Guess what? We’ve got 4 tickets to Friday’s Black From the Grave extravaganza at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn to give away…

Cavestomp is putting on this killer bill on Friday (11/30) featuring T Valentine (with Daddy Long Legs), Blow Fly, the original rapper and/or mad hatter, Barrence Whitfield and the Original Savages and Andre Williams backed by the Goldstars.  This is one solid bill of the some of the craziest black rock’n'rollers ever.

Here’s the best part– you can go FREE by winning a ticket via the GaragePunkNYC Facebook.  Every day starting today at 4PM, we’ll give away one ticket to Friday’s show.  All you have to do is be the first to answer a simple “trivia” question… ***

Remember– if you’re too dumb or too slow to win on FB, you can always buy tickets here for $17 advance or $20 dos.

*** fine print: you’re not eligible to win if you’ve won anything from us in the last 90 days, or are a GaragePunkNYC contributor…

A little taste…

The most eventful year since we started GaragePunkNYC.

From the Norton 25th Anniversary to over 10 new releases by local bands to the various calamities that befell some of the most popular folks on the scene to frenzied opening & closing of key venues, we were more than kept busy by all the news and stuff happening around us.

Here’s my best attempt at a round-up of some of the bigger things that happened this year. I’m SURE I’ve missed some things, feel free to fill in the gaps in the comments!

THE NEWS:

The Runaway Suns called it quits in the Spring, shortly after keyboard player Alex Moyer moved to the West Coast.

Paul Collins organized the first Power Pop A Licious festival in May at Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, NJ.  The Electric Mess, the Above and the Dirty Shames were among the bands that played. A movie was filmed of performances and some “hanging out” scenes from the fest and a second edition is planned for 2012.

Ridgewood DIY venue Silent Barn was robbed of $15,000 of audio equipment and badly vandalized in July.

D Generation reunited for a show at Irving Plaza in September.

Numerous local garage, punk & soul bands performed at benefits concerts for the catastrophe in Japan in the Summer including the Baxx Sisi’s and the A-Bones.

Local group the Jay Vons, featuring WFMU engineer Dave Amels on keyboards, became the new Reigning Sound behind Greg Cartwright in the Fall. They performed at the Norton Festival and are featured on some of the recordings on RS’s recent Scion-backed digital release.

Habibi were picked up by Panache booking and plan tours for 2012.

A benefit concert was organized for Florian Jay at Don Pedro in August, drummer of longtime punks WLWL with serious health issues. LiveFastDie, Foster Care, and Apehangers played.

Local artist & DJ Avi Spivak released Kicksville Confidential in November on Kicks Books (Norton’s book imprint)– a comic filled with his illustrations of classic stories of norton artists like Esquerita, Link Wray and Hasil Adkins.

Bananas magazine released issues 3 and 4 in May and October.

Norton Records celebrated its 25th anniversary with a four day extravaganza at the Bell House in Brooklyn featuring the Sonics, Untamed Youth, Jackie and the Cedrics, the Black Lips, the Reigning Sound and many, many more (see below for my picks for best shows of 2011).

Local DJ and promoter Jonathan Toubin of New York Night Train was seriously injured in a freak accident in Portland, Oregon in early December while on tour.  As of this post, he remains in the ICU and is expected to recover slowly.  Many benefits concerts in NYC and around the US have raised well over $5,000 towards his health costs.

2011 RECORD RELEASES:

Organs released their second 7″ on Killer Diller records in April.

Strange Haze (formerly Whooping Crane) self-released their debut 7″ in May after raising the money on Kickstarter.

Liquor Store released Double LP ‘Yeah Buddy’ on Almost Ready Records in July.

K-Holes released their debut LP on HoZac in March.

Stalkers released a new 7″, Lady Sonia, on Oops Baby in June.

Twin Guns released their first 7″ on Killer Diller Records in June.

Sorceress released a 7″ on Puta Records in July.

The Brimstones released a split 7″ with the Immaculates in November.

Les Sans Culottes released an album “Pataphysical Graffiti” in September.

