As part of an all too rare East Coast tour, Portland’s Poison Idea came to Brooklyn on August 31^st, 2013 for a matinee show at St. Vitus. We got there late, misdirection’s wreaking havoc with our schedule, which was thankfully set right by a friendly cyclist who stopped to offer directions. Arrived just in time for Massachusetts’ Dick Move opening the show, starting off their set with a Slayer-esque scream straight out of Angel Of Death before blasting through a pretty solid set and even throwing in a cover of The Circle Jerks’ World Up My Ass. ...

For the last four years, as part of the Make Music NYC festival, Punk Island has been held on Governor’s Island but this year, due to construction related to damage incurred by Hurricane Sandy, the event was moved to Pier 1 on Staten Island. So what’s it all about? Over ninety bands on seven stages playing from 11am until 11pm set up in the park area and then stretching down the pier until you basically run out of land and hit ocean.

Obviously it would be impossible for one person to see all the bands, especially if you don’t get there until after 1:30 and have to leave around 9 because the ferry schedules are a pain, but here are a few highlights from throughout the day.

LIVE FAST DIE FAST

New York Hardcore done right, these guys are from Long Island, except for their bass player who was from Long Island but now lives four floors below me in an apartment building in Queens. Had been meaning to see these guys for a while, as their album is great and they’ve got a new one launching ...

A whole lot of people have a whole lot of opinions of New York's Agnostic Front, but one thing is certain....they are the hardest working band in hardcore today. What some would call "late to the party", the band first made a name for themselves with 1983's "United Blood" EP, the pioneering foray into what would become known as the New York Hardcore sound, and quickly followed it up with the classic "Victim in Pain". While other hardcore bands of the day were singing ...

Black Flag Live At The Warsaw, Brooklyn, New York, June 14, 2013.

Black Flag, or at least the 2013 incarnation of Black Flag, played their first New York City performance in over a quarter century on June 14, 2013 as part of this year’s Northside Fest shenanigans. With founding member Greg Ginn on guitar and second Black Flag vocalist Ron ...

The Oblivians Live At The Beekman Beer Garden, New York City, June 7, 2013.

On any given night, there’s a lot of competition for your rock ‘n roll dollars in a city as big as New York, but on June 7^th, the competition was considerably more fierce than usual. Not only were The Queens Of The Stone Age playing a sold out show in Brooklyn but down the East River a couple of miles there were a whole lot of people doing the all day festival thing at The Governor’s Ball, a three day event that was going to happen rain or shine. Note the use of the word ‘rain’ there – ...

Their third New York City show in the last two years with new(ish) frontman Tony Sylvester on vocals, Turbonegro played to a solid crowd at Irving Plaza last night. Dirty Fences came out first to warm up the crowd and blasted through a pretty solid half hour or so of straight up, no-nonsense rock n roll. Their new album, Too High To Kross, is awesome and if you get a chance to check these guys out, ...

Released by: MVD
Released on: June 4, 2013.
Director: Sean Kelly
Cast: Iggy & The Stooges, Henry Rollins, Jim Jarmusch
Year: 2011
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The Movie:

Ron Asheton was ridiculously influential. He earned his place in music history as the original lead guitarist on the Stooges' first two albums. When it came time for the third album, Raw Power, he played bass ...

Joey Ramone’s been gone for a while now and nobody can realistically ever fill his shoes. So there was a bit of trepidation on the part of this writer when it came time to check out Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg with the unlikely choice of Andrew WK on lead vocals. Not that Andrew isn’t awesome, because he is – nobody preaches the gospel of the power of positive partying like he does and his conviction and dedication to the good ...

Manitoba Live At This Ain't Hollywood, Hamilton Ontario, April 20, 2013.

