The infrequently-updated site blog, featuring a range of content including show reviews, musical musings and off-color ramblings on other varied topics.
Since beginning the tour for their latest album In Times New Roman back in June,Queens of the Stone Age have been firing on all cylinders - leaving a path of happy destruction in their wake across Europe and the United States. On December 12, the band brought their show to the multitudes of Albuquerque, NM, who were more than ready to receive their offering.
Opening the show with Regular John, vocalist/guitarist Josh Homme led the band through a high-energy set of both new and old favorites like No One Knows, If I Had a Tail and Made to Parade. In the middle of the show, Josh took a sign request from a fan for Misfit Love, an always welcome addition. Josh quipped about also being from a desert town and how, like Albuquerque, “you can call it a city, but it’s not really a city.” There’s a lightness to Homme this time around that was less evident a few years ago on the Villains tour. His trials and tribulations making it to the new album are well recorded, but the old adage What doesn’t kill you make you stronger” would seem to be in full effect and he wears those battle scars well.
QOTSA have gone through many member changes over the years, but when you see them live on this, The End Is Nero tour, it’s easy to see why this is the longest held lineup in the band’s history. Troy Van Leeuwen and Dean Fertita continue their stellar guitar work (as well as Fertita’s keyboard work). Michael Shuman on bass and Jon Theodore’s drumming, provide a drive of surgical precision and are quite simply the best rhythm section in rock. The Queens of the Stone Age juggernaut will be cutting a wide swath across Japan and Europe in the new year and show no signs of stopping. Catch this tour.
This is by no means a comprehensive list. It is largely compiled from News items, Wikipedia lists and Social Media Posts. Please note some of the additions are songwriters or composers of the songs. R.I.P
Every day is an information overload. The web has a lot of great things, but sometimes it feels like too much too.
Politics, news, rumors...it's a lot to take in. But too much music? C'mon. That isn't a real thing.
SPB has a lot of different pieces. Our focus is our written word, but sometimes it's you just want to share the music. And as somebody who won't let the mixtape die, that means you get another playlist of stuff I've found through my SPB work.
In late November, Scene Point Blank received an unsolicited pitch about a fan-made music video to the song "Shorty's Ark" from Matthew Sweeney & Bonnie "Prince" Billy. The creator had contacted the band and received positive feedback, and as music fans who put our own spin on our favorite works, we were intrigued about the story behind the video. Plus, I had a bunch of M.U.S.C.L.E. men too.
A guest blog by Andy Rothwell.
On Oct. 23, 2023 I put this fan-made video up on youtube:
That project started the first week of May 2021. I was visiting my parents and clearing out the closet of my childhood bedroom, where I found the ~100 M.U.S.C.L.E. men and the broken wrestling ring I’d owned as a kid.
If you don’t know them, those toys were big in Japan in the early ‘80s, and then big in the States in 1985-86 where they were called M.U.S.C.L.E. – standing for “Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere.”
Superwolves by Matt Sweeney and Bonnie “Prince” Billy had come out the week before my visit, and I had it on all week. It’s one of those albums I like every song on. At the end of 2021, when Spotify told me my top 10 songs, 9 of them were the first 9 songs on Superwolves.
Around the 15th time “Shorty’s Ark” came on, the idea for the video started to take form. A decade ago I made a handful of fan-made videos for songs by Robert Pollard, Woods, Tom Petty, and others. It had been about 5 years since I’d started a really complicated one for a Kurt Vile song, stalled in the middle, and never made another.
That night I made a spreadsheet with every animal in the song, and scoured http://blog.uofmuscle.com/ and ebay, buying vintage M.U.S.C.L.E. men that I’d never owned as a kid.
The next morning I had my first moment of regret, wondering if I should really take on a music video for no reason, or just have stuck with the plan of getting rid of my old stuff.
Over the first half of summer 2021, the project moved. In the early mornings before work I invented the lego stadium with the gears, axels, and cams that makes the M.U.S.C.L.E. men look like they are jumping and cheering.
