Rag Mag 51

What's up rag mag? Hope the nor'easter was as mild for everyone else as it was here in Providence. Really starting to feel like fall and happy to be able pull out the ol' black leather jacket. This week we have Stage Dive with Velvet Deluxxx, Hound of Hell, new comic Point Break Ants, The Fight Report by Chessy Renee, and Creature's Double Feature. As always, hit us up at ragmagclub@proton.me with flyers, art, feedback, column idea, or just to say hi and let's talk about PUNK!

Soundtrack to this week's issue: Spent the weekend indoors due to the nor'easter so caught up on some new arrivals and some classics. Poison Idea - Feel the Darkness LP (flashback to me at 15 wondering why my mom is asking me what is going on with Tiny Tim on the cover - uh, that's Tiny Tim? I dunno.) / Poison Idea - War All The Time / DHK - Mierda De Hardkore LP (one-man Peruvian d-beat - reminds me of the early 2000s like besthoven - ripper) / Ulcer/Disturd - Split 12" (Metallic dbeat/crust - Ulcer is ex-Effigy who's Evil Fragments 12" is a longtime fave) / Kinetic Orbital Strike - The Terrifying Power of Bombardment 12" (recommended for fans of cliff-era anti-cimex) / Henry's Dress - Bust 'em Green (neoboys reissue made me pull this classic out) / Margarets - Hi-Tech Dinner LP (still reminds of the swankys, still staying next to the turntable) / Baby Killer - demo (art is great, and matty is on the mic, a winner) / Automated Execution - s/t EP / Exclaim - Reality & Future / Zapo - Genom Mitt Fonster b/w Musik /Destruct / Absolut - Deafen and Disarm 6 Track EP / Ediondo - Danza Con La Muerte EP / Dry Acid / The Slads - split EP (TPP on the mic!) / Good Throb - Feminazi EP / Abism - Barbie Terminator EP.

Hello Hello! Hope everyone made it through this rainy stormy weekend. Welcome to this weeks Hooked On Sonics : scene report. I saw so many bands the past two weeks. I work at a music venue so I see bands almost every night , and on my off nights I'm usually playing a show or going to a show. I guess its safe to say I'm a music freak . Well , anywho heres some cool shit I heard recently.

Whyte Lipstick was supposed to be playing a gig in NYC last weekend , but due to a medical emergency we sadly had to cancel . ( Health comes first and my fellow lipstick is on the mend so all is well )We were all very bummed but the silver lining was I got to go to the KLYAM retirement show. I don't think there was a better way to lift my spirits honestly. I LOVE KLYAM, and it was so nice to see them celebrated and see so many bands. Old faces, new faces, people reforming for the show , coming out of retirement, coming out of state. It was just a testament to how much Glenn , Chris and Ben do for our music community here.

There were so many bands I'll have to list them at the end. Honey Cassette killed and presented Chris and Glenn with gold retirement watches. Pledge Pins ripped and harassed their old bass player in the crowd. Jim leonard aka Kremlin Bats came OUT of retirement and played a synth set and did a lap in the middle of it. Andy California tore - it - up! As usual and got everyone fucking moving. The swettes reunited. Nice Guys closed it out - fuck I love that band. There were moving tributes to Ben and you could feel him out there in the park. The weather held out , it was a beautiful crisp day. Oh you thought it was over didn't you? THINK AGAIN

The retirement party continued in a basement . Perfect night to hang outside in someones back drivway and see a show next to a washing machine . I love basement shows. Gossip Collar put on a killer performance and I couldn't stop moving. Shout out to Noah Britton , Nervous Guys , G.Gordan Gritty, Healers Co, MR, Mickey Bliss and Schooner. Everyone came together to put on a rager . Now Chris and Glenn , when you guys coming out of retirement?

** I took a couple quick pics sorry I couldn't get everyone - but know everyone was great!

Kremlin Bats pre lap through the bushes

Andy California

Pledge Pins

Gossip Collar in a undisclosed basement

You thought this report was done ? well it ain't . Last night Whyte Lipstick played Obrien's with Suitor ( on tour from Ohio on feel it records!) Mae Flux and Black Beach. Thanks to Jason from Illegally blind for setting up the show and to Chris for making us sound great! Luckily the storm held off and we were able to play . Thank you to all that came out to party in the rain.

Whyte Lipstick kicked off the night and we had a blast. I'm not gonna review my own band cause I'm not a psychopath so I'll say we were both happy and very sweaty at the end of our set.

