Green Day: "The choice is: get bigger or quit. And quitting is never an option." - Mike Dirnt

If the real definition of punk is doing whatever you want, then punk should not be able to be defined by a sound. Green Day has maintained their punkness, because they've done what they wanted and not stuck to the same music format since Dookie. They've reacted to what is going on in the world.

I recently watched this unauthorized Green Day doc where most of the people in it thought they sold out and said that they told Billie what a bad idea it was to sign to a major. And it really annoyed me! Not just the fact that I feel like the punks, journalist, and DJ's in the doc where mostly saying that to prove they knew Green Day way back when, and to show that they are true DIY or die, but to anyone that attacks Green Day for selling out, I want know if they want their favorite bands to be struggling forever? Do they not want them to be able to dedicate their whole life to their art and live comfortably? Do they not want their band to have the opportunity to spread their message and music to the masses? Do they selfishly want to keep bands as their little secret? I guess there is the issue of having to sacrifice artist integrity or control to become successful or when signing with a major label, but many bands, and especially a band like Green Day kept all of their artistic control. I really feel like they would not of had it any other way. If a band really has "It", and a label is pushing them in a way they don't want, they can probably not sign to that label. Another thing in the doc I though was crazy was when Billie Joe got ostracized, or "86'd" from 924 Gilman, a Bay Area DIY space, for signing to a label. If they really loved Green Day and supported punk, did the people in that community really want them to just play their for the rest of their lives? When it comes to the lives of the bands, I feel like punk communities can have little foresight.

Green Day uses their position of being one of the biggest bands in the world for good. We need people like Billie Joe Armstrong in positions of power to scream things like "NO RACISM, NO SEXISM, NO HOMOPHOBIA, NO NAZIS, and FUCK DONALD TRUMP". It is so important for Green Day to create a space that rejects the shitty government and pledges allegiance to the underworld.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell

How can one band be so cool? What aligned in the world to make these specific people meet to create something so cool? Their individual looks combine to make one cohesive movement. They have a nerd, a emo punk, and the wild front woman with insane fashion and aggressive presence. Karen's on stage dresses were handmade just for her by her and her friend. They were messy, she later became a fashion icon. Their artwork is amazing. I don't know how they get it to evoke so much feeling. I feel the music in the art, and I see the art in the music. The title Fever To Tell makes it sound urgent. It's hot and it's sick. The lyric "They don't love you like I love you" is taken straight out of an email Karen O wrote to a boy she was obsessed with. "Maps" is the only song I like to listen to singularly. I only want to listen to this album as a whole. I don't really like it otherwise, again messy. The songs feel too cluttered on their own, but calming together. The pieces fit better together. All the hard stopping and starting needs to be experienced in succession.

You probably won't see Nick Zimmer smile, or any of them really. And that's okay. It's their look.. He's in all black. Black hair spiked up, he's so little. They were probably like "We're a rock band. We're here for the art and we're not going to smile." And it feels true. Not like the other bands you see with a stone face, just trying to be a band. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs feel more like an artist collective. A band like Yeah Yeah Yeahs did so many things first. I want to know how they knew to do those things. Who influences the influencers?

Fanatic Season 4 Episode 11 (SEASON FINALE PT. 1!!!!)

Hey!!! It's been a good Summer at WOOL. I truly love Wool FM and the community it has created and the creativity it has foster in the Bellows Fall community and beyond. I want to say thank you to everyone at Wool for making it real and making everything happen here. I feel lucky to be apart of it and to contribute to it.

As always, I'm using the last few shows to recap the music of the summer, and my time at Wool as a whole, and chance for me to get nostalgic. This was definitely a Summer of me listening mainly to the music I loved and discovered in high school. So a lot of Strokes, and J Cas, Vampire Weekend, Arctic  Monkeys, Arcade Fire, We Are Scientist, Peter, Bjorn, and John, .. I love it all.

Thank for listening or caring.

Julian Casablancas

Alex Turner, This picture has been in my room for years. 

Fanatic Season 4 Episode 10

TEN ALREADY!!!! Sorry for last week's absence, but this week is rocking. Today I saw a David Lynch medal ceremony honoring him. He was not in attendance, but it was still cool. Happy week everyone. Bad Moves is on of my favorite bands. I feel like Rooney should get more radio play. I'm happy to play them.