A Special THANK YOU to everyone involved in putting on and hosting the La Fraction, Witchhunt, Amateur Party, MassGrave show last night at DisGraceland.

From the folks like Marco who live there to John & Todd & Greg for making the show run smoothly, lots of work went into this joint. Time got tight, but I think a good time was had by all.

Just reminds a person how much time and effort and commitment goes into even the "simplest" or "smallest" of shows like this. So, thank you again to everyone who has put in these hours to make a fun or interesting event happen.

Well, despite all my grumbling and fussing about going to Guitar Center, things worked out pretty well.
One of the salesmen, it turns out, was an older Midwest fellow who used to be friendly with Archer Prewitt--who has played the church where I work and the record store which used to also host my magazine's office.
If you're not familiar with Archer Prewitt, he's a brilliant guitar player, a terrific foil to Sam Prekop (Tortoise) when they play together, and really worth checking out, even beyond the Machiavellian hopes of his maybe helping you score a good deal on a guitar someday.

Anyway, all this "bro'in down" (sidenote: does this mean I played right into the hands of the Guitar Center paradigm, flexing my male-rocker  privilege like so many bendy-necked Squire strats?) led to more chat, and by the end of it, I wound up with a terrific deal with my dream guitar... A used Rickenbacker 610, black with white pick-guards.

For me--for better or worse--Rickenbackers hold a place of reverence and sanctity. This is the guitar that wrote "Goin' Underground," "Eton Rifles" and "Saturday's Kids." They have a resonance and ring on the upper strings that represents the aesthetic and  vocabulary of some of punk's greats, the sound of "the songs that make you cry and the songs that save your life," and the voice of the saints upon whose constant intercession we rely.

And after years of playing an SG--and its famously fickle g-string prone to falling out of tune--finally playing through a guitar like this is utterly Damascian, so insert your (Les) Paul / (major) scales pun here.

Back From the Basement!

After several months of inactivity--including Andrew's move to New York, Steve's tour with Off Minor and his busy time fortifying and opening a new recording studio, and Mike's soccer vacation in the UK--Amateur Party is reconvening to play some live shows.

Joining us on bass is our friend Scott Mercer (of Order of Service). There may also be an additional fourth member joining us now and then on guitar.

While we will be playing a few old songs, there'll be a healthy chunk of new material as well. Hope to see you at a show or two...

Upcoming Shows

Friday, May 4

with...

La Fraction (amazing French punk!)

WitchHunt (aggro/dark/melodic hometown heroes)

Massgrave (this band has the toughest name on the bill)

@Dis-Graceland, a really great house/showspace in South Philly

Saturday, May 5

with...

Off Minor (ex-Saetia, feat. both Roche brothers!)

NoJons (pop punk)

Monolith (an amebix album title ... and, now, a band!)

Jawfaker (...i'm assuming a jawbreaker cover band?)

@Veggie-Plex, 47th & Chester Ave, West Philly

We welcome and introduce our friend Scott Mercer, who will be playing the bass with us for some upcoming shows.

Andrew Martini moved to New York city earlier this year, and has already acquired hisself a weekly queer-punk/rock 'n roll DJ night in Brooklyn called QxBxRx. It goes down on Thursday nights and ocassionally they have special guests like Mr. Lady wunderkind Tami Hart.

While Andrew scours the NY underground for the sound of young queerpunk america, The Party has entered into a power-sharing arrangement with Scott, who plays bass in Order of Service (formerly True if Destroyed).

A Buffallo native, Scott moved to Philadelphia a few years ago and can play most of the Attractions basslines, which we think is pretty cool. He has yet to break out any ridiculously dirty vintage punk shirts like Andrew (IE-soysauce colored, sleeveless Born Against shirt with moth-holes), but as he hails from "nickle city," we're hoping as it gets warmer, he'll pull off his hoodie to reveal a Zero Tolerance tour T. Until then....

Just saw the samples of the artwork for this new split CD we're having released by some friends in Australia.

Thanks and respect is due to Steph of Cola zine, who did the design and art for the split. Aside from having a very cool look and navigating the tricky "this is a split CD" design issues, it's combo of stark, blown-out images of urban decay and rub-off letters also has us coming off as punker than ever!

In fact, looking at this, I'm starting to feel like a lot of other bands have an unfair advantage with all their intimidating logos and jarring typefaces. The name Amateur Party might not sound all that tough, but come on, even "Citizen's Arrest" looks weak in 11 pt. Arial. Steph has carefully massaged our visual presentation to ensure that we appear far more menacing than our collared shirts might appear. (And, while we're touching on the subject, in classic blog fashion, I will indulge this tangent long enough to say "Eat Shit" to the hater who said I looked like a college grad student at a recent show.)

After reading up the music biz, we've learned that bands "tour in support" of their new releases. So, in the name of careering, we'll soon be setting off for Australia to do a two-week tour with our CDmates, the Focus.

If ya don't know, you'd betta axe somebody, but just to get you started, the Focus are a brilliant Melbourne-based band with dual vocals and a mid-tempo, melodic gloom about them that makes me think of the moody elements of the Mob or Zounds or something. Very excited to tour with them.

I can only hope they go easier on us than their country's soccer team, which has proven to be a real set of bruisers in this year's World Cup.

I understand there are "all walks of like in Australia" and I hope, too, that the Focus and all our new friends will go easy on me if I consistently sing the name of the country to the tune of the Kinks' song.  Can't be half as annoying as Paul Hogan jokes, right?...

Perhaps we should be talking Andrew down from painting "OI! Energize Ya!" on the front of his bass guitar?