Every Friday the punk rock geniuses here at Dying Scene unleash some punk rock trivia. Today’s “fun factoid” is about the many creative outlets of Less Than Jake drummer and founding member Vinnie Fiorello.

If you know who Vinnie is, you probably either know him as Less Than Jake’s drummer, or maybe more commonly these days, as the owner of Paper + Plastick Records.  Old schoolers might even know him as the founder of Fueled By Ramen Records.  But his extracurricular activities don’t always involve music.  The dude also runs a toy company called Wunderland War and writes childrens books!  His book “Sometimes Robots Like Being Robots” was published last year under the much more sophisticated pen name Vincent Fiorello.

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I don’t know why I didn’t review Gogol Bordello‘s latest album “Trans-Continental Hustle” earlier, because it truly is a gem of the folk-punk genre.

Drawing inspiration from frontman Eugene Hutz’s life in Brazil, this album continues to ad to the immigrant theme of the Gogol Bordello tapestry. While maybe a little more conservative and a little less diverse than their previous studio release, “Super Taranta!” (2007), this album lacks no gusto whatsoever.

On first listening, I considered the first track, Pala Tute, a weak opener. Not to say it’s a bad song by any means, but rather, it just lacks the energy to be an effective introduction to the album. However, it has been growing on me. Track 2, My Comanjera, might have been more punchy.

I really enjoyed the mellow tracks of this album: Sun On My Side and When Universes Collide. The soft strumming of minor acoustic classical guitars really stood out as a beauty to me.

However, this album doesn’t lack it’s upbeat moments. Immigraniada (We Comin’ Rougher) was a return to Gogol Bordello’s punkier roots, sending a powerful message to the powers that be. Break The Spell falls into that line of songs, as well.

All in all, if you’re looking for a powerful album that will give you a worldly music experience, check out this release by gypsy punk sensation Gogol Bordello. I have no qualms in calling this release the best Folk Punk album of 2009.

Maryland punk band Deepsleep has posted a new song on their official MySpace page. Turn Me Off is the title track off their latest album which will be released in January on Grave Mistake.

You can listen to the new track here.

Australian punk act One Vital Word are streaming a new song titled “Early Days” on their MySpace Profile.

The song will appear on the band’s upcoming EP, due out sometime soonish on Pee Records.

Say Anything frontman Max Bemis has announced solo tour dates in February 2011. In addition, Bemis is promising a Painful Splits (Bemis’s solo project) release to coincide with the tour.

Check out the dates and locations here. [Read more…]

Recently reunited The Get Up Kids have released a new song from their upcoming record “These Are Rules” You can stream the new track Pararelavent here.

The Get Up Kids will be releasing a limited 7″ single entitled Automatic on January 11th. Shortly following, will be “These Are Rules” on January 25th off Quality Hill Records.

Their latest full-length album was 2004’s “Guilt Show”

Berkeley’s psychobilly act Devil’s Brigade is headed to the UK and Ireland next spring for a handful of dates. Check out the stops here. Be sure to also listen to their self-titled debut album, which was released this past summer on Hellcat Records.

As you may or may not know, Devil’s Brigade is the side project of Rancid bassist Matt Freeman.

[Read more…]

Southern California’s punk group The Neighborhood Complaint has uploaded the entire set of their recent show in a Hollywood dive. You can check out the videos here (there are 5 of them).

Singer/guitarist Dan McDavid wrote about the experience on his Tumblr, and you can read that here. It’s more a scathing review than anything else. But, hey, we all gotta start somewhere, right?

[Read more…]

X Pistols, the new punk-rock group that features members of punk acts such as D.I., Humble Gods, Doggy Style and the Kottonmouth Kings, have debuted their video for the track “Shoot To Kill” and you can check it out right here.

The group’s debut album, “Shoot To Kill”, is scheduled for a January 18th, 2011 release date through Suburban Noize Records and can be pre-ordered online here.

[Read more…]

Winnipeg, Canada’s ska punk band The Afterbeat is pretty excited about this new release of theirs that is an EP coming out December 18th. They are so excited that they have decided to post a 6 minute preview of the upcoming release. You can listen to it right here.

Apparently, The Afterbeat has a free EP available for download, but I am unsure if it is this upcoming one, or if it’s a completely different one. Either way, free music!