Month: February 2010

Alkaline Trio – This Addiction

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(c)2010 Heart and Skull / Epitaph Records
[rating:4/5]

I’ve got a soft spot for Alkaline Trio. I’ve been listening to them for the better part of the last 12 years. After I first heard Goddamnit I was hooked. I have to admit that after they left Asianman Records I got a little disenchanted. Not that I begrudge them the popularity and a little recognition for their hard work, and don’t get me wrong major labels are a collective bag of douche, but I don’t blame A3 for that. However when I heard they were starting their own Heart and Skull label in conjunction with Epitaph I was relieved. I hoped that things might get back a bit closer to the earlier days. I heard that that the new release was going to rock it a bit harder. Well I finally got a copy of This Addiction and I’m fairly convinced that the rumors I heard were right. The 11 tracks are more reminiscent of something around From Here to Infirmary. The content has a little more edge and a little less emo to it. For fans of the more downtrodden of A3’s work, don’t be disappointed (or do, if that is what you’re into) I’m just saying that they brought it back a bit, but this time with a lot bigger production. There are lot more layers to the songs and a lot more variety. The zip of track two, “Dine, Dine my Darling” is refreshing. So are the 80’s keyboard sounds on “Eating Me Alive”. Hell there is even a horn track on the also up-tempo track three, “Lead Poisoning”. When it’s all said and done you know this is Alkaline Trio, but it’s an Alkaline Trio that seems somehow revitalized. This Addiction is well worth it.

–Jerry Actually

Street Dogs – Rabble Rousing

STREET DOGS RETURN TO STUDIO FOR

“RABBLE ROUSING” NEW ALBUM

 

February 1, 2010 – Los Angeles, CA – Punk rock proponents for social justice, Street Dogs, have announced plans to return to the studio in February to record their fifth studio album and follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2008 Hellcat debut State of Grace.  The band will be recording with bassist Johnny Rioux as producer and Rick Barton (original Dropkick Murphys guitarist) co-producing at the infamous punk rock studio the Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado which was built by members of Descendents, All and Black Flag.

 

Punk rock runs deep in the veins of Street Dogs, with former Dropkick Murphys singer Mike McColgan’s uncompromising lyrics alongside bassist Johnny Rioux, guitarists Marcus Hollar and Tobe Bean III and drummer Paul Rucker’s fist pumping street punk anthems.  The band burst onto the scene in 2002 and has released a string of classic albums including 2008’s State of Grace, which critics called “a raucous and purposeful working man’s ride” (Dallas Morning News) with “the kind of political streak rarely heard since the Clash” (Cleveland Scene).

 

After incessant tours around the world alongside bands like The Offspring, Alkaline Trio, Anit-Flag, Reverend Horton Heat and headlining tours in US and UK in support of State of Grace, Street Dogs will enter the studio in February ready to shake the system and rally the people like never before on their fifth studio album.

 

“Every time we go into the studio we are trying to make our finest record,” says McColgan. “So on February ninth when we enter the Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado that is the goal to make our best record.  Also this record will be more of a rabble rousing punk record than our previous records and have more of an edge and an attack on it.  We will work to all of our strengths on this effort and we are very excited to have Rick Barton co-producing the record.”

 

“Our next and fifth record will capture the purest form of the band to date,” adds Rioux.  “We are making it as if it were our first record. The punk and hardcore songs will be MORE punk and hardcore.  Our Celtic influence and songs will be more Celtic, the folk, folkier and so on.  It’s almost as if we are making records in the reverse of most bands. Ending up back at square one, and square one never sounded better.  Basically, we want to make our new favorite record.”

 

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For More Information:

www.myspace.com/streetdogs