Towncraft was a compilation LP documenting the punk scene of Little Rock, Arkansas and released by DIY record labels File Thirteen Records, Ahoalton Records, and Lower Case Records. In the summer of 1992, Little Rock saw an explosion of high school punk rock bands after the departures of locals Trusty in 1991 and Econochrist in 1989. A number of youth felt it necessary to document the scene. After several meetings at Denny's with an attendance of over 30 adolescents, Towncraft was born.
Heavily influenced by the DIY ethic, youth run garage sales, bake sales, benefit shows, and a handful of generous donators would come together to put the record out. The 500 copies of Towncraft, sold for $6 each, and were accompanied by a compilation zine, which included entries from 12 different local zines.
The album is highlighted in a 2007 documentary also titled Towncraft and is not to be confused with the soundtrack which also contains songs by bands from the original album.
The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedom, and the DIY ethics, the culture originated from punk rock.
Hardcore punk is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk scenes in San Francisco and Southern California which arose as a reaction against the still predominant hippie cultural climate of the time. It was also inspired by Washington D.C. and New York punk rock and early proto-punk. Hardcore punk generally disavows commercialism, the established music industry and "anything similar to the characteristics of mainstream rock" and often addresses social and political topics with "confrontational, politically-charged lyrics."
Queercore is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically society's disapproval of the LGBT community. Queercore expresses itself in a DIY style through magazines, music, writing and film.
Tobi Celeste Vail is an American independent musician, music critic and feminist activist from Olympia, Washington. She was a central figure in the riot grrl scene—she coined the spelling of "grrl"—and she started the zine Jigsaw. A drummer, guitarist and singer, she was a founding member of the band Bikini Kill. Vail has collaborated in several other bands figuring in the Olympia music scene. Vail writes for eMusic.
Nervous Gender is an American punk rock electronic band formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by Gerardo Velazquez, Edward Stapleton, Phranc and Michael Ochoa.
Indie pop is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine, label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop.
Soophie Nun Squad is a DIY punk rock band from North Little Rock, Arkansas known for their jubilant stage performances which typically include costumes, puppet shows, and a large amount of crowd participation. The number of members varies from 6 to 11, but always includes a bass guitar player, a drummer, a guitarist and at least three lead singers. They are also known for bizarre song structures and topics, such as "Donkey Call" in which the singers proclaim they are giving up automobiles in favor of riding donkeys and encourage audience members to do the same and give their "Donkey Call", or loudly make the sound of a donkey.
Tim Yohannan, also known as Tim Yo, was the founder of Maximum Rocknroll, a radio show and fanzine documenting punk subculture. He also helped in establishing a number of DIY collectives, such as 924 Gilman Street, Blacklist Mailorder, and the Epicenter Zone record store.
Minneapolis hardcore is regional hardcore punk from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota.
Flipside, known as Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine, was a punk zine published in Whittier and Pasadena, California, from 1977 to 2002. The magazine was associated with its own record label, Flipside Records, releasing vinyl records and compact discs beginning in 1978.
Jason White is an American musician, best known for being the touring guitarist of the rock band Green Day. He has performed with Green Day as a touring member since 1999. He has worked with Green Day in the studio and on tour, and has appeared in various music videos with the band, including "When I Come Around", "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and "Last of the American Girls". He was briefly credited as an official member on the group's 2012 trilogy ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!. Prior to working with Green Day, he was a member of the punk band Pinhead Gunpowder, which also featured Green Day vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong. White has also been a member of a number of Green Day side projects including Foxboro Hot Tubs, The Network, and The Coverups among others.
The Greek punk scene was small but powerful in the Greek capital, Athens, in the 1980s. Bands such as Adiexodo, Genia Tou Chaous, Stress, Panx Romana, Ex-humans, Anti functioned as a bunch of related bands, who gave concerts together, in the same locations. Like elsewhere, punk attitude has been loosely used by various individuals, but most of the times the key element was the youthful anger and the provocative anti-establishment attitude.
The Nils are a Montreal punk rock band formed in 1978 by Alex Soria. The Nils first gained local notoriety upon the 1982 release of a five-song demo entitled Now. Their self-titled debut album was released to critical acclaim in 1987, and earned praise from Rolling Stone and contemporary punk rock bands, including Hüsker Dü. The Nils disbanded and reformed on various occasions in the 1990s and early 2000s, until the death of Alex Soria in 2004. In 2010 Carlos Soria reformed the band, and in 2015 The Nils released Shadows and Ghosts, their first album of new material in over 25 years.
Since the mid-1970s, California has had thriving regional punk rock movements. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda County, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Oakland and Berkeley areas.
Martin Sorrondeguy is the singer of American hardcore punk bands Los Crudos and Limp Wrist, the founder of the DIY record label Lengua Armada Discos, and a prominent figure in both the straight edge scene and the queercore scene. He currently does vocals in the band Needles.
Punk rock in Yugoslavia was the punk subculture of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The most developed scenes across the federation existed in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, the Adriatic coast of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and Belgrade, the capital of both Yugoslavia and the Socialist Republic of Serbia. Some notable acts included: Pankrti, Paraf, Pekinška patka, KUD Idijoti, Niet, Patareni and KBO!.
Towncraft is a feature documentary on the independent music scene in Little Rock, Arkansas from 1986 to 2006. Produced by Matson Films, Towncraft investigates the music that emerges from smaller cities and the importance of these local scenes, as well as their relationship to the larger music world.
Skinned Teen was a riot grrrl band from London, England, active in the early 1990s. They have been cited as an inspiration by Beth Ditto, Kathleen Hanna, Gina Birch and Josephine Olausson of Love Is All.
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcultural movement that combines feminism, punk music, and politics. It is often associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as having grown out of the riot grrrl movement and has recently been seen in fourth-wave feminist punk music that rose in the 2010s. The genre has also been described as coming out of indie rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a movement in which women could express anger, rage, and frustration, emotions considered socially acceptable for male songwriters but less common for women.
The Big Cats are an American rock band from Little Rock, Arkansas. They were formed in 1993 by members of various Little Rock punk bands, but shifted their sound from punk rock to early rock and roll.
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