EVIL ROCKSTARS: ALKALINE TRIO'S NEW BLOODPACT WITH NIKE

"Distressed materials translate the punk ethos" - Nike (advertising bullshit)

With love from Alkaline Trio...
Hang on a second, that's new. Vampiric pop punk legends Alkaline Trio are about to release their major label debut Agony & Irony. And, as usual with rock bands and a new release, they're on the road, working their way through a tour itinerary as long as my arm. More unusually, and following in the *ahem* footsteps, of fellow mass-marketed horror punks the Misfits, Alkaline Trio kicked off their summer tour by unveiling the new limited edition Nike 6.0, Alkaline Trio, "Heart & Sole", Air Zoom Cush sneakers, as well as an extremely limited run of "messenger bags". Both are being released exclusively on June 27, at Jacks Retail Shop, in Huntington Beach, California. A nationwide launch is planned for July 11.

Predictably, Nike are spouting the usual kind of PR bullshit you'd expect, "the collaboration between Nike 6.0 and Alkaline Trio was a natural fit. Punk rock’s independent spirit is a common thread with action sports, and the band members live the lifestyle we support” - Tim Reede, Nike 6.0 Product Line Manager.



I don't know about you. But it all just seems a little weird to me. Almost overnight, Nike went from a jock-dependent sports shoe, to the coolest thing in street, skate, and "alternative" culture since the invention of concrete. A lesson in marketing if there ever was one. And a sobering example of how easy it is to re-invent peoples' perceptions, if you can afford it. And, by partnering with champions of the underworld, like Alkaline Trio, Nike Inc. get one more notch on their cool-belt. And they know we're suckers. Fuck, if I lived in Huntington Beach, I'd buy a pair.

Here's Matt Skiba's official statement, "We chose red and black as the main colours to reflect our Chicago roots and pay homage to the Bulls. We are huge fans. I’m also into sneakers. So seeing the swoosh and our logo on one product is unbelievable. The shoe looks amazing, and provides some insight into who we are." Can anyone say, cue card?


The limited edition Alkaline Trio "messenger bag"
As far as the "insight into who we are" bit goes, isn't that what the music's for? Apparently, custom design elements include; "reflective details and bike-tread-inspired graphics, correlating to the band’s formative years in Chicago, where the members met while working as bike messengers. Distressed materials translate the punk ethos, and the Alkaline Trio logo is featured on the heel cup. The Heart and Sole Cush is constructed of all synthetics, supporting select band members who are vegetarian."

What a load of bollocks! "Distressed materials translate the punk ethos." What the fuck are they talking about. It's a sneaker. A limited edition fashion accessory, for one of the richest companies in the world. I don't know about you, but I'd rather Nike didn't attempt any translations of the punk ethos. I guess I just understood it already, because it wasn't in a foreign language to begin with, i.e. it needs no translation.

But it's a co-branded world out there. Everyone's looking for a leg, or a foot, up - their own Fig Newton sticker on their windshield. Movie releases come with video games, limited edition sneakers, signature chocolates, clothing, and more...

Check out these Hellboy sneaks by Adidas



And these Hulk Nike Air Force 1s.



I guess it's just a case of getting old, insuring your future, and going from this:


To this:


How about this nifty Alkaline Trio watch

Here's a few other band/sneaker team ups:

Bad Brains and Vans



Millencolin and Vans



Rise Against and Vans



Misfits (Iron Maiden's band merchandising nemesis) and Draven

AT THE DRIVE IN: TWO AFROS AND A JIM WARD

“You're a robot. Your'e a sheep. Maa! Maa! Maa!” – Cedric Bixler-Zavala.

Photo by "Roel" - ATDI's last show, at Vera Groningen, Netherlands, 2001.
This morning I stumbled across the fact that At the Drive In's "One Armed Scissor" was the first song announced for Guitar Hero IV (due out in October). Co-incidentally, last night, driving through the city, I heard the band's magnum opus, Relationship of Command again.

What an amazing fucking album! As urgent now as the day it was written. But, apparently, that was all just “kiddy shit,” according to guitarist Omar Rodríguez-Lopez at least - “it's like seeing an old high school picture, where you have a mullet. And you're like, what was I thinking?” They can criticise it all they like. But to me, listening to it again now, Jim Ward's post At the Drive In band Sparta, and Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-Lopez's medicated looney tunes, The Mars Volta, don't even come close. They sound like two incomplete parts of a greater whole, crying out to be re-united. Ward and Cedric's voices were meant for each other - Ward the anchor, Cedric the entertainer, the madman, the raving lunatic.

