Refused.

[O Drones]

[lordgalvar]

That bold bit there is definitely untrue man, I've been playing in bands in the UK for a long time (including an Anarcho band that I was in for a few years, we played with Oi Polloi a lot and I had a band with Scott from AOA for a wee while) and I've never known a band to have a manager, certainly not Punk bands, and there's tooooons of photocopied art and CDRs (including my own band's stuff).

Hey, Crass is my all time favourite band too!

I just talked to Scott from AOA. What was your band? Was that the one he was talking about getting off the ground last year? Really curious because AOA is one of my favorite bands and Scott just kinda went radio silent not that long ago. (well, I guess time flies, it was about a year ago, haha)

Scott put out some very nicely made and professional comps of the the AOA catalog. I got down and get bands stuff here and you get a shit photocopy and a cdr with sharpie for a lot of bands.

I think what I was getting at (and what people tell me) is that because of the safe show (I think it is called) rules in London and stuff, there isn't really a way to do DIY stuff like in the US. I think the level of scale is different. When I was there, and the bands I talked to, the CDR stuff came with nice printed covers and had full color printed cds; I didn't find out until later that they were cdrs until my stereo wouldn't read them. They certainly didn't look like it at least. Here in the states, there is just a lot of half assed garbage, I was a bit general about the use of the term "manager", but they are labels and stuff to help bands out. I don't see a lot of self-pressed vinyl and demo cdrs coming out the UK anymore. Labels like All the Madmen and stuff really help their bands with shows and setup tours, make records, etc. That doesn't happen here in the States. DIY does means half-assed a lot of times here. I know bands like Cravats and stuff do print their own shirts and stuff, but they actually work out deals with labels to get records out and do tours. Also, paying gigs. DIY don't have that in a lot of places here. I got paid once in like 7 years. I had to drive 4 hours or somthing to get it.

Their are bands in the US that will make a cdr album every year until they find a label "that isn't about profit and stuff". It's bullshit.

Sorry about that though. I was just going off of the distros and people I have dealt with. Even the littlest bands seemed to have a very professional front that just doesn't exist in the American DIY scene. I was getting tired and rambling haha. No excuses.

[lordgalvar]

That's the other thing about going on about all this punk stuff, there is always somebody that experienced it different and more acurately in their scene. That's cool, but when people start rambling on about it, they'll eventually over step their bounds/say something wrong. It's part of being human.

[O Drones]

I dunno man, maybe London's got it own thing going on I've never heard of a 'safe show', there's plenty of house shows and DIY shows in Scotland and England. Oi Polloi put on Cramond Island Festival every year which is a load of Punk bands playing on a tiny island until the middle of the night. Shit rules

Here's the band I was trying to get off the ground with Scott, couldn't get a full time drummer, so it fell through

https://bealltainn.bandcamp.com

[D.o.S.]

Scott put out some very nicely made and professional comps of the the AOA catalog. I got down and get bands stuff here and you get a shit photocopy and a cdr with sharpie for a lot of bands.

Yeah I definitely think taking the effort to 'do it right' as much as you're able to, financially, is really important element to 'doing it yourself' that often gets lost because people want to keep it "true" or "kvlt" or whatever the fuck.

[O Drones]

Scott put out some very nicely made and professional comps of the the AOA catalog. I got down and get bands stuff here and you get a shit photocopy and a cdr with sharpie for a lot of bands.

Yeah I definitely think taking the effort to 'do it right' as much as you're able to, financially, is really important element to 'doing it yourself' that often gets lost because people want to keep it "true" or "kvlt" or whatever the fuck.

100%. DIY doesn't have to be shorthand for fucking crap.

[lordgalvar]

I dunno man, maybe London's got it own thing going on I've never heard of a 'safe show', there's plenty of house shows and DIY shows in Scotland and England. Oi Polloi put on Cramond Island Festival every year which is a load of Punk bands playing on a tiny island until the middle of the night. Shit rules

Here's the band I was trying to get off the ground with Scott, couldn't get a full time drummer, so it fell through

https://bealltainn.bandcamp.com

Maybe it is a London thing.

Scott was going to send me a link, and I think he did say something about drummer problems. He was also telling me about the AOA bass player or singer's (I don't remember) new band called Rot Gut or something. I could never find it. Thanks for the link though! Going on my playlist now! Scotland has always sounded cooler than England anyway. Oi Polloi and Deek freaking rule. Always good to get new stuff (at least to me) from over there.

The safe show thing is I think either a London or maybe even English thing where they have to have security at shows of a certain size or else its illegal (like our cabaret licences here). There are shows that skirt the rules, but I have heard that they just aren't successful/no body gets paid/DIY hardcore crap. It sounds like a lot f the same stuff we have here (but there are also a lot of house shows, but they are subject to getting broken up). Like a bar in a lot of places can't have a band with out a cabaret licence $300 to the city in fees plus proving they have security.

