Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Free Pussy Riot!

Russia a democracy? Hahaha, what a laugh, with the prosecution of the female punk band Pussy Riot
they prove Russia is nothing but a fascist police state!

Spread the word and let Mr Putin know that the world care about the
democracy and freedom of speach even in Russia.

wearepussyriot.tumblr.com












Monday, July 30, 2012

The good, the bad and the Street Dogs.

On Facebook Street Dogs thanks the fans for their best European tour ever. Now they fly home again.
Sweden thank Street Dogs.

I will reblog Toby`s frustration with a certain airline.

"A week ago @British_Airways lost 2 Gibson Les Pauls, 2 1970's Fender Basses, and a set of Zildjian cymbals. At this point @British_Airways have made no attempt to get these back to us. Also mind you we spent $600 in bag fees for this kind of service. Words can't express the impact that this takes on a band to not have your necessary tools of your trade. We are calling on all of you to retweet and repost this story wherever you can to hopefully get their attention and get our gear back. Thanks for all support you guys are truly the greatest fans in the world. 

Tobe"

Tobe got his guitars back after som pressure from fans. But, it stinks that airlines behave like they pissed their pants, over and over again.

Rancid - Fall Back Down



Rancid  -  Fall Back Down

From the Album "Indestructible" (2003)

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Rancid´s setlist at West Coast Riot 2012


Picture linked from GP



Radio
Roots Radicals
St. Mary
Journey to the End of the East Bay
Maxwell Murder
Last One to Die
East Bay Night
Dead Bodies
The 11th Hour
I Wanna Riot
Red Hot Moon
Hooligans
Old Friend
Nihilism
Black & Blue
Salvation
Bloodclot
Rejected
The Way I Feel
It's Quite Alright
Lock, Step & Gone
Olympia WA.
The Wars End
Something in the World Today
Adina
Hoover Street
Fall Back Down

Encore:
Time Bomb
Tenderloin
Listed M.I.A.
Ruby Soho

UK Subs-Warhead

In order to melt the Rancid concert and the whole West Coast Riot festival, I turn to UK Subs.
Then there is time to get ready for Social Distortion at Circus August 7.



U.K. Subs - Warhead
From the Album Brand New Age (1980)

Saturday, July 28, 2012

The day after I saw the light, walking in an occupied zone.

Note, this is ment to be ironic, if someone would miss that!


Anti-Flag among others become the Boss best friend,
Picture taken from the American Staff Blog by the Pittsburg Gazette  

The day after I saw the light aka Rancid at West Coast Riot I woke up in an occupied city. The Riot was over, now the troops of Bruce Springsteen fans invade. The media was already taken over, they cover every move the Boss take, Gothenburg have been declared as a vassal state to New Jersy. While deadly tired and happy punks check out at the hostel, the Springsteens fans check in. Not a Turbojugend to be seen today. Just people in Rancid, Anti Flag, Street Dogs tour T-shirts heading for the trains and busses. Its like a hostile takeover. The Punk refugees leaving the city. It starts already at the breakfast bufé. "Glory days" and other New Jersey tunes fill the air. Everywhere you turn in the city there are a Springsteen tune played in a stereo. There are Springsteen photo exhibitions and the news papers have the Boss visit at the punk concert on the frontpage. I had a few hours to kill before my train leaves so I walk withthe stream of people to the big soccer arena Nya Ullevi where the Boss shall have his Nurnberg rally. I walk right into the sound check. Born in the USA is played at an increadible volume. Its a take no prisoners operation the Boss are into. Already have his loyal followers started to line up, I don´t envy them, the heat were as bad as the day before. I understand them, I know what kind of ecstacy they are in for. I got mine last night. A few hundred meter away 12.000 or something Jehova Vitnesses have gathered for an gigant prayer session at the hockey arena Skandinavium. I can´t help thinking that they missed God, he was showing his face at the West Coast Riot last night. I saw the light. But I guess they might be pissed off because the Springsteen fans God are bigger than theirs. Or at least more attractive. Asta Kask however told us that God spoke to them and she was a pissed off black, lesbian woman.


