Dear And The Headlights
Small Steps, Heavy Hooves
Equal Vision Records
8/10
Son of a bitch. I actually really dig a band on Equal Vision records. I have heard of these guys before, and really didn’t care to hear them, but they opened for The Color Fred and Straylight Run, and you know what? They blew them both out of the fucking water. Granted, they don’t have the uber-hot chick that Straylight has, but I’ve never seen someone actually rock the acoustic/electric mix of guitars that well before. Usually I think in a thick …

Wu Tang Clan
8 Diagrams
9/10

Its not so much that Wu Tang Clan ain’t nothing to fuck with, it’s more a question of who would want to? With sick samples of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, guest appearances by George Clinton, and a an ode to ODB that would make my head bob more if it wasn’t so fucking depressing, 8 Diagrams is pretty fucking solid. However, other than a few threatening lyrics, I don’t understand this rep they’ve developed in the Young Republican crowd that they are …

Artist: Lemuria
Album: Get Better
Label: Asian Man
Release Date: 2/26/2008
Rating: 9/10

It doesn’t get much better than Lemuria’s latest effort, the full length “Get Better.” Lemuria is kind of a hard band to classify, really. They aren’t necessarily a punk band or just a pop-rock band. They really do wind up standing on their own two legs, and they do so comfortably.
Each of the band members sings, with lead singer Sheena Ozzella handling the majority of the vocal duties. However, her voice melds so perfectly the male counter-parts (Jason Draper/bass, and Alexander Kerns/drums …

Band: Murder by Death
Album: Red of Tooth and Claw
Label: Vagrant
Release Date: March 4th, 2008.
Rating: 9.0/10

Murder by Death are band that, pardon the pun; have always marched to the beat of a different drummer. While it’s easy to pick up on a lot of their references, namely the late Johnny Cash, it’s never a hindrance as it’s only a part of the formula that makes them work.

Band: Teenage Bottlerocket
Album: Warning Device
Label: Red Scare
Release Date: January 08, 2008.
Rating: 7.0/10

MAN! It’s so awesome to hear an album chock full of Ramones b-sides I hadn’t heard before… wait, this is a completely different band from Laramie, Wyoming? I didn’t even know Laramie, Wyoming had residents under the age of 67. Regardless, the boys in Teenage Bottlerocket kick ass. Check ‘em out on their current tour, and pick up “Warning Device.”  And relieve the awesomeness of bare-bones rock and roll, with no spin kicks and symmetrical haircuts.
Aaron Hale (aaron@racketmag.com)

Artist: Broadway Calls
Album: Broadway Calls (re-release.)
Label: Adeline Records
Rating: 8/10

Broadway Calls…let’s face it, that gives the average passer-by images of spin kicks, dudes in mascara, and asymmetrical hair-cuts. I imagined whining and fourteen tracks of vaginal discharge, presented as art with substance.
Good news! It’s pop-punk! It’s really, really GOOD pop-punk! Kick ass melodies, slight cynicism outlined with self-introspection (see album closer: ‘So Long My Friend, which has an awesome fucking horn section. It’s honest, it’s catchy,  and it makes me want to believe there’s something worth believing in, in Oregon, but …

Lou Diamond Phillips is badass. He was Ritchie Valens in La Bamba, the badass student in Stand and Deliver and Jose Chavez Y fucking Chavez in Young Guns I & II. Now the dude, who is obviously not English, is swinging Excalibur as King Arthur in the stage version of Camelot. Also, he was the first actor that Racket has ever interviewed. See, we have some class. Just a little bit, though.

Racket Jonathan: How’s it going, man?
Lou Diamond Phillips: Oh, great, you know. There’s a lot of things …

Daryl Palumbo sounds like a detective show. Well, he’s obviously not. He’s the singer of the band Glassjaw, as well as the smut-rock band Head Automatica. I sat down for a bit with this guy and fired off hard-line question after hard-line question. Then I was asked a question myself. It’s always assuring when someone affirms your manhood. Check it.
Daryl: How are you doing?
Racket: Hungover as fuck. What about you?
D: Sorry to hear about that.
R: Whateves. Just a long night of hard drinking. What’s your worst drinking experience?
D: …

So, it was the last show I’d be attending for a while in my (adopted) home state of Arizona. And what a way to go out with a bang! As far as I can tell, Against Me’s front man Tom Gabel is the only victim that has been interviewed by Racket Magazine twice. This time, instead of in a noisy room or over the phone, the interview was conducted in style, as yours truly, Aaron Hale sat in the back of the tour bus. Only the finest Cognac was sipped …

Strike Anywhere’s Thomas Barnett is too damned punk rock for his own good. “Cultural violence?” “Cultural baggage?” He should right a punk rock dictionary. Nice enough fella, admitted that PETA might be a bit off their rocker, even if they mean well. Good times.
Racket Jonathan: First question, and boy, it’s a hard hitter: have you ever named your junk?
Strike Anywhere Thomas: No, I almost feel that anthromorphosising your genitals as separate from yourself is part of a cultural violence. I know it’s funny and affectionate to think about your “stuff” …

Having a song on the Snakes On A Plane soundtrack didn’t hurt Cobra Starship’s popularity. Then they played the Bamboozle Left show at Cal Poly Pomona, where RacketBoss Jonathan caught up to Gabe and felt awkward as the singer talked about his wang. Let’s revisit this, shall we?
Cobra Starship Gabe: Do you come here often?
Racket Jonathan: Cal Poly? I go to school here, so yea. What’s your favorite scooby-snack?
CSG: Whoa, let me …

Kinksi is one of those bands that on paper seem easier to just reject out of hand instead of giving them a fair shake. Fer chrissakes, they list German films as an inspiration on their label-run website. When I sat down to listen to their records, I was expecting some Krautrock nonsense where everyone has a hard-on for Sonic Youth and gratuitous effects pedals. What I found in their older work was a garbled mess that seemed to be done more for the whims of the musicians involved than any …

Madness. Muthafuckin’ Madness. As I sit down to prepare my interview questions, a couple things go through my mind: who the hell am I to interview Madness, and what the crap do you ask one of the coolest bands on the planet? Well, I think I did alright as I fired away at Chas, co-singer to the awesome UK ska band Madness. What do you think?
RACKET: Hey there!
CHAS: How are you doing, man?
RACKET: Fantastic, and yourself?
CHAS: Doing pretty good.
RACKET: Awesome. Well, I’m going to jump right in here.
CHAS: You jump …

I called Poison the Well’s Tour manager and met up with him in front of the venue, he grabs the nearest member which happens to be Ryan. Ryan’s pretty chill. We walk to the end of the sidewalk where it’s quiet and no one is near. He then sees an abandoned record shop that were standing in front of and starts talking about all the shit he wants in there. He then warns me about his ADD. The interview was fun nonetheless.
…

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus sing songs about beating bitches and slapping hoes. Or whatever, I don’t know, I was listening to my friend bitch about how they have nicer hair than her. Prissy bitches. At least they’re funny.
RacketJon: You ready?
RJA: Yes sir.
RacketJon: Alright. First question, the one that everyone asked me to ask, is, uh, who in the band beats women so bad that you had to write a song about it to publicly shame them?
RJA: Actually, we all prefer to beat …

R: It’s been since 2002 since you released “Cheer Up”, and you are guys are back with “We’re Not Happy ‘Til You’re Not Happy’”. Since the last record, what would you say in what ways you have grown as a musician?
AB: Um… I don’t know, I think I have figured out what works and what doesn’t, and what sounds good to the human ear. And I kind of figured out what I do best now, because we were kind of searching on “Cheer Up” and …