Piradical marches on

There was speculation for a while if there would even be a Piradical Fest this year, but against all odds, Piradical pulled through. While this spring’s Circle City Ska Fest sought to bring regional and national bands together, Piradical Productions has dealt almost solely with local bands. Due to poor decision-making at the Harrison Center, the Underground has become all but dead to the local punk scene, so Piradical mastermind Stephen Zumbrun moved the whole operation to The Central Space at 6151 N. Central Ave. in Broad Ripple.

The new location will hopefully draw fresh faces. This year’s concert will feature tried-and-true heavy hitters such as Bolth and Highway Magic, who both played last year’s Fest. It will also see some new groups, such as the phenomenal art-punk act Prizzy Prizzy Please. If you’ve read NUVO in the past six months, you’ll know that Prizzy Prizzy Please is the talk of the town. Their eclectic art-punk sound appeals to the snootiest of hipsters as well as the rowdiest of punk rockers. Expect a Prizzy Prizzy circle pit this year.

Also storming the stage are local hardcore kings Phoenix Bodies. Phoenix Bodies have played all over the country and even in Europe, so to see them in their hometown will be a true treat. “Pirad Fest is going to be a time of bad-assery,” Zumbrun says. “I personally can’t wait to see Bolth and Prizzy. I haven’t seen either band in a long time.”

Highway magic

After a successful tour and an upcoming top spot on this year’s Piradical Fest, local pop-punkers Highway Magic are back with a brand new EP. It starts off with a bang — “Another Round” — which may sound like a drinking song, but is actually a posi-punk pacifist anthem. The killer solo will almost single-handedly restore your faith in local music.

Highway Magic has been good since their inception a few years ago, but they always seem to be openers, never headliners. With the new EP, HM have taken their art up a notch. The band switches from brutal hardcore on “Close Minded” and pop-ska on the anthemic “School Sucks.”

If you saw Highway Magic a year ago and liked them, prepare to be rocked even harder; if you thought they were crap, it’s time to give them a second chance. Their new songs sound great on the EP, but they sound even better live.

If you miss the band at Piradical Fest, you can catch them July 29 at the Halloween House with Project 27. Hear the new EP for free at www.myspace.com/highwaymagic.

Oi! To the skins

I’ve been immersed in German culture my whole life. I remember my father making me stay up to watch Wagner’s The Ring on PBS when I was about 6 years old. My parents even spoke German around the house when they didn’t want me to know their insidious parental plans.

You can imagine how confused I was, then, when I began to learn about American skinhead groups. I was always aware of racist groups in the St. Louis punk scene when I attended shows there, but never really felt their presence in Indianapolis until recently.

At the Copyrights show earlier this month, it was brought to my attention that Vinlander’s Social Club, called “a hard-core racist skinhead group” by the Anti-Defamation League, was recruiting outside the venue. They had a significant presence at the Sloppy Seconds show as well (where an American History X-style swastika tattoo graced the stage in the form of a skinhead stage-diver).

If groups like this are on the rise in Indianapolis, then the punk scene needs to be on guard. Don’t be confrontational, merely mindful.