Almost exactly one year after their first appearance at This Ain’t Hollywood in Hamilton, Ontario, Handsome Dick Manitoba, took his crew Manitoba back on tour for a few more quick dates in Ontario. Once again made up of originals Dictators and former Manowar guitar player Ross ‘The Boss,’ former Dictators drummer JP ‘Thunderbolt’ Patterson, Daniel Rey on guitar and Dean Rispler on bass the band once again proved that there’s still a whole lot of life left in bad ass rock n roll.

The night opened up with a set from Hamilton natives Illusion Avenue, a group of high school age kids before Tongue Fu came out. Lead by TAH’s owner, Lou Molinaro with the mighty ...

Danko Jones – Live At The Best Buy Times Square Theater, New York City 4-9-13

Their first show in New York City in over two years (they last played The Studio At Webster Hall in February of 2011) saw Canadians Danko Jones opening for Danish band Volbeat at the Best Buy Times Square Theater on 44^th and Broadway last night. Most of the sold out crowd was definitely there for the headlining act – but we left after Danko’s set. You can blame a long ...

"It's freezing out here, bring me a hot chocolate!"
"Do you want marshmallows in it?"

As nerdy as it is, that was my Twitter interaction with Bad Religion bassist Jay Bentley, self-proclaimed social media whore, before tonight's show. It seems like ...

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – The Beacon Theater, New York City – March 28, 2013.


Touring for their latest album, Push The Sky Away, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds played the first of three nights at New York City’s Beacon Theater on March 28, 2013 to an enthusiastic sold out crowd.

The set started out with the decidedly mellow ...

Ok, first things first, The Templars opened and we missed them. Why? Because parking sucks in Williamsburg and it sucks hard. Lots of things suck in Williamsburg, really, but parking does tend to top the list. Serves us right for driving. At any rate, we came in as they were finishing their set and the one song we heard sounded great, but there wasn’t time to take pictures. Also worth pointing out is that the pictures from this show aren’t really anything to write home about, because I spaced on getting ...

Released by: MVD Visual
Released on: December 11, 2012.
Director: Robin Bextor
Cast: The Stranglers
Year: 2012
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The Movie:

The Stranglers are one of those bands I got into late, only having heard a couple of their songs on the radio in the 80s. As I listened to more of their material I formed an appreciation ...

Released by: Wienerworld
Released on: December 12, 2013.
Director: Robin Bextor
Cast: Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Patricia Morrison, Monty Oxy Moron, Pinch
Year: 2002
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The Movie:

When founding member Captain Sensible reunited with Dave Vanian to record once again as The Damned, the resulting album was Grave Disorder. While this album isn’t regarded as any sort of ...

Released by: Mig Music/WDR
Released on: January 15, 2013.
Director: Christian Wagner
Cast: Einsturzende Neubauten
Year: 1990
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The Movie:

Formed in Berlin in 1980, Germany’s Einsturzende Neubauten (which translates into English as Collapsing New Buildings) is still going strong at the time of this writing, more than three decades after their humble beginnings. A very important act in the ...

Released by: Shout! Factory
Released on: September 14, 2010.
Director: Joe Gannon
Cast: Alice Cooper, Dennis Dunaway, Michael Bruce, Neal Smith, Glen Buxton
Year: 1973
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The Movie:

Alice Cooper fans have wanted to see a legitimate release of this concert film for a long time, and now Shout Factory has stepped up to the plate and give Good To See You Again its first ...

ReleIased By: MVD Visual
Released On: 07/24/2012
Director: David Koslowski, Skizz Cyzyk
Cast: Alice Donut, Jello Biafra
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The Film:

It’s probably robbing me of what little (if any) punk rock cred I have left to admit that I’ve never listened to Alice Donut. Actually, I’ve barely ...

Japan's premiere ambassadors of heavy metal played at The Studio At Webster Hall on Friday, October 12, 2012 - playing in the middle of a bill featuring Math The Band and headliners Peelander-Z. Aside from an unusually aggressive fat old guy in a Green Lantern shirt trying to ...