Perhaps inspired by Gabe’s pick of the best pop punk band ever yesterday, I found myself revisiting some favorite bands from the 90s and early 2000s. While I don’t listen to a whole lot of pop punk these days, one band I will forever hold dear is Dillinger Four.

I remember buying the band’s third full-length Situationist Comedy during my freshmen year of college. Pop punk, at the time, was getting violated by “pop punk”; bands like Simple Plan, Sum 41 and pretty much everything on Drive-Thru Records. While I liked some (and I mean, very, very little of it) of that stuff early on, I would usually rally against most of it, usually with arguments ending in me being called an “elitist asshole” by my friends.

Situationist Comedy was the best of both worlds to me. It was super catchy, well-produced, but inherently grimy and aggressive. I remember playing this for friends who were into bands like Midtown at the time. Needless to say, they were not impressed. That made me love the band even more.

I listened to a lot of bands ten years ago that I don’t listen to anymore. But all these years later, I still find myself reaching for D4 records. They are still, to this day, one of the few bands I will get up front at shows for. Sadly, since they don’t tour as much, this doesn’t happen too often. I still wear my very, very worn out D4 shirt on a regular basis too.

One of my favorite songs from Situationist Comedy is (ahem) “A Floater Left with Pleasure in the Executive Washroom.” The men of D4 have always been fine lyricists and this song contains some of my favorite lines.

“Celebrate this sorry state with anecdotes of what you hate. And try to take comfortable in the fact that you’re not alone.”

That’s a mantra there people.

“A Floater Left With Pleasure In The Executive Washroom”

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Halloween is often celebrated with outrageous costumes, vibrant parades and every brand of candy under the sun. In Gainesville, Florida however, Halloween is transformed into a three day weekend holiday where costumes are arbitrary, punk rock bands replace parades and candy is substituted with gallons of beer. This year, No Idea Records celebrated an enormously successful Fest 8; a diverse mix of all types of punk music brought a huge crowd to central Florida this year. Unfortunately, with hundreds of amazing bands playing in the short span of only one weekend, mixed with unfathomable amounts of beer and cheap whiskey, I was not able to see every band I would have liked to, but I was lucky enough to see some incredible sets.

Read more after the jump.

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For this edition of the 7-Inch Corner gone Fest style, we’ve got Billy Morrisette from the almighty Dillinger Four. “After many drinks,” Billy wrote about Jesus Chrysler’s “Turn Or Burn” 7-inch. D4 just released their long-awaited Civil War full-length today. You can expect a review of that soon but, for now, read Billy’s column below.

Band: Jesus Chrysler
Title: Turn Or Burn
By Billy Morrisette

I gotta go with the Jesus Chrysler “Turn Or Burn” 7-inch. As a young dude getting into the scene in the late 80′s, my introduction was The Ramones, The Descendents, Angry Samoans and the like. While thinking about this list, I had a lot of contenders like The A.G.’s “Bryans Song” 7-inch, The Beltones “My Old Man” 7-inch and newer stuff like The Hidden Spots (Mike Pack has the best voice in punk.)

However, Jesus Chrysler had all the fun,catchy vibe as the A.G.’s plus [a] political slant that wasn’t as heavy handed as the Dead Kennedys. In the time frame of that record release, it wasn’t all that common to hear a jam that stuck in your head yet had some lyrical weight. A quick listen to “I Wanna Be,” however, seems to solidify the worlds of a catchy jam and a band ranting about a better future. Kickass! While their followup LP didn’t really have the power of the 7-inch, the “Turn Or Burn” record still kicks ass.

Our friends in The Measure [SA] are streaming their fantastic compilation, One Chapter In The Book, over at the ‘Org. The band have a ton of shows coming up, including Dillinger Four‘s record release show in Brooklyn with The Waste and The Ergs. Oh, and The Fest, of course. Check out the dates after the jump.

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All photos by Linda Wildemann

Here are some shots Linda Wildemann took of Dillinger Four during their set at Club Exit on July 13th. D4 have a bunch of shows lined up and they are finally releasing Civil War next month. I got a sneak peek of the record and it’s everything I hoped it would be. For any D4 devotee, I definitely think you’ll feel the same once you hear it. More photos after the jump.

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