Ever since I found out about this yesterday morning, there’s been a little bit of glumness hanging over me. Bands coming and going is the norm in punk rock, but it’s never easy to acknowledge a band’s passing when you can tie personal events to their muisc/existence. Largely, THE GAMITS are the reason why Pastepunk has established such good relations with Suburban Home Records, stemming back to when I received a promo of Endorsed by You in early 2000, and was entirely floored by the music contained therein. A few months ago, THE GAMITS released by far, the best work in their span with Antidote, and near perfect pop-punk disc. As a fan, this sucks, but I feel lucky to have ever heard this band in the first place.

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OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM THE GAMITS:

Hey everybody. Chris here. The Gamits are calling it quits. Yes, it’s true. There are many reasons for this happening. Mainly it is just time to move on. As many of you know there have been a few different people in this band over the years and I am the only original member. Here is a list of everyone who has played in this band; Matt Vanleuven (bass mostly and drums at one point) Matt Martinez (bass) Forrest Bartosh (drums) Scott Weigel (bass) Luke Mathers (bass) Brian Pentagram (drums) Scott Swarers (bass) and Jason Walker (drums). I would like to thank every one of you for being in the band even if it was just for a couple weeks or a couple years. I will hold back from thanking anyone specifically except band members because if I thank one person I have to thank about 500. Ok, I will make one exception and thank Virgil Dickerson because he was always been my right hand man and has supported the Gamits through thick and thin.

The current line up worked very hard and helped to put out what I believe to be the best album we ever did. (Antidote) It received overwhelmingly good reviews and has hopefully left its own little mark on this music scene. For that I am very proud. This band, all line ups included, afforded me and everyone involved to travel all over Europe, Japan, Canada and the United States many times. I‚Äôll never forget these experiences, good and bad, for as long as I live. There is no way to thank everyone in every country for every meal, bed, show, tour, or beer but if we could we would let you all crash at our houses and buy you about 50,000 drinks. Being in a band like ours can take its toll on you after awhile. I‚Äôm sure many of you can relate, as almost everyone I know is in a band. We started in 1995 on a tiny label and stayed on an independent label to this day. The Gamits were never the punkest band in the world but we were extremely DIY when it came to our music. It was written, produced, and recorded by us in the studio that we built from scratch. (8 Houses Down) For all of this I am very proud as well. Who knows what could have happened to the Gamits if we would have taken a different approach. I don‚Äôt want to turn this into a whole speech about the current state of punk rock, but let‚Äôs just say that nobody in this band ever sat around and talked about how we were going to make it big or sign to a major label. It seems like that‚Äôs all anybody cares about anymore. Kids these days sometimes look down on you if you aren‚Äôt on a major label. They think you must suck or something. This is very backwards and it‚Äôs in a scene like this that bands like ours get eaten up. Not only that, but lots of good bands who don‚Äôt know any better sign to a major and they get screwed. Music in general suffers. The state of this scene really has nothing to do with the Gamits demise. I just wanted to get in my two cents about “”punk rock”" today because I know a lot of people will be reading this. For the most part the scene is anything but “”punk.”" Most of the bands seem to sound the same and it‚Äôs more trendy and corporate than I ever thought it could be. I hope that it turns around soon. It has to.

With all that said we will continue to play music in other bands / projects that you will hopefully be hearing about soon. Thanks for taking the time to read this and if you have never bought a Gamits record, do yourself and us a favor and go get “”Antidote”" and see what you were missing!

- THE GAMITS

Belgium’s FIVE DAYS OFF may be one of the last really good melodicore bands around, and it’s shame I just found out about them yesterday. These guys are featured on a great new split from Calgary’s Triple Threat Records (DEVILLE) that features four songs each from OVER IT, MIDPOINT, FIVE DAYS OFF, and NATIONAL PRODUCT. In particular, FIVE DAYS OFF remind me of I AGAINST I, the SATANIC SURFERS, and TEN FOOT POLE (woah on the capital letters…). Although I couldn’t track down any mp3s from the band’s four songs on this split, below is a track called “”Day by Day,”" that comes from the band’s 2002 release, Coast to Coast.

mp3: FIVE DAYS OFF – Day by Day

link: triplethreatrecords.com

band: fivedaysoff.com

I just got HE IS LEGEND’s disc, I Am Hollywood in the mail yesterday, and after one listen, I’m mighty intrigued. Check out two songs from the release (“”I Am Hollywood”" and “”The Seduction”") on the band’s myspace page.

On a side-note, anyone else thing Tooth and Nail / Solid State has really hit their stride in terms of the artwork for their releases this year? Between the art for HE IS LEGEND, and SHOWBREAD, which is also sitting on my desk, I can’t say I’m not impressed.

Anthem For A New Sonic Warfare is like “Coyote chasing the Roadrunner” music. Oh sure, I could stick to more obvious points of reference like DRIVE LIKE JEHU, and THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY, but really, this 10 song, 40 minute disc is like one giant, grooving scene right out of an epic Warner Brothers reel. [...]

In December’s issue of Wired, the magazine will include a CD of songs licensed through the Creative Commons organization.

