The Witzard

Ian, Joe & Amy (CORIKY) 2019 Fort Reno, Washington, DC / CREDIT: Claire Packer Not only has Alec MacKaye returned with his first active band in 20+ years, HAMMERED HULLS , his brother, Ian MacKaye , has now re-surfaced with a newly-minted group of his own: CORIKY [pronounced: "ko-ri-kee."] Supposedly, coriky is "a dice game, like liar's poker," according to photographer Mark R. Bacon. A recent Dischord Records press release simply explains, " Coriky is a band from Washington, DC. Amy Farina plays drums. Joe Lally plays bass. Ian MacKaye plays guitar. All sing. Formed in 2015, Coriky did not play their first show until 2018. They have recorded one album. They hope to tour." In their earliest aughts, CORIKY , then-unnamed, were often billed as "Amy Ian Joe (Name Unknown,)" "Ian, Amy & Joe," and, I've heard, at one point, were even toying with going by The Odds ; an homage to husband and wife, Ian MacKaye & ...

HAMMERED HULLS at Dischord House / CREDIT: Jim Saah Not only will Alec MacKaye forever be immortalized as the iconic "cover model" for multiple 7+12-inch releases for his older brother, Ian's bands, Minor Threat & The Teen Idles, he has, also, been in countless Punk/HarDCore bands of his own: Untouchables, (The) Faith, Ignition, The Warmers, and Bells Of.. MacKaye has not been part of a band, let alone any musical project, for 20+ years, following the demise of The Warmers with Amy Farina & Juan Carrera in 1997. After an extended self-imposed musical sabbatical, Alec MacKaye has finally returned with a new band. HAMMERED HULLS, featuring an array of Punk/HarDCore mainstays: Mark Cisneros, Mary Timony & Chris Wilson. Together, Cisneros, Timony & Wilson have played with Acquaintances, American Hearts, Autoclave, Chain & The Gang, Deathfix, Des Demonas, EX HEX, The Firebird Suite, Green 4, Helium, Hound, KID CONGO & THE PINK MONKEY BIRDS, Led Byrd, ...

I guess, at this point in my life, on the verge of 32, I would deem myself an "aging Punk" (I know, it's an extremely un-Punk thing to do!) but I feel, as though, before labeling someone else an "aging Punk," I should, at least, own up to my own dwindling status in the community/sub-culture. I've been listening to Punk/Hardcore music for about 17 years now; so, that would mean I first discovered the genres around 15-16, which sounds about right. I guess, if my memory serves me correctly, I discovered a bunch of formative 80's punk bands like Black Flag, Fugazi, Minor Threat, The Misfits, Samhain, Bad Religion, etc. through listening to Pop Punk bands, such as blink-182, Sum 41, and Green Day, during the early 2000's. I've always felt a special attachment to the worlds of Punk/Hardcore—attending amany sweaty shows dimly-lit shows long before I was even old enough to drink!—and oddly enough, the older I get, the more of an attachment I feel toward...

Hammer Hulls are a Washington, D.C./harDCore -adjacent band I've been hearing rumblings about for at least a year or so now; I always knew it involved Alec MacKaye —younger brother of Minor Threat & Fugazi frontman, Ian MacKaye —but wasn't exactly sure who else, but knew they had been playing shows both in and around the D.C. area. It has now been revealed that, in addition to MacKaye, HAMMERED HULLS , also, consists of bassist Mary "T$" Timony , guitarist Mark Cisneros , and drummer Chris Wilson . Hammered Hulls' members either are or were once active as part of bands such as Acquaintances , American Hearts, Autoclave , Chain & The Gang, Deathfix , Des Demonas, Ex Hex , The Faith, The Firebird Suite , Green 4, Helium , Hound, Ignition , KID CONGO & THE PINK MONKEY BIRDS, Led Byrd , THE MAKE UP, The Mary Timony Band , Medications, Mind Science of The Mind , Open City, Shake Ray Turbine , The Spells, Titus Andronicus , Ted Leo / Pharmacists, The Wa...

Run It Back is one of the more infrequently published "recurring" columns here at The Witzard : honestly, I don't even know when we published one of these last... but what I do know is that the column title is inspired by a Nottz Raw -produced Asher Roth track of the same name, which expertly samples The Misfits' "Return of The Fly." Minor Threat were East Coast Straight-Edge Hardcore/Punk contemporaries of both The Misfits and Glenn Danzig 's next band, Horror Punk pioneers Samhain , which even briefly featured Minor Threat guitarist Lyle Preslar . For me, personally, Black Flag , Minor Threat, Fugazi , The Misfits, and Samhain were my bread and butter while exploring Hardcore/Punk as an angsty 15/16-year-old during the age of Napster and P2P sites. Now, I know Minor Threat/Fugazi frontman and DC -based Dischord Records co-founder Ian MacKaye —like most well-traveled Punk/Hardcore musicians—has always been part of a slew of short-lived b...

"Nice New Outfit" (Track 01) by Chris Lawhorn (1.) What really compelled you to edit a bunch of Fugazi tracks together in the first place... and how'd you go about picking which parts to use? Chris Lawhorn: I love the band. I thought it would be an interesting project and an excuse to listen to their catalog in a new way. I used all of the songs in their discography -- apart from those on the Instrument soundtrack . (2.) Did you have to pay constant attention to stuff like pitch, tempo, rhythm, timing etc. When mashing the tracks together? Yes. With the whole album, I tried to group the tracks by tempo -- so that I wasn't mixing fast tracks with slow ones. And with the individual tracks, it was a matter of keeping each instrument in time with those from the other tracks by manually moving beats around. (3.) Do you have a background in Punk and/or Hip-Hop (even just as a fan)? Cause parts of it really remind me of both genres! In the late 90's...

For all intensive purposes, writer/director Scott Crawford was roughly 12-years old during the height of "Reaganomics" (1981-89) and of course, the rise of Hardcore Punk forming adjacent to the nation's capitol: Washington, DC . D.I.Y. fanzine publisher, Crawford was a fairy instrumental player attached to DC Hardcore 's initial burst in popularity. Around the same time, young Hardcore bands like Misfits, The Ramones , and Beastie Boys were making waves on the nearby coasts of New York and New Jersey ... Now, some 30+ years later, he's piecing together an end-all-be-all documentary to properly tell the story of the genre and city that he knows best! Salad Days: The DC Punk Revolution is scheduled for a 2013 wide release and interviews are still being conducted, but we already have 2 short "teaser trailers" to help whet your appetite. In an earnest attempt to fully convey the passion-filled story of DC Punk , Scott Crawford is currently re-intervi...

30 years ago today way back in 1982 - a greatly unique, [w]reckless, and promising young man passed away @ the hands of one last fatal "speedball:" John Belushi . He was an up-and-coming comedian, who really only revealed a segment of his many talents to the word while briefly on top. Belushi was a member of the inaugural Saturday Night Live cast (1975), along with buddies Chevy Chase & Dan Aykroyd . SNL -bred John Belushi characters which present-day audiences might recognize include: Jake E. Blues & Kuldorth [Conehead] . Following his 1979 departure from the popular sketch comedy show, Belushi appeared in a number of successful movies and assorted TV shows: National Lampoon's Animal House , The Rutles, 1941 , The Blues Brothers , and lastly Neighbors (1981). At the time of his sudden death, Belushi was working on a number of projects, which were ultimately cancelled. A little known John Belushi -related factoid is that he was an avid Hardcore Punk fan and ...