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TromBonus - 70 - Folk Punk Primer
171 Plays1 month ago
CPSC continues its three part January Primer Series with a shallow dive on the angriest unplugged music of all: Folk Punk! Rob and Joey run through its history from its history with protest music, to its brief foray in the 77 punk scene to its explosion in the 00's!
Hosts: Rob and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Joey
Theme Song: Keelan
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Special Thanks: Mega Michi and Adam the Ska Mailman
Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca/merch
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
Hear this episode's Playlist!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and New Contributors
00:00:00
Speaker
<unk>p lampmp why It's another trombonus episode. It's just Rob, engineer Joey in a pocket full of dreams as we grab our grandpa guitars, hop the train, and yell about anarchy in coffee shops with a primer on folk punk on Checkered Past, the Skycast.
00:00:39
Speaker
What up, checkerheads. Welcome to Check It Past the Scott Castle, Slinn and Rob. The show were Chumska Wumska and this suicide machine kills fascists. Explore the history and impact of a different band each episode. Hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Rob and this is my co-host with the most toast, Engineer Joey. Hi, I am either very high on a hard drug or incredibly sober and vegan.
00:01:02
Speaker
I I liked those I liked the this suicide machine kills fascists But and I know the Chumbawamba thing because their crafts and all that kind of stuff But I didn't know what the mishmash was with the Chumbawamba thing. Oh Yeah, it's there. It'll come up. This is all a prelude prelude to what's to come um as of recording Uh, we also got ah a new friend that's a part of the checkered pad is checkered pad checkered pod a sphere, I guess. Uh, our friend checkered pad a sphere, checkered pod a sphere. We have some people who have been helping us out lately. And I know we mentioned last year that, um, you know, me, she is from Scott punk international have been helping us with stuff. But, uh, Adam, the Scott mailman has started to to make some videos for us. Oh yeah.
Joey's Take on Folk Punk
00:01:52
Speaker
Uh, I think that's super, it's super awesome. So keep an eye on your social media feeds because we'll probably have some more like video content that we'll be sharing around with like previews and stuff. So shout out at Adam for putting together, uh, some really cool video stuff for us. Oh yeah. He rules. And also like, shout out us for moving into the future of moving pictures. Yeah, we've been trying to do that, but none of us are like super awesome at it. It's like, we The one of us who's good at it is doing it for a salon and a band and herself and doesn't really have time to do it for a Scott podcast as well. So no, it is what it is. It's not audio or a still image. Me and Joey are we're out of luck. We're pretty good with those two, though. Yeah, google audio and still images.
00:02:44
Speaker
So, Joey, this episode is is is happening. Yep, it sure is. I'm ah i'm excited for you, specifically specifically. I'm not excited for me, really. This isn't, this is my jam. But like also, I don't, I was thinking about it before we got on. I was like, you know, my complaint is so lame. Like my complaint about folk punk is just literally just like, Hey man, if you're that angry and you want to be that loud, just like plug into an amp.
00:03:17
Speaker
It was kind of i like most of this music, I would think it was fine if it wasn't an acoustic guitar. And most of my animosity towards acoustic guitar, honestly, is people who play music like this with an acoustic guitar. Because I'm just like, look, if you're going to be chill and quiet and and and and beautiful, play an acoustic guitar. If you want to be loud and angry, just play an electric one. That's the delineation in my brain. I'm sorry.
00:03:46
Speaker
can't be it Can't be a mix of the both. Yeah, it's it's all grandpa guitars, buddy. It's happening. I know. We're getting there. We could only avoid it for so long. Maybe
Focus on American Folk Punk and Anti-Folk
00:03:56
Speaker
I'll find an appreciation somewhere along the way or something. That's what we're hoping for. if Either Joey is going to find something he likes today, or the listener will learn something. I don't know if there's anything else. It's a Venn diagram.
00:04:11
Speaker
Don't know whether or not those two things will overlap or what but yeah, we'll might be two concentric circles. Yeah maybe ah So so yeah this is yeah, this is January, obviously. when you're When you're listening, I don't know. When we're recording, it's January. um We're doing a three-part primer series. Last week, we did Swing Revival. Next week, we have another one coming. So this is the second of the of the three that we're doing. And it's all Ska-adjacent scenes that weave in and out of Ska and have toured alongside Ska from the 80s to today.
00:04:46
Speaker
ah So as for the second part, we are doing folk punk as Joey talked about specifically American style folk punk and anti-folk, as opposed to, say, Celtic punk. So if you're here
Evolution and Influence of Folk Punk
00:05:00
Speaker
hoping to hear a lot of like Dropkick Murphy's or the Mahones or Flogging Molly or any of that stuff, ah maybe a different type of episode for that. And we're only going to be touching on the Brits a little bit, but the British folk punk sounds way different than the American style. Oh, yeah, it's a very different. Yeah. But it definitely implied it. Like the Brits did it first.