Organs released a split 7″ with Russia’s Cavestompers on Chickpea in September.

Backdoor Stan & Mopvipvops released a 4 track 7″ on Italy’s Hog Maw records in November.

Oops Baby released a cassette compilation in August featuring Two Tears, Peacekillers, Pretty Quick, the Thunderfucks and Stalkers.

Wild Isle released a split cassette recorded live at Coco 66– one side is the Baxx Sisi’s and the other is Organs.

VIDEOS:

I’m sure I’m missing some but here are three notable videos:

Xray Eyeballs – Crystal
From way back at the beginning of the year, this too-hot-for-TV video of Xray Eyeballs featuring members of Golden Triangle.

Ursula 1000 – Mondo Beyondo
Ursula 1000 DJs the Turtleneck night at Otto’s Shrunken Head and his new video, while not exactly garage or punk, features a number of folks from the scene including Anna Copa Cabanna.

Twin Guns – Little Subway Rider
This great new video features everyone from Killer Diller’s Charles Gaskins to Tara Ferri, organizer of the Mods Love Rockers parties and Jake of the Rats.

VENUES & BARS:

Brooklyn’s Don Pedro was taken over by Mitro Valsamis, longtime guitar player for garage/punk bands such as the Vacant Lot and the Mighty Fine in January.  A new food menu was instituted, skeeball, pinball and Buck Hunter were introduced and the basement was taken over by Mystery Train Vintage.  Jake ‘Noodles’ Winn returned as the main booker for the venue and many great shows took place this year including the Overnight Lows (Goner) and the Mighty Fine record release party.

Freddy’s Bar, a classic saloon/local bar in Brooklyn, reopened in a new location with a party featuring Les Sans Culottes in February.

Greenpoint’s Coco 66, the site of many shows over the years including the one recorded for Wild Isle’s cassette split this year, was shut down by the authorities in July for serving liquor without a license (yes, we find this amazing too!).  The place is currently for sale.

Mars Bar, a truly legendary (and legendarily disgusting) East Village punk rock bar, closed its doors in July.  The owner has promised he’ll reopen in the new/renovated building in the same location.

St. Vitus, a new, dimly lit venue with a beautiful wooden stage, opened in upper Greenpoint in April. Partners in the place include George Souleidis, formerly of the Shalitas and longtime bartender at Bar Matchless.  While mostly geared towards all things metal, the place has hosted a number of garage/punk shows and features a regular hardcore DJ night.

Bruar Falls, the venue located on Grand Street in Williamsburg across from the Trash Bar, called it quits at the end of October.  The venue, formerly known as Lucky Cat, had hosted a lot of garage/punk shows including Nobunny, the Turbo Fruits, Ex Humans and many more. The owners publicly cited illegal loft venues elsewhere in town as a main reason they were forced to close. The venue is now rumored to be re-opening soon, again as a venue, with a different mix of partners backing it and a renovated interior.

Livewithanimals/Monster Island, the art/venue space on Kent that hosted numerous New York Night Train events as well as an annual block party, lost their lease and closed in the Fall.  They’ve reopened near the Morgan L train.

Cha-Cha’s, a Coney island boardwalk institution that has hosted many punk, rockabilly and burlesque nights, closed in October after losing their lease due to Bloomberg’s revitalization efforts.

MY FAVORITE SHOWS OF 2011:

This was a great year for local rock’n'roll.  It felt like a lot of out of town bands that didn’t come in 2010 started to come back, some great new venues opened and some local bands really hit their stride this year.

Obviously there were some great ones I missed– the Power Pop A Licious Festival is one, the Wednesday night Norton fest pre-party at Union Pool is definitely another.  And some of my own shows are listed here… but then again, I did GO to them and I booked them for a reason! Anyway, to each his own, caviat emptor, etc.

#10 Born Loose @ Don Pedro

This was the first time I had ever booked this killer band with Larry May of Candysnatchers’ fame.  Larry Fisher described watching Larry afterwards as seeing someone who was “trying to get out of his skull”.  One of the great performers of our time here in the city.

