Bonnie dune

Bonnie dune is everything you love about southern California. Dreamy pop tunes about the ocean, love, and summer fun. Bonnie dune may seem like an off kilter super group, given that three of the members are all involved in the entertainment business in some way (lead singer Justin Wilczinski is an actor/model, Seth Roberts has seen his fair share of the stage with his bands watashi wa and lakes and on tour with MXPX, and then there is the drummer; some guy from a show called Glee.). But there is a lot more to this band than just fame and stardom. These boys actually know how to write a good pop song. The band's sound floats in and out of pumping dance numbers like the rocking Endless Summer or soaring number Sea Sick and the hushed beauty of songs like Haunting or Better View. The boys in Bonnie dune are currently working on a debut album and the mass army of Bonnie Dune fans wait anxiously. In theory it would Make complete sense that a band, who's major pull is the fame of their drummer would in all actuality be over rated if not down right awful, but thanks to years and years of songwriting and waiting between Roberts and Wylczinski this band is not just tolerable but quit good. So if you have not checked out this pop thunderstorm then you should. Head on over to Facebook.com/Bonniedune to check out some tunes and get the latest info and keep following us here at the Independent... For more up and coming music.

The Traveling Man

Last time we heard from Luke messimer, the singer songwriter had just broken up his southern California pop rock band Mississippi Man and had begun working on an untitled solo project. Weeks after talking to me, Luke changed directions, the solo project was put on hold and Luke threaded north. "A strong need to get out of all that smog." Luke told me when I emailed him last year about his change. Years before a close friend of his, Josiah Johnson had done the same and had done quite well starting a little band called The Head and The Heart and So Luke did the same, packed up and left for the great Northwest and Seattle's legendary music scene.
Within weeks of arriving Luke began to get sucked up into the musical land scape and quickly began playing a variety of instruments with just as much a variety of Artists. But still Luke wanted to play his songs, his way.
So Months after leaving southern. California Luke returned, as part of the Bryan John Appleby band, the newest singer songwriter to emerge from the great northwest. Upon arriving in LA they met up with the head and the heart, also on tour and spent some
Time together. " they told me that thy
Missed my solo stuff and wished I was still making my own stuff. I took that to heart.".
Luke has yet to return to Seattle since leaving that tour. Being Leon Russell to appleby's Joe Cocker, however great that would have been, was not what Luke had in mind.
For years Luke has used his family's cabin in Northern Arizona as an escape, a place to go and write and rethink things. So as he had done before he settled down in Williams a town his family has been a part of for 90 years and started to do what he loves and what he has wanted to for quite some time, record that solo album.
With a lot arcade fire, M83 and Simon and Garfunkle on the radio. Luke got to work crafting a highly textured sound that floats in and out of arcade fire grandiose and Elliot smith like emotion.
Northern Youth is what Luke is calling this project, and it's his reflections on what he learned in the place he now calls home, Seattle that inspired the name. Reminiscent of the opening scene of Portlandia Luke says "The idea of being an office-job adult doesn't exist there. In Seattle people are doing what they love and being young." Northern youth.
Luke says that no matter where it is he is playing music Seattle will forever be his home. He likes to quote his friends in the head and the heart when dealing with this "your already home where you feel loved."he says. So no matter where it is he travels and no matter who he is playing with Luke messimer knows that he loves the northwest and he loves music. So the traveling man will always have a home.
Northern Youth have a double single out currently that you can find by going to Facebook.com/youthmusicband.
Northen youth plan to release a full ep by around may and a full length after that.

