Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

A reason to get excited on this board: a NEW Superchunk EP of NEW material is coming out in April. Their web site also alludes to work on a new album. I personally am STOKED!

I should mention I think this fits under this forum because of the band's big DiY coefficient, and they excel at loud and fast.

This leads to a question: when does music get so, I don't know, complex and subtle, that it is no longer punk?

...and I don't believe in labels, but I'm just saying. I think punk is more attitude than sound. Like the hamburgers at Chotchkies.

I dont think subtle and complex are anti-ethos qualities. For me PR has soo many levels. There's the Subhumans UK and then there's the Angry Samoans...s'pose one could throw in Superchunk somewhere, I never dug them, but Watt does or did, so I know there's somethin' there or was. I guess we'll see right?!

I don't really know anymore. When you can buy your bondage pants and Doc Martens at the mall, and have a mohawk and sleeves of tattoos and work at Wal-Mart, I'm lost. Punk, like just about everything else, has been bred out by other scenes and pretty much void of any real definition as far as a textbook answer to the question of "what is punk?" Don't get me wrong, there are still great punk bands out there, but where the line is drawn is anybodys guess. I would equate it to Heavy Metal/Hard Rock/Speed Metal etc, of which there are both attitude and musical definitions, but have homoginized in to something less cut and dry.

DIY also has a whole new meaning today, with all of the networking, advertising, and selling your music. One guy who could really give you whole picture is Ian Mackay of Minor Threat/Fugazi fame. When there was no MySpace, no internet radio, and regular radio and record labels wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole, you had no choice. Or, like so many great old punk bands, you just broke up.

So again, on so many levels, I wouldn't know how to answer that question, or even if it's relevant anymore. Kinda puts a safety pin through my heart writing this.

And on a brighter note, DUDE, hope the new Superchunk ep stokes you out!

Yeah...my "stoked-ness" is as much out of nostalgia as anything else...there weren't that many groups/artists in the first place for which a new release got me excited. And most of those have put themselves out to pasture as the years have gone by--or, their muse and mine parted ways, so to speak. 'chunk's records still resonate for me (particularly the later ones--from Foolish on), and it is a quite pleasant surprise that they are making something new.

...similar reaction on seeing the Feelies playing out again. I find that in my (relative) dotage, I would rather hear new stuff by those who I have, let's say, grown into adulthood with. I find it harder to connect with a bunch of teenagers.

+1 on Fugazi/Mackaye, BTW...

I can dig the "stoked ness" of a band you love releasing a new record, especially an old fave that hasn't gone the way of the rotary phone. Just recently, one of my all time favorite punk bands-CockSparrer-released a new cd that smokes. These guys are in their late 50s, and started playing punk in England before it was called punk. In fact, Malcolm Mclaren approached them in a pub to be their manager, and when he wouldn't buy a round, they showed him the door. Frustrated, he put something together with these kids that hung out in his shop, and the Sex Pistols were born.

I can also relate to not being able to relate to a lot of these new bands, I'm of the opinion that too much focus is put on image rather than songwriting. I'm sure someone else said that about stuff I like, so it's all relative I guess. It is indeed great to hear something new that I like, and good ole' Scotty here is largely responsible for that. Thanks ya big Numpty, now I have to go buy a bunch of CDs