NOFX - Live in Japan

Here is a video i found on http://video.google.com. It is of one of my favourite bands, NOFX.














This video is of one of their concerts in Japan, of all places. I think that its great to see that the branches of Punk Rock have reached out to the furthest corners of the world.

Case Study - Useless I.D. =זיהוי חסר תועלת

For my blog, I wanted to highlight a very geographical band, so I have decided to choose Useless I.D.
They are a four piece hardcore punk band, formed in Haifa, Israel (no joke) in 1994. In the band there is:

Yotam Ben-Horin - Vocals
Ishay Berger - Guitar
Guy Carmel - Guitar
Yonatan Harpak - Drums

When they first started out, they were at the forefront of the Israeli Hardcore Punk scene. They released two albums under their independent record label 'Falafel Records'. They toured North America, Europe and Japan. They got their breakthrough though in 1999, when they recorded a split album with The Ataris for Kung Fu Records. Their song 'Too Bad You Don't Get It' was featured on Fat Wreck Chords (owned by NoFx's Fat Mike) compilation: Short Music for Short People. their song 'State of Fear' was featured alongside Green Day and Foo Fighters on Rock Against Bush, Vol 2.

The band has become truly worldwide, playing tours in the UK, where they played on Trafalgar Square, Japan and China.
On October 18 2008, the band returned to Israel for a special release of their new album 'The Lost Broken Bones'.

Discography

1997 - Dead's Not Punk (Falafel Records/Yo-Yo Records)
1999 - Get in the Pita Bread Pit (Falafel Records)
2001 - Bad Story, Happy Ending (Kung Fu Records)
2003 - No Vacation From The World (Kung Fu Records)
2005 - Redemption (Kung Fu Records)
2008 - The Lost Broken Bones (Suburban Home Records)

Useless I.D. - Blood Pressure

My Favourite Punk Rock Bands

There are loads of bands that i like, spreading across lots and lots of countries.
Here are a few, and with them, where they came from:

20 Bulls Each - Dublin, Ireland
Anti-Flag - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Billy Talent - Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Blood or Whiskey - Leixlip, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland
Blink 182 - Poway, California, USA
Bodyjar - Melbourne, Australia
The Clash - Notting Hill, London, England
Dead Kennedys - San Francisco, California, USA
The Demise - Limerick City, Ireland
Descendents - Manhattan Beach, California, USA
Die Toten Hosen - Düsseldorf, Germany
Dropkick Murphys - Quincy, Massachusetts, USA
Flogging Molly - Los Angeles, California, USA
Fuzigish - Johannesburg, South Africa
Gob - Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Goldfinger - Los Angeles, California, USA
Leftöver Crack - New York City, New York, USA
Lars Frederiksen and the B******* - Campbell, California, USA
Less Than Jake - Gainesville, Florida, USA
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - California, USA
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Mustard Plug - Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Nofx - Los Angeles, California, USA
The Offspring - Garden Grove, California, USA
Propagandhi - Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada
Rancid - Albany, California, USA
Rise Against - Chicago, Illinois, USA
Stiff Little Fingers - Belfast, Northern Ireland
The Unseen - Hingham, Massachusetts, USA
Useless I.D - Haifa, Israel
Zebrahead - La Habra, California, USA

As you can see, Punk Rock has spread over lots and lots of countries. But they all have one thing in common: they all believe in the same principles as the founding fathers of Punk, and want to keep it going for as long as possible.

Punk Fashion

As well as the music itself, the fashion of the Punk Rockers is key to the genres overall image. This fashion includes the styles of clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry, and body modifications. Punks use their clothing as a way of expressing themselves and making a statement. A typical outfit for Punks in the Early stages would have been: Purposely offensive t-shirts (inverted crucifixes, Nazi swastikas), leather rocker jackets were and are a fixture of Punk fashion.
Footwear included Doc Martens, motorcycle boots and Chuck Taylor All-Stars. Tapered jeans, tight leather pants and pants with leopard patterns were all common choices. The hairstyles were the most impressive and distinguishing feature of a Punk: hair was often dyed bright, unnatural colours. And that isn't the worst hairstyle: Liberty Spikes and Mohawks were extremely popular.



Nowadays, there are many new sub-genres of Punk Rock, and with them they bring a whole new sense of fashion to the genre. For example:

Skate punk: Clothes-open plaid button-down shirts, wristbands, webbed belts, T-shirts, baggy shorts or jeans, and hooded sweatshirts with patches or spraypainted graphics

Brands- Baker, Emerica, Fallen, Spitfire Wheels, Toy Machine, Black Label, Vans, Globe International and Zero.

Completely different from Punk in the 70s, but Punk nonetheless

In The Beginning...

This genre began between 1974 and 1976 in The UK, USA and Australia. They used the basic instruments: guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals but made them their own style. Punk rock bands featured fast hard-edged music, stripped down instruments, and political and anti-establishment lyrics.
Many bands create there own record labels, and produce there own songs, a kind of D.I.Y way of thinking. the ambassadors for this new musical revolution were The Clash, The Ramones and the Sex Pistols.
There are lots and lots of sub-genres, branching out from punk rock (many of which i have never heard of): Anarcho punk, Art punk, Christian punk, Crust punk, Garage punk, Gothic rock, Glam punk, Hardcore, Horror punk, Nazi punk, Oi!, Riot Grrrl and Skate punk.
By the 80's, pop punk became very popular, with bands like Green Day and The Offspring leading the way in the mainstream, and making the genre widespread.

The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated

Introduction

This blog is part of my Environmental Studies project in school.

I will take you through the history and geography of one of my favourite music genres: Punk Rock.

So if you happen to come across this blog, please do read it. You never know, it might come in handy someday. I will update it regularly, so enjoy! :)

All pictures from - http://images.google.com/

All videos from - http://www.youtube.com

All information from - http://www.wikipedia.org

Sam