Under The Influence is an intriguing emerging rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, co-founded by Brent Beiling and Anthony DeSalvo. With their music, which mixes different styles of rock such as punk and psychedelic rock, the Under The Influence’s members are trying to give a new shape to youngsters’ angst.

The project is a serious one, with the band members focused on the development of their sound and general expression. Blending the evergreen feeling of angst towards an unfair world belonging to most outcasts, with the technical sonorities pertaining to psychedelic rock, Under The Influence manages to be part of a fresh wave of rock and roll.

The band is going to release their debut album on August 30. Toonari Post had the chance to interview vocalist and guitarist Brent Beiling, for an insight into Under The Influence’s promising idea.

Toonari Post (TP): What is the force that drove you to undertake this music project? What is the core of your project, what do you want to say with your music?

Brent Beiling (BB): This musical project started off as Anthony (lead guitarist and co-songwriter) and me working on material together and coming up with enough songs to start a band. We have been writing together since we were 17, and we have been in a couple of bands together before.

This was the first musical project in which the genesis of the band was exactly what we wanted to happen. It was the sound we had in our heads when we would sit down with acoustic guitars and crank out melodies and chord progressions. Those days were the true roots and core of “Under the Influence.” We want people to decipher for themselves what our music means to them. If we were to tell you, then it wouldn’t be open for interpretation (which any good art always is).

TP: You defined your style as Punkedelic, due to its rock styles mixture. As the word Punkadelic is nowadays used to define different musical approaches, including a particular kind of electronic music, would you mind clarifying the characteristics of your own style for our readers?

BB: Our music has always derived and been rooted in punk rock. We just play what we want and put a lot of passion into it. As we started maturing as musicians though, we started getting more into heavy and psychedelic music. “Punkadelic” is the blend of punk rock, heavy, and psychedelic music accented with pure pop melodies. I mean it’s really just an idea that we haven’t been able to fully transfer onto our album completely how we had envisioned it, but a few songs like “Jesus Will Return On Halloween,” “Common Enemy,” “The Intro” and “Lucifer Satan Devil” [listen to some of the songs here] will give you a little preemptive taste of what we eventually want to do. As long as our fans are enjoying our music, that’s really all that matters to us.

TP: As said, the concept of your sound develops from punk. Would you say that the main presence of punk can be found in the attitude, while the sonorities are cleaner and develop also towards other directions, such as progressive and psychedelic rock?

BB: We’ve always been pissed off about things. Young people in general are supposed to question the world that they are growing up in, and help to change it for the better. So yes, our attitude about a lot of social and political issues derives from a punk rock type of attitude.

We don’t want to be a punk rock band, we just acknowledge that aspect of our music frequently enough so that people are getting that it is something against the grain of mainstream priorities within commercial rock bands. Not many of them have much to say about what’s going on in the country right now. Even though our musical tastes are maturing somewhat into more progressive, psychedelic, and pop music, we still, and will always, have our anti-establishment attitude. It’s our duty as young people.

TP: Who or what are your main influences?

BB: Our main influences are The Beatles, Rage Against the Machine, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Black Sabbath, Simeon Soul Charger, Smashing Pumpkins, Mr. Gnome. We have many more but those are our favorite bands at the current point.

TP: How is it to move within the underground scene, or what is left of it, nowadays?

BB: We are still very much so outcast within the underground scene. We have had some exposure in the Cleveland and Akron scene, but we are still trying to focus on writing music and getting our sound together before we start to tour extensively. I tour much by myself and play acoustic shows to promote the band. Our goals are to eventually get signed to an indie label and go on tour.

TP: What are your future projects besides the album release in August?

BB: Our future plans are just to play as many shows while we can. We are hungry for the stage and we really want to show people what we can do. We really don’t have any aspirations of becoming big rock-stars or anything like that; we just want to have a little slice of paradise within the slums of the underground while we are young. We want to express our anger and angst while we have the chance. We are conversing with a couple A&R people at certain independent labels so we might have a chance to do just that. So watch out for us! We might just make some noise in the underground scene.

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On May 22, the second solo album of iconic punk-rock singer Joey Ramone was released. Titled ‘…Ya know?’, the album is a compilation of tracks that Ramone composed during the last 15 years of his life; it also features two tracks, ‘Merry Christmas Baby (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)’ and ‘Life’s a Gas,’ previously released by the Ramones, and re-invented on this album.