#9 Barracudas (redux) @ Union Hall

I didn’t have high expectations for this June show, especially for the Barracudas, which was just the original frontman backed up by Montreal’s Mothers Children.  The Barreracudas I had seen briefly at Cake Shop and liked and they were great here too– solid original tunes and some choice covers.  But the Barracudas were fantastic.  The original member (sorry his name is escaping me!) does NOT phone it in, instead made it a crowd effort. It was pretty unforgettable and hopefully we’ll see this bill again soon!

#8 Theee Bat @ Brooklyn Fireproof

Japan’s Theee Bat were everything we expected the 5.6.7.8′s to be and weren’t: brash, rough and sloppy with tons of garage punk attitude. These guys are the definition of “true believers” – amazing!  The Activations, Rico’s new band with Shingo and the guy from Test Patterns, were great too.  Too bad the sound at this place is like listening to your voicemail coming out of a howitzer.

#7 The Apocalypse party @ The Church

Yes it was hot as balls in there but whatta wingding! Three terrific bands– the girl-fronted DEVO cover band DEVA, Twin Guns at their most menacing and the Apehangers and the party just kept going and going despite the looming “apocalypse” of May the 21st. Another grand ol’ time at my favorite venue.

#6 (tie) Copycat tributes to the Kinks & Love @ Otto’s

The Kinks night in October was a truly great night, and I think one many of us had been waiting for– hearing the Above do the Kinks. For me, one of the highlights of the whole Copycat series. I can still hear ‘Victoria!!!!!!’ … the supergroup with Michael Lynch was also fantastic.

One of the few shows on my list from the early part of the year was the Love edition back in February.  This night just gets more meaningful with time and I have to say I think it’s another one of the best of the recurring nights for Copycat… the people who perform in this every year, including our own Captain Heartlock, really get the music and give it its due.  Unmissable and unforgettable.

#5 Metropolis Fest @ Brooklyn Fireproof

A lot of bands played this thing in May, but the three sets that stood out for me were the Psyched, who capped off a great show with a brutal version of ‘Bring It On Home to Me’, the L!vids who were killer and the Othermen, who pulled off one of their best sets of all time. It was just one of those times when the buzz kicks in just as Max is shouting “I’m drunk!”…

#4 Daddy Long Legs @ BOS Fest, Lone Wolf

DLL capped off the second night of the Bushwick Open Studios festival with their performance on June 5th.  I had seen them before, notably at Party Xpo for Tara’s Velvet Underground party but this was a cut above– master showmanship, packed house and a beautiful venue. They’re always good but this was one for the books.

#3 The Waldos @ Don Pedro

This show in January was my first time seeing the Waldos with Walter Lure from the Heartbreakers.  Most of the time when these “punk legends” have bands doing the songs from the legendary band but with guys half their age it’s painfully embarrassing and sad. Not so with this group. Seriously mindblowing to hear all these classic songs, many of which Lure actually wrote.  The fact that it was happening at the newly reopened Don Pedro, where you know you’re surrounded by people who care about it as much as you do, was just the icing on the cake.

#2 Les Kitschenette’s/Los Vigilantes @ Lone Wolf

What can I say? Hullabaloo’s first ever Halloween show was one of my favorites of the year.  Les Kitschenette’s were simply outrageously good, what so many bands obsessed with the french 60′s garage thing aspire to and never achieve.  Los Vigilantes on top of that, the creators of my favorite LP of 2011, exhausted after a tour but playing their hearts out on some timeless rock’n'roll plus the bonus of hanging with many good friends including the great Eeries from Philadelphia.  All this DESPITE the freak snow storm of the century. History!

It’s hard to pick out individual moments from the Norton 25th as the best, but I’ll go with Jackie and the Cedrics who put on an amazing show and showed how surf could be really exciting and fun live; Untamed Youth whose raucous show explains their reputation much better than their records do; the Hentchmen doing ‘Shimmy Shake’ – their perfect Devo cover; Bloodshot Bill’s snorting and spitting performance; the Flamin’ Groovies/A-Bones unbelievable set; and the smooth sound of Melvin’ Davis’ croon.  

