PUNK ROCKER

ARE PUNK PODCASTS THE NEW ROCK N ROLL?
Podcasting is a great platform. Especially if you wanna introduce your band, music, fanzine or just air any perverse views you like. It started with audio plus those
faceless blogs, but now its definitely video. Human beings just love
watching other human beings perform in all their beautifully
grotesque forms. Which can attract potentially bigger audiences
than just yourself, if you find the right nieche. Video Podcasts really
took off during the restrictions of Covid with everyone having so
much time on their hands, no gigs or socialising just us home alone.
So they sought other avenues of communication. Primarily bands
took it up to inform their fan base on what's going on etc. These
days however it's primarily infested with scenesters and any old
Tom, Dick or Harry who wants to vent their latest spiel on the punk
hordes. You do get the feeling early on it could also easily become
a bitch fest just for the sake of bitching. Lets face it feuds,
squabbles or just plain old hate is a big crowd puller in this day 'n'
age of close circuit culture and bear pit dissension amongst punks.
Which in itself can be amusing, but also annoying if the content is
purely made to get some shock value. But if they really mean it
maaan that's another story. You can always just switch off!
Podcasts seem to be growing more popular as the rhetoric gets
more personnel and the voyeurism becomes the norm. You can
view them on YouTube, TikTok etc. or basically any platform you
like. Most of 'em are on every platform to gain the maximum coverage. But for this editorial It's on YouTube I discovered these characters. I have to admit for a brief moment a few years back, I contemplated doing one myself for this site. But can hardly find the time for this webzine, let alone a podcast. And to buy a camera tripod or mic, plus all the other video editor paraphernalia was way out my technical know how. But if the truth be told, no cunt would understand my lingo anyway. The better podcasters have a certain pan American accent which is prevalent no matter what part of the States you reside in or so it sounds to me. I'm told you can produce podcasts on good phones too, if your technically savvy. Which most kids are these days. So give it a go if you wanna make a few quid out of it or end up ranting to an audience of none, like this site tee hee!
I did however find some amusing punk podcasters on my recent trawl which inspired this editorial. They seem to be a steady growing trend amongst the punks and give people the opportunity to share with us some info or talents or just basically snide takes on everything associated with punk. Some even consider themselves "influencers". Which is a term that makes me laugh out loud! Surely originality counts for semert these days? So do it yourself. Or am I living in the past? It seems like it's a race to build up the most subscribers or Patrion's which is a badge of honour to most of em. But I never brought into that Facebook bollocks of "I got more friends than you". But fer podcasters its like crack cocaine you always need more and is pure status. Because the more views they get, the more benefits they can receive. And the very good ones (depending on your taste of what's good or bad) can even make money out of it! So maybe they have influenced me? They certainly amused me enough to write this piece up on em. I could also see some young punks taking their word as gospel, which just shows what punk has become in this day and age.

People like the photogenic Erin Micklow (who I'd never heard of till I watched some
of her interviews from Rebellion festival on her Last Rockers TV podcasts
which were great). She has (63.99k subscribers) and Patreons pay money for
her services, which has opened a lot of doors to her online presence. She does
do a professional job with some cool interviews with most of the bands we rarely
get to see in person backstage. Although she is an undoubted poseur I have no
complaints. However there is also a dark side to podcast celebrity status on this
scale. Apparently her popularity has garnered a lot of jealousy too. She receives
lots of trolling from our crustier brethren who think she's too fake. So popularity
can make you also a target. She's "hated" according to most other podcasters in
the LA punk scene, particularly amongst the streetpunks. Because of her sparkling
clean punk image with not a spot of grime or sidewalk detritus in sight. She most
recently got into a fight in a bathroom of a low key punk gig. She's been accused
of being a bandwagon jumper, giving blowjobs to unsuspecting drunk punks (sacré
bleu!) and using her platform to dare I say it "make a living". Poseur or not, to be fair
even some punk bands make money out their product, so I can't see the problem
with that if it pays the bills, but it sure irks others.

Take for example Danframpt0n (14.9k subscribers) he's pissed off
and comes from the geeky punk kid angle. Now this guy is funny
most of the time. He excels in quick fire bursts of wit and
putdowns. However he seems to make Supreme Court judgements
on all and sundry. Almost everyone one in the US punk scene
(Erin Micklow included) has been outed (just coz he hates her tee
hee). Justin Sane from Anti Flag has had a severe roasting for
being a predator and Tim Armstrong from Rancid got it in the
face for Brody Armstrong, which is way old news, but not
according to Dan. His former punk idols like Fat Mike from NOFX
(himself another podcaster) got attacked by young Dan too.
These are just the tip of the list as I'd never heard of most of the other victims he's dissed. But its funny to see him make his own justification as he presides over his public court stand-up routine or taking a swipe on other peoples beef just before giving them the death penalty. Once you delve a little deeper you realise he's probably just taking the piss big time or just another failed musician himself. After listening to some of his early bands stuff, maybe we can see why he's probably the bitter and a little twisted guy he is. Coz his band were fucking awful. So its quite funny when he rags Rancids 'Let The Dominoes Fall' album as being bad which was probably their last great album. He most certainly seems to have found his nieche as a war of words correspondent where no one is excempt from his vindication, which makes for a funny experience. But I suspect he could become a target at shows too if he riles up the wrong people. But he'd probably love the attention it would bring his channel. Just don't pick up that guitar again Dan purrleeease!

The other guy I come across was Randall Patty. He does the Punk
Rock Review podcast (5.95k subscribers). He's a 90's era
seasoned punker and a little older than Dan (?) or Erin (35).
Randall's 42, but looks about 52 (must've had a hard life). He's from
the Houston punk scene and is more focussed onto the music side
of things and runs his own record store. He's usually adorned with
sow on patches like a lotta American punks, which has become
a uniform. It reminds me of the Hells Angels vests with '1 percent'
patches, which are now replaced with band names. He films his
podcast with a massive record collection sitting behind him. Which
was strange, considering he'd never heard the first Clash album till
recently and doesn't much care for the Ramones either. Oh well the Unseen were way more exciting back in the 90's I spose. He try's to be more music orientated in his presentation and is less confrontational, which is good. However he don't know when to shut up. Even he couldn't help himself by jumping on the Erin Micklow bandwagon and you can see why. His viewing figures soared on her piece, but he did supply us with a no holds barred interview with her about the assault in the bathroom at a Still Pist gig which was compelling viewing. It all seemed to be amicable until he flipped completely towards the end which even left her speechless tee hee.

I've come to the conclusion most of these examples feature people who like the sound of their own voice way too much. They also seem to have a lotta time on their hands. Instead of giving us short, sharp edited versions. Erin opts for the more visual approach. The guys don't have that sex appeal, so give us long winded takes which are amusing for a short while, but eventually become a monologue. Which I suspect is where most of the viewers would switch off. But you can tell both the male podcasters would kill for higher viewing figures. Another thing I noticed is there don't seem to be many females involved in the video punk podcast scene? Maybe its a male domain as most of the ones I flicked through seem fat, bloated old trainspotter types. That could also be the reason Erin gets a lotta stick. She's got the most hits (amongst this bunch) and is a Woman heaven forbid. Upon closer inspection there are literally thousands of Punk Podcasters to choose from, covering all the diverse infinite genres of punk. But these were the 3 most diverse podcasts what come up on my YouTube listings. So check em out for yerself and see what all the beefs about. Maybe you could air your dirty washing in public or get influenced on diatribe like I was, it's your choice.
Sadistically yours
Peter Don't Care (July 2024)