The Skints new album, FM comes out 3/10 and features a cover of Black Flag's My War. Catch them on tour with Easy Star All Stars. View the dates and listen to the cover along with the original for comparison.
Fall Out Boy: you either love them or you hate them. At one point, they were one of the biggest Rock bands around, surrounded by swarms of fans, money and press. But then they went on hiatus. When they returned during mid-2013, many old fans either loved the new stuff or loathed it.
Releasing what was essentially a Pop record to many, Fall Out Boy lost the respect of some fans and again came under the iron sights of lovers for the more extreme side of music. So, with the release of Pax-Am Days, can the band start to gain the respect of fellow music fans? It’s a good question and one that can only be answered in due time. But seeming as this new release is something very different to anything the band has ever previously put out, it will definitely be something that will make some people scratch their heads with some slight confusion.
Pax-Am Days is a homage of sorts for the band. It is perceived by them as a mixtape to pay their respects to the Hardcore/Punk bands they grew up listening to. An 8 track affair running for no more than a quarter-hour, it certainly seems like the right length for a Hardcore-Punk album. As for it’s sound, it definitely has that too. With fast, thrashy bangers that scream influence from bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Dead Kennedys and just about any other Punk and Hardcore act in the
80’s and 90’s, Fall Out Boy have definitely nailed the feel of their chosen genres. With highly distorted guitars, dirty-feeling bass grooves and stupid amounts of fast drumming, the band certainly knows how to construct the music. As proven from the moment you press play.
Kick starting this little love affair is the short, bittersweet banger ‘We Were Doomed From the Start (The King is Dead)’. It has a slow intro but abruptly kicks in. Imagine a kick to the private parts. That is how this feels when it kicks in. Yes, the band better known for it’s Pop-Rock music than its Hardcore-Punk can actually create something aggressive. Who would’ve guessed? But the vocals kick in and this is where you may get confused. Punk and Hardcore vocals are more commonly known as
being highly aggressive and shouty. These however, are more a-kin to that of The Dead Kennedys.
They aren’t highly shouty and you can tell that it is Patrick behind the mic. He still maintains his usual vocal style but they seem more powerful, a little more aggressive here. Whether you like them or not, they do work really well, which I find rather odd. Because although it isn’t pure aggression, it is still strong and still makes everything feel complete. The 8 track affair moves through some great tracks such as ‘Hot To The Touch, Cold On The Inside’, ‘Love, Sex, Death’ and ‘Demigods’. All appropriate song names for a Punk-infused album and they are all great to listen to.
The velocity of the instruments and the oddly amazing vocal performance contribute to a great mix that no-one would really ever expect to see from a band not known for this particular style of music. The mixtape ends on the longest track, ‘Caffeine Cold’, clocking in at 2 minutes and 44 seconds. It is a great closing track and works so very, very well. It is not only satisfying but yet truly fulfilling. A great closure to a great little piece of music.
With the album being recorded and produced within a few days, this suffers from no form of bad production quality. Ryan Adams truly knows how to handle this form of music with expert mixing and mastering. It sounds rough, dirty and slightly aggressive but that is how it is meant to sound. It works very well and is sure to please some fans that prefer even the most extreme forms of music around. You can laugh all you want about Fall Out Boy but you can’t deny that they don’t know how to make a damn good ode to the genres they grew up loving.
This could be something ignored by their fans or it could be loved by them all. It is definitely something that should garner some respect from extreme music fans and it is something that is thoroughly delightful to listen to. A Fall Out Boy fan or not, this is worth a listen, even if it is just once. It features great Punk-fueled riffs on the guitars and bass and has some terrific drumming.
The stand out for me though is the vocals. I adore some
truly aggressive vocals, being a huge extreme music fan myself but this is something so much more different to the standard Punk vocals. And I adore it. I think they are some of the most amazing vocals I’ve heard in a while. They are aggressive but yet they maintain so much beauty behind them too. They’re strong and don’t seem to falter. To anyone who reads this, I recommend looking up this short little masterpiece. I whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who wants to see a band show how
versatile they can be.
This was very unexpected of this band and I wouldn’t be surprised if people are doubtful of it. But I urge you to listen and to make up your own mind. I personally love this effort. I love the fact that they recorded an ode to a genre people wouldn’t think they would ever want to be associated with. This is not going to be something we are likely to see them doing that often, which is a shame because it suits them. But at least we’ll always have this. Something truly beautiful, unique and original. Not often I get to say that these days. Listen and decide for yourself. But I personally love this.
10/10
- Asa
In this Reddit thread, a list of the songs in Grand Theft Auto are listed along with an accompanying YouTube link. Here is a link for the entire GTA V radio. It’s a three hour download though. You can also view the tracklist below.
