Introduction
It seems like every time I sit down to write an intro to an issue of our little mag, I end up apologizing for the fact that it's so damn long in coming. And yes, here we go again: sorry, once more, that this has taken so long to finish. A lot of folks have put a great deal of work and encouragement into this issue, for which we here at SCR are sincerely, eternally grateful, and we'd like to apologize for the delays. We're still alive and kicking, although you've probably noticed some changes... [more]

Maggie Is A Punk Rocker
Maggie Vail wears many hats: Bangs bassist; Kill Rock Stars Records publicist; Ramones fan; Bikini Kill little sister; pep squad survivor; unrequited target of British lust. To top it all off, she also possesses a bit of an inferiority complex, one that is (despite the inarguable talents of sister Tobi, bandmate Sarah Utter, labelmates Sleater-Kinney, girl-group legend Ronnie Spector and, yes, actress-on-the-move Leelee Sobieski) wholly unjustified... [more]

The Art of Irony, with Clem Snide
A friend and I were having lunch one day, and as we walked back to our respective offices through the Houston summer heat, we struck up a conversation about the new music we were listening to. Okay, the conversation was a little one-sided, because I couldn't think of a damn thing that I thought was new and worth mentioning. Anyway, this was when he mentioned that he had been listening to Clem Snide. "Hmm. Never I heard of them," I said... [more]

The Weakerthans -- Who's Afraid of Americans?
I've always been fascinated by Canadians. I don't know why, entirely -- maybe it has more to do with stereotypes of Canadiana than anything else, but hell, I've been to Vancouver, and only one person sounded even remotely like Bob & Doug MacKenzie. At any rate, I know there're a lot of us Americans out there who have no clue what Canadians are really like, but I've always sort of assumed that Canadian folks themselves were just plain smarter than us, their more southerly cousins. But then again, maybe not... [more]

Thoughts on Juliana Hatfield live at Lilli's
"Why are fans such assholes?" The question was asked by my sister in response to an incident that I had just described from the night before. Juliana Hatfield had played a local club accompanied only by her guitar and somebody else's keyboard, and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. Having just returned to Juliana via the twin releases Beautiful Creature and Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure after an eight-year layoff, I felt ill-equipped to join in the ritual of calling out requests and decided just to enjoy whatever she wanted to play... [more]

Aural Gratification -- The New Pornographers Do It In Your Earhole
Despite the obvious benefits that the Band, Neil Young, Daniel Lanois and others have heaped upon the world, few word pairs evince an instant smirk like the duoetym "Canadian rock." Well, it's the New Pornographers' turn at the plate, and guess what? You're gonna blink first... [more]

Live -- The Hissyfits/Dirt Bike Annie/Patrick O'Donnell
Something about Rudyard's really makes me dread seeing shows there. It's not that the venue sucks, or anything -- having played there, I would say just the opposite, that it looks and sounds great, and that the folks are cool as hell. Maybe it's because I don't drink, and it's virtually like a required thing there, or maybe it's just because a lot of bands I've seen there have bored the crap out of me, or maybe I just don't like the "sit, drink and watch" mentality of the patrons... [more]

The Impossibles/Nada Surf/Ozma/Recover
Fitzgerald's could not possibly be too crowded on a Sunday night, I thought to myself on the way to see The Impossibles (see photo at right)/Nada Surf/Ozma/Recover at that venerable shack in the Heights. A show on Sunday usually does not draw as well as the two nights prior, and the impending start of the fall semester should keep the crowd to a manageable level, right? Boy, I could not have been more wrong. Apparently, the show proved to be the event to attend before classes really dull down the evenings during the week... [more]

Bad-Soul Brains/Candiria/Haste/Eyeagainst
My friends and I ventured out to this show to show how O.G. hardcore we are. The rock got off to a dubious start, though, with Eyeagainst, who I didn't care for (but lots of the crowd dug them, so that counts for something). They played an Adrenaline-era Deftones style of screamo-metal (without the groove) that I didn't find too engaging, but I've seen worse, so no big deal... [more]