NICE REVIEW FROM LEFT OF THE DIAL WEBSITE.

Thanks, David. I appreciate it.


July 2, 2009Manchild 4/by Brian Walsby: Bifocal Media
Filed under: Reviews — leftofthedialmag @ 8:45 am

Senor Walsby is back to the front with his newest collection of black and white pandemonium, which revisits familiar territory, so expect his usual bucket loads of sly and sardonic wickedry, no-bullshit scene slicing antics, and insistent leveling of all icons and “punk stars.” Though he has been busy as the skin pounder behind the better-late-than-never 40-something year old thrashcore soldiers Double Negative, who charge through replica formats of early Corrosion of Conformity meets Discharge meets Void, he also has time to be tour dude/comrade/fellow traveler to the Melvins, and even has a diary in this issue to document the ups and downs of being on the road in the Ipod era. In other segments, he pokes holes in the lame history of Emo, creates fictitious girl superheroes like Jailbait Girl for those bald men with sweltering adolescent fantasies, details the origins of his early bands, such as fresh-from-the garage Zombie Clergy and posicore pioneers Scared Straight, takes side-swapping stabs at faux punk “reunions” – Minor Threat babbling about Saabs and SUVs — and takes time to relish reaming pop culture figures from Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin to Jessica Simpson and Bono. No one is off limits, and no elements within the scene escape him either, from the never-ending punk house parties with a million cookie cutter bands, or the scene politics that stymie dissent as ‘uncool’ and pump up “uniform thought” – lame codes that make punk seem extra enclosed and hermetic. Sure, not everyone cares about these trails and tales, but for those of us raised on punk fanzine gossip, in-fighting, and territorialism, not to mention the comic work of Jaime Hernandez and Shawn Kerri, Walsby’s confessionalism, wit, and down-to-earth raps will be as engrossing as ever. PS This comes with a free monster mash CD of Melvins music as well!

MANCHILD 5: NEARING THE DUE DATE.

MAMMY....MAMMY!!

Hi there.
As some of you know, my next book is set to called MANCHILD 5: LIKE GOLD DOWN A SEWER. It will be an oral history of what happened down in Raleigh NC during the eighties, a punk rock retrospective that features the legendary band CORROSION OF CONFORMITY as the centerpiece of the book. It will feature quite a bit of people telling stories , and there will be flyers, artwork and even some of my work that has something to do with those years. It will be released hopefully next year on Bifocal Media care of Charles Cardello.
I am sending this out because I don’t have the time to individually write to the people that were set to send me stuff, but time is running out. If there is ANYTHING out there that you feel that would be a good addition, if you are someone out there that I accidentally blew off or if you are someone that I sent questions to and you haven’t responded now is the time to get in touch with me because I have to start thinking about putting this monster together.
You can reach me at: reluctantking@hotmail.com
Thanks,
Brian Walsby

YOURS IF YOU WANT IT!

Like I have said at least a million previous times, I am a freelancing illustrator and I am also not very sentimental about a lot of the art I have done that has ended up in my MANCHILD books, so If there is anything that catches your eye and you would like to own a page or two, it is up for grabs. And if you have any illustrating needs for your band, club, cd cover or whatever, I am your man. Plus I still have those Jer Warren/Brian Walsby silk screened posters featuring my renderings of: Greg Ginn, Kira Roessler, Milo Aukerman, Dinosaur Jr and D. Boon. Fifteen dollars each plus postage.
Please contact me at: reluctantking@hotmail.com
In the works for the future:
MANCHILD 5 (probably next year at the earliest), DOUBLE NEGATIVE’s second album called “Daydream Nation”, another road experience working for the MELVINS late this summer, and a couple of new t-shirt designs.

VOIVOD STILL LIVES!!!!

TORNADO....or at least half of it. I wish I was there.

