This was me on Christmas Eve. In a couple hours, this’ll most likely be me again.
Good afternoon, Dear Readers, and a Happy Fucking New Year to you all! I hope you enjoyed the collection of top-ten lists I published yesterday!
Before we finally put 2012 to bed, though, here’s a quick supplemental post to go along with my personal contribution to that conglomerate of lists. I’m calling it…
Well, friends, here we find ourselves in the waning moments of 2012. It’s been an interesting, eventful year that’s had lots of high and low points — a ton of excellent new music has been released and quite a few brand-new bands have emerged that I’d fully expect to be making some serious waves in the near future.
One of the best things about 2012, for me personally, was that I found myself (and my wife) going to lots more shows than in recent years, and as a result I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of new people — as well as starting to take a way more active role in the local music scene.
Anyway, a few weeks ago I had a suggestion from one of those people I’ve gotten to know in the past year (I won’t say who — he said he preferred not to be given credit for the idea, although I will say that it’s somebody who contributed to this). The idea was to collect top-ten lists from various folks in the Pittsburgh metal community.
So I put out an open invitation for any musicians or other people who are involved in the scene in some way — I was looking for anything, whether it was the traditional “Top Ten Albums” or something totally off-the-wall like someone’s ten favorite sandwiches they ate during the year. Really, the only rules were that it had to be a list, and involve something from 2012.
Punks are getting arrested in Indonesia, being forced to shave their heads, being forced to pray, and having their clothes burned.
That’s the story behind Punk Aid and Aceh Calling, the massive (72 bands!) benefit compilation that’s on-sale now to support the underground punk scene in Indonesia.
The compilation was originally released in March 2012 as a digital download, and you can still grab a copy of this titanic collection from Bandcamp for just six bucks. But since that time, enough money has been raised to have CDs made, as well.
This is a three-disc set, and there were only 200 copies produced — at least half of which will stay inside Indonesia for all the punk kids there who may not be able to download the MP3 version. But there are a handful of them available for sale to the rest of the world, so if you want to help out a struggling pocket of the worldwide punk community AND get some new CDs packed full of great music in the process, you should hurry up and take advantage of this!
Movement Records in Jakarta is receiving all of the profits from the album sales, so they can distribute the money to those who need it locally. The bands included on the compilation will receive no money, and neither will the folks who brought it together or those who are selling it. “This is being done for one reason — it’s the fucking right thing to do,” says Punk Aid organizer Michael “Mike Virus” Rothstein.
Okay folks, tons to talk about and not a whole lot of time.
There is so much happening today, I’ve got to get moving very soon if I want to even hit half of these events. And I do, at least.
You will too, so you won’t want to sit here all day and read a bunch of crap. Let’s get straight to the good stuff, shall we…
Hardcore band Consumed with Hatred from Baltimore is coming to visit the Mon Valley, appearing tonight with Pittsburgh punks Scattergun, horror punk band MITS from Mon City,
California (PA) punk band The Lady and the Monsters, and finally, crust/grinders Flesh Addict from Belle Vernon!
It’s a lot of bands for one billing, but things get underway pretty early — 6pm — so come on down! Once again, the name of the game is no drugs, no violence, no drama; respect the venue, respect each other, have fun!!
RSVP here. Or even if you aren’t able to make it to the show tonight, check out the page anyway — it’s my first-ever attempt at creating a Facebook event! (Note: Valley of Steel is not affiliated with the booking or organizing of this show, just trying to do my part to help spread the word!)
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Here’s a show that should need very little in the way of introduction: Pittsburgh’s legendary hardcore/crossover metal band from the late 80’s, Castle Blood, is reuniting, and hitting the Pub tonight! Joining them will be Rabid Reason from Kent, Ohio, as well as Pittsburgh’s own Lythem.
RSVP for this historic event here and here.
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Come celebrate the release of Liquified Guts‘ brand-new full-length album — feast your eyes on the 70’s AM radio inspired cover (pictured below), then feast your ears on the putrid hideousness lurking within! Plus, get another chance to see the newly reunited Castle Blood (if, for example, you find yourself attending a different show Friday night), along with the incredible talents of MorgueMart and Lady Beast! Just $5 to get in the door!
Alright folks, you know who Jello Biafra is — former Dead Kennedys frontman, who went on to invent pudding pops, and then embarked on a long solo career that has involved a combination of spoken word and music projects.
Some time later, Biafra formed a band called Jello Biafra and the Axis of Merry Evildoers with guitarist Ralph Spight, drummer Jon Weiss, and basist Billy Gould. With the addition of second guitarist Kimo Ball, the band was renamed Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine.
Fast forward a couple more years, Jon’s brother Andrew Weiss has replaced Gould, who went back to doing the Faith No More thing, and now the band is on tour, with a stop in Pittsburgh tonight!
Joining them at the Altar Bar will be Pittsburgh’s own Scattergun and Charleroi’s MorgueMart (both of whom put on shows that come highly recommended by this blogger!) as well as The Lady and the Monsters (a punk band, who I don’t really know anything about — yet — besides the fact that they come from California, PA).
Buy tickets from Ticketfly here, get more information from Drusky Entertainment here, then RSVP to the Facebook events here and here.
What’s up, readers!??
Pittsburgh metal. Good stuff. FREE. Read about it, download it. You won’t regret it, and I won’t stop bugging you until you do it. Seriously.
A whole bunch of the bands who have songs on that comp are playing shows this weekend, along with a whole bunch of other bands. If you’re in the Pittsburgh region over the next couple days, you’ll want to pay attention because here’s your guide to what awesomeness you might have missed if I wasn’t here to help you out!
Valley of Steel 