WWCJD?

What Would CJ Do? That is the question I often ask myself...and here's a wee little interview with my favourite vegan punkrock dreamboat from 4ZZZ FM (Brisbane's community radio station) to find out. And of course to tell us about the CD compilation of punk bands he is helping to put together as a benefit for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Kylie: CJ could you tell us a little bit yourself and your involvement with 4ZZZ. Also can you give us a run-down on the Sea Shepherd punkrock benefit compilation CD you're involved with...how did this project come to be?

CJ: I have been involved at 4ZZZ for a while. I rule Saturdays (a show called "Kids With Class Kicking Ass") with my sister Danika and bro Chris Converse from 10am to midday and I'm currently serving a stretch of the late-night edition of the Punk Show with my other bro Chris Hunter.

To listen, you can stream it here: www.4zzzfm.org.au (click on the link at the top of the page that says "streaming radio")

As for the Sea Shepherd compilation... I was sort of asked to put one together and went hell for (fake)leather at it. It took around 2 weeks in total to put together, including originally getting a massive company to throw a lot of cash it!

Needless to say, that company were employed just to look after the "green interests" of other shitty companies... they represented businesses that owned sweatshops, palm oil factories and one company even implemented an illegal shark-fin fishing operation.

The artwork was put together by a dude from Melbourne named PHilsy/PHilfy/PH...


(the 2008 streetpress polls are in...yep CJ's radio show is officially the 2nd best radio show in the world, or at least in Australia..whatever, beat that posers! click on the image to read the poll results in non-microscopic format. taken from: Time Off magazine)

Kylie: While reading through the biographies of the crew on the Sea Shepherd, I was surprised and delighted to notice more than a few references to punk culture.

Again, while reading the website for the SHAC 7 (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) case, I noticed a lot of the defendants made references to the punk community and the straight-edge hardcore scene.

And in the case of Peter Young (imprisoned animal rights activist), a lot of punk/hardcore bands donated their songs to a benefit CD for the defence of his case.

And obviously, there's also PETA 2, which from my understanding, is basically an off-shoot of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals which targets an “emo/hardcore"(!) kinda audience.

In your opinion, does "punk" play a vital role as an inspiration for (young?) people to care about animal rights? Was it punk that led you on a path towards veganism?

CJ: I think so! I don't I would ever of even heard of veganism without Propagandhi or some band like that...I would imagine that punk bands would be responsible for more social concern than they would ever get credit for.

Amy Winehouse doesn't have vegan stalls in the smack pit for people check out before they rack lines up in the toilet...


(Wheat Paste Poets playing at the Sea Shepherd benefit show in the 4ZZZ carpark. photo: Chris Converse)

Kylie: It seems that the Sea Shepherd is pretty much *the* only organisation to be doing marine-based radical direct action on a large scale (as I guess Greenpeace are more of a mainstream organisation at this point) - and they've gotten a hell of a lot of media coverage and exposure in the last few years..

So how did you first become aware of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society?

CJ: I forget! I remember I applied to go on the ship when I was about 19 and couldn't go cause I couldn't get a U.S. visa! Maybe I found out through an old dood I knew who went on the ship and came back and told stories of sea-sickness, pipebombs and Paul Watson...


(Protest! playing at the Sea Shepherd benefit show in the 4ZZZ Radio Station carpark - April 2009. photo: Chris Converse)

Kylie: Okay now it's time to give me your top 5 lists:

Top 5 vegan punk bands (or songs)?
Top 5 vegan food places in Brisbane?
Top 5 “accidentally vegan” products?

CJ: Top 5 vegan punk bands (or songs)? Propagandhi, Bad Day Down, Protest!, Damn the Empire and Against Me! I guess (it is really late and at a pinch).

Top 5 vegan food places in Brisbane? Loving Hut, The Forest, Kuan Yin, My Heart Garden, Alibi Room pizza and Tian Ran(on the Gold Coast).

Top 5 “accidentally vegan” products? Vegemite, tabouleh, bananas, chocolate crackles, other vegan people!


(anonymous vegan dreamboat myspace photo haha. aka he'll probably kill me for using this)

Kylie: How can someone buy a copy of the CD?

CJ: If you would like to pre-order a CD, here's how: go to www.paypal.com.au and send money to brisbane@seashepherd.org. $13 + include $3 for postage.