Next up was Mae Flux. There was some silly weather banter and they had a 90s / and at times lou reed sound , but not lou reed in the 90's. Thats what I was thinking at least , but hey check them out and deside for yourself.

Then we had Black Beach who I hadn't seen in a hot minute. The queens played with them way back so I was psyched to see what they were up to . It reminded me of if the Birthday Party got into surfrock , so maybe like goths at the beach type thing. Either way I fucking loved it.

Closing out the night we had Suitor! What a bunch of sweeties from Ohio. Emma's voice is so dreamy hovering above the bands general groove. They have a record out and are playing a bunch so give them a listen you won't regret it!

Mae Flux

Black Beach

Suitor

To close out this weeks hooked on sonics I will leave you dear readers what I've been listening to all week. I can't stop! I'm on a massive Los Saicos kick. Its just so good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4c_aboxRY8&list=RDL4c_aboxRY8&start_radio=1

So heres their track " VEN AQUI" ( Come on). Enjoy!!

Velvet Deluxxx

Point Break Ants by Hound of Hell

Hound of Hell

Does she, ‘cuz, you know, so do I…. UH, NEVERMIND- HI! Greetings and Salutations, my lovely creatures of the night! Happy spooky season! Yes I know it’s not October 1st yet, but it’s officially fall! Now, I know, in my previous iteration, Wasteland Chick, you my dear readers got a simple summary nicely peppered with my comedy. But, this is Hound of Hell talking, and I have entered a new era with my writing about stuff I like. For now, you guys now get to be graced by my polished piece of the most adorable moments that yours truly picked up on and aggressively wrote down in a Coraline notebook while watching something at 2 A.M. like a normal living creature. Maybe I’m the vampire :(. Whatever, anyway, today we’re staying on theme with the season of spookles ™ and with my new name by reviewing my second favorite movie of all-all time: The Lost Boys!

Anyways, going chronologically, something sweet I noticed in the opening montage set to that weird-lyric-ed Doors song is that when Lucy Emerson notices two wayward punks digging through a trash can and gives Sam some money, telling him to “go tell those kids to get something to eat.” Moving on, when the Emersons get to the house (I’m not going to explain who the characters are, I know Ragmag’s viewing demographic.) Micheal and Sam are chasing each other around the house, as one does. And when they stumble upon Grandpa Emerson’s weird taxidermy room that will come in handy later, Micheal references something Sam said earlier (something that happens often kinda in this movie) with Sam then laughing in the most adorable way I’ve ever heard. Also side note, I think one of my favorite overall parts of this movie is Sam and Micheal’s absolutely cute as hell brother relationship, like, in 90% of their scenes together, Sam calls Micheal “Mike” and Micheal calls Sam “Sammy.”

Getting back on track, in this scene, I also noticed that when Grandpa’s telling the boys about the rules in the creepiest tone I’ve ever heard, Micheal and Sam are just screwing with each other by randomly booping each other on the nose and stuff like that. Then in the sexy saxophone man scene I’m not going to comment on, Star (who is becoming one of my favorite characters) is just letting Laddie (who again is becoming a favorite of mine) lead her around the boardwalk, and side note- so many of the vamps have a very adorable sibling relationship with Laddie. Henceforth, in the scene where Lucy meets Max and the Lost Boys themselves enter the video store, for some reason, Paul just decides to set up and set down a random tape. He’s so silly :D! Meanwhile, when Micheal is back on the boardwalk, he buys a leather jacket, and thanks the peddler in the most cutesy deep voice I’ve ever heard. Apparently this runs in the Emerson family. He also meets back up with Star, and I love the way Star talks in this scene, she has this wonderful, bold cadence.

Moving on, when Star gets on the bikes with the Boys and they challenge Micheal to come with them to their lair, Dwayne helps Laddie up onto his bike and tells him “We’re goin’ for a ride,” because everyone loves Laddie. Except David, apparently, the two never interact. Then, in one of my favorite-favorite scenes, we enter the vampire hotel and Paul helps Laddie down the steps, and is like “Go get the rock box, bud!” because, again, who doesn’t love Laddie? Also, I think Marko and David are the closest to each other or at least have a big brother/little brother relationship like Micheal and Sam. And, when we cut briefly to the Emerson house, Sam is gently petting Nanook while reading the vampire comic, which is great :). Thank you, The Lost Boys, for not killing either of the two cute dogs in this movie! Back to one of my favorite parts, Marko is gently holding a pigeon before David calls him to get the Chinese food. Also, during the “you’re eating worms, Micheal,” scene, Star is just defending Micheal the entire time <3. Also, not David spookling/offering Micheal the most food sensory-friendly meal I’ve ever seen!