00:05:21
Speaker
And then sort of the Americans sort of picked it up after. Kind of like not folk punk rock. Not sort of say that again as a kind of like not po not folk punk rock sort of.
00:05:35
Speaker
yeah right written kind kind of started it but also kind of didn't and you know because we're doing it's another scene that basically started in the u.s got picked up by the punks in the u.k and then came back to the u.s again happened with the swing It's happening here and spoiler alert happens again in the next one. wow So if there's anything that's a through line, it's not just the overlapping scenes that we're talking about. um It's also the fact that this is like a full circle. All these scenes are full circles.
00:06:08
Speaker
very un hopping um We're specifically going to be focusing on the 2000 2010s. This is probably the most modern scene that we're talking about. We're not really super in the 90s. But this is something that I don't know if ever really gained mainstream appeal. There's definitely been niche bands that have broken up broken out a little bit.
00:06:31
Speaker
most of the time they had to compromise a little bit from their folkpunkiness in order to get some kind of mainstream appeal like you can't be a purist on it like and get like radio play yeah at best you can tour the country like crazy like that's what all of these people can do because it is this is probably The least expensive touring bands that we've definitely done. I guess that's true. No big baritone saxophones. Yeah, no no amplifiers or anything. You just show up with your shitty old acoustic guitar and you're good to go. And I mean, shitty are the better, right? The shitty are the better. Honestly, it has to be out of tune. It has to be like a hand-me-down. Covered in stickers. Maybe a Willie Nelson hole in it. Yeah, totally.
00:07:18
Speaker
I do recommend that if you're listening to this and you haven't listened to the crack rock steady primer, I would, I would listen to that. I think it actually is very not, not a direct overlap, but there's a lot of commonality, uh, between the two genres. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Like they're pretty, uh, it's kind of hard to separate them, to be honest, the two genres.
00:07:43
Speaker
And I think like, especially when you look at a couple bands that had dipped their toes in both, um, but you know, it's, it's got the same, I'd say attitude, maybe, maybe the crack rock steadies are a little bit crustier. Maybe the folk punks are a little bit more like.
00:08:00
Speaker
I don't know. I don't want to say clean cut because that's not true because they're just as smelly. But like, different kind maybe less leather jackets. You know what I mean? I mean, they're more vegan. Like I was saying earlier, they're either on hard drugs or they're very sober and vegan. And they're definitely going to tell you all about it. Yeah. Very frankly and very openly.
00:08:24
Speaker
ah Shout out to Checkerhead Ian Yvette Garland for helping us out with this one. They did. They're folk punk. like encyclopedia. I sent them a playlist and they definitely dissected it very well. They maybe didn't agree with a couple of my choices, but they reluctantly admitted that it was probably for the best for a primer, but um big ah but shout out for helping us put this ah whole playlist together. um And ah there's a lot of, there's a lot. So Joey, what is your experience in history with folk punk? Uh, well, I mean, I was like aware of it, like,
00:09:03
Speaker
ever since I got into punk rock because I got into punk rock in the 90s and by then there was already the singer from that band playing an acoustic version of the music, you know what I mean? And then later I became more aware of like ah kind of the crustier side of folk punk, but it's never really been my jam. And then when I started playing shows in my band,
00:09:26
Speaker
We played with a couple of like folk-punk-y type bands, and again, like other people in the scene who were from other bands and whatnot played folk-punk. And I got you know acquainted with our kind of or parts of Edmonton's local scene. I didn't dive too deep because, i again, it's not really my jam, but that's most of my experience. kind of I've heard it and I've been wishy washy on it so I haven't really dived deep but it's always been around. You know what I mean? Like I would say that I'm a pretty solid like passing view of of folk punk in general over the last 20 years or so, you know?
00:10:08
Speaker
I definitely had a moment for me in the mid 2000s when it kind of started to really blow up. um Like just a little, like I didn't, we'll get into it, but reinventing Axl Rose obviously is such a like a big part of it becoming a lot more like popular.
00:10:24
Speaker
yeah um I kind of missed that one but then once all the bands that were kind of like really influenced by that and even like a like like later against me records like coming clarity like before they broke like into the mainstream I got really into but like AJJ and Defiance Ohio and this bicycle is a pipe bomb and a few of those bands like I really got into because I don't know what it was. It's just at the time it like really like clicked with me. Then I had like a five to 10 year sort of like, yeah, I really like these types of bands. And then it's sort of to kind of peter out. Maybe I just like wasn't as attuned to it. um It was always the exception to the rule about the grandpa guitars, like longtime listener to know me and Joey having a version to acoustic guitars. And they're part of an ensemble or part of a song.
