Q: I want to support my local scene or help get one started. What's the best way to go about it?

A: There are lots of ways that you can support your local scene like:
1. Book shows locally and leave flyers all over your school, all over town, at local record stores and anywhere else you think people who might be interested are hanging out. 
2. Start a fanzine and interview your favorite bands. Distribute it around town and hand it out outside any shows that come through town, at local record stores etc...
3. Start a band and play locally. Make shirts, patches, stickers, flyers and anything else you can think of and spread them around everywhere.
4. Start your own label, do a local radio show, get creative! There are lots of ways to get involved so do it!

A: The best way to make us (or any label for that matter) aware of your band is to get out there and tour! There is no easy way around it. Besides being able to write good songs, you need to be out on the road frequently to make a name for yourself. It's very rare that we sign a band just from receiving their demo but we do like to hear what's going on out there. If you have a band and would like us to listen to your demo please send it to our address at the bottom of this page. 

A: Okay, check it out. If you ask for an honest opinion about your band's demo, we are more than happy to give you ours. HOWEVER, if you don't really want an honest opinion, don't ask for one! In other words, you might not like our opinion so if you're not prepared to take some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism (as in, trying to help you) and you're going to take our comments personally, please don't ask!!!! Most labels will not take the time to give you their honest opinion, but we respect you and your efforts enough to give it to you straight. With that having been said, it's only OUR opinion! That and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee.

A: We do our very best to get our bands to Canada as often as possible. The problem is that they only have about a 50/50 chance of getting over the border. The application fee for a work visa is $1000 and there is no guarantee that it will be approved. Even with a work visa, there is no guarantee that the band will get over the border. It's not ours or the band's faults that the bands don't make it to Canada very often, it's the fucking Canadian Border Guards! We appreciate the support and patience of all of the Canadian punx and we'll continue to do our best to get our bands up there! 

A: Unfortunately, due to various reasons the Devotchkas are not playing together at the moment. It's unlikely that they will be touring or recording any new material any time soon. If that changes we will have the info posted on our news page and we will have a link to their web page. They don't have an official web page at the moment but there are plenty of fan sites out there with plenty of photos and info, some more accurate than others. One site you may want to check out http://www.geocities.com/oi_devotchkas_oi Any questions or comments for the Devotchkas should be sent directly to Alaine at thedevotchkas_the99s@hotmail.com

A: Self Destruct was a side project made up of 1/2 members of The Unseen and 1/2 members of A Global Threat. Since both the Unseen and AGT are full-time touring bands, Self Destruct won't be touring any time soon, probably never. As far as releases, they only released one 7" called "Violent Affair" on Punk Core. Will they ever record again? Who knows, we'll just have to wait and see!

A: Usually by the time you see any dates posted on our "shows" page, the roster has already been set. Please contact the booking agent at your local club to find out if there are any available opening spots.

A: Usually when show cancellations happen it's due to the club or the local promoter double-booking, pulling out at the last minute or otherwise fucking up. The other most common reason for show cancellations are people starting fights at punk shows. When that happens, the clubs get fed up and often cancel future punk shows, often at the last minute. Most of the time it is not the band's choice to not play the show. In the rare event that one of the bands does need to cancel a show, it's for a good reason like a family emergency or a trip to jail the night before so... cut them some slack!

A: At the moment, we do not have a street team. We are working on it though, and hope to have one together some time in 2004. Keep an eye on our "news" page for details when available.

