BEHOLD – ANOTHER ROUND OF YUCK, STRINGS, THROATS, TRONIX SWEAT AND SWEET SWEET SALTY TEARS. BE THERE OR ROT IN ETERNAL PURGATORY.

$6 = SUPPORT

DOORS @ 7:00

SHOW @ 8:00

LECHUGUILLAS = Fucking incredible Chi-Town noise rockers. Total brainmelting-headfuck. Heavy heavy jams crushing your puny humanoid skeletal infrastructure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMjdwt8oBig

SICK LLAMA = Gun Rue’s grimiest tape wrecking nuclear warfare soulja. Fag Tapes head honcho. Heard he covers Ke$ha through a broken tape deck and a delay pedal. The dude made Godspeed you fans shit their pants backwards 6 times and go home wanting cyanide cupcakes. Beyond weird. Legendary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obvPBp9OmUY
http://fagtapes.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swq3FHyGoC4&feature=related

XTRA VOMIT = 2 piece kind of hardcorey-punky-grindy-powernonviolencyness. Songs about kittnes, puppies, barefoot walks on the beach and eating people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_52_B3KTKbM

D.S.S. = Manic shit!! Holy noiseblast fastness! I have NO IDEA whats going on. Miles spits like Twista getting in a fight with Bone Thugs at a gabber rave with the speakers blown to shit. Awesome. Eat Bartertown stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z9nXD8HjIA

PLAGUES = Hopefully won’t play. Bleak and rotten electronics. Gutter crawl lost in a muddy haunted corn-maze type shit. Ol’ 1970′s slasher flick soundtrack. Black metal through a broken synthesizer arpeggiating pretty parts.
http://plagues616.bandcamp.com/track/discreet-moments-demo

RADIATOR HOSPITAL/WINTER BREAK and ROYL SPACE all played, and these are the bands and people that are ruling the scene these days. They bring something new to the table each time I see them, and these kids are always starting new bands that I can’t even keep up with. WINTER BREAK is the newest of the bunch playing dark catchy punk. I also just picked up the new WINTER BREAK/ROYL SPACE split tape. Please track this tape down it rules!

WINTER BREAK

RADIATOR HOSPITAL

ROYL SPACE

Also getting pretty stoked for SEE YOU IN HELL coming to the US and to Grand Rapids Michigan. Check out this killer video of them from the Czech Republic!

Then May 12th!

Then MICHIGAN MELTDOWN #7 is all set up!!!!

Check out the band CYCLES killer HC punk from Muskegon they moved into the 21st century with a new blog. The demo they put out fucking rips check it out!!!!

http://cycleshc.blogspot.com/

Some great people around GR have put together a celebration at Martin Luther King JR park. Please check this killer flyer below. and please come out meet some great people and work together to make a future for us all.

Also Josh from CORRISIVE KIDS did a review of a not so old record some of you may have forgot about the RELIGIOUS SS DISORDER/SKELETON PARTY split 12″ You can still get this at punksbeforeprofits.org and at Vertigo records in GR.

Religious SS Disorder & Skeleton Party Split Review Grind House:

77 new reasons to live from 77 Records

I’ve been kicking myself to write a review about this album by Skeleton Party & Religious SS Disorder for a long time, but I had to let it sink in.  My thoughts were to give the record a chance to surgical apply its madness like an embryo into my cerebellum that would with time become a Pepto Bismol, and then a blurbling host to my brain. When the record was finally through with the wasted, atrophied muscle It would rain down the vomit of It’s own hell-bound volition onto the paper allowing people to see what a rare, and raw decoupage it really is! There were some aspects I had to let collect on me like a fungoid- covered softball; I’ll admit there were times when I felt like a crime photographer flashing Kodak’s of a child’s spattered intestine on a brick wall, slick after a good rain, but the excitement I got from these rough songs was virginal, and that’s what tells me that this split is worth shitting about.

To start off each band provides a lyric sheet for a whole album’s worth of material depending on which side of the record their on.  Skeleton Party’s side of the record is called “Songs From Above”, and I’m pretty sure RSSD doesn’t have a title for their album though I could be wrong.  The album looks like a fuzzy blood-fest on the outside, and I enjoy letting the unfocused images slowly become visible as I stare at the sleeve.  It’s a nice intro for the carnage that lies inside!

