From what I can tell, The Gooningtons played exactly one show (Insubordination Fest) before they “broke up” so it’s a good thing there is a video of the set. It’s super fun. Live, the band was basically a pop-punk supergoup and consisted of the aforementioned Ryan (Mixtapes), Grath (Steinways/House Boat), Mikey (Ergs/everyone), and some guy named Liam. If you haven’t already, go download this (link below) right now! You won’t be disappointed.

Download: The Gooningtons – Welcome To Goonington Beach!

Back in their heyday, August Premier put out an EP and two albums (Balloons… and Fireworks & Alcohol) with the latter released by Fueled By Ramen. After re-listening to those early records, it’s clear to me that back then AP was a talented band who wrote catchy pop-punk songs, but they were a little rough around the edges. We all were back then, right? I was also kinda surprised at just how good those old songs sounded. That being said, the 10 songs on the new August Premier record blow that old stuff away.

August Premier’s new album, Happy Miserable, follows up their great cover of Alkaline Trio’s “Sundials” (which could be the best song on that ALK3 tribute album, seriously!) and confirms that while the band hasn’t strayed far from what they used to be, they have gotten much better at what they do. It might be cliched but August Premier sounds (as you might expect after so many years) significantly more mature. The songwriting is tighter, the playing is more focused and even more urgent, and Matt Allison’s production makes the band sound better than they ever have.

From the opening verse of “Trenches” through the sing-a-long woah’s of the album’s final track, “Last Words,” August Premier delivers hard-charging and anthemic blue-collar pop-punk-rock that sounds distinctly Chicago but is deceptively hard to pigeonhole. With nods to everything from Rise Against to Journey to Alkaline Trio, Happy Miserable brings a palatable sense of longing to the table and sounds instantly familiar. These songs will immediately be right at home on your stereo without sounding exactly like something you’ve heard before. Vocalists Danny Duds and Chris Rogner both sound stronger than they ever have (the former sounds a lot like Dave Hause and the latter a lot like his own brother, those are both god things) and, musically, the songs are more streamlined than AP’s earlier material.

Really, though, this ain’t rocket science, nor does it need to be. What you get from August Premier on Happy Miserable is the sound of a veteran pop-punk band that knows exactly what they’re after now. The guys of August Premier obviously grew up listening to both The Bollweevils and Guns-n-Roses as they embrace the excess of cock-rock but surround it with the sounds of the 7″ records from their rich Chicago punk heritage. Trying and only half succeeding to combine those influences is what detracts from the band’s first few releases but rest assured that they got it 100% right on Happy Miserable.

Also, catchy-as-fuck melodies are in no short supply here. You’ll almost certainly want to sing along. And why not? This is good, fun, well-played music that is (if you’re reading this blog) probably right up your alley. All in all, Happy Miserable proves that August Premier is back in a big way. Well done guys.

Full disclosure: I’ve known the guys in August Premier for years, but that doesn’t change how I feel about this album at all. Click the play button below to stream “Trenches,” the first song from the new album.

August Premier - Trenches 

The Boogers aren’t just your average punk rock band. The trio is the brainchild of musician and developmental psychologist Paul Crowe (aka Crusty Booger) who spent time touring with a punk band and shared the stage with both Dee Dee Ramone and Marky Ramone. The songs on Let’s Go are simple but totally fun and will have your kids dancing around the living room and asking for a leather jacket and some Chuck Taylor’s. Heck, I’ve even found myself humming the melody from “Otto” a time or two.

Thanks to The Boogers and our friends at ParentSphere, we are lucky enough to have 3 copies of Let’s Go to give away! To enter just leave us a comment. We’ll pick 3 random winners on Tuesday, April 12th at 10PM CST.

Another big blast from the past. My wife originally put “Sappy Song” and a whole bunch of other pop punk songs on a mixtape for me but I have no idea what ever happened to it. I was actually looking through boxes in our garage for it just last week and all I found were some Humdingers tapes. I also included “Bakersong” since I like it and since Mickey is such a good dude.

