In this week's issue of Phoenix New Times, Melissa Fossum asks an important (well, important to us at least) question: What keeps old punks going?
Who better to ask than The Adolescents and Youth Brigade, bands easing into middle age despite youthful names? The bands are hitting The Clubhouse on Saturday, January 21, and Fossum spoke with Adolescents frontman Tony Cadena and Youth Brigade's Shawn Stern about punk's enduring legacy and why they've kept at it. (Spoiler alert: It has a lot to do with stubbornness.)
In our Shrapnel section, Lauren Wise brings us a Q&A with Anthrax's Scott Ian, discussing how 2011 -- which found the band issuing an excellent new record and sharing the stage with Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth as part of the "Big 4" shows -- was the best year of his life.
In my profile of Emperor X, I use C.R. Matheny's excellent album, Western Teleport, to determine (not very scientifically, to my chagrin) what makes the perfect "bummer jam." Matheny is an interesting case. Not only does he craft sublime indie pop, but then he literally buries it around the country and sends out GPS coordinates to his fans to dig up the treats.
Then there are shorter previews about The Toasters, Matt Hopper, White Denim, Boondox, and the Dead Meat Tour with Steve Aoki.
