Old Punks Never Die! » General Banter

Old Crust For New Bread

The Old Punk — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:29:49 +0000

Oli of Civilisation Records is putting out a repress of Hellbastard's classic first studio LP 'Heading For Internal Darkness'. Having bought stuff from him before I know and appreciate the time and effort he puts in to producing some really tasty bits of vinyl, and this looks to be no different.

Artwork printing and plastic pressing are in their final stages, but Oli's still taking pre-orders (1000 are being pressed, 150 on clear vinyl). It's €11 plus a few euros for postage depending on location and a bit more if you use PayPal. That's only three and a bit pub pints, and this'll give me more pleasure for much longer without any hint of a hangover (unless I drink a reasonable volume of cider while listening to it, so maybe a 1-in-3 chance).

Drop Oli a line for more info via civilisation-records [at] web.de

New Punk News Blog

The Old Punk — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:15:50 +0000

Fellow punk Alex Distro-y has started a blog dedicated to listing all of the latest releases from the punk world, as well as other relevant news, events and so on. I don't know exactly what Alex's definition of punk for this particular site is but, from what I know of him, I'm guessing he's on a similar wavelength to me (anarcho/radical covering all styles but maybe with a soft spot for d-beat judging from the title).

So go and check out D-Beat Beater and keep your ear close to the underground.

Gobsmacked

The Old Punk — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:37:29 +0000

WOW.

For the first time in many, many years, I've been left speechless. A few minutes ago, settling down with my first cuppa and fag of the day, I browsed to my email account for the site. There was one new message waiting. A quick click, a brief scan and my mouth dropped open. I still can't shut it.

A 'corporate' group is offering to buy my web domain name. For $5000.

I can't say who they are just yet, but it's a familiar 'brand' in the mainstream 'punk' business. The sort of group I'd normally steer well clear of.

But it's $5000, I don't have a job and this place only cost me a few bucks in the first place. And, as long as I don't use a similar-sounding replacement, I'm free to set up a new space elsewhere on the net.

It's a no-brainer. There's some paperwork to sort out first but, if all goes to plan, it looks like the new owners will be moving in on May 1st.

I'll fill in a few more details later on, I'm a bit all over the shop right now, but this is some of the best and worst news I've ever had.

UPDATE: Things like this only work if you have any readers that are up before noon on April Fool's Day, and who are daft enough to be taken in. I therefore declare Ernest the winner.

New Kid On The Block

The Old Punk — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:08:09 +0000

I'm really pleased to announce that my request for new recruits has borne fruit, and a right plump n' juicy piece he is too! So, without further ado, say hello to Ernest Embryo.

A few words about myself…

Well I'm another old punk though not quite as old as The Old Punk, born in '68. Basically I'm a music lover, not just punk but something from pretty much every genre you could think of. I play bass, drums or guitar and I've also written tunes on my computer so I like to think I'm pretty broad minded when it comes to music.

I got into the first wave of punk probably because of my mum and my two older brothers. My mum was a massive fan of X-Ray Spex and Ian Dury and she took us to see bands like Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Damned, Stiff Little Fingers and the like. I was only 10 or 11 at the time and seeing some of these bands was an experience I'll never forget. As that first wave of bands started to die out I still found the punk DIY ethos exciting and as the next generation of bands started to emerge one of my brothers and I got more heavily involved in the 'scene'. I definitely preferred the anarcho bands though that doesn't mean I wasn't happy jumping around to GBH though I would say that a lot of my morals and beliefs are because of listening to bands like Crass, Flux and Conflict.

As the years rolled on I got involved in the rave/free-party scene and I DJ'd with a fair few sound systems (Spiral Tribe, Asylum, Nysa). There was a two year period where some friends and I would set-up as many free parties as we could and we only stopped when they started to get too big for us to handle… and of course the obvious presence of lots of undercover police trying to buy drugs from us.

