
This band could be your life. Working the aesthetics of '80s blue collar punk rock, The Garrison's meat-and-potatoes snarl is reflective of the scene in which they play. For every Josh Krajcik/singer-songwriter opting for the open mic nights at clubs like Woodlands and Rumba Cafe, there's a half dozen noisy, guitar-rockers pounding out music that inspires fist-pumping and slam dancing in venues that require hazmat suits to enter the bathrooms. MP3: The Garrison - "Greely Chapel" Like thrash metal, there's a certain timeless [...]
Kurt Ballou is the guitarist for Converge and runs/is Godcity Recording Studio. In both of these capacities he has been a big part of making some of my favorite music ever. Screw the commonly used term "arguably" – Converge's last record is their best/hardest record yet. And Kurt's recording style presents live-sounding documents of aggressive [...]

For the second straight year, the Metronome Celebration will grace Milwaukee Avenue at Armitage and Western in Chicago's Logan Square on Saturday, June 12, and Sunday, June 13. The year's festival boasts four stages - each one focusing on a different genre. Saturday, June 12, will offer a Latin Rock stage curated by the Congress Theatre and an Indie Rock stage programmed by the Empty Bottle . On Sunday, June 13, the festival features a Folk stage planned by the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues festival , and a Punk stage booked by [...]

Filed under: News , New Music , Exclusive When Alkaline Trio decided to get back to their roots for their upcoming seventh album , they only had to look to their hometown of Chicago for inspiration. "While we were there recording, we saw a lot of old friends we haven't seen in a long time," singer/guitarist Matt Skiba tells Spinner. "We've always been big fans of Screeching Weasel, Pegboy and Naked Raygun , our forefathers in the Chicago punk scene. Hanging out with everybody then [...]
Just look at this line-up for Riot Fest 2009, which is celebrating it's fifth anniversary. How could it not rule? (Ahem) ... Screeching Weasel, Naked Raygun, Dead Milkmen, Butthole Surfers NOFX, Alkaline Trio, Murder City Devils,The Dead Milkmen & Cock Sparrer, 88 Fingers Louie, Riverboat Gamblers, Pegboy, No Empathy, Youth Brigade, Teenage Bottlerocket, Lower Class Brats, [...]

Wow! Articles of Faith , my old favorite hardcore band from 1981-1984 in Chicago, came together (3/5 anyway) over last weekend at Chicago's Beat Kitchen (along with Report Suspicious Activity and Pegboy ). Here are some great pix from Patrick - msigarmy from Saturday night. Blogger Bill Raid was there and lived to write about it. Ex-AOF singer Vic Bondi plays with Report Suspicious Activity and I guess behind-the-scenes events conspired [...]

With all the hoo-ha swarming around The New Yorker 's cover depicting Barbara and Michael Obama dressed as costume party attendees not one reporter has bothered to notice that the magazine completely swiped the idea from Athens band Cars Can Be Blue who were originally going to call their new album The New Yorker in honor of Jeff Tobias . The band, who's new album Doubly Unbeatable , is out now on HHBTM Records [...]
The Daily News wrote a while back about a guy who died falling down an escalator at Shea Stadium. The article described how this guy, a hard-working Dad, fell to his death while his children watched in horror. They closed the article by mentioning that this is Shea's last season in business. Very interesting. You know what makes me feel good? A warm shower that lasts as long as I want, and the Pegboy song, " Through My Fingers ". When Naked Raygun broke up I felt a hard [...]
According to her myspace she's turned 30, but my drivers liscence says I weigh 190 pounds so who knows what her real age is. Kamala has been a very large influence on my musical tastes. I used to steal all her tapes and CDs on a regular basis. She had some of the best taste in music out of anyone I know until she started getting into 60's and 70's music. So today is a very large post of some of the music my sister has [...]
If there's one movie I could watch over and over again, it will be Empire Records (1995) . It's not an Oscar-winning or any other award-winning movie for that matter, but it has got a bunch of young movie superstars-to-be, a supeeerb boss, memorable quotes, and one hell of a soundtrack. This movie and soundtrack inspired my youth in the 1990s. Oh cliché. So here in the spirit of ushering the new year, I present to you, my entire collection of tracks from Empire Records I have managed to find over the years. [...]
Alright, so it's taken a while to get back to reality, and although I said I'd post about the Touch & Go 25th Anniversary all week, I think I will condense it to 3 days, since the event itself was held over 3 unforgettable days. For those of you not in the loop, Touch & Go Records is undeniably one of the most important labels in modern rock history. I first became conscious of the label in 1991, ten years after its inception, when I first heard some Jesus Lizard. Since that point, my college years were dominated by 90's [...]