It all started in El Paso, Texas, in 1993, with teenagers Jim Ward and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (then both members of punk band El Paso Pussycats). At the Drive In played their first show on October 15, 1994. Guitarist Omar Rodríguez-Lopez joined in 1996, and in 1997, the band settled on the core lineup of Omar (guitar), Cedric (vocals), Jim Ward (vocals, keyboard and guitar), Paul Hinojos (bass), and Tony Hajjar (drums). And, on the back of a reputation for mad, intense, and aggressively-energetic live shows, hard work, and a rabid-tooth for touring, they soon built up a loyal following of supporters. The band's first nationally-televised performance was minor radio hit, "One Armed Scissor", on the short-lived American music show FarmClub, in 2000.


Click here to watch the montage music video for "One Armed Scissor"

And here to watch ATDI's first nationally-televised performance - "One Armed Scissor", on FarmClub, in 2000.
But already, an in-group out-group dynamic was developing within the band. At the Drive In were becoming well-known as the band with the crazy afros. But Jim Ward didn't have an afro. He wasn't involved in the early incarnation of The Mars Volta, Cedric and Omar's experimental dub/reggae project De Facto with Jim's cousin Jeremy (who would later play a major role in The Mars Volta, with both his music and his fatal overdose). It almost seems like Ward, and At the Drive In, just weren't "weird" enough for the drug-taking, increasingly-eccentric pair of afros.


Click here to watch a funny home video featuring Omar and Cedric
In January 2001, At the Drive In traveled to Australia, to play the Big Day Out festival. 15 minutes into their Sydney show, Cedric started asking the crowd to calm down and observe the safety rules, "I think it's a very, very sad day when the only way you can express yourself is through slam dancing". The crowd refused. "You learnt that from your TV. You didn't learn that from your best friend. You're a robot. You're a sheep. Maa! Maa! Maa! I have a microphone and you don't. You watch TV way too much," shouted Cedric, and the band walked off stage. Later that day, 16-year old Jessica Michalik was taken to hospital, after she was crushed during Limp Bizkit's set (she died five days later).


Click here to watch Cedric's full sheep rant
Soon afterwards, after completing a successful world tour, and at the height of At the Drive In's fame and popularity, the band broke up. They played their last show at Vera, in Groningen, Netherlands. The split was initially called an "indefinite hiatus." But Cedric soon went public, taking the blame for the breakup, and explaining that he felt At the Drive In was holding him back, that the post hardcore, hardcore, and punk labels thrown at the band were restricting his creativity and limiting the music. He wanted to make more experimental, more against the grain, more progressive music. Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez said, in interviews, that they wanted their next album to sound more like Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.


Click here to watch an interview with Cedric about selling out, radio, and "letting your freak flag fly".
Jim Ward has stated in interviews that he was happy with the breakup. That he started the band when he was 17, and, in ATDI, always felt 17. Back in 1994, Ward used the money from his college savings to fund Western Breed Records, just to release At the Drive In's Hell Paso EP.

After the breakup, At the Drive In drummer Tony Hajjar and bassist Paul Hinojos formed the band Sparta. Hinojos got in contact with ex-ATDI bandmate Ward, and convinced him to become the band's frontman. In 2005, Ward walked out on the band mid tour, stating, "I needed to get away from everything and everyone. I wasn't enjoying myself at all, and I didn't feel my life or the band was where I wanted it to be... I needed to step back and reassess everything." During the hiatus Hinojos switched sides, and joined The Mars Volta. In 2006, Sparta reformed, and released the album Threes. Ward has also released several solo albums, most recently, 2007's Quiet EP. He also has a new album out called West Texas, with his new project, Sleepercar.


Click here to watch the amazing music video for At the Drive In's "Invalid Letter Dept."
I'll never understand it. Maybe we're just not supposed to. But just watch the video above. It's amazing. Breathtaking. One of those great songs to be remembered forever. With no evidence of the "limitations" that drove the band apart. The Mars Volta's De-loused in the Comatorium (2003) is a great album. Parts of it almost sound like the natural progression of Relationship of Command. But (because I've heard Relationship of Command) I just can't shake the feeling that without Omar and Cedric, Jim Ward's just too dry and sane. And without Ward, Omar and Cedric are just plain nuts.


