If the great D.A. Pennebaker pioneered the ‘fly-on-the-wall’ perspective in rockumentary filmmaking, then Ceri Levy has certainly mastered a new oeuvre for the 21st century with the release of Bananaz. We decided to call it the ‘friend-in-the-bathroom-that-will-hold-your-hair-back-whilst-you-spill-your-guts- (both literally and figuratively)- and-completely-forget-that-the-camera-is-still-rolling’ method. The film follows the 6 year trajectory of virtual music project Gorillaz with footage of everything in between- and we mean everything. From Jamie Hewlett doodling to Damon Albarn’s pre-show “jitters,” multiple moonings and creative arguments, nothing was off limits for Levy. The result is organic and frankly fucking amazing. Now tackling the subject matter of a post modern anti-band (and the sisyphusian task of editing) seems totally nutters to begin with, so we sat down with Ceri to see just how he ended up in that situation. Bananaz indeed. Check out the rest of the interview over on ‘Sup *HERE*

Bananaz makes its online debut today on Bablegum. The DVD (bustin’ at the seams with extras) is set for release on June 1st, with theatrical screenings in between.

Nicking whiskey, standing up to bouncers, bones sticking out of wounds, and almost falling naked off a glass roof when locked out of a hotel? Classic hardcore tales from Blood Red Shoes. She Writes Rock did it again. Check out an amazing Q&A *here* on ‘Sup! Check out the video of ‘It’s Getting Boring By the Sea’ from their first US gig at Highline below:

John Pugh is an illusionist mural artist based out of Los Gatos, California. His trompe l’oeil pieces grace the Oncology Wing at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. His work can also be found on the public library in Rotorua, New Zealand, as well as the private residences of Barbi Benton AND Debra Winger! Dig around and articles entitled ‘Can You Trompe This?’ and ‘Optical Delusions’ pop up. As much as I hate to let y’all down (because you KNOW the q&a would be the shiz), he’s not the John Pugh we’re looking to interview. Nope, the one we are in search of is far more elusive, even more awesome, and in possession of just an expansive body of work. When combined with Madeline Davy (and, early on but not anymore Dan Gorman) this John Pugh makes up the apocalyptic house party known as Free Blood. It’s a red-headed step child side project siphoned off of !!! & a fabulous clothing line called Octopi. Sing these songs along to your car alarms, you’re never gonna be the same.

Free Blood : The Royal Family mp3

Norwegian electronic duo Datarock spontaneously combusted back in 2000 and have been leaving legions of feverishly packed dance floors in their wake ever since. In the interim they’ve been stamped with that damn ‘New Rave’ label, survived a trip to the infamous ‘Cock’ bar in the East Village with the Scissor Sisters, managed to share a dressing room with Amy Winehouse, and are pretty much worshiped as deities in Australia. So with the Ice Cream Man crew scattered to the four corners we sent our ace photog Abbey for an interview. She sat down with Fredrik Saroea and got to ask once and for all how many of those tracksuits they have. Read the rest *here*

10.28.06

Brighton’s the Kooks are the last export from the U.K. to land on our shores. They want a piece of us and they’re not apologizing for it. They dropped their debut album Inside In / Inside Out (Virgin Records) on us on October 3rd and have been gigging around building up an already bursting at the scenes fan base. I sat down with the band’s guitarist Hugh Harris before their second of two sold-out NYC area shows to see if these new lads are worth forking over a few of our hard earned dollars for. Hint – it’s so worth living on peanut butter and jelly until the next paycheck as long as you have a Kooks shirt to wear, their album to listen to and a ticket stub from at least one of their shows.

Punk Photo: Tell us about the moment when you realized the four of you playing together had the potential to be something special.

Hugh Harris: From really our first rehearsal. We’ve been in various different bands before we got into this one, but I think the moment when we noticed something different happening was when we first started playing gigs. With a gig, you can really see how the music translates to other people and, by seeing people go mad for us, that’s the only way you can really judge it.

PP: What’s the biggest difference between what really being in a band is like versus what you thought being in a band would be like when you imagined it as a kid?

(read the rest of this entry…)

Rockers Put Nuremburg On The Rock And Roll Map! Photo © Majid Moussavi 2005

Punk Photo: Where are you guys right now?

Julian Hamilton: We’re actually an hour south of Glasgow in some awful roadhouse truck stop.

Punk Photo: I caught your New York City gig. Tell me what it feels like to be on a stage looking out a crowd going absolutely crazy to your music?

JH: It feels great! That’s the only time that our music works for us - when the crowd is going wild. For us, The Presets music doesn’t really make sense in any other capacity. Some shows we do, people just stand around and it feels strangely humiliating.

Kim Moyes: Yeah, if the crowd is moving then it’s generally really fun for us, but if they’re not then it’s like hell! …