Category Archives: Punk

Stooges Guitarist Ron Asheton Found Dead

Ron Asheton
Ron Asheton

Sad day in the rock n roll / punk rock world as founding member Ron Asheton of The Stooges was found dead at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  He was 60 years old.  The official cause of the founding member of The Stooges has not been reported yet but initial discoveries claim it may be from a heart attack.

I had the pleasure of seeing Ron Asheton play last summer when Iggy & The Stooges took stage at the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival.  This was my second viewing of one of the more important punk rock bands and I must say the performance was memorable.  Ron Asheton was amazing on guitar along side his pal Mike Watt (who took the place of bassist when the band reunited in 2003) while Iggy Pop went insane in front of the crowd.  I am glad I was there to witness that performance.

The Stooges were recently nominated as an inductee into the 2009 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum.   It’s a shame that Ron Asheton will not be there to see if The Stooges are inducted.  There is not a doubt in my mind that they will not be as their place in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Museum is well deserved.

This is a huge loss.  He will be missed.

Some videos:

Ron Asheton in The New Order (not the New Order you are thinking of…):

Iggy & The Stooges Live In Cincinnati 1970:

Iggy & The Stooges “The Passenger”:

Links from major music websites reporting on Ron Asheton’s death:

Rolling Stone
Billboard
NME

Not So Much Of A Review: City and Colour – Bring Me Your Love

I came across an artist the other day named Dallas Green who has a solo project he calls City and Colour.  The thing is, I have heard the voice before but could not pinpoint where…  After a minute of research I was amazed to find out that Dallas Green is also the lead vocalist for the post-hardcore act Alexisonfire.

Crazy.  I am so out of the loop.

I admit it.  I am not hip to everything so you can imagine how I felt considering I am a fan of Alexisonfire…a fan that does not necessarily know all the band members by name.

It seems that all of these punk rock / hardcore artists are doing solo albums lately and it appears it might be the new “in” thing to do, but before I continue I need to state that Dallas Green has been doing his solo project for a few years now.  Also “in” or not if an artist can pull off an amazing solo album, more power to them.

I have yet to check out the entire album called Bring Me Your Love as well as the rest of Dallas Green’s solo catalog.  Funny thing is that I have seen this CD before on the shelf but didn’t even give it a chance.  Looks like I was the one missing out.  If you like meaningful folk rock material you should check out this CD like I intend to do so…

Here is a really neat video.  Yes, I said neat.

The Girl

Times Of Yore: Heckle – Complicated Futility of Ignorance

One of my buddies sent me an email the other day asking for me to give him a name of a band that he might have overlooked in the past.  Between him and I we have always appreciated all types of good music, punk being the favored.  He was looking for something to listen to, something good and I knew the perfect band for him to check out, the problem was I could not remember the name of the band for the life of me.

Am I really getting that old that I can not remember the name of a band?  In my defense there is tons of music out there for your listening pleasure…

Well I did remember the CD had a blue cover.  That is a start.  Not a good start, but it was something.

All last night I thought good and hard what the hell this band name could be.  I kept thinking the band was called Bender or Bekker but nothing would come up when I searched online.  I eventually just gave up and went to bed.

This morning I woke up with a record label stuck in my head.  The label was aimed towards the punk rock bands and was called Hopeless Records.  One thing led to another and soon I was on the Hopeless Records website and was searching for the catalog of CDs.  I was not expecting to find anything on the site but suddenly my eyes focused on a blue covered album.  Just when I was about to give up I found what I was looking for.

So Kevin, this is the band I was trying to tell you about and if you have already heard of them you should check them out again for the sake of me stressing out trying to figure it out.

Heckle
Heckle

The band is Heckle

Heckle was a east coast hardcore/punk rock band from New Jersey formed in the mid-nineties.  The bands first release was a split release with their friend’s band called AFI.  They released their first full length under the now defunct Wingnut Records in 1996 and not even a year later were picked up by Hopeless Records and released their second and final CD called Complicated Futility of Ignorance.

The thing I loved about this band is that they sounded like all of the SoCal punk rock I was getting into at the time.  One of my friends told me to buy it randomly one day and I was glad I did.  It more more melodic punk rock over a hardcore feel and was just easy to get hooked on.  It was perfect for a guy like me who was addicted to Face To Face and Bad Religion.

I have to say I am stoked my friend asked me to find him a band to listen to otherwise I may not have found Heckle again.  They were one of those bands that disappeared unknowingly from my music collection but will once again be reunited into regular play.

I was unable to find any videos for your entertainment but if you want to hear more about this band you can check out the following links:

Heckle on Hopeless Records

Heckle on Artist Direct