I saw the light! a Review of the West Coast Riot



The Event

West Coast Riot is by any comparison Sweden´s biggest punk festival. Not the biggest rock festival, but the biggest just for punk. Fat Wreck record have dubbed it the best punk festival in the world….hm, I haven’t been to them all so, well…but anyway, it was one of the best festival I been to. Just the location this year, just at the sea side with the open sea in sight was stunning. And this year´s line-up was something extra. I havn´t bothered to go there the years before, but when I saw that Rancid was headlining, it was a must to go. And then one good band after another was added to the bill, I would say it was mandatory to attend. Good that people didn´t do that. It was enough with people as it was in the rather narrow festival area not really dimensioned for the size of the crowd. Normally it is just an empty spot next to the art museum Röda Sten. This sunny Thursday in July it was Heaven and Hell at the same time, at least hot as Hell.


The Crowd, the Museum and the Bridge


The Location


I have already been on about the marvelous placement by the seashore. The smell of the salty sea water made me in a good mood. It smelled like vacation, the Baltic Sea at Stockholm doesn´t smell as good.
The concert area was easily reached with the tram. According to some WCR veterans logistics was much better this year. It was surreal to spend the festival right under the huge bridge, Älvsborgsbron.
The only thing to complain about was that there was too few food tents so the lines was long, too long for me. I went outside the festival area for a Bratwurst. While eating it a Mohawk drunk decided to take a dump next to me, squatting down a few meters from me taking a shit. Well, that´s punk…or? It reminded me on a song we wrote in my band Streetwalking Jesus about the “Braune Bratwurst”. Enough of filth now.


The Crowd

There´s an expression about Gothenburg fellows, “Goa Gubbar” (Nice Lads), and that was a fact. The west coasters are so much friendlier and easy accessible that the east coast Stockholmers. It was like everybody was my best friend, or something. Not a meat head in sight. The bands was in for the same treat. Singalongs, mosh pitting, dancing, cheering from the first chord to the last. Rancid, Asta Kask, Street Dogs and Anti Flag pointed out that. The Swedish Punk veteran Alonzo took a photo of us in the crowd because he wanted to keep this moment in his photo book. Over all everyone was in a good mood, helping each other up when someone tripped in the sometimes rather wild mosh pits.


The Bands

Gatans Lag  
and Dystra Li

Both bands opened the festival in a tent each. The Oi! Skinhead band Gatans Lag didn´t take any prisoners. It was full aggression from the first chord. And the crowd was there. Dystra Li did show some hesitation. Maybe because their tent was much less attended then Gatans Lag´s. The playing time for all bands was rather tight so why waste it on doubts and “excuse us mentality” like Dystra Li did, The only disappointment this day. I ran back to Gatans Lag´s stage again to catch the last of it. 
Gatans Lag proved that their best song was "Skalla, sparka sluta aldrig slå". Not only because the Lyrics is venting some serious anger against the middle class that modern society is designed to please, the tune is catchy as well. This is the working class town of Gothenburg, welcome!


Asta Kask opening the main stage, Photo talen from Micke Blomqvist´s facebook


Asta Kask

Swedish punk legends Asta Kast got the honour to open at the main stage. It was as usual full throttle from the start. It took them only three chords to have me in the mosh pit. I am close to my 50ies now, beer bellied and with a strong refusal to both play Golf, get a Labrador or got to the gym. This was my exercise.
Best song? All of them, it´s hard to choose one.
The sound wasn’t perfect but fair enough. And Asta proved them self again, they are NOT any lame ass punk revival band, they got the punk in the blood and their hearts beating as fast as their drums.



Street Dogs

I was prepared to be a bit disappointed in Street Dogs after seeing them doing one of the best shows I ever seen, in Stockholm a few week ago. But I wasn´t let down. The Massachusetts lads showed that they master the fine art of Punk Rock. Best song? “Tobey´s got a drinking problem”, but all of they were as good. Rancid might be better because better tunes, but Street Dogs are terribly hard working leaving nothing to ask for.



Beer pause and some bands I didn’t cared for too much about.


After that I was onto a serious beer pause. A chat with both new found friends and some Stockholm people that’s in the Stockholm scene. Mr Kjell Hell, one of Sweden´s best punk bloggers told me sad news, that he didn´t update his blog any more. To bad.


In the background I hear Anti Flag, The sound is good, but they doesn´t have as good songs at the opening bands. I catch a bit of the end of their set and saw they were working as hard as the rest of the bands. And some thought they were great. I wasn´t expecting to much so there wasn´t any disappointment. The same goes for some of the other bands that I wasn´t too interested in or impressed by. And some bands was missed because they was playing at the same time as someone else. Gallows I should have seen, however, but you can´t have it all, can you?

Beer, sunlight, more beer, chatting, saying hello, just feeling fine I the heat. This is all what a vacation should be like.


