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Tag: Schleprock

  • … never mind Blackpool, here is Punk Rock Bowling!

    … never mind Blackpool, here is Punk Rock Bowling!

    This ain’t b/w because this is what me mates got me back from Punk Rock Bowling 2015. Some pictures, some videos. And loads of stories.

    All in their pursuit to talk me into doing the pilgrimage too: First on was Blackpool, for years. But this year they savored a new experience in addition – Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas.

    So here is their visual account … enjoy!

    Schleprock (Punk Rock Bowling 2015, Video by Frosch and (c) gehkacken.de 2015)

    … and if there would have been a reason to go, Schleprock would have been for me. Serious.

    Punk Rock Bowling 2015 - Schleprock
    Schleprock (Punk Rock Bowling 2015, Pic by Markus and (c) gehkacken.de 2015)

    Long defunct but now every once in a while back for good.

    Punk Rock Bowling 2015 - Schleprock
    Schleprock (Punk Rock Bowling 2015, Pic by Markus and (c) gehkacken.de 2015)

    Boy – i would indeed give some to see them live…

    And the next fun thing at this pool party where Booze & Glory, a quite non-typical Punk Rock Bowling outfit i’d dare to say but nevermind: They are just great!

    Booze & Glory (Punk Rock Bowling 2015, Video by Frosch and (c) gehkacken.de 2015)

    I guess it was hard to focus on the band and this zoo of punks and skins was quite a view …

    Booze & Glory (Punk Rock Bowling 2015, Video by Frosch and (c) gehkacken.de 2015)

    Killer band with a killer sound. Hymn after hymn i’d dare to say!

    Punk Rock Bowling 2015 - Booze & Glory
    Booze & Glory (Punk Rock Bowling 2015, Pic by Markus and (c) gehkacken.de 2015)

    And here a small set of pitcures from Markus, enjoy!

    So Toni and Markus enjoyed PRB and then a day out in the Grand Canyon before heading back to Europe, Frosch & Natali went on to tour the N/W coast of the US of A and had plenty of fun with and in nature. And all of them taunt me for not being there. Nevermind, i never went to Blackpool in the first place!

    And what does me mate Frosch say? Listen up youth:

    First of all: I usually hate festivals! I usually hate open air shows! So here’s my summary of Punk Rock Bowling 2015, first and foremost an Open Air festival that took place in Downtown Las Vegas for the 17th time and … the best Punk Rock experience I ever had!!!

It was 4 of us that made the long trip to Las Vegas in the middle of May, me and my wife Natali plus 2 old buddies, Toni and Markus.

If you’ve been to Rebellion in Blackpool you know how it feels when a part of a city is ruled by Punks. So from Friday afternoon until Monday night Downtown Las Vegas was all Mohicans, dyed hair and tattoos (and Turbojugend denim jackets, unfortunately…). One of the best impressions we had was visiting the pool parties on the 7th floor of the Plaza hotel, just great to see a “normal” couple hotel guests being surrounded by up to a thousand wild punks, and I mean wild, much more crazed than in Blackpool. 

No big surprise, as US punk rules over British punk since the early 80’s. So you got to see the legendary Schleprock playing some songs as a surprise act before Abrasive Wheels and Infa Riot took the stage at the pool. All for free! Back again on Monday for a pool party with Booze & Glory, so pool parties focused on UK punk this year.    

When pool parties finished in the early afternoon you started making your way to the nearby festival grounds. There is only one main stage and you got Anti Flag, Bombshell Rocks, TSOL, Sick Of It All, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Rancid (all on Saturday, so no big surprise that this sold out 1st with approx. 7.000 punks attending ),  Jello Biafra & TGSOM, Murder City Devils, Business, Swingin’ Utters, Conflict and the Dropkick Murphys playing across 3 days, just to name a few.

Personal highlight was the Swingin’ Utters set, which was very old school, fast, brilliant punk rock. One of the most important, somehow underrated Punk Bands. Massive circle pits for the Anti Flag and Jello Biafra sets, biggest one when Jello and his band kicked into Nazi Punks Fuck Off. Main disappointment for me was Rancid I suppose, No. 1 all time Punk Rock Band for me, but playing records in it’s entirety, even if it’s such a classic as “And Out Come The Wolves” is somehow tiring, at least for me. 

Adding a variety of other tracks at the end of the set helped, but still it was nowhere as good as seeing them 3 years ago on their European Tour in Vienna, Munich, Cologne, Blackpool and London, E-Werk Cologne being my personal fave, what a blast!