Hopefully anyone following the NCAA tournament and doing any March Madness Sports Betting didn’t put money on my Illini last weekend since they (as usual) fell apart at the end. Oh well, perhaps it’s time to fire Bruce Weber now.

MP3
Blink 182 - M & M's
from the 1994 album Cheshire Cat
The Fire Still Burns - Insert Motivation Here
from the 2005 Keeping Hope Alive EP
Huntingtons - Jeanie Hates The Ramones
from the 1998 album High School Rock
Chixdiggit! - Great Legs
from the 1996 album Chixdiggit!
August Premier - Bakersong
from the 2001 album Balloons… Everything’s Okay
The Invalids - Sappy Song
from the 1996 album Out Of My Head
A.Y.A. - Twelve Hour Julie
from the 1995 compilation Achtung! Chicago! Drei!
Rhythm Collision - Clobberer
from the 1995 album Clobberer
Banquets - Lyndon B. Magic Johnson
from the 2010 This Is Our Concern, Dude 7″
The Pillowfights - Buzz Buzz
from the 2009 album Round 1

It was a long time ago and I don’t exactly remember the first time we met ‘em, but I know we were all just kids back then and having a blast. At the point we knew the band, Boxer was Matt, Jeremy, Dave, Will, and Nathan. They crashed at our house a number of times so all these memories sort of bleed together, but here’s what I’ve got.



I remember riding in their van to a show in Muncie, Indiana that summer when they put on a dubbed cassette tape of Jimmy Eat World’s Clarity. We were floored by the record and made our own cassette copy even though it wouldn’t officially be released for another 7 months or so. The show we were en-route to was at a little record shop called Stevie Ray’s House of Wax and also featured a band you may (or may not) have heard of called At The Drive-In. The show was incredible and would have been highly memorable without it, but I was awestruck when, during their final song, one of the guys in Boxer poured lighter fluid on the cymbals and let Nathan smash away. It was fucking epic. After that show the guys in Boxer and At The Drive-In crashed at our tiny apartment and, in the morning, Matt from Boxer made everyone some delicious apple pancakes.

We also rode in Boxer’s van with them to a show at the Fireside Bowl in Chicago where they played with the pop-punk band Lounge. After the show headed back South, the van was speeding down I-65 somewhere around Lafayette, IN, we drove through a mess of semi-truck traffic and then (in the rearview mirrors, thank God) saw the truck leading the pack behind us swerve and jack-knife across the road, then… nothing. It was a surreal moment to say the least. I also remember that when we got back to Indianapolis there were fireworks shot out of van windows in a liquor store parking lot. I’ll say no more about that except no one was hurt (I think), just use your imagination.



All in all we had some pretty amazing times that summer… times we’ll never forget. On The Hurt Process, Boxer was actually a bit of a different band. Matt and Nathan hadn’t yet joined, and their original drummer was Chris Pennie, who is a founding member of The Dillinger Escape Plan and now also plays drums for Coheed & Cambria.

As for the guys we knew, Jeremy McDowell played guitar and was terribly allergic to our cat Indie (see Will with her in at least one of the picures). He spent at least a few nights sleeping in the van instead of on our floor. Will Kerr played bass and Dave Vicini sang. Dave was (and I presume still is) one very tall dude. Post-Boxer, both of them played in The Lot Six and Dave is now in Viva Viva. Nathan Shay played drums for Boxer and before that served a short stint as the drummer for the Get Up Kids. Some say that the Get Up Kids song “Second Place” is about him… I don’t know for sure. Nathan also spent some time playing in a band called Winner Road after Boxer. Matt Wachter played guitar for Boxer that summer of 1998. Since then he has played bass in 30 Seconds To Mars and (now) plays bass in Angels & Airwaves. How’s them apples?



