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It’s Not Dead Fest: The State of the Union

Danny Baraz October 13, 2015

After my visit to San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernardino yesterday and bearing witness to the 1000’s of punks kicking up huge clouds of dust In 100 degree weather at It’s Not Dead Fest, I can, without a doubt, attest to the fact that It’s NOT Dead. Not dead at all. Well, at least the part of IT that generates millions of dollars of revenue, world-wide. When people talk about “It” being “dead”, are they referring to “it’s” spirit? “It” is punk rock and I’ve written about this topic so many times now that this might be my swan song. Then again, if a 52 year old Milo Aukerman can stand in front of thousands of sweaty friends and play “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” then I can write about “it”- again. After attending HiFi Rockfest a couple weeks back, I must admit, I WAS a bit worried about the future of hardcore punk but after the invasion and take over this weekend and thinking back to the last Punk Rock Bowling it became clear that the issue with HiFi Rockfest was 100% promotional. I hadn’t attended a Warped Tour in at least 15 years and this show reminded me

Lolipalooza Reloads for it’s Second Year at The Echo

Danny Baraz June 30, 2015

This time last year, I attended the first annual Lolipalooza at The Echo and The Echoplex. I was blown away by the amount of cool, young bands that are coming to and out of L.A. It’s the most amount of fresh, young new music I’ve seen in this city in my entire lifetime, (I wasn’t around for the late 70’s/early 80’s). In the 365 days that have passed since attending their inaugural event, Lolipop Records have not slowed down one bit. The buildings which house The Echo/Echoplex and Lolipop Records have turned into an incubator of fresh, young talent. In this small corner of Echo Park, bands are discovered, recorded, showcased and packaged, all within a 100 yard radius and are subsequently dispersed throughout the globe to show why Los Angeles is the epicenter for music. Wyatt Blair, owner of Lolipop and accomplished musician saw an immense opportunity and took it upon himself to execute his vision and Los Angeles and indeed, the world are a better place for it. I passed through the gates and through the Echoplex driveway early on in the day. It was muggy and nasty out. The sky opened up a couple times during festival

Ticket Giveaway: Lolipalooza 2 at The Echo 6/27

Danny Baraz June 11, 2015

If you are you music lover and live in Los Angeles and did not attend last years inaugural installment of Lolipalooza, then you missed something truly special. If you miss this years showcase of Lolipalooza 2 then you should seriously reconsider your life. Lolipop Records is onto something unique. While it is nothing new for a DIY record label to scout, develop and release music by both fresh, young and established talent, the way Lolipop is approaching this is something to admire. Taking their queue from Burger Records in Fullerton, Lolipop Records is the Los Angeles version of Burger. Janky Smooth is giving away 2 pairs (4 tickets) to Lolipalooza 2 happening at the both The Echo and Echoplex on Saturday June 27th, to 2 lucky individuals. To enter you must complete ALL the steps below. Winners will be selected on Friday, June 26th at 11am. 1. Share or retweet our contest posts on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and tag @jankysmooth – You must share from our posts, not create your own. 2. Comment in the comment section of the post on our website stating you completed this step and give us a reason why we should pick you.. 3. Like us

Them Howling Bones Vinyl Release Party at Harvard and Stone

Vinyl Release Party with Them Howling Bones at Harvard and Stone

Taylor Wong June 1, 2015

We love Them Howling Bones over here at Janky Smooth and we have been super hyped on this upcoming vinyl release of Them Howling Bones tracks: Follow You Home and Left For Dead. The release party had an awesome line up at an awesome bar with awesome people. What I’m trying to say is the party was awesome. The line up consisted of Sand Babes and Cutty Flam, two awesome Los Angeles bands and was brought to you by Pizza Party Music, A Pint of Cacophony, Cretin Hop and Janky Smooth. The night also consisted of Roger Mars from Cretin Hop providing some dancy tracks between sets. Sand Babes has that very psychedelic/surf vibe that’s been catching on here in LA. and all over the world. They remind me of Mystic Braves and The Growlers. They have a great sound but to be honest it’s starting to get very repetitive to me and becomes very difficult to stand out. Cutty Flam classify themselves as Prom Punk which I believe The Muffs classified themselves as that at Punk Rock Bowling. I’ve heard great things about Cutty Flam and was extremely excited to catch their set for the first time. I also

Jello Biafra & GSOM at Punk Rock Bowling

Punk Rock Bowling 2015 and What Is Punk Rock, Poser?

Danny Baraz May 28, 2015

Words: Danny Baraz Photos: Taylor Wong The word punk is one that is thrown around and has many different uses. It can be used as an adjective or a verb. There has been much discussion around it’s usage as an adjective to describe music and people. It has sparked passionate and sometimes violent debate. The spirit behind what the word actually means has existed since time itself and once the word became marketable and defined by a specific sound, the word changed from describing a frame of mind and into describing a genre… or… a product, if you will. And there are very few individuals or businessmen that handle the legacy of this product better than Mark and Shawn Stern at BYO Records, specifically through their record label and of course, the annual summit called Punk Rock Bowling. Very few statements sound sillier than someone stating “That’s not punk”. Because once punk has been defined through a specific paradigm, it ceases to be the thing that it was when Iggy first bent over backwards or Darby first watched people move in a circle or Joey put on his first leather jacket. The cultural resistance that spawned the punk scene stops

