropkick Murphy’s. After listening to the Murphy’s extensively in my teen years and pretty well memorizing their albums I decided to explore more bands and acts. This led me to some of the greats like Flogging Molly, The Mahones and others. I needed more. It wasn’t until years later that I finally found my much needed addition to this wonderful genre of music.

            I had heard Frank Turner off  and on for about half a year on compilation albums and on those random “related videos” that pop up on YouTube. Then a got a call from a couple buddies that they were going to the Frank Turner show at the Burton Cumming’s theatre and wanted to know if I wanted a ticket. I asked when it was. It was in two hours.

            Scrambling on my phone I bought a ticket online and raced to the theatre not really knowing what I was getting into. I knew very little about Frank and his music. What I’d heard I’d liked but I had never actually given it a second glance. Well that was the best short notice decision I ever made.

            The fact that I’m writing this should pretty well tell you the rest of the story of how the night went. I was absolutely awestruck. Not just by the music and the energy, but by the atmosphere Frank creates at his shows and the fan base he has earned through his listeners trusting him. Trusting him to make good music. Trusting him to always deliver. And trusting him to never stop pushing the musical envelope.

            I can honestly say that that was one of the most exciting concerts I have ever been to. I stood beside without a word of a lie, a five year old girl sitting on her dad’s shoulders singing along to every song Frank played and on the other side a sixty year old man with massive sideburns and a studded leather jacket also singing along.

            To me, the mark of a great artist isn’t necessarily the art they create but rather the people that appreciate it. And with over a fifty year gap between just two of the fans I saw that night is any indication, I’d say Frank is doing pretty well. To be appreciated by three generations is a Rolling Stones level of appreciation.

            The first couple songs that really grabbed my attention were his “hits”. I know that’s not exactly a popular position when discussing musicians, but what can I say, they’re his most accessible tracks so that’s where YouTube sent me.

            Photosynthesis and Long Live the Queen were my first glances at Frank’s portfolio and though they are certainly radio friendly, mainstream tunes I believe they were hits for the wrong reasons. I believe they were hits because of their catchy, upbeat sound Not for the content of the tracks. After all, Long Live the Queen is a story about a friend dying. But whether or not they are hits or radio friendly or mainstream does not take away from the fact that they really are great songs for an array of reasons and their catchy attributes and deep stories are just two of several reasons.

            As I delved deeper into Frank’s catalogue I noticed that this otherwise catchy, upbeat band had some songs that were quite dark and featured drastic realizations a young man was making in reference to growing up, the progression of the world he lived in and his observation that most of the world is looking at itself through rose coloured glasses. My first notice of this darker side Frank seemed to have to himself was on the track Love,Ire & Song where frank talks about what he saw as a bitter teacher he had while growing up who essentially told Frank that when you grow up you may as well give up. Life is just a big disappointment. Might as well not try. Frank saw this as a betrayal from an individual who was supposed to be guiding him and wrote him off as a “wash-up” and that kind of attitude was a “fucking cop-out”. Frank made the vow that so many young people do, “When I get to your age I won’t…” In this case Frank vowed not to be a coward. However, as the song progresses Frank obviously finds out that his adolescent vow quickly seemed to not only disappear from his teacher’s life but by most people that he saw daily. His idealist approach he had as an adolescent clearly didn’t translate into the real world of grownups.

            “All the things that I believed with all my heart when I was young/Are just coasters for beers and clean surfaces for drugs.” Frank finishes up this realization, that being that he is clearly the outsider for still having ideals and passions, that being part of a dying breed, you might as well go out with a bang. Instead of just fading away, “If we’re stuck on this ship and it’s sinking/Then we might as well have a parade.”

            Earlier I mentioned that Long Live the Queen is his most popular (or one of the most popular at least) tracks due to how catchy it is, which is true, but I may have overstepped my bounds saying it’s popular for the wrong reasons. Whatever the case, I am very happy the song got as popular as it did because it still sits near the top of my Frank Turner list. Frank is one of the best in the business I’ve seen to turn pain, real guttural pain, real excruciating pain and turning it into art, unconventional art and making it that people will actually want to consume it. A painful, personal tale of his last moments with a friend and then her death is just such a terrible but beautiful story. Just because there is pain and sorrow throughout life and unfathomable evil, there’s still a light at the end of the tunnel.

