The Five Best Punk Videos I Can Think Of At 6 AM After Being Awake For 23 Hours.

(I seriously can't watch this without getting tears in my eyes because they are so fucking good.)



(same comment as above)

JACOB THE TERRIBLE - Demo - CD-R - 2010

   Okay, I admit, it's been a while since I updated this but that's not because I've been burned out or lazy. On the contrary...I worked 14 days in a row at my job while simultaneously practicing with my band, helping to put out a tape, booking a US tour, getting together t-shirt designs, trying half-assedly to find a subletter, buying a bike and celebrating another year of being alive on this weird rock we call Earth. I also spent a week in Worcester, MA, visiting some good friends and getting some much needed time to relax, read and drink coffee.
    While out east, I was lucky enough to roadie for one of my favorite bands, THE TERRIBLES and got to see a punk show in a state where I had never seen such a thing....New Hampshire. It was weird. It was in a martini bar. I also ate the worst taco I've ever eaten in my life. When the band got to their show in Providence, they morphed into one of their few alter egos, JACOB THE TERRIBLE. You see, the band has a long time friend named Jacob Berendes, who has been performing solo for years (You can order one of his CDs here) and also publishes the monthly newspaper, Mother's News. In addition to this, he runs a distro called Chipsylvania and formerly manned the massively missed mission, Fujichia. Anyhow, Jacob wrote many songs that should be (and still could be) classics, but haven't had much of a life to speak of outside of the greater New England area. At some point, he (or perhaps they) decided to turn his formerly quiet songs into full-on rock songs, using THE TERRIBLES as his backing band. Thus, JACOB THE TERRIBLE was born. This shoddy and hastily recorded demo is not quite the representation that the band had in mind when they went down to the basement with the four track, but this is what they got when they emerged a few short hours later. I think the true strength of this band lies in their live performance because Jacob is a front person to end all front people and the TERRIBLES are just a great fucking band.
   Take the Providence show for example...They were slated to play second, just after the smooth indie-garage rock stylings of some hacks with half of JTT's energy or charisma. Instead of discussing the lineup with JTT and talking about how they didn't want to play first, the boring indie rockers just did that thing where they simply disappear and make everyone's lives a little more difficult by not being available (emotionally or otherwise) when it is time for them to play. Berendes and THE TERRIBLES are no strangers to chaos and are well aware that the show must go on. They set up and started the proceedings with no temper tantrums or complaints (the rockers not-so-mysteriously re-appeared just as the band was gearing up for their first song). By the time Jacob yelled "The world can be so fucked!! But there's only so much shit you can shit....ON A FACE!!!", the audience was sold. The next half-hour was filled with wildly flailing, dancing bodies and impassioned sing-a-longs. Simply, they killed it. I briefly peeked in later when the indie rockers were playing their coveted time slot and the crowd was barely managing to stay awake (I know that this isn't a competition but when a band can't manage to do the simple thing they are expected to do on tour [i.e. play the show when asked, interact with the other people involved, not be unavailable], I have little-to-no sympathy for them).

   Since recording this, JACOB THE TERRIBLE has re-recorded some of these songs at Machines With Magnets and the new versions sound a billion times better. They are currently looking for someone to release it (like, say, Corleone Records) and I, for one, would greatly appreciate it's existence in this world.
   When not being in this band, drummer Matt Carroll takes amazing photographs, greatly analyzes seemingly pedestrian endeavors and performs dramatic readings of Victorian-era erotica while dressed in period clothing. Guitarist Jamie Buckmaster enjoys a charmingly bizarre sleep schedule (others might call it insomnia), works on beautiful art and almost effortlessly plays any instrument at an expert level. Mike Leslie, the bass player, skates better than you, works tirelessly on meticulous art and is one of the better people that I am lucky to know in this world. After downloading this, be sure to also listen to THE TERRIBLES and then smack yourself for not having them in your lives for the past 15 years.

Download JACOB THE TERRIBLE
Updated Jan 2013

Taken from a comic by John Isaacson

DIRT YARD - Demo - Cd-R - Demo

   You know how you watch a band sometimes and the members look really intense and scary in this way that makes you not really want to talk to them afterwards? Then, when you actually DO talk to them, you just realize that they were in a remote region of their mind, releasing tension, releasing anger and zoning out completely on the thing that they love to do. The thing about DIRT YARD is that their singer, James always seemed to be in that zone, teetering between the edge of all-consuming anger and a pleasant detachment that makes for an entertaining front-person in a band. The rest of the band backs him up with a chaotic, noisy, straightforward-yet-jerky wall of punk. Angry, defiant, sometimes confusing, moody, dark and fucked. Their song, "Drugs" actually sorta makes me feel like what I think it would feel like to be on drugs (Who knows? I stay away from that stuff.)

