Thursday, December 23, 2010

BRIAN WALSBY/MELVINS T-SHIRTS ARE READY TO ORDER!



Up now at the Bifocal Media site. Two hundred of these. Available in small, medium, large and xtra large. Place your order today!

here again, is the link:

http://www.bifocalmedia.com/index.php

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

MANCHILD 5 PARTY AT KINGS IN RALEIGH JANUARY 8TH!



Yes, you have heard it first. There will be food, books and bands.

The bands will be THE KICK ASS and (you guessed it) DOUBLE NEGATIVE.

I will have more concrete details in a few days, but did I tell you all that I am a brand new father? Yes I am.




This here is Sean Willow Pierce Walsby. I just call her Willow. She is a week old and boy are we tired.

NEW BRIAN WALSBY/MELVINS T-SHIRT COMING SOON.



STOLEN FROM THE MELVINS FANSITE MESSAGE BOARD COURTESY OF CHARLES:

Not sure if anyone here gives a rat turd or not but everyones favorite rock art dude (Brian Walsby) is doing a series of limited (300 of each) band shirts. They're all legit and the bands all get a chunk of the booty. It may be of no surprise that the first one is for the Melvins. In true Walsby fashion, he's already posted the unfinished design on his blog for the Melvins shirt. It's a parody of Queen's "News of the World" album art and it's pretty bad ass. Make that 299 shirts up for grabs as I'll be grabbing one of them for myself. MANCHILD 5 comes out January 25. More soon.

Yes, this is true. the link will go up soon at the Bifocal Media site. First come, first serve. There will be some other t-shirts in the future too, and you can probably already guess what a few of them are..in the meantime, here is the link to Bifocal Media:

http://www.bifocalmedia.com/

Friday, December 3, 2010

BLACK FLAG CHANGED MY LIFE.



HERE IT IS, THAT PHOTO! TAKEN BY THE INFAMOUS GLEN E. FRIEDMAN.


Black Flag changed my life. And yours too, I bet


From the start of me hearing about punk rock, they seemed to be it. I bought Damaged at the start of 1982 and was so riveted by the first side that I didn’t even get to the second side until a week later. The second side was even better. That record seemed to articulate everything I was feeling, and to some extent, it still does. It is a pretty timeless recording by a timeless band.



I grew up a couple of hours away from the epicenter of all of this raging stuff in Ventura County. A few months later that same year there was some sort of write up on Black Flag in the Los Angeles Times, the big paper across all five counties in Southern California. There was this picture of them that I couldn’t get out of my mind. All five of the then existing members seemed like distinct and separate individuals, all unique characters thrown together to form a tight five fingered fist that continually smashed your face in with its presence. I didn’t know much but I soon figured that theirs was a presence to be reckoned with and twenty five or whatever years later they still are. I reckon that no one has come close. Even to this day.



I admit I was duped momentarily about punk rock. I thought that there were rules. I didn’t realize that getting the music was enough, or that enjoying this music that seemed to come from another planet was all you needed to participate. I didn’t have a uniform and didn’t see the point in having one. I wasn’t tough; I was just a dork who didn’t fit in. These five men seemed to celebrate not fitting in just by their existence and the strength of their music. They also shattered my illusions of punk rock: You didn’t have to fit in, you didn’t have to adhere to a uniform, you just had to “get it”. Back then, getting it in itself was like going through a portal. Not a lot of people did and those who did go through seemed to be connected to each other somehow. It was all so small. But with time, all legends seem to grow and take on a separate life of their own.



That picture:



The first thing that seemed to stand out to me big time was Dez Cadena. Instead of some dude with a Mohawk or Sid Vicious haircut, here is this dude in a leather jacket that basically looks like Jesus: Long hair and a beard. Was this allowed? I guess it was. In fact, Greg Ginn and Chuck Biscuits also looked pretty..well, normal. Chuck Dukowski was bald. Henry Rollins was sort of off in a corner and looked like someone you didn’t really want to mess with at all. It was just five guys but that pic spoke volumes to me.



