Category: NEWS

Punk Rock Bowling 2015 Club Shows Announced

Danny Baraz March 9, 2015

My favorite and most anticipated part of the Punk Rock Bowling weekend are the club shows. The club shows are by far the most intimate way to see legendary bands play in small, Downtown Las Vegas venues on Fremont street. All the club shows take place after the headlining bands finish their sets at the festival. The club show lineups were announced today and once again, there are some sick fucking shows taking place at night after being in the sweltering heat of the festival all day. GBH, The Dickies, The Weirdo’s, Strung Out, Pulley, The Crowd, Cadillac Tramps, 7 Seconds, Frank Turner and the English Beat are just a few of the announced bands that have been slated to play underrated downtown venues like The Fremont Country Club, Backstage Bar and Billiards, The Country Saloon and Beauty Bar. This year, The Stern brothers and BYO have also added The Bunkhouse Saloon as a new club show venue. As always, you can expect surprise guests like last year’s Cock Sparrer surprise set at Backstage Bar. I also noticed that the band No Parents has made it on the bill for a club show. No Parents have been making their rounds in

Girl Band: Noise Rock Outfit Release A Video And First US Dates

Danny Baraz February 20, 2015

Noise Rock has made quite the evolution over the decades and nowhere is that more apparent than with emerging, Irish Noise Rock outfit, Girl Band. Girl Band take all the chaos and aggression of it’s predecessors and turn that foundation into a highly groovable and danceable expression of rage and frustration. If you’re not familiar with Girl Band, their new video for the track “Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage” is a great place to start. I have to warn you though, it’s not for the squeamish. Autopsy’s, dancing cadavers and necro frontal nudity are the theme and a chaotic, distorted and sort of organic techno/dub step is the sound. Girl Band are releasing their first EP, The Early Years on April 21st on Rough Trade and it will feature a compilation of their rare works that have only been sold via their merch tables or mail ordered through their website. You can pre-order The Early Years Here. Girl Band are certainly a new act to watch out for. They are making their way stateside for the first time in March. They will start in Brooklyn, make their way to SXSW and then to California. With a gig at

Preview: “Multi Love” from Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Danny Baraz February 11, 2015

It seems like every two years, like clockwork, we are blessed with a new Unknown Mortal Orchestra release. Music snobs insist on a certain type of consistency without predictability from their favorite artists. I received an advanced copy of the title track from Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s forthcoming release last week but I never like to give my opinion on art in haste and I’m glad I waited. Art has a funny way of morphing your perception of it from one view or listen to the next. My initial thoughts on “Multi Love”, the title track from Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record was that it’s quite the shift from the filthy beauty of their previous works. It’s amazing how different recording methods can completely change the vibe of an artist. On “Multi-Love”, it sounds like there has been a pivot from analog recording to digital. It threw me off the first few times I listened to it but not necessarily in a bad way. It sounds so clean that it almost felt like a different band altogether but at the same time, Ruban Nielson’s vocals are unmistakeable and glorious. There is a guitar lick that comes in at the 1:47 mark of

New ho99o9 video: Casey Jones/Cum Rag

Danny Baraz January 29, 2015

Very few bands encapsulate all the different music we love at Janky Smooth into one band more than the band ho99o9. It’s not everything we love but it’s most of what we love, all in one band. We’ve been hyped on them since the first rumblings of their existence. Ho99o9 dropped a new song/video today and fuuuuuuccccccckkkkk. It’s the type of dissonant, distorted, digitized, angry and disturbed type of noise that can make my blood boil and give me goosebumps all at the same time. I hate to jock anyone but I give credit where credit is due. ho99o9 are the shit and we are more excited to see what they do in 2015 than we are about any other band. Ho99o9 are playing two L.A. shows this weekend and we highly suggest you make it to one, if not both. [button color=”pink” size=”normal” alignment=”center” rel=”follow” openin=”newwindow” url=”https://www.jankysmooth.com/free-show-lil-b-trash-talk-ho99o9-regent-go-wrong/”]Check out our previous coverage of ho99o9 live with Lil B and Trash Talk[/button] On Saturday, Ho99o9 are playing a free show at Church of Fun. Just RSVP at [email protected] On Superbowl Sunday ho99o9 is playing with Thurston Moore, of all people at THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY AT MOCA -152 NORTH CENTRAL AVENUE,

BABES Video Premier: “You and Me” Featuring Vice founder Gavin McInnis

Danny Baraz January 27, 2015

The band, Babes is taking Los Angeles by storm with their sexually charged, beautifully arranged, swooning, sad bastard music. Singer/Keyboardist, Sarah Rayne has stars in her eyes as she explains, “We’re Horny and we’re sad”. Babes released their self titled EP on Harvest Records in May 2014. The song You and Me is a dreamy eyed, romantic arrangement. The hook is so sharp that you never want it to end. This video for You and Me is a cut off the Babes EP and features Vice co-founder, Gavin McInnes. Janky Smooth is proud to unveil this new video to the world for the very first time. The concept for this video, as well as all of Babes other videos is ultra creative, entertaining and Gavin McInnes is prepped to take the world by storm with his acting prowess. He stars alongside Sarah Rayne as her love interest in You and Me and as with all of Babes music videos, there is a twist at the end. The band Babes is made up of siblings Sarah, Aaron and Zach Rayne along with Bryan Jeffrey and Jeffrey John. We expect big things from them in 2015 and we hope to see them