A drop of hope

On wednesday I saw something beautiful, people coming cingular and together to help. Drop in a bucket is an organization that brings hope to people across Sudan and Uganda. In the words of Henry Rollins, the nights host "hope of life." water for the thirsty, drop in the bucket's main goal is wells. In a region where water is scarce the walk to find streams, rivers, or lakes can take hours or days. The problem is one that has recently become more of a trend and has been picking up steam in the quest to help with hundreds of new groups taking up the mission, but before it was popular Henry Rollins was interested, and when John and Stacy Travis first began drop in the bucket he was a fan. On wends day He hosted the biggest fundraiser the originization has ever held. With an
evening of wonderful music and great personality 1500 people came together to help find a way.
The evening began with a small set from boots electric, the dance friendly rock and roll group blew the night open and the night just kept going from there. Mile watt of the legendary minutemen and stooges was joined by punk rock goddess Kira rosseler, to perform as the free jazz experiment known as DOS. Dj craddy and slayer drummer Dave lomordo battled out and finally Corey Taylor of slipknot was joined by Lomordo and a slew of metal gods, Scott Ian of Anthrax, john five of rob Ron zombi , and last but not least Dave Naverro of Janes addiction. Dubbed as Corey Taylor and Friends the group spent the evening covering songs from sabbath and ozzy to the foo fighters. The evening was not only a great night of music but an inspiration. Change is possible and I believe I have seen it. A drop in the bucket, check it out.

The revolution of Gil Scott-Heron

"The Revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.the revolution will be live"



with those words Gil Scot-Heron entered the American Lexicon.
There is not much to say about the man that has not been said
before so I would like to just keep it simple in remembering Gil
Scot-Heron.  As a Poet His words spoke true to what he knew and
the pain that millions of Americans were dealing with.  poverty
and the hard life of New york city and others like it.  as a musician
his regard for a groove was perfect.  as a revolutionary there will
never be another quite the same. and as a symbol and cultural
figure, he has changed the face of music forever, from R and B, jazz,
and blues, even rock and roll all the way to Hip Hop you will find
his influence.  Gil Scot- heron.  names such as 
"the godfather of rap" and "the black Bob Dylan"
were thrown on him  but he was more than any thing himself,
a wondering poet of pain and truth.  

Keith Morris is ready to Blast OFF!

"an astronaut once was overheard at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral telling another astronaut ""I'M READY TO BLAST OFF!""." Thats how Keith Morris and his new Hard Core punk super group, OFF! is feeling these days. Keith Morris may be more well known as the Singer of Punk legendary bands black Flag and the Circle Jerks, but what hes most pumped about is his new band OFF!, formed by Morris with Demetri Coats (Burning Bridges), Steven McDonald (REDD KROSS) and Mario Rubalcaba (ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT and EARTHLESS). OFF! is simply a punk band that wants to play fast, hard, and angry songs... What could really be more punk than that.
"OFF! is about Being the life of the party! Being the angry, aggressive, volatile, handsome, well coiffed, in love with the world, uptight, loud and fun loving Boy band/group of nuts that we are!" and thats exactly what the band is. A fun loving but angry and volatile band that could care less what it is that you think of them or anything for that matter.
"playing in the Circle Jerks makes great money playing live and I could pay my bills" Morris say's but its the unending pursuit of music that led him to start a new band. "things are happening in OFF! that would've never happened for the Circle Jerks." the singer says. if you don't believe him listen to the band your self, and you'll understand what hes saying.
As far as Morriss is concerned, the music he plays is not so much punk as it is honest. " Before i'm any label, catagory or whatever anybody sez or thinks I belong to a gang called the HUMAN RACE!" the singer say, " I don't consider myself a punk or hardcore Founding father." he only thinks of himself, as an angry man, who cares too much to shut up.
OFF!'s first album, a collection of four EPs has appropriately been titles "First Four EPs" with original artwork by Raymond Pettibon and was originally released this last month on vinyl by Vice Records and a limited run of cassette releases by Burger Records., but as of February 15th will be available available on CD through Vice. go pick a copy up and treat your self to some real, honest music. a change of pace from the everyday sound on the radio.