00:11:16
Speaker
But when it's just the whole thing, I'm not into it. Like that band Tantric. Remember them? They're from Canada. They had a 12-string acoustic guitar and they were like a grunge band. i i What's the song? What was the song? Don't remember. I don't remember. like I do remember a band called that, but I cannot remember what their song was.
00:11:35
Speaker
but Yeah. Oh, so do we just drop can con randomly? I don't know. Maybe they're not even from Canada. I thought they were, but I could be wrong. I'm not looking at some we al rock band from anywhere. It could be. What do I know? Um, I think that's about good though. We should probably get into it. Let's do it. yeah We got, we got like 17 tracks of folk punk to get through. So let's start with a guy who i is not folk punk, but I got a start for why people have been okay with being mad and playing acoustic guitars. and it's with a guy for this This might be the one of the earliest songs we've played. This is from 1942. This is a a gentleman named Woody Guthrie playing the song, Tear the Fascists Down.
00:12:36
Speaker
hitler are told He's angry, but he's not yelling about it. You know? you No. Nobody yelled at this time. Was there anybody yelling in the early 40s? Too early to be yelling.
00:13:02
Speaker
This recording is surprisingly good. You know what, Woody Guthrie is listenable, I'll say it. Like, I mean don't think it's the worst. Like, it's very, it's good for what it is. I mean, just just like quality-wise, like, I mean, I guess big difference between like in the 40s trying to record a swing band on one microphone or whatever and record a guy playing an acoustic guitar and singing on one microphone, big difference. So I understand, but like, sounded very good. Also,
00:13:36
Speaker
what he got through is funny in that like he's the only like old school musician that I can remember being taught about in like elementary school and basically all that and all that they taught us about him was like he did not like fascism It's like his whole thing. It is his whole thing. It's his whole thing, that's it. So the whole, this machine kills fascists is written on his guitar. That's like the, that's been picked up for like almost a hundred years at this point. Yeah, hell yeah. that When you say this machine kills fascists, you're talking about music, right? Yeah, but or you're, hopefully. Well, no, no, no. It was a machine gun. Presumably. It was actually doing it and then that'd be all right too, I guess.
00:14:20
Speaker
So he's also like, I like to pull it back a little bit. He he was a peaceful guy, but like he he was a proponent of the Americans joining the war. Right. He was like, right. That was his whole thing was the Americans weren't in the war.
Sound Shift and Influential Bands
00:14:34
Speaker
And so he was trying to get them to go into Europe and start killing, killing Nazis. but Yeah. So, yeah, that's kind of where his whole thing was. But.
00:14:43
Speaker
This is where it starts, man. this is this is like I'm not saying that there weren't guys with guitars hanging around, but this is where guys with guitars screaming about politics start. Yeah, like protest music. Like protest music, really, this is kind of the spawn point of a lot of that protest music in general. In its in its most infant form versus, say, like the, you know, the what do you call it, Laurel Canyon stuff, right? Which is more of a band, right? Yes. Whereas this is just like This is you, this is your music, this is your opinions, right? It's just like straight up. Yeah. And ah so yeah, Woody Guthrie, good place to start, but the the punks obviously had to pick it up at some point. And so in 77, I don't know if you know this song. Early. Yeah. real Early in the punk rock.
00:15:32
Speaker
Day one punks, right? Ramon Six Pistols already happened and this guy, his name is Patrick Fitzgerald, decided that and unlike these other noisy electronic bands, he was gonna write an acoustic punk song ah about a girl he had a crush on. So here it is. ah Safety pin stuck in my heart. He is a one-hit wonder.
00:15:57
Speaker
I can't wait to hear his voice.
00:16:02
Speaker
Cause I wanna know if he's actually 12 years old. Older than 12 years old, wow. die i just love you for that baby probably Probably not by much though. Oh, we're we're in the UK now? no wow Oh yeah. i love you but that be be
00:16:25
Speaker
I mean... It sounds like any number of punks I've heard singing a song with an acoustic guitar. Yeah. it's that's what It sounds like every house party I was in between like night between my 20th year and my 25th year.
00:16:52
Speaker
I used to know a guy who used to, when we go to shows at the studio, he would go in, he would watch a band for like five minutes, say it sucks, and then he'd go into the parking lot and play outside. He'd get it like, that's where seven or eight times. That sounds Edmonton as fuck. That's like the most Edmonton thing I've ever heard in my life, Rob. I just hated it so much. I was just like,
00:17:17
Speaker
And honestly, sometimes the band did suck, but it was at the studio, so I got to go play Miss Pac-Man. So I was like, that was band suck. I'm gonna play Miss Pac-Man. And drink illegally. There were some lucky. Oh yeah, you were of age though. I was of age. right i I can't say the same about people I was with. illegally Salin would have been drinking illegally. Correct. yeah that ah Yeah, I mean that was ah an acoustic song.
