TONIGHT ON THE INSIDE STAGE
MOHAWKS, MULLETS & RATTAILS
1AM – BABY ROBOTS
12AM – COLOUR WHEEL
11PM – FRANTIC CLAM
10PM – PERFECT PANTS

DOORS @ 9PM

FREE / $5 for minors

THIS YEAR @ MOHAWK, WE'VE DECIDED TO GIVE YOU AN OLD FASHIONED PARTY. WITH LOTS OF WHISKEY, CABS HOME, CHAMPAGNE AT MIDNIGHT AND MAYBE A LITTLE TIMES SQUARE BALL DROP, MOHAWK STYLE. OUR PALS AT THE AUSTINIST ARE BRINGING IN CAR STEREO (WARS) ALL NIGHT AND THAT FINALLY COOL INDIEROKE INSIDE. THE GREEN ROOM IS OPEN AND STOCKED WITH YOUR FAVORITE BUBBLY. AND IT'S GONNA BE CHEAP, TOO. IT'S 21 UP ONLY AND IT'S $5. YEAH, $5. AND DRINK SPECIALS WILL CHANGE HOURLY UNTIL 2AM. COME CELEBRATE THE END OF 08, BUSH, CHENEY AND ALL THINGS KARMICALLY WRONG AND THE BEGINNING OF GOODNESS.

Good, cause we got more this weekend. So we're taking the day off to reflect on life and how to live it. And we're back on Friday with some kick ass rock n roll and, believe it or not, a couple a naughty Playmates roaming these haunted hallways. I hope they can google map the hawk from Pangea. Chief will be wearing a Hef smoking jacket, so the ladies feel at home. Chief will be rocking a chubby as well.

FRIDAY – MO – TOWN – CHANGING THE FACE OF MEN'S HEALTH
DJ SETS BY POPNOIR SOUNDSYSTEM & PREPMODE UPSTAIRS
LIVE SETS DOWNSTAIRS FEATURING :THE SANDWORMS, SPECTRE IN THE CAB, YOU MAKE ENGINE & THE STEPS – IT'S A BENEFIT & THERE'S GONNA BE PLAYBOY MODELS. LIKE YOU NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING MORE.

SATURDAY NIGHT – RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA'S THE ROSEBUDS KICK OUT THE JAMS OUTSIDE WITH OVENBIRDS AND MASONIC. AND LATER INSIDE ROBERT GOMEZ STRUMS, SINGS AND POURS HIS HEART OUT. OPENING INSIDE – SARAH JAFFE.

You'll be sick of the family anyway, so get your groove on at the 'Hawk this weekend. So get stuffed on Thursday and burn the calories this weekend in our house.

PS: Happy Thanksgiving to all you long time Mohawk supporters. We will shoot liquid Thanksgiving (Wild Turkey) in your honor today, and tonight. We are thankful for every last one of your stanky asses. I'm getting emotional just thinking about you. Gonna consult Morrisey.

"Just waking up in the morning gotta thank God
I don't know but today seems kinda odd
No barking from the dogs, no smog
And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog"


N.W.A. = STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
There are two threads of history that explain the importance of this record:

One. 1980s: EAST COAST DOMINANCE.
Rappers from the East Coast pretty much ran the hip-hop scene for most of the 1980s.

I think we all know about Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Fives’ ‘The Message’, and Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rappers Delight’…and the fact that these tunes were a huge part of the spark that ignited the flame. These ideas were very punk rock at the time, because of how different they were, but they also began to sniff the Billboard Top 40 charts. Kurtis Blow’s ‘The Breaks’ and ‘Basketball’ also dealt heavy blows during this time. Artists such as Run-D.M.C., Biz Markie, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, The Fat Boys and EPMD all drove the scene and were considered pioneers that were firmly rooted on the East Coast. In fact, Kurtis Blow (Kurtis Blow), LL Cool J (Radio) and especially Run-D.M.C. (Raising Hell), were among the first hip hop artists to ‘break out’ and gain significant acceptance from the mainstream media, as proven by record sales and radio successes.

