When the Grim Reaper comes calling, hopefully, many years hence, I think I’ll most be thankful for the opportunity to meet amazing and courageous people from all over the globe, like Dmitry Spirin, founder and frontman singer of Russian punk band Tarakany (Cockroaches). I met Dima in 2010, during my one and likely only trip […]
Dima is doing his part. His first single, “I Will be With You,” as a solo artist, is aptly anti-war and more strongly worded now that he has shed the shackles of Putin’s repressive censorship.
After missing a ton of great shows due to my travel schedule and just pure laziness (just being transparent), I finally caught up with a trio of bands playing at the Bowery Electric, just steps away from where the famed CBGBs changed the world music scene in what seems like forever ago. The Bowery Electric […]
Our Russian pals Tarakany! have been busy with a new video for their song titled “What Can I Change?” Enjoy! “This is a song about those who, in our opinion, make profit on all wars in the world. It’s about those who, for the sake of their dirty, cruel intentions, are ready to bang peoples’ and […]
Our Russian pals Tarakany! playing an acoustic set of “Bags of Bones’ off their Russian Democrazy CD out now on Punk Outlaw Records. They sound really good unplugged don’t you think? Spasiba!
Tarakany’s! (Cockroach) 1st English language CD “Russian Democrazy” features a killer track entitled “God & Police” with Chris Barker from Anti-Flag singing along and perhaps not surprisingly, it’s one of my favorites on the entire CD. All hype and self serving BS aside, Russian Democrazy never gets old being put on repeat on the old […]
You may have blinked and missed an article I wrote on the Russian Punk & underground Music Scene back in 2010 when I went to Moscow & St. Petersburg for 8 days. It was one of my most amazing trips ever and turned me on to one of my favorite bands to this day, Tarakany! […]
Here is a pretty cool video of the original Russian version of Tarakany!’s “Rat’s Races” which is featured on their Russian DemoCrazy release. Now if we could just get it to stop snowing in the U.S. and start snowing in Sochi. Oh and how about an exchange with Russia.. we’ll give them Justin Bieber and […]
In the meantime, you can give the 14 kick butt tracks a preview listen HERE. Oh and if you like it you may want to follow our page on Facebook HERE. Hope you dig it!
tarakany logo Here it is… finally. Moscow’s Tarakany! (Cockroaches) “Bags of Bones” video featuring Useless ID. This will be one of the featured singles on their forthcoming U.S. debut CD “Russian DemoCrazy” coming in January from Punk Outlaw Records. Russian DemoCrazy will also feature guest artists like Anti-Flag, Frank Turner and Lucine from the popular […]
Finally! Coming to the Americas (north and south) is the legendary punk band from Moscow Russia, who’ve been rocking their comrades since just before the end of the cold war. That my friends, was Ronald Reagan – Mikhail Gorbachev days. I have always been fascinated by Reagan’s so called “Evil Empire” so I went over […]
Girl Power… Heard a lot about it. Tried to incorporate it into my documentary “Punktology” with an entire section devoted to women and punk rock. Pussy Riot is maybe not the punkest sounding band on the planet, but you MUST admit they are pretty damned brave to take on Putin and the entire government of […]
During my trip to Russia last October, I was blown away by the intense rockabilly and psychobilly scenes in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Moscow, Viktor (AKA DJ Spaceman, AKA “the Jesus of Russian Rockabilly”) personally toured me around Moscow to witness the Russian rockabilly scene firsthand. I interviewed a bunch of bands including this […]
For those of you who may not remember, Vladimir Kozlov is a writer for the Moscow News and a local punk fan and historian. Unfortunately I did not get the opportunity to interview Vladimr when I was in Moscow last October. However, he did graciously agree to clue me in on the Russian punk scene […]
MOSCOW RUSSIA: Here is our exclusive interview with the long running punk band Tarakany! (Cockroach).
MOSCOW, RUSSIA: My final night in Moscow was a Saturday night and I was to head to St. Petersburg the following day. I hadn’t planned enough time in Moscow and I ran out of time before I ran out of interviewees. I had a few interviews that I really wanted to get including one of […]
The Wise Guys are from Ukraine and play authentic rockabilly music in places like the Grease Bar in Moscow, Russia.
NEW YORK CITY: Back in the U.S. after a travel day from hell yesterday.. 24 hours traveling from St. Petersburg to Moscow, then finally to my apartment in NYC. I slept like the dead last night. Ahhh but home where the internet is fast, the weather is warm(er) and people (usually) speak English. It’s always […]
MOSCOW, RUSSIA: Lets kick off our Russian trip coverage! Disoriented, sleep deprived and confused. This describes how I felt when I woke up my 1st morning in Moscow. The day before, Dima, lead singer and one of the original members of the long running punk band (17 years) “Tarakany!” (Cockroach!), had arranged for me to […]
MOSCOW, RUSSIA: OK here is the deal. Moscow is 8 hour ahead of New York City so I’m waking up around 1AM to eat breakfast. Needless to say I’m usually going to sleep around that time. Thank God for sleeping pills. My hotel is cool with one exception. VERY, VERY slow wifi in my room. […]