As CJ mentioned, they need money to press the CD, because they were originally offered money from a company who turned out to be a shitty faux-eco company involved in all sorts of nasty stuff.

The 4ZZZ Punk Show recently held a benefit show in the radio station carpark (you can see the photos of Wheat Paste Poets and Protest! playing at it above) to help raise funds.

You can pre-order a copy via Paypal, and you will soon find the CD in all the lovely usual-suspect places

(Rockinghorse Records & Kill The Music in Brisbane, Missing Link Records & Poison City Records in Melbourne, Resist Records & Paint It Black in Sydney, and of course directly via the Sea Shepherd website etc).

Oh BTW the CD includes tracks from: Mutiny, Damn The Empire, Wheat Paste Poets, Lungs, Dick Nasty, Ringpull, Protest!, A Death In the Family, Army of Champions, Yidcore, Kill Whitey, Bad Day Down, Dead Like Geneva, Roshambo, Tyre Swans, The Black Market, Daysworth Fighting, The Gifthorse, and One Shot Salute.

Keep yr eyes peeled on the Sea Shepherd website for updates and details:

http://www.seashepherd.org/

you look like you've been losing sleep (said a stranger on a train)

Living in a new city is magical and wonderful for the most part, but it also means attending a lot more shows on my own, which is a not so magical experience, but it kinda rules in a strange way. I really don't have that many friends who like the exact same sub-genres of punk and indie music as me, and being as obsessed with music as I am, I can't bear to miss shows just cos I have to attend by myself. It's not even that I have to attend myself, it's that when I'm there, I'll literally not even run into anyone I vaguely know, like I would in Brisbane

So I go alone, but the last few shows I've attended solo/alone/"just the one" style in Melbourne have made me realise that attending shows in such a way is, for the most part, pretty "unfun"(always like to make a Jawbreaker reference where I can). Like, when you're literally JUST there for the music, it's musically good and amazing, but socially, it's completely unfun and there's no-one to share your observations and excitement with. But it is also pretty "character-building" and kinda nothing beats the feeling of having to stand alone like a dork and pretend to text someone between bands. Etcetera.

But I did go to see Dave Roche...and I *even* had a friend to go with haha. There were actually 3 different Dave Roche zinester spoken-word events in Melbourne and I had determined my preference for which particular event I would attend based on how delicious the vegan food selection sounded. Not just a pretty face, I know. There was Dave Roche + Food Not Bombs at Loophole, Dave Roche + vegan pizza at some warehouse, and Dave Roche + vegan muffins at the Sticky zineshop in the Flinders Street Station subway.

Dave Roche + vegan pizza was my first choice, but due to being supercrazy over-worked
(back in the hazy "working 7 days/nights a week on the internal union campaign of late February/early March 09" days. yes I am a walking Bruce Springsteen song), I actually could only attend the Loophole reading.

But it was good cos Fiyona and I went together and she lent me a bike from her house stash (my first bikeride since being in Melbourne, being new-in-town and bikeless and all) and we rode to Loophole which I think is in Thornbury, but most of the time I don't have a clue where I am unless it's Brunswick or Fitzroy haha

We arrived a little late (late enough to miss the "opening act", what a bunch of jerks. and what a typical "reviewer" cliche: "apologies to the first band" etc!! and it was Luke who does the letter to "You" zines and I've never seen him read before, and obviously I still haven't, sucks to be me).

We were talking about how we always fear walking in late to any kind of "performance", in case the room is set up so that you actually need to walk in BEHIND the performer with the entire audience being able to witness yr entrance. Luckily, the Dave Roche event was NOT set up that way and we could just sneak into the back and all we had to do was try to keep Fiyona's hound quiet for the duration of the reading.

Dave Roche....well if you're not familiar with him, I guess you could say that he just reads straight out of his zines in a kind of unassuming down-to-earth way and he talks about working as a special education teacher and he also talks a lot about having Crohn's disease, and there's a liberal dash of general punkrockness thrown into the mix.

As you can imagine talking about Crohn's disease necessitated a certain amount of regaling us with tales of shit/piss/vomit, thus somewhat disrupting the earnest bikes/crushes/coffee zinester cliche. Which is of course a very welcome disruption, and a pretty hilarious one too...I found myself laughing like a crazy person for most of the time.

