Punk Rock

If there's one thing Mike Watt knows, it's the road. "The way a tour is, it always sucks all [other] events in, like a vortex," he says over the phone from his home in San Pedro, Calif. "This will be my 29th tour," he says. "No, my 30th tour. So I kinda know the drill. But it's always scary." Scary, but fun. Over the years, Watt has toured as the bassist for a number of groups. First, there was the daring, funk-informed punk band the Minutemen, which he helped found in 1979. Then, after the death of guitarist D. Boone in an auto accident in 1985, he formed fIREHOSE, which pretty much picked up where the Minutemen left off. Watt disbanded fIREHOSE in 1994 and went solo, releasing the rangy, ambitious solo album, "Ball-Hog or Tugboat?"

Michael Mayer knows a thing or two about coming of age. The Maryland-born director won a Tony Award for his work guiding the 2006 Broadway hit "Spring Awakening," which chronicles teens getting a grip on their budding sexuality. In 2010, he directed "American Idiot," a punk rock musical based on the Green Day album of that name, which follows a group of cynical, spent youths as they seek excitement in a big city. Mayer didn't just direct the latter, but collaborated on the book with Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong.

After high school, Vince Saulsbury didn't bother with college or take the other usual routes in pursuit of success. Instead, the 22-year-old Catonsville resident started a business on Main Street in Ellicott City. It's a historic street jammed with antiques shops, art galleries and restaurants with the occasional quirky exception, such as a comic book shop and Saulsbury's place, The Store That Cannot Be Named. Saulsbury sells hard-to-find punk rock records and compact discs, art, clothing and an eclectic mix of tiki mugs, shot glasses, belt buckles, cufflinks and ashtrays, from his shop tucked in a Main Street minimall.

The Hippodrome 's 2012-2013 Broadway Series will have tried-and-true crowd pleasers such as "Wicked" and "Beauty and the Beast" alongside newer musicals "American Idiot" and "Billy Elliot. " "From a consumer perspective, this is a juggernaut season," said Jeff Daniel, president of the Hippodrome at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center. A show likely to generate particular buzz is "American Idiot. " Based on the 2004 concept album of that name by the punk-rock band Green Day, the musical looks at three male friends seeking something better than life in suburbia.

Punk rock band Social Distortion is at Sonar, 407 E. Saratoga St., tonight at 8. Mest & the Dead 60s, Fear Before the March of Flames, Bear vs Shark, Since by Man and Fall of Troy are also billed. Tickets are $25 and are available through 410-327-8333 or ticketmas ter.com.

Punk rock band Dropkick Murphys will bring their unique sound, which fuses Irish folk with rock, to Rams Head Live on Monday. Also performing will be Horrorpops and Everybody Out. Rams Head is at 20 Market Place. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the concert starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. Call 410-244-1131 or go to ramsheadlive.com for tickets.

Butch Walker Monday, the 9:30 Club offers a radio-friendly night of punk rock. Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites play a mix of rock, punk and glam rock. Opening the show are emo-rockers Boys Like Girls and punk-rockers As Fast As. Tickets are $15. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. The 9:30 Club is at 815 V St. N.W., Washington. Call 800-955-5566 or visit tickets.com.

Hometown: Baltimore Current members: Holly Morgan, drums; Joey Grey, guitar; Tanya Taylor, bass; Lisa Harbin, vocals. Founded in: 2003 Style: Punk rock with pop sensibilities. Influenced by: '70s punk rock, X-Ray Spex, Pretenders. Notable: The group's first record, Baltimore Chapter, will be released tomorrow under the label Atomic Twang (the same Hampden crew that brings us Atomic Books). Quotable: Lisa Harbin on the band's style. "We embrace our goofy. Our songs, although there are serious ones about serious issues - some of them are about non-issues."

Hometown: Baltimore Current members: Dave Israel, guitar, keyboards; Erik Sunday, bass, vocals; Jim Schaffer, drums; Frank Burgess, guitar. Founded: 1998 Style: Punk rock Influenced by: Stiff Little Fingers, the Damned, early '70s punk rock Notable: The "f.d.i.c." after the band's name stands for Finally Death is Coming (the title of its first record), or Friends ... Don't Invite Cops (the title of its second). It never refers to "Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation." Quotable: Dave Israel on the truth about punk: "Punk is about anarchy, but playing in the punk band is more structured than any other music I'm involved with.

