Monday, December 31, 2007

Dispatches from Powerviolence: Keith Buckley Gives a Year-End Throatpunch



Thanks a lot, I think I'm crying now... Weeping for my own sense of lost time, agenda, and self. What a way to prep myself for a meaningless night of the same old parties and liver-damaging, except with a random ten second yell-along to prove to ourselves we indeed passed first grade and remember our numbers. So here is Ol' Mr. Buckley, King of the Shitty Dudes, giving this year a boot behind us in the most beautiful of fashions........

[from his myspace blog:]

Garfield, you were right all along when you said "Fuck Mondays"…..

Yes, it is new years eve. I'll get to that in a second. First things first: Happy Smoking Day United Kingdom! For those of you that are unaware, December 31st is National Smoking Day in the UK, and for those who wish to engage in nationwide bad-habitry, you are encouraged- in an oddly American-esque display of brazen disregard for babies and sick people- to smoke WHEREVER YOU FEEL LIKE! (www.nationalsmokingday.com) That's right everyone, Britain has finally seen the light and has adopted the infamous Tyra Banks "SO WHAT" mentality that was forcefully applied to our own contingent of out of shape and gluttonous patriots. High Blood pressure and Gestational diabetes? "SO WHAT?!" Bronchitis for unsuspecting victims of second hand smoke who are trying to color their placemats? "SO WHAT?!" Today is a day to be proud of who you are. In all your inconsiderate and wheezy glory.

Ok, back to the real reason for this entry. It's the last day of 2007. I think as you get older, the idea that there is a significantly distinct "last" time for every thing you do begins to take on a more sordid tone. When we were younger, every "last" was a checkpoint we passed on our unflinching march towards adulthood and, inherently, our first boob. Maybe even 2. Now I'm 28 and I have back spasms and a grey pube and the last Monday of another year feels eerily like the guy who pulls into the pick up window of a mcdonalds drive thru behind you before you've had the chance to check if your order was right. It has shuffled me along and stood hungrily in my stead. Certainly not as final as the hobble of time, but easily just as sad. So, today I woke up and decided to reflect on the year before it has pushed me into the exit lane, and while I cant go back to change what I' ve been given, at least on the ride home ill be able to convince myself I'm quite happy with what I've ended up with after all.

I'm not going to recap the major events of the year because I don't think I can remember all the ones worth mentioning and I don't think the ones worth mentioning are anything I can even comment on. I know that there were moments in the past year where I read or heard something and looked around the room frantically to see if any one else was simultaneously feeling the backward slide of civilization, but those moments don't stick with you, and THAT'S the reason Nickelback is the biggest band in the world. There is just too much, too often. While you're reeling from one insult to your intelligence, another comes in the form of a celebrity vagina and puts you on one knee and while the refs back is turned because he's yelling at the obnoxious ringside manager, Family Guy uses the least impressive comedic tactics in history to hold you down while 2 girls and 1 cup pin you for the count. Well, you stand on the losing end of this one sided slug fest for too long, and eventually you are forced to retire before your time. So you remove yourself from actively buying cd's. and switch to vinyl. You cancel cable and watch only Jodoworsky. read strictly Bukowski. Listen to Iron and Wine. drink gin. Smoke cloves. proudly resign from the machine, thinking if you cant play a part you wont play at all. The problem with this, is that you were the only one smart enough to know how to change anything. So, now George Bush is my president and since I don't have satellite radio in the car, I have to hear who else Akon has teamed up with. Thanks assholes.



I decided this year I don't really have a "skill". I have a motorcycle and know how to change only its gas and spark plugs. I have a million books on my shelf and cant tell you off the top of my head the name of the only guy on our currency that WASN'T a president. I have been in a band for 10 years and cant tune a guitar. I kind of feel like I'm doing a really bad imitation of myself. I used to play the piano. I used to write ALL THE TIME. When I was 16, I wrote 200+ pages of what I one day hoped would be a book. I still have it in my closet. I have an idea for a movie that would, without a doubt, become at least one persons favorite movie of all time and I cant pull myself together enough to start writing it. I decided to write this today because I am now giving everyone who reads it the license to call me out. challenge me. Make me worry that I may be forgotten quickly, so that I improve rapidly. Maybe not drink so much. Maybe write more than I have been lately. Maybe read another Fante book instead of a celebrity website.

