#374

I don’t think I can be a punk writer. I can only write about punk. I had this hesitation over the idea whether one can be a punk on a lonely island without anything to be opposed against. Nowadays I feel like the only punk things I do are cheating taxes and making my lonely island mega mix with PUNK music. I rarely leave my flat on punk cruises and I easily get distracted by people who are hanging out. I’m allergic to dork fun.

            Did I tell you that food is the new rock and roll? Everybody is talking more about nappa cabbage than early Agnostic Front. I do too. Cause I like food, food is good. It’s not that I’ve been burnt out. I’m making my denim jacket more punk, it’s like my bike in my garage what I like to fix in my free time and I do wear it when I go to buy food. Circle is closed.

            I’m writing a fanzine. There is one I actually spend time with writing and there are two others I write in my head. My ass is getting bigger so I might be able to sit on it more. Calvin Johson said he is too punk to sit down thus he doesn’t have time for that. That might be true since he was dancing even to his acapella songs when I saw him perform.

            Dave Smalley said something else. That hardcore is an American invention. Yeah right, but Europe is a cool place to get money for your nostalgia tours. Reagan Youth asks for 1000 euros to play a gig here. When some local guy said we should chip in and book them I rushed to youtube to check out how fucking sad their gigs are. They are depressing even for me who is heading from a country that once produced a song that was banned because too many people were influenced by it to commit suicide. For me that’s a lullaby.

            Punks are depressed because they face too many problems they can worry about but we are too dumb to figure out alternatives as solutions. But being a punk is not depressing. I guess. Cause even pieces of top class journalism are beautiful examples how there is something more that can be created by reporting this confusion. Confusion is people around us who keep me away from doing PUNK stuffz.

            Even if there is no hope there are beauty that is created in opposition of madness. Transformed chaos into bright sentences or total blasting cacophony. I’m talking about punk music right now.

            Things I don’t get about the scene today:  People complaining about every band sounding the same. I mean wearing white pants with Void shirts is awesome just as much as putting feedback into your songs in which fast parts are bridged together with these really ignorant stomping parts. Stomping is awesome and Oi is good.

            This is called a sub-genre. If you don’t like it find another one but there won’t be anything that is called being original. It’s not because everybody is copying everybody else it’s because people like, think and do the same stuffs even if they have never heard about each other’s works. It’s either this or I lead a fucking mediocore life.

            The point is as always to be happy. And I’m more than happy when I discover French hyper speed bands making amazing noise. Too bad amazing-core is to describe terrible bands bros could mosh to. But Mopo Mogo and Scraps are fucking fast and at the same time something that is more than your average case of upbeat tempo. I prefer guitars above everything but the drums on these records are crazy cause they sound as, and maybe that’s the real case, they are not even played by humans. As their songs being played the resonance makes it to be more than just noise, not music but life. So when I found them one after another on a pointless weekday night wandering on youtube I was elevated by the discoveries of hidden treasures of people. Great punk music has this ingredient in themselves to show human reactions to the world. So everything that is fucked up and sounds as a mistake is the best cause real people are fucked up and they are making mistakes all the time. Thus great music sounds like as these innocent failures are glued together with enthusiasm, creativity and freedom. Mopo Mogo sounds so futuristic with it’s vibrating, neon after taste guitar sound that is swinging on the hyper fast basics that are in a way humanoidly strange. His slower songs are pre-visioning the bedroom romanticism of huge cities that are attacked by bad weather in regular occasions. Less Bleeping and whipping but enough bizarre sorrow and personal craziness.

            Scraps on the other hand are reminding me to Rapt. But instead of how Rapt was doing everything a bit too much and then a little bit more, Scraps are more focused on blindly spreading out their craziness but forming it more ugly and filthy. They are not lacking melodies which is great cause they turn these catchy guitar parts into full blown dissonance thus their songs are punk and noise at the same time. From the beginning till the end they create a contrast in which aggression and harmony are going hand in hand. It’s so unreal and unusual I can not resist to love it. So strange this is just a band I have stumbled into on a random day and no one ever mentioned them to me. Please keep telling me that we only should listen to the best and most original bands cause hardcore is boring and everyone sounds the same.

            I watched this movies called the Nymphomaniac and I was thinking about the main character’s need for sex. Did she simply need sex, the act or sex with as many people she could have? Was it her search for the perfect orgasm? Why do I have to listen to more and more bands? Why is it I found a sound and I wanna hear it’s other versions from other times, from other people and from other countries? Why do I want the whole world to make perfect punk music? Is it because I know they can or I still haven’t found that one perfect sound that satisfies my need? I too do like what this obsession has done with me. I do feel frustrated and let down when I have my own hesitations. Even when it just connects to listening to music.

            I do hate myself when I seemingly stopped writing about music million sentences ago but I did not.

            If you put together Fix, Necros and Negative Approch there are differences but not as big as that you can’t say the same things about these bands. Originality is amazing but I don’t listen to Home Blitz, Total Control, Swell Maps, Johnny Moped all year. It’s cool when you are able to create space in your music to fit a tasteful variety of different sounds but trust me this balloon could pop cause I was in a jam band and it was a great experience but I was eager to join a hardcore band and stomp again. In Void shirts wearing white pants attacking the crowd, dancing weirdly.

            Few days ago I was listening to SSD’s Get it Away on my walk in the fully sunshined city. I realized again this is a great record made by probably really dumb people. It’s visceral and aggressive has no clue what to do and it has a Buzzcocks cover as well. The whole thing is so good. But is it that American? Maybe the way they present their music is but the fundamental idea behind the music at least for me doesn’t really connects to the land of apple pies and freedom fighting eagles. Is it that original?

            Is it better than UBR? Super fast and freakish Yugoslavian band with non stop guitar attacks, filth, anger and noise is all around the place. Some solos that are born on a dead end path appear in the back but they died off so quick. This band sounds like falling. Not that bouncey as SSD but beside that groove there is not just aggression in their music but struggle. They sound like it’s their only chance to survive the Yugoslavian reality. It’s no hobby for them. There is something on stake in their music. After all it’s entertaining but not as funny as SSD could be.

            As final thoughts I wanna add that I have just recently seen Hytserics play and that band is amazing because they are so free. Sadly it’s really rare that people are brave enough to be themselves and as Stephanie dances on the stage screaming crazy and not giving a fuck is such a liberating experience. They do play a style that is easy to describe and they might not the most perfect players of it BUT they are one of the truest people who are playing it since they do whatever they want. Interview here soon. Till then see them live if you can and check out Vacum an amazing Swedish punk band.