On 6/23 there was punk rock north of the river thanks to
Second Street, Our Lives Yesterday, & Deco Auto.
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KC punks ducked under the police tape to see Kool 100s,
Kill Vargas, & Beelzebabes on 6/22.
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KC celebrated the longest day of the year with an evening
of outdoor punk rock in a gloriously deep concrete bowl.
Click for my photos and video of Bad Ideas, Squelch, & RLT.
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Podcast #404 hurt my head w/ Rancid, Booze & Glory, The Cherry
Tops, Rays, Sweet Baboo, Helium, & Via Luna.
A storm extinguished the East Wing fire pit, flooded the
basement, and knocked out its power, but it couldn't stop
the rock. Check out my photos and video of Intrepid Hearts,
Shark Pact, Cherry Tops, & Fussy.
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On 6/8 noisy art punks Warm Bodies welcomed Oakland's Rays
to KC, and new locals Nitecrawlers into the world.
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Podcast #403 was born to run w/ Needles//Pins, The Dirty Truckers,
Duncan Reid and The Big Heads, Pale Lips, Charmpit,
Jawbreaker Reunion, & The Magnetic Fields.
On 6/3 Hudson Falcons brought its "working class rock
'n' roll" to a KC crowd with a little help from Sister
Mary Rotten Crotch, Braggers, & Danny Trashville.
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Simpatico was the word of the night as Schwervon and Cat
Tatt shared a bill.
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Podcast #402 punches for the gut w/ Cave Girls, Salar Rajabnik,
Crocodile Tears, Chastity Belt, Holy Oak, & Killing Joke.
On 5/27 RVIVR, New Doubt, & Nature Boys proved that
all-ages punk rock is thriving at the Holy Cow Market.
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Podcast #401 digs that pop w/ Rat Columns, Bad Moves, Adult
Mom, Wavves, Toughies, Daniel Romano, & Matt Chandler Trio.
A slow Sunday night led to some jovial sets as The Whiffs
and Twen played at Blind Tiger.
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On 5/19 Lovergurl celebrated the release of its new EP with
its dream bill that included support from Bad Ideas and La
Guerre.
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Podcast #400 has flow w/ Royal Headache, Elf Power, Folkicide,
Codeine, Aimee Mann, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, & Letting Up
Despite Great Faults.
Everything was a bit off in KC when Drippies headlined a
show featuring Xetas and Witch Jail.
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Podcast #399 certainly is, and it features Rat Fancy, Mountain
Goats, New Year, RVIVR, Cayetana, Mommy Long Legs, & Herb Alpert.
Lawrence attended a sweaty, cathartic therapy session led
by Sorority Noise w/ help from Mat Kerekes, Obsessives, &
Sadisfied.
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A weary KC audience showed up on Sunday night for mind
altering sets by Witch Jail, Pop Empire, & Pale Tongue.
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An all-local night kicked off the Middle of the Map
festival on 5/4 featuring Wick and the Tricks, Vigil &
Thieves, Hipshot Killer, & The Uncouth.
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Podcast #398 asks a lot w/ new music from Cock Sparrer,
Juliana Hatfield, Robyn Hitchcock, John Mellencamp, Girlpool,
Slowdive, & Damnation AD.
On 4/30 Rubber Mate, Nag, Agent, and Hard Leather fed KC a
quadruple helping of punk served loud and fast.
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On 4/28 two crowds collided when the soulful electro pop of
Vita and the Woolf received support from the glam rock of
White Reaper.
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Mills Records continued its role as incubator on 4/28,
allowing Salty and opener Folkicide to scare patrons and
delight fans.
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Podcast #397 is chockablock w/ great pop from White Reaper, Cyanide
Pills, Tommy And The Rockets, Dopers, Charly Bliss, Peaness, The
Winter Passing, Jawbreaker, & Fresh.
Hipshot Killer, Berwanger, and Chad Rex opted to skip the
RSD hoopla and instead play to their friends at a
work-a-day bar.
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If guitar rock is dead no one told Emmaline Twist, Magnet
School or Honeyrude, all of which brought dense and often
swirling guitars to KC on 4/21.
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Soundtracked by Uncouth, Bad Engrish, and Braindead, KC
punks and skins partied outside under a perfect spring sky.
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On 4/13 Salty brought its new new wave to a small crowd of
herky-jerky dancers still squirming from the psychedelic
surf of opener Witch Jail.