Alonzo & fas 3

Next band was Alonzo & fas 3, the punk veteran Micke Alonzo was a singer in classic Swedish bands like KSMB and Stockholms Negrer, Micke´s vocals dominated the set or should I write his punk,top of the lung screaming. At the same time Against me played with The Boss, Bruce Springsteen and the E street Band in the audience. The Boss then stayed to watch Rancid´s excellent performance. At facebook, I later noticed, The Boss and Alonzo had a chat. About what? How to yell as a madman onstage? I´ll ask him next time I meet Micke.


Micke Alonzo entered the stage with barly any voice telling us to help him sing his songs. That he didn´t had to ask twice. Then the 50+ gentleman started to scream his lung out in a way that could scare even the most hardcore growler. The band seems a bit shellshocked at first and didn´t match the aggression Micke poured on stage. But they catched up and found themself and did a decent job in the end. OK, it was not like KSMB or Stockholms Negrer was back in the days. But fair enough. The new songs that I wasn´t too fond of on record, was excellent live. Best song? Tonight it was Atom Reggae, even if almost all his songs are a part of our proud Swedish punk history.






Picture taken from Rancids Facebook


Rancid

Then there was an end of a long wait. Not only that Rancid havn´t been here for ten years, and as one punk at the festival put it, the band we been following and liked for a long time but havn´t seen live. Also a long wait for the concert we were all there for. To be honest, this wasn´t a festival, it was a Rancid concert with a long list of great support acts. Almost all I spoke to was there for Rancid.

And then we met God. Divided into four entities
Tim, minus his iconc hat with his skull tattoo on display (shaved head) and a beard that made him look like he gonna join ZZ Top. Lars, with his new skin head look and with his constant pissed off look. Even when he expressed apreachiations he looked like he really ment to smash our faces in. Matt, the man who looks like he came directly out of the bowling alley, who´s fingers out speed most bass players around. And in the back Branden that took over Brett role in the band in an excellent way.


The four of them, with their different stage presents melt together to one big punk love that includes the crowd. I got the feeling that the security barriers annoys the band. Tim tries several times to build a bridge over it. And in the end they call up a guy from the front row to sing a song with them. Tim Armstrong just played his Gretch and let the boy sing it. Possible the moment of his life.


Me, the rest of the crowd, including Bruce Springsteen, the Swedish punk legends was in it for a holy moment. There was something beyond the music, their world class tunes that got me. I was in the mosh pit and singing along for the most part of the nearly two hours show. But there was something extra added to it just see them live, feel their mental enery. With the risk to sound like a hippy (like if I cared?), this was just what I in my wildest dream wished for but wasn´t expecting. How could I doubt in God? Best song? Well, I repeat myself here. All of them. but there was one line that refused to leave me after. “When I got the music, I got a place to go” from the Let´s Go CD. I looked at the face of God realizing that Tim not just sang it, he delivered the ultimate truth. The God incarnated in the bodies and music of Tim, Lars, Matt and Branden.


Turbonegro

After I was struck of a feeling of fulfillment, perfection and emptiness. Deadly tired, the beer was sold out, so a glass of wine had to do. Then one look into the tent where Turbonegro was up next as the closing band. a most unpleasant task if you ask me, was enough. Then I was on it a gain, when I got the music I got a place to go. The Turbojugend logo, the leather cap in Neon as a backdrop just made me wanna go and see them. The new singer that was to replace the egocentric Hank von Helvete, did an excellent job. Not as crazy and unpredictable as the good old Hank. But with a certain edge in the voice that was refreshing. Initially the sound was very good, at the end it was just loud. "All my friends are dead was the best song". The Turbo´s did steer the ship to the destination. They managed to do the impossible to match Rancid´s holy punk quest. If Rancid was the Light, Turbonegro brought us back to hell where you give them worms.


Finally

I was in heaven in a field hotter than hell. I saw the light it was great.

Worth the money? What a question! Just Rancid been worth the travel, the room, the expenses and the ticket of the ca 80 Euros. And I got all the other bands as well.


