You just can't win in punk-rock.
Just ask Samiam, a Bay area-based punk act that has suffered a backlash from punk stalwarts for signing to a major record label.Sergie Loobkoff, one of the band's guitarists and songwriters, said members of Samiam have had to compensate for that inevitable criticism.
"Being in a band puts you up for a certain amount of scrutiny. It's really ridiculous," Loobkoff said in an interview. "People think they can say anything to you and you volunteer to be in that position."
Samiam, which takes its name from Dr. Seuss, will headline a Wednesday, April 26, show at the Bar & Grill, 60 E. 800 South.
However, he hastens to put out that the band hasn't "sold out" or changed its sound with "Clumsy," its fourth album and first for Atlantic Records. Instead, the songs reflect the same lyrical depth and melodic sensibility as its three forebears.
"The way our songs are written haven't changed a bit," Loobkoff said. "The only difference now is that the sound quality is about a trillion times better."
Joining Samiam on the concert bill will be the Goops and Sense Field, from Redondo Beach, Calif., whose LP, "Killed For Less," has been likened to a punk-rock version of the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds."
The show will start at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.
- YOUTH BRIGADE - Even though this band was part of the stalwart California punk-rock "scene" in the late 1970s and early 1980s, members of Youth Brigade - who reunited after six years - have been accused by some as capitalizing on punk's current commercial revival.
But Shawn Stern said that he and his brothers, Mark and Adam, needed to take a break from music after 10 years of long, hard touring.
"We needed a break from each other and the music," Shawn Stern said in an interview. "I guess it wasn't the best time to have taken off, considering what happened with Fugazi and Bad Religion, but so it goes."
Youth Brigade will play with Bay Area act Screw 32 on Friday, April 28, in the basement of Club DV8, 115 S. West Temple.
Despite progressing into their 30s, the Sterns say they've kept the Youth Brigade moniker because they're still idealistic and not disillusioned after all these years.
"I always say that youth is an attitude, not an age," Shawn Stern said. "You're always young at heart."
Opening the show at 7:30 p.m. will be Salt Lake's Anger Overload. Tickets are $5 at the door.