The Rockers for RSSD’s side are listed as CLAIRE:VOX; CORBIN:DRUMS; MATT:BASS; RYAN:GUITAR; MIKE:GUITAR.  Right now, you can probably already see a storm-cloud up ahead and predict a blizzard of battering guitar din, and drum punishment…if so, your forecast is spot on!  These stranglers of rock keep things at a dizzying out of focus pursuit! The band careens out of the speakers at pulsing jogs that speed and break down like a mad rooster running from a farmer with swinging hatchet that stops to peck at fallen seeds. Ryan and Mike’s guitars curve and twist like daggers doing the Watusi on exposed flesh! Chugging along, with the spastic glee of a lunatic frenzy, they annihilate everything in their path creating an impenetrable wall around Claire. Corbin’s drums also act as a heart-pounding sealant, I almost feel him knocking air out of my chest, as Claire agonizingly squawks from her isle of oblivion buried in a crevice of the mind’s eye.

Our eye booger’s venting a myriad of personal grievances as well as societal beefs through her ear-splitting hardcore songs!  If you’re a fan of Bikini Kill you might feel at home here… Her general disgust in surroundings, society, and the restrictions of living inspire a ravenous thirst for change!

Although this is a grim record in scale surprisingly there were parts I found in the album (mostly towards the middle) where there’s this playful chiding amongst the screaming din.  What is displayed is the uncanny balance of a angry id and a fully actualized woman forcefully emerging through a womb slicked with acid!  We the listeners are allowed to witness this primitive spectacle that leaves a crimson mess seeping off our record players…but who wants “pretty music” anyway??

Great review Josh. Reviews like this or writings like Sam’s on my last post are Highly encouraged on this site. The news section should be for everybody so if you shot some cool pics or have some cool record to share hit us up. Also as always send columns to clairerevenge@riseup.net. In June I am going to see one of all time favorite bands LARM check a killer video below to show how much this band still rages after 30 plus years THIS IS FUCKING HARDCORE!!!!

Grand Rapids, for its size, has a relatively large and diverse music scene. From Punk to folk to reggae to metal, some of Michigan’s best and brightest musicians reside in this city. We are also lucky in having many awesome places to play in town, and the opening this spring of the Pyramid Scheme adds another to the list. Still, many are skeptical of the venue’s place in our scene.
“When I found out the Pyramid Scheme wasn’t going to be all-ages, I lost interest,” said Ryan Cappelletti, local business owner and musician. “It’s just not for us. I’m in my 30’s and I play in 3 bands that all refuse to play bar shows. It’s not about alcohol being present, I am a huge supporter of Michigan beer, it’s about age restrictions,” he said.
A growing number of Grand Rapids bands are only playing shows that are all-ages. Often times these shows are in illegal spaces, but West Michigan has several renowned all-ages venues, including the Division Avenue Arts Collective, that are legitimate spaces who host hundreds of shows a year. Most of the time, local bands won’t make much or anything at these shows, and that can be a restrictive factor. “These bands that only play at our local bar venues all the time, of course they want to play there because they know they can play a mediocre set to very few people and still get paid. They get lazy and they don’t bother crafting their music, and meanwhile there are bands playing at the DAAC down the street and playing an amazing set to a decent crowd and not accepting any money, just doing it because they love it and they need to do it to stay sane,” said Cappelletti.
He is not alone in his desire to keep music available to everyone. “When you play a venue like the DAAC or a house show, you are in a small space and you are forced to interact with your audience. You can’t hide behind the darkness in the bar,” said Jorma Vaughn, singer of Winter Break. “Some venues in town and elsewhere, pride themselves on having interesting décor and a nice looking bar, but if you play an illegal warehouse space or someone’s basement, you have to rely on yourself to put on a good show, you are all there is to look at.”
“Look at a band like Fugazi. They never once accepted money for a show they played in DC and they never played a show that wasn’t all-ages. Why is that the exception to the rule? People play music every day, it’s a natural act, and I can guarantee some of the best music being made today is by kids who aren’t allowed into bars.”
All-ages venues are about art and music for their own sake. “I think all ages venues provide a safe place for everybody to enjoy culture where the focus is actually primarily on the art, rather than merely socializing, alcohol, or other commercial enterprises,” said George Weitor, a board member for the DAAC. “They also provide opportunities for young people to actually participate in building community rather than merely consuming what is offered to them.”
Many bands argue that kids aren’t interested or involved in the music scene. “I started going to shows when I was 15 because there was an all-ages venue I could go to. It started as just something I enjoyed attending, now I have to say it’s a way of life for me,” said Hunter Bridwell, another DAAC volunteer.
“Kids who are 14 or 15 who don’t have something to do on the weekend can go to the DAAC website or the record store and check for fliers, and find a show to go to in town where they can see bands and actually participate in something, and that’s a really positive thing for kids, “ added Vaughn.
In Grand Rapids there is a history of established all-ages venues, and that precedent has bred different kinds of musicians than other cities might have. “So many young people grew up with places like Skelletones and the DAAC just being there, and have never known a world without them. When we start playing our own shows and hear about playing venues that wouldn’t even allow us or our friends in, why would we want to be a part of that, when we have our own spaces to play? We would rather put on our own shows and do our own thing,” said Vaughn.
So the next time you head to the bar, stop by the DAAC or the record store, and check out what’s going on there. You might be surprised what the kids are doing.