At this time, the only thing that was ever recorded by the short lived Chuck Biscuits lineup (that was released mind you) was the live track on the first RAT MUSIC FOR RAT PEOPLE record called “Scream”. I listened to that song over and over, its slow trudge like screaming two guitar squall paved the way for Henry to more or less howl like an animal in pain throughout. There didn’t even seem to be a lyrical idea to get behind, it was just one long (well four minutes) tortured dirge that made most people cringe and you know what, I think it still would. The feeling of the song seemed to be universal: pent up feelings followed by cathartic release. What was there not to love?



Since then, I bought every single thing that this band released. I loved just about all of what was released..even towards the end. I loved the previous three singers, I thought they were all distinct and great. I loved Side Two of “My War” and think that you could almost write a book about the polarizing effect that record had when it came out. I loved the Bill Stevenson/Kira Roessler lineup of the band and the “Slip It In” record. Basically, I seemed to be able to continually “get it” when it came to Black Flag. And then they seemed to lose their grip a bit. So they broke up, and it was almost in time. After they broke up, the legend started and continued to grow and grow.



These days you have people from every walk of life professing their admiration of Black Flag and what these people did and how it continues to affect them. I don’t know any of those people involved, and it was much to my naiveté to realize that after having the experience of being a part of this comet, most of the people involved have scattered far and wide. Put in this way, there is no twenty year high school reunion for those who had served. It hardly matters. In their day, Black Flag changed the world. They certainly changed mine.



And yours too, I bet.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

THE RECENT FRUITS OF MY LABORS.

There will be an announcement very soon about pre-orders for MANCHILD 5: RABID PACK WITH SIRENS HOWLING. There will also be a pre release show happenening in early January. I will have more details for that soon as well.

In the meantime, here is some recent artwork done as sort of a launchpoint for another project that I will announce as soon as the details are ironed out. It'll be good, though.

here you go:







Thursday, November 25, 2010

Monday, November 22, 2010

Saturday, November 6, 2010

A RELEASE DATE...

Here is some actual real news straight from Charles Cardello on his Bifocal Media website:


Manchild 5
Hello Folks! First and foremost I'd like to let you know that Brian Walsby's MANCHILD 5 (book) will be out on Bifocal on January 25, 2011. This one documents the 1980s punk/ hardcore scene in Raleigh, NC. Along with tons of photos and Brian's infamous comic art; this one is also packed with interviews and stories about events that went down in Raleigh from 1982 up to around 1990. If you are/ were into bands like COC, Bad Brains, No Labels, Days of..., Honor Role, etc, then there's a story here for you. This is an amazing documentation of how the underground worked in the 1980s. Think bands, fans, punk houses, traveling, scene drama and DIY mentality at its pure, unadulterated peak. Remember life before the internet? Remember when you discovered punk rock? Remember when the only videos on MTV were from bands like Winger and the Bullet boys? If so, this book may be for you. If you don't, here's your opportunity to immerse yourself in another universe. This was our generation's version of a viable counterculture filled with timeless music and a tireless DIY ethic that lives to this day.

Lumberjack/ Mordam distribution went under in 2009. This cost us and a bunch of other great labels and artists a ton of time, money and grief. We were lucky enough to have been picked up by Redeye Distribution and they've done a wonderful job getting our goods to the people who want them. And the beat goes on...

posted by Cardello on Dec 31 1969, 04:12pm.


http://www.bifocalmedia.com/index.php

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

G-MART COMICS PODCAST IN CHICAGO!

When I was in Chicago I got a chance to run my mouth about myself in a very nice comic store and I think I rose to the occasion..here is the link:


http://www.g-martcomiccast.com/?p=53

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

a nice review of daydreamnation.....


heads will swell:

STILL SINGLE

September 13, 2010 Double Negative – Daydreamnation LP (Sorry State)


