Adam: I was at a charity bowling tournament last night raising money for the local Big Brothers Big Sisters. Since so many good friends of the site generously contributed to my fundraising effort I made a point of sporting the good ol' Punknews bowling shirt. Now this lead to a few interesting conversations, namely one with a kindly middle aged gentleman who plainly asked me "do people still play punk rock?" After pondering for a second on the type of asinine response I'd get from our comment sections, I brought out my usual explanation: To me, punk is a lot like traditional blues in that no matter how far we get from the initial era there are going to be people so in love with the style that they keep it going regardless of whether the general public is paying attention. A band that embodies that for me is the Varsity Weirdos. Hailing from the Maritime city of Moncton, New Brunswick, the band plays classic pop-punk in the tradition of the Ramones, Screeching Weasel, the Queers, Teenage Bottlerocket and countless others. Yet despite the fact that it's been done a million times before, it still sounds fucking great.
"Codependency" and "Fly Me Up To The Moon" Brian: "This is in no way punk-related." "You are ruining the credibility of the site." "You hipster douche bag." I know from a certain selection in Anchors' 'best of 2006' list that pop stars will immediately set you guys off -- probably for good reason, but I digress. Lily Allen is already a huge star in her native UK, and she's already well on her way here. Fuse a heavily Specials-influenced backdrop with bitter-as-tonic-water lyrics as sung by the sultry Allen and you have a surpisingly enjoyable major label pop debut. Sure, Alright, Still contains a few overly cheesy choruses and is an absolute indie cred-approved smash with the hipster crowd all the same, but I'm as close to hipster status as your local Dungeons and Dragons master and I love this shit.