Punk Rock Anthropology

cover_big — Austin Chronicle Week of February 4-10 2016

Austin is stereotypically known as the “Live Music Capital of the World”. You see it plastered all over 6th street and in ads on television. I wish it were truer. When you think about Austin’s love affair with music, it is a beautiful and poetic one. We have the days of the Armadillo World Headquarters, the golden days of blues at Antone’s, and the Austin City Limits show. The brief punk wave happened here in Austin around 1978 with such bands as The Violators, The Dicks, The Skunks, and Big Boys. Austin became an important touring stop for punk/new wave bands during this era.

Travel forward to today. It is very hard to get bands from the East and West coasts to tour in Texas due to costs. This isn’t that stop anymore. Sometimes when I see a movie at the Ritz Alamo Drafthouse, I look at the pictures of Black Flag on the wall. I think, “why can’t we have that again?” They say that desperation is the mother of invention. I believe this is why in the past few years the punk scene in Austin has truly grown. It might be due to punks that moved here from other places in our current population surge. Or maybe there might be another punk wave to about to happen.

The truth is the Austin punk community has had it rough in this town lately. Living in an Indie/EDM scene, we are still the outcasts. Which is fine, we are used to it. But what is making life difficult is the city shutting down our fine establishments for condos and big business money. Since punk is about DIY and resilience, we have decided to join forces in certain ways. There are many advocates out there that booking shows, bars letting us have a weekly spot, and friends supporting each other’s bands. Recently this state of affairs was covered in the Austin Chronicle. Thanks to the help of Tim Segall, writer and member of the band The Hormones, wrote a piece on our scene. See article below:

Austin Chronicle

I just wanted to add more bands to the list to watch. There are a ton of hard-working punks in this town. Unfortunately, print media has a maximum paper size and word count. But here are some more awesome local bands to check out:

Every so often there is a gem of punk in the sea of South by Southwest. The 23 years of the festival have been filled with music from around the world to local artists. Depending on which wave of punk we are currently on, depends on how much of the punk genre is brought in by SXSW. The past few years we have been missing the Fat Wreck Chords showcase but it looks like that hiatus might be over. NOFX has been added as an official SXSW artist. They have two dates booked for March 17th and 19th. The venues and times are TBA but the shows are really happening. It might be due to the release of the band’s memoir called “NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories”. NOFX will also be touring with other Fat Wreck band’s Night Birds and Toy Guitar. In case you miss them here in Austin, this mini-tour will also be in Houston, TX and New Orleans, LA. See articles below for more details:

https://www.punknews.org/article/59997/tours-nofx-night-birds-toyguitar-texas-louisiana

http://www.fatwreck.com/news/detail/933