Annabella Lwin (Bow Wow Wow)

What you might not know is that Annabella Lwin and Bow Wow Wow were sort of the most punk rock band ever. They were managed by the Sex Pistols' Malcolm McLaren. They took members from Adam and the Ants. Their first single was banned from the radio because it promoted illegal home audiotaping.

Of course, they came with controversy. Lead singer Annabella triggered a Scotland Yard child pornography investigation when she appeared nude on the band's first album cover. In the notoriously heterogeneous early English punk scene, Annabella was a 14-year-old female of Southeast Asian descent. She sang about rape, urban warfare and killing one's parents. So, yeah, she was pretty punk.

Because I saw Annabella live in New Jersey a little while ago where she completely killed it, I had to talk to her about Bow Wow Wow, her conflict with her mom, and about how there is a battle going on between her and Bow Wow Wow's old bassist.

Zac Little (Saintseneca)

When I meet Zac Little, de facto leader of Saintseneca, at the appropriately themed (for Portland, Oregon, at least) Doug Fir Lounge, his dress is uniform and antiquated: black shirt, black vest, black pants, black boots. The wardrobe hints of a time his orange, greased, pseudo-crew cut hair and brighter orange mustache, hanging abundantly over both lips, confirms. The style ostensibly fits the type of folk music the Columbus, Ohio outfit aspires to, but it suits him.

To call Saintseneca a band is a bit of a misnomer. Veterans of the DIY circuit, their members vary and switch, come and go, but never completely disappear. Over they years they've picked up All Dogs' Maryn Jones and the Sidekicks' Steve Ciolek (both fellow Columbus musicians). Their sound has grown, and with it their popularity. They've taken their once exclusively basement/living room show to bigger stages, and now find themselves on the road supporting their latest full length for Anti-, Dark Arc.

Punknews' Matthew Bentel sat down with Little after a particularly humorous sound check to talk about the group's new approach, the differences between DIY and club shows, and not giving a fuck (especially about bands like this and this).

Rad People Who Make Rad Art: Christopher Norris (Stk Mtn.)

Christopher Norris, or Stk Mtn as he is sometimes known, once drew a boob growing out of a piece of meat. That boob would go onto become one of the most famous boobs in punk rock, gracing the cover of Against Me!'s landmark Transgender Dysphoria Blues album.

But long before he was designing famous mammaries, Norris spent time in the Florida punk and metal scenes, playing in Combatwoundedveteran and, eventually, designing album covers for bands including Fake Problems, Holy Mountain and Armalite. Norris' work shows the influence of the original anarcho bands, often referencing those famous black and white images from the early '80s. But, whereas so many other bands copy verbatim, Norris switches up the punk rock template, injecting bright neon colors into horrid images, creating a contrast between the gruesome and the gleeful.

Because Norris is on a roll with his recent Against Me! collaborations, features editor John Gentile spoke to him about the cover of Transgender Dysphoria Blues , his early history and whether he hates everyone on earth, or just almost everyone.

Dale Nixon (Black Flag)

Update: APRIL FOOLS! The jig is up. This article is not a real article. We will now resume regular content. Thanks for reading!

Dale Nixon is unquestionably one of the most important figures in punk rock. Nixon made his debut on what Henry Rollins called "the greatest song ever written" -- playing bass for Black Flag's "My War." After playing with Black Flag on the My War album, Nixon moved onto other projects, including playing on The Melvins' Buzz Osborne's solo project and Dag Nasty's Four on the Floor album..

But, Nixon has also been part of controversy, playing at the Black Flag 2003 reunion in lieu of the band's other lauded bassists. Still, at that show, Nixon was mechanically precise, playing his bass lines so well that they sounded almost exactly like the ones on the record.

Recently, former editor Bryne Yancey spotted Nixon at a used electronics store. He immediately called us up and Punknews rushed down to the store to conduct the interview. With a bit of luck, Punknews was able to conduct the FIRST EVER interview with Dale Nixon of Black Flag.

You can click read more to read the conversation which covers the Black Flag reunion, tensions in the band and what's next for Nixon.

John Campbell (Lamb of God)

Few bands have been through the gauntlet like Lamb of God. In 2012, they landed in the Czech Republic for a concert. But, just as they were stepping off the plane, their lead singer, Randy Blythe, was arrested for murder stemming from the death of a young man who died shortly after attending a concert of theirs two years previously.

What followed was a nearly year long ordeal with Blythe being kept in prison, flying back and forth to the US and the Czech Republic, and the band themselves trying to help their fellow musician while knowing quite well that there was a good chance that their band would be destroyed in the chaos.

Thankfully, the court acquitted Blythe. To document their difficult year, the band has just released As the Palaces Burn, a documentary about the preceding tour, the trial and its aftermath. Punknews Features Editor John Gentile spoke to co-founding member and bassist John Campbell about the whole thing.

