Pins Of Light Show Poster.

Pins of Light Pacific Northwest Tour!

08/16    Seattle, WA @ Club M
08/17    Missoula, MT @ Total Fest
08/19    Portland, OR @ Plan B

Sing-A-Long With Jello Biafra And Company.

Check out the rocking or the sing-a-long versions of Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine's new song "SHOCK-YOU-PY! ". This little ditty is a sneak peak into the upcoming White People and the Damage Done album which should be out at the end of the year or in early 2013. Enjoy & Shock-You-Py!

Akimbo's Last Show Ever.

Witness Akimbo's live show one last time on Saturday August 11th @ The Comet Tavern in Seattle WA.

Photos from Slim Cessna's In-store At Twist & Shout.

Photos from Slim Cessna's Auto Club in-store at Twist & Shout on March 14th 2011. 

Photos by Natasha

R.I.P. Todd Sampson

Las Vegas veteran punk-rocker, singer of M.IA., Todd Sampson passed away last Sunday morning at age 46.
For more details check out the Alternative Tentacles blog or a Las Vegas Weekly article.

Flaming Stars Are Ten Feet Tall!

Flaming Stars "Ten Feet Tall" from their 2001 release Ginmill Perfume on AT.

Come Hang Out With Jello Biafra.

Photo by Elizabeth Sloan

Jello Biafra will be holding court at Singles Going Steady Records (2219 2nd Ave.) in Seattle on Dec. 30th. This is your chance to meet the man and get your old & new Alternative Tentacles records signed. Things should get underway at 5:00 PM. New years salutations encouraged, trying to get non-AT Dead Kennedys records singed is not recommended. Have fun.

Triclops! Up For SF Weekly Reader's Poll Award.

Triclops! have been nominated for a 2009 SF Weekly Reader's Poll award. And the category assigned to them is..... best Metal/Psych/Punk band. Please vote before Wednesday, Oct. 14th at 3p.m. Vote HERE. Power to the people!

Upcoming local shows:
09/11 Santa Rosa, CA @ House show in Santa Rosa
09/17 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent (w/ Monotonix)
10/11 Petaluma, CA @ Phoenix Theatre (w/ No Means No)
10/12 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent (w/ No Means No)
10/16 Oakland, CA @ The Uptown (w/ No Means No)
10/17 Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s (w/ No Means No)

Biafra And The Guantanamo Boys In Cambodia.

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine performing the DK classic "Holiday in Cambodia" at Center for the Arts , Grass Valley, CA. The new album Audacity of Hype will hit the shops towards the end of October 2009.

Biafra On Soft Focus.

Jello Biafra's fun filled four part interview on Ian Svenonius' Soft Focus show is posted on Vice.tv right now. Check it out (including Biafra's boots) HERE.

Pansy Division Feature In Newsweek.

Phantom Limbs Trailer.

Pansy Division Doc Trailer & Gioni Spring Book Tour.

The DVD release of the documentary Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band will be released on Alternative Tentacles at the end of Marc. Undeniably one of the most gay music acts in the last twenty years, Pansy Division pioneered queercore before others had the confidence to come out of the closet. This humorous and fast-paced yet intimate portrait of the band features newly shot footage and archival footage spanning 15 years.

In conjunction with the movie founding member Jon Ginoli has written a book entitled Deflowered which highlights his experiences in the band. Ginoli will embark on a national book tour this Spring.

03/20 San Francisco, CA @ The Booksmith
03/21 West Hollywood, CA @ Book Soup
03/22 San Diego, CA @ Obelisk Bookstore
03/23 Whittier, CA @ Whittier College (reading, film clips, acoustic set)
03/24 Bakersfield, CA @ Barnes And Noble
03/25 Santa Cruz, CA @ Bookstore Santa Cruz
03/26 San Francisco, CA @ Books, Inc.
03/27 San Francisco, CA @ A.T.A. (film screening only)
03/29 Corte Madera, CA @ Book Passage
03/30 Portland, OR @ Powell's Books
03/31 Vancouver, BC @ Little Sister's Bookstore
04/01 Seattle, WA @ Elliott Bay Books
04/02 Missoula, MT @ The Zacc Gallery
04/05 Minneapolis, MN @ The Bryant Lake Bowl Theater (reading, film screening, acoustic set)
04/06 Northfield, MN @ Carleton College
04/07 Chicago, IL @ Homolatte
04/08 Chicago, IL @ Quimby's
04/09 Chicago, IL @ Borders Books (Halsted)
04/10 Cleveland Heights, OH The B-Side (reading, film screening, acoustic set)

SF Bay Guardian Gives A Crusty Salute To Amebix.

