Strawberry Fuzz – Dropout
Similar artists: FIDLAR, Black Flag, The Germs, White Reaper, Black Lips, Skeggs, Viagra Boys, The Chats, Broncho
Genre: Punk, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
If you’re an artist, at worst, most extreme behavior, you probably imagine somebody one day making a movie about your exploits. But unless you’re planning on also robbing a bank, that’s very unlikely.
Moreover, whatever your twisted thoughts might be at the moment, you’re likely going to forget them unless you document them. I know. And in those moments, few folks think about pushing “record.”
Boredom, a bad school system, and chemical refreshments have done more for rock n’ roll than just about anything else. For one thing, it’s pushed into a world where making tunes, eventually, seemed like the only reasonable solution to their life.
Strawberry Fuzz’s Dropout captures the desperate energy about being ready to do virtually anything in order to catch a buzz. I know. It’s about as honest and direct as it gets, but that’s the only apt strategy to take when telling these kinds of stories. It’s punk rock about living for the weekend and not being able to see anything beyond it.
Sik Sik Sicks – Lie In It
Similar artists: Destroy boys, bikini kill, the frights, together pangea, black flag, hole, Lunachicks, the regrettes
Genre: Punk, Post-Punk, Pop Punk
The youngest music fans live and die by the style and genre that they embrace like soldiers defending a flag. Their struggle is not just one meant to protect the integrity of their favorite music. Really, they are all fighting to shelter their own identities.
It takes a whole lot of work to become this way. It’s a full-time job. Just like volunteers working in homeless shelters and trying to get somebody elected for office, these people become their work.
It’s understandable then, that these folks would be suspicious of anyone else looking to join their scene. This is only amplified if the people hoping to be accepted are not prepared to put in the same effort.
It may all sound like a trifle, but it’s a thing of massive importance at one stage in your life. Trust me, I know. Sik Sik Sicks’s teenage pop-punk of Lie In It is an acerbic, spiteful anthem against poseurs and wannabes. It’s hooky and a bit overdramatic, but how could these things not seem a tragedy at this stage in the band members’ lives?
