LA’s Art-Punk Pioneers Who Bridged Continents and Genres In 1978, Vivabeat emerged from Los Angeles with a sound that defied easy categorization. As I spoke with Marina and Mick years later, it became clear that this was a band always slightly out of step with the local scene -- East Coast transplants mixing with an Angeleno native, chasing a vision that leaned toward art-rock and electronic experimentation even as punk and new wave roared around them. Signed to the UK label Charisma Records after a fateful encounter with Peter Gabriel, Vivabeat created music that resonated in disco clubs, the early MTV generation, and underground art-rock circles. In this interview, they reflect candidly on their formation, influences, recordings, and the unusual path that set them apart. Scene Point Blank: You formed in Los Angeles in 1978, but parts of the lineup had East Coast roots. Did you feel fully embedded in the LA scene, or slightly outside of it? Marina: Personally, as a native Angeleno, I felt deeply immersed in the LA scene. The fact that we were signed to a UK label, however, and that more than half our band members were from the East Coast made Vivabeat seem like an outsider. We had no problem booking shows, but we never had a local scene vibe. Part of it was that we were signed to a record deal with Charisma so quickly that we didn’t have time to cultivate a local following. It would have been far better to spend … Read more
There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not … Read more
50 Years of Chaos: Charlie Harper and the U.K. Subs More than five decades after the first sparks of punk … Read more
Are You In The Music Business? Or Just Involved In Music? Interview Series #2. Featuring Martin Winch of Green Noise … Read more
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS – “Brand New World”, “12 Strings and Tambourines”, “Adams Street”, “Temple of Madness” It’s rare to find these days. A band (or maybe supergroup, in this case) that defies all genre boundaries and just…creates. Alfie Agnew (Adolescents, D.I.) and Sean Elliott (D.I., Mind Over Four) are familiar names from Orange County’s early 80s hardcore and psych-punk scenes, but … Read more
If Chat Pile were a film, they would be a dark thriller. The kind that builds tension until the end and, once we reach the third act, still might not ever show the killer. It's plodding and intense and, while I just pulled out a genre reference, the best thing about the band is how much they defy conventional musical … Read more
On the tail end of Autogramm’s 2018 tour of Mexico (what little I remember of that week now is a lot of pulque and not a lot of sleep) I visited the one punk record store in CDMX that I found via googling where to buy bootleg punk t-shirts. I’d already visited Venas Rotas Discos earlier on the trip and … Read more
Six songs. That's all Karen Dió needs on this EP. Considering the title translates roughly to fleeting, brief, or transient in Portuguese, maybe that's exactly the point. Dió's second EP doesn't hang around long enough to overstay its welcome. It arrives, makes a hell of a lot of noise, throws some gigantic hooks at you, and disappears. But there's considerably … Read more
I feel like this may be the first 12", 10-song release in my collection from Real Numbers, a dreampop meets jangle-indie rock band from Minneapolis. I'm not going to fact … Read more
The one-man band of Alien Nosejob continues to crank out short, angry hardcore in quick bursts. I've lost count of how many records Jake Robertson has now released under the … Read more
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS – “Bright Eyes of Gold”, “Give Me Dirt”, “Long Tooth”, “Fools Like You” Almost exactly two years ago, on 8th August 2024, Cancer Bats played Conne Island in … Read more
When I saw The Dead Milkmen at Toronto’s Diamond Club back in the late 1980s, the floor was a volatile, beautiful mess of colliding subcultures. It was like different species … Read more
I never got very into Screeching Weasel and the extended family tree. Ignoring the politics of the matter, the music never really hit that sweet spot for me either. But … Read more
Rating: 🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🚬 / 10 (8 Tipped Martini Glasses and a Cigarette) Remember that movie Fantastic Voyage, where a miniaturized submarine gets inserted into a person's bloodstream on a mission to … Read more
There are plenty of supergroups that exist largely because of the names on the marquee. Big Circle feels different. While Glenn Mercer (The Feelies), Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE), Dave Weckerman … Read more
Sliimo returns to earth with a brand new record, a self-titled (2026) effort that expands on the band’s sludge/stoner space metal. Described as “a sci-fi space metal band from the moon of Nar Shaddaa, but way of Providence, RI,” the mission is “to show that goofy freaks have a place … Read more
Interlay, a post-hardcore band from Chicago, have set an Oct. 23 release date for their latest release and the band's third overall EP, Snow Covers Your Insides. The first track … Read more
Connecticut hardcore band Hard Feelings just shared "Lovesick," a new single from a new album: No One Is Going To Save You, out on Oct. 2 on Heroes & Martyrs … Read more
NYC noise rock band Live Skull just announced a new album, the forthcoming What Could Go Wrong?, out Nov. 13 on Bronson Recordings. Originally formed in 1982, the new album … Read more
Japanese punk band Hi-Standard will release Screaming Newborn Baby, a new 6-song EP out on Oct. 23 on Fat Wreck Chords. Following the death of drummer Akira Tsuneoka in 2023, … Read more
Post-rock band in:tides, has announced a self-titled album coming out on Nov. 20 on Ripcord Records. The Glasgow based band has released two previous EPs. Watch a video from the … Read more
Amanda Mackaye has been active in the renowned Washington DC punk/hc scene since the late 80s. Following in her older brother’s footsteps, she helped start Sammich Records which released seminal … Read more
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