AMEBIX
No Sanctuary: The Spiderleg Recordings
(Alternative Tentacles)
Original post

Amebix's music was - and is - the sound of squalor and bleakness. "Crust" is the style they're crediting with helping pioneer, and as genre names go, they don't get much more descriptive. Influenced as much by Motorhead as by anarcho-punks Crass, Amebix merged metal influences with a gutter-punk mindset and a sense of apocalyptic doom. The group sidestepped the loud-fast template that was so common among early punk-metal bands, opting for a moderately paced sound built around repetitive bass lines, washed-out guitars, vaguely tribal drumming, and the occasional thin layer of gloomy keyboards. The end result often resembled early Killing Joke with half the chops and a tenth of the recording budget, which may sound like a slight, but it really isn't.

No Sanctuary is a reissue of three long out-of-print EPs recorded by the British trio between 1982 and '84. The liner notes provide scant information on the recording sessions, but bassist-vocalist Rob "the Baron" Miller's remembrances are still telling: "We lived in very squalid conditions, often without running water or electricity.... We lived by either begging, stealing, or appropriating food from supermarket skips, using ... dole money to get wasted enough to try and forget." This helps explain not only the recording quality - which might affectionately be described as "shitty" - but also the general vibe of the music, which is every bit as barren as the cover art.

AMEBIX
Jan. 25, 8 p.m., $16
Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, SF

An Excuse To Post A Shirtless David Duchovny Photo.

Jucifer poster on Showtime's Californication!

Upcoming Jucifer shows:
11/18 Orlando, FL @ Backbooth
11/20 Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits
11/21 Tallahassee, FL @ Engine Room
11/22 Tifton, GA @ The Lamplighter Pub
11/28 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
11/29 Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11

Brooklyn Vegan Covers Upcoming Amebix US Tour.

Amebix (reunited) - 2009 Tour Dates (some, NYC w/ Kylesa)

by Black Bubblegum

As previously announced, Amebix have reunited, but prepare to get even more nuts... 'cause the crust punk godfathers have scheduled a short run of the US including a single show at Bowery Ballroom on January 29th with Kylesa, Thought Crime and Atakke! Tickets for the NYC show are on sale.

Amebix also have shows scheduled with Annihilation Time, Tragedy, Severed Head Of State, Morne, Behind Enemy Lines and many others.

AMEBIX - 2009 TOUR DATES
Jan. 22 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater*
Jan. 23 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater**
Jan. 24 - Austin, TX @ Emo's***
Jan. 25 - San Fransisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall^
Jan. 27 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos^^
Jan. 29 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom^^^
Jan. 30 - Boston/Providence @ [to be announced]$
Jan. 31 - Philadelphia, PA @ Starlite Ballroom$$

* w/ Doomsday Hour
** w/ Annihilation Time, Book Of Black Earth, Amala Sangre
*** w/ Severed Head Of State, Sub Oslo, Deskonocidos
^ w/ Annihilation Time
^^ w/ Tragedy, Mass Grave, Meisce
^^^ w/ Kylesa, Thought Crime, Attake
$ w/ Kylesa, Morne
$$ w/ Kylesa, Mischief Brew, Behind Enemy Lines, Parasytic, Lost Cause

Jello Biafia Interviewed On Sundance Channel Political Blog.

Jello gives ten poignant answers to ten poignant questions about the election on the Sundance Channel political blog.

Jello Biafra, is a musician who first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. After his time with the band concluded, he became more directly involved with political activism and took over the influential independent record label Alternative Tentacles [www.alternativetentacles.com], founded in 1979 by him and East Bay Ray. Although now primarily focused on spoken word art, he has continued as a musician in numerous collaborations.

Politically, he is a member of the Green Party and actively supports leftist political causes. Biafra ran for the party's Presidential nomination in 2000, finishing second to Ralph Nader. He is a self-identified anarchist who advocates civil disobedience, direct action, culture jamming and pranksterism in the name of political change. Biafra is known to use absurdist media tactics in the tradition of the Yippies to highlight issues of civil rights, social justice, economic populism, anti-corporatism, peace movements, anti-consumerism, environmentalism, anti-globalization, universal health care, LGBT rights, anti-capitalism, reproductive rights, feminism, and the separation of church and state.

