This is written in advance as right now I am in a place of no Internet.  So hopefully the delay post works.  But this weeks album comes from a band that has a tendency to incorporate the funny part of society into their lyrics.  Formed in 1980 but like many other punk bands, The Vandals had broken early years with Joe Escalante being the remaining original member. 

The Vandals that I am used to listening to consists of members from the 1990’s to present day.  One album of theirs that always stood out to me was Live Fast, Diarrea.  Released in 1995, it was their first for Nitro Records and first to be produced by thier guitarist Warren Fitzgerald.   This album features fast and slower punk beats and even has a track for Mary Poppin’s fans “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious“.  If you were an X-Files fan (like I was) there is a good chance that The Vandals sounds familiar.  I remember when I first saw the episode I thought “now that’s awesome” as the Vandals were not well known by any means.  It was a 3rd Season episode with Giovanni Ribisi in where he wore Vandals t-shirts and then at the end when he was at the psychiatric ward the song “Live Fast, Diarrhea” played (which is one of my favorite songs).  Some other notable favorites on the album include “And Now We Dance”; “N.I.M.B.Y.”; “Kick Me”.

Overall this is a great band that always holds a place in my music library and would encourage any fan of punk, jokes, & mockery to listen.  After all they are the ones that branded “cow punk”, which is another album that I’ll feature in the future.

Couldn’t find the whole album so I leave you with “Live Fast, Diarrhea”

This weekends album comes from a band that formed in the late 70’s and brought a different type of music not common to the punk rock scene.  The Misfits, formed under Glenn Danzig, brought lyrics that often referenced horror movies, books, comics and such.  They brought on a new subgenre described as ghoul rock or horror punk.  If you are fan of horror shows or the category in general you will appreciate the many references found in the Misfits.  The Misfits still play today but without going into a lengthy post I only reference the Danzig-era Misfits and the only alums I really listened to.

The Misfits had a broken early history so many of there songs were later released onto full-length albums and ultimately into the Misfits Box Set.  I remember being 14 years old at the time and saving the money to go and purchase this box set after I already had 3 of their albums.  I was excited to get the Misfits Fiend Club pin inside. 

The album featured in this post is their Walk Among Us.  Walk Among Us was their first full album to be released although they recorded many other songs before this.  The entire album is under 25 minutes containing 13 tracks.  How could one not listen to an album with songs titled: “All Hell Breaks Loose”; “Mommy Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight?”; “Devil’s Whorehouse”; “Braineaters”?

Personal favorites for the gym/garage are “All Hell Breaks Loose” and “Skulls”.  On a sidenote, this is also why I believe in buying equipment yourself.  I hate wearing earbuds and there’s no gym today that will have the Misfits (or other music I listen to) blasting over their speakers.

“Demon I am and face I peel
To see your skin turned inside out, ’cause,
Gotta have you on my wall ” –Misfits, Skulls

http://youtu.be/n7qp6q52iRo

1.20 Eyes (0:00-1:47)
2.I Turned Into A Martian (1:47-3:29)
3.All Hell Breaks Loose (3:29-5:17)
4.Vampira (5:17-6:45)
5.Nike A Go Go (6:45-9:00)
6.Hatebreeders (9:00-12:07)
7.Mommy Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight (12:07-14:06)
8.Night Of The Living Dead (14:06-16:05)
9.Skulls (16:05-18:07)
10.Violent World (18:07-19:54)
11.Devils Whorehouse (19:54-21:40)
12.Astro Zombies (21:40-23:56)
13.Braineaters (23:56-24:53)

This weeks album comes as another old favorite and a favorite in my collection.  This band goes back to the late-80’s and in my opinion they brought one of the greatest mixes of hardcore punk and ska that still stands out today.  Operation Ivy was a band that did not last too long.  But without Op Ivy, we would have no Rancid as Rancid front man Tim Armstrong and bass guitarist Matt Freeman started with Op Ivy.

The album featured is a self-titled compilation that was released after the band broke up and consists of tracks from their Hectic & Energy albums and two songs from Turn It Around! (a compilation album released by Maximumrocknroll).  This Op Ivy may be easier to find today and it was the first one that I got from the music store back in the mid-90’s.  I later went on to acquire harder to find albums Lint Rides Again and Seedy.  Lint Rides Again was their their last show at the famous Gilman St. in Berkeley, CA (a common punk rock scene).  The album Seedy is some of their unreleased tracks and when listening to this it has the scene of 4 young guys in a garage, yelling in the mic and playing their instruments as hard as they can for the love of the music and not the money…great stuff all-around.