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if it holds up. But hey, listen, he was the first to do it. And yeah, and the next I do like that it's like super on the nose like safety pin through my heart. That is that is an acoustic punk rock song if I ever heard one. Right. Yeah. are All right. This next guy, though, this next guy is legit as fuck. This is this is the one and only Billy Bragg. And we're still in England and this is a song called A New England.
00:18:15
Speaker
Oh, so he's singing about the United States. New England. So we're still pre-posed.
00:18:29
Speaker
I don't know, man. That sounds like an electric guitar with a bunch of reverb on it to me. Sure is. So there there will be some bands that don't play the acoustic guitar. be There will be a couple. There will be washboards and chorions and such at some point, I'm sure.
00:19:14
Speaker
billy bragg What a guy. But yeah, I was kind of saying there that like, this is what folk punk in the UK was sounding like before the pugs came along. Like really the pugs, I think like turned folk punk in England from sort of this type of music into like drinking songs. You know what I mean? They added a little bit of the pub rock to it and kind of made it a little more the, yeah, yeah, I see what you mean. So when they thought folk, they meant like, you know, like,
00:19:46
Speaker
you know, accordion, accordions and stuff like, you know, mandolins and bagpipes and that kind of thing. ah Whereas I think Billy Bragg kind of thought as folk music as like the American folk, I think is a lot of it or just like, you know, just sing-songy-ness, right? As opposed to like the pub atmosphere, right? Totally. Or like ah like looking at it kind of as like a minstrel, like a traveling Like a bard type of thing, you know? Correct. A person with their instrument traveling around telling stories, kind of. Exactly. As opposed to, like you said, like ah a band put together with folk instruments. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. We're going to stay in England for a few more years here to go to 1987. Good year. um And there's a band called Chumbawumba. And I know I ask this a lot.
00:20:42
Speaker
How familiar are you with like their music, like their career? I mean, well, I mean, I've being a child of the nineties, I am aware of their career and stuff, but I've never really listened to like a whole lot of crass. You know me, I'm not like a super crusty. That's not really my jam. um So as far as like listening to their stuff, I haven't done a whole lot of it, but I am pretty familiar with their story.
00:21:10
Speaker
Cause we've talked about it a few times on the pod as well, right? For sure. And like, I think we've talked about it a bunch in terms of like, you know, so Chumbawumba is, is an offshoot of Crass, the Crass collective, cause Crass isn't, is a band, but it's also like a collective of musicians and Chumbawumba had a similar, they were kind of connected, connected tissue and and in the eighties. So if you're, if you're familiar with them getting knocked down and getting back up again, um, wait,
00:21:36
Speaker
What you didn't know is that in the eighties, they were very experimental, right? And arguably, actually, that that green Chumbawumbo record, super experimental. like If you listen to it, it's like how a ah a bunch of crusty punks interpret pop music. It's right. It's very strange and it's very cool to listen to.
00:21:53
Speaker
So this song is from like a concept folk record that they did called always tell the voter what the voter wants to hear. um They're probably one of the most anarchist bands that have ever become super popular. So anyway, let's listen to this one.
00:22:19
Speaker
Welcome to Nevermind the Ballots. The phone lines are now open. Nevermind the ballots? That's pretty funny. It's good, right? three Yeah. 779463.
00:22:33
Speaker
It's like a fucking Johnny Cash song.
00:23:00
Speaker
I'm more into this. This is more up my alley. This record's very good. Nevermind the ballots is what the record is called. and Yeah. Very anti-thatcher, of course. ah Good. Yeah. um But i there's any lesson.
00:23:21
Speaker
Listen to Chumbo Wamba. Like, really, listen to it it. It may not be for you, but if you have, if you, as a listener, have not gone out of your way to like put a Chumbo Wamba record on or or just skip through a few of their records to kind of get a feel for them, it's it's worth it. It's just a strange, ethereal listen. how But yeah, they had a big impact on Folkpunk. How many have they put out? How many albums is Chumbo Wamba? A lot. Like, probably 15, 20? That's wild. I mean, they've been active for, like, because they're currently still active, are they not?