Please also take the time to watch this short video clip of Ian Mackaye on all ages shows. I feel he really hits home with it.

FUGAZI

All done by the living legend of recording kevin Kitchel

When I was in Macedonia in 2006 i hung out with my good friend Vasko. I did a radio show with him that was really fucking rad. He is still doing it today. Check out this play list with two local bands POSITIVE NOISE and XTRA VOMIT. Pretty fucking cool to see underground west Michigan bands being heard in other countries. You will never see this with shitty bar bands! Long live the underground.

КРАТКО И ЈАСНО @ канал 103 ( www.kanal103.com.mk ) playlist 07.04.2011

TOWERS OF SILENCE AT THE THUNDERDOME

Record Store day is coming this Saturday and I understand we all have our hearts set on a list of records we want. I want to suggest a couple killer local records. First lets talk about RADIATOR HOSPITAL just put out an 7″ ep called I WANT TO BELIEVE.

A little history of the people in this band. Ok a couple years back the scene in G.R. we did not have a ton of people doing shit like shows/bands and whatnot. I recall seeing some kid with a BAD BRAINS back patch at shows, and I was like who is that kid? Then I started noticing more kids like him that just seemed to start popping up all around G.R. and they all had bands. Then I seen a band called SKELETON PARTY who played my garage, and after the show I went up to them and said you guys are the punkest band in G.R. and they said that’s funny because we are not even punks! I was just floored and fell in love with these kids and all the bands they play in. To me these people are the heart and soul of the G.R. punk community, and RADIATOR HOSPITAL is on the top of the pile!

So onto the record. Ok first the cover fucking rules and are hand made so extra props for that. The music is recorded just how all pop punk should be sloppy/noisy and a little out of tune AWESOME! This is classic sounding LOOKOUT RECORDS style pop punk with the emphasis on punk. Which has been a strongly missed element in the pop punk world in the past couple years. A new local label put it out called STUPID BAG RECORDS done by local pop punk guru Jeff Bolt. They give you 4 tracks on this e.p. that flow very well but stay close to the record player because it’s short and you will need to keep flipping. The standout track for me is a song called “out the door”. I can’t wait for the full length because I think this band could pull it off since this just leaves me wanting more a lot more. This is a band that will go nicely with summer can’t wait for nice weather and RADIATOR HOSPITAL shows!

Check out this killer review in the new issue of MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL for the new West Michigan comp SPEED TRAILS:WORST BANDS OF WEST MICHIGAN.

MRR issue 336 May 2011

This is what punk is all about folks. This comp was recorded in one day last Feb. at the suicide house in Grand Rapids MI and the recording quality is really good. Seventeen bands,one house,one day wtf…..I am willing to bet that any of these bands are great to see live. This comp runs the gamut of straight ahead USHC to grind to crusty ’90s influenced HC and beyond. The variety of punk influences on this comp is pretty amazing and while this may sound like a nightmare for some it works on this record. Since pretty much every song on here is good. The standout tracks are SHATTERED BADGE.APOSTACY,ATTENTION SPAN,SCABBURGER,POSITIVE NOISE,HEGEMONICIDE,SKELETON PARTY,THE REAL BITTERS,DISSERTION, no rock stars by BUNNY SKULLS and XTRA VOMIT. I am willing to bet any of these bands are great to see live. This is a one sided LP with a screen printed b side of the state in skull form on red vinyl. Cool reused spray painted and screen printed cover. Comes with a 8.5 x 11 with one band a page. I guess shitty pixilated art is aesthetic these days. I prefer the cut and paste stuff in here. Xtra praise to XTRA VOMIT for their page about their song “manhandled” and the loads of info they took the time to get together. The only prob we have is the band order and the booklet don’t exactly match. It’s only a few pages, but anyone unfamiliar with these bands will have a hard time finding out who’s who by the end of the record. I have to insist that all songs on these need to be heard because no matter what my personal punk tastes may be our yours, this comp is what i hope is going on in all scenes across the U.S. and world. The intro of this booklet says “what you are holding is a piece of history” and while I hate statements like that, they follow it with an earnest call to punks to support their local scene. That and all the music on this comp have me agreeing. (MB)

SUPPORT RECORD STORE DAY THIS SATURDAY!!!! BUY LOCAL!!!! Both records will be at Vertigo records this Saturday.

Then tomorrow night at THE THUNDERDOME!

8 p.m. MONDAY APRIL 11

His show focuses around folks in states getting hit hard by the tsunami wave of right-wing budget cuts and attacks on organizing.

A special local guest will open the show. $5 or $10 at the door.