Thank you Billy & Miriam. AMEN!

Honorable Mentions:
Davila 666/Xray Eyeballs/Acid Baby Jesus @ 285 Kent
This show was booked by Lady Bree and sponsored by Sailor Jerry rum. This was a good show, but to be honest, I’m including it mostly because it was by far the drunkest I got in all of 2011.  I showed up around 9:45 and somehow they were already out of mixers. So I wisely started in on straight liquor.  I do remember great sets by all three bands, and then it gets pretty hazy by the end. But, please, do NOT fill in the gaps in my memory… I really don’t wanna know.

Daddy Long Legs, White Mystery, Apehangers @ Cha-Cha’s, Coney Island
A great and long show with tons of bands on a perfect September day in Coney Island to mourn the loss of this venerable institution organized by Lisa Lush of Underclass Revue.

The “Blast Supper” with the Othermen, the Jigglers and Cop Warmth @ The Church
This pre-Thanksgiving party was another great Church throwdown… despite a certain member’s complete inability to play (or eventually, to stand up), the Othermen were at their best and the Jigglers were also killer proving that my favorite bands will always shine the brightest at house parties.

Thanks to the over 55,000 of you– our readers, friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter for making this the biggest year in our history as well!

HURRAH!

I contributed a couple of articles to #4 including a piece on Don Pedro, our first feature about a venue. Jake ‘Noodles’ Winn, the once and future (current) booker of Don Pedro and mainman of WLWL, was interviewed for this issue (an interview with Mitro Valsamis, new owner of Don Pedro, will run in issue #5).  I wasn’t able to fit everything in from our two hour wine-soaked chat, so I’ve posted some extra bits below for you to get a taste of the article.  The first thing is Jake telling one of his favorite stories about Pedro– this is one that you’ve got to hear straight from the horse’s mouth, so I’ve posted a clip of it.

Jake Noodles Tells ‘The Big Man Story’ by GaragePunkNYC

The interview covered everything from our terribly hazy recollections of the first Tim Warren-booked shows more than five years ago to 2010′s near demise of the bar… a subject that Jake has an opinion or two on:

JAKE: Things got a new attitude.  It was a little less laissez faire…  the big thing for me when I started at Pedro was that the bands get the money from the door.  And we do that today.  And I’ve told everybody that the day we stop doing that is the day I stop working there. So that kinda slid off and there was a little less diplomacy with the bands for a little while.

I’m choosing my words carefully…

I’ll name names. It’s not a problem.  Bree (who booked Pedro for about a year) and I get along really well.  People think we hate each other but we get along.  We have an antagonistic relationship but we are kinda friends… kinda.  But I’ll drop up to Bree’s place for a beer sometimes.  I think we just have a different style of running things and I think there was just a lot of sudden shock when I stopped doing the booking and she started.

Obviously, I’m better at it—that much is just clear… (laughs but means it) but I will say this.  There were three people in the bar that had been on my ass, like “oh if you’re quitting, I’ll do the booking!” and she was the one who stepped up and did it.  And she did it differently from me, and I don’t agree with all the ways she did it, but I think that to her credit, she was the one who stepped up and did the work.  Everyone else was excited about the social aspect, but not the work.

(Bree responds: “Him and I do different things. I’m working towards doing more event style booking and working with sponsors. Pedro’s was a good learning experience for me and I don’t shit on any of it.  I have nothing but love for Jake and Pedro’s!”)

S: I can’t say very specifically when, but I think at the end of 2010, it seemed like things were not going well for the bar.  And we started hearing rumors that Med was thinking of selling the place.

JAKE: I think the neighborhood changed too.  I really do believe that the neighborhood, they wanted to bring it up a little more than it was. So they let the crazy white kids do what they wanted for a while.