The record was produced by Ed Stasium and Jean Beauvoir; musicians such as Richie Ramone, Steven Van Zandt, Holly Beth Vincent, Joan Jett, and Joey’s brother, Mickey Leigh, and others, collaborated for the realization of the album. All the tracks have been re-recorded for the occasion.

Joey Ramone passed away in 2001, and ‘…Ya Know?’ is the second solo album released under his name, post-mortem. In 2002 the album ‘Don’t Worry About Me’ received good responses from audiences and critics.

Those who expected ‘…Ya Know?’ to define the image of Joey Ramone separately from his time with the Ramones, detaching his musical approach from the band’s, are going to be very disappointed. Ramones fans, instead, will be very happy about the album. The spirit of the record screams “Ramones” loud and clear. Even if Joey Ramone experimented with variations in his approach, touching upon a more pop-oriented path as well, such as in ‘Party Line,’ the old school punk sentiment strongly manifests itself along the entire record.

The opening of the album already sets the listeners’ minds on the typical punk attitude of the youngster who tries to escape a disappointing reality through music; ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is The Answer’ sings Ramone. The track energetically pulls the listeners into the journey of the album, where the guitars manage to get the attention they want, and the drums properly accompany the inspired lyrics sung by Ramone.

‘…Ya Know?’ is a pleasant listen; it goes on smoothly and there are no big surprises in terms of sonorities. One might say there is a lack of originality, as Ramone stays faithful to his roots; but when you are Joey Ramone, and you already gave the world an entirely new and innovative style and sound, you don’t need to be original in a posthumous album. The record manages to make Ramones’ fans feel safe during the listen.

‘Merry Christmas Baby (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)’ and ‘Life’s a Gas,’ the two tracks previously released by the Ramones, are the greatest disappointments on the album; their re-invention creates confusion as they seem to ‘try too hard.’ But in the end, they are funny to listen to if approached with the right attitude.

The record does not get old, in the sense that it has the potential of being a classic just because Joey Ramone is singing. It is maybe not the greatest album one could expect from such a legend, but it offers a chance to “pay a visit” to the late punk rocker. All in all, it contains demos composed and performed by one of the greatest visionaries of music history, and for that, we are grateful.

Rating: GOOD 3.5/5

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Originally from Los Angeles, and currently located in Berlin, Matt Voodoo is on tour spreading his psychobilly and blues around. He has served in several bands, such as Mad Sin and Bamboula, and has recently started his solo project under his own name.

Toonari Post had the chance to attend one of Matt Voodoo’s solo live shows in Vienna, Austria, during his European tour. A single guy with a guitar (acoustic for most songs), Matt Voodoo is able to transfer his intense energy  to the attendees.

Playing a set composed of his own songs as well as of covers, he engages with the audience and mixes the moods of the show in a continuum that goes from melancholy to happy. Completely involved in the show, he succeeds in creating a vibrant energy exchange with those attending the performance. This new act is only at the beginning of its path, and soon Matt Voodoo will be accompanied by a band during the live performances of his solo project.

Toonari Post had the chance to have a chat with him after the show.

Toonari Post (TP): You have a really powerful energy, and you choose to express that mainly through an acoustic guitar, which can be a strange combination. Why is that?

Matt Voodoo (MV): I know, it’s a strange combination [laughs]. Well, actually I am putting a band together, so there is a band version of this. I’ve been in a lot of bands, I’ve started a lot of projects. This is now the beginning of my solo project, under my name, and I am looking for a band for it. I have a band, but it is spread across the globe. I’m recording an album right now, it’s gonna be half acoustic, half with a band.

TP: Where do you position your music?

MV: I love Psychobilly; the thing that got me into playing guitar was Punk Rock, but then also the Blues.  I love American music, traditional roots, Americana, that’s what I like.

TP: Do you think there is the correct amount of space for free music expression nowadays?

MV: There are so many factors to that discussion. Right now we are in a time where in music you can do anything you want. But we are also in a time of music overload, with MySpace, Facebook, etc.

For a brief period of time it was really cool, big labels didn’t have the say, and you had access to it. Now, also with recording technologies, you can have any guy in a garage writing a song about his dog… and I fully support that song about his dog, I was a music teacher before, I support art. But it’s kind of information overload. So, from an artistic point of view, you’re free to do whatever you want, but in a weird way it is coming full circle to the labels, because there is so much stuff that people tend to go back to the radio.