I used to think, and still kind of do, that when I stopped collecting cards, everyone else did too. As if the Men In Black erased our memory of what a "Beckett" ever was. And not just from my friends minds, I mean eradicated them from history. I don't remember anyone ever asking me to trade cards and me having to say "naw man, im into metallica now. Sorry". it was just like a flock of birds who communally decide to change direction, the whole world stopped card collecting. Then I realized something. MYSPACE is the new flea market. You collect people who are branded with stats and you do nothing but collect. Except we no longer search frantically for that one quality card, like Brett Hulls rookie. We need EVERY card. And when we have every card, we get our own reality show on MTV where we pretend to be bi-sexual…..

I got engaged this year. I put out the best record of my career. I work for a magazine I grew up reading where I do something I love doing. The only thing in the world that could possibly drag me away from my fiancé for months at a time are my friends, and I get to hopelessly search America with them. I have a lot to be thankful for, but I have more to be excited about. I want to write a better record next year. I want to love touring like I used to. i want to not just be engaged, but have a marriage that works. I want to team up with Akon. I want to write that movie. I want to talk to you. this year, maybe I will.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Old Timers: Fear - "Live... for the Record"



Hunt it down. Find it. Buy it. Listen to it. Worship it. Laugh with it. Sleep with it. Cry with it... Make babies.

If you're new to the church of Fear, most assjacks tell you to just go in chronological order of their releases and appreciate their contributions to the late late 70's and early 80's LA punk/core scene, with their quasi-offensive and silly-with-a-fist combative nature. However, I have to call shenanigans on that jazz, cuz I whole-spleenly feel that you should just fuck out the middle man and skip right to the gnarspot (affectionately known as the G-spot). Everyone knows that when a live record is done right, the songs are a little more energetic, a little faster, a little rougher, and a little louder. And if you're a lucky shit, you get some variations on the originally recorded material, some between-song banter, and an altogether more lively, acidic experience... Duh, gurl... And obviously, when done wrong, you get 90% of the live albums you can go pick up at your local Circuit Shitty.

This one, my sea-legged brethren, thankfully falls in the former... that delicious 10% of live albums that gets the job done, and done, and then some, dumdum. The reason I push you to pick this one up first, speaking as if knowing you are some newcomer to this forgotten gem (cuz who we kidding, we both know you are, sillypants), is because this powerhouse o' powerviolence is packed to the gums with 19 tunes that each wanna make me do 19 separate spastic jigs like I have 19 separate spastic colons when they come on. And you got some spanning shit on here! It's like a modern day best of the litter! And not only this, like stated above, shit's more energetic, faster, rougher, and louder... And Lee Ving's crooning snarl is so much more endearing when it's not polished and packaged.

But probably the most bang for the buck comes from the between-jam chatterboxing, from the band and from the crowd. This recording, which went out live on the radio back en la dia, has horribly-delivered jokes, as well as horrible jokes delivered quite well... but some of the best shits comes from randoms in the crowd who have some of the sharpest wit I've ever heard, and that's saying a lot when talking about a gaggle of some dumb punks crammed into some dumb hole in the wall for a Fear show... Check out the vid below for an example of a good ol' Fear live set...

Fear - "I Love Livin' in the City" (live) [taken from The Decline of Western Civilization]

Featured Live Show: Dillinger Escape Plan / A Life Once Lost / Genghis Tron / Shat



12.16.07 - Blender Theater (Gramercy) - NYC

If you live in New York City or the surrounding areas (or even in fuckin' Maine for all I care), and you missed this show, you seriously deserve to have your eyelids peeled off with a toenail clipper... Cuz you stupidly missed the most incredible/ intense/ intertaining/ insane/ inbelievable (and any other in words out there, real or made up by my damn self) show of this forgettable year of two thousand and seven.