So I had a great time, but oh we totally missed the food, so made a mish to get Indian food + all the fixings for what is known as the "pmt special" in some circles (an elaborate ice-cream/chocolate/cherry combination used to boost spirits when days are dark and/or to be administered when otherwise required), so all was not lost. We also bitched generally about the hierarchy of zinesters (and this is NOT about Dave Roche btw!!), where if yr from America and make a zine about bikes/crushes/coffee and/or any kind of specialised niche topic, you'll probably soon leave the cut-and-pasted photocopied format behind and get a book published through Microcosm etc.

Though I did marvel that in my opinion, only an American zinester would even contemplate doing a spokenword/zine tour in another country. Does that sound bitter, cos it's not supposed to. Like it's just that I would never even dream of, or even consider, going to some other country/hemisphere and think I could also turn it into some kind of zine tour. And I'm guessing that most other zinesters I know (here in Australia) wouldn't think so either.

Though I guess if you want to visit another town/country/etc anyway, you may as well make it a tour of sorts, it's actually a really nice idea, and there SHOULD be more zine events in my humble opinion. Maybe I'm just jealous cos I'll probably never get to go on a zine tour in another country or have a zinebook on Microcosm:)

apart from that, I've been working at a union and teaching English (yes I have effectively replicated my Brisbane life), and walking my dog on all these blueskied sunshiney autumn days, marvelling at all the rosegardens in my neighbourhood, listening to my Ipod and singing out loud as I wander the streets. one of my new favourite things to do in Melbourne?

and what else? well, today I've been listening to "All Aboard: A Tribute to Johnny Cash" that has Chuck Ragan ("Wreck of the Old 97"), the Gaslight Anthem, Ben Nichols (Lucero!Lucero!Lucero!), you know everyone "good" on it. I'm not shitting you, EVERYONE good is on here, in my subjective opinion that is. actually there's also some really terrible bands, but you can just ignore those ones, cos the good stuff is REALLY good.

also listening to: the Ergs!, Loved Ones, Arcade Fire, Swervedriver, the Dicks, At The Drive In (I forgot! "Pattern Against User" great great song), Sinking Ships, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Broccoli, Year of No Light, Malcolm Middleton (thanks to Kara for getting me onto him), Shook Ones, Samiam "Regret" (oh so dreamy and almost shoegaze-ish, really)

I also have a feeling I'm gonna be spending all my spare time here: http://goodnoisycore.blogspot.com/

Or watching Freaks and Geeks on youtube

ps. the zine is still in progress, but I'm hoping I'll finish it soon (moving cities really did slow things down), and oh no I'm using that favourite zinester cliche of giving false timelines for the finished product!!!!

the best thing that happened today

i love the idea of recording the best thing that happened to you each day so i'm totally stealing this idea from (you guessed it) "the best thing that happened today" blog.

my favourite music-related moment of today was that I got a tram to my job at the union while listening to Millencolin. put me in the best mood.

and on my way home I listened to "Hate and Jealousy" by Lucero on repeat. beat that!

and despite my good intentions, I didn't go to see Monarch play tonight, maybe on the weekend....doomy sludgey blackmetal from France, according to semi-reliable sources

38 year old men dressed like 14 year olds

they played it, they played it, oh my god they played it! they played "Bringer Of Greater Things", so now I can die happy, or at least I can say I fell asleep happy last night.

the foolish crowd antics were still an hilarious romp, but the Melbourne version had a slightly different feel to the Brisbane version. How shall I put it? Let's see if this captures it just a little: "crowd heckling duties taken care of by vaguely-libertarian drunkenly-moronic shirtless pop-punk yobbos".

exhibit A: people hooting and hollering when the singer of Propagandhi (well I think it was the singer) mentioned it was Charles Darwin's birthday soon

exhibit B: old-mate beside me yelling out "marijuana is awesome!" when a Prop member member regaled the audience with a pot-related ancedote

but some things never change, despite standing to the side of the stage, I still got caught in a mosh (ha), got beer poured over me and got punched hard in the stomach by someone trying to start a circle pit. and I still thought it was an awesome show!

Punkrock Record Stores part ii: Poison City Records

Can you tell I'm no longer procrastinating about packing up my worldly possessions in preparation for moving to Melbourne? Now that I'm actually here (or there, depending on how you look at it), I'm procrastinating about all manner of practical things. I could go look for a bed and some furniture, but instead I go looking for vegan breakfast delights, go see Values Here at Next and spend some QT with my laptop haha.