    

Monday, July 23, 2012

AIRBOURNE - Runnin' Wild / feat. Lemmy


Airbourne Featuring Lemmy . Runnin´ Wild
From the Album Runnin´Wild (2007)

Sunday, July 22, 2012

While I was away John Lord passed away. (R.I.P. John Lord)

Back in the civilization again. After ten days vacation in the Northlandian (Norrländska) wilderness.
Wild life, fishing and bathing. Now back to normal again, like updating this blog. First I have to update myself. Seems like a mad man played a little Joker at a Batman moivie opening. Seems like I should go back to the deep woods again. Still war in Syria, what did I expect?. And to my sadness, the legendary Deep Purple ex Organist John Lord passed away after a period of illness at age 71. For some reason rock legends die when Im up there in Norrland, Syd Barret did his final departure from earth a few years ago while I was fishing.




Few musicians have made an bigger impact on me than John Lord, Especially at young age. I tried to learn how to play the piano when I first heard Deep Purple. John Lord was the reason why I made my father to buy me an electric organ in the 70ies. Not an Hammond howerver. I never learned to play the way he did. But who did? Few keaboard players can say they made such an mark in hard rock history as John Lord. Matching up with guitar genius and virituoso Richie Blackmore in their band Deep Purple. Just listen to "Child In Time" and realize that that was one of the peaks in rock history. The blend of Barock classic musik, Jazz and Blues often played on a distorted Hammond organ was not only a trademark of Deep Purple, it was also one of the seventies best sounding hard rock. No, the best ever sounding hard rock.

Today he is replaced by Don Airey. in Deep Purple, that is doing OK, saw them last December.

R.I.P. John Lord!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Fuck, shit and a misserable vacation start.

Im off to the Swedish Hillbillyland up north in the wildernes. I got a great start from it.
Food Poisoned, a cold and allergies...of yeah happy days!

Fishing, swimming and boat trips feels far far away at the moment.

And because Im in the middle of nohwhere, I can´t keep my eagle eye on the Punk Scene for another week,  ill or not. Updates will be when the elements let me do it.


Punk Eriksson
By the lake, in the deep woods.

Bad Brains Hard Core Lemonade


Monday, July 9, 2012

Susanne Berglund Krantz test Motörhead Vödka

SORRY IN SWEDISH ONLY



Swedish Punk and Wine expert test Motörhead Vödka.



A Swedish Punk Wine Expert tastes wine at the toilet.

Punkvin - Punk Wine

Swedish Punk and Wine taster Susanne Berglund Krantz try out some Bourdeaux and wants to find out if she can detect a Cheval Blanc
All done where it is easy to let go of it after.



Cheval Blanc möter en toa i Huddinge
(Cheval Blanc meating a Toilet in Huddinge)

Qoute "Don´t combine this with food, Just drink it and enjoy"

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Review - Street Dogs, Greta Kassler, Spotlicks and Twopointeight


Saturday July 7, two concerts roughly at the same time.
At Broder Tuck was the line up Spotlicks, Greta Kassler and STYGG
At Debaser Medis was the line up Two point eight and Street Dogs (US)
STYGG didn´t get any review because I missed them because of Street Dogs.


The Places

Broder Tuck


The Broder Tuck Restaurant is rather big, the concert room in the basement are small, very small.
The contrast between the gangster look´a´like door men, their general clientel on the ground level and the Anarchists, Metal Heads and Punks in the basement are striking. The sound is mostly terrible, and loud. Very loud.


Debaser Slussen
Debaser Slussen togheter with Debaser Medis, Strand and Rocks the only decent rock clubs in Stockholm City. Debaser Slussen and Medis are mainly built up around concerts. The Stage a Debaser Slussen are however a photographers nightmare because most of the light are pointed towards you, not at the band. But the sound are generally much better than most of the clubs and stages in the City. Debaser in general attracts mostly a rock audience, not necessary a punk crowd. Tonight there are a lot of punk fans in the bulding, along with rock n rollers.


The Crowds

Broder Tuck

If you consider that Street Dogs are giving a free concert two subway stops away and most people are away on vacation it´s amazingly much people at Broder Tuck this particular night. As I written before, Broder Tuck got a horrible little basement as their concert room. And the bands seem pleased that so many showed up.

Debaser

Not only were we blessed this last days with high air humidity, which isn´t too common in Stockholm, the Debaser Slussen club was packed and hot as well. When I arrived more than halfway through Twopointeight´s gig there were like an wall of warm sweaty air to team up with me when I enter. It was packed so I can´t say I have a very good place to see the end of their gig from.

When it comes to the Street Dogs I got a perfect spot just outside the moshpit, and If I been in better shape I would most certainly been in the middle of it. Even the Boston lads in Street Dogs complain about the heat. Where I stood there were a fan blowing so it was OK, but still I got a sweat soaked T-shirt after the gig.