Download DIRT YARD

The band also put out a 7", but I have no idea of how to get it now. If you're ever in Minneapolis, I'm sure you can ask someone at the Seward Cafe, Hard Times or Modern Times and they can probably help you out. Stella, the guitarist of this band was also in IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT and now is a proud mother of a beautiful child. Ski, the drummer, is the dad of that child and currently plays drums for FROZEN TEENS. What are James and Peat up to? I haven't the foggiest notion.

Matty Luv

   One of the last times I saw Matty Luv, I was in a van driving down Capp Street with my bandmates. He raised his fist to us in solidarity as we were about to go play in the middle of an illegal anti-war parade. Later, our band played in the middle of Mission Street on the back of a flatbed trailer and we stopped the parade right in front of Mission Records. The punk kids came out front to watch us and Matty took a break from working the door at the punk show to grace us with his smile. Later, i went back and tried to hang out with him for a little bit, but he was distant and preoccupied. Ironically, a bunch of us went to the park and gave each other hickeys. Meanwhile, Matty's life slipped away a few short blocks from us and we never saw him alive again. That was ten years ago today. I would be a liar if I told you that his impact wasn't still felt to this day, musically and aesthetically. I don't want to give a fucking eulogy. Just listen to this music and enjoy it. Keep living you lives and take care of the ones you love.

"Life is cheap, but living is expensive"

Matty and friends on Remote Outposts

Yogurt on Terminal Escape
FUCKBOYZ on Terminal Escape

Everythiing else you'll possibly need from Cosmic Hearse

For more info:
Mattyluv.com
SF Needle Exchange sites

SUCKERPUNCH - Unreleased LP - 2001

   Back when I posted SUCKERPUNCH's demo tape, I was under the impression that they never recorded anything else. I've always loved that tape and wished they had more music out in the world that I could listen to. Fast-forward life to spring of 2012: RAG RAGE from Chattanooga came out to the Bay Area and their bass player, Chad gave me this CD-R of a full, unreleased SUCKERPUNCH album. Apparently, SP's drummer, Ben had passed it along to Chad to give to someone else, but Chad thoughtfully made a copy for me as well.
   On this recording, the band continually sounds like they are in a tug of war between post-punk and hardcore as filtered through southern living. Hardcore usually seems to win the competition, which is fine by me. There are flashes of 7 SECONDS, REAGAN YOUTH and TEEN IDLES here and there, but for the most part, SUCKERPUNCH's sound is their own. I think this whole album is great, but around the 12th song, it becomes unstoppable. Sixteen songs in all. No song titles listed. Fuckin' do it!

DOWNLOAD UPDATED 2020 

GYPSY - Demo - Tape - 2010

   I thought about just saying that the members of this band have also played in SHANG-A-LANG, HIDDEN SPOTS and THE MARKED MEN and then just leave it at that. That's enough right? Well, yeah, probably....but I want to tell you something about their bass player, Joe and how he is an insanely nice guy.
   Once, I was driving across the country with my best friend, Anandi. We had driven all day and we were pretty wiped out. We got to Las Cruces and Joe said we could sleep at his house for the night. He invited us to go to his friend's birthday party across town, but we were way too tired to go. We said that he should just go and we can sleep in his living room. He opted to not go to the party and, instead, went and got a fancy 6 pack of beer for us to all share. We sat around his place and talked for a long time until we got too tired to keep our eyes open. It was a simple little thing, but he made us feel so at home and welcome in his place. Sometimes you can't ask for more than that when you're traveling. We appreciated it even more when we slid backwards into a ditch less than 48 hours later in a massive, freak snowstorm in the middle of Texas and then were stuck in a motel in a tiny town for the next 3 days. (Texas...no snowplows.)
   Their guitarist, Chris and drummer, Ryan are no slouches either. Chris has always set up shows in Las Cruces for any band I have been a part of. I met him years ago (early 2005, I think) when I saw his band THE ANSWER LIES play in a coffee shop in Cruces with TBIAPB. I've known Ryan since before the turn of the century. He used to be the manager of a skating rink and my band once got him in a lot of trouble when he let us practice in the rink after hours. I guess it turned out okay since he kept working there until they shut down years later. It was one of the better nights of my life.
   Anyway, if you like any of these guys' former bands, you will like this too. Jangly, melodic, upbeat and simply great. If you'd like to get a copy of this tape for yourself, please head over to Dead Broke and pick one up. As long as you're there, you might as well get the demo of Chris and Joe's new band, LOW CULTURE because it is equally as awesome.

