Start with the basics: Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Link Wray... that's all ya need to know. Get a good distortion pedal and make sure you're playing through a good old tube amp with some reverb. It's amazing how simple it actually is. It's when you start to try and make it sound perfect that it starts to sound like shit. Keep it raw!

Sell the guitar and pick up Guitar hero. Cause those moving colored note thingys is actually how playing rock and roll looks. ;)

LISTEN TO THE KINKS UNTIL YOUR EARS ARE BLEEDING!

It's all about Link Wray, really.

learn the Ventures. learn the sonics. learn link wray. and then unlearn everything and make your own.
and get a really crappy guitar. it really helps your fingers toughen up quite a bit. high action guitars strung with barbed wire is what i'd recommend!

WOW that seemed to rattle a few cages. Something actually worth reading on the forum ;-) But hey Kopper dont get me wrong I'm not bitchin about the Hideout, I think its a great idea, all I was wondering was where did everybody go from the old GP forum, but you have answered my question. And yes come to think of it, it did get pretty quiet in the last year. I only really use the forum here and ocassionlly the podcast, so it does seem a bit slow when the same posts have been up for days without any response, guess we shall see, hopefully it will pick up........

Michael Kaiser and I have been a lot more diligent in keeping unwanted people out of this network. The way we look at it, this is our own private club, basically because it was set up for fans of the site/podcast or whatever. You don't HAVE to have a "favorite GaragePunk Podcast" to be accepted in, but there has to be something about your profile responses on your membership application that gives us a clue that you HAVE a clue about this kind of music. Otherwise, there are plenty of other networks out there you can join to find friends or promote your alt-rock band. And I've been managing websites long enough to be able to spot a spammer or con artist from a mile away, so as long as we keep the membership area locked down, there won't be any spam problems here. And if anyone ever notices anything suspicious going on (like a phishing scheme or spammy comments), don't hesitate to let one of us know.

And no, I wouldn't want to force anyone to do anything if they join. That would have a really negative impact, I'm afraid, and would probably backfire. Think about it. No one wants to be told what to do. And I wouldn't want someone telling me, "Hey, you need to start participating in the forum or your membership privileges will be revoked." I don't mind people joining and not posting in the forum, but then again I try to encourage everyone that joins the Hideout to at least post some music, or videos, join and participate in some groups, use their blogs or do SOMETHING. There are quite a few profiles, though, where the person hasn't done ANYTHING since signing on, which really makes me wonder why they joined in the first place. And as the network owner/admin, the only option I have to get rid of unwanted people is to BAN them from the network. You can't just delete or remove them. You BAN them. That seems awfully harsh, and is something I've complained to Ning about before. I should be able to just delete deadbeats off the member list without issuing them an outright BANNING. Know what I mean?

SarahJayne said:

What kills most social networking sites after a while are the fuckin' spammers! And I'm not just talking about 'free naked pics of Beyonce' spam, but self centered assholes who have to post the same ad for their Ebay auctions, bands show, radio shows, etc. etc. over and over and over again : (. Come on now, thats just RUDE.

Once all the message boards and personal comments pages becoming dumping grounds for such impersonal ads, the convo pretty much dies. This has happened to a LOT of sites I've joined over the years : (.

So with that said, I'm glad that hasn't happened here yet, and that there's a special promo section which deters ads from popping up everywhere else.

I really like this site and hope it'll continue to grow : ).

kopper said:

Of the 2,300+ members here, 637 have used the forum. I think that's pretty good. Not as good as I'd like, true (it'd be nicer if it was around half and half), but I'd say it's more than a handful.

What kills most social networking sites after a while are the fuckin' spammers! And I'm not just talking about 'free naked pics of Beyonce' spam, but self centered assholes who have to post the same ad for their Ebay auctions, bands show, radio shows, etc. etc. over and over and over again : (. Come on now, thats just RUDE. Once all the message boards and personal comments pages becoming dumping grounds for such impersonal ads, the convo pretty much dies. This has happened to a LOT of sites I've joined over the years : (. So with that said, I'm glad that hasn't happened here yet, and that there's a special promo section which deters ads from popping up everywhere else. I really like this site and hope it'll continue to grow : ).

Wipeout! said:

One last thought on this issue:

Does it bother anyone else that there are thousands registered on the Hideout, but only a handful of forum posters?

I wish there was less importance given to the profiles and more to participation, be it in the forums or our growing collection of music, videos & blogs...I mean, is it still that cool to just go hog-wild signing up fer social networks then never actually "socializing" at the site??!!??