My wife wants to go on vacation and our Lituania trip fell through. I might talk her into going up to Scotland (we were supposed to go last year but that train ticket from Liverpool to Scotland was expensive!). Got to visit my friends in London too.

Side note: did Alternative get Southern let them release their stuff?

[lordgalvar]

Scott put out some very nicely made and professional comps of the the AOA catalog. I got down and get bands stuff here and you get a shit photocopy and a cdr with sharpie for a lot of bands.

Yeah I definitely think taking the effort to 'do it right' as much as you're able to, financially, is really important element to 'doing it yourself' that often gets lost because people want to keep it "true" or "kvlt" or whatever the fuck.

100%. DIY doesn't have to be shorthand for fucking crap.

A lot of times here in the states, sadly, that is reality. The only reason people wanted me around in bands was because I gave a shit and made nicer covers, flyers, and stuff. haha. I totally agree, which is why I respected a lot of the stuff I saw in England when I was there. Bands from my hometown sold duct tape with a band name on it as a "DIY sticker" for a "DIY cause". It gets to be bullshit. Anyway, I meant the whole professionalism and orderliness of the UK stuff I have seen as a total compliment. A lot of times that just doesn't happen here (at least in California).

[O Drones]

Yeah, that must be a London thing. I've never played a show with security.

Yeah, come to Scotland man! Come sample our constant cloudiness and drizzle

[lordgalvar]

I had never heard of that Cramond Island Fest until now. I can't find anything after 2013, which is sad. I would totally fly over for that.

Ah, I just remembered something: I saw Cress while is was over there. I liked them. Went up to the singer and asked if they had a demo or a patch or something. He whispered at me: "We don't support that kind of commertialism. Go take it off the internet like everyone else". Then he said something like "We were just in the states and had shirts for gas money and food, you could have gotten one then". They toured Virginia and stuff which is 2700 miles from California. Yea, sure. I was just trying to get something to listen to because I liked them. It's that holier than thou crap that kinda pisses me off. All he had to say was, "nah, I do this for fun, we don't really sell stuff" and it would have been cool. But nope, had to make me feel kinda dumb for asking.

[lordgalvar]

Yeah, that must be a London thing. I've never played a show with security.

Yeah, come to Scotland man! Come sample our constant cloudiness and drizzle

I wish we had that. I am sick of Smog, constant 70-90 degrees and blinding sun. No seriously, I hate it.

I'll tell my wife tonight that I picked Scotland. Haha. I don't know when though. I gotta talk to some people. I actually have some contacts out in Cork in Ireland too. Might make a little trip out of it. We were supposted to go to Lithuania, but that fell through.

Talk to you all later; if I want a vacation, I have to finish my kitchen haha.

[lordgalvar]

One last side note before I get moving:

Bealtainn is some good stuff. Don't know who is doing what on the stuff, but Scott was one of the guitar players I tried to figure out when I started getting more serious into guitars. He just has a weird rhythm to his playing. It's like sparse Gauze or something. It's freaking awesome. Like just a weird almost like chaging/warbling tape speed rhythm.

Thanks for the tunes man.

[O Drones]

He was supposed to play bass. Yeah he's such a great and underrated guitarist. Duuuude, Cress fucking rule.

Speaking of Anarcho legends, Nick Blinko did the art my band's (The Cherry Wave) album, but after it was all ready to go, we ran out of money and couldn't do it We still have it though, we'll probably use it for a vinyl release. Anyway, back to Refused, damn does this new song get even worse the more you listen.

[lordgalvar]

He was supposed to play bass. Yeah he's such a great and underrated guitarist. Duuuude, Cress fucking rule.

Speaking of Anarcho legends, Nick Blinko did the art my band's (The Cherry Wave) album, but after it was all ready to go, we ran out of money and couldn't do it We still have it though, we'll probably use it for a vinyl release. Anyway, back to Refused, damn does this new song get even worse the more you listen.

Ah, I can't stay away. Yeah, Cress a freaking bad ass. It was just weird talking to the dude. Maybe I came off a little American Country redneck.

Nick Blinko just did a limited run of t-shirts through this LA fashion store. I picked one up. Love Rudimentry Peni. Going to have to pick up that record when you get it out.

Refused, oh yea! The song just sounds dated and like it is missing something. It's like they wrote down some bad ass stuff, got in the studio, and said "good enough". It's like a bunch of played out things kinda thrown together. The vocals are honestly pretty weak to me. It all just seems to well put together or should I say produced without any real content. I dunno.

Shoegaze isn't really my thing (I like it hear and there) but The Cherry Wave is actually really good. I think my wife would really dig it (not an insult as she is picky as all hell haha). I honestly don't feel like it would be too out of place in the anarcho realm.

[O Drones]

Aw thanks dude Yeah, we try to avoid all the ambientz shit that 'gaze is usually associated with. NO MOAR SHIMMER GOD DAMMIT