Holding Onto Hope's Hopefull rise

Last year, holding onto hope were coming off of a huge tour of Europe, they had 50,000 plus fans on myspace, and were getting their name put on numerous "up and coming" lists when they found out that they were with out a singer. Former front man Corey O'keefe was leaving to do other things and the sudden news of this left the rest the band to fend for them selves, find their own way.
That way would lead them to a new singer, a new sound, and a revolutionized spirit and purpose. "we scream because we have to and it comes out with a heavy feeling rather than an angry beatdown" guitarist Matt Black explains when I talked to him this last week. Black maybe more than any of member wishes to not be compared to other hard core acts and dreams of a day when his band sounds nothing like anything else.
"my influence comes from the bands i listened to early on such as The Get Up Kids, 238, Pedro the Lion, Thursday, Saves the Day and Sunny Day Real Estate. bands like that." Not much a hard core enthusiast himself, his attraction to pop hooks and smooth and flowing leads is part of what sets the band apart from the rest of modern day hard core scene.
this last month, the band entered the studio with engineer and producer Jeff shneewies(Number One Gun) in Chico California to work on their next album. the album was recorded over three weeks and was fully funded by fan donations via kickstarter.com. "we had a nice relaxed attitude and things just flowed." Black said of the process. if everything goes accordingly this album should be a huge step forward not just for the band but hopefully for hard core music. "musically i think we differ because of our diverse individual musical backgrounds. we've all played a number of different styles ranging from thrash to country to indie pop." With this in mind, look forward to a great, ear opening sound from the California natives. The album drops later this year, so keep your ear to the ground and hear the rumbling, cause the stampede is on it's way.

One More Cup of Coffee by the white stripes

So the Votes are in, The White Stripes cover Bob Dylan the best. at least thats what you guys are telling me according to last months poll. keep an eye open for a new poll, coming this week. this is a video I saw that some one had made of the winning song and I just had to share it.

Best Commercial ever...

This is just one of those things you have to share with the everyone you know. Ryan Adams and Willie Nelson.

coming soon to a stereo near you...

Luke Messimer to record solo album

Luke Messimer likes music, that's one thing you need to know about the singer/songwriter before anything else, he likes his music. The man has been a fan since he was born and it was a first listen to the blue album by Weezer that hooked him on songwriting and years later it was Luke's love of the White Stripes that would cause him to fall in love with the guitar. And when you hear Luke talk about music, you can tell he cares.
Asking about the state of modern music, where it's going, where it's been, and what is right and wrong with it Luke emediatly knows his answer, cause these are the things that keep him up at night.
"I honestly think music is getting better lately. Maybe not mainstream music. Maybe not what you hear on the radio, but there are some absolutely incredible new bands out there today." Bands like the Band Luke Messimer has been threatening to put together for three years now. Before he joined his last band, Mississippi Man, Luke was at an in between stage, having just broke up The American Gypsy's. His first reaction was to put together a folk rock group that would be more suited to play the songs he heard in his head. Big drums, big harmonies, something different. Instead he joined Mississippi Man and for the last three years it was working. but There was always that sound.
So, about a year ago Luke started Writing and recording demo's of songs that were in no way Mississippi Man songs. the result was originally going to be simply a recording project on the side, but when Mississippi Man decided to part ways Luke knew immediately what was happening next for him.
Luke's plan is it record an album of songs that sound like nothing else. I've heard him compare it to the Gorillaz playing really big versions of Bob Dylan songs, and when asked what the future of music is and who's doing it right Luke always points to "The Arcade Fire", Modern music is a good thing in Luke's eye's "It seems that we're no longer repeating the past. A lot of musicians have finally figured out what music from the "two-thousands" really is." and Luke is one of them.
Luke hits the studio this month, with 12 songs in tow. Plan's are to record a 6 song EP, with Luke playing all the instruments him self, then move to Seattle, put together a backing band and fully integrating him self into the rich musical history of the great north west. Good luck Luke, can't wait to hear the album.

Head on over to http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/lukemessimermusic to check out more.
Photo by Benjamin Walter Milczewsky