Another blast and the highlight of the festival for us was an open air club show at the Bunkhouse with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. What a great night, and where else than in Vegas can you see an open air show at 1 am in the morning?! They also decided to play their 1st record “Devils Night Out” in it’s entirety but somehow that worked better and they continued to play a regular set of hits after. Still one of the best, if not THE best live band in the world.

Late Nite Club Shows are generally great. They usually start after the main festival has finished, so at around  11 pm. Besides the Bosstones show we decided to see the Interrupters, the Aggrocats, Weirdos, Dickies and Rezillos plus the Punk Rock Karaoke band on Monday night to finish it all off. Great to see a band of “Punk Rock Stars”, NoFX Melvin, Steve Soto (Adolescents), Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks/Bad Religion)  and Derek O’Brian (Social D. and others), performing as a backing band for some Punk Rock Karaoke volunteers. Sometimes they found it hard to concentrate playing because they had to laugh so hard…

We had a fantastic time with great, peaceful people from all over the world, thanks to the Stern Brothers of Youth Brigade fame and team for making that happen. 

We’ll be back for sure!!!

(Text by Frosch, (c) 2015 gehkacken.de

     

  • my loveliest vinyl, part 44

    my loveliest vinyl, part 44

    Schleprock ‎– (America's) Dirty Little Secret (Warner Bros. Records 9-46277-1, 1996)
    Schleprock ‎– (America’s) Dirty Little Secret (Warner Bros. Records 9-46277-1, 1996)

    There are a couple of records that just came left field and took me by surprise or just made a huge impression on my humble self. For me it was Upstarts, Rejects and SLF (all say 1979) followed by Cock Sparrer, Neurotics and Toy Dolls (all say 1983) plus Descendents, Meat Puppets, Zero Boys (all say 1982) – and in 1996 it was Schleprock with their LP on Warner. I did follow Schleprock since their initial 7″ output, loved “Darkest Days” from their 1994 effort on Dr. Strange and little did i know that in the wake of all that Major signing of decent punk bands in the 90s  they where also signed by a Major.

    And then came “(America’s) Dirty Little Secret” and it was a perfect album. From “We need an Anthem” as a kick off it turned out to be one hell of a versatile record with a lot of nods to old UK punk incl. a cover of “Runnin’ Riot” from Cock Sparrer. Stunning. Just Stunning. And – from where i sit – without a bad song at all, loads of sing-a-long and not pop punk (which was what the Major labels in the US where actually trying to ca$h in on) but a Ruts/Members/Specials type of brew. Wow!

    The verdict:

    1977 – 1979 rather but just puurrrfect!
    published by a cool label – no, Warner. Trying to ca$sh in. Little did they know…
    found in a cool shop – Drugstore i believe – mmhhh – no, Konneckschen. Or? Memories, fading!
    catching sound – Members. Ruts. Do i need to say more?
    the lyrics – Take any song – nothing bad out there.

    My loveliest song is “Can’t hold me down” but that is just by inches:

    Somebody wants to put my brakes on
Better sit down and hear my song
Sell out, not here, get out
My passions burning like the Devil's night out
My integrity's packing a punch
The bleeding truth doesn't call no bluff
This goes out to all the cheerleaders
Who talk too much

You won't hold me down
You can't slow me down
You won't hold me down
You can't slow me down

Displace me, erase me
It won't go away
And I don't want a part
Of your fashion parade
I don't wanna play in your
So called brown nosing games
We're making up our own rules
Doing things our own way

You won't hold me down
You can't slow me down
You won't hold me down
You can't slow me down

Somebody wants to put my brakes on
Better sit down and hear my song
Sell out, not here, get out
My passions burning like the Devil's night out
My integrity's packing a punch
The bleeding truth doesn't call no bluff
This goes out to all the cheerleaders
Who talk too much

You won't hold me down
You can't slow me down
You won't hold me down
You can't slow me down

(c) 1996 Warner Bros Rec./Schleprock

    Now listen to the alternate version from the 2005 retrospective:

    And what happened next? They broke due to the major pressure, the drugs and other issues from being together since 1989. This is actually the version from “Learning to Fail” (2005 retrospective) and represents part of the demo tape that go them signed to Warner. The liner notes says it all:

    This original recording was on the demo that got us signed and it set the tempo for the attitude of "(America's) Dirty Little Secret"; nearly a year later we would record this again, but this time for Warner Brothers Records. In the end we wound up scamming the big boys for nearly a million dollars, but we also found ourselves self-destructing.

    Some parts of Schleprock formed The Generators and are going strong until today but that is a different story!

    nb: Some friends of mine are making the long haul to Punk Rock Bowling 2015 in Vegas this year, in there is also a show by … Schleprock. Have the bucks been spent or is it for the fun? We’ll see, we’ll see!