Only 2 more sleeps til Propagandhi! I saw them in Brisbane and I get to see them again on Sunday! seriously, SUCH a good band, apart from the fact that they are quite the munter-magnet. As my friend Alex put it in a text message from the Sydney show "Sydney show is approximately 60% sports munters. Etiquette seems to be if you like the band, throw your beercan. And if you don't, throw two."

Yep pretty much sums it up better than I could put it. But that said, I had SUCH a great time watching them in Brisbane, surrounded by my good pals watching Prop totally kill it, and having an hilarious time watching foolish crowd antics.

I am praying and hoping and crossing my fingers (whatever it takes) that they play "Bringer of Greater Things" from Potemkin City Limits on Sunday night. In a way, I hope they play "Ska Sucks" just cos it would be so hilarious.

So now I bring you Part II from the little series we did on the 4ZZZ Punk Show featuring interviews with people who run punkrock record stores in Australia. The first interview was with Graham who runs Resist Records in Sydney. This one is with Andy who runs Poison City Records in Melbourne.

So like c+p this link into yr browser and then put it in yr ipod and listen to it on yr headphones when yr stuck on a bus/train/tram sometime. Listen carefully, you may even hear your favourite A Death In The Family song

http://onlythesadsongs.podbean.com/2009/02/20/interview-with-andy-from-poison-city-records-melbourne/

um like totally / go to hell 2008

3 days in a row? Heck yes! So I was thinking that I should, like totally, post the playlist from our radioshow from 30 December. The reason being of course that it was the night that we did our Top 5's of 2008.

We usually invite *the punks* into the studio to be guest presenters for our Top 5 segment, so on this particular show, it was our turn to present our top 5 shows/bands/records/songs/punkrock happenings of this year.

[naturally, no-one ever sticks to 5 though, all the cool people sneak in all manner of "honourable mentions" and sub-sub-lists. as did we, like the good punkrock geeks that we are]

"This week's 4ZZZ Punk Show was the last show for 2008, so we (Christian Danger, CJ, Kylie) thought it would be the perfect time to bring you our ultimate 2008 Top 5 lists:

First we played:

BLACK FLAG: My War
HYMIES: Corpse Grinder
INSURGENTS: Firing Squad
JFA: Skateboard
JAWBREAKER: Do You Still Hate Me? (tonight there was a breakthrough with Jawbreaker appreciation...Christian Danger is FINALLY learning to love this Jawbreaker song for more than just its lyrics, ha)
JAWS: Elitist Uptight Asshole

CJ's TOP 5 of 2008:

1. DAMN THE EMPIRE: Riot, Reset, Riot
2. THE HERD: Toorali
3. STREET DOGS: Into the Valley
4. TIM BARRY: Trash Inspiration
5. ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES: Only The Good Die Young
6. BLACK MARKET: All is Gold

KYLIE's TOP 5 of 2008 + HONOURABLE MENTIONS!!

My top 5 was in no particular hierarchical order, but it was pretty fitting that first up was the Gaslight Anthem, a much-loved/much-played band on the Punk Show and by me in general

GASLIGHT ANTHEM: Wooderson

(from Sink or Swim, not technically released in 2008 but that's when I discovered them, plus live at Rosies in July...best show of the year for reals, also I've JUST started listening to their newer release 'the 59 Sounds', which also rules)

THE SPITZ: Tell Me Something True

(the Spitz are, or should I say WERE, a Sydney band who are by no means from 2008, but they did play a reunion show at Maggotville in Sydney in January with The Thaw, Fear Like Us & Defiance Ohio...such an amazing show, and such a special, beautiful beyond-punk band)

THE DIAMOND SEA: Restless

(from the 'Slow Signal' ep, and live at LIVE AND LET DIY FEST in February, and house-show at the Petrie Terrace house in August)

THE GIFTHORSE: Cold Turkey Isn't as Delicious as it Sounds

(again, not technically from 2008 cos it's from a CD marked 'Demo 07', but I only got it in January so it's in MY 2008 list)...although they have since put out an actual album, I love this song a whole lot)

BRIDGE AND TUNNEL: Call to the Comptroller's Office

(soundtrack to my posi days of spring/summer 2008)

Kylie's honourable mentions (who could easily be snuck into the top 5 list):

