Attitude Adjustment – The Collection

Taang! records has compiled the three Attitude Adjustment full lengths onto one easy to carry C.D. Attitude Adjustment formed in the mid 1980's when the Metal/Hardcore Crossover scene was in full effect and they seemingly found an easy niche with bands like Septic Death, D.R.I., Corrosion Of Conformity, Dr. Know, Cryptic Slaughter, and Christ On Parade. While they never put out an album of the same caliber as C.O.C.'s "Animosity" or D.R.I.'s "Crossover," they certainly created a respectable catalog that fits in well as part of the big picture of the Crossover scene.

Attitude Adjustment's first album was called "American Paranoia" and it is perhaps the most well known of their records. The thrash to mosh tempo changes were carefully engineered, but unfortunately after a while this turns into a sort of rigid formula and a lot of the  songs start to blend together. Nevertheless "American Paranoia" has a few memorable tracks that rock pretty hard- "Dead Serious," "Fuck Chuck," "Johnny," and "Dope Fiend" all are attention grabbers. Like many other bands of the same era there are some political messages mixed into Attitude Adjustment's lyrics- taking on war and fear of a Nuclear Armageddon.

"No More Mr. Nice Guy" showed the band getting a new singer named Kevin Reed and the intensity of this record is significantly higher. Reed's vocals were somewhere between Jerry A. of Poison Idea and more modern day Crust Punk with growling vocals. In a way "No More Mr. Nice Guy," which came out in 1988, sort of comes off as a prototype for some of the Crust that came out of the Bay area in the 1990's, but as a whole Attitude Adjustment are more listenable. The reworking of "Grey World" buries the "American Paranoia" version.

The third album, "Out Of Hand" is by far the best material presented on this collection. This goes against all that we know about Hardcore Punk bands and how they are supposed to get progressively more boring with each subsequent album. Kevin Reed's vocals are absolutely ferocious and the music on "Out Of Hand" is also Attitude Adjustment's heaviest stuff. It's hard to imagine a record this good coming out in 1991 when it seems that there was not too much else going on that has stood the test of time.  "Deceived" is probably the band's best song and it's a totally pissed off musical bombardment. The 1991 version of "Dope Fiend" also sounds sick. The Pushead artwork on the cover just adds to the record's appeal.

While Attitude Adjustment's music might not have the more universal appeal of D.R.I. or Suicidal Tendencies, anyone who is looking to delve a little deeper into the Crossover era of Hardcore would be advised to check them out. For avid fans of this sound, Attitude Adjustment are quintessential, whereas casual listeners might not find as much interest.

Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/attitudeadjustment07

 

-Ditch-
Big Wheel Online Magazine
 

 

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8 Types of People to Defriend on MySpace or Unfollow on Twitter

Seriously, there are alot of whack jobs and wanna-be's and flat out nobodys all over MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. We've all seen them, the band that puts out a bulletin every hour to tell you about a show when in reality what they leave out of the bulletin is that their band has zero following and the continuous bulletins is in hopes that they can get a strong 15 or so to show up (by the way, the bands that are very good and worth seeing usually don't put out bulletins all day long -just a tip). Then there is the faux Punk sites that all day long have to remind you how Punk they are('nt), the faux hipsters, to the straight up losers and complainers -Yes, we have them all amongst our friend list.

Everybody has people clogging up their social networking sites with frequent updates, annoying pictures, and general stupidity. If you know any of these people below, it's time to cut the cord -These are the people you must ditch now.
The Overuser, The Oversharer, The Proselytizer, The In-Joker, The Replyer, The Meme Lover, The Fisher and The Nobody.

Here is a great article that help you ID these types. We could not have wrote a better article and the folks over at Gawker nailed it with this one. Read the entire article HERE >>>

No Regime – Self-titled EP

While No Regime is a band fairly new to the Southern California music scene, the band's self-titled EP is enough to make you believe the band has plenty of experience under its belt. The band ties several influences together, including Ska and Reggae, while ultimately upholding Punk Rock above all. Upon playing the first song of the EP, the loud and rowdy Punk introduction "Echoes of Humanity" immediately seduces you, paving the way for the upcoming surge of talent.

