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 Features, articles, and more from
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IN THE RAG >>>
COVER STORY:
THE USED
Beer! Bongs! Blown-out vocal cords! Butane fires! It’s just business as usual for the Used, who are back with a sharp new album, a new drummer and the same old party-hard attitude that keeps them perpetually pulling contemporary punk’s graveyard shift.
SPECIALS >>>
AP’S 22ND ANNIVERSARY
Not like us AP staffers ever need a reason to celebrate, but turning 22 is kind of a big deal. After all, now we can... Well, not really do anything more than we could when we were 21, but we’re probably way wiser and mature-at least that’s what we keep telling ourselves.
IDOL WORSHIP
AIDEN’S wiL Francis blows the breeze with PLACEBO frontman Brian Molko about fame, fortune, work ethics and the ghost of Nancy Spungen. (Please don’t tell us you hafta Google her.)
FEATURES >>>
STRAYLIGHT RUN
As he approached 30, SLR chairman John Nolan thought over everything from his faith to his music to the scene he came up through. And then he wrote the album that he wanted to hear.
THE CHARIOT
At the end of his life, when frontman Josh Scogin arrives at at Heaven’s gate, St. Peter will read him a long list of the singer’s infractions on planet Earth. And he’ll laugh, and let him in anyway.
AMBER PACIFIC
These Washington state pop-punks love the kids, but hate the game. Funny thing is, they’re really good at playing both sides of the stereo speakers.
SECTIONS >>>
INCOMING: LOVE LETTERS, HATE MAIL & SOUND ADVICE
OPINION
Maxed Out director James Scurlock preaches on the perils of credit card debt in Op-Ed; and everyone from the Hush Sound to Less Than Jake (and you, of course) tell us if today’s youth are arrogant in the AP Poll.
NEW RELEASES/IN THE STUDIO
We preview albums from the Number 12 Looks Like You, Boys Night Out and more; and In The Studio spies on Angels & Airwaves, Every Time I Die and HIM.
WIRETAPPING
Our AP: DIY section is a one-stop shop for budding musicians, featuring advice and insight on everything from gear to getting along from rockers who’ve made it far outside their mom’s garage. This month, we get up close and personal with members of Killswitch Engage, From Autumn To Ashes, Big D & The Kids Table and As Tall As Lions, along with the techs and other experts who keep ’em running smoothly, musically and otherwise. AP&R introduces you to eight unsigned acts you should know; Chalkboard Confessional talks inspiration with Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes; Triple Crown Records gets the Label Profile treatment; Disclothesure uncovers the best online boutiques buried in the World Wide Web; and Fuse VJ Steven begs and pleads for his fave bands to reunite in his AP-exclusive Untitled Rock Column.
SCREENING
Welcome to our newly revamped Screening section. Please turn off all cell phones. Keep talking to a minimum, as not to disturb your fellow readers. Also, be sure to throw away all garbage in the receptacles provided. Now, sit back and enjoy our feature presentation, which includes some quality face time with the Frames’ Glen Hansard, Beau Garrett, Lauren German and the rest of what’s new and hot in theaters and DVD players this month.
REVIEWS
The AP Record Store has officially declared that June is National Spicy Jam Month, so to find out just what you should be jamming, scope out our new reviews on Paramore, Tiger Army, Bad Brains, the Fold, Waking Ashland, Oxbow, Hopesfall, the Dear Hunter, the National, the Ergs! and more; but wait-there’s more, in our In-Store Sessions with the Toasters, Queens Of The Stone Age, Pelican, Rocky Votolato and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez; we don’t stop there, as Emerson, Lake And Palmer and Magazine are poo-pooed and profiled in our classic-rock and classic-punk columns; and rounding out your jamathon are Playlist, Collector’s Corner and Listening Station.
10 ESSENTIAL PUNK ROCK COVER SONGS
Cover songs aren’t just for bar-rock has-beens and Panic! At The Disco (eh, same thing, just 20 years difference); a great man once said, “Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.” We think it was Jim Halpert when he pretended to be Dwight Schrute that one time. Man, that was funny.
