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The Big Takeover Issue #93

AJ Morocco

AJ Morocco lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife and two dogs. He plays guitar in Bizarre Learning Center

John “Stabb” Schroeder: In His Own Words

29 September 2016

I had formed this band to make everyone in the world suffer for the hell I’d endured back in high school, so this was the perfect setting to unleash my anger.

Catching Up with Eron Bucciarelli

18 September 2016

“More people have mistaken me for Adam Levine from Maroon 5 than they have recognized me as Eron from Hawthorne Heights.” Drummer Eron Bucciarelli takes a break from touring to discuss fame, the summer of 1994 and how his band sued Victory Records.

Laugh Through The Evening

19 April 2016

Two very short stories: more sludgy rumination on my salad days. 25 years ago today, nerds from New Jersey spent the night wandering around New York City and I check out CBGB for the first time. Then I recount the first time I got onto the radio.

How To Not Interview Dangerous Birds

5 April 2016

I tried to interview an old Boston band called Dangerous Birds and became thwarted by sinister powers of cunning and treachery. Then a crusty librarian handed me an old photo of a shoe collection from the Korean Airline Disaster of 1983 and their whole lie unraveled, along with my interview.

The First Time I Heard Punk Rock and Hardcore

21 January 2016

I thought about the Dead Kennedys as I sat silently on the bus. I couldn’t understand a single word the singer was saying, it all just sounded like incoherent babble. He sounded like some kind of depraved nerd. At the end of the day, I shook my head in disbelief about punk rock.

Come Flyer With Me: A rant about DIY advertising, money, art, Facebook and dissapearing public spaces in Denver

25 September 2014

Come Flyer With Me: A rant about DIY advertising, money, art, Facebook and dissapearing public spaces in Denver. Recently I was handing out flyers in downtown Denver and a funny thing happened. Almost everywhere I went, I was asked to leave.

Negative Degree

Things to Do in Denver When You're Punk: Negative Degree

29 May 2014

Negative Degree talks about their favorite Colorado punk bands, their worst night on tour and how it feels to work in the service industry in Colorado.

Run For The Country: Riot Fest comes to Colorado

19 October 2013

In late September, The Replacements played their final show of 2013 along with Iggy & The Stooges, Flag, Public Enemy and Naked Raygun in Byers, Colorado.

King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath The Moon

7 September 2013

King Krule is the stage name of Archy Marshall, a British guitarist and singer. 6 Feet Beneath The Moon is his first LP. His voice erases a decade and a half of mopey indie rock and drops you off somewhere else, some street corner that you don’t even recognize.

A Tale of Two Record Stores

18 June 2013

A brief essay on music sales. Recently I went into two record stores in Denver and had drastically different experiences. It seems that in the wake of the economic downtown, independent music stores and corporate chains have a much different philosophy on their customers and what those customers want.

This Music: Pieces on Heavy Metal, Punk Rock & Hardcore by Lewis Dimmick

8 May 2013

Remember what it was like to be the youngest person at a show, surrounded by people three times your age? With all of those strange tattooed people with their smelly dreadlocks? Lewis Dimmick hasn’t forgotten what that time period was like, and in this book he explores some of his earliest memories of participating in DIY music.

WGTB Benefit Show: Rites of Spring, Dag Nasty, Embrace and Beefeater

26 April 2013

Audio and commentary from a WGTB Benefit Show held in Washington DC on December 4th 1985, featuring Rites of Spring, Dag Nasty, Embrace and Beefeater.

Mark Kozelek - Like Rats (Caldo Verde)

19 April 2013

Mark Kozelek’s new record is yet another collection of acoustic cover songs, but this one is unlike any of the others. It’s filled with mostly punk songs!

Sabbath_Header

Black Sabbath - The Lost Acetates and Early Recordings

23 March 2013

In 2003 an anonymous person uploaded the earliest known recordings of Black Sabbath to a file sharing website. The songs, “The Rebel” and “When I Came Down” quickly spread around the Internet. Both of the songs reveal a young and wildly kinetic Black Sabbath. Both are still technically unreleased.

Absolution - The More Things Change

26 February 2013

In the late 80’s, the scene in New York City had more going on than just slam dancing and hell raising. The city was also a legitimate melting pot of kids of all races, all classes and all religions.

White Laces

White Laces - On Infinite Sustain and Songwriting

4 October 2012

White Laces sound like distant relatives of Swervedriver or Dinosaur Jr, but it’s easy to tell that right away that they are ultimately headed in a different direction, one that is unplanned and largely uncharted.

Life's Blood

Life's Blood - Us vs. Them

3 October 2012

If you’ve never heard of Life’s Blood, then here is everything you need to know. They are, first and foremost, a New York City hardcore punk band that is both fondly remembered by some and reviled by others.

Landing

Landing - On Returning to the Scene of the Crime

2 October 2012

Landing have been called many things, including ambient rock, slowcore, instrumental (even though they aren’t), shoegaze, Mormon (even though they aren’t) and even space rock, a tag which they’ve learned to embrace. All of these things have served them well in one capacity or another with different audiences since they began in the late 1990’s in Provo, Utah.

The Plastic Billionaires

The Plastic Billionaires - Reconstructing of a Modern Classic

2 October 2012

For The Plastic Billionaires second release, they undertook a monumental task. They decided to re-record Brian Eno‘s 1974 classic, Taking Tiger Mountain (by strategy) in it’s entirety.

Cat Party

Cat Party: Heartache vs. headache

28 February 2011

Cat Party exist in the delicate space between punk and post-punk, but they’ve managed to avoid all the cliché pitfalls that have sunk the countless other bands who’ve tried to straddle this sound.