Two. FREE SPEECH SUPRESSION IN AMERICAN MUSIC.
In 1985, as musicians started writing lyrics and printing album covers that rubbed sensitive Western taboos the wrong way, the Powers That Be – manifested by the RIAA and the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) – began a program of externally labeling all records with “offensive” or “explicit” lyrics in order “to educate and inform parents” about “the growing trend in music towards lyrics that are sexually explicit, excessively violent, or glorify the use of drugs and alcohol” (the transcript of the first Congressional Hearing on the issue is here; also, here’s a nice history of the PMRC). The result of this campaign was this little sticker:

Now, to be fair, most Government officials riding this hypocrisy train stated they had no intention of suppressing the 1st Amendment, and who knows, maybe they meant it…but all the same, as Congressional hearing after Congressional hearing came and went, people came to realize that there were far better uses of the Government’s time and resources than categorizing records by how many nasty words they contained.

And so, after a few years, the crusade died down as federal politicians (and their voters) began losing interest. The reality: the PMRC campaign against “offensiveness” soon became perceived as an overreaction to a minimal threat that, in the end, was just some cuss words or some scantily clad women on the cover of a CD. These were things that had been around for years, and, for the most part, parents were familiar with how to deal with them. Overall, the status quo had remained intact.

THE RECORD.
Then, just when everything had gotten quiet and peaceful (it was a Presidential election year, after all), a surprise attack came out of nowhere, a war began and a new subculture was born. A baby called ‘gangsta rap’ arrived on the scene…and it was pissed and hungry.

On August 8, 1988, N.W.A (“Niggaz With Attitude”), a rap group hailing from the housing projects of Compton, CA, released their second album, Straight Outta Compton. This monster was built by some relative unknowns at the time, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella and MC Ren, and it was filled with amazing samples by James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Funkadelic, Ohio Players, Kool and the Gang, Slick Rick, and even the Steve Miller Band, to name a few. It was a record that told an entirely new story that the rest of the nation, quite simply, had never heard before. A story of gang life in South Central Los Angeles and Compton, where life was, in a lot of ways, as lawless as the Wild West. Violence and chaos reigned supreme in this previously-unknown corner of America, and this was its sonic manifesto. This biographical story was narrated by a new type of artist…one that was combining its god-given talents with the hardcore, real-life stories from life on the streets of Compton. Truth. In your face. Motherfucker. Deal with it.

Straight Outta Compton was a best-seller overnight, eventually becoming the first record to ever go platinum with out any radio play. The album’s cultural impact was similar in effect to the release of Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977) on an unsuspecting rock world, or Elvis Presley’s first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. It obliterated expectations and ideas of “acceptability” by completely ignoring that they even existed in the first place.

“You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.”

With this line, the album begins.

This record was brutally honest, unapologetic, lyrically brilliant, and supported by our first real look at (the now legendary) Dr. Dre and his beats. No filler whatsoever. It was so strong, in fact, that this record lived more in headphones than at house parties for a while. People were taking the time to REALLY listen to this shit and better understand the criminal lifestyle and what life may be like on the other side. After that, they were hooked. Shit was on, and the door was open. It was now ‘OK’ to say things like ‘Fuck tha Police’, ‘A Bitch Iz a Bitch’, and actually admit that there was a ‘Dopeman’ out there. When I say ‘OK’, I don’t mean to the FBI or Secret Service or to Middle America Moms, mind you…but to artists and believers in free speech, this was a long overdue hall pass. Basically, this record helped wake a sleeping giant that was backed by a pesky little thing called ‘The First Amendment’. Holy shit.

Then, the movement came…like a tsunami…and it was driven by attitude and dressed with L.A. Kings hats and Raiders jackets. The West Coast had officially shown up to the hip-hop party, fashionably late, and in a fleet of tanks fueled by 40’s, bandanas, and gats. They were the doormen for some notable West Coast artists, including Ice T, Snoop, Too Short, Warren G, and Tupac Shakur (one of the most influential rappers of all time). It can be argued that this movement helped open the door for West Coast pop-rap as well, with the unleashing of Oaklands MC Hammer and his sweet pants onto the airwaves. ‘2 legit to quit’ was pretty lame, but you have to admit that ‘Turn this mutha out’ was the jam. And as long as we admit that, we also have to admit that Hammer helped open the door for crap…but that’s OK.

We could write about this record for days. Bottom line is: listen to it with an open mind if you haven’t done so already (5,000 times). This is one of those critical records that shifted the thinking of a generation, and it deserves some credit for that.

listen

If you like this record, you will love: All Tupacs records, All Ice Cubes records, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Too Short, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Dj Quick, Eminem, J.T. The Bigga Figga, and The Game…to name a few.
review by cash and chief of the TE dynasty

If you missed the eargasm that was last weekend, don't fret. We're cooking up more music magic this week.