A: Here are some of the most common and effective items that you can use to charge your hair. You may have to try a couple before you find the one that works best for you. 1. lathered up soap - this an old favorite. works well but tends to flake all over the place after a night of dancing (or sleeping for that matter). Just lather it up nice and thick, apply it to your hair and blow it dry. 2. elmer's glue - holds up for several days and won't run when it gets wet but make sure you distribute it evenly in your hair or you'll get big white clumps. You can dilute it slightly with water first or just go for it. Our buddy Crassoi has suggested the "blue glue" stuff that Elmer's makes. It dries clear so you're less likely to get the white clumps 3. Knox gelatin - this stuff is usually for cooking and can be found in any supermarket. Don't use knox if you plan on taking your hair down the next day. this shit is real good for keeping your hair up for a week straight. as long as you get the roots real good, it will look as good on day 5 as it did on day 1. the downside is that by the time you take the stuff out it has the consistency of dried rubber cement and your scalp will feel like someone has been pulling your hair for a week. Forget what the instructions say, the recommended mix ratio is 6 to 8 packs of knox to 1/2 cup of water. That will make it nice and dense so that it will require very little drying. 4. egg whites - another old favorite. works well but tends to flake after a while, like soap but not as bad. Holds up better in rain than soap does too.  5. lots and lots of hair spray - believe it or not, some of the biggest do's over the years have been held up on hair spray alone. the biggest downside is that this stuff stinks like hell. it can also be a bit pricey because you'll need to use most of the can per application and it usually only lasts for a day or so. 6. another suggestion that we recently got from our buddy Adam is to use that Joico Ice Mist stuff. We've never tried it but Adam says it'll hold for a good 3 or 4 days and it doesn't take too much per application. 7. Another new suggestion is Volumax Freezing Spray from our friend Shorty who said "it doesn't take much and it gets stiff as hell". Whatever you decide to use, make sure you hold your hair in place and blow it dry! One recent suggestion that we got was to use a hair pick to fan your hair before drying. 8. Our friend John suggests glue sticks. He says it's great for fins and small individual spikes and you don't even have to use a hair dryer if you don't mind holding your hair in place until it dries. 9. We've just heard about some stuff called Enjoy Texture Cream. It can be found at hair/beauty supply stores and it's kinda pricey but it's supposed to work really well. 10. Ricky Retardo recommends Murray's Pomade. It's pretty dense stuff so it only works well for short spikes up to two inches. 11. Jason from S. Daytona Beach, FL recommends Aussie Instant Freeze Maximum Hold. He suggests working it into your roots and then combing it up through your hair. He's had 15" spikes stay for up to two weeks with this stuff and it's alot easier to wash out than Elmer's glue. Plus it's cheap and easy to fix back up if you knock some spikes down after dancing at a show. 12. Here's a cheap and simple one from Jon. Use Rave 4x hold, it holds his 5" spikes up for a good three days or so before starting to fall apart. 13. Dean Stopka recommends using rubber cement! He says it only takes about 10 seconds to set and you don't even need a blow dryer. The obvious downside to this one is that it's very difficult to get out of your hair. Try this one at your own risk! 14. Chris Morris from Vacaville, CA suggests using a horse hair brush. He says if used right you can get your hair up in less than five minutes. He didn't mention where you can buy one (probably at any tack supply shop) but he did say that you can pick one up for around $5. 15. Chrissy No-Hawk recommends using Pump It Up spritz to make your hair rock hard which can be found in any beauty supply store or even Wal-Mart. 16. Babyface from Richmond, VA recommends using "Got 2 Be Glued" spiking glue which is available everywhere. It's good for hair up to four inches high and generally lasts around three days. 17. Sam from Michigan uses "Salon Selectives Controlled Substance Molding Putty". It only costs $2.50 a can and gets his 11 inch spikes up in minutes and lasts for around three days. 18. For those of you who like to put your hair up and leave it up for a long time, Max recommends using Elmer's wood glue. Your hair won't budge for three weeks with this stuff but it can take 5 to 10 washes to get the it out! 19. Danny boy recommends rubbing your hair with a knitted sweater or anything else that will create static electricity before putting your hair up. Once it's nice and statically-charged you can shove knox or whatever you choose to use in there. Using this method he got his friend's 13 inch fan mohawk up in less than five minutes. 20. In another example of good old punk rock ingenuity, Jordan recommends mixing different substances for good results. His favorite mixture is using soap to get your hair up and then coating it with hairspray to reinforce it. If done right, the combo will keep your hair up but still leave it bouncy so that there's no cracking or flaking. Another good combo, recommended for longer hair, is elmer's glue and hair spray. Jordan's 15+ inch mohawk stays up for days with it. 21. Salon Grafix freezing spray can be found in any drug store and has been used to keep 18" mohawks up for days. 22. Our friend Molly recommends applying Giga hold hair spray while your hair is still damp and work it through the roots. To finish it off hold your hair in place and spray from end to end. 23. Andrew Dexter has written a really comprehensive how-to guide on using Knox for your hair. Check it out here!

A: 1. Thanks to our buddy Chris Morris in Vacaville, CA we even have an answer for this one! Chris recommends trying "Mane n' Tail" shampoo, available at most drug stores and beauty supply shops. Apparently this stuff was originally used for horses but was also found to accelerate hair growth in humans as well. Feeling brave? Give it a try! 2. Chrissy No-Hawk recommends using kelp pills which can be found in any vitamin/health food store. 3. Our buddy Chris recommends washing your hair with cold water to accelerate growth. Apparently there's some real science to this one. According to his friend who is in beauty school, the cold water opens up the pores in your scalp and helps speed hair growth. 

