'Tis true... I am well on my way to becoming that creepy old man I have always dreamed about. And now today, a quarter in, with twenty five long ones under my belt, I shed one tear for the fact that I am no longer eligible for MTV reality shows, leaving my 18-24 demographic behind in a blaze of glory.
Against Me! was one of my crisis gifts... Check out this widget thing below to watch rad realtime footage and photos taken by the band and uploaded to their site instantly and wirelessly while they are currently on tour. If you do some descent slueth work, you can find me making an ass of myself at their photoshoot.
Also, if even more gnarspecial news... The American Black Lung descends on NYC tonight. We love them. Tonight there shall be true raging. Rage with us, or forever hold your peace.
Be excellent to each other... Champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends.
I know for some reason people are becoming divided on this band... But I, for one, will always take the position that I stand behind these cats, in whatever decisions or ventures they choose. However, their validity and relevance is not what's up for fuckin' discussion here... This is a Gnarvideo post, riptigers! So anywho, this new video for a cut off their album, New Wave, was spit out onto the interweb this week, and slip-slided across our Belly radar... At first, honestly, it'd didnt grab right me off the bat (black and white, band playing on a tv show while the band is also watching said band on the tv... got it, alright) ... UNTIL there was a quick shot of a familiar face, clean shaven and in a suit!! ... And who was this pseudo-dapper gentleman with a giant grin on his face?? Well it was that lovable hulking scamp, Paddy Costello from Dillinger Four! .... Holyfuckdamnshitfuckassdamn! ... Dropping this bomb on the viewers instantly made the video turn into fucking gold, in my opinion. And also cuz you know how much us Fellas of the Belly absolutely loooooove destruction.
So check it out... Watch Paddy play a drunken, square, washed-up talk show host with the greatest of ease and skill, harkening an airtight performance like Ben Afleck in his career-making role in Reindeer Games. The decision to cast the Padrock should instantly saintify the AM! boys for everyone... Have a looksee and decide for yourself, jerkfaces...
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."
5.17.07 - I'm breaking form and posting this before the show just to clue anyone in if they're in the area and wanna check it out... It's going to be one incredible night, filling out the bill (in order) with These Arms Are Snakes, Cursive, Against Me!, and Mastodon. So get down on that jazz if you don't already have yourself a ticket... and if you don't, you're a dumbshit. Don't worry, I'll give the full-column treatment to this post-show!
While your waiting, enjoy two delightful videos by the headliners...