Currently Jello has a spoken word album "In the Grip of Official Treason" [www.amazon.com] as well as a new band (currently called Jello Biafra and His Axis of Merry Evil Doers) and a 7" EP, Jezebel [www.alternativetentacles.com].

1. What's your favorite political movie?

There's so many, where do I begin - "Boat People"? "Dr. Strangelove"?, "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. t"?

2. What role do you feel art plays in politics?

People respect and listen to artists far more than politicians. In an age of dumbed-down, censored, Soviet-style mass media it is up to artists to be what Chuck D once called "The real CNN". If we don't wake people up to what's going on, who will?

3. What do you think is the biggest issue for the next generation of Americans?

Preserving human rights and our Constitution. We can't fight global warming without this. Who would have thought that we would have to struggle to have our vote counted - and stop wholesale torture and prison camps - in the alleged land of the free?

4. Who was the first political candidate you were excited to vote for and why?

Can't remember a person, but it sure has been fun voting down new sports stadiums. Local ballot questions and initiatives may well be the most important reason to vote and vote smart.

5. What factors are important to you in choosing a president?

They must be on the right side of the issues I care most about. I will not vote for anyone who supports the Patriot Act, the Drug War, the death penalty, NAFTA, corporate bailouts, etc. One Strike You're Out. Or to put it less politely, FUCK YOU. I'd rather work or vote for something I want and not get it than work or vote for something I don't want and get it.

6. What issues would you like to see politicians focus more on?

Standing up and saying no to the Military Industrial Complex, the Prison-Industrial Complex, the Homeland (In)security-Industrial Complex, and now the Election-Industrial Complex. Use the money we waste on the war machine for the homeless, the poor, our underfunded schools and to repair and upgrade our crumbling infrastructure for the 21st Century. It's so much easier to get around when there are proper train systems. Imagine how much easier travel would be if our high-speed rail technology caught up with Europe or Japan!

7. Which issues would you like to see politicians focus less on?

Handouts and socialism for the wealthy while the world burns.

8. Which candidate's initiatives do you feel better address environmental concerns?

Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Dennis Kucinich. Did Al gore ever get rid of all his stock in Occidental Petroleum?

9. This is your soapbox - shout it out! What do you need to get off your chest?

There are two things about an Obama regime that worry me the most.

1. I remember someone else who had the audacity to misuse peoples' Hope when they were desperate for a change, and his name is Bill Clinton. Let's not forget it was not Bush but Clinton who gave us NAFTA, the WTO, the Telecom Act of 1996 that opened the floodgates for Clear Channel and Fox News, and laugh out loud Abstinence-only sex "education." Clinton signed Newt Gingrich's cruel welfare reform bill at the urging of Al Gore. And, yes, it was Clinton who planted the seeds of the economic meltdown when he gleefully deregulated the banks.

If Obama turns out to be another Clinton - and surrounding himself with Biden, Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin and Zbigniew Bzrzinsky is not a good sign - I fear he will break the hearts of whole energized generation of voters who won't feel it's worth it to participate again.

2. When Clinton got in, people rejoined "Ding Dong, Bush is gone. Now we can finally sleep at night" - and went to sleep for the next 8 years! We can't rest easy and sleep this time. There will be no change from Obama or a congress of corporate-owned Democrats unless we increase the pressure and keep a blowtorch up their ass the whole time they're in power. We need leaders, not more deal makers, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid (remember him?) need to be replaced with people who actually give a shit.

We stopped Vietnam. We torpedoed the Gulf War. Our civil rights and environmental awareness as we know them today didn't happen because our corporate lords granted the peasants new rights out of the goodness of their corporate hearts. They don't have any. We got where we are because we got together and fought for it. Same for the New Deal. It was us.

And the only thing standing in the way of more wars, more Abu Ghraibs and more Guantanamo Bays coming soon behind a Wal-Mart near you is us.

So don't give up, OK? Besides, causing trouble is so much fun.

10. Do you have any recommended links, books or movies so people can learn more about the issues you care about?

Don't hate the media, become the media. Don't just question authority, question bloggers. Question this site. Help people develop better bullshit detectors.

I don't think people should be able to graduate from high school without passing a class on media literacy. But for some reason they don't have those classes, so we need to spread our knowledge instead.

Extra Credit: Fill in the blank. _________ for change.

THINK, for a change.