The M.U.S.C.L.E. Hard Knockin’ Rockin’ ring was always a pretty bad toy. You were tempted to squeeze into the plastic hook the fattest M.U.S.C.L.E. man you could, so it wouldn’t get dislodged in the fight. Everyone broke the plastic within a few weeks. I redrew the hook in 3D, adding 9 hook sizes for using the different sized figures, and 3D printed the replacement sets.
Later in the summer, however, I switched focus. In late 2020 I’d gotten into drawing and heat-pressing parody movie posters onto mugs. It was my first hobby I could at least try to break even on; I’d opened an Etsy shop with 5 mugs in early 2021. I’d planned to add a mug every few weeks and now it had been months since I’d drawn anything.
All of the M.U.S.C.L.E. men and panels of the lego stadium went into a plastic bin in my basement, and I went back to drawing mugs and filling out the store.
A couple times in 2022 I thought about reviving the video project, but each time realized how far there was to go and dropped it again. I had other interests. I got into sign-making with my CNC, and made stuff with my niece’s quotes and nephew’s video game progress.
Finally in the summer of 2023 I picked the video back up. It was hard to get going through the repetitive stuff. I spent a Saturday taking pictures and photoshopping the M.U.S.C.L.E men. A Sunday overlapping the letters in animal names with the periods between each letter, to mimic the M.U.S.C.L.E. branding. Another Saturday printing and gluing the paper animal names to the walls of a labyrinth I'd previously made.
But the good thing about picking up an old project is some of it is already done, and you have more skills and tools than the last time you worked on it.
Making the video title board was easy with my recent sign-making experience. I got all the props ready for a shoot in my tiny Philadelphia backyard exactly when my wife’s garden looked perfect. Weekends in a row it rained, but the shoot with my niece and nephew landed on a perfect fall Sunday.
Now the video is up and I'm finally getting rid of all the stuff. Another Saturday went to dismantling 3 panels of the lego stadium; I kept 1 panel so the design isn't lost.
I accumulated a couple of extra wrestling rings off ebay for helping with some shot angles. I 3D printed sets of hooks to go with each one, and put the sets up in my Etsy store.
Now I’m thinking about getting all of the complicated props ready for shooting that old Kurt Vile video idea next summer. Easier to pick back up since I still have paintings in my basement that my wife and I did in 2015.
Running May 24-27 in Minneapolis, this year's lineup at Caterwaul features a ton of heavy hitters. We've posted about the event previously and you can find those links on the site easily enough. Or simply visit the Caterwaul website and buy some tickets.
But first, check out this 10-track sampler …
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Sacramento sister duo, Dog Party, have released the video for their second single "Last Nite". The single is from their upcoming seventh studio album, Dangerous, which is due for release on May 17th via Sneak Dog Records.
The rock n roll outfit have dubbed their upcoming album a "love letter to Joey Ramone" …
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For the first time, Cave In will tour both Australia and New Zealand this June, the first visit from the long-running band. The tour includes headlining dates, plus more stops in support of The Ocean.
The band last released Heavy Pendulum in 2022 (Relapse).
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CAVE IN
IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW …
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Merge Records will soon reissue The Mountain Goats' The Coroner's Gambit on LP, cd, and cassette. First released in 2000 the album is long out of print, now returning with new liner noted and limited release in the varied formats.
John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats states:
There are few records in …
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Doom metal band Amarok is back with Resilience, the group's second LP. Watch a teaser about the new record below, which releases on June 28 via their own Vulture Print (US) and Vendetta Records (EU).
It also includes guest appearances from members of Neurosis, Mizmor, and more, mixing funeral doom …
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High octane noise rock band Melt Banana has announced upcoming tours of the US and UK this year, followed by the release of the band's eighth studio album, 3 + 5, out on August 23.
Get the specific dates below.