I guess the short answer to the question is ‘I have no clue’ [laughs]. I hope people like what I’m doing. I think the world is opening up a little bit, it’s getting a smaller world musically. It’s harder to find something special though. It’s more accessible, but at the same time you have to go through a lot of crap to get to it. So there is no single answer to that question.

The possibilities are infinite. There is no such thing as right and wrong in music, that’s what I love about it, and that’s what I hate about it.

TP: There are a lot of things constructed around music, for a lot of artists, like how they dress, behave and so on.

MV: That is just the major media. I come from Hollywood, I was born in Los Angeles, I was raised in a suburb that made a mad man, it drove me crazy. I grew up in the film industry, because of my father, he is a producer. I was around that a lot, went to school in Hollywood, my first job was actually working on films. I’ve been in that, and it is all fake. As a result I do not pay attention to that. I am kind of immune. Not immune, but I ignore it.

TP: So you don’t think this is jeopardizing music.

MV: I mean, we are in one of the best times for music, and one of the worst times for music. The cards are all on the table, the problem is processing it. It’s not a matter of what is out there. The answer is there’s no answer to that, it’s good and horrible at the same time, it depends on which perspective you look at it from.

TP: You tour both the US and Europe. Do you find any difference?

MV: Yes. It doesn’t even head down to Europe, every country is different. For example, Finland. I just played there with my band, and whoa! In Finland I would have people trying to pull me off the stage. Then I’ll go somewhere else and there’s a different reaction.

From a touring musician point of view, if you’re touring in Europe, you’re most likely gonna get paid. If you’re touring the US, you’re most likely not gonna get paid. It’s like you have to hunt the guys down. In the US there is no guarantee, here there is guarantee. Money is not the only thing to me, but I eat.

If I don’t play shows I starve. That’s not an exaggeration. I have gone two days in a row without eating, or having to collect bottles on the streets, and this is even in my big rock ’n’ roll bla bla bla. It’s much more mature in Europe. That doesn’t mean it is better or worse.

TP: So, the project for the future; is the band for your solo project?

MV: Yes, what you hear now in my solo project is going to be in a band. Keep an eye on it, ‘cause this is only the beginning.

You can have a taste of Matt Voodoo’s music here.

Image Courtesy of   Matt Voodoo

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Chicago, U.S.A. – Whoa! Records is pleased to announce a summer full of new music and great shows, with releases from About the Mess, Seized Up, The Wanton Looks and The Black List.

Chicago punk rock outfit About the Mess is set to release a split with Detroit rockers Seized Up. The two bands teamed up in early 2012 at Million Yen Studios in Chicago with engineer Jeff Dean to record four songs about Life, Love, and Partying. Entitled White City Blackouts, the album is currently available for pre-order on vinyl at the Whoa website with a street date of June 5th. The album features two songs from each band, including About the Mess’ new single “I Remember ’94.”

About the Mess also released a video on BlankTV to accompany their new single “I Remember ’94.” Says About the Mess frontman Joe Mizzi, “I thought of all these great songs I grew up listening to in the ’90s about being a kid going to punk rock shows … and well, we are all grown up now, and there should be a song about that.” The video captures the feel and energy of an About the Mess live show and gives us a close-up look – maybe too close up – of what the band is all about.

To support the White City Blackouts split, About the Mess and Seized Up will play an album release show June 9 at the Cobra Lounge in Chicago. Also playing the show will be The Wanton Looks and Bottle Kids.

Chicago rockers The Wanton Looks will be celebrating the vinyl release of their self-titled album at the June 9 show as well. Influenced by acts as diverse as the Ramones and the Ronettes, The Wanton Looks have long been known for their powerful live performances. Now they’ve masterfully captured that energy on their new 12-song self-titled album.

On Saturday, June 16th, About the Mess will join Detroit-based The Black List and Smoking Popes at Small’s in Hamtramck, Michigan. Copies of The Black List’s new album, The Elephant Graveyard, will be available at the June 16 show. Black List frontman Jim says of the album, “It’s not all about aggression anymore; it’s still there, it’s just not the focus.

Image Courtesy of Aija Lehtonen/ Shutterstock.com

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Punk rock band Flipper, currently composed of Bruce Loose (vocals/bass), Ted Falconi (guitar), Steve DePace (drums) and Rachel Thoele (bass), recently concluded a tour that touched several cities of the U.S. and Europe.