S: But that sort of made it safe for other places to open, which had other effects…

JAKE: Yeah.  I’ll say this—you couldn’t have a Duck Duck (typical, unremarkable Williamsburg-style bar a few blocks away that opened after Pedro) without Don Pedro having been there first.  You have to get the white kids who will pay $3 or $4 for a beer and you have to let them behave insanely until the point when you get the white kids who will pay $6 or $7 for a beer are willing to come to the neighborhood and once they’re there, there’s some sort of memo that goes out.  We used to get away with everything at Pedro for a long time.  By the time things were going down… I think the breaking point was we had a bartender lead out in handcuffs by the police for serving an underage guy.  More than anything, that was a neighborhood change.

Med & Jake (photo by Marcus Lauer)

Want more? Bananas #4 will be available free at two Hullabaloo! shows Charles and I are running this week– Thursday at Local 269 on E. Houston and Saturday at Lone Wolf on Broadway in Brooklyn.

Outside NYC? PayPal us money at bananasmagazine@gmail.com for shipping and you can have as many as you want! Postage rates are available here (only $3 for 1 issue in the USA!)…

SHIMMY

PS) Got any great photos from Don Pedro?  We’re collecting the best shots for issue #5! Contact me at shimmy@garagepunknyc.com

First off is the new video from Brooklyn’s own Twin Guns.  We’ve blogged about their shows many a time– this terrific duo churn out some seriously dark garage rock with plenty of reverb and menace.  They don’t quite sound like other garage bands of today and seem to reach back to the some of the best part of 80′s underground rock.  This new video is quite the labor of love by main man Andrea plus a cast of a dozen or so of the usual suspects as zombies/killers etc: Killer Diller’s Charles Gaskins, Jake Rat, and Erin ‘spacegirlern’ Adams, to name a few. Enjoy!

Want more? Buy their 7″ on Killer Diller or follow them on Facebook. Just don’t get TOO close…

Next up we’ve got a band that came to us via the emailses- the Eeries.  They come from the distinctly spooky locale of PHILADELPHIA (boo!), but the only thing scary about these guys is how good they are– SCARY good, you know?  They’re young and hungry which you can tell partly from the number of releases they’ve been kicking out in the last 12 months.

One of their best so far is the Comes Alive EP, the latest on their bandcamp (free to download).  There’s a remarkable mid 60′s garage pop feel to these recordings that recalls a more retro version of Thee Makeout Party.  I can’t decide if I like the leadoff (“Walk You Home”, above) or this one, which is probably the most modern track on the release.  Hmm. It’s probably this one.

If you like this band and you live here in New York, you’re in luck– I’ve got them coming for Hullabaloo! Friday September 16th at Bruar Falls in Williamsburg.  They’re on first so get there early, girlies! Oh yeah and you can ‘like em‘ too.

Next up we have a band that more truly lives up their name.  Strange Attractor is the project of a certain Yerf T. Spiderman (well that’s what he goes by on Facebook!) of Sudbury, Ontario.  You might also know him from Statues, a group that’s toured Europe a number of times.  This video was posted to our Facebook wall last week and I think you’ll agree: it’s strange.

It’s also fucking great!  By the way, “doner” is what Turkish street food is called if it’s actually good. Not ‘gyro’.  That’s my little cultural lesson for you today.

Anyways! The other videos of these guys on the youtubers remind me of also-Canadian-and-former-New-York residents the Nymphets (now in Sweden?)– twitchy, catchy, and cool.  We’re working on bringing these folks down New York way sometime– stay tuned.

That’s it for this one buddy boys.  Got something we’d like?  Post it on our wall or email us!

SHIMMY

Hello friends!

Say what now? Yeah, it’s pretty lame, but basically our Facebookian overlords limit you to 5,000 friends. Once you hit that magical limit, you have to change into a ‘Page’ or you won’t be able to connect with new people anymore… and you wouldn’t want that, now would you?

What This Actually Means

For 99.9% of you, not a whole goddamn lot. I mean… we’re in the process of re-uploading photos to our new page because they don’t transfer over for some reason. Yeah we had photos on facebook! I’m sure you care.

