Ever wanted to know what DARKEST HOUR would sound like with a female vocalist? San Francisco’s LIGHT THIS CITY set all things metal ablaze with Remains of The Gods, the group’s first release for Prosthetic Records. Stripped free from much of metal’s grandeur, this band plays their AT THE GATES inspired music as straight as [...]

Sunn Amplification should really consider going back into business, because Sunday night’s performance by ISIS at the Black Cat is likely to inspire a ton of copycat bands. The Los Angeles post-metal (for lack of a better term) quintet touched down in DC for an hour long performance which at times could feel as light [...]

Our fine friends over at punknews.org have updated their website to add more features, revised the calendar of releases and their search engine. Additionally, they’ve allowed users to rate bands and reviews on the site, as well as making the site just look that much better, while still using the white/grey/blue color scheme.

But most interesting is a feature called “Band of the Moment”, where on a sidebar to the right is a picture of a group along with links to their website and bio. According to Aubin Paul, it is not paid for, and when one refreshes the site, a new band is pictured. I refreshed three times and got THE DRAFT, SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE and SOCIAL DISTORTION.

Ypsilanti, Michigan’s BLOODLINED CALIGRAPHY are female fronted metallic hardcore and its finest. They Want You Silent is the group’s debut full-length, coming off last years The Beginning of the End EP, and it’s an invigorating punch in the face of mosh-laden hardcore and huge guitar riffs. Consisting of equal parts NYHC (think MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD’s [...]

It was a long time coming, and we weren’t sure if the ALKALINE TRIO would make it there, but Crimson, the group’s fifth full-length, skillfully separates the band from the pop-punk confines that have marked the previous eight years of their existence. Ignoring the group’s 2003 transitional album, Good Mourning for just a moment, Crimson’s [...]

And they killed it.

I don’t know if that says much, but NONE MORE BLACK were so on, so energetic, that even when they jammed too much and lost the song, the crowd laughed with them. Such a good time, Jason, Colin and company are supremely enegetic. Fun? Oh, you bet.

Saying a great time was had by all really doesn’t do the performance justice. It may have been to 50 kids in a college town, but NONE MORE BLACK played with the kind of emotion to fill venues 100 times the size.

And the material on This is Satire? Wonderful to hear, they rock like AGAINST ME! on it. The highlight of the set for me had to be the opener of “Oh, There’s Legwork”, and I don’t mean that in detrement to the rest of their set.

Go see NONE MORE BLACK if they come through your neck of the woods.

Please bear with us as Pastepunk will experience minimal updates over the next couple of days. I am in the process of moving and hopefully I’ll be set up with a solid internet connection early next week. Our new mailing address has been added to the About page – please update your records if you’re the kind of reader who has those kinds of records. Once things are somewhat back to normal, we’ll be running new contest for goods from FIGHTSTAR and Hellcat’s “Give ‘Em The Boot Vol. 5″ compilation. Interviews with VAUX, NADA SURF, and SAVES THE DAY are also in the pipeline, among other features. See ya in a few days!

In 1989, creator of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip Bill Watterson gave a speech about a comic strip’s potential to be a form of art, and how licensing frivolous products for profit can destroy the precious world of the comic. Here is an excerpt from his speech:

“Characters lose their believability as they start endorsing major companies and lend their faces to bedsheets and boxer shorts. The appealing innocence and sincerity of cartoon characters is corrupted when they use those qualities to peddle products. One starts to question whether characters say things because they mean it or because their sentiments sell T-shirts and greeting cards. Licensing has made some cartoonists extremely wealthy, but at a considerable loss to the precious little world they created. I don’t buy the argument that licensing can go at full throttle without affecting the strip. Licensing has become a monster. Cartoonists have not been very good at recognizing it, and the syndicates don’t care.”

I couldn’t help but think about the current state of punk rock when reading this article. A band is a small world – you create an intimate relationship with a musician based on the notion that they care about writing as much as you care about listening. Believing this idea is the corner stone for those who seek sincerity and honesty in music. Seeing bands and musicians begging their fans to vote for them on TRL, or watering down their message for a wider audience cheapens that world – it damages the belief that these individuals are more concerned with expressing themselves than making a profit. Without that belief, punk rock is no different than the Backstreet Boys. It’s pretty funny that an aging cartoonist seems to understand the punk rock mindset better than a good portion of the bands around today…

You can read the lengthy, but incredibly interesting transcript for Watterson’s speech here.