West Coast Classics
N.W.A. - Appetite For Destruction
Snoop Dogg Dr. Dre - Still D.R.E
Snoop Dogg Dr. Dre - The Next Episode
Geto Boys - Mind Playin’ Tricks
Tha Dogg Pound Ft. Mack 10 - Nothin’ But The Cavi Hit
Too $hort - So You Want To Be A Gangster
Kausion - What You Wanna Do (Ft. Ice Cube)
Ice Cube - You Know How We Do It
Classic Rock Stations
Steve Miller Band - Rock ‘N Me
Elton John - Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting
Julian Lennon - Too Late for Goodbyes
Greg Kihn Band - The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em)
The Doobie Brothers - What a Fool Believes
Kano - Can’t Hold Back (Your Loving)
Rick James - Give It to Me Baby
Evelyn “Champagne” King - I’m in Love
Eddie Murphy - Party All the Time
D Train - You’re the One for Me
Punk Station
T.S.O.L. - Abolish Government/Silent Majority
Suicidal Tendencies - Subliminal
Fear - The Mouth Don’t Stop (The Trouble with Women IS)
Radio Los Santos
Gucci Mane Ft. Ciara - Too Hood
[The Alchemist + Oh No (Gangrene)](?????)
Clyde Carson, The Team - Slow Down
PROBLEM ft. Glasses Malone - Say That Then
Kelly Rowland - Work (Freemasons Remix)
Game - Ali Bomaye (Explicit) ft. 2 Chainz, Rick Ross
Soulwax FM
FKCLUB - The Strange Art (ID Remix)
Joe Goddard feat. Valentina - Gabriel (Soulwax Remix)
Green Velvet & Harvard Bass - Lazer Beams
Zombie Nation - Tryouts Goose - Synrise (Soulwax Remix)
Tiga - Plush (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
Pulp - After You (Soulwax Remix)
The Hacker - Shockwave (Gesaffelstein Remix)
Non-stop Pop FM
Corona - The Rhythm of the Night.
Modjo - Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
Rihanna - Only Girl Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
Aphex Twins - Windowlicker Robyn - Every Heartbeat
The Blackout ALlstars - I Like It
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Fergie - Glamorous ft. Ludacris
Hall And Oates - Adult Education
Unknown (Suggestions?)
Waylon Jennings - Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way
Jay Rock Feat. Kendrick Lamar - Hood Gone Love It
Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake - Small Faces
The Dogg Pound - What Would You Do
The Game - Ali Bomaye ft. 2 Chainz, Rick Ross
Bernard Wright - Haboglabotribin’
Taana Gardner - Heartbeat (Club Version)
Zapp - Heartbreaker. Pt. 1, Pt. 2
Chief Keef - Love Sosa (Not 100% on this song.)
Marlena Shaw - California Soul
Outkast - Elevators (Me & You)
Regulate - Warren G and Nate Dogg
Henry Rollins will head out on a speaking tour from September to November that will make a stop in all 50 states and the District of Columbia leading up to this November’s election. He’s dubbing it the Capitalism Tour; dates are below.
9/6 Honolulu, HI Hawaiian Brian’s
9/8 Juneau, AK Arts & Culture Center
9/10 Olympia, WA The Capitol Theater
9/11 Salem, OR Historic Elsinore Theatre
9/13 Sacramento, CA Crest Theatre
9/14 Carson City, NV Brewery Arts Center
9/15 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom
9/16 Salt Lake City, UT The State Room
9/18 Boise, ID Knitting Factory
9/19 Helena, MT Myrna Loy Center
9/20 Cheyenne, WY Cheyenne Depot Museum
9/21 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre
9/22 Santa Fe, NM Sol Santa Fe
9/23 Austin, TX Scottish Rite Theater
9/24 Oklahoma City, OK Diamond Ballroom
9/26 Pierre, SD TF Riggs High School (“SD BookFestival”)
9/27 St. Paul, MN Fitzgerald Theater
9/28 Bismarck, ND Dakota Stage Playhouse
9/30 Lincoln, NE Rococo Theatre
10/1 Des Moines, IA Wooly’s
10/2 Topeka, KS Hills Festival Hall @ Topeka PAC
10/3 Little Rock, AR Juanita’s
10/4 Jefferson City, MO Etta & Joseph Miller PAC
10/5 Indianapolis, IN Egyptian Room @ Old National Centre
10/6 Columbus, OH LC Pavilion
10/8 Lansing, MI Cooley Temple @ Thomas M. Cooley Law School
10/9 Madison, WI Barrymore Theatre
10/10 Nashville, TN Belcourt Theater
10/11 Springfield, IL Hoogland Center For The Arts
10/12 Frankfort, KY Grand Theatre
10/14 Jackson, MS Duling Hall
10/15 Baton Rouge, LA Manship Theatre
10/16 Montgomery, AL Capri Theatre
10/17 Tallahassee, FL Ruby Diamond Concert Hall @ FSU
10/18 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
10/19 Columbia, SC Columbia Museum Of Art
10/20 Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
10/21 Richmond, VA The National
10/23 Charleston, WV Culture Center Theater
10/24 Harrisburg, PA Whitaker Center
10/25 Albany, NY The Egg
10/26 Montpelier, VT Alumni Hall @ Vermont College Of Fine Arts
10/27 Concord, NH Capitol Center for the Arts
10/28 Augusta, ME Cony High School Auditorium
10/30 Boston, MA Berklee Performing Arts Center
10/31 Dover, DE Schwartz Center For The Arts
11/1 Providence, RI Lupo’s
11/2 Hartford, CT Webster Theater
11/3 Trenton, NJ New Jersey State Museum Auditorium
11/4 Annapolis, MD Rams Head On Stage
11/5 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
Every Time I Die are keeping busy these days; they put out a new record, Ex-Lives (which sold nearly 14,300 copies in its first week, landing them at #20 on the Billboard 200) finished up a headliner with Stray From The Path, and now are direct support for The Devil Wears Prada. I had the chance to chat with Andy about their new video, Revival Mode, Warped Tour and his opinion on the current music scene.