A: 1. If you see someone with some nice logos on their jacket, it means that they, or someone they know probably have some painting skills. Before permanently painting a band's logo on your jacket, first practice drawing the logo on paper and then practice painting it on paper or anything else that is disposable. And don't worry, if you mess the logo up really bad on your jacket you can always scrape it off with some paint thinner. It smells and it's a mess but as a last resort it will take the paint off (and the top layer of leather if you're not careful). 
2. There are no stencils that you can buy but here's a suggestion that we got about making your own stencils: A good way to paint a nice looking logo on a jacket is to get some heavy card stock paper, find a band's logo on the internet, put it into a program like word too resize it and print it out on the paper, then with a razor blade or knife you can cut away the logo and you have a stencil that you can paint in. Also, I find that it doesn't stay put on the leather easily so you can use rubber cement to keep it in place and once you're done peel away the paper and rub off any extra rubber cement. 3. Kim recommends drawing the logo in pencil on your jacket first, then painting over the pencil outline. That way you can erase it and get it perfect before you actually paint it on. Great idea!

A: The best kind of paint to use on a leather is acrylic based paint because it bends with the leather instead of cracking. Even still, it's a good idea to use a "matte finish acrylic sealer" that you can get in any art supply store. It comes in a spray can and provides an invisible protective coating over the paint so that it's less likely to get scratched up or flake off. Make sure it's matte finish, not glossy!
For large coverage areas such as sleeves or lapels, acrylic-based spray paint is the best way to cover them. Make sure you cover the rest of the jacket with newspaper so that you don't get paint on it. Spray the area that you want to paint with even strokes back and forth from two to three feet away. Another suggestion comes from Chris Morris in Vacaville, CA. Chris suggests using paint pens which can be bought at any art supply store or even Wal-Mart where he gets his.

A: The best way to punch the hole in your leather jacket to apply studs & spikes is with a dart. Darts are perfect because they're sharp, tough (they won't snap or bend), and they don't get any wider at the bottom. Press the prongs of the stud into the leather to leave an indentation so that you know where you need to make the hole. Pop the dart head through, take it out, put the stud in and bend the prongs in. Viola! 
Some people use a leather hole punch or an awl but those usually just make huge holes and fuck up your jacket. Whatever you do, don't use scissors! 

A: 1. Screen printed patches are cool but they can be a big pain in the ass when they fray at the edges and eventually fall apart. If you coat the edges of the patch thoroughly with clear nail polish they will last a lot longer. This works best for small patches but will also work for back patches. 2. Our buddy Brian in Sacramento recommends stuff called Frayblock that seems to do the same thing. 3. We've also been told that melting the edges of the patch with a lighter works too. That of course depends on what kind of material the patch is made of. If it's made of cotton canvas it might just burn up so don't practice on your favorite patch! 4. Another good suggestion came from our buddy Chad. Chad suggests tucking in the edges of the patch in before sewing the patch on. That way the edges are not exposed and can't fray. 5. Matt from Eight Over Par says that using a glue stick has worked well for him. Lay the patch on a piece of paper and run the glue stick over the edges of the patch. Let dry, flip it over and do the same thing on the back side. 6. Chris recommends something called Liquid Stitch. You can use it to glue the patch to your jacket or pants and it also prevents the patch from fraying..

A: If your band has released a record or CD that you would like us to sell, please send a sample copy first to the address below for consideration (make sure to include a note with details about the band and your contact info). 

A: Different colored shoe laces may have different meaning to different people. To us, all it signifies is a color preference. In our humble opinion, wearing different colored shoe laces for any other reason than liking that color is stupid. 

A: At this point we only release one or two print catalogs a year. It may take several months before our next print catalog is available so please be patient. Unlike in the past, we rely mostly on our online catalog at this point.  

A: We try our best to answer every email that we get but sometimes the large quantity of emails that we receive makes that difficult or impossible. Here are a few guidelines that will help us out and increase your likelihood of getting a response;
1. Please check the FAQ section before asking a question to make sure we haven't already covered it here.
2. If you have a question, please make it as clear and specific as possible. Always identify yourself when emailing, especially when asking about an order. If you don't, chances are we won't know what you're talking about and we won't be able to help you. 
3. Don't be rude, condescending, sarcastic or demanding. We're a lot more enthusiastic about helping people out when they ask nicely. Being rude doesn't make you punk, it makes you an asshole.