Anyone who’s successfully executed a rooftop beer-bong hit can attest that drinking is an art. With the explosion of the craft-beer market in recent years, however, the art has gotten visual: The space on a craft-beer label has become as hotly contested among artists as a the chance to design a Black Keys concert poster. Here’s our rundown of the top 10 beer labels among indie breweries, both well-known and not. Stillwater Small enough to host their website on Blogspot, but good enough to garner a place on Draft Magazine’s list of the top 25 beers of 2011, this Baltimore-based brewery...
"Mistakes Were Made", Davey Porter and the Young Republican's first album, is a tongue in cheek tar and feathering of the government, the GOP, George Bush and the conservative movement in America that has as much in common with Stephen Colbert than it does punk rock staples like Green Day and The Misfits. It's punk rock humor at its highest level. Punk Rock is often political in nature a la Green Day's "American Idiot" album. In fact, insulting the man is a major pillar of punk rock. "Mistakes Were Made" takes the genres antiestablishment sentiments to the extreme. Song titles include: "Get...
If ever there was a band out today that not only wears its working class emotions on its sleeves, but lives it, it is Flogging Molly. The Celtic-Punk band, which defies classification and yet draws one of the most loyal followings in every city, hamlet, borough or hillside it traverses, is in the middle of another solid year of touring which has taken them all over the world, in promotion of, Speed of Darkness, the band fifth and most populist recording to date. Singer-Leader Dave King and wife and violinist Bridget Reagan who split time between their two homes in Wexford, Ireland and ...
On the surface, this band may seem immature and obnoxious, but underneath—well, that’s really what you get with these guys. The Giggitys’ new EP, Goo, introduces new listeners to one of the most experienced bands in the Akron hard-rock scene. Originally known as the Nimrods, guitarists/singers Ric Nimrod and Dan Halen and bassist Davey Rocket renamed themselves after the addition of new drummer Brett Moses. Despite the minor personnel change, the Giggitys are still doing what they’ve always done best—placing their feet shoulder-width apart, turning the amps up to 10 and...
How did youth rise above the bad reputations beset on the cities of Akron and Kent in the 70s? Ask anyone still around who was part of the burgeoning punk/new wave scene that found it's way into Akron and Kent more than a quarter of a century ago and the answer will always be - original music and a place to play it. While Kent was still reeling from the Kent State shootings that marred its campus and Akron’s rubber companies were on a one way trip out of town, finding cheaper labor in Mexico, a fledgling music movement began to take hold in these NE Ohio towns which wo...
Reverend Horton Heat may never sell a million records but he just doesn’t really care. OK, he cares, but not enough to sell his soul to the devil do get there. He’ll sell it and steal it right back. What he does do, and has been doing over the past two decades, is crank out serious good-time rock’n roll from the heartland with tunes ranging in style from neo-roots to country punk to psychobilly to rockabilly and honky-tonk. Classic Heat songs have had a ‘50s Sun Record meets The Cramps feel to them. From “Wiggle-Stick” off The Full Custom Gospel Sounds to “Big Sky”...
Over the years, Akron has produced the occasional musical success story. Devo’s quirky, tongue-in-cheek lampooning of the American Dream has solidified its place in pop culture. After relocating to London in the early ‘70s, Chrissie Hynde formed the Pretenders, who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. More recently, the Black Keys have released seven studio albums (eight if you count 2009’s hip-hop collaboration Blakroc) since 2002, all of which have received widespread praise from both fans and critics. But, as it goes in the music business, for ever...
The likelihood of one of this decade’s most reputable punk bands creating an entire album of mariachi music is pretty slim. In the case of such an occurrence, the notion that the album will actually be good is even more doubtful. Without hesitation, Los Angeles-based The Bronx has defeated such odds with the promising debut of their alter ego Mariachi El Bronx’s self-titled album. While it may seem irreverent for a punk band to make an album of mariachi music, The Bronx begs to differ. Their music has always been deeply entrenched within the Los Angeles scene and lifestyle, and mariachi’...