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U.S. tour
May 21 - Goldfield Trading …
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Gregg Turner, known for his work with punk band Angry Samoans, will be touring the Pacific Northwest in late May/Early June. Some dates feature Turner solo while others showcase his current project, The Gregg Turner Group.
The Gregg Turner Group has Turner on guitar/vocals), plus Sarah Meadows (bass/harmony vocals), David …
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Post-rock brotherly duo Oh Hiroshima, featuring Jakob Hemström (guitar/vocals) and Oskar Hemström (drums), has shared "Secret Youth," which will feature on the band's upcoming fifth full-length, All Things Shining. The album comes out on June 28 on Pelagic Records.
"With a more traditional song structure and a more vocal-centric approach than most of …
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Superchunk has set a run of tour dates to mark the 30th anniversary of the band's Foolish. On the tour, the band's set list will feature deep cuts from the 1994 LP.
Via press release, Mac McCaughan says:
We’re excited to play a bunch of songs from Foolish (and as …
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Boris has scheduled a North American tour, kicking off in San Diego, CA on Sept. 25 and running into early November. The tour will showcase the band's first album, Amplifier Worship, played in full with two drummers, plus Starcrawler in support.
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Boris, Amplifier Worship Service tour dates:
September 25 …
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Last year Skating Polly released the double LP Chaos County Line (El Camino Media), which SPB discussed with the group here.
Fast forwarding back to the present, the band is ready to hit the road on a North American tour, continuing their support of the record. Check out the dates …
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German Punk/hardcore gang AXIDS drop video for new high energy, punk rock meets the wizarding world, play on words track "Axidpelliarmus". Shot in their familiar DIY style in a basement/studio space. It's not overly complicated but playful, much like the band themselves. Comments from the band regarding "Axidpelliarmus" say "this is …
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Bad Moves recently shared the new song "Let the Rats Inherit the Earth," a new not so uplifting song from the Washington, DC, based band that last released Untenable in 2020. A new full-length is expected later this year on Don Giovanni Records, including the new track.
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Let The …
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Currently on tour with Oso (we just saw them in Minneapolis), Spanish Love Songs has shared an acoustic version "Haunted," off the band's 2023 album No Joy.
"Every time we decide to rework a song for an “acoustic” version, it inevitably starts with stripping everything back to how the song …
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Longtime member of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Joe Gittleman has announced a new solo record on its way, sharing the single "Plastered in the Rafters" this past week.
Since the end of the Bosstones, Gittleman has released songs on a split with Bad Operation, released an EP with a group …
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Meet The Familyhood Nextperience, a group of veteran musicians formed by Fishbone founding member Norwood Fisher, playing a soulful blend of reggae, rock, ska, and more with contributions from members/ex members of The Skeletones, Social Distortion, The English Beat, Suicidal Tendencies, and Trulio Disgracias. The band shares "To The Hilt" now, …
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Melodic Punk band, Back Teeth, have just released their debut self-titled EP. You can stream it NOW! Vinyl is available through Sell The Heart Records and Little Rocket Records.
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GEL will release their new EP, Persona, via Blue Grape Music on August 16th. You can check out their new track, "Mirage" below:
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GEL has a Summer full of shows and fest appearances lined around the world. Check the dates below:
Gel Tour Dates:
4/27 – Las Vegas, …
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Perennial will release their new album, Art History, on June 7th via Ernest Jennings Record Co. and Safe Suburban Home. Check out the new single, "Action Painting" below:
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Perennial Tour Dates:
5/3 - Brooklyn NY, The Unruly Collective with Late Slip, Audrey Heartburn
5/4 - Wilmington DE, Arden …
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Bad Breeding continues with the bangers, announcing their upcoming fifth album, Contempt, coming out in June on One Little Independent Records (UK) and Iron Lung Records (USA). The new album's packaging will zines discussion journalist Aidan Frere-Smith and the homelessness crisis.
Here's the first single, "Liberty," below. The album comes out on …
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