Punk Rock Saturday
Out on tour with one of our all time faves The Queers, it’s the The Venomous Pinks from Arizona! Their debut LP, Vita Mors, is now available everywhere and is a paragon for the genre; however, real quick, not to be forgotten are the band’s previous EPs, including last year’s exquisite live offering, Based on a True Story, which should be required as a prerequisite before earning your associate’s degree in street cred. We’re just gonna leave this here:
…And then get back to the task at hand, which is this tour, this album, and… oh yeah! This video! For all of you visual learners out there who require stimulation via the optic nerve in order for your ears to follow suite, feast your peepers on the video for “Cross My Heart and Hope to Die:”
That’s 1.5 minutes of a good, old fashioned punk rock show at the roller derby and, presumably, a clear representation of what you’ll be getting, should you be lucky enough to catch this band on their present tour, especially since you missed the string of shows they just did with Dead Kennedys. If you are in the CA area and fail to attend one of their gigs, please return your punk card because, at this point, you are only embarrassing yourself.
Next, we would like to introduce you to Ninebanks, a poppy punk band going for that 2000 era sound and nailing every bit of it! They have only been together for just a hair over a year, but these lads from Sunderland, UK are completely killing it! “Hello Sunshine” was released on September 9th and we knew we would write about it as soon as it poured itself into our ear canals. We know very little else about this band, other than what was included in the brief email they sent us, but there’s really nothing wrong with that when the music kicks ass. While we wouldn’t necessarily call it old skool, their sound is definitely a throwback to when punk completely dominated the mainstream airwaves, with just a touch of modern charm. Plus, this track has a bridge, which, as you know, is like spotting a rare, endangered bird. We like birds. (Did he just say ‘we like birds?’ WTF…) Have a listen and you will likely find yourself adding it to a playlist, just like we did!
Alright, hear me out… Obvious Approach have great punk rock tunes. The songs are well written and finely recorded. All instruments are played with skill and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the vocals… But what we really want to show you are the freaking song titles on their latest EP, Pre-Rhetoric:
“…no, it’s my face! it’s like your face is made up of 1 million tiny versions of my face”
“shadows can make life more tolerable sometimes”
“this one for instance, is drowning, yet holding composure quite well”
“i thought that you were saying that I had a 2019 new years ET body”
“lost at sea sharpening this knife in an inflatable raft”
What we are trying to say is that even if these songs sucked, which they most certainly do not, they would still earn a place on our blog for their titles alone. This is some straight-up, punk rock poetry, people. It’s like there’s so much creativity oozing out of this Grand Rapids trio that a bit of it spilled into every aspect of this five song box of goodies. Speaking of goodies, we suggest that you start with track four, then go back and hit the entire EP:
(I chose track four because it reminds me of Maybe I’ll Catch Fire-era Alkaline Trio, a record that is the soundtrack to one of the greatest years of my life.)
Punk Rock Saturday veterans Sloth Fist are back on the blog again! Why? One, because their new EP, Bombs Away, just dropped yesterday. And two, because their description for the second single, “Face/Off,” is too rich not to share with the widest possible audience: "A retelling of the hit 1997 film starring Nicholas Cage and John Travolta. Relive all the excitement, the drama, and the boat chases in this ripper!" At roughly a minute and forty seconds, the procedure is relatively quick and painless. But don’t take our word for it; hit that play button like you’re catching Pokemon or whatever you do with your phone before finally succumbing to the power of punk!
Wanna listen to Punk Rock Saturday all week? Check out the playlist:
Want your band to be featured on Punk Rock Saturday? All you have to do is stop being a lazy piece of crap and send us some music.