Dudeski, you missed Shat's dildo armor, grown men dressed as babies wearing shitty diapers, and some of the filthiest songs known to the human race... You missed Genghis's dueling electro-wizardry and warlockery... You missed ALOL's overuse of a rad fog machine, their brutal riff-core-stoner-nastiness, and Bob's as usual vicious vocal delivery and stage persona... But most importantly, you missed the almighty DEP. You missed the diving into the crowd, you missed the chaotic swinging of necks of guitars, you missed the fireballs, you missed a duet with original singer, Dimitri, you missed the flying mic stands, and cabinet climbing, and guitar smashing, and the mic getting thrown into the crowd for an audience lead-in, and a duet with Bob from ALOL resulting in a double crowd swan dive by the two singers... In other words, you missed perfection... You missed the reason we're all here... You missed the answer.

And I'm not kidding in the slightest... even though my tone may scream that I'm kidding... just believe me when I say I'm not kidding... cuz if I was kidding I'd tell you... if I was kidding... no... kidding... But regardless, I will go toe to toe with any numbskull on this damn planet who wants to knock irons with me that Dillinger Escape Plan isn't the greatest live band ever... and I mean EVER, like how I totally meant "not kidding" a sentence ago. Yeah, that much... They are THE greatest live band since the dawn of time, the beginning of the world, and the first snap-crackle-pop of the Big Bang... and please, if you wanna argue, do something... cuz i will cut you, trick.

So in other words, this monster is coming to basically all six sides of everywhere, so do yourself, your adrenaline, your heart rate, and your miserably meaningless little life a favor and pick up a ticket to your local DEP show today... That's my public service announcement for the week.

[Note from the editor... the Spleenster] Oh, and I helped play cameraman for our buddies over at Metal Injection, and we recorded the whole Dillinger set and three songs from each of the openers, as well as a hilarious interview with Greg from DEP on their bus, so when those are all edited up all sexylike, you'll be sure to see them on here as well... Eat it, fatboy.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Heavy Rotation: Fellas of the Belly (Dec. 14)

What? A Heavy Rotation actually posted on a Friday? I know it's crazy, but it's true. Let's do it to it.

The Hellion:
01. Architect - All is Not Lost
02. Boom Bip - Blue Eyed in the Red Room
03. The American Black Lung - Sudden Departure of Vultures
04. Old Man Gloom - Seminar II
05. Majority Rule - Emergency Numbers
06. Light the Fuse and Run - All Your Base are Belong to Us
07. Hella - There's No 666 in Outer Space
08. Mara'akate - Mara'akate
09. Textbook Traitors - You Pull the Strings that Make Us Dance
10. The Good Life - Black Out

Spleen Latifa:
01. Hour of the Wolf - Waste Makes Waste
02. Behold...The Arctopus - Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning
03. Bane - Give Blood
04. Job for a Cowboy - Doom
05. Bear Vs. Shark - Terrorhawk
06. Wire - Pink Flag
07. Scarlet - Cult Classic
08. Blues - Snakepit
09. Venom - Black Metal
10. This Bike is a Pipe Bomb - Front Seat Solidarity

Rabble Arouser:
01. The Vandals - Do as the Vandals Do
02. Crass – The Feeding of the 5000
03. The Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me
04. The .357 String Band - Ghost Town
05. Sonic Youth - (just in general)
06. The Dead Milkmen - Death Rides a Pale Cow
07. NOFX - Punk in Drublic
08. Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante
09. Ween - Craters of the Sac
10. Propagandhi - How to Clean Everything

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Dispatches from Powerviolence: Spleen Latifa on perezhilton.com



Gnarfight the power... And gnarquestion all authority.

So here's the skinny, slitwrists... I won't bore you with all the business mumbo jumbo, cuz I'm sure your favorite trusted media and news outlets are handling that for you already... But down at the hive, my place of employment, the greedy fatcats have decided to alert us worker bees that we'll be having our benefits drastically slashed come the 22nd of this month. And in true powerviolence fashion, we aren't going along quietly, and have taken to the streets in quite the noisy fashion. Up until yesterday, I thought this was all going under the radar, until I was alerted to the fact that a vicious photo of yours truly with a face like a cagefightsharkfuck had popped up on America's leading celebrity gossip blog... I have to say, this has got to be the first time a Choking Victim canvas patch has shown up there. Anywho, take a peak at the Spleen flaunting tasty ways to destroy capitalism, and always remember it is better to shut it down than to create what is meaningless.

