Rome Romeo

Rome Romeo's sound may not be exactly punk rock but the fact that Genevieve Tremblay and Olivier Maguire are former members of beloved band Fifth Hour Hero makes this band interesting for the Punknews fauna. A few years after its creation the Montreal based band will finally release Make Up Her Mind, its first full length, and hit the road later this year. Punknews interviewer Alexis Charlebois sat down with Olivier and Genevieve in which they talk about their new sound, Machette Records and, of course, Fifth Hour Hero.

Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister (Motörhead)

Although Motörhead is routinely considered one of the greatest rock bands of all time by artists and publications alike, it seems that several aspects of the band remain criminally unappreciated. Simply put, everyone always says that Motörhead rocks, which is true, but they do so much more than that.

Founded by Lemmy Kilmister after he was kicked out of Hawkwind for using too many drugs, Motörhead developed a new type of sound that was equally appreciative of the golden age of 50's rock and was also uncompromisingly aggressive in the genius simplicity of a three chord chugging attack. Needless to say, countless punk and metal bands have used Motörhead's blueprint as the skeleton for their own music. Yet despite having an incalculably widespread influence, Motörhead's lyrical precision seems to be ignored, perhaps, because the music just slams so hard. In Motörhead, Kilmister has addressed nuanced topics from the power of religion, to the corruption of politicians, to child sexual abuse, to breaking through the "Friend zone," yet in conversations, the band's sound often seems to take precedence over the band's contemplative musings.

Undeterred as always, the band has recently released a live album titled The World Is Ours and is set to join the Mayhem Tour in June, where they'll tour with Slayer, Anthrax, and High on Fire. In order to get Lemmy's feelings on the band's lyrical content, staff writer John Gentile recently sidled up to the bar next to the legendary rocker to talk about the band's metaphysical philosophy, gender dynamics, and what exactly an "Orgasmatron" is.

The Dopamines

Punknews is pleased to delve deeper into the mind of Larry Livermore, as we continue our series of Livermore conducted interviews. This time LL (I'm pretty sure he wants to be called that) sits down with Punknews regulars The Dopamines and talks about growing up, being insanely famous and why fuck the Copyrights.

Tony Lovato (Mest)

Earlier this year, Mest revealed their reformation, and this time round, it's back to square one, with no major label backing and plans to self-release their new album. Soon after, they announced their return to the live music circuit with a month-long European tour where infamous frontman Tony Lovato bared all and spoke very candidly to Punknews interviewer Faye Turnbull about the band's reunion, battling his demons following the murder charges he was swiftly acquitted for in 2007, his former white power ties, and more, ahead of their recent headline show in Newcastle, UK.

Blag Dahlia (The Dwarves)

The Dwarves are spreading their filth northward. Although the Dwarves spent 2011 and most of 2012 slinging their particular brand of nastiness across the US and Europe, in a particularly egregious gap of good judgement, the organizers behind Montreal's Pouzza Fest have set the band of sexually depraved ruffians to headline one of the festival's stages.

Over the past 27 years, the Dwarves have developed and refined raunch, all while retaining a dedication to the forgotten art of actually writing a good song. 1990's Blood Guts & Pussy found the band cramming tight hooks and envelope pushing lyrics into a tight, hardcore 13 minutes. 2001's Come Clean saw the band asserting their dominance over depravity, combining their classic three chord attack with techno, dance, and musique concrete influences. 2011's The Dwarves Are Born Again featured the band ascending from reprobates to professors of rock and roll, through an unprecedented unity of nastiness and genuine introspection.

Recently, staff writer John Gentile happened to run into Dwarves lead singer Blag Dahlia while he was waiting outside of an all girls private high school. Since Blag was killing time until 2:15pm, Gentile decided to ask him about how gender relations in punk, his parents, and his favorite memories of Montreal.

Mixtapes

Continuing our series on Larry Livermore interviews (and our concurrent series of "Ill shit"), today we bring you a Livermore directed interview with Mixtapes. Keep an eye out as we continue to post Livermore fronted interviews with other bands from The Thing that Ate Larry Livermore.

JaskaRaatikainen (Children of Bodom)

Children of Bodom are currently on tour, tearing up U.S. soil with their Finnish brand of heavy metal, playing selections that span their entire discography all the way up to their newest album, Relentless Reckless Forever, which was released last year. Punknews interviewer Jason Epstein got a chance to sit down with drummer Jaska Raatikainen to discuss inspiration, the band's history and whether the french horn can be "metal".

Letlive.

Following Epitaph Records' re-release of Fake History, progressive post-hardcore quintet letlive. are fast becoming one of the most talked about bands around, whether it's for their consistently raucous live performances or frontman Jason Aalon Butler being dubbed the "Greatest Rockstar in the World". The band spoke with Punknews interviewer Faye Turnbull in Newcastle, UK.

Will Gould (Our Time Down Here)

It's been a long time coming for the black sheep of the UK punk scene, Our Time Down Here, with the recent release of their second full-length, Midnight Mass, recorded back in February 2011, and judging by the general consensus, it's been well worth the wait. Punknews interviewer Faye Turnbull chatted with frontman, Will Gould, all about the new record, forever being outcasts, and not having a bedroom, before their show in London supporting Dead To Me.

VNM

There is no doubt that music and fashion intersect. Whether it's Lady Gaga's over the top red carpet looks inspiring high fashion or Kurt Cobain's lack of interest igniting the flannel craze of the early 90s, music and fashion are congruous. Punk rock is no different. Argue all you want but there's an undeniable image that comes to mind for most people when they think about "punk". Perhaps it's a different image for each person, but everyone has their image and they're all associated with some sort of fashion.

Enter the shadow organization of VNM. Comprised of an unknown number of members and with no clear agenda, VNM seems to have sprung out of nowhere to produce a style that is both interesting and void of so many "punk" clichés. To learn more about VNM, Punknews Editor Rich Verducci traded a series of written correspondence with an unknown member of the organization, talking about inspiration, business and why Tyler Perry isn't in jail yet.

Dear Landlord

In honor of Adeline Records releasing The Thing that Ate Larry Livermore, Punknews has paired up with the man himself, Larry Livermore, to post a series of interviews between Livermore and the bands appearing on the compilation that Livermore is curating. It's one part information, one part hyper meta art project. The first in the series features Dear Landlord.