-/- is a Carolina hardcore supergroup, staffed by Raleigh scene vets from Erectus Monotone, Snakenation, Shiny Beast, Patty Duke Syndrome, Polvo, and a handful of others. While their earlier LP clung too hard to convention, and the follow-up single swung away at abstract aggression almost to a fault, they have hit the proverbial sweet spot some years into a career that’s running exactly the way they want it to. Daydreamnation (they have a hard-on for name appropriation) rips so goddamned hard I can barely believe it, the band having grown into a sound that blends Flag, C.O.C., and all manners of loud, heavy music both inside and out of fast-paced punk into the smoothie of death, made of puke, lead paint, celery hearts and Pepto-Bismol. Mechanized wehrmacht, driven by Brian Walsby’s double- and triple-time drumming shifts, runs amok all over this new batch of songs, miles away from their beginnings and even their roots, as guitarist Scott Williams smears twisted, reckless riffage all over the place, bassist Justin Gray locks down in between, and vocalist Kevin Collins busts a lung with seriously upset-sounding rage. For once, the confusion within a band such as this actually works to their favor, a blur of sound with so many screws and bolts sticking out of it that it can’t help but leave an impression on you, maybe even in you as these thirteen songs detonate all over the place. Easily trumps the methodical HC-for-the-non-HC of Fucked Up as one of thee most important bands of its kind in action today, and since they rarely tour, you pretty much have to go to the mountain to see ‘em. Double Neg will be kept a secret for as long as these guys wish to stay down, and it’s your loss to ignore. Absolute fury in a beautifully embossed, metallic sleeve. First 286 copies on pink vinyl with numbered obi strip, long gone. Regular press is good enough for you.


(Doug Mosurock)

http://still-single.tumblr.com/post/1118992967/double-negative-daydreamnation-lp-sorry-state

DOUBLE NEGATIVE INTERVIEW OVER AT DOUBLE CROSS BLOG!



The freindly folks over at DOUBLE CROSS blogspot have printed the first part of a massive DOUBLE NEGATIVE interview. Here is the link if you want to check it out:

http://doublecrosswebzine.blogspot.com/2010/09/double-negative.html

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

NEW INTERVIEW WITH ME OVER AT STRANGE REACTION.



Read me running my mouth as usual but with some nice different questions for a change.


http://strangereaction.com/2010/09/03/interview-with-brian-walsby/

Monday, July 26, 2010

Friday, July 2, 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

MANCHILD 2, 3 AND 4 NO LONGER BUYABLE FROM ME.



It seems sort of weird to say this but the last three of my books will no longer be buyable through me, as we are almost out of all three of them. You can still write to Bifocal Media and order them but time and supplies are running out.

I still have plenty of the first one, and if you haven't seen it, it is a pretty big book. I will be selling that until they are gone.

Look for the fifth book at the end of the year.

thanks.

Monday, June 21, 2010

ONLY IN AMERICA.....



The world must be a right place when I can wake up in a hotel room across from New York City, draw cartoon posters of Adolph Hitler and then turn around and sell them at a rock show later that night. And even better is someone will post it on the internet less than twenty four hours later.

..profiting off Hitler. It is like a dream come true!

And if anyone who I have met on this most recent Melvins tour is reading this, I would like to thank each and every one of you for buying something of mine. I appreciate it a lot. No one has to give a shit, and people do so that is great. Thanks!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

CUTE BAND ALERT: POLLUTION!




Pollution is a band from New York City that people should check out, as they successfully cross the boundaries and subcultures of loud music that could appeal to the hardcore kids, the metal kids and even the hipster ironic tight pants wearing kids without ever pandering to or even noticing them. The band just plows through their songs and doesn’t acknowledge anyone’s existence. That is a great stance for any band. There is something so bone simple in a way about how they have re-thought aggressive music, an ever slight tweak to the program but it really works well.

A brutal loud quartet, Pollution is the brainchild of former longtime Raleigh resident Sean Livingstone. Double Negative’s Scott Williams and myself had played with Sean in one of our previous bands, Daddy. They were both the guitar players in that band and both wrote the riffs. You could almost see some of the roots in both Pollution and Double Negative stemming from Daddy when you look back on it, sort of tweaked and fucked up loud music that once in awhile was fast.