Click here to see it on perezhilton.com

Click here to see more photos from the week's walk outs

All non-screengrab pics by the one and only urban cowboy from hell... Daniel Arnold



Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Dude, Let's Make a Video, This Song Rips: Knights of the Abyss - "Dragon Pie"

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Knights of the Abyss are pretty fucking bearfight, so who wouldn't want to rock out to them with a friend or two? Well, it's cool to rock out at shows and stuff, but when rocking out at home, one should never record it, let alone put the fucker up on YouTube. It just blows our minds here at the Belly when we see people like this trying to be cool and act all bad-ass. Sure, sometimes you might argue that the people doing it are trying to be funny, but then they should do just that: be funny. These two chode-smokers are just plain dumb, and I have no idea what they were thinking.

First off, who the fuck has a Spiderman costume that actually fits? That drummer guy is a total fart-knocker for owning (and don't forget wearing) that thing. I bet you broseph is like 28 years old and has never felt a boob besides his own mother's. On top of that, his numbskull friend is trying to look all hard by wearing a Misfits glove and a bandanna with the hood on his sweatshirt up. Whoa, watch out. Here comes Johnny Football Hero trying to act rough. I bet he totally rode his Harley down the flight of stairs from his bedroom into his parents' basement. And look how off these losers are. It looks like this is the first time they've even heard the goddamn song.I seriously have no clue why they posted this shit, because it's obvious they have no friends that are going to check it out.

Enjoy.

Knights of the Abyss - "Dragon Pie" (as covered by Da Basement Bandits)

Monday, December 10, 2007

(Un)featured Live Show: The Misfits 30th Anniverscary Tour



The following was written today by our newest powerviolence guest contributor, Rabble Arouser (răb'əl-erou'za)... And by the looks of things, the broad's got a mouth on her, take a gander and see:

The first time I heard the Misfits I was ten years old. I was babysitting for a couple of drunks when I found the “Beware” LP and put it on. The one song that really stood out to me was “Last Caress.” That was the most vile and offensive shit I had ever heard at that point in my life and I LOVED every goddamned second of it. What I was hearing were Danzig’s melodic vocals reaching to the heavens to say fuck you to Jesus. It was the first song to tap that evil spot inside me. It was a magical experience that any young gal would be lucky to have. Rape? Killing babies? Priceless. I continued for years remembering that tune and singing it aloud in public places every chance I got because, well yeah, I’m just like that, until a friend revealed to me that the song I was singing was actually by the Misfits and that’s when the love affair began.

That was until last Saturday. I surveyed the crowd, eyes selectively glazing over the “Punk’s Not Dead” t-shirts purchased at the Hot Topic and the faux hawks mass produced at Great Clips and I began to wonder; what does being a punk even mean anymore? Well, if you're talking about the crowd at the recent Misfits show than your answer is being twelve, having a big allowance and spending it all on a black tee shirt with the logo of a band that sold out a long time ago.

So up come the SHITfits, oops I meant to say MISfits (…no, I didn’t). Now if the image that enters your mind is of an old man’s knees quivering while his violently exploding diarrhea blasts out of his asshole-- that was intentional. The curtains (yes curtains! You can get gigs at fancy venues when you sell out) were drawn to reveal a set filled with the predicted ghosts and ghouls you would expect from the band and no, I don’t mean the shadowy figures of a punk tradition long since laid to rest. I’m talking like your run of the mill Halloween aisle at Walgreen’s Pharmacy. Sad, yet exactly what I would expect to see at their “Anniverscary” tour. I spent the first half of their set trying my best not to get pissed about the fact that pussy boy Jerry Only has been ruining their name since he took over and made everything about the Misfits Disney-pop-fantastic. Which translates to me having to associate with children, on a night which should have been filled with loads of unholy fun.