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Podcast #396 is more bark than bite w/ BBQT, Me First and the
Gimme Gimmes, Pale Kids, Lucky Malice, Vanity, The New
Pornographers, Tall Friend, & Craig Finn.
Podcast #395 says yes to Diet Cig, Hooligan Crooners, B-Leaguers,
People's Punk Band, Dany Laj, Slingshot Dakota, & Mysterious
Clouds.
Blessed are the brave that gathered at Riot Room on 3/27 to
see Pleasures, Shortsweather, Witch Jail, & HMPH boldly
ignore all the rules.
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Podcast #394 is a perfect Canadian sandwich w/ Brunch
Club, Vanity, Stiff Middle Fingers, Sorority Noise,
Desperate Journalist, Spiral Stairs, & BA Johnston.
Podcast #393 just feels like sharing music from Slotface,
Paul Collins' Beat, Midnite Snaxxx, Guided By Voices, The
BV's, Sorority Noise, & Mob Mentality.
On 3/21 punk, garage, and power pop all collided in the
raucous basement of The Blind Tiger. Check out my photos
and video of The Whiffs, The Bolos, & Drugs & Attics
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The bold voices of Tim Darcy and Molly Burch enthralled the
Riot Room audience on 3/20.
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Advance Base and opener Karima Walker battled the clack of
billiard balls as each delivered short, intimate sets to
the very small Jackpot audience on 3/19.
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Podcast #392 takes no guff w/ Wire, Dude York, Rockatanskys,
Sugar & Tiger, When Nalda Became Punk, The Darling Buds, &
David Bazan.
Ultimate Facebook returned from retirement to play an
important benefit, making sure to bring along friends
Creature Comforts, Dead Girls, & Arthur Dodge.
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Podcast #391 just feels right w/ Dream Nails, The Potentials,
The Whiffs, Bleached, Manceau, Los Campesinos!, & Sun Kil Moon.
KC's DIY indie rock crew packed into Records with Merrittt
on a winter's night to see Via Luna, Infinite Me, &
Employer.
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Podcast #390 brings a hint of spring w/ The Obsessives,
The New Trocaderos, Tom Baker and the Snakes, Chuck
Prophet, Salty, Wolf Girl, The Whooperups, & Julian Cope.
Podcast #389 packs it in w/ Wyldlife, Bleeders, Warm Bodies,
Jens Lekman, Dave Hause, Fred Thomas, Cadie Cowden, Nectar,
& Witch Jail.
A fully electric Cadie Cowden headlined a 2/4 show of
genre-shifting indie rock and more.
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The sixth installment of the Too Much Rock Singles Series
features a band with romance on its mind and brains on its
breath. Witch Jail hangs in the spooky psychobilly back
alleys, offering its aural candy to you bad kids, starting
with the surfy A side "Slimwave, USA!" about a witch
with designs on our scene. The B side is a cover of Alien
Sex Fiend's "My Brain is in the Cupboard (Above the Kitchen
Sink)" that lurches and staggers with every yelp from
vocalist Guy Slimey. You can listen to an exclusive stream
of the single on
The
Pitch, on 2/8 I'll join Mr. Slimey on KKFI's
Wednesday
MidDay Medley, and you can get a signed copy at
the single launch party at Mills Record Company
on 2/10.
NYC's Wyldlife brought its perfect '77 sensibilities to KC
on 1/19, delivery a mid-week blast with help from Bad
Wheels, The Runaway Sons, & Mr. and the Mrs.
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Podcast #388 gives you want you want w/ The Only Ones,
Cherry Glazerr, Grandaddy, Priests, Japandroids, Maybe Don't, &
Dave Dudley.
Upcoming shows I care about:
6/30 Witch Jail @ The Brick
7/1 Broken Heart Syndrome @ Davey's
7/3 The Cray @ Blind Tiger
7/6 Queers @ Granada
7/9 A Giant Dog @ Blind Tiger
7/10 Schwervon! @ Mills
7/11 Iron Maiden @ Sprint
7/15 Sluts @ Riot Room
7/17 Lucy Dacus @ recordBar
7/20 Unsane @ Riot Room
7/21 Coathangers @ Riot Room
7/22 Worriers @ Middle East (KC)
7/22 AFI @ Midland
7/22 Jeffrey Lewis @ The Brick
7/22 Beelzebabes @ Second Base