The EP consists of 6 songs, among them, one that sticks out is "Sick of Everything", which commences with mellow reggae beats, and leads into a straight Punk Rock sound. The band's lyrical content upholds socially aware words that make the impact of each song even stronger. No Regime's self-titled EP demonstrates a prominent future in store for the young band, and if you're into Ska/Punk, the band's sound is worth the listen.


Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/noregime

 

-Stephanie M.-
Big Wheel Online Magazine
 

 

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Moonshine – The Big Bang Gang

Swedish natives Moonshine are a band that brings Americans diverse music with unique concepts. Their most recent album, "The Big Bang Gang", is completely true to the ideas of DIY, as each record comes with a different cover, courtesy of the band. Moonshine intermingles genres that one would not expect to ever encounter together, but the band does so effectively and skillfully.

The main sound experienced upon listening to the album is Progressive Rock à la mode de Rush, the only difference being that since the band also incorporates D-beat and metal, the music is faster and expectedly more intense. "The Big Bang Gang" is a radical treat to venture out and seek, and with such a creative spirit and design, the album sets a high bar for Sweden, and even for the U.S. If you want to catch a collaboration with the utmost talent, Moonshine is a band that will cure your disillusionment with music.


Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/moonshinegbg

 

-Stephanie M.-
Big Wheel Online Magazine
 

 

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Media Blitz – No Regrets

Anyone who knows me knows that the guys in Media Blitz are some of my best buds in the world. With this is mind one would probably assume that I would automatically like and support anything that they did. However over the years they have done a lot of things that I disagreed with- keeping the name Media Blitz being the most significant of these charges when considering that Jason Schwartz is the only original member of the band. Considering that I have been pretty close with several  of the former members of Media Blitz this bummed me out since almost all of them would have preferred that Jason would have changed the name. The second charge that I held against them was that their songs often had seemingly no meaning behind them and were negative for the sake of being negative when the guys in the band were actually anything but negative.

Given all of these facts I might actually be the band's harshest critic. With that being said I can say with complete honesty that this record rips.

Since Media Blitz recorded their most recent C.D. demo a lot has changed. Most significantly they had their 300th personnel change with their two guitarists- Wes Nile Virus and Rob Beverly quitting the band and being replaced by "Shreddie" Eddie Oropeza who is one of the few guitarists that I know who could effortlessly replace two guitarists with one swoop. Secondly the band has made a conscious effort to write songs with more thoughtful lyrics and less generic music behind it. Now I'm not saying that their demo wasn't good- in fact I will begrudgingly admit that I even like some of their songs like "I Hate You A Lot" and "Get The Fuck Out," despite their obvious derivations from Outbreak and Shark Attack. However those songs were clearly the product of a band who lacked their own vision. The songs on "No Regrets" on the other hand show a band that has matured and learned that song writing is a process that requires thought and effort to be successful.

The record opens wit squealing divebombs on the guitar that practically put Warzone and Murphy's Law to shame. The opening tune, which is called "Feeding Time" reflects the cut throat nature of capitalism with some actually pretty clever lyrics- "Smaller government and smaller hearts/Taking family dreams and tearin' them apart/An army built on minimum wage/Put to death by interest paid." It also has a pretty killer mosh part that likewise would fit in pretty well with a Warzone song. "Self Worth" has similar themes about economic woes but deals with things with a little more of a sense of humor ("I wish I could say money means nothing to me/But pizza and records aren't free"). "Never Grow Up," which is another stand out track for it's fast verse and chorus and super sick mosh break, deals with the classic Hardcore theme of friends growing away from each other and giving up on youthful idealism.

The second side of "No Regrets" is perhaps a little less powerful than the first side, but still kills it nonetheless. "The Difference" is sort of a modern day answer to Half Off's "Rain On the Parade," calling out closed minded Straight Edge kids who turn a positive philosophy into a negative trend. "No One To Blame" is the highlight of the second side with its hyper space speed and singalong onslaught.  "Not Just Words" gets some points for its grammatically correct reworking of an Insted line (where Insted said "You and me- we'll make the difference," Media Blitz counters with "You and I, We can make a difference").