Anyways, also in this scene, Dwayne and Laddie sit together while they eat, and when David gives Micheal the blood (which he specifically asks Marko to get), Star assures Micheal he doesn’t have to, and when Micheal does, Laddie immediately runs to Star and her adorable shawl. David then has Marko “give him a ride” and we see flash cuts of David being pushed in a rolling chair/wheelchair by Marko for whatever reason. He’s just like me for real! Whatever, anyway, before Micheal takes the drop off the bridge, he asks David what’s going on, and all the boys just jokingly ask each other what’s going on (with David specifically passing the question to Marko). Eventually, when Micheal returns to the Emerson home and is pissy with Sam, notice he still takes out the earring when Sam tells him that he should get rid of it. Then, when Sam is darlingly vibing with Nanook in the bathtub, Nanook immediately protects him, and Sam aggressively questions Micheal with “What did you do to my dog, you asshole?!” Then, in one of my favorite scenes, when Micheal is flying out in front of Sam’s window, he screams “I’m your brother, Sammy, help me!”, and when Sam lets him in, Sam catches him with a hug and Micheal immediately and breathily thanks him, telling Sam to trust him and that they should stick together. My heart!

Anywhoozle, in another great Sam and Micheal scene, when Micheal finds out that he’s a vampire, he flies up into Sam’s room, gently assuring him in the most comforting tone ever that it’s okay. Sam does the same, and both brothers use the same “calm down” hand gestures as each other. Also, when Star comes into Sam’s room in this scene, Sam’s first response is to turn himself into a blanket burrito and ask questions throughout the entire talk. I love him! Next, in another scene I love (when the Frogs and the Emersons invade the vamp lair), Micheal expresses that he doesn’t want Sam to help the Frogs because he can’t protect him, but Sam counters that he’ll protect Micheal instead :D, and the two both shoulder-carry each other into the lair. Also, when the Frogs almost stake Star, Micheal immediately shouts at them to leave her alone (which is repeated later) and gently wakes Star up in her beautiful canopy bed that I’m jealous of. Star then eepily* tells him to take Laddie first, while Laddie is preciously cuddling an old teddy bear <3. Also, R.I.P. Marko, you were the best vampire 😢.

Moving on, Edgar Frog very gently sets Laddie down in Micheal’s room :), and shit starts to get real really for real! Though it leads to tragedy, I love how Sam is devoted enough to Nanook (sorry I haven’t mentioned him much!) to run out into the open to get him inside, with Micheal immediately running after Sam to help him. Also when the Frogs and Star and Laddie run upstairs, Edgar carries Laddie (everyone loves Laddie), and when the Frogs go a little crazy and threaten to stake the two, Star screams for Laddie to run and pushes him ahead of her as they escape. And, in Paul’s pretty epic death by Nanook being a good boy and pushing him into the tub o’ holy water, I find it so precious that the Frog brothers just aggressively hold each other the entire time. Also, when Dwayne dies with an epic death scream, I freaking cherish Sam’s “Death by stereo :D” even though I yell at him to shut up every time.

As we reach closer to the climax, I find it tearfully sweet how when David dies but all the vamps stay vamps and Micheal has his spooky face on, he tells Star he doesn’t want everyone (Sam especially I think) to see him like this, and Star even turns his face towards her. And, to add on to the Star awesomeness, when Max shows up and yeets Micheal at the house balcony, Star charges at Max with a stake-type thing, because she’s the best! Also when Star is like, “You’re the secret David was protecting,” to Max, Lucy is understandably just like, who is this? Finally, when Max explodes, Star and Micheal hug each other with Star cheering that it’s finally over, and Laddie runs down excitedly with Nanook (who did NOT die) calling for her. Star then proceeds to scoop Laddie up and spin him around <3. Micheal also asks “Everyone okay?”, in an unintentionally adorable deep voice. Then, in the final “all the damn vampires” scene where Lucy, Sam, and Micheal hug, Micheal affectionately strokes the top of Sam’s head :D, and when Grandpa actually says the line, Sam is overhead hugging Micheal while Micheal holds onto him, because these two are adorable. Also, something I noticed in general is that most of the cute moments in this movie are established through dialogue and dialogue repetition.