            Frank Turner has a great blend of Celtic drawl (even though he’s English…) and peppy folk that really gets to the heart of what music, real honest music ought to be. Yes, music is a serious business about getting serious messages across, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it at the same time. Frank is a true talent that doesn’t play for the money… well maybe enough money so he can continue getting tattoos… but Frank is there for the message. He’s there for the fans. And he’s above all there for the music because he has something he wants to say and he would die before giving up his platform to say it.

Songs to listen to:

Photosynthesis, Long Live the Queen, Faithful Son, Live Fast Die Old, The Ballad of Me and My Friends, Once We Were Anarchists

- Justin

Mobina Galore

Punk Rock -

With a Runaways attitude and none of the gimmick, Mobina Galore is a punk rock duo that really gets to the heart of what punk rock is supposed to be.

The raw angst right from the get-go of their album Cities Away, the first track Skeletons really sets the stage for the first half of the album and makes the transition later on in the album even more impressive. Skeletons is complex in a humble sort of way, just complex enough to make the listener question whether it is only a duo making this music. Their lack of subtlety is as telling as anything else that this band has a message and they don’t want it muddled with any other presumptions or innuendo. “I can’t take it anymore/Take what you want from me!” The strain in Priestner’s voice and the loud, continuous, take-no-prisoners style of Hanson’s drumming and backing vocals had me hooked immediately. And this is just from the first song.

Then comes Restless Nights. Another song that does away with implication and instead allows the girls to just lay their hearts and minds on the table and let you stare at them. Going into listening and writing about Mobina Galore, I wasn’t expecting what I got. The dark, disjointed angry, honest music that I found was way more my cup of tea. Hanson’s drumming in Restless Nights is creative, cool, and above all innovative. This more than any other song on Cities Away makes it blatantly obvious how tight a band Mobina Galore is.

Pieces of You had me smiling after the first eight bars. Priestner has such an awesome punk drawl. Similar to Joan Jett but mixed with Justin Sane and Henry Rollins. That raspy, gritty, seething with anger voice that really turns heads. And then, without skipping a beat, her voice changes to an almost indistinguishable sweet girl that is pleading for you to listen. To understand. And then once again, the anger bubbles up again and Priestner slips into being a gritty punk rocker again! This solidifies my point that Mobina Galore isn’t holding anything back. They’re honest. They are who they are. They’re not putting on some act to try to look cool and sound even cooler. They’re organic and real. I like that.

One thing I didn’t really notice until the next song flowed through my speakers was that there actually was a subtlety in Mobina Galore’s music that they were hiding from me all along. Though their songs are angry, honest and in some cases kind of sad, I didn’t realize how dark and bleak some of the songs are. You’re not 23 Anymore is a dark window into a fear I’m sure many people go through. Though Priestner and Hanson don’t stray from their original sound that is now pretty well a trademark, there’s something added that at the same time doesn’t sound like them at all. Like I said, they are constantly innovating new ways to stay fresh and to continuously surprise me. The chorus has an awesome contrast of airy, melodic “ooooos” and “ahhhhhhs”, then Priestner’s rough, pained voice comes in for a  brilliant crossover that I’ve honestly never heard before.

I’d actually heard and seen the video for Bad Love Song long before I had any idea who Mobina Galore was, so revisiting the song was fun and a little bit of a throwback for me. Easily the most radio-friendly track on the album, though Priestner’s trademark voice and Hanson’s amazing, always present in-you-face drums are still there, they diverge and adopt a sound similar to The Strokes. It takes anger and animosity that is present on the previous tracks and channels them into a different kind of subtle violence that the rest of Cities Away deliberately shies away from. It’s an interesting indirect way that Mobina Galore carries their message. And plus it’s catchy as hell.

2002 starts with Priestner giving us another look at her nice girl side like she did briefly in Pieces of You. She abandons her raspy punk voice, for a bit anyways, and instead gives us the voice of a sad, desperate, nostalgic, hurt girl. Describing the time she cherished that is now gone. As she recollects to this time that disappeared, as the beat and volume begin to pick up, so do the vocals, the desperation, the passion.

2002 is a unique song on the album in that the angst that is present on the rest of the tracks seems to take a break. The song instead is almost an ode. An ode to a better time and urging the listeners to cherish these moments because you never know when they’ll disappear. Mobina Galore doesn’t want us to make the same mistakes that they did. Cherish what you have now.

