The Adolescents to Lead the Punks at Respectable Street

More than a decade before Weezer’s “Blue Album” toasted undone sweaters, surfboards, and Happy Days, the Adolescents’ highly influential debut was well-known for its cerulean cover. Springing up from the ashes of Agent Orange and Social Distortion during the affectionately turbulent days of the Southern California hardcore scene in the…

Best Local Albums of 2010, #3: Torche – Songs for Singles

County Grind is counting down the best local albums in South Florida. Monitor our progress here.It’s been an interesting year for South Florida thunder-slinging pop metalheads Torche. The group got their gear stolen while on tour with Coheed and Cambria (stolen loot included passports so they couldn’t follow C&C into…

Cosmos to the Bubble: Travulous’ Personal Voyage

Back in July, the downtown Fort Lauderdale art space the Bubble held a memorable fashion show as part of a Red Eye satellite party. Several hundred people showed up to see local fashion designers and artists showcase their work. Models twirled in front of judges, and local musicians provided the…

Best Local Albums of 2010, #9: Shroud Eater – Shroud Eater EP

County Grind is counting down the best local albums in South Florida. Monitor our progress here.While the release of the band’s full-length debut ThunderNoise won’t drop until January, we’d be remiss to ignore the moody three-song EP by the heavy-rockin’, dirty riffin’ grrrls of Shroud Eater. (Sure, drummer Felipe Torres…

How Bazaar

Department stores at the mall don’t speak to your personal brand of flair. Gifts created en masse are anything but thoughtful. And the crowd champing for the clearance rack at various Sawgrass outlets seems to evoke sad comparisons to a cattle drive. Sure, you’re on a budget, but does your…

“Dinner With Benefits” at SoLita

First there were unemployment benefits when you lost your job. And then, hopefully, friends with benefits when your spouse left you after said unemployment. Well, the benefits keep coming at SoLita, the upscale, modern Italian eatery on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, known to entice diners with its hearty…

Overkill’s Overpowering Metal to Hit Culture Room

A band’s hard-core fans will always lament a perceived betrayal of its original aesthetic, audience, and/or values. (Cough, Metallica.) So then kudos to thrash icons Overkill for sticking to its roots and getting better with age. Like, seriously better. Emerging on the New York scene in the early ’80s, the…

Update: Torche’s Steve Brooks Appeared on Fox News’ Red Eye

Red Eye seems to be the immature, slightly annoying Fox alternative to high-minded news comedy hours like the Daily Show and Colbert Report; almost like the bratty punks of late-night comedy. But judging by the roster of musicians the show has invited on — Danzig, Fucked Up, Rob Zombie –…

Noise Ordinance Passed in Lake Worth, Second Hearing October 27

After what has been a long, bitter fight between nightlife businesses in Lake Worth and several angry downtown-area residents, city commissioners voted Tuesday to enact a noise ordinance that will affect the city’s nightlife — or more precisely, its burgeoning music scene. Over the past few years, Lake Worth has…

D.R.I. Carries Punk Work Ethic to Culture Room

James Brown was the hardest-working man in show business, but veteran punk act D.R.I. is an overburdened standout among do-it-yourselfers, subsisting on little more than genuine punk values. Over the punk-metal crossover group’s 26-year career, the rotating roster has grown from living in vans and eating in soup kitchens to…

GWAR Spills Its Guts at Revolution

Pop stars and rock bands come and go, but GWAR claims to have lasted for more than 40 billion years, subsisting on crack alone. After originating from a Nordic-inspired, dildo-wearing freak show in a galaxy far away, the band made Antarctica’s icy wasteland its headquarters to inflict pain and suffering…

Home Is Where the Tensions Are

In 2010, independent-minded women still seem to violate our notions of order. Even though society accepts women moving up the career ladder, we also still expect them to be sources of domestic bliss. We want the everywoman to be superwoman. But women have slowly gained ground, and these ever-changing expectations…

The Many Colors of a City

Urban art and graffiti culture have always been debatable forms of expression. Well, at least to elitists and cops. Despite graffiti’s roots dating back to ancient Greece and further to the days of caves, it’s often compared to vandalism, which some say, has no place in the art world. But…

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Art

Ironically, almost a decade later, the September 11 attacks remain a divisive event. Some people use it as an opportunity to express latent prejudices (see the Ground Zero mosque) while some see it as a defining moment in how Americans can maintain what defines our cultural character. And then there…

Bleeding Through Subverts Emo for Metal Goals at Culture Room

Bleeding Through boasted an intriguing albeit guy-linered and slightly emo blend of hardcore and metal when it emerged from Orange County, California, in 2000. Following the rage surrounding Limp Bizkit and Korn, the band gained traction because of a heavily covered tour mishap with A Fire Inside: An equipment trailer…

Asspiss Won’t Hold Back the Punk at Respectable Street

Life isn’t easy when you’re a band called Asspiss. And the hardcore punk quartet felt the burden of such a name earlier this summer, when a show was canceled because of it. Booked to play Lake Worth restaurant-by-day/alleged new hot music spot-by-night Little Munich with bands Kill Now?! and Bartholin,…

Glow Job

When you were a child, you sprayed the luminous goo across your room to imagine the magic of nuclear meltdowns. During electronic music’s heyday, they lit your way through the arteries of rave culture. Now, despite that we’re bona fide adults, black lights still pull at our imaginations — if…

Exodus Brings Metal Mayhem to Culture Room

No one should hate Metallica more than ’80s Bay Area thrash icons Exodus. Even the 335,435 fans Metallica tattled on for sharing their music on Napster are probably less bitter. First, Kirk Hammett, named as the 11th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone, left Exodus for Metallica in…