(get used to this form of description for movie reviews!) Whew! That’s a good 90% of the cute moments I wrote down, sorry if I didn’t talk too much about the vampires themselves, but I thought this would be more fun, and I hope you love reading this as much as I loved writing this!

All my Love, Hound of Hell (Happy birthday Creature!!!) 

The Fight Report by Chessy Renee

I got one thing to share this week, and it's a growing need around here: IF YOU SEE ICE - CALL!! >>>>

ICE terrorism is growing in NE. Stay VIGILANT and get CONNECTED to folks who know immigrant rights and can coach you in what to do when the gestapo gets to your neighborhood. Keep fighting for all of our rights my dudes!!! And take care!!

Rainy weekend means yr ol' pal Creature got to spend a lot of time with a stack of records and zines.

A new issue of Joe Curry's Reason to Believe punk photo zine and loving these shots of bands and just punks in the world - checkout that 2 page spread of Tight Pants Pat (not to mention the Slads split in the soundtrack to this week's issue) looking great on a scooter. Record Time No.4 remains in the stacks - this one is packed. Bag of Hammers records reviews is gonna make me pull out the 90s garage boxes yet again. New issue of local zine The Pit writing about Sports - the article on What's Going on in Rhode Island made me spit out my coffee laughing. Ultrasonidos is a new zine outta Mexico City, written in spanish, but clear text allows for a translate app to work for reading it. Working my way through but the interviews with the singer from SS-20 about the early Mexican scene sounds like the Warriors. In-depth interview and article on the Medellin extreme metal scene is really cool too. Looking forward to another even if I have to read it on my phone. Last is issue 9 of New Was Turned Has Been. Cool interviews with new and old, reprints, and tons of record reviews. Packed to the brim and enough shit talking to make you smile.

Speaking of reviews and zines, I've gotten more and more into collecting old rolling stones over the last few years. Reading this stuff in books or online gives you the words, but it really is a different experience holding it in your hands and seeing it how it was originally presented. Here's a quick reprint from the July 1976 issue of Rolling Stone, featuring reviews of two of my all time faves - Ramones - s/t and Runaways - s/t. Pretty sure both of these reviews would have led to hard passes from this young punk. Ignore reviewers (including yours truly) and listen to your ears.

Records of the Week

First up is a reissue of late 70s UK DIY/Punk band Scissor Fits compiling 2 7" eps, compilation tracks and some unreleased on Minimum Table Stacks. I've heard a couple of the songs previously on one of Chuck Warner's Messthetics comps, but the rest is brand new to me. Hype sticker says Buzzcocks, Department S, Television Personalities, Rezillos, Vapors, which are all fair enough. I'm hearing the raw poppy punk of The Tunnelrunners mixed with the experimental spirit/humor of the It's war boys camp aka the best of UK DIY. Waiting for your love in the shower indeed.

It Wasn’t Nothing, by Scissor Fits

13 track album

Scissor Fitsmindshambles

Next up is ground zero for Portland, OR punk, a new compilation of the Neo Boys 7" and 12" on Mississippi Records. As expected with Mississippi, old-school tip-on sleeve, enormous, well compiled booklet, mastering sounds great, and somehow cheaper than most DIY new releases. Anyway, Neo Boys are part of the first wave of Portland punk, named after patti smith, started by young teenage girls who were all self taught at their instruments, and had their first release on Greg Sage's Trap Records. Mentions of Kleenex, Raincoats, Petticoats, and other minimalist all female punk bands are inevitable here. For me the through line from this to bands like World of Pooh or Henry's Dress is pretty direct. Simple off kilter punk/pop songs with lyrical bite, melodies that get stuck in your head, covered in a nice layer of diy noise. Makes sense K records has put out reissues previously. This is the best way for a reissue for me, just the songs from the actual records, sounding nice, and the booklet is packed with interviews and ephemera. Ripper for sure

Neo Boys, by Neo Boys

10 track album

Mississippi Recordsyesitsananias

Soul Song of the Day

Today's pick is Too Good to be Bad by Jeanne Thomas. Probably more girl group pop than soul, but it's my column so I get to choose and I've never been too concerned with genre definitions. Killer song and a great voice. I'm a sucker for this shit. For all the lovers of a bad boy out there. She's originally from Weymouth, MA so maybe she's the inspiration for The Sickness, Groinoids, Kilslug

That's it for this week's Rag Mag. Here's some flyers and keep sending stuff in (ragmagclub@proton.me).