Sean eventually re-located to New York City where over a period of time he had tried to put something together, which I think was sort of tough. Eventually, he met each of his Pollution bandmates one by one by hanging out at shows. Sean is the only one in Pollution that isn’t in another band. They are all super cool people that I would personally hang out with all of the time if they lived in Raleigh, and the band is pretty fucking great. They seemed to have a little bit of a buzz behind them when they recently played down here due to the tapes and album that have trickled out into the universe. For once, it is deserved. Go see this band and support them. Look for a new record coming soon and get in touch with them to find out what it is all about.
It is just a tweak, a slight tweak in the program that Pollution offers, but it is a tweak that will make you scratch your head and go “man..why didn’t I think of that?”
You could have dude..but you didn’t!





Here is a recent article about Pollution that some guy from the Village Voice wrote about the band awhile ago:

No, Pollution Are Not on Twitter
Gleefully foul Brooklyn metalheads revel in the toxic stew you ignore

By Adam Ganderson
Wednesday,
Jul 22 2009

Greenpoint is home to various unnatural disturbances: the Death Star sewage plant, the unpleasantly visible air, the underground oil spill. Most residents, too occupied with frantic Twittering, etc., are indifferent. But local rockers Pollution are four men aligned against the mass delusion of thousands, in revolt against the digital toys that keep the public entranced. They're also adherents to the belief that humans are past the point of return—that, in addition to a poisonous dispersion of refuse, technological advances are only distractions from the neurotic toxins breeding inside each of us. They are purveyors of a reality that destroys—as stated on their recent release, the oddly titled n.s.DRUGS—the "glamorous poisoning process." Through the sound of a world drowning in industrial poison, they set fire to hippie communes and embrace Brooklyn's filth viscerally—not just with instruments but, if need be, with strong drink and drugs.

Though they're now flourishing amid our beloved industrial decay, Pollution's roots actually stretch deep into Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia. The former is the hometown of mastermind/lead guitarist Light (a/k/a Sean Livingston); in the '80s, Raleigh gave birth to both the pummeling distortion of Corrosion of Conformity and the more technically mutated rhythms of Confessor, bands that would come to play a role in both Pollution's drum sound and guitar work. Meanwhile, Richmond established itself as a vital incubator for hardcore. "I saw Confessor a lot and was always blown away by their song structures," says Light. "But it was Pen Rollings [guitarist for Richmond bands Honor Role, Butterglove, and Breadwinner] who was a big influence. That guy was the guitar giant from '86 to '89.”

Rollings's innovative work is often cited as a touchstone of what would come to be called math-rock, a throwaway rock-critic term that, when used more accurately, is actually a clever way of describing a dissonant, off-kilter, ominously infected sound that Rollings dispenses in its purest form. Regardless, it's a sticky label that Livingston quickly puts aside: "I don't think the math-rock was an influence, but rather unconventional songwriting," he says, adding that such unconventional fare was, of course, not specific to the East Coast. "Later-era Black Flag are so fucking gross-sounding. I'm still trying to make something that sounds that gross and actually ties into Butterglove, who are the grossest-sounding band ever."

With Pollution, that unhinged fuse is lit by what Livingston describes as "a colossal amount of reference points coupled with very different approaches to playing." Raspy howls from vocalist/bassist Radioactive are grounded by drummer Invasive Species, who approaches his kit the way a hurricane approaches a coastal village. The rhythmic work of Atmospheric Dispersion strikes like a hammer drill in an abandoned building, whereas, on the floor above, Light focuses on feedback strains, often fitting them between notes, where they slowly emerge as electrical apparitions. "I love using feedback for a guitar 'lead' or even a main riff," he explains. "But I try to not overdo it. There is an entire slew of bands lately that are so saturated with feedback that it loses its impact completely."

Each member of Pollution contributes, in addition to pills and booze, his particular strain to the band's sonic poison. "Those guys kill it!" Light raves of his cohorts. "They've been writing a lot of the new riffs. But our greatest commonality is calling bullshit on the same exact crap out there."

For more information, contact Pollution at:


www.myspace.com/pollutionpollutionpollution

photo taken by Corey Kittrell

Sunday, February 21, 2010

HEY...I GET IT.