Click here to watch The Mars Volta debuting their 2008 album The Bedlam in Goliath on The Tonight Show.

Click here to watch the video for "A Broken Promise" by Jim Ward's Sleepercar

Click here to watch Sparta's "Erase It Again". Listen to Ward's shouting 1:05s in, and imagine Cedric was backing him up. Oh well...
At the Drive In's Discography:

EPs:


Hell Paso - 1994


Alfaro Vive, Carajo! - 1995


El Gran Orgo - 1997


Vaya - 1999

Albums:


Acrobatic Tenement - 1996


In/Casino/Out - 1998


Relationship of Command - 2000

MAX NORMAL.TV: GOOD MORNING DURBAN, ONS IS HIER!

FRIDAY THE 13TH: BURN NIGHTCLUB
PHOTOS: Kevin Goss Ross
The Durban leg of Max Normal.TV's Good Morning South Africa, MTV RAPS, Puma-affiliated album launch tour was a pretty Loki affair; several confused and intrigued-looking Burn regulars, the members of Durban's early-'90s-neon-tracksuit-top, sideways-cap,indoor-sunglasses electro mafia that weren't heading off to Westville for The Social Workers, and me. As usual, “The man with the plan,” Max Normal, was his magically off-centre and intense, multi-personality-channeling, hip-hop misfit self. It's just a sad fact that these days, all art, it seems, needs advertising to survive. Everything needs to be "monetised" and made "viable" – as the "Neon Don Likes Puma", and "Yo-Landi's hair by Scar" additions to the new and revamped "visuals for the Max Normal.TV, high-energy hip hop, Powerpoint presentation" testify.

To quote photographer Kevin Goss Ross, Max Normal.TV's set was “A verbal massacre. A word tornado. No no, an insanity hurricane of kiff.” Backed by The Neon Don, Justin De Nobrega, and Yo-Landi Visser, Max spat and mumbled his way through a passionate tribute to oddball South Africa. According to the website, “Max Normal raps about real things that happen around him during his normal, every day life. Max Normal's world is a dark, dangerous and exotic place, full of all kinds of unexpected twists and turns” – from Tik, Eugene Terror, gay sex, and remixes of DJ Fuck, to little bits of Mickey Avalon, New Order, and even Marilyn Manson (“I don't like the drugs, but the drugs like me,” from “Tik, Tik, Tik”).


The bodymovin' vibe that Max Normal.TV managed to cultivate in that mixed bag of people is a tribute to both the band's commitment to their characters and their energy as performers (this time, Max/Waddy's role-playing even included momentarily-disappearing wardrobe changes).

Max Normal is a natural frontman. A born entertainer. And onstage, he's an uncontrollable force, with a dangerous-looking nervous twitch, and a tendency to ignite, and float uncomfortably over your head.

Watch the new music video for “Total Fuck Up” by clicking the link below. The video was written, directed and produced by Max Normal and Yo-Landi Visser.


In closing, here are some inspirational words from the main man himself, from the song “Love Is”:

“Choose the quickest way between two points.
Don't waste your energy on bullshit interaction.
Don't be scared of anything except letting yourself down.
Out do yourself. Work harder than anyone else.
Now, make very clear distinctions between parasites and creators.
Be a creator instead of a second hand, artificial flavour.
Do not concern yourself with anyone's opinion of your method, save your own.
Be three steps ahead of everyone, and I promise you'll make it home.
Don't sleep too much.”

Checkout www.maxnormal.tv for more info.

“If your days are dark, and your friends are few. Remember, Max Normal.TV is there for you.”

Björk's Got "Wanderlust" - And Her New Music Video's As Nuts As She Is

Click here, or on the two pics below, to watch the video for "Wanderlust".


Released digitally, "Wanderlust" is the fourth single from Björk's 2007 album, Volta. Rendered in 3D, there are no words to describe it. It's weird, eccentric, and typically Björk. Just watch it. And if you think it looks impressive now, the single is also being released as a DVD, with 3D glasses! How cool is that?

The video was put together by Ghost Robot and duo Encyclopedia Pictura (click the link. If you've got your own 3D glasses, you can watch "Wanderlust" in 3D).

And if you're interested, checkout the weird video Encyclopedia Pictura made for Brooklyn-based, American indie rockers Grizzly Bear - truly bizarre:

Click the picture below to watch the video for "Knife" by Grizzly Bear


THE MAKING OF:

Click Here To Watch An Interview With Bjork.


