Life In A Bungalo

Rise Against managed to do the impossible. A quartet of California hardcore kids (including former members of punk band 88 Fingers Louie) got so big on Fat Wreck Chords that they incited a major label bidding war for their services. After signing to Geffen, they released their tightest, catchiest records to date and received complete creative control of their music. While bands like Thursday and H2O fought to break free of their major label chains, Rise Against embraced the machine and used the band’s success to promote their music and message. Life In A Bungalo spoke with founding member and bassist Joe Principe to find out what all the fuss is about. Read more »

Mad Marge & The Stonecutters
The Knitting Factory
August 12, 2007
Click for Full Photolog of the show on Flickr!

It took quite a few years, but Mad Marge and her merry band of Stonecutters have made their way to the East Coast, and it was worth the wait. BullGooseLooney opened the show with a set that would have probably rocked my world back in 1995. Blink 182 meets Screeching Weasel style pop-punk with tons of energy. These youngsters from Glen Ridge, New Jersey seem to have their sound down pat, but they lost points for making the crowd wait for 10 minutes so they could find another amp head. A real punk band would have kicked over their stack and just cranked out the jams with the second guitar playing lead. I mean, when you get a chance to play NYC, the last thing you need to do is look like wimps while pussing around with your overpriced amp.

The Stonecutters proceeded to show the kids how its done, storming the stage and demolishing the tiny club with a half hour set of psychobilly terror. The band interspersed songs off their upcoming record with classics like “Monster Hiding Under The Bed,” to the delight of the hardcore fans singing along in front of the stage. Singer Alicia “Mad Marge” Ridenour is the spitting image of Gwen Stefani, but the Stonecutters are definitely not No Doubt. In fact, this isn’t even your father’s Stonecutters—the line-up from a few years back received a complete overhaul with a new rhythm section, and the addition of a second guitarist. The sound is monstrously huge now. Throughout the set, Ridenour pounced at the crowd, passing the mic and beckoning the fans to sing along. Everyone felt the buzz, and even though she said she was sick, Mad Marge kicked everyone’s ass. Here’s hoping they head over the east coast again in the near future—Hell, New Jersey has a Springfield too.

Click for Full Photolog of the show on Flickr!

Tiger Army
Music from Regions Beyond
Hellcat

You sure can’t accuse Tiger Army of falling into the psychobilly stereotype. Not a single one of their four records has sounded alike, and their latest effort, “Music From Regions Beyond,” is the most unusual Tiger Army record yet. Blending traditional punk, psycho thump, and pop, Tiger Army songwriter and ringleader Nick 13 has created a record that brutally pounds one second, and can make fans dance the next.

The record opens with the usual intro track and then flows into an AFI-tinged punk romp that strays almost into hardcore. Nick quickly puts the kibosh on the punk with the twangy ballad “Afterworld” that sounds like most of the slower temp tracks off of their last record. Then things get strange. “Forever Fades Away,” “Lunatone,” and “As The Cold Rain Falls” have that tap tap tap cymbal noise found so frequently on records like Franz Ferdinand. Hell, the latter song comes off like a rockabilly New Order. At first I cried, but the more I listen to the record, the cooler it sounds. “Music From Regions Beyond” is filled with ’80s nuances and Nick’s voice works so well with the pop tracks you can’t help but give the guy credit for branching out. Read more »

The Nightwatchman
One Man Revolution
Sony

“You don’t gotta be loud, son/To be heavy as shit,” sings Tom Morello on “Maximum Firepower,” proving literally that he doesn’t need a wall of distortion and the power of his electric guitar to pound out powerful tunes. Somewhere between the end of Audioslave and the resurrection of Rage Against The Machine, guitar virtuoso Morello managed to crank out a collection or rebel songs that are stripped down and blister with intensity.

Most of the record is acoustic, but Morello is occasionally accompanied by strings and woodwinds. Comparisons to Springsteen’s “Nebraska” a hard to ignore, but the first thing that really comes to mind is Leonard Cohen with the sadness of Nick Cave. Morello’s baritone isn’t exactly melodic, but these catchy calls for revolution  carry all the fist pumping venom of his electric work. Stand out tracks include the title track, which adds piano and a chorus of guitars for a punk tune dripping with acoustic texture; the rocking “House Gone Up in Flames;” and the anti-war anthem “Battle Hymns,” which recalls Cohen more than any other song on the record. Read more »

Warped Tour 2007
Englishtown, NJ
August 5, 2007
Click for Full Photolog of the show on Flickr!

Boy, was the 13th edition of the traveling punk circus The Warped Tour lame this year or what? A good 90 percent of the bands on the bill skewed towards emo crap, and judging by the boy to 14-year-old girl ratio, most of the fans weren’t even alive when headliner Bad Religion’s “Recipe For Hate” came out in 1993. Read more »

The guys behind the documentary “Toypunks” have released a teaser trailer for the upcoming movie. The film delves into the relationship between designer toys and punk rock and features interviews with the creators of Secret Base, Bounty Hunter, Frank Kozik, Balzac, and more.

I just got back from a pretty nutty short film festival hosted and sponsored by Scion, the groovy car company that Toyota pretends not to own. Ten films were shown to a rowdy crowd of NYC hipsters who seemed to be more into chatting up their own film projects and drinking free liquor than actually watching the films. Life In A Bungalo braved the hostile environment and caught four of the 15 minute flicks. Read more »

John Doe
Maxwell’s
July 30, 2007
Click for Full Photolog of the show on Flickr!

One thing I’m starting to notice is that although many of my favorite rockers are getting pretty damn old, most of them still know how to rock. X frontman John Doe is no exception. This past Monday night, the punker turner actor turned icon churned out a bitchin’ set in front of a few dozen diehard fans in Hoboken, New Jersey. Read more »