Formed in 1979, Flipper is a seminal band of the San Francisco punk scene, and it has been a huge influence for many bands pertaining to different musical styles, including bands such as Nirvana and The Melvins. Flipper took a break of ten years from the mid-90s to 2005, when they came back to the scene. The band’s latest release is a twin album; the first record, “Love,” contains studio material, recorded with Krist Novoselic (ex-Nirvana) who was the bass player at the time, while the second album, “Fight,” is a live album.

For the joy of fans, the band is now working on new songs, together with the new bass player Rachel Thoele (ex- Frightwig, Mudwimin, and Van Gough’s Daughter). The material is only at the first stage of creation though, not going beyond initial jams. Drummer Steve DePace told Toonari Post that the band will not head to the studio for recording a new album at least until the second half of the year, with the new record being released next year at the earliest.

However, another exciting release is coming soon for the band. According to DePace, Flipper intends to release this year a complete album recorded back in 1983, previously unreleased. The tracks are outtakes from “Gone Fishin’,” the band’s second studio album released in 1984. The new album will contain the original recordings of 1983.

Toonari Post had also the chance to attend one of the band’s concert during their latest tour. The performance took place in Vienna, Austria, on April 20. With the occasion, Flipper gave an intense performance, creating a raw and powerful atmosphere for about one hour.

The band showed to be completely united in the flow of the performance. Rachel Thoele fitted perfectly and elegantly with the rest of the band, Bruce Loose kept the stage in an intriguing way, with his strong personality enriching the musical performance. Steve DePace elevated the whole sound with an intense drumming performance and Ted Falconi did not miss the chance to show his extraordinary musical capabilities.

The peak of the show was probably reached during the encore, which saw Rachel Thoele asking the crowd to join the band on stage to perform “Sex Bomb,” the song contained in “Generic Flipper,” the first album released by the band in 1982. A fan got on stage to accompany Rachel Thoele in singing the song, while Bruce Loose got the bass, as in the early times of the band, when he was the bass player together with Will Shatter.

Another fan got on stage dancing to the song; the whole performance created an atmosphere that installed in the concert attendees the feeling of being out of time, recreating the environment that used to be the core of rock concerts, but that seems to have been lost by many.

Flipper showed to be in perfect shape and to maintain the feeling that has always lain behind the band’s concept. With this energy and music experience, we look forward to the new releases, and to have the chance to see them touring again soon.

Image Courtesy of   Kevin Warnock
Photo Credit : Kevin Warnock

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Here is the second part of the interview with San Francisco punk band Flipper, which Toonari Post met in Vienna, Austria, during their recent tour.

Toonari Post (TP): As we said, you have served as a great influence for a wide number of different bands. What is the band or musician that you, instead, consider as a core influence for you sound? The central one. Have you gained new sources of inspiration during the 10 years of break that you had?

Ted Falconi (TF): Every time we get a new bass player is like a whole new set of inspiration. We’re different because we’ve grown out of what we were. There was a break and then we came back together; it’s a different edge of what we do and that’s happened to us three or four times. So it allows us to involve ourselves along with the influence of another bass player.

TP: So you’re actually your own influence…

Bruce Loose (BL): Yes, right to that. The only other thing, the only music that I ever really catch on to, is that really good pop hit that happens every 5 years, that’s just from growing up as a kid, listening to popular music on the radio, what was the good pop hit. There were a lot more then, not so many now. There’s a lot of stuff out there and not all of that stuff is great.

Rachel Thoele (RT): I really like some kinds of Metal. I’m really impressed with the music that you get on the radio stations on the web, I can hear all the stuff I’ve never heard before; I think that’s really interesting. You can just stream all the stuff and get it. ‘Cause I used to listen to the same old CDs for years and years and years… It’s pretty great to have access to random stuff based on kind of what you like.

BL: And then you get a Stream capture program…[laughs]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A63ObJkQ78s&feature=related

TP: What is the main difference, in terms of attitude, between ‘Generic Flipper,’ your first album and ‘Love,’ your last studio album?

BL: it once again goes to a different bass player, it changes the whole thing. With Generic there was the influence of Will in there, and in Love there was the influence of Novoselic. It changes what it changes; it changes what I’m doing lyrically.

I think with Generic we were just learning about using a studio and working in that capacity and learning what recording was about, how we functioned in recording. I recall when we were doing the stuff with Generic, we were just like “ok, that little thing, it didn’t sound right, but we’ll use it, instead of putting a band-aid over, let that wound show, and put something around it”…. A different fashion.

