Are you looking for the perfect partner? Sylvain Tognelli, Mauro Caruso, Roland Hirsch, Daniel Pannemann and Lennie Burmeister are out there in search of fun, join them at the barrier of love today. “I’m looking for the Goddess” you have to rewind that shit. Too funny.
For those who have forgotten that DVD’s are to be cherished, collected, watched over and over and sniffed like tub of marzipan, the new Heroin Skateboards flick ‘Video Nasty‘ is now available on iTunes and can now be purchased online.
Here’s a new trailer to whet your appetite. You need this in your life because it’s rad. It’s that simple.
Mission Of Burma
The Haunt, Brighton
July 1st 2013
“We love Brighton. We love your winkles, cockles and eels,” laughs drummer Peter Prescott from behind the perspex screens that shield his drums from guitarist Roger Miller’s tinnitus (the band originally disbanded in 1983 because of this). Boston alternative music legends Mission Of Burma are in jovial moods tonight. It doesn’t matter to them that the venue is only half full for their performance, they are dead set on having fun and are still, all of these years down the line, so thrilled by the music they play. You can see it in their faces. This is the noise they live for and it’s not hard to see why.
Unlike so many of the bands born out of punk that are still playing, Mission Of Burma (and their UK contemporaries Wire) are one of the few to still be creating new music that stands proud, head and shoulders next to their classic early records. In fact, I would go as far to say that their latest album ‘Unsound’ is possibly even better than some of their early recordings; it forms a large chunk of tonight’s set and sits perfectly next to eighties Burma anthems played tonight such as ‘Academy Fight Song’ and ‘This Is Not A Photograph’. New songs such as ‘This Is Hi-Fi’, ‘Add In Unison’ and ‘7’s’ (sung by bassist Clint Conley) nail everything that is special about this band. Everything stems from drummer Pete Prescott. He plays in such a weird, off-beat individual style that his playing really anchors the root of Burma’s sound – Roger and Clint pin their guitars around his ever evolving rhythms. Yes, they are weird and discordant but the noise never compromises the melody or energy. Despite their quirks, Mission of Burma is still a balls out high-energy punk band kicking out the jams harder than most.
It doesn’t even matter that they leave the stage without playing their hit ‘That’s When I Reach For My Revolver’ – to them, it’s their ‘Smoke On The Water’ – the albatross around their necks. As good a song as it is, it’s not missed and Burma leave us with our ears ringing and our faces grinning. Please come back soon.
James Sherry
Weekend
‘Mirror’
Slumberland Records
There’s a reason why 80’s inspired post-punk never seems to go away – when it’s done well, it can be devastating. Thanks to bands like Savages, These New Puritans and Crossfire favourites Wax Idols, there’s a dark new wave flooding the scene. Brooklyn trio Weekend are another contender fighting for a space on that brooding storm cloud.
Latest track ‘Mirror’, taken from their forthcoming album Jinx, glides between melody and intensity, with that driving Peter Hook-esque bassline pulsating throughout, held together with almost tribal drumming. Immersive and powerful, hazy but not overwhelming, ‘Mirror’ doesn’t deny its influences but is exciting enough to avoid sounding unoriginal or dated. The hugely memorable vocal, “I feel sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, in my heart” could easily sound trite in the wrong hands, but it’s sang with such conviction on ‘Mirror’ that instead it just tightens the songs grip.
The passion exhibited on the track may in part be due to the fact singer Shaun Durkan’s father played in 80s post-punk band Half-Church. Choosing to embrace his father’s influence rather than rebel against it has clearly enhanced the band’s sound, but Weekend are well on the way to forging their own distinct history – having already toured with Pains of Being Pure at Heart and British post-punk royalty Wire.
Weekend’s forthcoming album Jinx will be out through Slumberland Records in July.
Augustus Groove
Drug Church
‘Donny’s Woods’
No Sleep Records
This is the first glimpse of material from Drug Church’s upcoming debut ‘Paul Walker’. The band side with AltPress to premiere their new song ‘Donny’s Woods’, described by frontman Patrick Kindlon; “For everyone who ever thought about faking their own death, we present ‘Donny’s Woods’ a song about how quickly people will forget about your ass.”
Drug Church’s assuring ode to the reclusive is everything you’d expect, hard and fast, quick and nasty. Expect more of the same from these degenerate punk loners on their ordinarily titled debut album Paul Walker due July 22nd through No Sleep Records, it’s sure to be a belter.
Dave Palmer
It’s roasting out there this month and it seems WESC have a perfect solution to the problem of sticky knees in the Conway’s.
These shorts come in black, crocodile green, golden brown, blue and more colurways and fit the bill from the front to the back. They also come with a zipper instead of buttons which is my preferred way of finding my way out of trouble at the time of need. You will find two deep pockets up front, two regs at the back, and a tiny pocket usually associated with males for johnny’s, stash, memory cards and the like.
These are super-soft, super-comfy, and are super must have’s for the summer months ahead.
Death Skateboards are coming out strong for the summer with an animated team series of Supervillain’s for some of their pro team. The artwork was provided by the wonderful work of Jon Horner, who seems to be extremely busy this year crafting his skills for the British scene.
Patrick Melcher, Zarosh, Mark Nicolson, Rob Smith, Richie Jackson and even Matt Pritchard all have pro models that will be heading to your local skate shop within the next week or so. Order yours today.
If you have your eyes on the prize this month you would already be ahead of the game reading what the Chrome Ball Incident blog has served up. Years of incredible interviews are coming to an end, as it’s unfortunutely shutting down on July 12th – a big shame really as this blog has better skate interviews than most mags. Colin McKay’s recent interview was one of my personal all time faves but there are so many more.
They are going out in style though, with Lance Mountain, Julien Stranger, Daewon Song, Marc Johnson, Bobby Puleo and more involved in discussing skate history in the last 2 weeks with interviews and guest posts. Huge props to Eric (Chops) Swisher for all his huge amounts of hard work to keep this going for so long, he has inspired and entertained us with his skateboard knowledge for as long as I can remember and will be sorely missed.
This summer’s most talked about skate shoe comes from Lakai in the shape of the Griffin. Up until I managed to completely annihilate both of my ankles in a bowl 6 weeks ago, these beauties delivered me justice on every session. Low cut, super comfortable and grip-friendly to the tape, the Griffin’s come packed as a shoe you can skate in straight out of the box.
Highly recommended.
The good folk of Lakai have rolled out the ultimate sunshine tripper this year in the Camby shoe. It’s a simple number that comes in either canvas or suede that perform as a perfect all-round chiller. I have had these on now for a month and just managed to get them in the washing machine to freshen them up, as there’s been no need for socks in this heat, unless you are someone who has adopted the ‘long sock and roll’ look. They came out of this cycle fine, to live another day, just doing what they do best, which is pretty much taking care of business of my feet on a hot summer’s day.
You can skate in these of course as Stevie Perez proves in the clip below, but don’t expect a simple shoe like this to last forever when hitting your grip tape every day. They come with a vulc sole in black, green, port, red, navy and even a cloud design in light blue and fluffy white. The best part of this is that they are made by skaters, for skaters, so take that in the next time you are stood in your local skate shop and #chooseskateboarding.