Photo by Chris Saunders

924 Gilman DVD Reviewed On DOA

Delusions Of Adequacy gets school on 924 Gilman through Jack Curran's documentary DVD.

Media Reviews
924 Gilman Street: Let's Talk About Tact And Timing...
(Alternative Tentacles)
Original review

Everyone, right? Everyone who's ever spent any significant amount of their life going to live shows has a favourite venue, the one place you'd go along to even if you didn't know what was on the bill that evening although perhaps for different reasons, such as - it's where you can hear your favourite kind of music/it's the nearest place doing live shows near to where you live/you are actually a member of what is a members only club - various reasons,but you keep going back there, and the club has a place of some significance in your everyday life, the place you spend all day Thursday preparing to visit on Friday evening -

And for more than one generation of gig goers in Berkeley CA, that is the unobtrusive flat roofed brick fronted building at 924 Gilman St. Only the presence of queuing punters would alert the passerby to the fact there is a venue, and a well established one at that, operating amongst the warehouses and garages on this stretch of the East bay waterfront. Since its opening in 1986 practically every punk band of any significance on the West Coast has gigged, often at their own expense, with the aim of providing what is very definitely a much needed resource in the Berkeley area, as a series of interviews with past and present staff and supporters of the Venue With No Name reveal.

There is a very definite ethos at work around the 924 Gilman Street. More than one interviewee makes mention of the internal politics of the club, the tussels over management (the club was originally set up by Maximum Rock N Roll magazine) and the continuing discussions about what 924 Gilman Street does and doesn't represent, although a broad 'No Racism/Sexism/Homophobia/Major Label Artistes' statement seems to have drawn agreement from all involved.

The film contains footage of around 20 live performances from various moments of the clubs 22 year history and at least as many interviews with assorted Berkeley punk alumni. Some of the bands featured aren't much known outside of the Bay area while others such as Fugazi, Rancid and The Offspring are recognisable names from over the last ten or so years. It must take some serious amount of commitment to keep any small scale venue afloat over more than two decades, especially when it only features one type of music but would I ever want to drop in on 924 Gilman Street of an evening? Regardless of what band was playing? Did I even know the place existed before I watched this DVD? The answers to those questions are yes/yes and no.

-Jon Gordon 09/29/08

Gilman St. Documentary Gets Easy Bay Express Review.

924 Gilman St.: Let's Talk About Tact and Timing ... DVD
By Dan Abbott
August 20, 2008
Original review

It's a funny thing to see the punk generation grow old. In America, raging against the machine must be done either ironically or moronically, unless you really want to be shot at from helicopters. The myriad movements inspired by punk survived largely by becoming institutions. These days, resistance has been relegated to a mere fashion statement. Punk is now a charming phase for white kids to go through.

So there's something bittersweet and nostalgic about watching Jack Curran's documentary 924 Gilman St.: Let's Talk About Tact and Timing, about the world-famous Berkeley punk venue, which first opened its doors in 1986. The film details the origins of the venue and its early years under the umbrella of MaximumRocknRoll magazine, featuring first-hand accounts interspersed with footage of more recent performances of bands like Ted Leo & the Pharmacists and Pansy Division, filmed by Curran and crew. That the all-ages venue is still open 22 years hence is testament to the tenacity of its volunteers, who book the bands, clean the toilets, and negotiate for its existence with the City of Berkeley. Gilman changed the punk rock world by barring bands deemed homophobic, sexist, racist, or on major labels.

Punk historians and archivists will appreciate being able to put faces to legendary punk names and voices like Op Ivy's Jesse Michaels and Fugazi's Ian MacKaye. The film, distributed by Alternative Tentacles, does a reasonable job of explaining what makes Gilman so special. But it's weighed down by too much live footage, and skips over several important chapters in the venue's existence. (Alternative Tentacles)

Jello Apprearences In Denver.

Jello Biafra will be making two appearances in Denver next week:

At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, August 27th, during the Democratic National Convention, the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign will be holding a Super Rally for 5,000-7,000 people at the University of Denver Magness Arena.

Featured guests include Val Kilmer and Sean Penn, Cindy Sheehan, Jello Biafra, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Nellie McKay and Ike Reilly.

Wednesday, August 27th at 7 PM Magness Arena, University of Denver 2199 South University Blvd, Denver CO 80208 Donation: $10 Advance $12 At the Door.

Also on Thursday August 28th Jello will be the emcee of the evening at Slim Cessna's Auto Club show at the Bluebird Theater.