It's Sunday July 22nd, 2007. Have you ever sat down to write your Sunday recap article, only to so completely fail in your attempt to link the stories that you create a remarkably thin premise at the expense of Angels & Airwaves? I know I have.
The people must have something good to read on a Sunday
So post-Blink-182 act Angels & Airwaves posted a teaser video for their upcoming record I-Empire. I'm getting a bit less of a messiah complex vibe from this bout of press, and I have to say I almost miss the epic grandstanding. Now I wouldn't say that Rivers Cuomo ever thought of himself a saviour, although for a while he was right up there with Mr. Delonge on the weirdness scale. Weezer's still kicking though, and they've begun recording their next full length. Now calling an anticipated record New Wave might be bordering on self-importance, but probably isn't quite messianic. Regardless Against Me! continue the press blitz behind their major label debut, this week chatting it up with Blender and announcing tour dates with Matt and Kim and Dave Dondero. Pete Wentz -- now we're talking. Mainstream pop punk stars Fall Out Boy are headed to Uganda to support the charity Invisible Children and the guitarist / mouthpiece chatted about the trip on YouTube.
Coheed & Cambria's Chris Pennie just wouldn't take the bait, pretty much turning the other cheek following the public ribbing he received last week from his former Dillinger Escape Plan bandmates. The Offspring keep on recording, announcing further progress on their pending full length. We heard they suck live, but regardless NOFX will give the live album another shot in early 2008. Celebrated alt-pop act Tegan and Sara streamed their new album The Con, as did their co-patriots Sum 41, who streamed their new work Underclass Hero. Finally the film Punk's Not Dead announced screenings over the next month, why not hit up your local indie theatre and give it a shot?
This week saw the passing of Kelly Johnson of Girlschool (1958-2007). It also saw John Stabb of Government Issue assaulted and in need of help.
Punknews editor / videographer Chris Moran is on the road with the Gaslight Anthem, and provided us with a feature on the tour this week. We spoke with Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelley, authors of "Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture" (interview) as well as popular act The Used (interview). We also streamed six songs from the new Menzingers full length this week. .
Click Read More to see this week's contests, streaming music and more.
Radio Free Punknews
Check the Punknews Music page to stream all sorts of anticipated new music including Guff's new full length Symphony of Voices, an exclusive remix of the Static Age, a reading from Ronen Kauffman new book, the full length from country-punk act Two Cow Garage, and the new record from Sacramento pop-punks Secretions songs from Ben Weasel's new solo record, a new song from legendary hardcore pioneers Bad Brains, a full album from Philadelphia melodic hardcore band Giving Chase, songs from the The Story Changes' upcoming full length, and a full album stream from the Gaslight Anthem.
Suntans are for Winners Win a skateboard and swag from Rooney
The contests don't stop at Punknews.org, apparently, as we've got another neat little giveaway for you guys. We've got a unique little package from Rooney which coincides with the release of their new record, Calling the World. The band has given us a signed longboard and a Rooney prize pack (tote bag, t-shirt, Calling the World CD) for one winner and a prize package for an additional four others. A longboard is something we've never given away but I keep seeing people using them to get around the city so they're pretty useful and hey, it's a long skateboard.
Win a Nintendo Wii from Fuse
It's critically acclaimed, impossible to find and people get pretty enthusiastic about it. Of course, we're talking about the Nintendo Wii. You can wait in line and drop $250.00 on one, or you can simply fill out a form and win one, courtesy of Punknews.org and everyone's favorite music television network, Fuse. Along the Wii, runner ups will win CD prize packages from Warped Tour acts including Family Force 5, The Starting Line, Amber Pacific, Kaddisfly, The Human Abstract, and All Time Low. You can drop you entry into the virtual ballot box right here.
Vinyl Collective
To help celebrate their interview feature, and more importantly, to help celebrate vinyl, Vinyl Collective is offering one lucky punknews.org reader a chance to win $100 to spend in their webstore. That's right, 100 big ones! Of course, it's not as simple as just asking for the gift certificate. To win the prize, take some time to look at the picture provided and correctly name every piece of vinyl in the photo. Color counts in determining who is closest to getting them all, so vinyl nerds may have the upper hand in this one. Check out the interview for the photo. The only hint we're giving you is that there are more than 10 records in the picture, but less than 15. How much less? 4 less. Please send your entries to info@vinylcollective and start figuring out how to spend that cash via their web store. For those of you not enjoying the smaller photo, here's a bigger one.
Staff Blogs
When not writing about music on the internet, many members of the Punknews staff find time to write about music on the internet. You can check out the depraved musings of Adam White at 2:59, Justin August has some Kinder Words for you, while Chris Moran's all over the place with content rocking both MySpace and Flickr. Reviewer Jesse Raub posts short fiction and web comics to Things That Go Bump In My Head and his zine Bitter Press.
Super Powers Enable Me To Blend In With Machinery
We've theorized that you visit other websites out there, and we know it can be tough to leave the calming blue glow of the `Org, so we'll help by infecting the rest of the web with Punknews content. Waste some time on the Punknews.org and Punknews Records MySpace pages, the Punknews.org Facebook Group, and contribute your listening habits to the weekly charts Last.fm group.
Come Join Us
Why register on Punknews.org? Registered users can rate bands and reviews, building recommendations and links between artists for the whole community to share and discover. Users get their own profile page showing recent comments, top rated bands and favourite records and more. So go ahead, cast off the cloak of anonymity and create your account today - it's free, easy and private.