The Gigs

Broder Tuck


Spotlicks


First out this lovely, warm summer night was Spotlicks. A three man band, or should I write two men and one woman band, a woman that  was the main singer even if all of them were on vocals. The style of their punk is mostly based in early Swedish 78 punk. The songs are built up around power chord riffing and Swedish lyrics. The sound was really bad and didn’t gave the band the chance they deserved, but got a bit better toward the end, it is a bit pity that the sound was bad in the beginning, the band was better than the sound. And it was mostly a loud treble that reach my ears. The song that stayed in my mind was about you are good as you are (Fatta att du duger) But the songs were good, they played it like I like it. No noncense here, no arty stuff, just riffs pretty fast and vocals and Clash and Ebba Grön style of drumming. I liked it and a better sound would been better, at least to more clearly hear the vocals.


Greta Kassler

Greta Kassler mix D-beat and Trall Punk. They played fast. Live that night they did it convincingly even if the sound wasn´t the best, but loud as the sound waves moved me physically a cm or something. Much better than the sound Spotlick´s had to cope with though. It was fast and tight and the two singers different voices gave the music a different feeling even if the speed was mainly D-beat. And they sang it, not shouted, not chanted or growling it. It´s political and angry. Tonight they convinced. Too bad I couldn´t stay for the last band ST. But then I had to hurry to even get in to see the Street Dogs. I didn´t have time to say goodbye to the people there.

Worth the money, 100Skr (10 Pounds)? Yes, but this came to be in the shadow of what the Street Dogs did.


Debaser Slussen


Twopointeight

There are a certain hype around Twopointeight, mostly because their commercial, radio friendly rock heavy influenced by the Clash and Rancid. And that´s what is bothering me with the band, it´s a bit to mainstream and radio friendly for my taste. Not only me BTW, other just hates themfor other reasons. They are trying too hard to be the Swedish Rancid so they lose any originality. On record the smart productions lack the energy or punk. With Greta Kassler still ringing in my ears, TPE are way too slow. OK, it´s unfair to compare a part of a gig with a full gig but tonight Greta Kassler wins, not because better voices or better tunes, but because Greta is fast and full of energy, Twopointeight was slow and seems to be too cool to get dirty, that and the total lack of energy was a let down on me, others seems to like it. Not even their best song, Red Eyes, worked for me that night. Gubbrock (Old Mans Rock) is a word they are dangerously close to it. But it seems like I am not in phase with the crowd next to the stage.


Street Dogs

It is a bit surreal to be seeing a class act as Street Dogs for free. The former Dropkick Murphys singer Michael McColgan quit the Murphys to fulfill his dream to become a fire fighter just as Dropkick broke in the punk scene. Since then he is a  Street Dog. It stood clear last night what Mc Colgan brought to the Dropkick Murphys debut record Do or Die (which is my favorite DKM record). The speed, the energy and the punk. Street Dogs lacks most of the Gaelic stuff that DKM based their career around, it´s more just punk.
First I have to take a deep breath before I go on and tell you about it, because the memory itself gives me shivers. And point out that sometimes you feel that you are in the right place at the right time. This gig was one of those moments. So seem the band feel about it as well.
I feel sorry for those suckers that ware at the Roskilde that night to see Bruce Springsteen, when it was at Debaser it was happening.
From the beginning the band showed that this was for real. The best sound all night, Loud but not as loud as during Greta Kassler. Fast and hard and mercy less! Most of their known songs, as well as a few covers and DKM songs. The two songs I missed was Power in the Union and Skinhead on MBTA (Will I ever hear my favorite song live?) but that didn´t matter tonight. Tight, heavy and fast (not D-beat fast but fast.) and with all the energy TPE didn´t showed.  
The best was the Dropkick songs near the end with old “Do or Die”  and “Get up”, the DKM songs and covers. Especially the song Do or Die (for a moment my eyes met Mikes as we were chanting out the lyrics as he pointed at me and I answered with a raised fist).
Wow, is the only word that describes it all. The Crowd did go absolutely mental from the first song. The band and the crowd ripped the place apart totally, I saw a bar table go wasted and the Gods only know what else broke, the blood was pouring down people foreheads, smashed bloody in the euphoria this night gave us. Energy, mosh pitting, sing a longs, stage diving, you name it, The good singer himself was crowd surfing as well. This was everything a punk rock concert should be about, it was there! The band seem to enjoy themselves, loving the crowd, the crowd loved the Dogs onstage. Some fans loved the Dogs onstage and was welcomed by a friendly band.
The band assured us that this moment will stay a long time in their hearts. I It will in my as well.

