Monday Photo Blog: mixed bag edition

Took a little break last week, as I was out wandering around the Mojave Desert and Death Valley. But we’re back in business this week with a little selection from a number of different photographers…

Seasick @ The Charleston, Brooklyn, NY December 2009 (photo by Justina Villanueva)

Cro Mags, Rancho Relaxo, Toronto, 31 October 2009 (photo by Rob Ferraz)

This Moment in Black History @ Mango's, Houston, TX 17 March 2010 (photo by David Ensminger)

Rape Revenge @ The Dollhouse, Calgary, AB. Feb. 26th, 2010 (photo by Trista Croft)

Wanna submit a photo for the MRR Photo Blog?

If you shoot shows and have photos you want to submit for the MRR Blog, send them to: markmurrmann {at} gmail(.)com. Be sure to put “MRR Photo Blog” in the subject. Include your name, the band, where and when it was shot. Just send your best photos – edit tightly. Three to five photos is plenty. We will be exercising a little quality control here…not everything sent in will be posted. Please size your photos so they are 500 pixels (72 dpi) at the longest side.

There are a lot of awesome photographers out there shooting shows…and there are a lot of unseen archives of old shows. Show us what you’ve got!

We’d love to mix it up with some old photos. Dig into your archives and send some of those lost gems.

Punx for Haiti — this Sunday!

New Band Spotlight: Mothercountry Motherfuckers

(photo by Karoline Collins)

Sometimes living in The Bay just rules, and you find yourself in a basement in West Oakland with 20 other people and you’re eating pizza and then these four dudes walk in wearing masks and blood-spattered clothes and they just blow you away with insanely catchy songs played at a deafening volume. MOTHERCOUNTRY MOTHERFUCKERS take the good things about ’90s melodic hardcore and make them better…and then throw in a video show and between song samples that are as much a part of the live show as the band itself. Total mystery act, but if you keep your eyes peeled, you might get lucky (like at Submission for the MRR Presents gig on May 20, for instance).

Blog of the Week: DIY Irish Punk Archive

We’ve got a few kick-ass “Blog of the Week” posts in the works for you all, but while waiting for those to ripen I had to find something good to offer you this week… It’s nearly impossible to just google search for good punk shit these days, since a million lame poser piece of shit websites likes to call themselves “DIY”, “underground”, etc. So it was pretty lucky, I think, that a search for “punk out of print diy” popped this bad puppy to the top of the list.

It’s the DIY Irish Hardcore Punk Archive, and the name says it all. It’s an excellent, growing selection of great Irish punk from past to present. Unlike many other music download sites, this one actually makes a point not to post currently in-print music, so you can surf and download with a clean conscience. I was stoked to find music available from some of my old favorites like CIUNAS and NOT OUR WORLD. And I discovered an awesome new favorite in a 2009 demo by FAG ENABLERZ (I know, I couldn’t resist clicking that name to see what it was)…

Always a country for hilarious band names, why not check out DR. SHITFACE or PINK TURDS IN SPACE? Yes, they’re both great! And there’s even a zine section, which yours truly can hardly wait to dive into. Excellent site!

Motley Crue Dead of Winter Tour!! Check it!!

Nikki discusses Sixx Sense with Entertainment Weekly's website.CLICK HERE to go directly to the interview

[Bonus] New Band Spotlight/Video of the Week: Bog People

Killer bands from Portland shouldn’t really be much or a newsflash these days, as the ratio of productive punks to normal humans seems to be rather skewed up there, but sometimes even when you are ready for it, you get your face melted. PDX’s BOG PEOPLE just scurried their way down (and up) the West Coast with VIVID SEKT, and the SF show was at the Li Po Lounge in Chinatown (great spot, by the way…all the atmosphere of a Midwest basement show but with $4 beers and an unfortunate 21+ entry policy). New band MERDOSO played their first show (folks from PELIGRO SOCIAL and Eye-Man playing a wall of mid-paced D-beat), then DOPECHARGE did what they do, fast and chaotic with extra guitar leads.  VIVID SEKT set the mood, then came the fog machine, and then came 14 minutes of UK82 worship and flanged guitars and chains and studs and awkward off-kilter songs that made me want to pogo my life away in that shitty basement. See the video, and you’ll start the pogo pit right in front of your computer. Seriously…I dare you.  The show in LA was even more epic (or so I have been told), with venue owners calling off the gig, The Ponx (yes, with an ‘O’) grabbing a generator and relocating to a freeway underpass and the show blazing sans PA into the night before the cops came and the kids scattered…too bad there ain’t a video of that.

Editor’s note: Sorry the first video is not the right one (my fault, not Robert’s), but it felt a shame to take it down because it’s reallyawesome too Anyway, here it is, from the Li Po Lounge, green lighting, fog and all… Apologies to Roseman…

roseman (kevin) | MySpace Video

Check out the GREATEST HITS, 11/17!

MEDIAALERT....MOTLEY CRUE ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR A NEW GREATEST HITS ALBUM – TO BERELEASED NOVEMBER 17........New York, NY (October2009) --- Mötley Crüe have announced plans for an updat...

New Band Spotlight: Speed Kills

From this month’s MRR magazine (#324 • May 2010)…

(photo by Wander Willian)

SPEED KILLS – demo
What we have here are five killer songs from this Brazilian band that sounds like a deliciously fast baby spawned by LIMP WRIST and some modern Italian hardcore lover that really isn’t around too much, but has left a genetic mark — whoa… The vocals are gruff, screamy and in Portuguese. The lyrics are about human waste, struggling again the odds and looking ahead, among other things, with references to Mad Max mixed in. This music is tight and fierce. Their track “A Cura” has some killer female vocals that made me stop what I was doing. The recording quality is great and it came with a cool DIY screened back patch that will probably be on my next vest. Try to get your hands on this, or at least watch out for this bands official release, cuz this is gooood! (Mariam) (5-song CD-R, lyrics included, myspace.com/speedkillsparanoia)