A Punk Kick aimed at the Swedish Rightwing Government

http://www.svt.se/nyheter/regionalt/nordnytt/punkspark-mot-regeringen

Mathias Alkberg from the northers town of Luleå releases an anti right wing government record less than a month before the swedish election.
An the gravitation of media interest and power to the capital Stockholm and southern part of the country in general.

https://play.spotify.com/track/0K6HVs0tf9XKioa6c6YcEr


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The Damned, The Baboon Show at Debaser live review

Let´s be honest about it, I never liked the Damned, except that 1981 hit “Disco Man” about 1979s disco era.
And claim that that is still the case.
Some people tried to change that, and thats why I went to see them (for free) when they visited the capital of Sweden.

The Place
Debaser Medis
One of the better stages in town. Most people have a good view of the band, and the sound is often close to perfect. Not tonight however.
But one single thing sucks at the place at Medborgarplatsen in Stockholm. The bar service, must be the one of the worse in northern Europe. It have always been like that and will always be that way. Its a parody of arrogance and incompetence by the boys and girls behind the bar.

The Baboon Show

The Baboon Show

I have heard alot about them, and from the record to judge they are a good band.  The soundmixing didn´t help them to live up to that, and I can´t tell if it was the support band factor or the band itself to blame for that. But there is my negativity comming to an end. The show, the energy and songs themself was brilliant. It was really the Baboon Show going on. With the outacting female singer being everywhere at once in a way mostly male singers like Pelle of the Hives, UCP´s Ebbot and a bit of Iggy Pop made their trademark. Pattie Smith is the closest female singer to compare it with, at least physical. Her voice doesn´t have any similarities with Smith however. She was backed up by a band that support her wild stage style with some of it as well. Their best song was "You got a problem..." and live it was a highlight, even if they did a good job in the other tunes as well. I liked what I saw.

Then I could really go home. and I wished I did.



The Damned

My problem with the Damned is that I don´t think they were really into punk at all in the first place. It just happened and they jumped on the wagon. Until they could be fore runners into the Goth genre. I found them too theatrical to be a punkband of class. In the Goth genres that is an advantage. But with songs like Eloise they really expose themself as an ordinary popband not too far from Wham.

In this gig I felt, and my girlfriend that was the Damned expert to help me out that night and my checking point, after few songs that the goth thing was history. Insted they landed in a nomansland of nostalgia and entertainment played by a bunch of very old and tired men. This was the “flogging a dead horse” that punk once reacted against. The punk factor was long gone, and so seems the goth factor, the music ended up in a middle of nowhere. If Styx and Yes* was the support act then I maybee could sense some punk in it. But now I can´t. I can mention a list of bands that covers “New Rose” better than the original band does. It was all that horrible that I ever feared that punk one day would come to. Lazy, a bit too slow, a bit too comfortable to convince. After Baboon Show they look like a bunch af pensionists on an annual trip.
Like my lady put it, “Once Dave was a gorgeous and sexy goth man, now he is just…eh… sad and old”.
And Captain Sensible can secure come out of the closet as a tranny now, it is 2014 and there is Pride festivals everywhere, so it is allright.



I went for free, but if I ever paid 300SEK for this I might question my sanity.

*In Gothenburg Troublemakers was supporting them and blew the Damned off stage I heard.

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Gula villan celebration Ultrahuset 35years (concert review)

The Event and Location

Once upon a time there was an old house, in a suburb far far away, a house that was the no1 melting pot for Swedish punk. That house was Ultrahuset in the suburb of Handen.
When big brother evicted the house in order to close it down, the punks themself torched the place to the ground.

And the bands and meltingpot moved into the City of Stockholm and the island of Södermalm. At the place Kafé 44an. But places as Birkagården, Tre backar and Vitahuset had its share of punk as well. And Gula villan kept the legacy of Ultrahuset alive in Handen at Gula villan.

So when Ultrahuset was to be celebrated as 35 years old. Gula villan was the place to do it. However the selection of bands was contemporary more than nostalgic. And in a way I found that to be a good thing. A provisional stage outside the yellow little house was set up. And picnicing families, beer drinking punks and some curious in general was the crowd.

Thanks to our lousy managed commuter train traffic I arrived 1 1/2 hours later than expected so I missed a few bands.



Parkförvaltningen

Parkförvaltningen have its origin in this muncipaly of Västerhaninge where Handen is placed on the map. And plays a mixture of Indie, pop and Progg rock (the Swedish way).
With dark lyrics from the torn part of big city life. At Gula villan they where in their right elements. Tight, brutally honest and full of lifevisdom. A great gig. The best of them I´ve seen soo far.