00:23:50
Speaker
I think so. so like They started in the early 80s or so. Yeah, that's wild. Yeah, it's crazy. um So we've set the stage, the UK stuff, Woody Guthrie. Let's go back to the US. Two bands that made a huge impact on what would become folk punk. And we start with something called anti-folk, which was this Um, it's a satire of folk music. Uh, so it's not meant to be punk rock. Like it's not, it doesn't use like punk music stylings. It's more like an attitude about being like a punk, but it's meant to satirize the genre of folk music. Okay. So the band that really broke that out and you can, you'll, when you hear this, and I'm sure you know this song cause it was in Juneau, but, uh,
00:24:38
Speaker
it like it was it's it's got that vocal styling and sort of the way that they harmonize becomes very important to the genre later. So this is the Moldy Peaches, um Adam Green and Kimya Dawson, the two of them. ah Amazing band, really, really good. And both of them individually make crazy good music. So the song is called Anyone Else But You.
00:25:08
Speaker
They also put out complations called anti-comp-focalation, which is very funny to me. That's pretty good. You're a
00:25:39
Speaker
But here is and else But I will be fine. But I will be fine.
00:26:17
Speaker
of ourselves. This reminds me of the song in spite of ourselves, kind of. know the The passing off of the vocals, you know? Yeah. And then like kind of almost like the board delivery. Yeah, totally. Like, yeah.
00:26:31
Speaker
Which is all on purpose. Like none of that is like by accident. This is like a you can you can hear how they're like intentionally kind of turning the genre upside down. Totally like kind of singing a little bit off key and the the whole. Yeah, the whole thing is very, very obviously on purpose.
00:26:50
Speaker
Yeah, um again, another band like, ah and it's all acoustic, it's exactly like that. And it's not for everybody, but I really think like, and I i also think that Kimye Dawson is specifically an incredible musician. ah She did a record with Aesop Rock at one point, which is weird. It's like it's it's like acoustic music, but with him rapping okay and her singing at the same time, like very strange stuff, but yeah.
Genre Blending in Folk Punk
00:27:18
Speaker
ah eclectic, I guess is how you should put it. All right, this next one is this is this is this is one of the big ones, man. This is ah this is a band that we know now because they were a huge radio band. um And obviously, like super influential, like Laura Jean has been so influential on like trans rights and a lot of like visibility on ah on on a lot of that ah scene. But Like when they first started the band against me was specifically a folk punk band and one that didn't really use acoustic instruments. Like they did it from time to time, but more specifically, they use electric instruments, which is why they were on fat records. Yeah. um So this is from the the highly influential reinventing Axl Rose, the debut or the first song on their pints of Guinness make you strong.
00:28:22
Speaker
and using that like train beat, like you were saying like Johnny Cash, right? Like Johnny Cash song, totally.
00:28:40
Speaker
so close to Celtic Punk, eh? Little bit. Very different, but also like so similar in a lot of aspects.
00:29:06
Speaker
I mean I can't really like argue with the sentiment of the song title.
00:29:21
Speaker
Love this shit. Yeah. You know, about my friend, Phil, this is like, like he was very into emo and he was like, like this bike is a pipe bomb and like all that type. Like you very much into this type of stuff. And he listened to us a lot and it was just too slow for me, man.
00:29:43
Speaker
It's more about just being mad and yelling. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, but what if this was like 150 beats per minute faster though? And then that's what I wanted to listen to. But the doors are blown off at this point. Yeah, this like hour we' now we're moving into the sound that I recognize as like modern folk punk, in you know. Yeah, yeah we've we've set the stage. yeah This is all just like the preamble to what the scene really blew up into, which what basically happened in 2005 plus.
00:30:12
Speaker
So these next couple of bands are sort of the ones that kind of got it kind of kicked off. So let's start with Defiance Ohio with the bit with the song, Oh, Susquehanna.
00:30:30
Speaker
Is it like, a like oh, Susanna, but like, oh, Susquehanna? Is that the joke? I guess so. I think so. OK. Let's ask if that is going to be a place, right? Yeah. Okay.
00:30:54
Speaker
The violins. Violins and cellos are in folkland.
00:31:28
Speaker
They were really going. Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot. That's that was more is more sometimes like they're the these bands can be a little maximalist in their approach. It's not all just minimalism. Yeah. Sometimes they're just going to have like a bunch of singing like three different vocal lines at the same time. Something you know, also another song back like back to back with the against me song that like again is like shares so much with with Celtic punk and just isn't.
00:31:59
Speaker
like yeah all of those sounds everything that was going on there could have been a Celtic punk band but it has such a different like feel to it you know it's interesting yeah ah Let's do one more before we take a break. ah This is, okay, this is a mischief brew. This band is super influential, although they didn't really like, if you if you know if you're in the genre, you know this this group, it's mostly just one person, but ah this is ah this is the acoustic guitar and being punk stuff, and this is one of the ah originals to do it. Coffee God and cigarettes, man, they love to talk about cigarettes.