They blazed through their set like a bad cover band with Only’s shitty vocals scraping the feeling out of all the original songs. The best part of the show, and please note my sarcasm, was between songs when Only decided to give the crowd his idea of a motivational speech. It was hilarious! Like when he was thanking his family and fans for their support by saying “Sometimes you just gotta get behind someone and push.” That made me smile because I was envisioning pushing his crusty ass off the stage. He kept up with these pathetic inspirational speeches throughout the night, telling us how much he loves his kids and shit, which don’t get me wrong I think is great for a Hallmark card. I found it particularly ironic when they played “Attitude” since clearly, Only’s Misfits have about as much attitude as my grandmother, after her stroke. Jerry Only is a pussy riding on his retarded signature “devilock,” which looks like the “Flock of Seagulls” bitch ran outta fucking hairspray and Danzig’s success.



I could probably have gotten over a fair amount of the cheese, (living in Wisconsin has given me a better tolerance for such things) but when Only changed the words to purify my favorite childhood tune the shit hit the fan. “I KISSED your baby today????” I shit you not, that’s what he said. Ok, so now he’s a politician? A baby kisser? I wanted to puke. So I waited, hoping I misheard him, but no, I was correct. Not only does Jerry Only “kiss your baby” in the newly revised Last Caress but he “tapped your mother.” Uh, excuse me ma’am, but may I please sneak a peak between your legs? I sincerely doubt that this guy has balls at all. I know Jerry, I know, you don’t want to offend your audience of middle schoolers, but please don’t cheapen the experience for the true fans.

Sorry to disappoint fiends, but you should just put your money and your horror punk-induced erections back into you pants. Unless of course you're a pedophile whose idea of a good time is to party with a bunch of twelve years olds, save yourself the trip.

Best quote of the night:
“yeah man, the Misfits fucking rocked....30 years ago!”

Dispatches from Powerviolence: Against Me! Named Artist of the Week on MTV



Let's clear the air for a second... I am an Against Me! fan. I support them. I support their choices. I find them to be wonderful gentlemen. Their live shows are a religious experience/force to be reckoned with. I will fuckstart your head with a powerdrill if you want to try and dissuade me from feeling this way. Alrighty, with that being said, it has been brought to my attention that the MTV Artist of the Week, esta semana, is our favorite lil' black-clad boys from Gainesville... And even though I don't know how I feel about it just yet, and since I love this band more than pelicans love mustaches, I bring you junkscabs this dispatch from the powerviolence under[above?]ground.

But one more interesting note, I actually got a chuckle out of the send up of the holier-than-thou-Against-Me!-purists-that-seriously-need-to-take-a-dirtnap-and-dine-on-a-bullet-or-two cuz the same ol' "dude they were only good back when blah blah" is getting lamer by the fortnight, written by the Buzzworthy Blog on MTV's site... Here's a snippet of that:

"We know, we know: You’ve been listening to them since practically before they were a band. You have We’re Here to Ruin Your Fun on tape, and Tom’s First Demo is amongst your most prized possessions. You were actually AT the Laundromat shows. You could spend hours arguing Against Me!’s place within the anarchistic punk canon. You’d grab As the Eternal Cowboy and Reinventing Axl Rose if you were headed to a deserted island and could only bring along two albums. (And Crime as Forgiven By if you were allowed to bring an EP).

You swore you’d never love again when they left Fat Wreck for Sire (once home to The Ramones, The Replacements, The Smiths, The Cure and Dinosaur Jr.), but you pretended to be sick the day New Wave came out so you could stay home and spend some special “getting-to-know-you” time with the album, which reflected the band’s misgivings and anxieties about signing to a major and “keeping it real” in the face of the punk police.

And above all else, you still know, deep down in your heart, that Against Me! shows are some of the most intense live shows you’ll ever experience. And you’re past the point of crying “sell out” when a band’s outgrown an indie, right? Do we still hate it when our friends become successful? Anyway, we’re just gonna borrow Against Me! for a week, okay? Just a week. Then you get them back."