Although the song is more tender and sensitive than the other songs on Cities Away, the energy and sheer volume (not loud-wise but how it fills the room) of the track is as present as ever. That is one of my favourite parts of Mobina Galore. You BELIEVE them. They’re not singing cutesy songs to be liked. They’re singing and playing out events that actually happened. Through the pain comes amazing music.

Though most of the album is dark, it’s nice that Mobina Galore took a break to explore parts of life that aren’t so bad. 2002 does still have its dark corners; Mobina Galore found a dim light peeking through a window. The time is gone but the memories are forever.

The next track, Revel & Riot is another departure from the dark first half of the album. An encouraging helping hand to the audience. “You’ll be okay” is not a phrase you hear too often in new music these days. It’s encouraging that Mobina Galore drive this sentence home over and over again (dozens of times throughout the song). I lost count of how many times Priestner urges us to understand that “You’ll be okay”, but message received. It was enough to have to take a step back and maybe consider those three words when everything else in life is telling you otherwise.

The final track is another bright song with dark corners. Trying to Survive is a pretty self-explanatory song about life giving you lemons and trying to find a way to make apple juice with them. A relatable song to almost everybody. Feeling like the world is against you and there’s no way out, sometimes finding a bright side seems impossible, this closing song to a largely morose and honest album is telling us that despite all that other crap that’s going on, there is a way to find the light. A way to survive.

All-in-all, Mobina Galore is a great, loud punk band with all the attitude, ability and brutal honesty that a great punk band needs. Their constant energy that refuses to give up or sit down is palpable. You can feel it as it flows from the speakers. Not only are they great at laying themselves on the line for us to poke and prod at, you can tell they get a kick out of doing it.

The production of Cities Away is what really caught me off guard. With a loud, in your face band it’s really easy for shotty production to distract from the music and the intended sound of the band. So hat’s off to John Paul Peters and Mobina Galore for making a record that actually sounds like a record, and not something they recorded in their basement with a tape deck. It sounds as good as any album I have on my shelf… Except maybe Thriller…

If you like The Ramones, Joan Jett, Against Me!, Black Flag or anything inbetween, Mobina Galore is the place to be. They’re attitude and energy is unmatched by anyone I’ve seen on the Winnipeg music scene for a long time.


All Things Mobina Galore Below!!!

Cities Away Available Tue Dec. 9, 2014
iTunes, bandcamp, Music Trader, Into the Music
Pre-sales available at mobinagalore.bandcamp.com which includes an immediate download of Bad Love Song and You're Not 23 Anymore
facebook.com/mobinagaloremusic
www.mobinagalore.com
Album Release Show is Sat. Dec. 27 at The Park Theatre with Clipwing and Union Stockyards. $10 tickets at Into the Music, Music Trader and The Park Theatre

- Justin

Greek Riots

Indie/Melodic/Rock -

Greek Riots – “Cavalier”

The Greek Riots’ first EP, Cavalier, starts off with the old, melodic track Monroeville. It really sets the stage for what the listener is in for on the next three tracks. Describing a hostile world where it is easy to feel alone, Monroeville is a beautiful song in words and style about love to whomever is listening. Though this world is a rough place, at least I have you to share it with until the end. Or, as Greek Riots much more eloquently puts it, “I’ll hold you close as they break down the door… I’ll hold you close as we bleed out on the floor”. A wonderful start to an EP centering on passion love and how much worse the world would be if you had to face it alone.

Greek Riots has a mature sound that gives the contrast of their somewhat lovey-dovey subject matter (even if it is a dark lovey-dovey) satisfying. Combining more than just the classic four instrument lineup, the addition of piano, tambourine and other instruments really gives Greek Riots a unique sound that I can really only describe as fulfilling. Though at times their sound is poppy, it does not detract from their sound but rather adds to it. Combining all these different sounds together to form a smorgasbord that is… well… Greek Riots.

Cavalier next takes us to the track Sleeping Dogs which completely divorces itself from the fast, pop-rock feel of Monroeville and instead has a much more sincere, serene feel. This, of course, isn’t a mistake or a coincidence. The subject matter also distances itself from the previous tune. No longer is Greek Riots talking about how wonderful it is to be with so-and-so even though the world is dark and cold. Rather, the tables have turned in the subject-world relationship. Now the dark, scary world has somehow invaded, or seeped into this once picturesque relationship and is striving to tear it apart.