is there stilll a blank generation

In 1977 a movement was unleashed on the world and it was called punk. The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones, and a slew of other like minded rebel rockers came out swinging at the cultural norm. capturing the hearts and minds of a generation of misfits, vagrants, and street kids. Taking their ambitious new sound, that was at once a beautifully stripped sound and a destructive ideology of anarchy and chaos, to the masses the youth of the the late 70's found themselves with a new anthem and the anthem was Anarchy. Songs like "Anarchy in the UK" by Sex Pistols, "Rise Above" by Black Flag, and "Blank Generation" By Richard Hell spoke to absence of identity that was that of punk rock. Like that of Beatniks and the Hippies before, punk came at a time when movement was needed, when art needed to say something, the stale air of humanity needs a good wind to come through and kick up the dust every now and then and punk did just that, in a big way. Reassessing what fashion, philosophy, religion, and even music were. Bands like the Ramones took to it by playing simple accessible bubblegum pop but singing about anything but bubblegum, Communism, death, drugs, anthing went. The Clash, brought to the table their reggae infused brand highly political protest, and artists like Ian Durry sounded almost more like the offspring of Frank Zappa than they did Iggy Pop or the MC5. But it was all punk, it was all new and fresh, and none of them cared about your opinion of them. But like most good things, the system, that is the modern organization and assembly line has its own way of dealing with the rise of individualism. Whether its turning the beat generation's disgust with conformity and love of freedom of speech into a fad bongo drums and black turtle necks or just dumming down society, it ruins everything it touches, and thus the legacy of punk would eventually do the same.
After the initial release of punk on the world, punk would go back under ground, in the 80's punk got harder and harder, starting with bands like Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, and the Dead Kennedys. The Harder it got the further it seemed to stray from the original mainstream boom that had happened in the late 70's. Things got serious. Issues were being talked about, Politics, race, religion, these things were happening and punk didn't take any of it lightly. Punk was getting real.
And out of this realism punk's started listening to other real music, things like Bob Dylan, the Beatles, even Jazz, they started reading books, they started to care about what it was they werer singing about and out of this new education punk began to see a change, bands like social distortion started to sound more folky, X started play country songs sped up by a billion, Henry Rollins and Black Flag started doing spoken word and punk began to get artsy again. All of a sudden punk was back to a loose definition, was punk a sound, a look, or was punk simply an evolution of free thought, the child of Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsburg, and Lou Reed.
Coming into the 90's with out a strict definition of punk, save for the fact that punk was a rebellion. bands like nirvana, who were labeled grunge but came out of the same punk clubs as the Melvins, and Mudhoney led the way for a second and bigger coming punk in the mainstream. Greenday, the Offspring, and Bad Religion, all bands that had once been the pride and joy of their own local, dirty, punk clubs began to explode with a sound that, similar to that of the ramones and the buzzcocks, was at once catchy and incredibly hard to resist. the sound was infectious. the care free attitude, the dingy clothes and hair, and the complete recklessness was the perfect example of how punk could work in the mainstream.
but with the success of these bands, came an onslaught of copy cat, fakes with no identity in the punk rock heritage. knowing only what MTV told them was punk, Hot Topic and other like minded stores and media fixations would give way to the rise to the sub cultures of Emo and Pop Punk. wearing pre ripped jeans and make up to appear deathly and street tough, these "Fakes" or "Posers" would eventually lead to what some have called the finally death of punk, a sad, slow and disgusting fade into oblivian.
Or has it been... in 1998 swedish hard core group The Refused released their final album, the prophetic "Shape of Punk to Come" the albums sound was a new blast of energy and its title brought to mind the idea that punk was a constantly changing form, much like jazz that's only roots were that of individualism and honesty. following the release of the album he band would break up but the album has gone on to be called "One of the best examples of rebirth." by one rock critic. Bands that had at one time been more of the sound of "Emo" or "Pop Punk" like My Chemical Romance have recently shown a dynamic change as well, shifting away from the weak and angsty sound of their past towards more stripped and bare, dare I say Iggy Pop sound and other bands who it seemed found too much of their own identity in terms like "Anarchy" and "Chaos" like against me have found away to traverse the ledge between traditional rock n roll and modern punk and then their are the artists, the unique and new blend of world punk, Gogol Bordello and Flogging Molly leading the charge. the sound of modern punk is new, just as The Ramones sounded vastly different from their proto punk for fathers, and the hard core punk of the 80's fled the poppy undertones that had been heard before, the modern punk must find his own way. And perhaps that way will come with a change in names, much like punk becoming grunge or hard core. The Idea and feel of punk can and will never die, cause if you think you've seen the death of it, it wasn't really punk to begin with. so is there still a Blank Generation as Richard Hell described it, who's to say. Blank is blank, unobservable and with out shape, impossible to define and endlessly moving in and out of genres and contexts. Blank.... is blank.... is....