Download GYPSY

BLONDE AMBITION - "Down At Yogurt Park" - Tape - 2007

   I'm always bummed that I missed out on the short life of BLONDE AMBITION during their time as a band in the Bay Area. I was 3000 miles away in Indiana, living in a tiny little room and sewing contact mics into stuffed animals while they were out in California playing their songs in backyards and alleyways. Gaybob moved out from New York, where she formerly played with DIRTY LOOKS, CRYBABY MACARTHUR and BEER GARDEN. She takes care of the guitar and vocals. She hooked up with Northern California native, Naomi who formerly played drums for the teen destruction group known as HEY GIRL. They're rounded out by the solid bass stylings of Mason. I'm sure Mason played in bands before this one, but I don't know what they are. I do know that she went on to play in the jaw-dropping band LIVID.
   Anyhow, the eight songs on this tape are short, to the point and vicious. Gaybob's unmistakable voice growls and screams over the whole thing as they play direct, fierce punk. In my opinion, a lot of the charm of this recording is that the rhythm section is fairly tight while the guitar fluctuates between solid and "I don't give a fuck". It's raw and cannot be tamed. The demo tape format was invented for bands like this.
   In addition to giving us this great recording, BLONDE AMBITION is also responsible for being the subject of one of my favorite photos of a contemporary band....

Live on top of Bernal Hill. Photo is believed to be taken by Tony Rojas.

      These days, Gaybob is back in Brooklyn playing with PURE JOY. Naomi is still destroying the drums in San Francisco and playing with CHER HOROWITZ (probably 5 other bands too). Mason played drums in ENDEMICS and guitar in LIVID. We lost her to L.A. for a little while, but now she's back and hopefully planning something exciting. 

Download BLONDE AMBITION

and now some more photos.......

Thanks to Bob for the photos.

REMAIN INDOORS - Demo - Tape - 2012

   Sometime around the dawn of humankind in negative 84 BC, Joey Ramone decided to invent punk after knocking himself unconscious from running full speed into a brontosaurus. His friends dragged him into a cave and had a pizza party while he recovered. When he awoke, he decided that all he wanted to do was play fast, three chord songs and sing about cretins. Soon, a lot of other weirdos started showing up wearing leather jackets, sniffing glue and being generally obnoxious. Some of them even shaved their hair into weird creations and tied shoestrings around their heads. Joey decided that all of these outcasts needed a place to live, so he opened the first punk house and called it The Ranch. Somehow, the place survived earthquakes, floods, scabies, staph infections, the black plague, mold, folk punk shows and tornadoes. It still stands today as a proud testament to the lasting longevity of punk and they still have shows in their basement.
    Okay, obviously that's all a lie, but The Ranch is a real punk house in Portland, Oregon and it has been around for quite a long time now. They entered a hibernation period for a while, but they are doing great punk shows in their basement these days and it's easily my favorite place to play when I go to that fine city. The house is populated by punks (duh) and has a practice space/show space in the basement. Of course, people in the house use the space to practice with their band(s), but one day the entire house decided to all start a band together and they called that band REMAIN INDOORS (Some readers may remember that I mentioned in the GROUCH article that I needed a REMAIN INDOORS tape. Their drummer, Henderson was nice enough to send it to me. Thanks!) Their members have done time in bands like DRUNKEN BOAT, THE STOPS, THE CLOSET FAIRIES, SHOREBIRDS, UPSHIT CREEK and many, many more. So, you're already aware that these fools have a good idea of what they're doing. They play straightforward punk that has subtle tinges of that gloomy, almost-goth darkness that seems to permeate the northwestern punk scene. BUT, don't pull out your black nail polish and 48 eyelet stiletto boots just yet (actually, go ahead)...they keep it firmly in the punk camp but keep it gloomy enough to where you can put this on when you either feel like shit or wanna ride your bike in the sun all day. Unfortunately, this band only lasted for 7 short months before calling it quits. Is it awkward to live in a house with all of your bandmates after your band has broken up? I don't know. You can ponder that while you listen to this tape.