Wednesday, to get ready for their opening slot later that night, Mike & the Moonpies are guest bartending from 6-8pm. Regular happy hour prices apply and Mike is cooking up a nice concoction he calls the Moonpie. It's delicious. And don't miss Charlie Parr later, a virtuous one man howlin' blues band.

Thursday November 13 – Local Hip-Hop legend Bavu Blakes and the Extra Plairs kick out the southern hip-hop jams.

Friday November 14 – KVRX takes over the inside and outside stages for their Presidential Party, featuring Cry Blood Apache, Pompeii, Daniel Francis Doyle, Dovehunter and A Faulty Chromosome

Saturday November 15 – The Triumphant Return of the King Khan & BBQ Show. You don't want to miss this.

Inside after King Khan – From New Orleans, Steve Eck & the Midnight Still and one of Austin's best kept bar rock secrets, Bankrupt & The Borrowers.

Tuesday Happy Hour – Robert Allan Caldwell – He's a got a beard and aint afraid to use it. Slinging the outlaw country you crave as the weather gets more tolerable. And later, we're showing movies. If you think your taste in film is better than ours, bring one in, we may play it for you.

Wednesday – GIMME GIMME GIMME INDIE ! Talkdemonic bring us the soothing sounds and cooler weather from Portland, Oregon.

Thursday – BUY LOCAL! Austin's local scene has kept us thriving for 2 years. The bands tonight are just a sampling of why. Many Birthdays headlines, with special guest openers Crushes, Wicked Pro Wrestler and Great Nostalgic.

Friday & Saturday – BEATS & TREATS – Over 200 artists have signed up for the beat competition. Doors are open at 5pm on Friday and 2pm on Saturday. Beautiful Supermachines, Hot Pentecostals, Fiction and more. The beats will be hard, the bass will thump and asses will shake.

* Intimate
* Yearning
* Wintry
* Volatile
* Theatrical
* Ominous
* Intense
* Enigmatic
* Earthy
* Dreamy
* Dramatic
* Cerebral
* Atmospheric
* Earnest
* Somber
* Reflective
* Bittersweet
* Poignant
* Laid-Back/ Mellow
* Literate
* Soothing
All this and they're a great rock band, too. Come see them on the outdoor stage before they head to Europe to play places you dare not dream about.

If you know who this crotch belongs to, buy him a whiskey for happy hour. He's back, and he's bitchier than ever.

Please slam your whiskey responsibly . . . Let someone else drive

The biggest, baddest collection of Power Pop from the old school to the new, featuring Paul Collins (The Beat) and The Boys playing for the first and only time in the U.S. in 25 years. Bring you're bad ass in your tight jeans, show off the ink and do the beehive right. It's on at the Mohawk this weekend. Tickets at the door, but get here early, doors at 5pm.

Giant beards, cowboy hats and sh*t kickers, Pure Luck brings outlaw country to the Mohawk inside stage. It's free, and if' you consider yourself a music junkie, you'll recognize most of the players from some of the best rock Austin has had to offer for the last 20 years. No joke. And it's happy hour til 9.

Keep the vibe going later when Lil Cap'n Travis, superstars in their own right, bring that alt-country to the inside stage. We're not spiking the drinks but there may be some pink elephants hanging around. Just don't give 'em the keys to your car. Openers Frank Smith and Silver Pines kick it off at 10pm

Brooklyn NYC art rock by way of Sub Pop (who else) brings it back to the outside stage. If you missed them last time, you just got lucky.

Tuesday Inside – Tennessee's James Jackson Toth brings it one-man-singer/songwriter style. Just right for drinkin' whisky, old school, 1800's type whisky. Opening is Duchess & the Duke, bringing back that garage folk we fell in love with last time. Restaurant begin the evening at 10.

Wednesday Outside Doors @ 7pm
Xiu Xiu just can't get enough Mohawk, and you can't get enough Xiu Xiu. That makes for a magical evening under the stars. And it's only Wednesday! Stick around for the after-party with Austin's Death Is Not A Joyride on the inside stage.

Thursday Inside and Outside@10pm:

We've got a killer local line-up with Brazos and White Denim. Listen for high-energy, post-punk coming from the boys in bleached Canadian tuxes, and float slowly back to Earth with the soothing sounds of Brazos' folk. Zookeeper and Peel kick things off.