Jake Round (Pure Noise Records)

Jake Round is obsessed. According to the founder of Pure Noise Records, you have to be in order to run your own record label. You also have to be prepared to lose money and be willing to give up just about every other aspect of your life in order to make it work. And so far, it's working pretty well, as Pure Noise is marking its fifth anniversary in 2014. As part of the celebration, Punknews editor Adam Eisenberg caught up with Round to discuss the label's growth, take a look toward the future and find out why Round couldn't have done it without his mom.

Divided Heaven

For over a decade now, Jeff Berman, under the name Divided Heaven, has sung songs of experiences he has had or were shared to him as a singer songwriter. Breaking from his usual format, he recorded his second full-length LP, entitled Youngblood, as a full band album. Youngblood is due out March 25, 2014 via Say-10 Records. Divided Heaven sat with interviewer Samantha Barrett to talk about his new album.

Have Mercy

Have Mercy recently shifted themselves. Last year, they released the well received The Earth Pushed Back on Topshelf Records. It is a melodramatic drone through a crumbling relationship, interspersing self-loathing between throaty vocals over distorted chords and entrancing troubles coupled with clean-toned guitars. Earth is a great example of how to make emotional music powerful rather than pathetic.

This past February they followed up Earth on a split EP with Daisyhead. Rather than following the same minimal format Earthexemplified, this time around they pushed themselves to create two songs that gave proof to how talented they are. The overwhelmingly monumental songs, "Pete Rose and Babe Ruth" and "Pawn Takes Rook," are the band's masterpieces. Sonically, they are fuller, with more attention put on tonal aspects, as well as penetrative, with Brain Swindles vastly improved vocal performance complimented by lyrics written much more poetically. It's difficult to think that Have Mercy only has a small fan base currently, but it shouldn't be too long until that changes.

When they came through Chicago, Punknews interviewer Xan Mandell sat down vocalist/guitarist Brian Swindle and guitarist Andrew Johnson to learn as much as he could about them. They traveled through various topics including recent van troubles, how changing producers changed their sound, living with their parents, and how gnarly it is to take a shot of whiskey through your nose. Apparently, after the show they went to a karaoke bar and Johnson blew everyone out of the water with his skills on the mic…

Rad People Who Make Rad Art: Brian Walsby

Brian Walsby has created over 10,000 pieces art. You'd know him if you saw him. He's a tall guy with a curly afro and spectacles that can be seen behind the merch table at a show markering dozens and dozens of variations on a few similar scenes -- inserting contemporary bands into the covers of classic albums and riffing on iconic Black Flag art. At once, he is examining the power of repetition as well as simply drawing for the sake of drawing.

On top of that, he drew the cover for 7 Seconds' Walk Together, Rock Together and the famous Nardcore compilation. PLUS, he's made t-shirts for Fucked Up, Descendents, Negative Approach, Minutemen and The Melvins. You can check out the shirts at his site.

Because Walsby is insanely prolific, Punknews features editor John Gentile spoke to him about his cartoony style, revealing personal stories in comic form, and whether or not his examination of variation is the result of strategy or whimsy.

Stefan Babcock (Pup)

Stefan Babcock is a frickin' punk rock maniac. He fronts Pup, a band that can charge forward like Discharge, but also has the ability to pause for reflection a la Restorations or Menzingers. He wrote a song about how much he hates his ex-girlfriend (but not in like, the bro-core style… think more Billy Joel-style finesse). His grandma e-mails him before most gigs. He went to the wilderness of Canada and for three weeks, just HELLA tripped on 'shroooooooooooms!!!!

Now Pup is releasing their debut LP called Pup! It's great. It's raw. It's hard. It's nasty. But, it's also nice and introspective on some parts- everything a modern punk band should be. (I also taste the tiniest bit of Beach Boys, here and there). Some people call it "pop-punk" but what do "people" know, anyways?

Because Babcock gets down like David Lee Roth and goes on George Clinton style mindtrips, features editor John Gentile spoke to him about the new album, grandmas, and the grotesque isolation that is the great white North……..

You can click read more for the juicy bits…

Gnarboots

Gnarboots' new release is shocking- and that's saying something for a band that you expect to be shocking. In the past, the band merged punk rock with Hip Hop with electro with God-knows-what-else to create a stage show that was as bizarre as it was creative. Sometimes the audience loved the absolute mania and newness of the Gnarboots show and sometimes they were confused or just plain scared by the surreal stage mania.

But, on their new EP, which is called Dark Moon, Adam Davis and Aaron Carnes go pure synth. The release is incredibly dark, at times almost goth or synth-punk, and contemplates mortality itself through a series of vignettes. It's completely unexpected, completely unique, and sometimes, horrifying.

Because Gnarboots is venturing off into daring, strange, and philosophical new directions, features Editor John Gentile spoke to them about the release, the purpose of a live show, and death itself.

Click read more to venture to the dark side of the moon.