The story shift now highlights that the honeymoon is over and the relationship now has baggage, or “dogs”, to deal with. “Let the dogs outside/I’m bringing out the fight/I got a second chance/And you know I’m never gonna let it happen twice”.

The switch from happy to downright sad is a lot for the listener to get their head around. Not only have the sounds and subject matter changed, but even Jacques’ voice has taken on a sound of being tired. Fed up. Tired of fighting. Tired of arguing. Tired of asking “Do you ever get tired of putting holes in walls?” Longing for that storybook love that he found in Monroeville.

Greek Riots is a deviation from what one would classify as a run-of-the-mill indie band. There are too many different textures to their style that calling them simply an “indie band” is drastically misrepresenting. They have folk, rock, melodic pop, and so many other genres all stuffed into the five band members that to just try to simplify them by classifying them as “indie” is an injustice. Not to say I know how to classify them either. They are just Greek Riots.

The second-to-last song is called Consolation Prize. This track rides on the coattails of Sleeping Dogs in that the pain is still felt in the vocals and the music. It would appear that the subject did not end up getting that second chance he described in Sleeping Dogs and is now forced to “… sleep alone tonight”. One thing this track doesn’t do is give the listener’s feelings a rest. The love that was so prominent in Monroeville is now just a distant memory that is craved. The reality has finally sunk in that this is the situation that we will now find ourselves in. The choices we’ve made, the efforts we’re made (or haven’t made), we have no one to blame but ourselves. Unfortunately this is not exactly an uplifting message, but it is a true message. Greek Riots are realists and also unapologetic for telling the truth. Their truth. This is quite a growing rarity among musicians.

As Cavalier progresses, so does the intensity of the band. This doesn’t necessarily mean their volume, their tempo, etc… Intensity is a beast that can’t be heard or seen, it can only be felt. Some people feel it in their heart, some people feel it in the pit of their stomach, some people feel it behind their eyes. But wherever it is that you feel intensity, when you feel it you know exactly what it is. Jacques, Seamus, Duncan, Mack and Breandan’s intensity is undeniably increased from about 6 at the beginning of Cavalier to a 20 by the end of the EP.

The best synonym I can come up with for “intensity” isn’t a synonym at all, but I do think both words share enough characteristics to call it one. Intensity is honesty. If what you’re hearing isn’t delivered as the song, speech, lecture with an adequate intensity to compliment said song, speech or lecture, then the problem delivering it probably doesn’t believe it. And if they don’t believe it, the listener will not. Greek Riots’ intensity never wavers and thus, their honesty is unquestionable. The final song on Cavalier is called Rolling Off (The Windshield). Within the first two seconds, you will be excited to know that it seems the morose past of the last two tracks is one of those distant memories. The piano and drums are in full swing and ready to deliver the poppy, confident song akin to the one we found in Monroeville.

Although the outcome of Cavalier’s story is still somewhat bleak, the message of “so be it” is somehow comforting. "Rolling off the hood of a car/Makes you wonder just exactly who you are”. After confronting this thing, this obstacle, this certainty that became a lie, this love that became hate, this era that ceased to exist, it turns out it’s not all bad. Not only does it make you think, but it makes you “wonder”. And wonder is really all we have in left in this world isn’t it? Just because something doesn’t work out the way we want it to, that doesn’t mean we should give up. We need to pick ourselves up and say “Oh well. That sucked. Well what’s next?”

Greek Riots wold a story in Cavalier that may not be uplifting or happy-go-lucky, but it is certainly encouraging. It urges the listener to learn from themselves. To stop looking at the past and trying to live there and instead use the past to become stronger than before. This philosophy also just so happens to be the story of Greek Riots (coincidence?) as they explain in their bio, “[We] are of the opinion that what is dead may never die, but rises harder and stronger”.

I’m not sure how to classify Greek Riots, but what I do know is that they are confident and certainly not afraid to speak their mind lyrically and musically. It is important to not go into Cavalier expecting a run-of-the-mill indie band because you will be sorely disappointed. Greek Riots is so much more, and there is only more of them to come.