Spotlicks

Spotlicks

Did their best gig I´ve seen. All the everyday frustration and bitterness, that almost destroyed the band some month ago, were poured into their songs. A musical and verbal attack on the piss ants that wanna bully people around. Elins high pitch voice was a crystal sharp edge that cut through the woods and six storey building houses that surrounds Gula villan.
Since the one week break up they been working on new material and recordings and I think they matured as a band. The 12 year old punks seemed to react on the music in a positiv manner.

Psykbryt

Did one song without their singer Linus, that was away. A taste of the new record and they never been better. Tight, agressive and heavier than before.

Dödsbabs

Dödsbabs

Dödsbabs is a mixture of old Swedish leftist Proggrock (Spelled with two gg´s and have very little in common with that single g prog), and Sex Pistols sounding punk. Slower that Spotlicks, and in many ways darker and heavier. Even those guys did their best gig I´ve seen. If Spotlicks wanna see the light in the tunnel, Dödsbabs live in eternal darkness. Songs about beeing on the bottle, beeing so poor that you only have the choise to be shoplifting, and the cover "Snutbil” (Cop Car) wasn´t really positive thinking. Heavy and tight!


Östermalm

Is a bit younger than Dödsbabs. And not in the same part on the punk map as Dödsbas and Spotlick. Here my interest decreased pretty fast. It is possible that they havn´t been better, like the rest of the bands. But I couln´t manage to pay enough interest. I didn´t get it at all. And I strayed away from the stage and had a chat with people in the suroundings.

Alonzo

Alonzo

Michael Alonzo´s old band Stockholms Negrer should have had a reunion as the main event at this celebration, but Blondie Dostojewski wasn´t on that frequenzy so Michael Alonzo said “Sod it!”, Alonzo play instead. Actually Im glad they did. The night was magical. With guests like Poppe Schubert, bass player in Stockholms Negrer, Dadde Stark (Asta Kask), and members from Psykbryt, Östermalm and the crowd they turned the August night into an unforgettable night. Old KSMB tunes that is pretty much in all Swedes DNA, Stockholms Negrer classics that made the crowd happy and new Alonzo tunes. A brand new song even, “Tommy han var Gay” or whatever the name was. I wished that moment never ended. This was the concert I missed at Manu Chao the night before. This was the KSMB, Stockholm Negrer gig I always wanted to witness.


Entrance was pretty much whatever you liked to pay….just in the spirit Ultrahuset once did it.
One of the top events of the year so far.

Manu Chao live at Stockholm (Concert Review)

 

The Event, Place and Crowd

A Manu Chao concert was a concert I waited for a long time to see. And Friday Aug 15 was the date it came to be.
But the weeks works have drained all of my energy so I wasn´t sure that I was going until I decided that I will regret it if I didn´t went for a long time.
To make things worse the sky opened itself and both Thor and Zeus and all their fellow thungergods was working on the the dark clouds with flash and thunder and a pouring rain.
This was an outdoor concert just outside the Royal Operahouse of Stockholm. The crowd was a mixture of all origins and social classes in the society. And they were there to party with Manu Chao.


The Concert
Anyway I want downtown to see if there was going to be any gig. A half an hour late the Spannish singing frenchman entered the stage with his band and the crowd went beserk from the first bar. The moshpit was as the size that Rancid had in the West Cost Riot two years ago, through the whole set. This could been the concert of concerts if the soundmen didn´t had a word in it. The sound was lousy from the start to finish. And that was a pity. On the other side, the crowd sang every song loud like they written it themself. Manu projected energy to the big crowd, and it bounced back from the happy dancing, singing audience to the stage and increased the energy. The rain didn´t bother anyone, the lousy sound was no problem, just joy. The songs was long and often played as medleys. Often did it started slow to end up in a fast D-beat ska or something….you know the way Manu Chao does it. Most of the times the band let the crowd be a part of the songs with Whohu chanting passages in the medleys.

Over all it was great but not that great. Besides the bad sound and the rain there was one more thing that made it less great than i could been. The short versions of the older classic songs like Bongo Bong for instance.

Worth the effort? (The concert was free of entrance, paid by us taxpayers)? Yes, this is what I think my taxmoney could be spent on, not corrupt politicians.

 

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Baboon Show at Debaser Medis live pictures

Debaser Medis, Stockholm, supporting the Damned
20 August 2014

RIP Billy Rath of the Heartbreakers

http://www.i94bar.com/news/r-i-p-heartbreakers-bassist-billy-rath


Billy Rath, bass player in the legendary “Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers” that was the link between NY Dolls and 77 punk as well one of the first vawe of punk bands, is dead after a period of illness..