FEAR LIKE US (live at the Brisbane show on the Defiance Ohio tour - ahem that I put on, but who cares, it ruled! and the CD, of course)

A DEATH IN THE FAMILY (Brisbane shows and all recorded stuff)

CEREMONY (live at the Princess Theatre in Brisbane and Byron Bay High School in...Byron Bay!...it's not that often I get stoked on 'hardcore')

WALRORA at Live and Let DIY Fest

and 'Mother' by DANZIG (reminds me of sweet times driving at night to the radio station with my Punk Show co-hosts/pals singing along like dorks)

LIKE...ALASKA show at Fat Louies the other week (and getting drunk with Dale afterwards!!)

DEXTER Series 1 and 2 ha!

then we snuck in a little top 3 'the 4ZZZ PUNK SHOW COLLECTIVE TOP 3 SONGS FOR DRIVING TO THE RADIO STATION AND SINGING ALONG LIKE DORKS'.

these are dedicated to Bridget:

DANZIG: Mother
A DEATH IN THE FAMILY: My Pal (God cover)
ONE INCH PUNCH: Down Syndrome

CHRISTIAN DANGER'S TOP 5 and HONOURABLE MENTIONS LIST of 2008:

CEREMONY: Dead Moon California (Midnight in Solitude) / The Difference Between Looking and Seeing

(Amazing show and amazing album 'Still Nothing Moves You'. Saw them in Brisbane and it inspired us to drive to Byron to see them again a few days later.)

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM: Meet Me By the River's Edge

(Awesome feel-good show at Rosie's and great album, 'The '59 Sound'. Awesome songs about girls and driving around listening to the radio and smoking cigarettes, etc. i.e. LIFE.)

EXTORTION: Medication

(...from the concept album, 'SICK', which rules and so did their INTENSE show upstairs at Rosie's earlier this year.)

JAY REATARD: See/Saw

(This is from the 'Matador '08 Singles' compilation LP that came out this year, although it was the 'Blood Visions' album and the show at Rosie's that blew me away. It was one of those shows that had me grinning like a fool from start to finish.)

THE GIFTHORSE: Passed The Break

(a total killer of a song from this Brisbane band's debut and self-titled album. The launch was also one of the best shows I saw this year (and ever).)

Christian Danger's Honourable mentions for 2008...

A DEATH IN THE FAMILY

(shows and releases, especially that they covered My Pal by GOD)

LIVE AND LET D.I.Y. FEST

(awesome weekend of bands and workshops, and something that brought people from all over Australia in the name of DIY and punk rock)

JET SET READY

(as a band and as dudes)

FEAR LIKE US

(so punk rock, even with acoustic guitars!)

LIKE...ALASKA

(awesome show at Fat Louie's about a month ago)

...and a dishonorable mention to SPITFIRE LIAR, for being a disgrace... ha ha!

(Mouldy phoned up and said that although he couldn't configure his Jack Daniel's addled brain cells to form a top 5, the Bronx show was definitely a highlight of 2008)

Word on the streets is that The Bronx and Gorilla Biscuits rate a mention as awesome shows in 2008 as well!

PERTH TOP 2 NEW BANDS OF 2008
(thanks to Ben of Perth band Project Mayhem for sending this to Chris)

THE CRAW: Kings Park After Dark
BATTLETRUK: 6am

That was it for 2008! Thanks for listening!
over and out,
love,
The 4ZZZ Punk Show
xx

Punkrock Record Stores Part i: Resist Records

Wow, 2 updates in less than 24 hours. Can you tell I'm procrastinating about packing up my worldly possessions in preparation for moving to Melbourne? Lots of big questions to consider: should I take the owl salt-and-pepper shakers? My collection of vintage guardian angel wall pictures? My records even though I don't own a record player? oh my!

So well, luckily I am now distracted from such dilemmas by having podcasts to upload.

On the Punk Show on 4ZZZ FM, we did a little series featuring interviews with people who run punkrock record stores in Australia. The first interview was with Graham who runs Resist Records in Sydney.

Question: What do you get if you cross Resist Records with Mission of Burma ("What We Really Were")?

Answer: This podcast!

http://onlythesadsongs.podbean.com/2009/02/07/interview-with-graham-nixon-from-resist-records-sydney

hmmmm blogger isn't being very kind to me with posting that link, fix it later!