When the band as the second song in the encore burst out in Sham 69´s Bostal Breakout sung as Boston Breakout, then I thought both me and the whole place should explode. And so it went on throught the rather generous encore. What a night!. We all need a little Punk Rock n Roll.

It was pointless continuing drinking beer or chatting with old friends after. Because all I could think of was how blessed I´ve been to be there. So I went home rather quickly.

I went home with the worst Tinnitus in a long time, a big smile and a memory of seeing the light.
A light lit by some Street Dogs, Working class punk from Massachusetts.

Worth the money?……It didn´t cost anything, but let´s say this was one of the best concerts I´ve seen.      
Next chance for me to catch them is at West Coast Riot in Gothenburg July 26.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Ex Cro-Mags Harley Flanagan arrested for Knife Stabbing



Harley Flanagan, founding member and nowdays an ex-member of the Cro-Mags arrested after knife stabbing. According to the site Bowery Boogie, Flanagen came in to the VIP area with a knife. Flanagan however been  practice Boxing and Brazilian Ju Jutsu gave the security a hard time fighting violently. At the moment the stabbing victim was alive. 

All of it happened at a hard core show at Webster Hall, NY. NY.







Friday, July 6, 2012

Not Just Taking Our Jobs - My View on Asian Punk


The first time I came across Asian punk was in the early 1980ies, 81 or 82 I don´t remember. Some guy had smuggled out a bootlegged recording from Communist China. A trashy sounding tape recorded at a café in China. Dragons was the name of the band and through the murky, muddy sound of a crappy tape recorder you could hear Chinese traditional music played with electrical rock instruments including two covers. “Anarchy in the UK” and “Get off My Cloud”. The record, “Perfume de la Revolution”, was rare and I had it in my vinyl collection with a certain uncertainty if I really owned that record. Well that´s forgotten now. Then it was silent for so long.

The next time was in the nineties, it was some Japanese bands which I forgotten the most of. that primed for a while, then Silent again. My girlfriend was much into J-Rock when we met in 2002 and I wasn´t unfamiliar with bands like Dir en Grey and Blood. But they were more of Glam New Metal than Punk. Then in the shadows of the J-Rock we found Demerit. The Chinese Oi! Punk band. Demerit came as a shock, mostly because of the quality of the songs, lyrics and recordings. “Beijing is not my home” is a top class tune that stand out just fine at comparison with any American, British or Swedish punk classic. Roughly at the same time my band Lap Dogs was contacted by some Burmese fellows at MySpace wondering if they could release our songs in Burma/Myanmar at their Tape Label. What! Where the hell is Burma? Do they even have punk there? And foremost, are punk ever alowed in one of the most closed countries on Earth. I gave the permission to publish it and I lost contact with them. Never heard from them, and to be honest, we lost interest in our band as well.






Then my girlfriend told me that she found these cool, sympathetic punks from Burma on Facebook. At the same time I loged on to the forum Punkrockers.com and found some bands. The Rebel Riot, CultureShock and No U Turn. Not bad at all. The music is good, the recording are good and the Burmese lyrics gives it a new flavor. Just like people must feel about Moderat Likvidation, Asta Kask and early Anti-Cimex singing in Swedish. Last winter media did carry a worrying message over the world. In the Indonesian province of Ache, Islamist officials arrested Punks, put them in labor camps, nazi style, to deprogram them. All of the sudden the whole western world was aware of the Asian punks. People at different forums engaged themselves to help out the Punks of Ache. 
Me and my girlfriend worried a bit about the Burmese punks should be in the same position, for challenging the order in Burma or Myanmar as the ruling dictatorship wants us to call the country.
But quite the opposit happened. The Nobel Peace Prize winner from 1990 Aung San Suu Kyi that been held in house arrest for more than 20 years was suddenly released and could take part in limited elections. As the leading opposition leader this was a step towards freedom, just like the release of South Africa´s Nelson Mandela once been. In that political context the release of the Burmese band The Rebel Riot´s CD Puppet Society in July 2012 must be seen as a another step towards freedom.
The Chinese Oi! Skin head Lei Jun, singer in Mi San Dao complained in the docu “Oi! Skins in Peking” that he could not publish his lyrics in China because of their censor ship laws. The Rebel Riot seems to be able to publish it DIY style. And that is a good sign. 