For whatever reason, Boxer’s one album is not available from Vagrant nor iTunes. In fact, I couldn’t find it for purchase anywhere on the ‘ol internet, so as far as I’m concerned, this is out of print. It is (however) way too good to stay that way so below you’ll find the entirety of The Hurt Process in MP3 format. I never post full albums but you can’t get this anywhere else. Enjoy.

MP3:
Boxer - We Don't Like Them Girls
Boxer - Blame It On The Weather
Boxer - Georgia
Boxer - Lucy
Boxer - Child Labor Laws
Boxer - Blue And Gray
Boxer - Shorepoints
Boxer - If You Got 'Em, Smoke 'Em
Boxer - By The Way...
Boxer - One For Milwaukee
Boxer - Do The Math
Boxer - You And Me

In short, everything she does (acoustic or fronting Dead Ringer) is really good. She’s also got a boatload of videos on YouTube including more covers of stuff like Off With Their Heads, Dear Landlord, and Lemuria. I can’t get enough.

MP3:
Dead Ringer - Coffee & The Music Industry
Dead Ringer - Twenty One
Dead Ringer - Waiting List
Kristia Moya - Fuck U Turn (Kid Dynamite Cover)

It’s not available on iTunes or elsewhere so I’m making You Can’t Do That On Vinyl available here. You’re welcome. Now “X-Girlfriend” was on a few comps and “Jimmie’s Dreamgirl” was re-recorded for the first Allister full-length, Dead Ends & Girlfriends but “Forget About Joe” (featuring me on vocals) and John’s masterpiece (not one bit of hyperbole either) about his roommate’s girlfriend, “Debbie” aren’t available anywhere else. I know because I have the original DAT master for this in a box in my garage, which really might not be a bad thing as it seems that we may have been a bit out of tune at the time. Can’t change it now, right? Besides, these are some sloppy and fun pop-punk songs. Anyhow, there are probably 25 people that own this record with a photocopied hand-colored insert instead of the brick red sleeve with Alasdair Gillis’ face on the front. If you’ve got that cover, then you don’t have the other. Cheers.

MP3:
Allister - Jimmie's Dreamgirl
Allister - Forget About Joe
Allister - X-Girlfriend
Allister - Debbie

Welcome back to Pop Punk Junk. I’m going to try to get a new one of these up every week or two until I run out of stuff to post. With a backlog of about 200 songs (give or take) that should take me through the end of 2011 or so. If you’ve got suggestions or recommendations for the Pop Punk Junk series, I’d love to hear them. I can’t know everything… so yeah.

MP3
The Ataris - In This Diary
from the 2003 album So Long Astoria
The Bomb Bassets - Just Another Magic Moment
from the 1997 album Take A Trip With The Bomb Bassets
Face To Face - Disconnected
from the 1992 album Don’t Turn Away
Discount - On The Counter
from the 1999 album Half Fiction
The Holy Mess - A Soulful Punk Tune About A Working Class Dreamer
from the 2010 Benefit Sesh 7″
Home Grown - Nowhere Slow
from the 1998 album Act Your Age
The Tim Version - Shin Splints
from the 2008 album Decline Of The Southern Gentlemen
Teen Idols - 20 Below
from the 1999 album Pucker Up!
North Lincoln - Apology
from the 2004 North Lincoln EP
The Fairlaines - Hermit Girl
from the 1996 Hi… We’re The Fairlaines 7″

Now I’m not sure if the band is officially getting back together and planning on playing with any sort of regularity, but they did play a one-off show last October at Reggie’s in Chicago. Even more remarkable is that all their records (even their split with Open Heart Surgery) are still available either physically or digitally. You should go get ‘em. For $10 bucks you can get both their albums. Here is a song from each of their releases plus a cover of Cap’n Jazz’s “Forget Who We Are” that also features Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath on vocals.

MP3:
Division - Broadcasting from Conversational
Division - Defeatist from split EP with Open Heart Surgery
Division - Forget Who We Are from Sinister Records sampler
Division - Grey Awkward Nights from Who Died | A Working Title