Friday Inside @10pm:

Let The Real Heroes bring you out this Friday night. Think pop rock'n'roll with just enough edge to remind you we're on Red River. It's good. And from what we can tell, they seem to have a lot of very attractive friends, so come hang out with us, The Real Heroes, and the pretty people... see you there!

Saturday Outside @9pm:

I could probably come up with something to say about Monroe Mustang, but hell, let's let the writers have it. From your very own free weekly, the Chronicle:

Monroe Mustang
The Imaginary Band, Regretfully Declines
Improbably so, Monroe Mustang shuffled ahead of the herd. From early Floyd through Low, sleepy, often methodically precise lo-volume pop fills in the footprints of louder classicism. Central Texas' mid-1990s movement – American Analog Set, Windsor for the Derby, and Austin's imaginary fivepiece, Monroe Mustang – carved out an intimate niche now standardized by digital independence. The return of the Chronicle-funded songwriting cell (three members currently employed by the paper and a fourth off in France) arrives on the download-only just in time to pad around in the early morning without waking the rest of the household. Imaginary Band acts as a decade-in-the-making follow-up to 1998 Trance Syndicate debut LP Plain Sweeping Themes for the Unprepared and joins 2000 EP I Am the Only Running Footman and succeeding live set De Avonden with a carefully chorded jangle, each note just so. Brian Barry's sensitive stir rustles his fellow forest gnomes ..er "The Other Side," organ riding the muted plod of snare. Taylor Holland's note-wringing "Fenced In" opens into the narcotic flutter of "Found Out," while the bang-the-drum (quietly) march of "Calling for Kings" segues into side two's opener, the gorgeous "Marie Antoinette" ("take the lift up to the scaffold"), which crowns the proceedings like Le Roi Soleil. The second half doesn't hold the listener's breath nearly as compelling as the first, but the brooding playhouse "Stars and Flags" and "Waiting" ("hell is waiting for you"), whose steel-string build moves from single-digit ornery to aluminum-sided rattle, demonstrates that even imaginary bands must play on. (Raoul Hernandez)

Sounds good, right? Bombazine Black, and Audrey Lapraik open.

Metal Monday: Bring your mullet and devil's horns and drink some f%#&@ cheap cold beer

Tuesday : Smoking Popes, Koufax, Masonic – Early Show, doors at 7pm – Chicago's Smoking Pope's are gonna be burning through town on Tuesday night. Expect dark pop-punk from a band Ben Weasel thought was pretty cool. And they've been around since you were still in short-pants, so we won't be anticipating any amateur BS. Woo! Koufax and Masonic open.

Wednesday: Yndi Halda, My Education, The Non – Inside Show, doors at 9pm – So you rocked out on Metal Monday, and you smoked a fat pope on Tuesday, time to come down with Canterbury's own Yndi Halda. Their post-rock orchestra will bring you down nice and smooth. It's a cool trip, you know, without the evil elves... My Education and the Non open up.

Thursday: The Summer Wardrobe, Sea Legs – Inside Show, doors at 9pm – Come out and support your own homegrown psych rock.

Saturday – The Moonlight Towers – Inside – Doors at 9
Locals have been tearing up Austin bars for years. You want to party on a Saturday night? This is it. Buy Jake and Robert a bomb and watch the madness ensue on stage.

Tuesday – The indie pop of Earlimart all over the outside stage. Doors are at 7pm and the show kicks off at 8pm with Silent Sunset and then Zookeeper.

Thursday – Let the chill indie-folk Adeline and cheap ass, ice cold Lone Stars get you're mind off the summer heat. This is going down during happy hour, when the sun's blazing down on our tortured souls. Lucky for you, they're playing in the cozy, air conditioned confines of the inside stage. Later that night rock out with the Mock Tigers, First Curse and Drive it Like You Stole It.

Friday – Get down and dirty with New Jersey's Titus Andronicus. Bring a thirst for whiskey and an appetite for good old fucking bar rock. Opening are Austin's own Midgetmen, Four guys, fourteen degrees of feedback, forty beers, and forty-four minutes of fun rock.

Saturday – Get bent with California's Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti on the outside with special guests from Brooklyn U.S.A – Chairlift. Later Saturday night on the inside stage – A Faulty Chromosome.

And as always, come by for ice cold beers and cheap ass drinks, Monday – Saturday from 5-8pm

They don't pander to the truth. Or to anybody.