With ‘Love’ and also over the years of going through our career, the approach in which I develop a song now is listening to what is going on and first I play with the rhythm, with just sounds, you know, just noises, I don’t even start putting words together, until I can start figuring how it is gonna to fit in rhythmically; I would come up with a raw set of lyrics and then some flash of an idea would happen and all totally changes but, I’d still be using that meter that I’ve been working with, the rhythmic dynamic.

That’s a very different approach than what we were doing with Generic, and how we were writing songs back then. So for me there’s a very big difference in how the material is created. We started doing the same with the little bit of stuff we started working with Rachel, it’s the same. Having to work with a raw rhythmic dynamic of the vocals first, before putting some words together, whereas before I had some set of words and I would force them into the situation, so on that part, it is very different for me.

RT: To my mind Flipper is truly a jam band. The songs are written from jams and the repetition makes it easy to jam to them on stage, so they’re not really played the same twice.

Steve DePace (SD): Back then I do remember that Generic was actually recorded over the course of about a year, now we’d go and record it all in one time. We were recording two songs here, three songs there, until we had a collection of songs, to put an album together, whereas with ‘Love,’ we actually went in with the idea of “let’s write these songs and record an album,” so it’s a very different approach.

We worked with different engineers obviously, they were very different people, but both great and there were so many years in between, we kind of learned a lot in between that time.

TP: Where do you see Flipper in 5 years?

BL: Oh, I have no idea. On some stage, somewhere…you’ll be there, we’ll be there, answering to your questions.

SD: I have no idea.

TP: Rachel, do you see yourself in Flipper in 5 years?

RT: I have no idea.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flipperrules.com
Photo Credit: Kevin Warnock

The article Meet One of Punk’s Pearls: Flipper in Interview (part 2/2) appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Toonari Post recently had the chance to interview the historical punk rock band Flipper, currently composed of Bruce Loose (vocals/bass), Ted Falconi (guitar), Steve DePace (drums) and Rachel Thoele (bass), during the latest band’s tour.

The band gave some fascinating insight about their vision of music and their approach to the scene. Here is the first part of the interview.

Toonari Post (TP): You’ve been on the scene since 1979, with a long break from the mid-90s to 2005. How have you seen the punk scene, as well as the music scene in general, change during this time? Assuming they have changed at all in your opinion.

Stephen DePace (SD): Everybody else made money and we didn’t [laughs].

Bruce Loose (BL): That’s a very valid answer. I’ll go with that one. I didn’t see anything, because I wasn’t around.

SD: Green Day made all the money, and they didn’t leave any for Flipper [laughs].

TP: What about touring? Do you see any difference between now and then? Do you find a difference in the approach that fans have to your shows?

BL: We’re being hit by a whole new group of people, it seems like, people that haven’t even seen us before, so, I don’t even know that they are fans, but people are coming up to say “I grew up listening to this” or “I’ve been waiting 30 years to see this.”

Ted Falconi (TF): We have people, though, that have come to more than one show, that’s been pretty cool. There are a few real ‘Die-Hards’ still out there.

TP: You have changed bass player quite often, for several reasons. Do you think that this fact has influenced your sound?

SD: Yes, each time we get a new bass player it changes a little bit.

BL: They add their own personality to the mix, and that always changes things.

TP: What about you Rachel? Was it hard for you to fit in the band, as you joined only recently?

Rachel Thoele (RT): I was a really big fan of theirs when I was super young; I think they’re all excellent musicians, and it’s really great to be able to play with all of them. It makes me really happy to play with what probably influenced my own bass playing as a young person.

BL: Rachel has been around as long as we have, in the same scene; it just seemed a very natural fit to have her come in, because she had the best grasp of what we were doing then, and all through all of it.

TP: Your musical style has inspired bands that then took different musical paths: grunge bands, punk bands, and bands such as ‘The Melvins.’ What was the key that made this happen in your opinion?

SD: All I can say is that I think it’s pretty cool that we influenced all these different people, in all these different bands, in all these different styles. I don’t know what else to say, other than it’s cool that that happened, and it’s cool that they give us credit.

TP: Speaking of credit, how do you feel about music downloading? What’s your position in this regard?

BL: Well, we see something from the download, but it’s pennies. It’s not anything like what royalties used to be, or collections would be, or something like that; like if it was just regular distribution of CDs and vinyl through proper distribution channels, because you have a lot of people doing bootleg downloads. Unless you have a team of people working 24 hours per day, seven days a week, monitoring computer use, constantly sending out cease-and-desist letters, it’s almost impossible to keep on top of it.

TP: Do you think there should be some sort of regulation, on the shape of SOPA or ACTA, to control this?

BL: As long as we’re gonna be in this computer age, they’re gonna monitoring us, or follow us, and follow our consumer patterns, and design their adds after what our preferences are on Facebook and stuff like that, hell yeah, monitor us off!

SD: My concern is that you have to be careful with what governments are doing and what corporations are doing, because it might be worth it to let our stuff be bootlegged and downloaded for free and all that other stuff, as long as we are able to maintain a free flow of information and communication around the world. Because if they use that as an excuse to shut down our abilities to communicate from the U.S. to Italy, for example, to talk about what’s going on in our countries, and so on and so forth, Because I know that’s what they wanna do…

BL: Yeah, they wanna prevent another “Arab Spring.”

SD: The occupy movement got shut down by the police, and next thing they’re gonna do is come after that free flow of information and communication, and they’re gonna come after saying, they wanna protect art, trade-mark, but what they really wanna do is keep us from talking to each other.

BL: Shut down the freedom of speech.

SD: Yeah, exactly. So the bottom line is that if it costs us free downloads of our music to maintain freedom of speech, well, so be it.

TP: What do you think about streaming? Do you consider it a positive tool, an incentive for musicians, to improve music quality? Streaming an album before it is released makes the consumer decide if buying it or not, hence, it could push the artists to make an entire good album, and not only a couple of good singles.

BL: With stream capturing programs streaming is soon not gonna be that preview of something, people are starting using them for streaming and catching that stuff.

SD: That’s why a lot of bands will give you a short sample of the songs, 30 seconds or so; then they can’t steal the whole song.

TF: Another thing is giving you an mp3, that’s really low quality; so people who like the song will go to get the better quality.

RT: you can hear stuff of bands that not many people know; using a streaming device you can have a push on bands.

SD: if you see the potential to promote your music, you can build a fan base and sometimes it really works hugely. There’s a band out of Los Angeles, that recently put out a record, and it’s huge, I can’t remember the name of the band. What happened it was this young kid, he put the song together by himself, he recorded it and he put it out on the internet and the song was so catchy that it took off like wildfire.

He had 50,000 hits, 50,000 downloads, all of a sudden and that got him a record deal and then he got his buddies together, they got a band together and they made this great record and they’re these young, twenty something year-old guys and they’re good, they’re really good. So putting your stuff out on the internet can work for you like that, so it is a good tool.

Image Courtesy of   rokkosadventures.at/Klaus Pichler

The article Meet One of Punk’s Pearls: Flipper in Interview (part 1/2) appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Punk Rock band Rise Against just ended the first leg of its European tour 2012. The band has been promoting ‘Endgame,’ its latest album, released by Interscope records in March 2011. Toonari Post had the pleasant opportunity to meet frontman Tim McIlrath in Vienna, Austria on March 20.

The Rise Against vocalist and guitarist talked about the band’s albums and tours, as well as about society, discrimination, and the current and past music scene. This is the first part of the two-part interview.

Toonari Post (TP): Your latest album ‘Endgame’ sends quite a dark message about the world situation, giving the feeling that it is too late to do anything to change the current negative state of the world. A similar state of mind is also present in some of your previous work, as the line “Is it too late to reverse what we’ve become?” in ‘Chamber the Cartridge’ well expresses. Is ‘Endgame’ the deeper exploration of that kind of fear, or is it what you actually think? Is it really too late?

Tim McIlrath (TM): ‘Endgame’ was kind of a way for us to sort of talk about the same problems that the world is still experiencing, but in a different way. We didn’t want to come writing another record talking about the same exact things over and over, we wanted to do something different. At the same time you’re sort of faced with reality: the world is still facing the same problems that it was when you did the last record.

There are still issues worth thinking about, even if it seems repetitive. So, ‘Endgame’ was kind of our way of approaching them as not problems that we’re facing, but as problems that we faced, and lost; and what the world would look like after you lost, sort of like if we were to lose the battle of trying to save the earth, what life would have looked like.

I guess we’re just sort of attempting to paint that picture for the listener, and show them: here are the repercussions of our actions, here is the future that we’ll be looking at, and I guess the attempt was that hopefully that would trigger a response. That’s where ‘Endgame’ came from.

TP: Do you actually think we lost and we are never going to resurrect again?

TM: No, I’m hopeful, definitely. And I think it’s partly because I get to play in this band, I get to play in front of lots of people who care about the direction of the world; that leaves me pretty optimistic. But more people need to get on board, and I think that we’re part of that struggle; we’re doing our part to open people’s eyes.

TP: What’s the role of the current music scene in this vision of the world? Do you think that nowadays music, in general, serves the purpose of creating awareness? Or does it serve the exact contrary purpose, keeping people sort of medicated?

TM: Right. I think that music can exist for both reasons. I don’t think that music needs to be political, or that music needs to be active in terms of social justice. Music can be an escape; I listen to music as an escape sometimes too. I think, what makes me happy is as long as there’s a good balance between the two. There are bands and musicians out there who recognize that through rock history, artists have always played a role in social change.

If nothing else, music should be a mirror of the culture, of what’s happening in the culture. Now people are asking a lot of questions, and looking for musicians and artists who are asking the same questions. I feel like now more than ever in my lifetime, that type of art is needed, because that type of art can sometimes distill the conversation in ways that nothing else can.

I think it’s really important for musicians to say what they feel. If it’s not what they feel then, that’s cool too, there’s a place for music that doesn’t say anything at all.

TP: So you think that there are many bands and artists out there sending a message? When talking about the current music scene, very often you’re considered the exception.

TM: Well, there are not enough popular bands like us that are saying it, so I guess I can see why the media would be saying that. But a lot of bands are talking about the direction of the world, not enough popular bands, I guess, are doing it. They are not getting enough attention, enough press.

TP: Among other issues, in ‘Endgame’ you also address homophobia. With ‘Make it Stop’ you make a statement in support of people who feel judged and excluded because of their homosexuality. Do you think homosexuality is a problematic issue for Rock? Do you think that Rock has sent a message against homosexuality?

TM: Yeah, I do. I think Rock is one of the last sort of sanctuaries for homophobia, unfortunately. I think that indie rock is very progressive and open to any sexual preference, but when you go to heavier rock music you get a lot of that male stuff, you know, it’s just “bros,” sort of narrow minded sometimes, and there is kind of a lot of it.

The heavy rock that you hear on the radio, and on the stage too, is just sort of bands that don’t wanna be caught there talking about homosexuality, because it’s not part of the image they want to portray. So, I think that in a lot of ways we’re in a unique position, to be putting water where the fire is. Because we speak to the audience and we are a band in that world where homophobia can unfortunately exist and, it does exist.

You can see it in our crowd sometimes, unfortunately, you can see if we post something about ‘Make It Stop’ or ‘It Gets Better,’ on our website, or facebook, or whatever, that the response is very narrow minded as well. There’s still a battle ground and we’re still fighting for a change, and awareness.

TP: Why do you think rock bands have this great fear of this image? I mean, past succesful bands, like Nirvana, fought for this despite the stigma. They should have served, at least, to make other rock bands feel safer.

TM: Right, and there are a lot of bands like Nirvana. They were a band who was very progressive in that sense. Nirvana came from a scene that was influenced by Fugazi, and the Melvins, that very alternative kind of underground scene where people who didn’t fit into regular, mainstream, society would go to, and find a place where they belonged. At some point Nirvana was part of that link that made this music really popular; and you had a lot of the mainstream society embracing that identity, in a “Halloween costume” kind of way.

What happened was a lot of bands borrowed from the sound of Nirvana but left the guts of it behind; they left a lot of what Kurt Cobain was talking about, it all got lost. The same people that used to beat up Kurt Cobain when he was a kid were now in front row, in the audience, and were going to start bands. The bands that got popular after that were bands that had nothing to do with the message behind Nirvana’s music.

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San Francisco punk rock band Flipper has come back to the touring scene, feeding the excitement of enthusiastic and nostalgic punk fans. The band has just started playing some US shows and will begin its European tour in April. The band is currently composed of Bruce Loose (vocals/bass), Ted Falconi (guitar), Steve DePace (drums), and Rachel Thoele (bass).

With its raw style, characterized by heavy distortions that enrich a bass-driven noisy sound, Flipper has been highly influential since the beginning of its story in 1979. It has been recognized as a source of inspiration, not only for several punk rock and noise rock bands, but also for sludge metal bands, like the Melvins, and grunge bands, like Nirvana. They have often cited Flipper as a milestone for their sound development. The self-made Flipper t-shirt, often worn by Kurt Cobain, late Nirvana frontman, has become legendary.