Click Here To Watch the making of "Wanderlust".

LOOK HOW FAR WE'VE COME - THE NEW FACE OF SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC VIDEOS

Hog Hoggidy Hog's "John And Phillip Song" was the first local music video I ever saw. Back then, I was blown away. I couldn't believe that a local band, a punk band, actually had their own video. Fast forward about 10 years, and now, everyone's got one. And they just keep getting better and better – just another sign that, despite our disbelief, the South African music scene is progressing at an alarming rate.

Here's our pick of some of the best new ones, as well as a few classic oldies:

CLICK THE SCREENGRABS TO WATCH THE VIDEOS!

FRESH OFF THE PRESSES:

aKING (ft. INGE BECKMAN)
"Safe As Houses"
Dutch Courage (2008)


Bellville brooders aKING's new video is more about the concept than the execution. It's about building castles and being forced to watch them fall, as you fight desperately, and futilely, to hold everything together in the storm. Beautiful in its simplicity. Inge Beckman is suspicious (and foolish) in her absence.

Directed by Flyonthewall.co.za

aKING.co.za

MAX NORMAL.TV (ft. DUPPIE)
"Total Fuck Up"
Good Morning South Africa (2008)


There's nothing normal about Max. Over the years he's just got weirder and weirder. Crazier and more outspoken. At first, I was skeptical of the new dot TV band – surely nothing could be as good as the old Max Normal, full band sound? But you just have to check him out. Listen to the music. See him live. Read his book. Order the toys. Or watch a video. And you'll soon realise the complexity, the all-encompassing nature, and the humour of what he's up to these days. Classic video.

Written, produced and directed by Max Normal and Yo-landi Visser (Love or Dork Films).

Max Normal.TV

DESMOND AND THE TUTUS
"Pictures"
Single (2008)


Silly, light-hearted and fun. Desmond and the Tutus are the little Pretoria punk kwela band that could – judging by their recent nationwide car advert. This latest video is another prozac dose of their trademark mixture of indie rock, African kwela rhythms, and the delicious way that they never take themselves too seriously.

Directed by Greg Rom (who directed Lark's "Moonlight").

Desmond and the Tutus Kids

STRAATLIGKINDERS
"Avontuur van 'n Hartbreek"
Bloeisels (2007)


Potchefstroom-based emo kids Straatligkinders (Streetlightchildren) have really gone all out on this one. Half shot on a X-ray machine, it's one of the most impressive local videos I've ever seen. Sure, it's a little generic. And they're only chasing safety. But they've found it. And X-rayed flesh tunnels look fucking cool!

Directed by Morgan Dingle.

Straatligkinders on MySpace

OLD CLASSICS:
CLICK THE SCREENGRABS TO WATCH THE VIDEOS!

LARK
"Moonlight"
Mouth of Me (re-issued 2007)


When I first saw it, this video reminded me of Bjork's "Army of Me". Seriously ahead of its time, the video is still impressive by today's raised standards. Lark disbanded in 2007.

Directed by Greg Rom.

Lark on MySpace

FOKOFPOLISIEKAR
"Ek Skyn (Heilig)"
Swanesang (2006)


This is still one of my favourite local music videos. Fokofpolisiekar really raised the bar for local bands when they exploded all over the local music scene, complete with world class music videos and an unfamiliar attitude that you've actually got to spend money to make money. Basically, it's a collection of moving photos, shot by photographer and honourable sixth band member Liam Lynch, on the band's tour to the UK. Last year, the video won an MK Award for Best Music Video.

Directed by Liam Lynch.

Fokofpolisiekar.co.za

TONIGHT WE DIE
UNKNOWN


This one, by Cape Town's Tonight We Die, really blew me away when it first came out. Come on. There's an animated robot in it! It does look and sound a little-dated today. But back then, wow.

Directed by Ben

TonightWeDie on MySpace

AND THE ONE THAT STARTED IT ALL (for me anyway):
CLICK THE SCREENGRABS TO WATCH THE VIDEOS!

Hog Hoggidy Hog
"John and Phillip Song"
Driving Over Miss Davie (2001)


"Oh, oh-oh-oh-ohh, oh-oh-oh-ohh, ohhhh-oh-oh." There's something pretty special in this video's simple honesty, even today. It's fresh, funny, and a little piece of modern South African punk rock history (if you're into that kind of thing).

I don't know if the director is still alive, or sane. If you're out there. Let us know?

Hog Hoggidy Hog on MySpace