Various Artists “A Punk Tribute to Metallica” (Cleopatra Records) Ok, for this I will put aside my personal ban on all things Metallica. The band went from a place so holy in my heart, I’’ve got pictures of myself in…
Remover ““Breakdown Barrier”” (Blue Worm Records) Indie rock from the Twin Cities. To drop an early nineties Midwest comparison, a little Superball 63 vibe in the dingy guitar rock sound of Remover. Most of the songs here are charged with…
SPM ““Time Is Money”” (Dope House Records / Universal) SPM stands for South Park Mexican. No, he didn’’t kill Kenny, and he’s not Cartman’’s dad. The name comes from his neighborhood in Houston, Texas, where SPM has been building a…
Scum of the Earth ““Better Late than Never”” (Boot to Head Records) Scum of the Earth is fucking cool. They are punk as fuck for using the word society so many times. Definite punk gurus of Australia. Down under. They…
Skyclad ““Folkemon”” (Nuclear Blast) Skyclad hits as strong as ever with their tenth album in as many years together as a band. Not much has changed between their first and tenth full length albums. Most notably, the songs all hang…
Small Town Hero / Voice of Reason ““Things to do in Connecticut when you are dead”” (Triple Crown Records) A handful of songs from two decent indie rock bands. Small Town Hero has a great bass pushed sound and dual…
Spacemen 3 ““The Singles”” (Taang! Records) If you love spacey drone garage rock ala The Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3 will not disappoint. This 11 track collection of singles clocks in at 79:58 and every track is worth your hypnotic attention.…
Unearth ““The Stings of Conscience”” (Eulogy Recordings) Immediately the listener is kicked with this demented skipping whine and stuttering drums before the bark scrapes through and I knew this was going to be crushing ride. The first surprise was the…
(this interview originally appeared in issue #6 of Modern Fix Magazine in 2001). – interview by michael bushman “It was pretty scary. We were all away in Florida and we’re from Boston. With a broken window with AIDS splattered all…
Poor Rich Ones ““Happy Happy Happy”” (Rec 90/Five One Inc.) I pop the CD in the tray, press play and…..Radiohead? Na, it’s a pop/alternative band from Norway called “Poor Rich Ones”. This happy quartet (now trio) produces rich tones that…