In a wonderful case of victory overcoming tragedy, VOIVOD still lives. The second batch of tunes that Piggy left behind for the band just came out. Called INFINI, at first I wasn't sure what to think. It is hard to dismiss anything by these guys since they are one of my favorite bands ever, and I found myself almost doing that with these tunes. Jason Newsted i.e. "Jasonic" is a really cool guy and must be thanked for helping these guys as much as he has but the fact remains for me that the Jason version of Voivod (Mark 3) is still with retrospect the least satisfying of all of the bands lineups..doesn't mean that it is bad stuff. Far from it, a handful of tunes on each of the previous three records are quite good, but "Negatron" and "Phobos" the records from the band's trio phase with Eric Forrest on bass and vocals are waaay better and I think more people will come to that conclusion as time passes. I just discovered how good "Bio TV" from "Negatron" is while coming to this conclusion.

Anyways, INFINI is probably the best of the last three records. Jason Newsted gets a chance to flex some creative muscle a bit more with his oddball interludes between Piggy's songs, Snake sounds a lot more confident on these tunes, Away plays admirably as usual and of course Piggy's weird atonal guitar shines through. The record is for sure a grower, and if this is the last VOIVOD release, it is not a bad way to go out.

Or is it really the end? More exciting to me then the release of INFINI is the fact that Snake and Away are still continuing VOIVOD as a live band with the addition of original bassist Blacky and "living around the corner all of this time" guitarist Dan Mongrain. Oddly enough, Dan loved VOIVOD and Piggy before he ever learned how to play himself, and based on watching videos of the band he is the perfect addition to the band. He just needs a Morgoth type nickname..maybe "Curly"? Anyways, these guys should carry on..why not? No one wants them to go away and they are finally FINALLY getting the respect that they deserve. They should write a record with Dan. They have
already talked about it. Piggy would have been proud.

NEW STUFF.

DINOSAUR JR. VS THE JESUS LIZARD. THIS IS GOING TO BE THE COVER OF A FRENCH MUSIC MAGAZINE.



I AM A RARE BREED.



FOR THE GHOSTS OF FLIPSIDE FANZINE.

NO WAY FEST NUMBER THREE.

Just got back from spending another hot weekend on the third NO WAY FEST in Richmond Virginia where the band I drum in played and where I set up camp and sold my wares. I would like to thank everyone for buying my stuff and especially thanks to No Way Records Brandon and Lauren for letting me get away with this again and for giving me a vehicle to put a little bit of money in my pocket. I hope that in ten years or whatever when they look back on what they have both done that they are as impressed as I am, especially since they don’t get much sleep I reckon.
As usual, I can’t sit here and pretend that I watched too many of the bands but as usual WASTED TIME were the standouts, having pretty much perfected a sound that is a cross between Negative Approach and (especially) Poison Idea. I can’t claim to be someone that listens to a lot of current hardcore but if you are going to listen to it it should probably be these guys.
The ZERO BOYS played too. I have always enjoyed their 1982 album “Vicious Circle” which is a timeless punk rock recording. They did a okay job recreating said record and the audience ate it up. Two things real quick though:
1. The drummer, who looked like a cross between Brian Baker and Jerry Nolan clearly was the current Peter Criss of the band. He barely hit the drums and did the much hated “cheat beat”. Maybe it is cause I am a drummer also, but I couldn’t help but notice this. Man!
2. The band could barely hide their contempt for the young kids that they were playing to and at one point singer Paul Mahern went on for ten minutes about it. Strangely enough the audience ate this up too. It was funny at first and then got old really quick. I know that I am myself pretty cynical as fuck, and I hear about it all of the time but holy moley I don't do stuff like that. No one is there because they want to hear the second album or that third Toxic Reasons album.
DOUBLE NEGATIVE played another weird set at No Way Fest complete with technical problems and once again plagued with a soundman who was retarded at best. I have no idea what it sounded like.
Near the end of the second day after Double Negative played, Justin was tired and since he was me and Sean’s ride, we packed up and left. My ears were ringing with two days of hardcore punk, my own personal threshold for that type of thing. We talked on the way home about how probable it was that we were never going to see a kid get up there with a guitar style like Denis D’ Amour or a band get a creepy sound a la Saccharine Trust on their “Pagan Icons” e.p. and once again I remembered more non cynical earlier days, which I battle all of the time. Such is life I suppose. Nontheless, a cool weekend despite the hot weather.

BLACK FLAG SABBATH.

MIGHT BE A T-SHIRT SOON....