PUNK Magazine Presents: A Battle of the Bands @ Tompkins Square Park 9/28/2024
This should be fun!
This is the genesis of my decision to host a show at Tompkins Square Park while publishing a new issue of PUNK:
Chris Flash (publisher of The Shadow), hosts and promotes several live concerts in Tompkins Square Park (TSP) every year. He’s been after me to put together a show with him for a few years, but I never saw enough bands I liked to put something together. But when he offered to help publish a new issue of PUNK, I started to take his idea seriously. And I figured it would be good to celebrate some local bands and promote an event with Chris (who is a really good guy and dedicated to promoting local music). He works hard to promote punk rock and publishes a newspaper with good content: alternative news from an independent perspective.
It all began when a guy I know from the Metropolis vintage clothing store (Skunk), invited me to see his band perform on February 17 at a house party in Brooklyn. I would run into him so often on the street that I figured The Universe was telling me to do something with Skunk. Everyone at Metropolis looks up to him and told me his band was really good and that I had to see them live! I’d never been to a house party but I was curious to see what it was like.
It was weird. The apartment was very small and only fit a few dozen people. The bands set up in the kitchen and the audience stood (or sat on a couch) in the living room. Which was fine, since I’ve been to a lot of shows at clubs showcasing good bands where only a few people show up. Heck, I saw Blondie open for the Ramones in Dover, New Jersey in 1976 when The Place (the name of the club) was empty!
Most of the bands were not my type (EDM or hippie stuff) but then I saw a two-piece punk band perform one of the best live shows I had seen in a very long time: Vamanos! When they did a kick-ass cover of the MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” I knew that I had to set up a show with them. They reminded me of those early Ramones shows: rough around the edges but with a lot of kick-ass energy. I stuck around to see Licks perform, but the idiot hippie band that followed Vamanos! used a smoke machine during their set. The room filled up with so much smoke I could barely breathe. We opened the doors to the balcony to get some air in the room. It helped a bit, but with the open doors, their music drifted into the street and a bunch of noise complaints from the neighbors started. (I can’t blame them, the hippie band was just awful!)
Vamanos:
By the time Licks performed, the cops showed up and closed it down. Hey, if you wanna know why hippies irritate me? This is a perfect example. It was a selfish act to run a smoke machine in a small, crowded apartment, but these idiots thought only about their own crappy performance. I always think that bands need to respect the rbands on the bill: It’s called being professional. If you aren’t serious about your music career? I got no use for you, sorry.
The two songs Licks were able to perform (one of them a perfect cover of the Jimi Hendrix cover of “Hey Joe”… I’ve always been a huge Jimi fan) convinced me to book them with Vamanos! at a Tompkins Square Park event. They’re a great “punk rock ’n’ roll” band that can play classic rock songs as well as a lot of original material with an aggressive punk rock attitude.
Licks music:
Soon after the show I met with Chris Flash and we agreed on September 28 date for the show. I figured this would give me enough time to put together a new issue and plan the event. Chris usually books five to six bands at his TSP shows, and provides a raised stage and a decent sound system. He’s been doing this for years, so I feel assured that the basic infrastructure of the event will be solid.
Labretta Suede & The Motel Six: https://www.labrettasuede.com/
When I mentioned the show to my friend Miss Debra (who has co-hosted the Joey Ramone Birthday Bash with me for years, and helped stage the recent Joey Ramone B-day Bash at Metropolis exhibition), she insisted that her favorite band, Labretta Suede & The Motel Six, had to appear. The band is originally from New Zealand and is now based out of New Jersey, and when I saw their videos? Yeah! Another great “punk rock ’n’roll” band that put on a great live show. And Labretta brings a ton of sexiness to the show. I’m really looking forward to seeing their live performance.
Miss Debra and Athena Athens both help me with promoting PUNK Magazine on social media, so of course I had to ask Athena for her band recommendation. She suggested The Stivs (from Maryland). I was hesitant to add them to the line-up since they aren’t a New York City band, but when Athena told me that they cancelled a local show so they could play our Tompkins Square Park event, and when I saw their stuff online I was happy to add them to the line-up. They have an impressive punk rock history, and are pumped to put on a great show! That’s the main objective here: I want six fucking punk rock bands who will rock the park like never before. I think The Stivs are going to do that.
I contacted a few other local bands, but they turned down the opportunity or never responded. So I remembered this band that performed at “The Birth of Punk” event that took place at the South Street Seaport, hosted by The Great Frog Gallery. They hired me to draw stuff all over the exhibition, giving it an authentic feel, a few years ago, shortly after the COVID lockdowns ended. Bad Vacation went over great that night, so from the beginning I was thinking of adding them to the line-up. I was so glad when they agreed to appear. They are more hardcore than punk rock ’n’ roll band, so I am curious to see how the crowd reacts to their set. I think they look great (IMHO), and as a cartoonist? Image is everything to me. That’s why I loved the Ramones from Day One: Their image was revolutionary back in the day when hippies ruled the world. So cool to me that punk has survived… Forever.
To fill out the bill, my good friend Richard Belfiore (who has worked with me on several projects, such as a film script of my experiences on the Sex Pistols 1978 tour and a TV pilot for an animated cartoon and has a lot of experience in rock ’n’ roll, punk rock and metal) suggested Toxi Tito. Their lead singer, Luis Accorsi, was member was a founding member of the first punk band in Caracas called Janz Kappella, and performed at CBGB several times. They perform songs in both English and Spanish, and their name according to Luis, comes from the fact that we live in a toxic world and are therefore toxic ourselves.
Luis might be the most excited performer out of everyone we booked! And that is saying a lot. These bands are all juiced to the hilt to put on the show of their lives! It’s so exciting! Luis is revved up like I have never ever seen a performer for a show that I have staged. And this is what I want to see: Six great, punk rock bands with different styles duking it out, doing their best to put on the performance of their lives. I want to see them kick ass and take no prisoners.
So here’s the band schedule for September 28:
2:10 Vamanos!
2:50 Licks
3:30 Loretta Suede & The Motel Six
4:10 The Stivs
4:50: Bad Vacation
5:20: Toxi Tito
This is a preliminary schedule and might be updated due to bands ability to perform at the planned time, along with other situations that might arrive. For instance, we are looking for an indoor facility in case of rain! The park permit doesn’t allow for a rain date, so everything is subject to change. I added some extra time for the last band in case of any delays: The event must en at exactly 6:00 pm, and I have seen bands forced to end their show earlier than expected due to problems that delay the schedule.
I listened to every band’s online music before booking them, and I honestly think that all six bands can compete and win for this “The Battle of the Bands.” They are all good, solid punk rawk. The winner ( and I hope there’s a clear winner, if not we will have to stage a face-off or something), will appear on the cover of PUNK #24. But it will be up to you, the people who bother to attend the show and give your support for whatever band you like best.
This is not a carefully-curated, “Who is the best punk rock band?” event. There’s no such thing, really. This isn’t the 1970s, when it was a new thing that the rest of the world rejected. Even back then everyone had their own favorite (Ramones? Sex Pistols? The Clash? The Damned? The Dictators? The Dead Boys? Who knew?). I just want to promote six bands I think deserve to get more attention. It’s going to be up to the audience to decide who they like the best, and I really do not care who wins. I’m just curious to see which band goes over best, and to put on a good show with amazing bands.
We will have ballots available at the event (but will be careful to avoid ballot-stuffing: this isn’t a political election, you know), and we will also have a panel of judges to figure out who went over the best and got the biggest crowd reaction. zine in early 2025: The 50th Anniversary of Punk! So I hope you can attend the show, I figure it will be a lot of fun.
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