(news)Goodbye 7Seconds and thank you for everything!!

We start this Wednesday with a sad news from long time standing hardcore punk legends 7Seconds who called it quits.

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I thank you and the guys for the music Kevin Seconds, and for the inspiration and your band was one of the bands that made me a better man today. Below is the official statement taken from the band page:

I had hoped to never ever have to make this announcement.

In fact, I vowed to never do it because, in my heart of hearts, I figured that, as long as Steve, Troy, Bobby and I love playing our songs for people and as long as we are physically and mentally healthy, 7 Seconds would probably just go on forever until we couldn’t anymore.

None of us ever wanted to make a ‘we quit’ announcement to our friends and fans.

None of us ever wanted to do reunion tours or comeback albums.

Well shit….

I’m here to very sadly and regretfully announce that the band is officially calling it a day and will not be doing any more playing shows or touring in the future.

First and foremost, our brother and drummer Troy Mowat has a fractured C-6 vertebrae and a torn rotator cuff and has struggled with some nerve damage in his neck and wrists for some time.

All of this causes him tremendous pain and greatly affects his stamina and mobility.

He basically needs to stop playing drums, at least, for the foreseeable future.

Besides that, our brother and bassist Steve Youth continues to struggle with his own medical issues, most notably, blindness in his left eye due to cataracts which has contributed to bouts of of depression and anxiety and is affecting every aspect of his personal life.

He has also greatly struggled to maintain his sobriety since the death of he and I’s mother in December 2016 and is currently seeking detox/recovery help.

So basically, we’re a great big and old punk rock mess and the 4 of us can’t really find a way to clean ourselves up or work around the rubble enough to play out as a live band….

Those who have worked closely with us or who have followed us throughout our 38 years know how dysfunctional we can be but we always managed to pull our shit together at just the right time.

This time around, the reality of being middle-aged, working class, not terribly relevant and not being able to bounce back from injuries and personal problems has become a weight just too great for us to bear and all signs finally point to retirement.

No more band member replacements or even temporary fill-ins.

7Seconds is Steve, Troy, Bobby and Kev.

Pretty much always has been and will be.

Admittedly, 2 years shy of a 40 year anniversary has me feeling a little down but there are more important things than milestones and the health of my band brothers and family trumps everything else at this point.

When the time came, I never wanted for us to do a big retirement tour but I had hoped we could at least have a big hometown (Reno) show before we took ourselves out.

That’s not going to happen.

We’ve informed our amazing and longtime booking agents – Margie/Do It Booking in the U.S. and Snoopy/M.A.D. in Europe – that we’re officially done which means, first and foremost, that we won’t be able to do our last Punk Rock Bowling show in May or our Europe run in June.

There is so much more to say and so many people we’d love to thank but for right now, that’s it.

We’re done.

We love and thank each and everyone of you for everything.

Sincerely,
Kev, Steve, Troy and Bobby of 7Seconds

 

 

(record review)Ghost Road-“Appalachian Apparitions”

Ghost Road was founded in 2015.and they hail from the Morgantown area, West Virginia. Sounds familiar? Well, it should, West Virginia is famous for my favourite  horrorpunk band ever besided The Misfits, namely Blitzkid.

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When Blitzkid disbanded in 2012.I thought that no one is able to fill in their shoes. The beauty of the horrorpunk scene is its relatively small existence and variety of styles and influences. So, everyone who says that horrorpunk bands are only Misfits clones can fuck off! I am off the topic, and the theme is this album. The record contains 12 excellent upbeat and energetic horrorpunk tracks filled with aggression, melody, drama and creepiness, as is needed in horrorpunk. I was at once blown away by the opener “Wolves and Man” all to the “Coming Home” and when I listened to that one, I swore that I am the fan of this band until the grave and beyond. Musically, the guys remind a bit of early Blitzkid. Vocals are very important in this genre, and the vocalists Michael and Jeff have a great couple of voices, not sounding like anyone´s clones. “Let it Bleed” gave me goosebumps on my skin being so wonderful. This record is the reason why I love horrorpunk so much and while there are such bands as Ghost Road horrorpunk will remain underground, secluded and followed by beautiful fiendettes and fiends.

10/10

Follow the band: https://www.facebook.com/GhostRoadWV/

Get the album: https://ghostroadwv.bandcamp.com/album/appalachian-apparitions

 

Punk Rock Holiday aftermovie 1.7 is out!

I already wrote on the pages of this zine why Punk Rock Holiday is THE best festival in Europe and probably one of the best in the world.

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Awesome scenery, inspiration and not to mention great lineup make this festival a winner. But, you know what really makes it stand above all most of the other festivals? That is friendship and all of the kids there make one big happy PRH family.

We who were there watch this video with fond moist eyes and smile upon our faces. You who will go there for the first time, check it out and see the beauty of it all.