Links to everything Greek Riots here!

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Cavalier will be released November 8th @ The cavern, with Special Guests Solhounds and Somebody Language. Doors at 9 PM cover is 7$. More details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1468551966748773/

greekriots.bandcamp.com is where you can download the single Monroeville. It's "pay what you want".

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1468551966748773/

Twitter: twitter.com/greekriots1

Instagram: instagram.com/greekriots

- Justin

Anti-Flag

Political Punk -

The first time I heard Anti-Flag I was in the top bunk at church camp. I was up there trying to have an afternoon nap and some disruptive ginger kid woke me up and made me listen to his Discman that he smuggled in, eager to corrupt this quiet little church kid (I didn’t know this obnoxious punk-kid would eventually become my best friend). He handed me up the Discman and played his burnt CD for me. Though I had heard plenty of Guns N’ Roses and other “secular” music, I had been completely sheltered to the world of punk. So I laid in my bunk and listened to this CD that contained everything from NOFX to Bad Religion to The Butthole Surfers (at church camp!!!) on it. And I remember very specifically when Die for Your Government came on the earphones. I’d never heard a song like it before. Mixing Justin Sane’s loose, almost careless voice and an overdriven guitar with a highly over-complicated drum beat, this was a band that deserved my attention.

With a voice reminiscent of Johnny Rotten and with riffs as fresh and in-your-face as The Clash or The Ramones, Anti-Flag brought a long needed maturity to punk rock. Sure they’re punk kids who are fighting “The Man”, but they are also quite obviously talented musicians that are worth taking a second look at. As a punk band it’s often difficult to be recognized as a serious musician, but after listening to even a couple Anti-Flag songs it’s obvious that their “don’t-give-a-s@#&” attitude and their clearly transparent musical skill are seamless. Their teenage-activist angst and talented craftsmanship meld together so well it’s hard to pick out what’s politically motivated and what’s musically motivated. Like I said, seamless.

Their first album, Die for Your Government is an obvious slam towards the U.S. government who send soldiers to fight, what Sane thinks, is an unjust and unworthy cause. Sane masks his intelligence with a punk-kid attitude and lyrics punctuated with gratuitous profanity. But it is certain that despite his persona, Sane is intelligent and a brilliant song-writer that easily gets across his views with his music.

Anti-Flag has matured in age and attitude over the years. Not only has Sane’s voice somewhat changed, but his attitude and composure along with his subject matter has too. Though there has always been anti-government and authority scepticism in their lyrics, it changed from simple, profane name calling and cursing rich people (Your Father is a Rich Man…) to actual commentaries on factual discrepancies Sane has observed. Although I’m not a big advocate on politically motivated music, the music is so good that the subject matter is easier to separate.

The Terror State, for me, is the album that was the real eye-opener for me and really highlighted Anti-Flag as a musical juggernaut and not just another punk band. With songs like Turncoat and Rank-n-File, though their attitude is largely the same as their intense teenage and political angst as before, the addition of maturity and experience made a huge difference and actually dramatically changes Anti-Flag’s sound. With Chris Head taking a much more prominent roll on vocals and Justin Sane almost taking a backseat, Anti-Flag became almost a flagship, a goal to be achieved by other punk bands. They reinvented themselves. They changed their sound, look and all the while keeping the same energy as in their younger days.

Though Anti-Flag is clearly anti-government, or more specifically anti-corrupt government, they make it painfully obvious on their albums that though they don’t agree with everything the government says or does, one thing they are eager to capitalize on is being able to exercise the First Amendment. Freedom of speech. Without this, Anti-Flag wouldn’t be able to exist and they are self-aware of this. In a song like You Can Kill the Protestor, they’re not simply denouncing the government, but also explaining that once something upstairs is happening that you don’t agree with, you MUST exercise your right to protest no matter what they do to drown your cause. “You can kill the protestor, you can’t kill the protest” is a powerful line in any country, not just America.

Though some people will be turned off by their brash, in-your-face opinionated punk rock, with a name like Anti-Flag what do you expect? What you see is what you get.

Anti-Flag simply love where they live, they just are not fans of who is running it. All-in-all they are just trying to make their country a better place by pointing out injustices they’ve noticed and motivating their listeners to do something about it.