Janky Smooth Archives: FIDLAR Cheap Beer at the Observatory 9/19/13

Janky Smooth Central Command January 23, 2015

In honor of FIDLAR playing their first show in a year at the Regent Theater in Downtown L.A. tonight, we dug in our archives to find this video of FIDLAR kicking off their first headlining tour at The Observatory in Santa Ana. They were supported by The Orwells, Meat Market and The Garden and opened their set with Cheap Beer. It got REALLY nutty in the best possible way. Subscribe to our new YouTube Channel for exclusive live video We’re very curious to hear the new material. Will it be a new album full of classics like their self titled album released all the way back on January 22, 2013 or will it be more like the direction that they took on the song Awkward? We definitely hope they keep pushing the aggression envelope. Look out for our review of tonights show that will be posted this weekend and see you there.

Stream Django Django’s first new work in almost 3 years.

Janky Smooth Central Command January 12, 2015

It’s been almost 3 years since Django Django released their self titled album on January 30th, 2012. They took the world by storm with their cosmic, electro-surf sound. We’ve been wondering what happened to them for the past year and now we have something amazing to look forward to. Django Django has just made their first new work in 3 years available to stream and I can honestly say that good things like this are worth waiting for. This track, “First Light”, is true to the very finely crafted and produced form that made them an instant breakout obsession on their first LP. David Maclean (drummer/producer) and Vincent Neff (singer/guitarist) create some magic with the rest of the band in the form of dreamy and silky vocal harmonies, along with amazingly produced and completely original musical arrangements. [button color=”yellow” size=”normal” alignment=”center” rel=”follow” openin=”newwindow” url=”https://soundcloud.com/djangodjango/first-light”]Stream Django Django’s new track “First Light” here[/button] If this track is any indication of what’s to come then we are in store for an epic sophomore release from the dudes of Django Django. More info on the forthcoming release coming soon.

Coachella 2015 Lineup Announced: Let the debate begin

Danny Baraz January 6, 2015

Let the complaining, fawning, drooling, judgement, planning and questions begin. The lineup for Coachella 2015 has been released and of course, there are hits and misses. The bands that will be dissected the hardest are of course, the headliners. There is much fodder for critique. First of all: AC/DC? How stoked would everyone be if Malcolm Young didn’t have dementia and Phil Rudd hadn’t been arrested on charges of murder for hire? Kind of puts a damper on that set. Maybe we can all be wasted enough to close our eyes and just listen to those songs because not having Malcolm Young flopping around that stage definitely takes a bit away from the anticipation. And then there’s Drake headlining Sunday… don’t get me started. Whomever is playing that same time slot concurrently will be highly entertaining to watch because that tent will sparse. Last year, The Toy Dolls put on an AMAZING set while all the real estate at the Main Stage was occupied by the rolling eyes and grinding jaws packed in to see Martin Garrix. It was one of my favorite moments of Coachella 2014. That’s the cool thing about Coachella. No matter how much you hate one

Janky Smoothest Bands for 2015: # 3 Them Howling Bones

Danny Baraz December 20, 2014

I’ve been listening to Them Howling Bones recently released EP religiously for the past month without the benefit of the live show litmus test. I always hold off on praising a new band too much until I’ve heard what they sound like live. I’ve had my ear ball on them to place them on our list of one of the top bands to look out for in 2015 but without the live show, I would make no such proclamation. Last night, Them Howling Bones played a free show at Pour Vous with mates, The Bloodhounds. Them Howling Bones were putting em back at the bar before the show in true rockstar fashion. Something tells me that no excuse is needed for the band to reach total obliteration but it also happened to be Them Howling Bones bass player, Armando’s birthday. They did not tuck themselves in a corner when The Bloodhounds played their solid set of the more and more common rockabilly sound that is exploding in this Southern California scene. Even in the upscale setting of Pour Vous and it’s Parisian vibe with bartenders that are referred to as Mixologists, Them Howling Bones were able to transform the atmosphere

Punk Rock Bowling announces complete festival lineup

Danny Baraz December 16, 2014

Well, here it is! Punk Rock Bowling has announced their complete festival lineup today and it’s looking pretty fucking good. I’m not crazy about some of the headliners but my friend Josh tells me I really need to revisit Refused as I’ve never really gotten into them. Like any festival lineup, there will be hits and misses and it’s been amazing to watch the discourse on BYO Records, Punk Rock Bowling Facebook Group. Every step of the way, members of the group give the Stern Brothers grief and praise as new acts are added and others are left off to the joy and chagrin of devout Punks and loyal Stern brother disciples. My favorite part of Punk Rock Bowling is the post festival club dates that take place every evening on Fremont Street in Downtown Vegas when the festival lets out. Those acts have yet to be announced and I’m eager to see how they round out this one of a kind festival experience that features everything from pool parties to bowling tournaments alongside your favorite punk rock icons. If you’ve never been to Punk Rock Bowling then this should be the year you finally take the dive… the stage