That was cute... This is aggression:

Against Me! - We Laugh at Danger... (live)

GnarVideo of the Week: Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza - "Carroll 14 Wossman 7"



Thank damn for myspace, sometimes it really does come in handy... I was alerted to this week's little ditty simply from TDTE's profile name on the diespace ("Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza NEW VID POSTED!!!")... Yes, pretty blunt. So anywho, my interest was piqued and I proceeded to traverse into their profile to investigate. Scolling down their page, I came upon the focus of my hunt and giddily anticipated awesometown as it buffered... Oh shit, and boy did i get my belly full of it... The video comes straight out the gates like a bearfight on my forehead. Its a perfect example of the insert-band-in-some-abandoned-location-add- instruments-turn-it-up-to-eleven-and-proceed-to-rock-off-faces equation. At further investigation, apparently there's a second version of this video on its way. One that apparently will apparently be apparently some apparent sort of apparently unrated "director's cut" (obviously or hopefully with cameos from Scarface, Donnie Darko, Gummo, and Jesse Spano in Striptease), but for now we just have to dance to this "band only" version... Oh well, still radface in itself... Take a look-see for yourself, scraps. And wait for the ultimate rock middle finger (the Chris Rock drop of the mic when the song is over) at the end... gnarbeauty.

Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza - "Carroll 14 Wossman 7"

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Heavy Rotation: Fellas of the Belly (Dec. 6)

Check it out. We felt so bad about always being late, now we're fucking early! You gotta love that. If you don't, it's cool. We won't hold it against you.

(It was a weird week of music.)
The Hellion:
01. Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come
02. The American Black Lung - Sudden Departure of Vultures
03. Snapcase - Progression Through Unlearning
04. Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
05. Chuck Ragan - Feast or Famine
06. The Jonbenet - Ugly/Heartless
07. NOFX - Ribbed
08. Hot Water Music - Never Ender
09. Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
10. Zombie Apocalypse - This is a Spark of Life

(I hear that shit.)
Spleen Latifa:
01. The Cramps - Flamejob
02. Bomb the Music Industry! - To Leave or Die in Long Island
03. The Red Chord - Clients
04. STD Grabag - STD Grabag
05. This Moment in Black History - It Takes a Nation (of Assholes to Hold Us Back)
06. Armalite - Armalite
07. Zao - The Funeral of God
08. Bikini Kill - Singles
09. Slayer - Undisputed Attitude
10. The Vandals - Sweatin' to the Oldies: Live

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Momentary Lapse of Evil: This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb - "Murdermurdermurdermurder"



New column alert, fucksabres! ... Drowning ourselves as much as we do in musical racketry, us fellers of the Belly come across many different types of audio than just your run-of-the-mill pummelsome horrificness. But one thing we've started to notice is that even the most mild-mannered of acts like to dabble from time to time in the graphic, in the violent, in the dangerous, in the vicious, in the grotesque, and in the talon... so to speak. And we feel this is one quality of our favorite tunesmiths that we want to accentuate. Be it in their lyrics, in their live shows, in their videos, in their lifestyles, or even just randomly throughout their tenure, we will chronicle their tip-toes-ing into the straight up powerviolence [often times dropping the prefix] while most generally they are tame by our usual gnardefinitions...

So the first addition to this column comes from the Pensacola folkster-punk outfit often touted as one of the most important DIY acts today. Rumored to have assembled as a brash and crass country act, the punk waters ran deep in these kids, and they couldn't ignore the fire [think a bluegrass-stuffed, folk-injected, speed-addict Against Me!, or something]... BUT what enters them into this column is their song "Murdermurdermurdermurder", and more importantly, the lyrics. At first listen, it totally makes you wanna cut a rug in your underwear in your one-bedroom shoebox Brooklyn apartment, hip shakin like the end is near... but on further investigation, the words are grim as hell, and basically straight up wrong. But I'll let you jokers be the judge... Shits straight up fight:

"Pushed my gramma down in front of a train.
I like to watch people wiggle around in pain.
Especially if it's those that I love.
Gonna send'em to the great god above
Strapped a timebomb to my son yesterday.
Told my wife he wanted her to go outside to play.
You know the whole house and yard I blew it up.
I guess now they know I love em both very much...
You know i only kill for decency.
Filling up heaven with people who mean so much to me.
So that if I ever make it there
It won't be filled with people who laugh, point, and stare.
Point and stare."