On many levels I am Jealous on the young Asians. Their punk movement is so young and fresh, their DIY attitude have not yet been poisoned with the cynicism of commercialism and New Wave, New Romantics, Post Punk and Pop Punk. They still seem to be struggling just to get their shit going, like we did in the late seventies/early eighties. And they still seem to having fun doing it and believe in it. So punk can´t be dead. 

In the docu “This band is so gorgeous” we follow the classic English Punk band Sham 69, the main band to inspire the Oi! Scene, or as they put it in the docu, the first original street punk bands tour in China. Well, is it Sham 69 that is on tour? It´s only the guitar player Parson from the classic line up that is in the band. But the Chinese don´t seem to care. Because they get to see and hear what it was all about. Even if it´s played with thin haired middle aged men with beer bellies and hurting backs.
Or should I put it in another perspective? It seems like Sham 69 as the grumpy old punks they were, was a role model to the youngsters in China. And a lesion to us in the western world. Mi San Dao singer, Lei Jun, sais in the docu “Oi! Skins in Peking” that he is in for the Skin head thing forever, it is not just a fashion or a trend. The old geezers of Sham 69 is a living proof of that.
When Ebba Grön broke in Sweden and became by far the most popular Swedish punk band in Sweden, and still is, there was a lot writings that they were too old to be punks after a year as a band. Those questions and articles followed Ebba Grön through their short and very successful career. Re-reading those articles in the book Thåström it seem like a different world. To be a punk pensionist at 22 or to be in it for life. Europe Vs. Asia. It is possible that the Asians Zen and philosophies might be a part of it as well as that they never experienced our “youth cultures”. Pop, Rock and Punk have always been seen as a youth culture, something that you should hurry to do when you are in your teens. Then you should get a suit and tie and a proper job. It never occurred to them that, some of us didn´t wanna live that life. That we were in it forever when it hit us in the seveneties and eighties. That we still play our anthems, wave our fist in the air as fast as we hear The Exploited, the Clash or KSMB , and close to our fifties still getting more tattoos, planning our vacations to see certain bands etc. I think the Asian brings us a certain perspective and some vitality to the word punk again. Not just taking our jobs.     






The art world been operating in China for some years now. With various results we have approached the west with the east. In some ways it have been vitalizing, in others it have been Chinese copies of European and American art. From listening to the Chinese artist Li Xiaofei Artist talk at Candyland, it struck me that we, Europeans sit on a shitload of predjudice what life in China is all about. 
Still I think Asian punk bands are in a danger zone here. To be copies of what have been done in Europe and America in the seventies and eighties. Or is it? Mi San Dao singer claim that Oi! Is a style, that because it came from England should be sung that way, not to be changed by adding Chinese elements in it. In a way he is right. And I think that every part of the world have its dialect of punk anyway. Because an Indonesian, a Burmese, Chinese or Japanese will do it with the local differences that make it different and yet so familiar. It is just to listen to bands around the world covering the Swedish band Asta Kask songs to discover that. And in the end Punk will not be about territories and countries, but about a certain freedom to express oneself and fuse once frustration over injustices all around. 




Cheers and Oi! Punks, skunx and Skins.


Sources
My own memories and experiences
Videos; “This band is so gorgeous”, “Oi! Skins in Peking”.
Book; Thåström
Artist talk; Li Xiaofei at Candyland, Stockholm
Site; Rockinchina.com
And general contacts via facebook and Punkrockers.com






Ebba Grön - Häng Gud



Ebba Grön - Häng Gud (Hang God)

Oi! skins in Beijing - Doku










What the Brits do best 2 - Dance music.


The FAC 51 Hacienda Club was the Joy Division/New Order manager and factory Record label boss Tony Wilsons creation. The former punk fan Wilsons club in Manchester more or less created a new sound that mixed the beat from House and the energy and attitude from punk into something new. For a while Manchester was the hot shit. So much came out of it that its hard to believe but in this post I will give you Wilsons protegés, Happy Maonday, as well a few others. Pop Will Eat Itself and Primal Scream.

The speed and anger from punk may been gone but not the attitude in a very British way.
To some point the dance music made by Podigy ans Chemical Brothers used some of the anger and the agression of punk.



























Thursday, July 5, 2012

West Coast Riot, all stages all bands all where and whens!


Turbonegro to the West Coast Riot

Not only RANCID and ASTA KASK and Street Dogs, Anti Flag, Alonzo & Fas 3, Gatans Lag etc will perform at West Coast Riot july 26 2012. The Punk Festival held in Gothenburg now anounce that TURBONEGRO will be added to the band list.