These days I'm still playing instruments but the band I was in had to split so I'm currently just jamming with friends until something more permanent comes along. I also have a music blog that runs on similar principles to this site. I tend not to post up new albums but if there's a band that I think people should hear I will post a sampler of their stuff. It covers lots and lots of genres from hardcore punk to drum and bass DJ mixes, via 60s psychedelia and stoner rock so there should be something for everyone Check it out at http://ernestembryo.blogspot.com

Collectivise The Interwebs!

The Old Punk — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:15:12 +0000

OPND is recruiting now!

I could do with more old punks (or even some younger ones with a bit of suss) joining up with the OPND Soviet – it seems a shame that my postings here are so intermittent when there's all this space available.

You don't have to rip anything (although I'm certainly not going to object, as long as you follow my own guidelines) – reviews, articles, opinion pieces, recipes, artwork etc. that fit in with the general ethos of OPND are very welcome indeed. How often you feel like contributing is entirely up to you, and you're free to leave / take a break at any time if other priorities come up.

You don't even need to worry about being tech savvy – if you can use email, that's all the know-how you need (although I can guide you through using WordPress, the software I use to run the site, if that's preferable).

Get in touch if you fancy giving it a go.

UPDATE: Ernest Embryo and Alex Distroy have now signed up, but there's still room for plenty more!

Flipping To FLAC, Turning To Torrents

The Old Punk — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:31:34 +0000

I've been mulling over this for a while now, but I've decided to take the plunge and start encoding my rips as FLACs rather than MP3s. It's the best way of ensuring as flawless a copy as possible of the original vinyl (within the restrictions of the kit I use). With a FLAC file you're getting the full package, without the audio compression you get from MP3s. FLAC files can be converted back to WAV files (for burning CDs) to give you a perfect copy of the original audio. What's more, you can compress FLACs to MP3s if you want smaller files for your pocket player, just as you would a normal CD.

The big drawback with FLAC files is their size – although they're about 30% smaller than WAV files, they're also around 4 times as big as MP3s. For that reason, I've also decided to use torrents to share them. In part, this is due to my normal free host (MediaFire) being a right pain to use since they 'upgraded' and uploads constantly failing. Folders also tend to disappear if they're not accessed after a certain time. I'll keep trying to upload to MF, but I can't guarantee making files available this way any more.

If you don't know a thing about torrents, don't worry, there was a time when I didn't either. If an old fart like me can work it out, then there's hope for everyone else.

You'll need a piece of software called a torrent client – I use uTorrent. There have been reports of problems with the 2.x release of the program at the time of writing, so I would suggest grabbing a 1.x version from FileHippo until they get it sorted (I'll let you know when I know).

Read through this guide and follow the steps carefully. If you use a router, you will need to pay close attention to setting up a static IP and forwarding your ports (!) – don't worry, it's a lot easier than it sounds if you're methodical and follow the instructions.

That's it.

To get my torrents, click on the torrent link at the bottom of the post. This will take you to another post containing the actual torrent file in my torrent forum. Click on the torrent file and select 'Open With uTorrent' (or whatever other client you use) if the dialogue box appears. If you don't want to do this every time, you should be able to set uTorrent as your default torrent program and avoid this step. uTorrent's beginner's guide should give you all the details you need.

If you can't work it out, let me know and I'll see what I can do to help.

Full Tossers

The Old Punk — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:18:58 +0000

It's been a busy weekend. Friday and Saturday saw me catching up with mates from near and far, nothing too hectic but still requiring me to be a bit of a social butterfly.

Then came Sunday night, spent in the company of Geoffrey Oi!Cott, Valdez, Spiteful Way (their last ever gig, boo!) and some other scallywags at my local, which finished at late o'clock. All bands put on a damned fine show, especially the Oi!Cotts – funny as fuck and very tongue-in-cheek. If you like good old-fashioned working-class alehouse humour, don't mind lyrics that would offend the prissy middle classes, and have a penchant for cricket, you need to go and see this band.

The gig was a low-key benefit, split between a Brazilian streetkids football project (run by some like-minded friends in São Paulo that a few of the pub team will be visiting and playing in the next couple of weeks) and Bristol Antifa. We were only asking for donations and, after paying a few costs, made about £150 in total. Not bad at all.

