Tonight’s selections from San Francisco’s This Is My Fist’s only LP, A History of Rats. This album wouldn’t exist without Dubya, Iraq, WTO protests, etc. It’s very political and born of that era. Sonically it’s rough around the edges yet catchy as hell (great sing-a-long album)
I don't heed your call
I don't wave the black flag lightly
I wave it as loud as i can
I won't bleed for you
Violence only leads to protest
We'll fight this for as long as we can
And as fast as we can
I don't know why you try
To make us digest all the news
And gain support to keep your flyboys high
Higher the body count of faceless men
You'll never know
Turn up the pirate radio
- Wooden Bullets
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Wooden Bullets [2006]
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Performing a similarly scathing brand of pop punk that manages to be catchy without sounding like hook-laden radio rock, This Is My Fist push the aggression up a few notches. The power of vocalist Annie Saunders is right up there with the rest of the band; she sounds like shes punishing her vocal chords as severely as drummer William Weber-Kneitel is his skins. With a tone that calls up the throaty edge possessed by the likes of Courtney Love and Joan Jett, Saunders vocals take songs like the brilliant closing title track and give them an elevated sonic quality, pushing each melody into an even more musically exciting place. While the bands future currently seems to be in jeopardy, this lovingly-produced full-length will serve as an adequate document of This Is My Fist’s energy and songwriting skill. — Exclaim
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Hooray for the Home Team [2006]
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After I graduated high school, I moved into a house called the Haven House in Elmhurst [IL], where my friends and I started putting on shows. Los Crudos played there; the Mushuganas played there. Maximum Rock'n'Roll used to put out this yearly magazine called Book Your Own Fuckin' Life. If you put on shows, you could send in your information, so we started getting bands from as far away as Georgia and Canada too.
I moved to Chicago in '97, and a year later my friends and I moved into this space over a bar in Rogers Park. That turned into the Community Shower Loft, and it was even more expansive as far as the bands coming through—there was even a band from Italy that stayed with us.
The whole concept of a punk house, at least to me, is that you could live with your friends for cheap while you learn how to navigate the world. It creates a tight-knit community that might be lacking elsewhere. That's what's reflected on Punk House Chicago [on Instagram]. The focus is not as much on the bands as it is on communal life and the weird things you get up to when you're making minimum wage and you're bored.
I'm still friends with the friends I made when I was 15. We're all still playing music, and it's just amazing. I also learned a lot from the people that came through, which helped shape my values and ethics and teach me a lot of new ideas, politically and socially. I don't think I'd be the person I am today if I hadn't lived in those two houses. — Annie Saunders, Chicago Reader
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I’m Not Even Trying [2006]
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Originally recorded with Tim Green (The Fucking Champs, Nation of Ulysses) at Louder Studios in San Francisco and assisted by Adam Pfahler (Jawbreaker, Blackball Records), the tapes were lost, found, transferred and ultimately remixed by Craigums at Dutch Oven Studio in Alameda after Annie recorded more guitars and vocals to round out the sound. What you get is 100% sincere, aggressive yet melodic Bay Area California punk, drawing from regional bands of the past as well as those of Annie's past in Chicago-area Illinois, notably topped by Annie's raspy cigarettes-and-whiskey stained voice; falling somewhere between Joan Jett and the Avengers! — No Idea Records
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Forget the mountain and the trees
Just keep the lattes comin' please
In the march of industry
Clocking in like worker bees
How can this hell be any worse
Than where the interstates converge?
The end of the line where we suffocate
In the safety net of life
- E-Ville (Part 2)
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E-Ville (Part 2) [2006]
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WHO’S TALKING TO WHO?
Jimmy Kimmel: Elizabeth Banks, Gabby Windey, Rachel Recchia, CAAMP, guest host Anthony Anderson (R 7/11/22)
Jimmy Fallon: Mark Wahlberg, Billy Porter, AJR
Stephen Colbert: Jonathan Karl, BJ Novak, St. Vincent
Seth Meyers: Nathan Lane, Adam Pally, Art Cruz
James Corden: Dakota Fanning, Jamie Bell, T-Pain (R 5/2/22)
The Daily Show: Leila Mottley
SPOILER WARNING
A late night gathering for non serious palaver that does not speak of that night’s show. Posting a spoiler will get you brollywhacked. You don’t want that to happen to you. It's a fate worse than a fate worse than death.
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Cayetana :: Scott Get the Van, I'm Moving [2014]
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LAST WEEK’S POLL: HAVE YOU SEEN A UFO?
Yes 23% 3 votes
No 23% 3 votes
That's classified info 54% 7 votes