The RamonesWhen: April 6, 8 p.m.Where: Hammerjacks, 1102 S. Howard St.Tickets: $8.50Call: 659-7625Over the years, a lot of bands have paid homage to the Ramones. On occasion it arrives as direct tribute -- a song dedication, a lyrical reference, a cover version -- but usually it's just a simple acknowledgement of the fact that the Ramones invented punk rock.Put that way, it may seem a fairly narrow debt. After all, only punks were influenced by punk rock, right?Wrong. Because the group reinvented the whole notion of harder-faster-louder rock and roll, the Ramones changed the lives of hundreds of rock stars, from Billy Idol to Nikki Sixx.

If punk rock — in all its various styles and sub-genres — is about being contrarian, Paramore might be the most punk band on the planet. The Tennessee-rooted outfit has been nominated for Grammys, sold millions of albums and plays a sort of teen-friendly pop-punk that's hooky, vivacious and surprisingly wholesome. (The band makes no bones about its Christian faith, but its music isn't overtly religious.) At the center of all the attention — albeit reluctantly — is Hayley Williams, a sprightly front woman well-known for her shock of dyed hair and powerhouse vocals.

Actor Joaquin Phoenix says goodbye to film, hello to music Joaquin Phoenix says he's "not doing films anymore." He made the announcement Monday at a fundraising event for Paul Newman's camps for kids. Extra's Jerry Penacoli asked "Are you serious?" Phoenix answered, "Yeah. I'm working on my music. I'm done. I've been through that." Phoenix's rep confirmed the news to Extra with the response, "That is what he told me." The 34-year-old performer gave no further details on his career plans - but he has been working on a record for some time with Britain's The Charlatans, People reports on its Web site.

Punk rock fest The lowdown: Punk music fans, get ready for the latest edition of the Insubordination Fest. The punk rock festival, which is tomorrow and Saturday, includes performances by The Queers, Sloppy Seconds, Sweet Baby and Ann Beretta, with Agent Orange headlining the kick-off show. If you go: The kick-off show is tonight at the Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12-$14. Go to theottobar.com. Tomorrow's show is at the Recher Theatre, 512 York Road, Towson.

Political activism should be supplemented by heavy doses of alcohol and hardcore punk. That's the mentality of the Rolla, Mo.-based trio Bent Left. What originally started as a casual engagement, the outfit's purpose has evolved, much like the interpretation of the band name. Since recording 2005's full-length Skeletons in Your Closet and last year's EP Premeditated Insanity, Bent Left takes its energetic, booze-drenched performances as seriously as it can, using them as a platform to promote the band's liberal social and political philosophies and to distribute information for Music for America and Punk Voter.

Punk rock band Dropkick Murphys will bring their unique sound, which fuses Irish folk with rock, to Rams Head Live on Monday. Also performing will be Horrorpops and Everybody Out. Rams Head is at 20 Market Place. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the concert starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. Call 410-244-1131 or go to ramsheadlive.com for tickets.

If, like me, you vented your iconoclastic impulses during the American punk heyday by watching Brian De Palma and Jonathan Demme movies instead of listening to hardcore punk groups such as Adolescents and 7 Seconds, Philip Rachman's American Hardcore will provide a steady supply of epinephrine and a dizzying string of revelations. The circle of bands and happy hangers-on that Rachman has assembled brew up a heady vision of the underground movement that turned its back on the heavy corporate machinery of American pop and the smothering self-congratulation of American patriotism in the Reagan era. American Hardcore (Sony Pictures Classics)

Everybody knows Dave Grohl is a punk rocker. So why on earth is he sitting in his home studio in Virginia recording Gerry Rafferty covers? It isn't just that Grohl's current band, the Foo Fighters (which opens for the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Baltimore Arena this evening) has cut three full albums that are as hard, fast and noisy as any Clash single. Before he took up guitar and formed the Foos, Grohl played drums in Nirvana, the band that kick-started the whole punk rock revival of the '90s.

Punk rock - at least as pioneered by the Ramones and Blondie - was built upon such basic rock and roll virtues that it's hard to believe the music was ever considered a menace to society. Sure, the music was harder and faster than the previous generation's rock and roll. But it was also uncluttered by needless gimmickry and self-indulgent solos, meaning that the emphasis was always on the song itself. And at its best, punk rock could be as catchy and tuneful as anything Chuck Berry ever wrote.

Punk rock band Social Distortion is at Sonar, 407 E. Saratoga St., tonight at 8. Mest & the Dead 60s, Fear Before the March of Flames, Bear vs Shark, Since by Man and Fall of Troy are also billed. Tickets are $25 and are available through 410-327-8333 or ticketmas ter.com.