00:32:42
Speaker
well you fucked up well again it's charming oh yeah no for what this is that's charming it's like the beginning of what you do to my body by lee aaron
00:33:07
Speaker
Just go to Starbucks, my dude. This has a way more Celtic feel to it. Yeah. Big time.
00:33:34
Speaker
Also, it's faster, so it's kinda more punky even. Yeah.
00:33:55
Speaker
He's saying he needs coffee-gotten cigarettes to break his routine, but it sounds like coffee-gotten cigarettes are his routine. Are the ru routine. Yeah. Maybe you've gone to something there. All right. Let's take a break and we get back more folk punk.
00:34:24
Speaker
Welcome back to Checker Past and you're joining Rob here and we're talking about some folk punk. Let's get into the next band. This is the one and only Andrew Jackson G had AKA AJJ and man oh man when they came along, did they blow the doors off shit? This is the song Brave as a Noun.
00:34:52
Speaker
Is that Banja? Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know this band? H.A.J.? I'm aware of them. Yeah. The cult of this band is bananas. Yeah, that's how I'm aware of them. like i I've listened to a couple of songs over the years, but like the fact that their fans are so incredibly rabid is the actual reason I'm aware of them. Yeah.
00:35:22
Speaker
There are people, I remember somebody who I used I was like, Oh, you should check out X band. Probably this bike is a pipeline because they're my favorite. And I was like, you should listen to this band. And they're like, they're terrible. It's like, okay, how about this band? I didn't know Defiance Ohio. And they're like, these guys suck. And I was like, okay, I don't get it. What is it about?
00:35:48
Speaker
AJ specifically that is so much better than all this stuff with where you would say that everybody else sucks compared to them and you know you gotten answers yeah thats No, I knew so many people like this but you just created a now I'm gonna wonder about that forever like Until I die that is the most confusing how oh my god, you know Yeah. That actually just makes me angry, kind of. It's only Andrew Jackson G had. They're the only band that play folk punk that matters to some of these people. Like, yeah. why Okay. All right. i That's hurting my brain. yeah Like yeah to to be like. I don't think they're bad by any means. No. There's a couple of records or the first two records are awesome. But what are what are any of those two other bands that you mentioned doing so differently from AJJ that you would listen to either of them and be like, no, these suck and this one's good? What? Yeah, it makes no sense. That doesn't make any sense. Yeah, but you know, but it's just one of those bands that just has that, like, I don't know, cult. A je ne sais quoi about them. Yeah.
00:36:58
Speaker
So anyway, all right, let's go for some more anti folk. This is a this is a collaborator of the multi peaches and he did a cover or a cover record of all crafts songs. ah So shout out Arianne because she showed me this. I knew Jeffrey Lewis before, but I did not know he did a crass cover record. And I was like, shit, I got to throw that on the podcast for sure. he yeah So this is them, this is Jeffrey Lewis doing the classic crass song, Do They owe us a living? One, two, three, four.
00:37:46
Speaker
that the lady from the moldy beaches? Kimmy Dawson? Actually, that's a good question. I can look into that. It would make sense.
00:38:23
Speaker
You know, I will say that I appreciate the like first take best take kind of Approach a lot of the time it seems like yeah, you know what I mean? Like like I don't they're not doing multiple takes in the studio. They're no they're really maximizing their their studio dollars for sure But that's also why a lot of these bands are so prolific. Yeah. Right? Totally. Probably it's so easy to like, just like jam in the studio. Like you don't have to save up. Hey, you know what I mean? For a couple bucks you can end up getting the record reported. Furthermore, if you only take one take to do all of your songs on your album instead of say four takes, you can put out four albums in the same time it takes another band to put out one album. That's right. You know what I mean? Just get it flooded. Yeah.
00:39:14
Speaker
All right, next up, we had to talk about Pat the Bunny. ah Pat the Bunny has like a million bands, ah one of the more prolific ah members of the of the anti folk folk punk scene. um Yeah, is I guess I would say they're one of the rock stars. And this is ah this is a band I'm quite familiar with.
00:39:34
Speaker
It's from 2009. I love this band and they're called the wingnut dishwashers union Because some of these bands have those kinds of names. That's good. Yeah yeah ah This is a song called fuck shit up.
00:39:50
Speaker
I Just had to look it up to like make sure and for those who are curious Pat the bunny is not Greg the bunny from the Seth Green show with the puppet. It's a different bunny. I I'm glad you looked it up. Yeah. I couldn't remember what this F3 show was called. so Yeah, Greg the Bunny.
00:40:23
Speaker
Man, they're good at getting crazy. Storting acoustic guitars. These people are wild.
