Netpunk August 2001

Well hell, you might as well this month's column "Travelin' with Luk Haas" because Luk sent me a whole slew of sites representing punk from all over the world.  Boy, it makes my job easy; I'll tell ya.  I also have a bunch of other stuff for you, including some nifty online zines, and a site that you won't want to show to your religious relatives, unless you want to get a lecture on blasphemy.

We'll start off in Nepal, vacation land of the hippie, where you'll find a 3-piece punk band known as Rai Ko Ris.  There isn't much to their website, but you can find out a bit about their philosophy, listen to some of their songs, and read their lyrics and the translations.  Visit their site at http://www.geocities.com/raikoris/ .

Brain Failure is a band from China, and they've got a pretty slick looking website.  Unfortunately, several of the links didn't work, but you can buy their CD and other merchandise for pretty reasonable prices (for imported stuff) from http://www.naozhuo.com/ .  Another small site dealing with Chinese punk is at http://www.columbia.edu/~asl113/ , so take a look.

Heading to Estonia you'll find a huge site dealing with punk rock at http://punk.bumpclub.ee/ .  Unfortunately, I can't read a word of the damn thing.  But, I can look at pictures and download MP3 files, and it is fun for that reason.  A couple of the bands on here have English versions of their pages, but for most of you it will be look and listen, but not read.

Just South of Estonia is Latvia, and they also have a kick-ass website dealing with underground music.  TORNIS, at http://www.tornis.lv/ , includes a translated (to English) version, and has a lot of mp3 files, information about the Latvian scene, a mail-order section, a gig list, and a handful of articles.

Heading south again, we come to Lithuania, where you'll find yet another website, this one at http://www.hardcore.lt/ .  Its called Vilnius Hardcore, and it offers the usual lists of bands, clubs, zines, mp3 files and links.  One very cool section is "A Punk Guide to Lithuania", which includes advice on getting into the country, how to catch a taxi, buy food, find a place to stay, etc.  Pretty basic, but a good start if you are planning to visit. (By the way, I don't know my geography as well as the last three paragraphs would have you believe, but  http://www.geographic.org/ made me look like I did).

Okay, so that's Luk's contribution this month.  It is probably time for me let you know about some stuff that I found for myself (or you sent me, or whatever).  First up is the home page of Razorcake zine at http://www.razorcake.com/ .  Razorcake rose from the ashes of Flipside (which I didn't realize had died) and has many of the same writers.  The online site includes some of the stuff from the zine, and some original content.  I wish they had some info about the demise of Flipside, however, because a web search hasn't revealed why they quit publishing.

Next up in the fanzine department is Friend of the Devil online at http://freespace.virgin.net/sat.666/home.html .  Lots of interviews here with your favorite crust, grind, hardcore, etc bands, as well as reviews, and some political stuff.  They also have a mail-order section, but it is geared toward the UK, which is where they are based.

Also leaning towards hardcore, black mental and the like is Dedkitty (http://www.dedkitty.net).  There are a pics and reviews of a handful of bands, and a few movie and book reviews, a links page, and Dedkitty radio (hosted at mp3.com).  While you're there, visit the Free Hosting Reviews in the "stuff" section.  Nice resource.  Also, you can get yourself a free dedkitty.net e-mail address.

Mention free hosting brings to mind a couple of sites that you'll want to check out if you're looking for a better place than geocities to stick your web pages.  I think I've mentioned it before, but WorldWidePunks (http://www.worldwidepunks.com/) offers free webspace and free e-mail, as well as punk forums, chat, reviews, a gallery and more.  Scumm.net (http://www.scumm.net) also offers free webspace, and they also have their own sections on tattoos, music, art, poetry, and more.

Finally, to round out this month's column, it's the sacrilegious site I promised.  Point your browser at http://www.jesusdressup.com/ and outfit their savior in the latest fashions.  There's no reason for Jesus not to be fashionable when he is just hanging around.

Okay, I'm outta here.  You can e-mail me at netpunk@diehippiedie.com, or send me snail mail at PO Box 8059; Santa Cruz, CA 95062, though nobody ever does.  See ya.