This blog 1,2, Fuck You Punk Revue are most amused by that!

http://www.westcoastriot.se/index.asp

What the Brits do best part 1 - Not really Punk, but good anyway


OK you geezers, the inhabitants on the British Islands didn´t invent punk, but they perfected the American invention. As the did with Rock N Roll etc. Since the days of the Beatles and The Stones they been the force majeure in popular music, especially the harder one. NWOBHM is the most notable. but softer genres the Brits can do as well as the harder. This series of blog is a bit about it.

One genre (If its a genre) they invented and master still today. A pop/rock genre influenced by punk that added elements of disco, hip hop, blues, soul, Elvis and whatever was the flavor of the month.
When punk lost its grip on the record companies and the force in European punk ebbed out for a bit. When MTV, Music Box, and Sky Channel changed the rules for what music should sound and look like, there was of a whole bunch of Brits to be ahead of it.

It´s a new wave kind of style but with the heavier drums that was the sign of the times.
Some brilliant Pop-Rock came out of it that still being played at discos. Most of it came from former punk musicians and those who thought punk was cool but to young to been there.

Billy Idol started it and it got followers. Fellow Generation X member Tony James Sigue Sigue Sputnic took it to its height. First labelled as Cyberpunk. Transvision Vamp and Westworld Followed, and still today there are brilliant poprock in the genre with Thing tings that are grovy ity to the max.

It is something about it that only can be done in Britain. Something about the singing and how to fit it into the instruments that both Swedes and Americans can´t do.

Note that the Clash manager tried to make the Clash sound like it on Cut The Crap, when Joe strummer fired the members of the Clash and hired some young pretty faces and failed. According to Joe Strummer the manager Berny Rhodes remixed the Clash "Cut The Crap" masters in the final mix and added drum machines etc, to make it sound like the style at the moment which make the record sound like it did.



Billy Idol
Sigue Sigue Sputnic

Westworld

Transvision Vamp

Ting Tings




Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Greta Kassler Vs. Street Dogs, Broder Tuck Vs. Debaser

Broder Tuck Vs. Debaser

This saturdays clash between two punk band events will be interessting. In the south corner will be the Brother Tuck restaurant with its small cellar stage. On stage that night will be Spotlicks, Greta Kassler and S.T.Y.G.G.

and in the North corner will be Rock Club Debaser Slussen, with hyped up Swedish band Twopointeight and former Dropkick Murphys singer  Mike McColgans working class punk band Street Dogs.


Personally I find it annoying that such event ends up the same day. It´s cool that there is somethings happening. Too bad its on the same time.

Burmese Record Release. Rebel Riot - Puppet Society

Updated at ca 10am SwT



Burmese band Rebel Riot release their Album today at 9pm Myanmar time (12:30 Swedish summer time).

The event, the place to find it.

2012, Release album name is "Puppet Society" Audio CD, Include present "DVD" & Lyric (Myanmar)

Available @ D.I.Y Virus (PUNK SHOP), Yuzana Plaza, First floor No. M-5.

(or)

No.48, Aung Thapyay Street, San Chaung Township, Yangon.

Contact (+95 09 73136946)
Email - kyawkyaw.rr@gmail.com


Some Merch to order as well.


Order it at docs





Punk Dunk the original drink mix recipe

Tommy Riot, former drummer of Revolution Riot claims this is the way to make the original drink "Punk Dunk". The classic Swedish punk summer beverage.


1 big bottle Vodka
1 big bottle Kir (Sangria is an alternative if you can´t get hold on Kir)
1 big bottle Sockerdricka (Sprite will do if you are outside of Sweden)


Mix it together in the dunk (the plastic container called dunk, where the name comes from)
Drink it at a beach party or festival with friends.

Beware it is so much stronger that the taste indicates!








Monday, July 2, 2012

Beach Party De Luxe June 2012

Beach Party De Luxe was a beach party at Vendelsö, Stockholm in June 2012.
Punks, Rockers and Metal heads out in the green for some summer, lakeside, party.

Tommy Riot entertains the people with some naughty ballads.







 

 







Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe arrested for manslaughter


Lamb of God god singer Randy Blythe have been arrested accused for manslaughter. The incident occured at a concert in Praguem Chech Republic in 2010. According to different sources the fan jumped the stage and the singer tried to remove him from the stage-

Read more.