00:40:51
Speaker
I'm gonna be honest with you this is the first song we've listened to where if I was at this show and heard this song I'd be like fuck yeah this is great The other ones for me, I would have been getting a beer, unfortunately.
00:41:06
Speaker
For the most part. Because there's a little bit of a like a Jeff Rosenstock kind of ah feel to some of this. Like when you're playing it like this. Yeah. You really like yeah leans into like bomb the music industry. Jeff Rosenstock. That is a perfect. Yeah, that is exactly what I was. I was here and I couldn't have put my finger on it, but that's that's what I was thinking about that one for sure. And and the bands that tend to lean in that direction are the ones that I like a little bit more, okay right? um As opposed to like, you know, the super acoustic ones, not to say like, depends on what it is, but I'd say like, yeah, I have, ah there's not a lot of mileage out of an acoustic guitar from when I'm listening to it. So yeah, um yeah to your point, like, it's just, but the sing alongs are what I'm here for. So the catch or the song, the more likely I am to
00:41:54
Speaker
ah to be into it. Yeah. If they got the hooks, they got the hooks, right? like got Absolutely. um So this next band ah is like TikTok famous. okay They actually got blown up by the the the podcast Sawbones, which is actually an influence on my writing. I love Sawbones. It's a great podcast. That's one of the um ah the what are they called those those brothers my brother my brother and me um and this is what they're one about medicine okay and then but then they and and one another one of their songs got super huge on tick-tock and that song is called I love you like an alcoholic by a band called the taxpayers
00:42:43
Speaker
This is fun.
00:43:03
Speaker
is a... I was going to say, the washboard's the only thing missing. Yeah.
00:43:20
Speaker
This one's like a little more musical than a lot of the other ones so far.
00:43:34
Speaker
It's a lot of words.
00:44:01
Speaker
I dug that one. That was all right. It's fun. Yeah. Yeah. they they got ah They got streams, man. Yeah, I can see why. That's pretty good.
00:44:12
Speaker
ah So we're that was 2012 that that song came out. I think they blew up quite a bit later than that, but This ah this next band. This is a band we played on the show before and it we needed to play it because man They were just so big, you know, and like this was this is the crustiest. This is where the punks come to really ah Play really fast and might be a washboard in this one. This is days and days Oh philanthropic drunken loser
00:44:52
Speaker
on fat, right? Are on
00:45:32
Speaker
Whoa, they even got a cajon in there. They're getting crazy. I think that's a cone anyways.
00:45:52
Speaker
How big is this band? Five people? Five members? Four. Four? I believe four, yeah. I know I saw them play live once. It was really good. It was a scary show, though, like we we had to get snuck in. We were supposed to be like on the list, I think. And then the guy who was promoting it, like um it got weight it was at Mama's Pizza. OK. And he like oversold the show and it just became like this huge like fucking thing, like where it was just like punks everywhere. It was a really good show, but it may have been the only show that ever made or sold at that venue.
00:46:31
Speaker
too It was packed like this band was so big at one point, right? Like they were supposed that like and they're they still are I would say like I think they're still really really like them and their other band escape from the zoo um But man, I just remember that it blew up and it's probably this is probably that their popularity and going to that show is where I Pete I think right and and I think this is where I started to drip down also I would say for
00:47:02
Speaker
I mean, this is just speculation, but probably for most people who are not really into the genre or just know the gen genre peripherally, Days and Days is probably what they think of when they think folk. I'd say so. but Like I would say they're probably the most, like mainstream isn't the word, but probably the most ah accessible, one of the most accessible folk punk bands that are like legit folk punk, I would say.
00:47:29
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with that. That's a really good entry point, right? Yeah. You're trying to get into the genre and you're already like a punk rocker. Totally. Like you can listen to them. They're on the fat. They, the records are produced a little more clean than some of the other stuff. You know, like just not clean, but you know what I mean? Like they, it sounds like they tracked the instruments separately and then mix them together. You know what I mean? Like it's, right there's a little bit, a little bit of production value in there.
00:47:54
Speaker
Yeah. You're not going to hear like that. Those like fuck ups that you heard on those other songs necessarily. right like all the screw ups Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. Um, this next band is one from 2013 that got YouTube famous. And this is when the emo stuff, like the Midwest emo started to creep into the folk punk scene. Right. Uh, this is a band called the front bottoms with a song called twin size mattress. Now I might be wrong, but I believe front bottoms is a 30 rock reference.
00:48:26
Speaker
which is always good that's your worst
00:48:54
Speaker
really heavily rolling in the emo, was the folk punk and say like Midwest
00:49:08
Speaker
No, because Midwest emo was way more popular in the mid-90s and folk punk didn't really pick up until the mid-2000s. And by that point, the kind of emo that was really popular was not the Midwest. Right, it was like Molly all by that time. Yeah, exactly. So I think it wasn't until Midwest emo kind of, like when mainstream emo fell down, Midwest emo kind of came back up that it got melded in.
