Punk Me? Punk You! - A Ripple Punk Rock Round-up of Two Exciting New Bands

Bill Bondsmen - Swallowed By The World

I avoided hardcore punk during a good part of the last decade because most of it was full of itself.

Hardcore and the rebellion of punk started out as vehemence against Margaret Thatcher’s England during a time of record unemployment, governmental crushing of the miners strike, recession and living on the dole. Even in Reagan’s America, hardcore punk was a protest against the greed, corruption and junk bonds that made millionaires out of a few while the inner cities wallowed in their own feces.

But last decade, things were actually pretty good here. Sure, there’s always something to complain about, but overall, the economy was good, race relations were better, civil rights were increasing and we were at peace. So what did the punks have to be angry about? They became a bunch of whinny paps complaining that they couldn’t get a date with a cute girl or the group of popular kids didn’t like them because they had acne on their backs. Forgive me, but I was a radio DJ in the halcyon days of Black Flag, The Anti-Nowhere League, Fear and The Dead Kennedys, and you’re whining to me because you can’t get a date? Oh, go sit in the corner and be quiet little boy!

But now we’ve got our eighth year of Bush to endure, we’re in a no-win war with thousands of young soldiers getting blown apart by roadside bombs, the economy’s in the shitter, unemployment is rising, family homes are in foreclosure, gas is at record highs, and there’s no answer in sight. In that environment, hardcore makes sense again. Still, I approached this new offering, the debut disc from this Detroit outfit, Bill Bondsmen, with caution. Fortunately, the boys didn’t disappoint. Bearing all the expected influences, especially Black Flag and a coked-up Ramones musicality, Bill Bondsmen got something to say. Whether railing against our disposable society, (Generation Landfill) having the electricity turned off because you couldn't pay the bills (It’s Always Darkest After Shutoff) or just trying to get by day to day (Dear Debt Collector) the boys are pissed and they’re going to let you know about it.

But still, anger’s not enough to turn me on (though it sure did help in my rugby playing days). What sets Bill Bondsmen apart for me was that the boys seemed to care as much about the music as the message. Each song features some unique or different musical moment, enough of a twist to make things interesting. Like the brief breakdown during “Generation Landfill,” or the bass line running through “Something’s Died.” “Answer Me,” starts off with an honest-to-goodness riff while “If You Want a Picture of the Future,” features a not-subtle full-on jazzy drum and bass breakdown. Now don’t get me wrong, this is full on thrash hardcore with enough speed to dislocate limbs in the mosh pit, but they do it in their own way. They even end the album with a full-on hardcore epic, the slower, droning building to thrash of “A Bird in the Hand Means You’ve Been Dead for a Few Years.”

In the end, the boys of Bill Bondsmen aren’t going to change the world with this offering, but they ain’t gonna go down without a fight either. Their bleak vision of where this country is headed is best summarized in the title of the sixth song, “If You Want a Picture of the Future (Imagine a Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever). I hear ya guys, loud and clear.

http://www.myspace.com/thebillbondsmen
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/

Juanita y Los Feos – S/T

Also on the Dead Beat Records label, garage punk howlers from Madrid, Spain, Juanita y Los Feos come at you like a trashy, raunchy hurricane, blasting in off the Mediterranean, tearing across La Costa Del Sol before strking ground where they wreak their havoc. Fronted by the endlessly charismatic lead singer, Juanita y Los Feos blend trashy, mutated surf guitar vibes with the manic energy of classic punk bands like X and the Avengers to create some unholy, distorted mid-fi punky garage rock.

Think of your favorite high energy surf punk bands of yore, like Agent Orange, fused with an edgy, methed up B-52’s, a hefty dose of amateur-addled guitar playing and you’ll begin to get the idea. Frazzled dischords of surf guitar chopping through sixties laced organs. And then there’s Juanita, belting it out with more energy than a fifth grade classroom on Red Bull and a case of Oreos.

Never longer than two and three-quarters minutes, each song is a sonic blast of adrenaline, riding its own garage beat all the way through your cerebellum. “El Abujero,” is a frantic ride of fuzzed garage guitar and punk harmony vocals. “Madre Soltera,” ushers in the mutated organ, undermining the frantic punk energy. “Reina Por Un Dia,” is the best B-52’s song they never recorded, but should have back when they were young and cool and still into punk. “Maldito Desagradecido,” follows this same pattern, bouncy surf guitar riffs under Juantia’s screaming protests, sounding like something from a coked out Annette Funicello movie. “No Tengo Ritmo,” my personal favorite is a nonstop blast of bouncing organs, jaunty guitars and an incessant beat, bringing back the best of balls out fun punk from days gone by.

Juanita y Los Feos shouldn’t be missed by fans of high energy, garagey punk. Never less than entertaining, Juanita y Los Feos is a tattered, ruptured, dingy treasure. A cacophony of punk, short blasts of surf garage distortion. A trashy motherlode of timeless gems, fuelled up and methed up for the new generation. Actually, it’s lots of things, and all of them are good.

--Racer

http://www.myspace.com/juanitaylosfeos

http://www.dead-beat-records.com/


Bill Bondsmen



Juanita y Los Feos