Unfortunately I think I already know the answer to this...

One last thought on this issue:

Does it bother anyone else that there are thousands registered on the Hideout, but only a handful of forum posters?

I wish there was less importance given to the profiles and more to participation, be it in the forums or our growing collection of music, videos & blogs...I mean, is it still that cool to just go hog-wild signing up fer social networks then never actually "socializing" at the site??!!??

Unfortunately I think I already know the answer to this...

Wipeout! said:

My point in all this jibberish is while I'm well aware of the depth and true scope of this site, do you think that the term "garagepunk" (so narrow as it can be interpreted) maybe leading folks who have broader taste to not post here more? (dunno just a random thought)

Point well taken, Kopper.
I just get the impression that the garagepunk world is shrinking...like I said, I live in the South and there ain't shit to talk about, garagepunk-wise, in my neck o' the woods. (One of the main reasons I'm franticly tryin' to get my band together!)

I'm on MySpace and here, but I refuse to join Facebook (for reasons I don't care to get into here), so I have no clue as to the discussions on that site.

On a complete aside, when I was younger my tastes in music were very broad, but during the college years I "found" garagepunk and all the related genres and pretty much wrote off most music outside of those boundaries. Well recently I've found myself going back to my younger-years outlook and diggin' on loads of music that don't fit into the greater garagepunk realm. My point in all this jibberish is while I'm well aware of the depth and true scope of this site, do you think that the term "garagepunk" (so narrow as it can be interpreted) may be leading folks who have broader taste to not post here more? (dunno just a random thought)

Oh, I disagree. I think there's plenty TO talk about... but there are too many places to talk about it! You spread people too thin and that's what happens. Look at Facebook, for example. Lots of groups and pages on there where you can talk about music. THIS kind of music. It's tough to compete against that. And I can't blame people for logging on Facebook all the time... it's a great site with a lot of cool features. BUT you still can't upload songs there. There's nowhere to go if you have a video you want to upload (not embed one from YouBoob). Those are areas where the Hideout blows Facebook out of the water, but how do you get people to realize that? I know Myspace offers some of that, but again, it's a lot more limited than it is here. Not to mention Myspace still sucks, no matter how much they try to improve it. I don't have the time and energy I once had to continually try to promote this site anymore like I did 5+ years ago, so I really need to rely on word of mouth and other people promoting it by telling their friends about it and stuff. But yeah, there are a lot of great new bands, labels, plus festivals and shows happening everywhere all the time, so I don't think it's dead by any means. Wipeout! said:

My only complaint with this board is that we had to lose all the great threads (with oodles of info) from the original GP forums...and if Kopper is working on bringing those threads back on this particular site...fuckin' fantastic!

No one has really taken a stab at my question though, so I will:
There's nothing worth talkin' about currently in the greater garagepunk world....I blame it on Estrus (lol)
That goes double in my neck o' the woods ...Dixie that is.

My only complaint with this board is that we had to lose all the great threads (with oodles of info) from the original GP forums...and if Kopper is working on bringing those threads back on this particular site...fuckin' fantastic! No one has really taken a stab at my question though, so I will: There's nothing worth talkin' about currently in the greater garagepunk world....I blame it on Estrus (lol) That goes double in my neck o' the woods ...Dixie that is.

People always forget that the last year or so of the old forums was a real downer. The number of posts and hits to that forum had dropped drastically over the course of about six months to where there were only a hundred or so regulars. That was when the social networking thing was really taking off and everyone swarmed over to Myspace, leaving little time to spend on other sites/forums. So, trying to stay one step ahead of the game, I created this, "our" very own social network (that includes many of the same bells and whistles you get on any other social networking site, including the ability to upload MP3s *AND* video), and what happened? People bitched up a storm about it! True, there were a lot of design flaws and bugs early on but most of that has been worked out. The look is a hundred times better, cleaner, with better streamlined organization, etc. and discussions in the forum (the one you're reading right now) are actually threaded and linear like they should be with a quote option and everything (I fought long and hard to get Ning to fix that). The only thing I haven't been able to get them to do (yet) is figure out a way to integrate all of the members/posts from an old phpBB message board into this network, but that might be just around the corner, too... who knows? Bottom line is this forum is just fine IF PEOPLE USE IT. It's obviously only as good as the people that post here. So if you'd like to see more action, become more active yourself (by posting more often). There are still a lot of people that won't join this site because they've got some bug up their ass about it. In fact, I just asked Mickster of Off the Hip Records in Australia if he'd ever thought of adding a page here for his label, ya know, to help promote it and stuff, and ya know what he told me? "I miss the old site, and i liked the way it worked; simple, yet effective." So because "he liked the old site" he has decided not to even give his label a presence here AT ALL? That doesn't make any sense to me. You would think a person that runs a RECORD LABEL would want to promote that label any way they can, ESPECIALLY on a site where you have potential customers. But, whatever, far be it from me to tell him how to run his business. If ALL you're looking for is a forum, then you ONLY NEED TO VISIT THE FORUM here on the Hideout. There, that's simple, isn't it? How difficult is it for people to realize it takes five minutes to set up a "simple yet effective" profile for themselves and start using this thing? Wipeout! said:

Ya think that this board/site is so quiet cuz no one's talkin' or that there's nothing worth talkin' about?

This site is the second coming of the original GaragePunk.com forums (which was way more active, but a huge headache for webmaster Kopper), btw, which I really pine for nowadays....oh the memories...

Fuzzmeister said:

Apologies if I'm teaching Grandma to suck eggs here, but you guys do know about the "new" version of the old Garagepunk forum don't you?
http://garagepunk.proboards100.com/index.cgi It's only got 270 members so far. A lot that are members also joined the Hideout and of course the Hideout has a few thousand members now, so it may be that the Hideout has become the forum of choice after all. A lot of "refugees" from the old Garagepunk forum also joined the G45 forum http://finerecordingstudio.com/g45central/ but that is mostly geared towards collectors of original 45s and may not be as interesting to those who can't afford to buy the originals, have broader tastes or who like to hear about current bands.

Yeah I am a member of the 'new' garagepunk forum, but it never really seemed to catch on, not enough members with a few rare postings now and again, I never really check it much anymore. I am into the G45 forum, but I gave up collecting original records a while back in favour of guitars/amps and current bands records. I was thinking more of a forum for newer bands, clubs, labels etc, just to keep up of when bands are touring, new releases etc, so far myspace seems to be the best for that kinda info. I do miss the old GP forum, simple and loads of up-to-date info. Oh well, sigh! Maybe the hideout will get better in time.

yeah, jail bird. fo sho. also, hey traitor vic - this one's fo you... Bad Boy Butch Batson!! jailbird said:

No Johnny Rotten? Sid Vicious?

dr robert said:

steve ignorant

No Johnny Rotten? Sid Vicious?

yeah, i know. i couldn't resist. even tho it is his real name. it's the punkist of 'em of all. Johnny Quid said:

hey Joenzy, bizarrely enough that was actually his real name, not his pseudonym...

Gotta take a minute to toot my horn for St. Louis punk blues here: Casey Reid - Cephalclog Casey Reid writes songs with wisdom that flutters beyond description and "Cephalclog" is his masterpiece. His lyrics are inspired and his guitar playing unique, floating between delta-driven fingerpicking and a full-fledged assault on the strings that is as beautiful as it is furious. With an array of orchestral accompaniment - ranging from weeping cello to pounding junkyard percussion - Reid's powerful and ghastly voice slams through blues epics and folkie barn-burners with a heartfelt sincerity that is truly hard to find and a style impossible to match. www.myspace.com/caseyreid This band is great, too: Rum Drum Ramblers - Hey Lordy Mama Mama Get Up & Go If you like punk and dig the blues, then this album is for you. The guitar bends, hisses and howls in ways that would make Johnny Thunders' knees weak. The harmonica conjures up the sound assault of Jimmy Page just as much as the bob and weave juke-joint shuffle of Little Walter. And the bass - well, this guy is one of the best and that's all there is to it. The rhythm is a contagious stomp clank and the performance is a raw slop of beauty tinged blues destruction. All originals, all instant classics. www.myspace.com/rumdrumramblers There's also Pokey LaFarge: Pokey LaFarge - Beat, Move, and Shake Armed with Charlie Chaplin charm and Shakespearian insight, Pokey LaFarge weaves 12 timeless originals into the fabric of Americana. Calling upon the soul of Ray Charles just as much as the imagery of Townes van Zandt, "Beat, Move, and Shake" creates a delightful blend of quirky pop and delta-meets-appalachia country blues. Backed by an unfaltering beat on an upright bass, Pokey picks at his guitar and lets his voice float freely in an album whose title will prove to be it's best description. You can get this stuff from St. Louis' own Big Muddy Records (and I recommend you do!).

Hey, thanks for the tip!

Los s rule. Is there any particular reason for wanting bands that sing in Spanish? Is it a project you're working on? Just that my friend is a singer and also Spanish.