Flipper’s line-up changed several times throughout the years. The loss of many members was due to a variety of reasons, including heroin overdose, as in the case of founder member Will Shatter, who died in 1987, and bassist John Dougherty, who died in 1992.

After the death of John Dougherty, the band took a break for over 10 years. They returned to the scene in 2005, however, for two live shows in support of CBGB. At the time, the band featured Bruno DeSmartass as bassist, and the same line-up went on performing live shows for the first part of 2006. At the end of that same year, Krist Novoselic of Nirvana became the new bass player for the band. With him, the band recorded new studio material and released a new album in May 2009.

The new release consisted of a ‘twin album’. The first album, ‘Love’, contained the new studio material recorded with Novoselic, while the second, ‘Fight’, contained the live versions of old and new songs. Krist Novoselic then decided that touring was no longer a part of his life, and Rachel Thoele, former Frightwig, joined the band.

Here are the upcoming dates of Flipper’s International Tour:

March 29, 2012, Lion’s Lair — Denver, CO, USA
March 30, 2012, Lion’s Lair — Denver, CO, USA
April 5, 2012, The Croft — Bristol, UK
April 6, 2012, Rescue Rooms — Nottingham, UK
April 7, 2012, The Duchess — York, UK
April 8, 2012, Stereo — Glasgow, UK
April 10, 2012, XOYO — London, UK
April 12, 2012, De Klinker Club — Aarschot, Belgium
April 13, 2012, Sonic Protest Festival — Paris, France
April 14, 2012, L’Epicerie Moderne — Lyon, France
April 16, 2012, Nachtleben — Frankfurt, Germany
April 17, 2012, Knust — Hamburg, Germany
April 18, 2012, Stengade — Copenhagen, Denmark
April 20, 2012, Arena — Vienna, Austria
April 21, 2012, Latte Più Live — Brescia, Italy
April 22, 2012, Rössli — Bern, Switzerland
April 24, 2012, Wild at Heart — Berlin, Germany
April 25, 2012, Club Vaudeville — Lindau, Germany
April 26, 2012, LVC — Leiden, The Netherlands

Image Courtesy of    http://www.flipperrules.com

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Punk rock band Rise Against, composed of frontman Tim McIlrath, bassist Joe Principe, drummer Brandon Barnes and guitarist Zach Blair, has been wooing its fans during the last year with a series of extremely successful concerts, to promote their sixth studio album ‘Endgame,’ released in 2011.

Upon its released in March 2011, the record debuted at second place on the U.S. Billboard 200, sold 85,000 copies in the first week, and entered the UK top 40 album chart; a first for the band.

Endgame has been well received by critics and widely acclaimed by both old and new coming fans; on the record the band seems to have evolved its style, although staying true to the original musical soul. Endgame enters directly into that high energy level that represents Rise Against, but with a slightly darker finish in comparison to earlier records.

In a music scene often accused of bearing the talent but expressing little content, Rise Against is one of the bands that are really able to stand up for something. Their music delivers a strong identification with endearing social issues such as unfairness, social division, and self denial in an uncaring society. Endgame takes the band a bit further this time with the point of view that it is too late to escape what is wrong in the world.

Frontman Tim McIlrath explained in an interview with Lonnie Nemiroff, “Endgame was a way to talk about the world in a different way than we have before. It is talking about the world from the perspective that it’s too late to recycle. It’s too late to drive a hybrid. It’s too late to decide whether you believe in global warming or not because global warming has devoured the planet.”

To promote the album the band has been touring South America, Canada, Europe and the U.S., having been supported by Bad Religion in concert during the latter, a band which is a well known influence for Rise Against’s music.

Rise Against just ended the first leg of their U.S. tour with a concert in Fairfax, VA, and are about to head over to Europe. After the extreme success of the American tour, Europeans will have the chance to enjoy the punk bit of the Chicago band starting in Brussels, Belgium, on February 28. The tour will go on for about three weeks, touching several European countries, and ending in Vienna, Austria, with a performance at the Wiener Stadthalle on the 20th of March.

After a stint back in the U.S. for the second leg of the American tour, Rise Against will return to Europe in June, headlining a number of festivals, starting with the Download Festival in the UK, together with Black Sabbath, The Prodigy and Metallica, among others.

Rise Against are well known for bringing to the stage all the passion and energy that their records reflect. Your can say that they ‘live’ the show to the fullest and carry the audience through a musical spiral that unifies band and fans into a unique energy explosion. For this reason, the European part of their tour is easily predicted to match the American success.

Image Courtesy of  Marms RTT

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