The bands joined in fully with the bank holiday madness at the pub, including helping judge a bake-off by the netball team (which basically involved eating shitloads of the finest home-made cakes). The creative confectionary and subsequent scoffing of it raised £104, which is also going to the streetkids fund.

And everyone helped support the local economy by purchasing many gallons of fine beers, ciders and lagers at the best pub in the world (no 'probably' about it). The only exception to this was yours truly, who was the designated driver / voice of reason for the night. I managed to fulfil half of my role.

Today was spent helping round up the various northern types, after sending them off in the early hours to the tender care of several Cowboys & Girls for 'sleep'. Everyone then headed out to the cricket pitch for a hangover-curing session at the crease (or watching from the warm comfort of the clubhouse bar for the less-athletically / more-alcoholically inclined). The Oi!Cotts had enlisted the aid of a few 1-in-12'ers and the ex-guitarist of Anti-System to make up their side, while the Cowboys put out their usual blend of ne'er-do-wells, social rejects and a gimp. After a lot of tossing of balls, waving of wood, incomprehensible scribing (also known as the Score Book) and witchcraft, the Cowboys were adjudged to have won.

All agreed that a mighty fine time was had and that the event should become an annual affair. Here's to next year!

100 Not Out

The Old Punk — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:13:20 +0000

So I've made it to my century post. Hurrah! Thanks for hanging around, and I hope you've not been too disappointed. I've actually quite enjoyed myself, despite periodically not actually doing anything very much at all here.

Anyway, it's got me thinking afresh about this here blogging lark, and my occasional inabilty (hah!) to get my lazy arse into gear to actually, you know, write something.

So I've come up with a cunning plan.

On the first Monday of every month (or thereabouts, if something else really exciting actually happens on the day, like a revolution at my back door), starting with March, I will be putting up one or several posts that will (probably) include a downloadable delight or two from back in the day, reviews and downloadable samples of more recent stuff that you can still actually purchase for not very much money at all in the grand scheme of things, vegan recipes and maybe a few other odds n' sods. Having said that, chances are I'll still post bits n' bobs in-between times if anything warrants it.

The way I figure it is, there's now a deadline that's actually very user-friendly for your almost terminally apathetic author to work towards, and you've actually got some idea of when something might actually happen here that's actually worth 30 seconds of your day.

Actually.

Help The Aged Punx!

The Old Punk — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:45:44 +0000

Profane Existence are drastically scaling back operations, and are having a major distro blow-out to clear the space Dan needs for his family. Not everything's been discounted (yet), but the price reductions so far have been huge – up to 90% in some cases and at least 50% for most of the others. Dan's refocusing his available time, energy and money on the mag right now (and a good thing too IMHO), although he hasn't ruled out the occasional future release if the situation's right for it.

So support a man who's supported us above and beyond the call of duty over many years, and pick up a total bargain in the process.

I'd also like to give a big thumbs-up to Nightgaunt Graphics for producing and sending me some mighty fine t-shirts. The quality of the printing on the Amebix 'Risen' design is particularly impressive. And they're easy on the pocket too, with none of the designs costing more than $15.

Finally (and totally unrelated to selling anything), a few people seem to have had problems directly linking to this site and / or using the comments option. I think I've sorted out the problem now. If it's still broken for any of you, use my email address and I'll have another tinker under the bonnet.

That's Another One Done & Dusted

The Old Punk — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:09:02 +0000

2008 saw some great records arrive at Chez Old Punk. In fact, there wasn't a bad one among 'em. Label and distro people, you deserve maximum respect for keeping the faith. Band people, the punk flame remains in very safe hands. Onwards, upwards, forwards!

Some very lovely punks ripped and shared some stunning noise from days of yore. You've made a grown punk cry (in a good manly way) on more than one occasion. I've tried to remember to say thanks whenever I've grabbed one of the jewels on offer, and I apologise to anyone I may have missed. May all your turntables continue to spin unhindered.

To the ranters and ravers, thanks for making me laugh and think in equal measure. Keep grinding the bastards down.

And to all the friends who've visited and commented, you've helped keep an old punk very happy.

Here's to more of the same in 2009 – cheers!