“The Crowd” – A favorite track off Energy that belongs in any dingy-dirty gym

To the left is a Pennywise icon provided by iBankCoin, but it is not the band or album featured tonight, just seemed fitting.  This weekend’s album comes as one of my favorites from the time I was younger to this day.  Bad Religion is a punk band that needs no introduction as they have been known to influence old and new punk bands.  If you have any music with the label Epitaph Records, you can thank Bad Religion, specifically Brett Gurewitz a founding and current member.

I could go on and on about Bad Religion and how they brought a different image to punk and as their lyrics and meaning opened my mind as a young punk and continues to impress me to today.  The album Suffer made an impact and was released in 1988 as their first album that was both released and distributed by Epitaph Records.  The album features intellectual lyrics written mostly by lead singer Greg Graffin (who is also a college professor with a Ph.D. from Cornell University) that makes one want to reach for a dictionary.  Aside from lyrics, the drum beats in this album  standout to me and the entire album is under 30 minutes with most songs being under 2 minutes.

The pic below is a shirt that I bought when I was a freshman in high school and have kept the last 15 years…a favorite of mine

Lyrics from “When?”

(at 05:31 mark)

“I tried to make things make sense but I can’t
I’m happy just to watch them all and laugh
And if you think you’ve got it made just revel in your selfish ways
‘Cause when the world stops turning so will you”

 

http://youtu.be/LMJvRsEm8TI

While on my last weekend of vacation I was sitting by the dockside relaxing listening to this great band from MN known as the Gear Daddies.  The Gear Daddies come as a local favorite from  where I grew up.  I grew up in a small dairy farm town of about 4,000 people and the Gear Daddies came from a town about 45 minutes away from me named Austin, a town well known for its Hormel plant.  I helped a friend often haul pigs to the Hormel plant and playing the Gear Daddies along the way was always a good memory.

The album from them that I chose is Billy’s Live Bait.  Released in 1990 this album features a solid line up classified in the country rock category with each song having a good story or lesson than many could relate to, especially if you grew up in a small town.  If you have ever been to a hockey game there is a good chance you have heard the Gear Daddies without ever knowing it with the song I Wanna Drive A Zamboni.  This song can be found at the end of this album as a “hidden track” attached to the song “One Voice”.  A favorite song of mine from the album is found in the video below “Don’t Look At Me” and kicks in at the 2:30 mark.

So if you like country rock-type music with harmonica and just overall good garage-drinking tunes I encourage you to check out the Gear Daddies.

This weeks album comes from a band that has not only been influential to myself but has influenced many bands that came after them and continues to influence bands that are up and coming.  Social Distortion comes from the California punk rock scene that formed in 1978 and continues to play to this day.  When thinking of albums from them to feature the one that comes to mind is their live at the Roxy.  While I am not big on promoting live albums if you haven’t heard much music from the band, this one stands out to me as not only one of their best but one that anyone could listen to and be hooked.  The vocals of Mike Ness and the strings and drums of Social Distortion leave an impression on the listener.   Below is a favorite of mine and one of their firsts songs, Another State of Mind.

On weekends it’s time for traders to unwind a bit.  One thing I look forward to on Saturday nights is @chessNwine’s Saturday night at the cinema picks.  It’s just another side of the trader and movies he enjoys and I like to find these via Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc and watch the one’s I haven’t seen when the time allows.

With this, I thought a weekly music album posted would be interesting. Looking at Rhino’s post titled “YOUR INPUT NEEDED“, it looked as if others were interested in more than just trading, and I agree.  Like I said the weekends are a good time to unwind & read blogs.

I like all kinds of music but my go-to is punk rock.  Started listening to it when I was younger and was highly influenced by Bad Religion.  So on weekends, when I remember I’ll post a album that I like, any genre.  As a homebrewer, I would love to do a beer review but Rhino has that and is doing a good job.  SO here is some music.

The first album is from Offspring and while I lost track of their newer stuff, after Americana, their older music is played often in my gym.  One that I especially play most of the tracks is Ignition.  This is just an overall great album.   The whole album can be found below.

http://youtu.be/xEpWoOVe-bU