According to Wired, the sixteen tracks fall under two licenses. “”The Noncommercial Sampling Plus license permits noncommercial file-sharing and noncommercial sampling. That means, first, that you can swap the songs on a peer-to-peer network (just don’t sell them). And second, that you can sample from them, mash them up, use them to make something fresh – and then share that work, too (though again, you can’t sell it). The Beastie Boys, Chuck D, and My Morning Jacket opted for the Noncommercial Sampling Plus license.

The other 13 artists on the CD went a step further and released their songs under the more expansive Sampling Plus license. Like the noncommercial version, it allows file-sharing. But it also allows commercial use of samples – meaning you can insert a slice of these songs into your own composition and then try to sell the new track. The only restrictions: Use in advertisements is not permitted, and the new work must be “”highly transformative”" of the original (translation: A flagrant rip-off like “”Ice Ice Baby”" doesn’t cut it). More details on the licenses and their permissions are available at creativecommons.org/wired.”"

The Wired CD

:01 Beastie Boys/ Now Get Busy

:02 David Byrne/ My Fair Lady

:03 Zap Mama/ Wadidyusay?

:04 My Morning Jacket/ One Big Holiday

:05 Spoon/ Revenge!

:06 Gilberto Gil/ Oslodum

:07 Dan the Automator/ Relaxation Spa Treatment

:08 Thievery Corporation/ DC 3000

:09 Le Tigre/ Fake French

:10 Paul Westerberg/ Looking Up in Heaven

:11 Chuck D with Fine Arts Militia/ No Meaning No

:12 The Rapture/ Sister Saviour (Blackstrobe Remix)

:13 Cornelius/ Wataridori 2

:14 Danger Mouse & Jemini/ What U Sittin’ On? (starring Cee Lo and Tha Alkaholiks)

:15 DJ Dolores/ Oslodum 2004

:16 Matmos/ Action at a Distance

For much more background on Creative Commons, the purpose of Wired’s involvement with the CD, etc. check out the Wired article, Sample the Future.

Ohio’s finest female fronted pop-rock band, MANDA AND THE MARBLES have signed to a new label out of New York called Addison Records. There are a bunch of great ‘MARBLES songs up on the Addison Records myspace page.

Here’s some background on Addison Records:

We are a new label based in New York City, dedicated to providing what we love, great indie/ punk/power pop music without the headache of dealing with a major label. We will be putting out our first release at the end of January 2005 from the Columbus Ohio band Manda and the Marbles. The album is called Angels with Dirty Faces. Check out their website http://www.mandaandthemarbles.com. We will have more great stuff thru out the years and hopefully you all will dig what we dig. Please feel free to tell us what you like, what bands you like signed and unsigned! Oh and Manda and The Marbles are playing in Brooklyn on Saturday October 30th at a place called Trash Bar with this amazing band out of Boston called The Glow. You can view the e-card/e-flyer at http://riotstyle.com/manda_ecard.html

– Side note: I’m not sure why the people behind this label are keeping so quiet about their identities, at least on the web, but I consider one of the key persons involved to have an amazing taste in bands, so I expect some great things to come out of this label as it gets off the ground.

From the inbox:

NOKS Fest 2004 will take place on Dec. 18th and 19th in Naples, Florida at Fleischmann’s Skate Park. Acts so far include Until The End, Strikeforce Diablo, Pseudo Heroes, and Sound The Alarm among others.

Until The End (Eulogy Recordings)

Into The Moat (Metal Blade Records)

Torche (Robotic Empire Records)

Strikeforce Diablo (No Idea Records)

On Our Own (Perfect Victim Records)

Psuedo Heroes (members of Down By Law, Epitaph Records)

Protagonist (Blackout! Records)

Sound The Alarm (members of My Hotel Year)

The Remedy Session

Noah’s Apathy (For Documentation Only Recordings)

Freemartin (Pumpkineater Records)

Fake Problems (For Documentation Only Recordings)

The Anchorite Four

24 Hours To Live

Stop This Fall

The Hold (members of Kumite)

A Horror Story (aka Dark Skies Have Fallen)

Jenji (For Documentation Only Recordings)

The Fluent (Second Victim Music Group)

Don’t Tell Scott

Introducing The Gentlemen (For Documentation Only Recordings)

Thread of Hope (ex-members of Unsilent Reign)

John D’zurilla (For Documentation Only Recordings)

Since The Weekend

Later Days

More bands TBA Soon! noksfest.com

- Yea, I have no clue who half of those bands are either, but the more well-known groups should represent well.

I went on a HOT WATER MUSIC discography binge yesterday, compiling a CD-R with every song of theirs that I own (which, not counting impossible to find 7″ and compilation tracks, is most of them). As these guys have gone through one of the most remarkable transformations in recent memory, I was on the lookout for a turning point of sorts, where the band stumbles through their past and tips ahead toward their future. And there it was… HOT WATER MUSIC’s Epitaph debut, A Flight And A Crash. Although I liked this release when it came out, it was a curveball from expectations. If you have this disc and The New What’s Next, (which, really, you should!!) I suggest listening to both back to back, and noting both the similarities and changes… or you can just rock out – that’s cool too.