Batter Up
Here are a few links to some work I have published over the last few weeks. None of it is behind a paywall.
photo by Antonia Tricarico
The Inner Ear of Don Zientara
If ever I were born for something, it could be writing book reviews of photo/essay collections about Dischord releases. My review of photographer Antonia Tricarico’s The Inner Ear of Don Zientara (Akashic Books, 2023) is live up on No Echo.
SNOOPER: Down Under
I had the interesting opportunity to interview Snooper for the Nashville Scene while the band were in Australia, touring ahead of the release of their first album — Super Snooper (Third Man Records, 2023.)
And If You Like Australian Rock
In an online-only companion piece, I got to make an annotated video playlist of Snooper’s Trans-Pacific freadazoid rock community. It features artists and labels that link the DIY scene’s in Tennessee and Oceana. Included are 1800Mikey, Goner Records, CIVIC, ComputerHuman Records, TeeVee Repairmann, Sweet Time Records and lots of links to buy records and watch really imaginative videos.
Still More On Nashville Punk
I also penned reviews for 2 recent points of interest for Nashville punk: The first 12” from local thrash-machine Barricaded Suspects and a new collection of recordings by mid-80s Music City band Shadow 15, co-released by Spain’s Take the City and Beat Generation Records.
Aging into middle-aged hardcore, the thrash trio Barricaded Suspects are a rarity in Music City — punks over 40. The band featured Matt McKeever, former Off 12th Records proprietor and member of several DIY outfits in Nashville over the years. Off 12th functioned for a few years as Nashville’s only place to buy records on the fringe — reissues of Ethiopian jazz LPs, experimental electronic noise CD-R demos and obscure Scandinavian bands you could only read about in MRR or HartattaCK. I bought my copy of the first Tragedy record there the week it was released. It also functioned as a de facto venue of sorts, hosting the occasional touring act with no resources to get a club gig.
Shadow 15 was a bands that existed in the heyday of the 80s Nashville scene. Most of what I know about them came from occasional stories from old-timers. It often came with comparisons to Hüsker Dü or The Wipers - bleak melodies that reluctantly find their way into punk songs. But the 12” collection comes with an insert that functions as a one-page zine about the band.