Psykbryt – Ursäkta röran - vi river allt (Album Review)

Psykbryt – Ursäkta röran - vi river all (Swe)
                                              (2014) CD/Spotify   
                                              Review from listening to the CD

Psykbryt have developed a great deal the last 2 years I followed them and from the date they released their debute “…och ingen brydde sig ett jota”. From being hyped too early in the mainstream press there have been a certain pressure to live up to it. And for a brief moment I doubt that would manage. But the lads seemed humble enough to understand that it is hard work to gain the qualities that makes a good or even a great band. From being a charming young band they have evolved to a band to be taken serious. Not least with this release, “Ursäkta röran - vi river allt”. In many ways this is the record I wished Asta Kask released last year. Raw back to basic street punk with all of Asta Kask style of singalong chorus, and a bit of Dropkick Murphys, without being copies of those great bands. Infact, they lyrically have moved a far away from the conteporary punk cliches and fantasy Clockwork Orange worlds that is a bit of trap for young bands.

Psykbryt words are more in the tradition of Carl Mikael Bellman and Cornelis Vreswijk. Lyrics that describes and look into the torn side of life. “Sunkhak” is a lyrics that I can agree on every word to the max.
”Smakar skit” is a funny song about a young man that realize he didn´t liked Guniess beer after all and that he have  been living in a lie.
Unlike many others that glorify being drunk at the pub, they tell dark stories about the destructive ways of male alcohol fuled agressions and clichés, often with a bit of humor and a naked honesty that is refreshing. Lyrics about being losers and being satisfied with that, however the lyrics are never so dark and full of hoplessness as Ligisternas lyrics for instance. “Arbetar Klas” is a Johnny Cashish story that is both dark and humoristic. Besides that they are classic punk angry in songs like “Förnedrings-TV” that every punk record should contain. The sound is heavy and with rich guitars, fitting for the songs, distorted well played bass, very dynamic drumming that ad energy to the songs etc.  The only negative thing is that the lyrics are a bit hard to hear sometimes when they are drown in guitars, but the CD booklet sorts that problem out.

Psykbryt have with this album showed that they have learned the craftmanship of punk rock, and from that, they can be whatever they want.

Who should buy this record? All young swedish punks should own a copy. And all the lard asses that claims that punk was better in the past should lend an ear to it. 
The record grow for every track and invites me to listen further. and I feel like forgetting their debute record, because this is a huge step forward.  And a serious contender for the best album 2014.


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Gula Villa Festival

The 35 years aniversary of Ultrahuset.....one of Swedens most legendary punk stages.

Kafé 44 and Gula Villan are pretty much the places that continued the legacy of Ultrahuset, not least as the Tompa Eken been involved in it all.

Some old, some new band will perform...




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Swedish Compilation CD

http://merchworld.se/products/sigourney-records/3307/i-en-varld-av-hat-och-karlek

I EN VÄRLD AV HAT OCH KÄRLEK

CD Sigourney Records

Asta Kask - En annan väg

Misconduct - Solution

Lastkaj 14 - Allting rasar

Alonzo & Fas 3 - Touch the screen

The Headlines - Inside

KKPA - Lagboken

Stiltje - Ett tusen liv

Skumdum - Waste my time

Asta Kask - Jag är en idiot

Misconduct - Closer

Lastkaj 14 - Drasuten

Alonzo & Fas 3 - Ett meningsfullt liv

The Headlines - Wake up

KKPA - Brev till mor

Stiltje - Till alla idioter

Skumdum - Goodbye

Strebers - Kärleksmissiler

2014


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Alonzo explains why Stockholm Negrer not will play on Saturday.

From Michael Alonzos Facebook page.....Sorry in Swedish only

"Kära vänner. Vi hade planerat att göra en 1) installation med STHLM NGR. Denna måste dessvärre ställas in då Blondie Dostojevskij först tackat ja till återföreningen för att i sista sekund komma med idiotkravet att han skulle få spela några av hans egna nya låtar??? Och som om inte detta var konstigt nog vägrade miffot dessutom att spela om det inte var original uppsättningen som stod på scenen?? Detta är ett krav vi inte kan tillmötesgå då T. Ex. Totte är död. Tråkigt. Jag och de andra hade verkligen sett fram emot detta. Ber om ursäkt för att vi beter oss som riktiga idioter. Det får bli en annan gång utan Blondie. Förlåt",