I have recently had sort of an ephinany about being in a band right now and being allowed to still play music in this day and age. It sort of also ties in with like..life and stuff.

I am very lucky to be able to keep doing this thing that I should treasure at all times because you know it is a gift, or a privilege, and it won’t be here forever, like anything else. I can remember looking back at the first year of this band I play in now and how I fought it, looking at it as this thing that was supposedly a pain in my ass but in reality was always this really good special thing to do. Especially with people that you have known and been friends with for over twenty years. That means something. You know, it isn’t everyday that you can re-connect with a handful of people from that long ago in this manner. It has been over four years now that we have been a band, and nothing has seemed to stop it, not ourselves, not our everyday lives, not our problems, not our ages, nothing. So that is pretty cool. Doing a band now seems to mean something FAR MORE NOW then it did when we were children. Back then, life was easier. You thought that you had all of the time in the world, so no big deal. Well, it is different now. You don’t have all of the time in the world, time is running out. I have found that being an adult with adult problems and concerns and responsibilities makes the outlet of having the outlet of playing fucked up crazy music seem more sacrosanct. It is way more of a release and makes me think that more oldsters should do it if they want to. Punk rock: originally designed for children, secretly made for adults. Who knew?

I will let you in on a little not so secret: I have more than occasionally had a love/hate relationship with the idea of being in a band and playing music. Being in so many bands over the years, it is easy to get that way. And as a lot of you know, being in a band is a lot like being in a relationship with three or four people at the same time, like being married to them or something. It can be tough at times. In this band, we finally learned how to yell at each other if need be and not make it a big deal. It took me YEARS to realize this. And then things were fine afterwards. It would have been nice to realize all of this earlier because it would have saved me a lot of unnecessary petty bullshit but that is okay…better late than never.

I am going to now talk very highly and somewhat lovingly about the concept of being in the band I am in now. This is not something I usually do, talking about how great something I am doing is, but here goes: A neat thing about this band is that in a way we are defying what is expected of anyone at our advanced ages; people at this point of the game just don’t usually play in bands, much less a band like this. We are not re-living old glories with an old band of ours, we are doing something new. We are not re-inventing the wheel or are on some holy crusade or anything; we are just weirdos doing what feels good. And I think that we have sidestepped all of the things that people who play music are supposed to care about. We are all years past wondering or hoping if we will be popular or famous, years past thinking that we are going to spend a month in a van on tour in hopes of some kind of career, years past impressing all of the right people or being cool or caring about that. Just playing is enough. And to have people at your shows is even better, especially when they are into it. To have kids come to your shows that wear homemade t-shirts with your band’s logo on it… I used to do that when I was a kid.

That is great. I can’t think of a better endorsement than that. I remember meeting creepy older people in bands when I was a dorky kid and how much it meant to me to find out that you could go up and talk to them, that they were actually people instead of heroes and you knew that it was okay. To become one of those creepy older guys with instruments in their hands that play scary music, to help send some people on the same path that we were all sent on years and years ago is really cool. It is like getting the torch, passing the torch, and then having it handed back.

An old band mate of mine told me years ago that if you weren’t going to be excited about what you were doing, than what is the point of creating it? took me awhile but I have actually relearned a few things just by being in this band, mainly, if it makes you happy, gives you purpose and it makes you feel good, than keep doing it. Don’t let anyone tell you not to do it, don’t talk yourself into thinking you shouldn’t do it because of your age or how you look or if it is good enough, just fucking do it.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

HONOR ROLE LIVE AT THE CATS CRADLE, 1989.

I have prattled on alot over the years about Honor Role, a band from Richmond Virginia that existed in the eighties, and I still think they made some of the most timeless and personal music I have ever heard. Here is a live song, "Observation" taken from thier last ever real show (the band reformed for a few shows in the nineties, but that has been it) ever at the old Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill. I am in this video funnily enough. Weird to think about how long ago this was! Enjoy.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

KEVIN COLLINS IN YOUR FUCKING FACE.



enough said.