Monday, December 3, 2007

Get the Fuck Back Together, Idots: Snapcase

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Hailing from the land of the Bills, Buffalo's Snapcase were a sight to behold live, but they also brought the rock while just listening to them in the car or something. I remember seeing them way back in the day when I thought I was punk-as-fuck and just being blown away. In fact, I have seen these cheeky bastards a few times, and they never disappointed... until they broke up. Now they disappoint me, and I'm pissed. So what does that mean? It's time for them to get the fuck back together, of course.

Filled with a raw power like no other, Snapcase brought gnarly hardcore that has proven to be pretty hard to match. Through such stellar releases as Progression Through Unlearning, Designs for Automation, and End Transmission, these rat bastards always managed to show that they were not run-of-mill in any context. Actually, they just showed that they were fucking awesome. I seriously can't even think of a shitty release by them. Even Lookinglasself wasn't all that bad. Well, maybe Bright Flashes was a bit of a disappointment, but I'll give them that one, because they rocked me so hard all those other releases and they are just humans, so they were probably just getting a little tired by that point.

But why go out on a merely decent release? I think they should get back together and make another kick-balls album that will shred my face off. Of course they will need to tour for this album as well. Sounds like a plan. I did hear that they played a few reunion shows in Buffalo and Brooklyn, but I am not in that area, so I want a reunion show out here in the Chi-tilla. And I want a "we're getting back together" announcement at said show. I'm holding my breath.

Snapcase - Coagulate

Heavy Rotation: The Fellas of the Belly (Dec. 3)

Yeah yeah, it's late again. I know. I apologize. It's been a busy week, so get off my back. I know you all have been drooling in anticipation of the Rotation, so let's do this.

The Hellion:
1. Tusk - Get Ready
2. Hot Cross - A New Set of Lungs
3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic
4. Chuck Ragan - Feast or Famine
5. Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli
6. Through the Eyes of the Dead - Malice
7. Forcefedglass - Fine Tuned Chaos Motherfuckers
8. Good Riddance/Kill Your Idols - Split
9. Comeback Kid - Broadcasting
10. Gosepl - the Moon is a Dead World

Spleen Latifa:
1. This Bike is a Pipe Bomb - Three Way Tie for Fifth
2. The Locust - New Erections
3. Army of Ponch - ...So Many of You Could Never Win
4. Heavy Heavy Low Low - Everything's Watched, Everyone's Watching
5. Arsonists Get All the Girls - The Game of Life
6. Combat Wounded Veteran - This is Not an Erect, All-Red Neon Body
7. Billy Reese Peters - Almost Heaven
8. The Bronx - The Bronx
9. The Bled - Pass the Flask
10. Mclusky - Mclusky Do Dallas

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Dispatches from Powerviolence: Arsonists Get All The Girls' Bassist Passes Away



Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but we here at the Belly have been alerted that Pat Mason, the bassist of Arsonists Get All the Girls, has passed away... Rather that give you some flashy, witty verbose account of this, I think it would be more appropriate to let you read the band's official statement:

"We can't describe the pain and sorrow that we all are feeling right now. Last night/early this morning our bassist, Pat Mason, passed away. Pat was an amazing person and brother to all of us. It was his 21st birthday and we all got to see him at band practice. He then proceeded to go out to the bars. He went to sleep at a friend's house. We don't know the full details but when friends tried to wake him up this morning he didn't wake up. We could never trade him for the world and could never replace him. We will always love him and will always be in our hearts. We are going to continue with the band cause that is what Pat would have wanted. There will be a donation account set up soon for his family and possibly a local benefit show as well. Thanks for everyone for the support that the band has since the beginning. We love you all and Pat loves you all as well."

When the donation account is set up, us fellas will be sure to post it up as soon as possible... Our condolences to Pat's friends and family, and especially the band... I guess we didn't know about the game of life.