Here’s a short list of other things you can’t inflict on do with us anymore:

• directly message or chat us up… we will miss our Greek podcast friends’ 3AM chats. No, really.
• send Farmville requests… you can imagine the depth of our sorrow about this.
• tag us in the flyer photo of your IDM show in Des Moines this weekend… (glowsticks, bro!)
• ‘poke’ us… well, you can still do this to us, but wait until we’re good and liquored up…

But, if you’re a promoter, a band, etc that wants us to know about your upcoming shows, releases or reviews, getting in touch with us has changed a bit.

Tell Us About Your Shows
From now on, you can’t invite us to Facebook events. Instead, post a link to your event ON OUR FACEBOOK WALL. We’ll be checking it regularly. Please only post events in the NYC area or out of town shows for NYC area bands. We can’t really help get people to scooter rallies in Finland. We wish we could.

Sharing New Releases with Us for Review, Hate, etc.
You used to be able to message us with a link to your latest mp3s. Instead, send us an email to one of the following addresses.

General Contact: garagepunknyc@gmail.com
Shimmy – shimmy@garagepunknyc.com
Captain Heartlock – captain@garagepunknyc.com
Drew – fadedignity@garagepunknyc.com

Same goes for general info, etc– email us. (Emailâ„¢ – “it still exists”)

For those of you outside NYC looking for help booking shows here, never fear– we are working on a feature to explain how to do this without having a sucky and expensive weekend.

shakabooze!

SHIMMY

Woops!

Let’s start with a pretty recent discovery– if I told you you’d like a band called ‘Ugly Miss Piggy‘ you’d probably smack my stupid face.  And normally I’d deserve it. But check out these great and completely un-reformed old school garage punk characters from Old Mexico!

From a comp on their own ‘Weird’ record label called A La Mierda Con Tu Underground, this one apparently slurped out in April of this year.

Digging around their bandcamp yields other old school pleasures.– namely a pretty good cover of the Rezillos‘ Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight.  Download it all for free.  Keep it comin’ Muchachos!

I know, you’ve heard enough about Mexican pig-themed garage bands. Let’s get back to New York pig-themed garage bands, shall we?  The Piggies are a local group of some renown, featuring Andy Maltz of Lil’ Killers sort-of-fame.  We also frequently list bass player and erstwhile DJ Matt Fiveash‘s r’n'b 45 gigs around town.  This group definitely has a bit of classic Stones mid-tempo swagger about them.  I mistakenly identified them as a cover band once (my bad), although their set these days is mostly originals.  They SOUND classic, let’s put it that way.

Here’s the Piggies putting their own spin on Willie Dixon‘s I Just Wanna Make Love To You.  Yeah, you’ve heard that song a million times.  Here’s another one.  It’s worth it!

You say you want to SEE this band?  What better way that in their natural habitat- the Williamsburg practice space.  This is probably my pick of the tracks available online too.

Next up, local star DJ Ursula 1000 has been releasing what the critics like to call “sampledelica” records for years now.  I guess they use this term when you make dance music that sounds new, doesn’t suck, and has killer samples from the best 60′s records in them.  Who could complain about that?

As a bonus, the video features the Queen Go-Go of The Scene, Miss Anna Copa Cabanna and a host of local New York garage rock personalities.  See if you can spot Chip from the Electric Mess, Dave from the Above, Hostess Tara Ferri among many others…

Time for one more.  It’s an outlier, and we’re late to the party, but this is demented enough to deserve your attention. Local mod & scooter enthusiast Arly Silver serves up his alternate theme for the recent Captain America movie.  You know, a theme that really reflects the America of today.  Syd Barrett, eat your heart out!

That’s it for this edition folks.  Want us to share what you got with who we know? POST ON OUR WALL, or email us!

We won’t slag you… much.

SHIMMY

You guys and gals have been good enough to post some way out video clips to our Facebook wall so we’re kicking off a new feature on the best of your random Facebook videos.

If we don’t write about your videos, it’s not because we didn’t have time or missed the post– we probably just hate your guts and think your music sucks. (hint: we hate hippie rock and central asian metal, seriously!)

Our first clip comes to us from Italy–

Apparently from a place called Domodossola, this bunch of Preachers are staying true to the 80′s garage/punk sound. They had a track on a 2001 Fuzztones tribute (nice NYC tie-in!) and Rudi Protrudi has contributed vocals to some of their records. The 80′s garage sound is heavier, maybe a bit lacking in nuance, but this track does it for me.