You just put out a video for Revival Mode; was the guy in the wheelchair inspired by Breaking Bad or is there another story behind the video?
To be honest, I have no idea. This dude hit us up and wanted to do a video where Keith, Jordan and legs were killers and Steve and I were victims. That’s pretty much all I got from it.
I saw your recent interview where you defended Sonny Moore (aka Skrillex); any chance you’d ever collaborate with him?
I’m not sure. Dudes voice is cool, but I’m not a big fan of dusted. So I’d rather him sing on something, and then cut it up. He’s a good dude though
When I interviewed Tom from Stray From The Path; he told me he saw you guys playing a garage when he was growing up and now you’re touring together. It’s crazy how things come full circle.
Yeah, he was kind of blowing my mind on that tour. He’s been around a long time to. I had no clue they liked the band, I was really into Stray and then we played a fest in Michigan together and kind of jerked each other off there!
How does feel to be playing Warped Tour again this year? Are you gonna write a blog about generic, autotuned bands like Keith did in 2010?
I don’t think I really have to with how saturated the world is with dog shit. I’m more concerned with slaying mother fuckers sonically. I’ll probably talk shit here and there though.
Speaking of, what is your opinion on the current state of the music scene?
To be honest, there are REAL bands on the rise. letlive, Stray From The Path, The Ghost Inside, Balance and Composure, Title Fight and then the current hardcore scene is stronger than ever with bands like Cruel Hand, Bitter End, Terror, Trapped Under Ice, Alpha and Omega and such. Then metal has Black Breath, which are making metal real again, cause that scene is about as watered down as ever, but Black Breath are the real fucking deal.
What do you feel has contributed to your long career as a band? Bands like Haste The Day, Thrice, and Thursday have recently broken up, bands that had been at it for a while.
I think it’s because we never let the major label world get involved. We never gave a fuck about anything but slaying, dicing, pulverizing, and decimating ear drums. A lot of bands get caught up in bullshit business and forget about being a band of dudes.
When appealing to different sets of fan bases, new and old, young and old, what is the thought process when trying to write something that has an appeal to both, but also embodies what ETID is?
We just play. Honestly, we get up and play. No thought goes into who is coming to see us.
You’ve been in this band since 1998 — there have definitely been some hard times along the way; have you ever considered quitting the band, and if so, what things encouraged you to stick with it?
There’s been a lot of hard times, but I’m no quitter and when I have thought it might be time to hang it up, I have a great band of guys that make it easy not to. I surround myself with the best band on the planet.
The music industry has changed significantly since you guys started out. What advice would you give upcoming bands— musically and business-wise?
Just remember why you started riffing. It wasn’t to open for Metallica or make a million dollars and if it is what you’re in it for, then I hope you get electrocuted plugging your laptop and Pro-Tools rig in on stage.
Musically and lyrically, what are some of the personal things that had an effect on the outcome of this new record? How does Ex-Lives reflect the sound or message?
Coffee, I drank coffee for the first time ever while writing and recording this record.
What are some of the particular messages you tried to get across in the lyrical content of this record?
Riffer madness
Last question: What are one book and one band that you’d recommend to anyone that listens to your band?
Spray Paint The Walls. It’s a book about Black Flag that’s done by every person involved, not just Henry Rollins. Balance and Composure; they’re the best band out now.
