August 31, 2001
Containing more prizes than those cheap-ass grab bags you buy from the Ice
Cream Man, it's...
The Epitaph Weekly Newsletter!
Hey friends, it's me again! Your primate philanthropist chum- Web Monkage!
Unfortunately I have no money to give you: Only heart-broken ballads,
poetry, and... oh yeah, news! Enough crap, let's get into it!
PENNYWISE CONTEST AND SKATE DECKS
Our massive PW flyaway contest is coming into the final stretch with only
about a month remaining to enter (hint, hint). You guys that have entered
are stoked! Not only will one of you win a trip for two to Japan to see the
band, entrants that did not win the grand prize are eligible to win severely
limited edition Pennywise Sector Nine long-board skate decks! Not to
mention, "Land OF The Free?" T-shirts, posters and CDs. See, I told you I
was a philanthropist... To enter hit the link below and fill-out the form-
http://www.epitaph.com/contest/pennywise/flyaway.php?ln=epi
THE BONCING SOULS
Fresh off of the Warped Tour and back to work! The Souls are shooting their
next video for the song "True Believers" and want you to help. Those of you
in the New York area are invited to the world famous CBGB's on September 4th
at 3:30 PM to participate. Not only will the video be shot, but also the
guys will blowout a full-set to thank those who came down to help. You can
get all of the details at the link below-
http://bouncingsouls.com/main.htm
ALL LIVE + ONE
I told you last week that I would and now I have! Yes a brand new mp3 from
the new live record (WOO-HOO!). It's called "Fairweather Friend" and
listening is not an option! Let's see: It's ALL, it's free, and it's
full-length... what more do you want? Check it out at the link below-
http://www.epitaph.com/news/upcoming.html
NEW HIVES VIDEO
If you haven't heard of The Hives, then you need to listen-up! These guys
put on one of the best live shows around and naturally that carries over to
their video performances. Their new video is for the song "Main Offender"
and it's sick! I know I've said other videos were cool, but this one takes
the cake. I fully back this video with my guarantee that you will like it!
There, the Monkey stamp of approval has been laid down. Check it out here-
http://www.epitaph.com/images/real/The_Hives-Main_Offender-300.ram
http://www.epitaph.com/images/real/The_Hives-Main_Offender-34.ram
NOFX TOUR DATES
That's right, they have just announced a slew of new dates and guess what?
We have them up on our site! Isn't that cool? See them here-
http://www.epitaph.com/tourdates/index.html?Band=NOFX
THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY
Their new album "A New Morning, Changing Weather" is due out on October 23rd
and I know you can't wait! This album has about four or five tracks that
will not leave your head once you hear them. We'll have an mp3 up for that
one real soon, but in the meantime checkout the "new look" T(I)NC website
the band has just launched-
http://www.thefunkateers.com/tinc/
THE DROPKICK MURPHYS, TIGER ARMY AND SICK OF IT ALL TOUR!
Just slightly huge! This tour came together a few days ago and should be one
of the most fun and diverse shows this year. We have a little background for
you and all of the tour dates here-
www.epitaph.com/news/index.html#925
As if that wasn't enough- The Murphys are having a documentary web-cast
sponsored by the AFL-CIO! (that's the labor union boys and girls). Check it
out at the link below, the quality of the stream is pretty darn good!-
http://laborday.aflcio.org/performancestage/dkm.cfm
DEATH BY STEREO
These guys are insane. They have been out on the road for about a month and
they will remain on the road for about another two months. They never stop!
Hell, they never even slow down! Fortunately for you: Paul (Bass) and Efrem
(Vocals) have meticulously documented every tour stop thus far; posting
pictures and tour journals on their site. Take a look around and you'll find
the sweetest mullet I've ever seen! (Hint: New Mexico)
DEVIATES
Disney nearly sued these guys for creating a tour poster with a punk rock
Mickey Mouse. Seems pretty absurd to me, read it for yourself-
http://www.epitaph.com/news/index.html#921
PUNK-O-RAMA T-SHIRT AND CD CONTEST
This was last weeks contest and I have finally posted all of the winners.
You can see if you won anything at the link below. If not, hey there's
always this week-
http://www.epitaph.com/news/index.html#923
THIS WEEKS FAVORITE ALBUM
Poison Idea "Feel The Darkness." Rediscovered for the first time. This album
has classic thrash/punk/hardcore/metal/brutal jams throughout. Perfect for
those nights alone when nobody wants to see you, talk to you, or hear from
you. Checkout the album information below-
http://www.epitaph.com/bands/index.html?Id=86463
THIS WEEKS CONTEST
More "Moshing Monkey" shirts! You guys seemed to like them last week, so
here we go again this week! Send you answers to [email protected] with all
of you mailing information and you could be sporting a new shirt next week
at this time! Ready? Here's the extremely difficult question:
1. Everybody knows our famous compilation "Punk-O-Rama." Not everybody knows
however that in the movie "Pee Wee's Big Adventure," Pee Wee takes his bike
to a store to have the horn fixed and the name of that store also has an
"O-Rama" in the name. What is the full name of the store?
That is all I have for you this week, but you can bet that next week a brand
new volume of the Epitaph Weekly Newsletter will be waiting for you in your
in-box; shiny, perfect grammar and all!
Your Chum
Matt Heinemeyer
Epitaph Web Monkey
THE PUNK ROCK EDITORIAL
Here is another attempt at making the definition of "punk" more tangible and
lucid. This one has a bit of a different slant on it and I found it
interesting; I hope you do also:
Over the past couple of months people have been writing to the editorial in
the aim of defining what punk actually is. That's not really what I'm going
to do here, because I don't believe it can really be done to the extent in
which one definition is necessarily right. Punk is not a religion such as
Christianity or Hinduism, as there is no set criteria to follow, and
certainly no superficial requirements. I believe 'punk' is like 'love', a
concept that only those who have experienced it can define for themselves,
but not for anyone else. I believe that punk is not reliant on attitudes or
appearances or behaviour, although each of these things are involved and
important depending on ones personality, but punk seems to me to be a system
of beliefs and views which a person has. I don't look punk, I don't stick my
finger up at teachers and wear shirts with "fuck" written on them, (I live
with a minister for fuck's sake) but I still consider myself to be punk
because of what I believe. If I want to define punk for myself, I would
consider social awareness, tolerance, benevolence, constant questioning and
a psychological war against discrimination and the masses in this world
following the social dogma and the "safe" option of being a 'sheep'. Punk
for me, is questioning, for example, how mob mentality works and why people
treat each other like shit, even within the punk community itself, let alone
on a much wider scale. Punk is questioning these social vices and more, but
not being surprised when they punch you in the face. Perhaps a way in which
a punk can see themselves growing up and becoming more aware of human
behaviour is to see the fist coming before it hits, and duck.
However, this is strictly my opinion of what punk is, a system of beliefs I
have developed for myself which goes along the lines of questioning society
and human nature and not following everyone because that's safe. You could
all disagree with me, and that's ok, because no one can prove their
definition is right. But I do think there is one line or 'motto' if you
like, that could sum up almost everyone's individual definition of what punk
is in some way. That line from one of the two great Bad Religion lyricists,
the-almost-and-may-aswell-be Dr Greg Graffin from the song "Struck a Nerve",
the line, which says "Don't ask me to justify my life." I believe anyone who
truly does questionwhat punk is for themselves can apply that line to their
lives, but maybe that's just me. And I guess the only thing I hope to get
out of writing this editorial is that someone reading it will question their
own definition of punk, and know that no one definition can really be right.
Thanks for reading this far,
Sophie