Download REMAIN INDOORS
Re-uploaded Feb 2013

If you'd like to order your own copy of this tape from the band (which I strongly urge), please write to themovieisalmostover@gmail.com

ADULTS - Vol III - Tape - 2012

   I'm a big fan of this band, as you can probably surmise by my previous write-ups of their tapes "Vol I" and "Vol II". On this third installment, ADULTS switch it up a little and start off the tape with possibly their first slow song ever, called "Amigo". From there on out, it's all breakneck tempos and staying true to their sound of a lost demo tape from some old classic band. They churn out 10 fucked up, straightforward, blown out, fast punk songs in less than 11 minutes. Not one song on here is a sleeper. Just download it and thank me later. Or really, thank the band. I'm just some clown with a laptop.

Download ADULTS tape
Updated 2013

   WAIT THERE'S MORE!!! The thing I liked about ADULTS when I first heard them is that they lived just across the bay from me and completely ruled but I had never heard of them. When I finally tracked them down and saw them play a show, they didn't disappoint. I met their singer, Matteo who I had previously corresponded with only through email. He had been nice enough to mail me their first tape before I even sent him any cash. Talking to him after their set, I realized that he's a really nice guy, a genuine fan of energetic punk and really excited about seeing this huge country of ours. You see, Matteo  isn't from this country but I believe that if people want to live in this country, then they should. He told me that he was going to roadie for his friend's band up to the Northwest soon and then take a Greyhound bus out to the Midwest. He said that he was really excited about the trip. Being someone that has taken the bus across this vast country a number of times, I didn't believe him. I said "It's horrible! You have to just sit on this fuckin' bus for hours, talk to creeps, look out the window at nothing and then they only stop at McDonald's to eat!" He smiled really big and said "I KNOW!! I want to do that exact thing!! I want to see the sun coming up over plains and I want to talk to strangers and I want to eat the crappy food and see what it looks like in the middle of nowhere America." He was so happy about this prospect that I was completely dumbfounded, but also I understood. When I went to the lonely, desolate border of Slovakia and the Czech Republic, I took pictures of the drab buildings sitting in the middle of nowhere. I was somehow fascinated by this entirely boring scenario that would cause any local to roll their eyes. The great part of this story is that Matteo made his way up north and then got on a bus going east. The sad, awful truth is that he was traveling on September 11th...a time when our nation's law enforcers decide to get really shitty to anyone who is not supposed to be in this country. Long story short (well, too late for that), Matteo got ID'd by the cops and they discovered that he was illegal. He is now sitting in a Federal detention center in Buffalo, NY and facing deportation. It's all so sad because he really loves it here and has made a lot of lasting relationships with people all over the Bay Area and beyond. Friends of his have set up a fundraising page to raise money for a lawyer to fight the deportation. If you can offer any help, get in touch with them. Follow the link to their site.

Free Matteo

COUNTY Z - "Graveyards and Grocery Carts" LP - 2002

   I was already a big fan of COUNTY Z's first tape when this LP came out, but I was not prepared for how this record would impact my life. That tape is really good, but the band seemed like they were at their peak performance when they recorded this. The moody, dark arrangements like "Betsy II" and "End Of The World" became even darker and more ominous. The more upbeat songs like "Liquor Store" and "Hysterical" became incisive, vicious and bitter. I don't know what was going on in the vast, humid, art-strewn warehouse in New Orleans where they recorded this, but they definitely did something right. It still remains one of my top five favorite albums to this day.
  I was lucky enough to see COUNTY Z play in a basement in Bloomington, IN during this period and it was one of the best shows ever. Less than a mile away, helicopters were circling and sports fans were flipping over cars and uprooting trees because their team lost (or won, I don't know or give a fuck) while 50-60 punks were dancing in a basement on the west side of town. Bloomington is usually a pretty "arms crossed" kind of town when it comes to punk shows, but that night, it seemed like the whole room couldn't stop themselves from dancing like crazy. I'll never forget it.

COUNTY Z at the Hi-Ho in New Orleans. 2002

    Naomi plays violin, guitar and sings in the band. She is now playing in MOTHER OF FIRE, which is a little similar to COUNTY Z, but more sprawling and epic. Ryan plays bass. I see him from time to time walking around SF and I always mean to hang out with him more, but I am terrible at hanging out unless it is convenient to me (this is why I am a bad friend). Forrest played the drums and now he is a father. I will always love this band.

COUNTY Z at the Hi-Ho in New Orleans. 2002

Download COUNTY Z LP from Ass Records