Jello Biafra Talks Politics, Music and The Music Business

Danny Baraz April 7, 2015

Interview and intro by Danny Baraz Getting some people to open up in an interview is like pulling teeth. That is not the case with Jello Biafra. It was about 20 minutes into our conversation before I even asked one of my pre-planned questions. That made the nerves I had before interviewing one of my ideological heroes dissipate instantly, so that our conversation about politics, music, the music business and the upcoming gig for Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine at Punk Rock Bowling feel like a casual conversation with a friend. I realized quickly why Jello has become such an icon of dissent. His ability to verbalize, crystalize and satirize pre-meditated confusion surrounding pop-culture, popular disinformation and the status quo make you feel sane in an insane world. One thing that surprised me was that he’s not buying into any far-reaching conspiracy theories that involve a small group of people controlling the world stage, either. He is an honest, intelligent and steadfast beacon of integrity and a lexicon of information. (Jello Biafra portraits shot by Elizabeth Sloan. Guantanamo school of medicine photo by Curtis Stankalis) “I was informed that I should be spending my high school years

Depth Test for Broncho, Girl Band and Blair at The Echo

Danny Baraz April 2, 2015

I made my way over to The Echo on Thursday night to check out a sold out show with headliner, Broncho. Irish noise rock group, Girl Band were my real motivation for attending this gig but I certainly was intrigued by seeing what the Broncho buzz was all about. Just a few hours earlier I got to cross an item off my bucket list after a marathon interview with Jello Biafra. I mention this only because it was relevant to the affect it had on my perception of all the bands’ performances that night- an affect, which reinforced the gut feeling I had about Girl Band and completely undermined the way I reacted to Wyatt Blair, also on the bill. So here it goes. The venue was dead silent as Girl Band took the stage. I could tell what type of audience this was going to be right away- beautiful and boring. The type of audience that attends a sold out show for a one hit wonder band although, that’s not fair to Broncho- I’m rather sure they’ll be around for a long time after Thursday night’s show. I’m referring to the fact that Broncho’s latest single, “Class Historian” seems to be amplifying out of a lot of people’s speakers

Trash Talk, Ratking and Pangea: Slam Dance 101 at The Echoplex

Danny Baraz March 23, 2015

“Everyone say Fuck You to my friends on the side of the stage here”. The Echoplex crowd was eager to oblige the demands made by Lee Spielman of Trash Talk on Friday night. “You ain’t special just because we drink beers together, and shit. Get your ass out there.” Friday night at the Echoplex brought us another installment of Check Yo Ponytail and the conclusion of a month on the road for Trash Talk, Ratking and junglist, Lee Bannon. Spielman and Wiki from Ratking seemed exhausted as they both mentioned separately during their sets how long the last 30 days of their life seemed. In between songs, Wiki seemed tilted like a half chopped down tree. I was ready to hear someone shout “Timber!” at any moment but every time a new song started, Wiki was in full control, crushing all verses without so much as a slur. Lee Spielman has become a master at putting together non-obvious, genre bending shows. He connects the best bands, MC’s and DJ’s and let’s the chips fall where they may. Even though Trash Talk is one of the only REAL thrash bands around right now, I’ve hardly ever seen them play with any

Punk Rock Bowling 2015 Club Shows Announced

Danny Baraz March 9, 2015

My favorite and most anticipated part of the Punk Rock Bowling weekend are the club shows. The club shows are by far the most intimate way to see legendary bands play in small, Downtown Las Vegas venues on Fremont street. All the club shows take place after the headlining bands finish their sets at the festival. The club show lineups were announced today and once again, there are some sick fucking shows taking place at night after being in the sweltering heat of the festival all day. GBH, The Dickies, The Weirdo’s, Strung Out, Pulley, The Crowd, Cadillac Tramps, 7 Seconds, Frank Turner and the English Beat are just a few of the announced bands that have been slated to play underrated downtown venues like The Fremont Country Club, Backstage Bar and Billiards, The Country Saloon and Beauty Bar. This year, The Stern brothers and BYO have also added The Bunkhouse Saloon as a new club show venue. As always, you can expect surprise guests like last year’s Cock Sparrer surprise set at Backstage Bar. I also noticed that the band No Parents has made it on the bill for a club show. No Parents have been making their rounds in

The Dickies Dry Hump The Roxy

JustinThomas February 23, 2015

“There is no better place to be on a Saturday night than Hollywood.” These were the words mumbled by my Uber driver. All while the lunatic stranger from our Uberpool ride-share aggressively barked lyrics from Sublime’s 40 oz of Freedom to an audience of one. My Saturday night was already headed in the right direction. I arrived at the historic Roxy Theatre around 8 PM. The curtains were drawn, mo hawks were groomed, and “The Dickies” back patches were imperfectly sewn onto sleeveless denim jackets. Each of the times I’ve been to the Roxy, every artist has acknowledged the history of this venue, and any number of google searches will result an overwhelming number of articles about the mystique of the Roxy. This all lead me to believe there is no better venue to see The Dickies, one of LA’s most historic punk bands. As the curtains raised for the first time, my eyes were met with pure bewilderment as the stage was set with two white dudes in freshly pressed Mormon door-knocking uniforms, slicked back hair, and a Wall-E-eque computer holding a MacBook. It all took a second to process and what followed was one of the best shticks in