Their direct subject matter has changed as of late, but their central message of speaking out and pointing out what they see as wrong with the world hasn’t wavered. They’ve been around a long time, and they’re not going anywhere.

Songs to listen to: 1 Trillion Dollar$, Hymn for the Dead, 911 for Peace, The Press Corpse, Turncoat, Rank-n-file.

-Justin

Tony Sly

Melodic/Acoustic -

It’s hard to classify Tony Sly, but I’ll certainly give it a try. As an adolescent that listened to the classics of punk religiously (Bad Religion, Lagwagon, NOFX, etc…) it was only a matter of time before I stumbled upon No Use for a Name (NUFAN).

A self-deprecating, almost depressing band (by punk standards) to listen to. Though they had the regular conventions of a fast, loud in your face punk band, there was a deeper more complicated layer that NUFAN desperately tried to hide. That was the artistry that Tony Sly brought to the band as their frontman. His reality that he wanted so desperately to hide behind the façade of a fast, poppy punk band. But there was always something else there in their tracks.

And of course, that thing was Tony Sly.

Heading the band, Tony was a presence unto himself. He also had talent pouring out of his pores so it was only a matter of time before his band efforts spilled into a solo effort.

The first tracks I heard from Tony Sly on his own were off his album Sad Bear. At first I didn’t understand Sad Bear and actually found it artistically confusing and in a way unsatisfying. But after careful listening (over and over again) I realized it was because I wasn’t listening to it correctly. I was looking for the NUFAN Tony Sly (upbeat, impersonal and marketable). Little did I know that the sombre, insecure, sad and profound Tony Sly had been lurking in the shadows during the NUFAN days, it just took the stripping away of his supporting band mates to really reveal the tortured artist that was behind the microphone all those years in disguise.

Although the details of his death in 2012 have been sketchy at best, it was widely known that Tony had been an avid user of alcohol and pain medication (for his chronic back pain) and of anti-depressants/anxiety medication like Xanax. A load of speculation points toward the secrecy surrounding Tony’s death to be attributed to a drug overdose (or a lethal drug combination) or a suicide, but that is just speculation. Speculation that truly serves to do nothing but cloud the memory of him as a brilliant singer/songwriter. However there is no denying the self-deprecating and downright dark themes Tony portrays in his solo tracks. Whether his dark, depressing themes have any bearing or connection to his untimely death, we will never know. But I believe separating the art from the individual is an important part of understanding art.

Tony had a great way of making the sad, unthinkable realities into regular instances that seemed normal to society. Normal enough that even terrible acts seemed commonplace and instead of evoking too much thought, they just made another good line in another good song. However, Tony didn’t let you get off that easy. He would make you think, he would just do it in a more subtle way.

In his song Hey God, Tony disguises his struggles and everyman struggles in a catchy, upbeat song. He also takes a subject that I have never heard of in a punk song and deconstructs it in a way that you still want to listen to it. Where most punk bands talk about how awful the government is and how war sucks and so on, Tony takes on individual debt versus corporate debt in America. A pretty out-there subject for a punk to sing about.

The first verse explains debt in America and globally and how we as the audience see it in only the big picture and not necessarily in individual instances. We often forget about the individuals behind stories of debt and people being ripped off by big corporations. “A country torn to shreds by consolidated debt/As we watch another store close down/ We can’t live for four without paying the bank more/For the loans that they will not allow”

Tony saw the reality of the human unit. All is rosy unless it’s happening to us. What about the poor people that lost their store. The family who can’t afford food for the table. Tony doesn’t allow us to be blind to that any more. He puts a face behind the misery that he and countless other people feel.

Another thing that I always loved about Tony and Sad Bear in particular is that, despite his morose tracks, tone and mood, there is constantly a layer of love in his songs. The most obvious example of his love pouring into the microphone is for his family. His wife and his daughters. In his classic self-deprecating way, the song Burgies, Basics and You, Tony opens up brilliantly talking about his who he loved dearly “I am stupid, you are perfect/ am danger you are safe”. He goes on to explain that he can’t believe who has chosen him as their mate. That she is far too good for him. His daughters are also mentioned several times in the song and that all he wants to do, his greatest goal is to “make enough money to make my daughters feel safe”.

Many would call Tony depressing, I call him real. I call him experienced.

