INTERVIEW: Fake Names (Bad Religion, Refused, Minor Threat, Girls Against Boys, Fugazi) Interview at Riot Fest


Ghost Cult Keefy caught up with Brendan Canty and Brian Baker of Punk Rock supergroup Fake Names at Riot Fest 2023! The band features Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Dag Nasty), Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace), Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, INVSN, The [International] Noise Conspiracy), Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside) and Brendan Canty (Fugazi, Rites of Spring),  and released their newest album “Expendables” on Epitaph Records last spring. Brendan and Brian caught up with us, discussed the formation of the band at a past Riot Fest,  and the legacy of punk, bands they enjoy such as Turnstile and Quicksand, and what is so great about Riot Fest as a whole, and more! Continue reading


CONCERT REVIEW: The Misfits – Megadeth – Fear Live at MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre


 

I am not going to say that reunion tours are not shameless cash grabs. Up to this point, KISS and Bauhaus are the only bands successful at luring me out to them. However, The Misfits were an equally important part of my youth. The mere thirty-minute drive into Tampa, was too tempting, despite my lingering resentment with Danzig’s terrible Elvis tribute album. Going to an outdoor venue in Florida after May, added to the difficulty level of taking my misanthropic self into a 20,000-seat-capacity amphitheatre. Fear being on the bill provided more motivation, however thanks to misinformation regarding the start time at the venue and Tampa traffic, Fear had finished their set as I set foot into the venue.  

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ALBUM REVIEW: Fake Names – Expendables


 

Think of high-profile collaborations and what springs to mind? Self-indulgent widdling like the simply dreadful Dylan & The Dead live album, Sting, Bryan Adams, and Rod Stewart‘s unwanted ‘All For Love’ for the movie The Three Musketeers, Phil Collins and Phillip Bailey, Korn, and Skrillex? I’m sure there are many other offenders out there but you get the picture, ideas that may have sounded promising on paper but ultimately should have remained there. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Venomous Concept – The Good Ship Lollipop


 

Napalm Death’s Shane Embury is a musician who seemingly never rests! After spending the best part of four decades playing the earth-shattering bass in the world’s premiere Death / Grindcore band, he has also dabbled in a seemingly endless succession of side projects and guest appearances. In 2021 he created one of the albums of the year by returning to Blood From The Soul and bringing in Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon for the journey, and in 2022 he provided music of a more obscure and experimental electronic persuasion, with Dark Sky Burial

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ALBUM REVIEW: Cro-Mags – In The Beginning


Having successfully secured the Cro-Mags name after a year-long court battle with former members John Joseph and Mackie Jayson, frontman and general hardcore legend Harley Flanagan follows up last year’s From the Grave and Don’t Give In EP’s (Victory Records) with In the Beginning (Mission Two Entertainment/Arising Empire), the first full-length release from the celebrated New York act in twenty long years. Continue reading


Minor Threat Guitarist Brian Baker Says The Band Will Never Play Live Again


Legendary hardcore band Minor Threat has been a memory since they released two EPs and the studio album Out Of Step (Dischord) before their eventual break up in the mid-’80s. They helped invent the Hardcore Punk genre, introducing concepts of straight-edge lifestyle that continue to guide the ethos of the music. In a new interview in a new interview with Spain’s GoetiaMedia.com, guitarist Brian Baker was asked if the band would ever return. He answered “We will never play shows again. It was a product of its time. It’s so much better to leave it alone than ruin it by being a bunch of old guys playing songs that we wrote when we were teenagers.”  Interest renewed in the band after they recreated their iconic 1980 photo last fall as they broke the internet for a day. Just recently, Dischord Records put their entire 40+ year catalog fo records on Bandcamp for free. Singer Ian MacKaye formed Fugazi in 1987 and in recent years started a new band with his wife and bandmate in The Evens, Amy Farina, and Fugazi bassist Joe Lally. Baker joined fellow punk legends Bad Religion in 1994. Guitarist Lyle Preslar was a member of The Meatmen in the 1980s and played briefly with Samhain before eventually becoming a lawyer.

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Legendary Punk Label Dischord Records Has Made Its Entire Catalog Free Online


Dischord Records co-founded forty years ago by Minor Threat bandmates Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, has made their entire catalog for free on Bandcamp. According to boingboing.net Discord hopes that while the albums and assorted other releases are free, they’re hoping listeners will download the music to support the artists. Bandcamp is waving their sales fees on certain days each month so that all of the money will go to the artists. The label came together in 1980 in order to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles, but build a legacy that cut across genres. Continue reading


Cocaine Piss – Passionate And Tragic


Stereotypes are such a crass and ugly thing. Used as a lazy and offensive descriptor of someone’s personality due to their nationality, they are something that should be abolished. The stereotypical view of Belgium and its people is one of being reserved and downright boring. How better to dispel that myth that with some high-velocity anarcho-Punk? Enter Cocaine Piss.Continue reading


The Hard Times Launches A Podcast Network


Satirical music website The Hard Times has launched a podcast network with two brand new shows: ‘The Hard Times Podcast.’ and ‘The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!”. The Hard Times co-founders Matt Saincome and Bill Conway are involved, as is Hard Drive editor-in-chief Jeremy Kaplowitz. The first guest on ‘The Hard Times Podcast’ was Brian Baker of Minor Threat and Bad Religion and is now streaming here: https://thehardtimespodcast.libsyn.com. Along with its sister site Hard Drive, The Hard Times’ move into podcasts allows listeners to get to know the people behind all their favorite headlines, and so much more. DIY organization that has never taken outside investment and is still owned entirely by the punks, comics, and gamers who work on the site.Continue reading


Minor Threat Is Not Reuniting, According To Past Members


Hardcore punk greats Minor Threat caused a stir this weekend with a photo shared that calls back their classic cover of 1985’s Salad Days album. The new photo of drummer Jeff Nelson, singer Ian MacKaye, guitarist Lyle Preslar and bassist Brian Baker — sitting on the front porch of Dischord Records house in south Arlington, Virginia was posted on Baker’s Instagram page and was shared by Dischord on Facebook. “This is a non-story. Jeff insists that we always take a porch shot for posterity when the four of us are at Dischord. This is just the first one we’ve had taken since I’ve had an Instagram account.” 2018 marks another anniversary for the band as their classic album Out Of Step was released thirty-five years ago in 1983.Continue reading