In one concise statement I will say that Media Blitz are making all of us Negative Sid and Nancy's eat our critical words with this record. The only criticism that I can make (and believe me when I say I've tried to find others) is that the vocals are a little quiet in the mix, but otherwise this is a killer record that will surely legitimize Media Blitz's developing title as the new spokesmen for Orange County Hardcore. I'm sure some people will sleep on this record but it will be their loss.

Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/mediablitz

 

-Ditch-
Big Wheel Online Magazine
 

 

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Dappled Cities Interview

Interview by: Carl Pocket
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter


I had the pleasure of having the chance to interview the Australian group Dappled Cities before their early set at the Aussie BBQ at The Echo recently. The Australian quintet consisting of Tim Derricourt (guitar and vox), Dave Rennick (keyboards, guitar, and vox), Alex Moore (bass), Hugh Boyce (drums) and Ned Cooke (keys), got a late start over to the venue due to the time change (thanks daylight savings time) and a night out drinking. The hung-over bunch, all adorned in sunglasses, chatted with me out on the streets of Echo Park.


So what is it like coming from Australia over here?
Dave Rennick (DR): Food portions, you know, the food portions are bigger.

One question in and we already had a visitor. An older transient decided to ask some questions of his own as he threw his arm around Tim.

Transient (T): Do you have Zig-Zags? A pipe?
Tim Derricourt (TD): No, we don't smoke.

T:  You don't smoke? But your Australian, I can tell, it says outside the Echo Australian BBQ and you are Australian.

The transient walked away and Tim turned to me.

TD: Is Zig-Zag code for weed?

No, it's like rolling papers.
TD: Well that's the biggest difference from Australia and the US, we call them Talley-Hoes and you call them Zig-Zags.

After a bit of laughing we got back to the questions.

What was the recording like for your new album "Zounds"?
TD: Well we recorded the whole album in Sydney in the basement of this place which was said to have a ghost.

Did anyone see this ghost?
Everyone shook their heads

DR: I thought I did. My friend said she could feel it
TD: She was lying.

I read that you used a $40 build it yourself coardboard keyboard for the recording of the album? How did that work out and hold up?
DR: The cardboard broke soon after it was built. We put it into samples. But I guess we look way less cool with a Macbook.

"Zounds", being your third album is a bit of a departure from the other two.
DR: I wouldn't say it's a departure.
TD: I would say it's a departure the album is very chunky and while recording we weren't as lighthearted.
DR: Yeah we were more pissed off in the recoding of the album..it's a big storm cloud of a recording.

What has been your most memorable moment while promoting the album?
TD: We were at this festival in Australia and another band fell sick and we were put on. I thought it would suck and when we started there were 10 people. We kept playing and the area filled up. It was like in a movie.

Do you notice a difference in the crowds in the US and the crowds in Australia?
TD: There is an age difference. Every place seems to be 21+ and it sucks cause our music speaks to underage fans in the America and they don't get the chance to come out.
DR: We should do a show on a boat. Then the underage kids could come. They would have to sign a release form.
Ned Cooke (NC): We'd have to sign releases

Before this got any more risqué I did some shots with the guys around the Echo. Time was running short and the group had to get back to sound check. Tim wanted to grab some tea and I walked with him over to the Brite Spot restaurant and asked a few more questions.

How did you guys get together?
TD: Well most of us knew each other in school. We have been friends for a long time. We started as Periwinkle but that name sucked so we changed it. We started with the 4 of us but added Ned later

Where did the name of the band come from?
TD: It came from a Jim Joyce novel.

Do you think there is a reason that Australian bands don't hit it big in America often?
TD: It seems like most bands just wait to get big in America but it doesn't happen. You have to come over here and scrape by for two years to even get a following, do you know what I mean? It's tough and it's like starting over, over here.

So you are getting some tea for the vocals?
TD: We had a rough night. We went to this place with a mechanical bull and a fight broke out with guys running around. You guys don't have tea places out here. I just want some tea for the vocals. And maybe a whiskey before I go on stage.

Would Tim have a whiskey on stage? Would we even get back to the Echo in time? Check my review of the Aussie BBQ to find out.


Band Website: www.myspace.com/dappledcities

 

 

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