Troubleman Unlimited's Punk/Classic Rock Experiment
I never thought that we twenty- and thirtysomethings would be listening to our parents' music. I find more and more people becoming jaded with new music and reverting back to classic rock, blues, even country. I mention this because lots of today's young punk bands, who more than likely grew up listening to Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, the Descendents, maybe Born Against, are deriving their music not only from these bands but also from classic rock like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.
These influences will clearly be heard in some of the jams and guitar riffing of the bands playing the Troubleman CMJ showcase at Continental this Sunday. Even label owner Mike Simonetti, who's known for releasing respectable punk rock records by his friends, can be found most weekends spinning soul, old school hiphop, and r&b at the Old Office downstairs in the Knitting Factory. In a recent interview with the Murder City Devils, guitarist Nate Manny described the situation well when he said, "At this point in music you can't go a day without hearing anything from oldies to smooth jams to metal to jazz. You would have to work very hard to listen to only one kind of music. And you would be stupid if you did. A good song is a good song."
This Sunday, for the first time since the conception of Troubleman Unlimited in '92, the label will host a CMJ showcase. When asked why, Simonetti says, "This is the first time I felt I had enough bands to do a solid show, and the first time I actually followed through on trying to get a show." Six Troubleman bands are scheduled to appear: "New" Terror Class, Party of Helicopters, Sean Na Na, the Red Scare, Love Life and local favorites Black Dice.
Opening the night is Ohio's former Harriet the Spy, now renamed "New" Terror Class after one of the band members quit. Their debut album Unfuckwithable is all tongue-and-cheek anthems of rebellion, girls and good times. Their songs are short and melodic, emphasizing quirky guitar structures that feed off heavy drum and bass licks. "New" Terror Class' live show tends to be more action-packed than their recordings, since they often play out of tune with lots of feedback as their scrawny bodies jump around and knock down microphone stands. Party of Helicopters also hail from Ohio and share member Jamie Stillman with "New" Terror Class. It says here that Party of Helicopters write "metal epics with dreamy vocals," featuring lots of heavy guitar riffs like you'd hear on Metallica or the Fucking Champs' records.
Though they've only released a few singles and EPs, Tennessee's the Red Scare continue to grow in popularity. They'll attempt to top the loud-as-fuck bands earlier in the night with their brand of hard-hitting, fast-as-hell rock 'n' roll. The Red Scare write chaotic songs that are better, faster and louder than most in this genre. Guitarist and singer Eugene "Kip" Uhlorn has moved to Brooklyn while the rest of the band stayed down South, so you'd better check them out while you still can.
Love Life features ex-members of Universal Order of Armageddon, Great Unraveling and Jaks. Sean Na Na features an ex-member of Calvin Krime and has a split release with Mary Lou Lord. Locals Black Dice combine lots of sporadic bpm's with punk rock and even industrial sounds. In fact, even though every band playing this Troubleman showcase could be considered punk in one way or another, they all incorporate other sounds, and you could probably find a Zeppelin or Who record on any one of their turntables.