Beyond his music, his death shocked the punk community and the music community at large. A prominent musician with an amazing family died. Those that loved him and looked up to him, including his best friend Fat Mike from the band NOFX made a tribute album to him covering his songs as a final send off to a dear friend.

Tony has touched and influenced many lives including mine and though his message is brief it is timeless. His musical ventures span beyond NUFAN and his solo albums. He also has a brilliant collaborative album with Joey Cape of Lagwagon and is a guest on many other punk songs and albums.

It’s hard in this life to bank on anything or anyone. Tony was a poet, a tortured soul that used his music as his painful outlet. NUFAN’s song “Chasing Rainbows” is another painful confession by Tony. Urging his subject to tread carefully when putting your faith in someone or something. Perhaps he was even referring to himself. People can promise the world but often it doesn’t work out.

In a way I suppose Tony gave us the world, though. Or at least let us into his world. And now he’s gone. He has said his piece. Told us what he wanted us to hear, his thoughts and his views and where he believed his part in this world was, and now he’s gone.

It’s too bad somebody that gave so much of himself to strangers who adored him had his life cut short. But that’s the way it goes sometimes. And though it is sad, “The sun is coming out” and “The bells are ringing now”.

Songs to listen to: All of Sad Bear, Fireball, Capo, 4th Fret.

No Use for a Name: Chasing Rainbows, Justified Black Eye, Life sized Mirror.

The Songs of Tony Sly: A Tribute: Homecoming – The Bouncing Souls, For Fiona – Rise Against, Frances Stewart – Useless I.D.

- Justin

Tom Gabel

Acoustic/Punk –

Tom Gabel is one of the most unique, brave and profound artists of this generation. His deep-rooted history in punk with his critically and commercially successful band (that he is the front-man for) Against Me! To his more folk-style, acoustic and painfully honest and revealing tracks from his solo project Heart Burns.

Tom has relatively recently become famous from his gender transition from a hardcore, unapologetic punk rock man, to the exact same adjectives but applied to a woman. Laura Jane Grace may not look exactly like Tom Gabel, but her attitude and heart is the exact same.

Though his gender identity may have changed, nothing else about him has.

Heart Burns is one of the most honest, personal agenda-driven albums of the past several years. But it being a self-serving piece of art that Tom clearly wrote for himself doesn’t give it, or him as an artist any less merit. Every track has a sense that Tom is not, in any way, making his music (on this record) for an audience. Only an audience of one. Himself. Heart Burns is a personal diary of sorts, one which Tom was kind enough to display for the world to see.

Tom is through and through a punk, so he’s almost forced to throw in at least one politically driven protest. Anna is a Stool Pigeon, if you find the song, is about Eric McDavid. Eric was convicted on conspiring to use explosives on government property. It has been thought by some that he was unjustly prosecuted due to entrapment. Tom shares this view. Whether or not you know of Eric or not or even have any political affiliations at all is irrelevant. One of Tom’s gifts is that he brings you into his world and, whether the lyrics (which are beautiful) jive with you or not, Tom plays and sings with such conviction that he gives you no choice but to listen. And listen intently.

When punk singers or any singers of a band for that matter make a solo album, the singer can sometimes be almost unidentifiable. Their style, attitude, even voice can be almost completely different on their solo ventures as they are in a band setting. But not Tom Gabel. Tom’s energy and need to get things off his chest by way of song is no different when he’s heading Against Me! or doing his own solo tracks. His raspy, yelling/stinging voice, though very unconventional, completely drags you into his songs and his life.

Tom is an absolutely amazing artist and even through his gender transition, Tom’s punk, “I-don’t-give-a-damn” attitude and his rock star spirit have not changed one bit.

The most powerful song on the album is Harsh Realms. Tom painfully describes the loss of someone in his life. Though he, I’m sure, personalized it for a specific person in his life, Tom’s creative, all-encompassing spirit made it ambiguous enough to apply to almost anyone in a similar situation. The loss of a family member, a friend, a break-up with a girlfriend/boyfriend. This world is a harsh place. I need you. And I need you now. Don’t abandon me.

Songs to listen to: Harsh Realms, Anna is a Stool Pigeon, Because of the Shame.

Against Me!: Pints of Guinness Make You Strong, Reinventing Axl Rose, Cliché Guevara.

- Justin