00:49:33
Speaker
Maybe it was just that they were like just ships in the night, right? It might just been that uh, my buddy phil who was into this and also into midwest emo the first time around You you just I I just kind of always conflated the scenes and sort of thought that they were sort of over lappy, but I guess not Yeah, and I mean i'm sure if you're a fan of one you were a fan of the other But I don't think that they really hit this kind of crescendo until about yeah mid mid 2010s interesting Um, we've got a couple more left. This next one is, uh, this is a little bit more experimental. So this is Seshie. Uh, the song is called This Won't Last Forever. And now we're going to try to throw some hip hop in the mix. Whoa.
00:50:29
Speaker
There's always a lot to, like, like emo rap. Like, yeah your, uh, St. Francis, your atmospheres. I don't know, man. Sounds a lot like Everlast to me. This sounds like the middle of the 2000s.
00:50:58
Speaker
Like there's just something about this that it like it sounds like mid 2010s.
00:51:09
Speaker
It's alright though, it's a jam. Yeah, using folk instruments and then throwing some like hip-hop over top of it. Yeah. Trying something new. And I feel like um that kind of like a I'm guessing the rap involved is kind of a little more like conscious, socially conscious type of rap. So that like, or at least introspective. Yeah. Yeah. Like, and that makes sense. It, it all makes sense rolling it together. You know? Yeah.
00:51:40
Speaker
All right, this is the last one. I thought, ah just like all the other primers, we're gonna end in the modern era, 2024. This is a new band influenced by all the ones before, but you know, this is for the for the new era. This is a band called Apes of the State, and this is their new song, What Am I Doing With My Life?
00:52:11
Speaker
That's like the first bass that I've heard in 17 songs.
00:52:20
Speaker
That's a really good point. Just a treble-y genre. yeah If you don't have to rent a subwoofer with the PA you can put on a show for cheaper.
00:52:53
Speaker
Yeah, this band tours hella prolifically correct. like They did like a couple of hundred shows last year or something. so Yeah. Yeah, they're crazy. They're serious business. Yeah.
00:53:13
Speaker
So good. I really like them. They're awesome. That was a more Johnny Cash type of train. I love that beat. The three songs that we played today that had them, I think were my favorite ones. Plus wing nut dishwasher union. Yeah, that one too.
00:53:37
Speaker
So the ones that we didn't talk about, there's so many, but a lot of the, like Pat the Bunny stuff where we missed, like Johnny Hobo, Ram Shackled Glory, his brother, Michael Jump Shot Touchdown Pass, which is such a crazy name.
00:53:50
Speaker
um ah Matt plus ghost mice rent strike sister wife sex strike Brooke pride more Yeah, like I said, I left out the Celtic punk stuff I left out the steampunk
Conclusion and Upcoming Primers
00:54:02
Speaker
stuff. So I don't know how familiar I was like Steampunk music like the men who will not be blamed for nothing the only i I'm only Familiar with it in that there was some steampunk's that lived next door to a friend of mine And when they would have parties they would stand on their backs porch and plays steampunk music and their steampunk outfits and it was ah pretty fun.
00:54:26
Speaker
it like There's definitely the like the Dresden dolls kind of thing, like where they would listen to that kind of stuff. um But the actual like punk music is crazy, and it is ah it's a whole thing. so ah yeah The men who will not be blamed for nothing, if you haven't listened to them, check them out. um the yeah I didn't listen to like and didn't put on like the violent femmes, I guess you could say, or folk-punky. World Inferno Friendship Society, I still feel like they deserve their own primer one day.
00:54:54
Speaker
uh but that's that's folk punk what do you think joey are you converted no or do you think the listeners have learned something i think the listeners have likely learned something um i'm sounds good i'm been in about the same position that i was before unfortunately
00:55:10
Speaker
Well, let's wrap it up. Thanks for listening to Checker Pass. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Blue Sky at Checker Pass Pod, or send us an email at checkerpasspod at gmail.com. Support the podcast, you can sign up for the Checker at Patreon. To get the episodes uncut in both audio or video format, or you can buy some merch at checkerpass.ca. Our trombonuses are engineered and edited by Joey.
00:55:30
Speaker
That's me. And our trombonist theme was provided by Keelan. Next week we conclude our January primer seers with primer on psychobilly. It happened. We getting billy up in here. and Until next time, I'm Rob. I'm Joey. And in the immortal words of days and days, people are ugly, people are hateful, ah except you check her head.