Any Casualties Fans!!!????

[sUp3rMaN]

:read this:

[DudeAsInCool]

Welcome aboard, man. For those of us who are unitiated -- tell us about the band. All I know is that they are a NY Punk band, and that they may be similar to MDC (Millions of Dead Cops). Members include guitarist Jake Kolatis, vocalist Gorge Herrera, bassist Rick Lopez, and drummer Meggers --

Are they political? :strumma:

[DudeAsInCool]

The Hartford Advocate says 'they could be the greatest street punk band in the world today. And they're in the game for all the right reasons'. Here is Chris Harris's review:

The Casualties -- guitarist Jake Kolatis, vocalist Gorge Herrera, bassist Rick Lopez, and drummer Meggers -- could be the greatest street punk band in the world today. And they're in the game for all the right reasons.

In the here and now, "punk rock" seems to have become this generic stamp the mainstream requisitioned some 10 years ago -- a nonspecific term with which it could typify bands that are hard to pin down. Basically, everyone can be punk these days. But no, they're not really punk. Bands like Blink 182, Good Charlotte, and the Donnas are not punk bands. Maybe at one time they would've justified such a designation, but not anymore. They're even calling Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne "punk" now.

True punk sounds nothing like the Good Charlottes of the world. True punk is gritty, nasty, trashy, unrefined, loud, fast and raw. It's underproduced, dirty music that sounds like garbage.

True punk sounds like New York City's the Casualties, a gang of rowdy lads who've remained loyal to the ideals and lifestyle of punk music since the early 1990s.

"Bands like Good Charlotte, they're nice guys and everything, but I'm not at all interested in what they do," says Casualties guitarist Jake Kolatis. "Even they know they're not true punk."

The problem, says Kolatis, is that the fans of these bands don't know the difference -- at least not yet.

"Some of these young kids out there, they really don't have a clue sometimes," he says. "They're interested in what they think is punk, but they've got to take the next step, to find out what the hardcore stuff is. "

The Casualties formed back in the fall of 1990, at a time when New York City was a bleak and barren wasteland; The city's punk rock glory days had come and gone, and there were a few remaining punks left in the lurch. These stragglers, the members of the Casualties included, refused to leave the sidewalks of St. Mark's Place, and refused to see the world as it was, opting instead to roam the streets in search of a scene that had long since vanished.What fueled the formation of the Casualties was the band's collective desire to return to the heyday of punk rock, an era that hung on into the early 1980s, but then started to fall by the wayside thanks to the grunge movement.

Influenced by "Oi!" punk greats like the Partisans and Infa-Riot, the Casualties are a street punk foursome, with a passion for playing 1980s U.K.-era style punk music, in the vein of the Exploited, Blitz, and GBH. Not only does the band sound like true punk, they've got the punk pride, the "world be damned" attitude, and the style to match -- the multicolored, alpine mohawks, the spiked and studded jackets, the disaffected scowls.

While it's certainly true that the Casualties embody everything that is right about punk today, they're about as fresh and new as a head of browning lettuce; Critics have accused the Casualties of being "stuck" in a late 1970s punk rock mindset.But Kolatis points out that there isn't much room for experimentation in punk rock these days. When punks do dabble musically, the results are often rewarding and can lead a band toward the fruits of pop acceptance. But is it still punk rock at the end of the day? That's up for debate.

"We know we're not doing anything new, but this is what we have fun doing," says Kolatis. "We don't want to progress too much. I mean, I'd rather put out a bunch of hardcore punk records than put out some experimental shit. That's where all these so-called punk bands made mistakes, putting out all this weird garbage and totally changing their style. I'd rather just stay the same, like the Ramones, and put out 10 of the same kind of record.

"Listen, we do what we love," he adds. "We're not stuck in a certain time frame. I think punk is timeless. There's still going to be kids with mohawks 15 years from now, listening to the same shit we're putting out today, and we'll be making the same shit."

On its latest album, 2001's Die Hards (SideOneDummy Records), the beer-guzzling, glue-sniffing band -- rounded out by vocalist Gorge Herrera, bassist Rick Lopez, and drummer Meggers -- belt out fierce and raw street punk, with horrid, screamy vocals only a punk rocker could tolerate.There are loud, snarling guitars, street-teen angst galore, and all the other fun and games that are expected from reactionary punk rock, created by a band focused entirely upon creating an aura of deep-rooted punk rock supremacy.

It's far from groundbreaking, but it proves the Casualties are the best street punk band in the world -- in the game for all the right reasons.

Not that Kolatis wouldn't love to attain the level of mass popularity bands like Rancid and AFI have reached, without fully abandoning their more extreme punk style. He just doesn't see that happening any time soon -- not even with the band's forthcoming album, due out in August.

Today's punk scene is, after all, supported by young audiences -- not the experienced, older crowd that was its bread and butter in the late '80s. It's basically the only genre in which the fans stay the same age and the bands keep aging.

"The old crowd is dropping off because some people think they're too old for it," he says. "When you don't have a band, sometimes you have to conform to things, the world around you, and change your ways, cut that hair, get a job or something like that. All the kids that you grew up with in the punk scene are leaving now, so you're kind of just left there.

"And, that's good, I guess," he says, "until we get too old for it. But, we're all in our 20s. I think we have a couple of years left."

http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/gbase/Musi...ml?oid=oid:5449