Our next pick also comes from Italy but it is a different beast altogether. Sardinia’s “The Dog Bite” is a pretty great punk band. Check out the video for ‘I Don’t Care’ on Facebook. I’m going to assume that the picture of the chihuahua in a Nazi cap is tongue-in-cheek. This would sound pretty great on a overly trebly 7″ (anybody?) for now, it’s available on the wonderfully titled “Anal Experience” (self-described as ‘shit punk for stupid people’)

Last up we get back to the USA for a great modern garage/psych band called Nectarine Pie. Check the gee-tar on this track, out on Oakland’s Southpaw Records.

I’ve pretty much given up being surprised about hearing yet another great band from the bay area. what is up with you guys? this group has some of the dudes from bare wires. the video might be the same old super 8 cliches you may remember from bands such as pavement, brian jonestown massacre, etc. and it’s probably just another new Apple filter for someone’s iPhone, but let’s face it, grainy kodachrome images of mausoleums will always look good.

righteous! send us more, peoples!

International Record Store Day is this Saturday the 16th. If you’ve never heard of it before, the point of RSD is to remember the local record slingers who have been supplying you with plastic culture for most of your life and to inject some much-needed cash into local shops:  a worthy cause if ever there was one!  And, even though the Mayor has endorsed it as an ‘offical NYC event’, it’s still not lame.

To lure you in, participating stores stock small numbers of limited edition releases.  At lot of these are frankly unexciting mainstream garbage.  But I thought I’d point out some New York-related bands that are putting out “exclusive” releases for the occasion.

Pop. 1280 is a Brooklyn punk band whose shows we’ve listed at times in the past.  They’ve got a track on a special RSD release by Sacred Bones (the NY label) called ‘Todo Muere’.  We can’t vouch for the rest of the bands.

We don’t cover a lot of hardcore bands (there are simply too many of them!) but OFF! is a ‘super groop’ of sorts consisting of former members of Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Redd Kross and Rocket from the Crypt.  For RSD, they’re releasing an exclusive 7″ on Vice with four tracks taken from a live performance at Generation Records right here in the city.

Also out is the first ever legit release of the classic Velvet Underground tracks Foggy Notion & I Can’t Stand It on a 7″ issued Sundazed.

And, on the quite possibly laughable front, Warner Brothers is putting out a special RSD release featuring the RedHotChiliPeppers covering the Ramones‘ Havana Affair.  Well, kudos for obscure song choice I guess.

The only RSD in-store performance we’ve heard of (of interest to you anyway) is the classy soul rockers Jay Vons plus DJs Tom Scharpling (WFMU) and Eric Davidson (New Bomb Turks) at Generation Records.

Here’s a very short list of some participating NYC stores.  Full list here.

Did we miss something? Let me know and I’ll update…

Manhattan: Academy Records, Generation Records, Kim’s Video & Music, Other Music,  Rockit Scientist…
Brooklyn: Earwax, Permanent Records, SoundFix…

Those of us old enough to vote will remember the relentless buzz generated around the White Stripes/Strokes “Garage Rock Revival” moment of 2001/2 and the resulting frenzy by mainstream labels to jump on the latest bandwagon.  Even local NYC bands saw action from this trend with the Star Spangles getting a one-album shot on Capitol Records (issued on CD with the classic swirl logo no less) among others.

Of course, it faded away pretty fast.  It didn’t “revolutionize” radio or mainstream music… it didn’t even end up paying off for 99.9999% of the great bands of the time.  If anything, it made things harder: the media got so lazy that even King Khan & BBQ Show were called “copycats” for plying a two-man band trade (“…Just some weird  ripoff of the White Stripes”)

But, apparently, some folks out there would like to see a repeat of this existential circus.

Witness Scion (parent company Toyota) and Vice (parent company: whoever will buy Vice out in the next year or so)’s latest cultural salvo: the “Garage Rock Explosion!” movie featuring the Black Lips, the Pierced Arrows, etc etc.  which is being flogged today on E. Houston Street with guest speakers.