Indieroke is back!

Stop by the Mohawk early for happy hour and work up the balls to cover Jethro Tull later that night at Austinist Indieroke. Desperate attempts at covering The Ramones and The Clash will pour down like rain. Bodies will swarm on the mic like druken killer bees desperately wanting to nail Fleetwood Mac tunes for their friends. Shit will be thrown, vocal chords will be challenged, Allen will not sing (again). We look forward to seeing everyone there (except for one person, hrumphhh)...

Dont forget your Buttercup — Shits gonna get krunkt.

Click below to check out the details from last time...


The debauch

On Tuesday, the 22nd, FLOSSTRADAMUS airlines lands on Red River to bring another Party Ends jump off to the streets. Fresh off of the tour with Chromeo, the Flossmaster is scheduled to reset your Commodore 64 on Tuesday.
WIN FREE TICKETS HERE


Get yer tickets here
Check out a frenchy taste below:

King Kahn completely rocked the tits off the Mohawk this Sunday. He challenged the rooftop viewing station to 'puke off the balcony', but there were no takers. He was shirtless, with a cobra staff, a gold cape, and cheerleader back up dancers. He was a garage rock James Brown with the vocal chords of my Aunt Lou on a 2 pack a day bender. He was everything that we never get in Austin. He was a frontman built from earth, wind, and fire. He was sexy rock and roll brilliance.

Heres a look at his story:

"Some people call him "The Maharaja of Soul", some call him "Mr.Amazing", His name is King Khan and he should be known as the man who will save R&B. He was born with noble Indian blood and belongs to a tribe called the Kukamongas. His roots come from the jungles of love. His great grandfather was a sitar player and died an opium addict, he was the something like the "Johnny Thunders of the sitar".

"My destiny was altered at my birth, I was born in the cold frostbitten city of Montreal, Canada, very far from the jungle, but I believe that the jungle is where I belong. I am proud to be a savage. My family comes from a long line of musicians, since I grew up in North America, I found my true voice in the celestial music that is R&B along side my Kukamonga family."




"King Khan was born in the frostbitten land of Montreal. At the age of 17, he was kicked out of his home by his abusive father. He moved to the inner city and began a debaucherous life of drugs and alcohol. He lived for a while with the Mohawk Indians on the Kahnawake Mohawk Reservation who offered him a home when he was homeless. "I learned lots about being a punk from my Indian friends. We used to get drunk, smash cars, go hunting for white women. The Indians taught me about survival, being a real warrior, even if it involved drinking Budweiser, smoking Marlboro Reds and getting really high. They showed me the truth and I then I met a big bad wolf who told me that rockin' and rollin' is all that I can do. I saw the light. Even learned how to chew Red Man Tobacco, America's Best Chew. The Mohawk Indians put the savage back into my soul, even gave me a home, for that I will always be grateful."



"The band exploded in exactly one year, playing sold out shows all over Germany. The line up includes "His Sensational Shrines" which are a five-piece power house of Rhythm & Blues, featuring Rahn Streeter, voodoo percussionist, who has played with many Soul and R&B legends like Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Ike & Tina. Together with King Khan's "Royal Brass" (his blazing horn section) they make an unstoppable sound that will one day bring the music industry crumbling to its knees. "I'm only twenty three years old and am happy as long as I can write and perform my songs and share my voodoo with those who can dig it. Bo Diddley said it best,"Got tombstone hair and a graveyard mind, just 22 and I don't mind dying... Who Do You Love?" I believe that R&B needs to be saved and I am the man to do it. I wanna be the Muhammed Ali of R&B!!"



And with that...we say....nuff said.

Sweet photos by Pooneh

Amazing night at the Mohawk. This band is for real. I know we all get skeptical when there is a ton of mainstream press on a 'buzz band', but these guys deserve every lick they get. Thank you to Sub Pop for another great discovery.

Check out these shots from our friend at the Statesman:

Special thanks to our homie Sean Carlson for putting things together DIY style. Also a big thanks to all the bands, killer event. Here are some great photos below from our friend at Sounds Like Austin:

From Thursdays Rhapsody event. We didnt film the fajitas, but they ruled my boca with glitter and cheese and rock.

Enjoy.


British Sea Power

NO AGE

Sons & Daughters


CUT COPY

The EPHB just sent us this follow up video from his last show here...and we dig it. Hope you do too: