Spring Break
Pinhead Gunpowder releases album after hiatus
Alejandro Valdes
Issue date: 10/17/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Seventeen years, 21 shows, and way too many releases to keep track of-this is the story of Pinhead Gunpowder. To most people, this band is just "the other band the one dude from Green Day was in," but they deserve more recognition than they are given.
Pinhead Gunpowder, like a lot of the bands from the Berkeley, Calif. area, defined the Lookout Records sound. Alongside Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong on guitar and lead vocals, Pinhead Gunpowder's driving force is its drummer, Aaron Cometbus. Cometbus writes most of the lyrics for the band, creates the art for the records, and distributes his self-published zine. He has also been in a ton of other punk bands-from East Coast groups based out of Florida and New York to a few Midwestern bands. Cometbus has even played in what seems like every punk outfit from Berkley in the early 1990s. Although Pinhead Gunpowder may seem like a group of local legends, they have influenced many other musicians and continue to do so.
Their latest self-titled EP came out of nowhere. The band re-arranged for the first time in eight years to play a small reunion tour and announced a new record in the works. Fans were excited to hear the good news about live performances, as well as the recorded music. Rumors stated that only a few live tracks would be recorded, but as rumors usually hold false, three new songs appear on the self-titled EP.
After a long period of anticipation, my copy of the EP had arrived in the mail. Playing the record all day long, I realized that this could be my favorite release from Pinhead Gunpowder.
Even though the band had not written any material in the past eight years, the recording is just good as their first release. I get a great feeling listening to this record, because it is easy to distinguish that Pinhead Gunpowder created these new songs as friends to make music-not to make big money off of their status in other groups. Armstrong even goes by the pseudonym "Wilhelm Fink," to stray from the popularity of his other musical endeavors.
Pinhead Gunpowder, like a lot of the bands from the Berkeley, Calif. area, defined the Lookout Records sound. Alongside Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong on guitar and lead vocals, Pinhead Gunpowder's driving force is its drummer, Aaron Cometbus. Cometbus writes most of the lyrics for the band, creates the art for the records, and distributes his self-published zine. He has also been in a ton of other punk bands-from East Coast groups based out of Florida and New York to a few Midwestern bands. Cometbus has even played in what seems like every punk outfit from Berkley in the early 1990s. Although Pinhead Gunpowder may seem like a group of local legends, they have influenced many other musicians and continue to do so.
Their latest self-titled EP came out of nowhere. The band re-arranged for the first time in eight years to play a small reunion tour and announced a new record in the works. Fans were excited to hear the good news about live performances, as well as the recorded music. Rumors stated that only a few live tracks would be recorded, but as rumors usually hold false, three new songs appear on the self-titled EP.
After a long period of anticipation, my copy of the EP had arrived in the mail. Playing the record all day long, I realized that this could be my favorite release from Pinhead Gunpowder.
Even though the band had not written any material in the past eight years, the recording is just good as their first release. I get a great feeling listening to this record, because it is easy to distinguish that Pinhead Gunpowder created these new songs as friends to make music-not to make big money off of their status in other groups. Armstrong even goes by the pseudonym "Wilhelm Fink," to stray from the popularity of his other musical endeavors.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Liz
posted 10/17/08 @ 2:49 PM EST
Super, thanks for posting!
Post a Comment