Opinion

Music NewsOpinionRobert Dean

This Party Sucks: Long Live The Lost Well

When you come up in the DIY rock and roll underground, the community that goes with the music is everything. Unlike most sub-genres of humanity, two punk rockers and a guy in a Slayer shirt will typically find something to talk about over a cheap PBR. The places that house those shared interests are important. These spots are somewhere for the weirdos to hang out, to hear their weird bands, and champion their outsider passions, are crucial for people to feel like they belong somewhere. To hoist drinks in their air in both celebration and sadness. There is often more than people drinking together in a bar. Instead, it’s the social glue that keeps people’s hearts and minds together, too. People like us, we bond over a Crass tape, or get excited about those annual Motorhead parties. Our culture of rock and roll is a brick of our identity and when you’re the kid with the Black Flag sticker on your skateboard who becomes the adult with the son in a Stooges shirt, you take shit personally when it comes to the things that helped craft your identity.

That’s why losing The Lost Well sucks so hard. 

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Music NewsOpinionRobert Dean

In memoriam: Steve Albini was a punk rock icon who walked and talked the truth

When we were kids playing in rock and roll bands, we always dreamed of coming up with the cash to record at Electrical Audio. There were tiers of cost – one to get into the door, one to book either day or night sessions, some with junior engineers, and then, if you could swing it, to record with Steve Albini. For us, just the idea of being in the same room with those who’d recorded the Pixies, PJ Harvey, and Nirvana? Insane. We were in hardcore and punk bands; we weren’t trying to be the noise he was so aligned with; we just wanted to be able to say the guy who made “Scentless Apprentice” sound so raw did it on our heavy chugged nonsense. 

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Brian HillsmanOpinionReview

Book review: A Curious Mix of People by Greg Beets and Richard Whymark dissects the 90’s music scene in Austin

A new book, A Curious Mix of People, by Greg Beets and Richard Whymark dissects the music scene in Austin through one of its funkiest eras. The work was released in October of this year. 

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Case CockrellLive MusicOpinion

Opinion: Family of deceased Power Trip singer Riley Gale not consulted about Austin reunion show, reacts negatively

A statement issued by the Riley Gale Memorial Foundation has expressed disdain for the recent live reunion in Austin on Friday, December 1. The 5-song reunion set took place at Austin’s premiere Red River Cultural District venue, Mohawk, as a part of the billed headliner Fugitive’s encore for the evening. The surviving members of Power Trip, guitarist/vocalist Blake Ibanez, guitarist/vocalist Nick Stewart, bassist Chris Whetzel, and drummer/vocalist Chris Ulsh joined each other on stage while Skourge’s/Fugitive frontman Seth Gilmore filled in on vocals. Gale passed away tragically in 2020 at age 34.

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Christina DeStefanoOpinion

Essay: Austin Punk Rockers Wore Drag Too

The unjust law extends beyond drag to trans, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary individuals. Texas aims to follow suit with at least four suggested bills that may restrict drag performances as well as performances by trans, nonbinary, and GNC persons. State legislators in Texas are setting a dangerous precedent that will encourage violence against drag, trans and queer people. This is not who Texans are and flies in the face of our friendly culture. Austin punk rockers wore drag too. 

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OpinionRobert Dean

The Lost Well: Austin Punk’s Last Stand

Many of the bars and venues of the past are now alive thanks to a savvy marketer coupling with new construction Svengali, giving the names of their suites like the “Armadillo World Headquarters” or “the Trudy’s Room,” offering a gross impression of what was in a place steeped in so much cultural history. Yet some places remain – like The Lost Well. 

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Greg AckermanOpinion

Austin Comedy: Inside the exploding new Austin scene

Today in Austin, comedy is everywhere. From Creek & Cave to Sunset Strip, the Green Jay (formerly Beerland and much nicer now, btw), Dave Chappelle, and Rogan did a string of sold-out shows at Stubbs. Vulcan Gas Company has evolved into Austin’s version of the legendary Comedy Store out in Los Angeles

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Greg AckermanOpinion

Essay: Country Music Doesn’t Suck, You Just Aren’t Listening to the Right Stuff

First things first, I loathe pop-country. Even trying to explain how much I want to be thrown into a cornfield Goodfellas-style whenever Sam Hunt or Jason Aldean comes on feels like it doesn’t do justice to my description. When it comes to real country music? Inject that shit directly into my veins, because you put on some classic George Jones or Hank Williams, I’m there all day for it.

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