Yes, lots of companies have sponsored rock shows…  PBR rebuilt their whole brand on quiet sponsorships of shows & music festivals around the US in the last 10 years. But PBR didn’t start a record label.  They didn’t issue a “zine”.  And they certainly didn’t make any movies.

Is this really the future of the music industry?  Large corporate brands set up new blocks of cubes in their skyscrapers and call it “Garage”, “Punk”, “Rockabilly” etc?

What questions will Greg Cartwright answer exactly?  How many miles to the gallon the new Scion sedan gets?

The other featured speaker, a nod I suppose to New York, is indie promoter / Matt & Kim booster Todd P.  Love him or hate him, few would disagree that he has very little to do with garage.  His showpaper, focused mainly on all ages shows, excludes 90% of the garage rock shows in NYC.

But I guess it makes sense– Scion, and the Los Angeles-based marketing agency it employed to whip up the whole ‘A/V garage’ thing, knows nothing about New York and even less about the bands here.  The only New York act represented in the film is apparently Golden Triangle (or is the ‘Girls’ on the poster the ‘Girls at Dawn’ ?)…

Call it sour grapes or whatever you want– I guess I’m going to have to disagree with the Scion/Vice version of the universe.  There’s simply a lot more to garage and rock’n'roll than this piece of corporate-produced propaganda could ever hope to show you.

Paul Collins certainly thinks so.  “Rock’n'roll has always needed saving and it has always been saved!” says the near-legendary Collins, of the Nerves and the Beat, two classic power-pop/punk touchstones for two generations of New York bands and current frontman of the Paul Collins Beat.

I interviewed Collins over Facebook recently to talk about his latest project, the Beat Army.

GPNYC: Why does the world need a “beat army” ?

PC: The BEAT ARMY was set up to specifically help preserve power pop, pop punk, new wave melodic guitar based rock, so it can exist and flourish at the club level.

GPNYC: What’s changed in the club world since the early/mid 80′s? Is it harder to get great rock’n'roll out there?

PC: I think it has always been pretty tough, although the 90′s were particularly hard for the kind of music I do, but outside of that I think right now the clubs are hurting so they are nicer to bands and are more open to letting groups come in and promote there own shows.

GPNYC: Do you think the Internet has helped or hurt the situation?

PC: Yes, most definitely, I think the internet has opened up the scene and made it much more accessible to everyone. The BEAT ARMY has booked some 30 shows this summer all through the internet.

GPNYC: What are some bands today that you think are making great rock’n'roll?

PC: Gentlemen Jesse from Atlanta, Davilla 666 from PR (Puerto Rico), Mothers Children from Ottowa, Baja Bugs from San Diego, a lot of the new bands I have been hearing on Burger Records, Stupidity, Electric Mess, Pieces……

GPNYC: Burger Records is great. Did you ever play with their band Thee Makeout Party?

PC: We are on the road with Lee he is awesome…didnt get a chance to play with his band but maybe someday!

GPNYC: I think they’re done unfortunately. it was an amazing band. bother him for an LP, it’s killer!

PC: I will we have been listening in the van!

GPNYC: if you were starting out now, without the last 30+ years of playing music behind you, would you do anything differently?  How many shows do you think a new-ish band should play a month? there are some bands that seem to play every 4 days and some play twice a year.

PC: If I were just starting out again I would do it pretty much the same way, spend a lot of time perfecting my craft, writing great songs, rehearsing, plotting and I would play every chance I could get.

GPNYC: One more question: is new york still a good place for live rock’n'roll? since you do some touring and have been all over, where’s the best place to be?

PC: NY is great but it is also tough, there is so much going on at any given moment, I have noticed that a lot of the new bands are playing all the time all over town but the problem is how to run successful shows with goods turn outs…that is what I want to do, I think if you have shows with bands that draw on different fan bases you have a better chance…garage rock, power pop, punk pop ect…That what I want to do…the scene needs to turn numbers for people to start taking it seriously…

You can join the Beat Army on Facebook.