Fighting for Scraps - Anthems From The Southside Self released 2011

I recently caught up with Jonathan Golden (Goldy) of Fighting for Scraps to get a little info from him regarding their album Anthems From the Southside.

Fighting for Scraps is are hard working blue collared punks playing a  highly aggressive Melodic/Punk/Hardcore. Heralding from the south suburbs of Chicago. Fighting For Scrap's highly aggressive sound is loud and heavy. Fueled by explosive drumming, dynamic guitar riffs, thunderous bass lines and old school, raspy vocals, Fighting For Scraps pushes the boundaries of punk.

They exploded onto the Chicago music scene in 2010, playing shows across the metropolitan area at such clubs as Reggies,The Cobra Lounge,Ultra Lounge,and numerous other venues supporting such bands as The Star Fucking Hipsters, Channel3, The Infected, Deals Gone Bad, Last False Hope, Dead Town Revival, Calling all Cars (ex-Repellents )and numerous shows for F.C.S. Soundsystem. Gaining radio play on 88.9WARG THE DOC METAL SHOW, Podunk Radio, Asgard Radio, and Stig Stench radio; keep your eyes and ears open, Fighting For Scraps is the new sound of Chicago punk.

Podunk Radio has been airing tracks off this album since we began as a station and look forward to more great music out of these guys.

It is our opinion that Anthems From the Southside is good, honest approach to melodic hardcore punk with a sound that defines the energy and intensity of the Chicago punk scene and you'd be a damn fool not to try to get a copy of this album. Check them out HERE on facebook.

PDR: What was the original release date of Anthems From The Southside?

JG: It never really had an official release. A friend of our's owns 127 Riot Studios, and late 2011 he called us up, and told us he had a few hours open if we wanted to come in and blast some tunes out quick. So we loaded our gear and shot out to his studio, and blasted 6 tunes out in about six hours. A week later he mixed and mastered it, and sent it to us. That's when we started burning, promoting, and sending it to everywhere and everyone we could. People enjoyed the music.. a lot ...and there was a very strong positive feed back from it, scoring us shows with The Star Fucking Hipster's, Punk legends Channel 3, and numerous other established Chicago punk bands. We even gained the respect of The Chicago metal scene and The Chicago Metal alliance helping land us an opening slot for Chicago legends; like Spare Change and Maggot Twat . But I think what really propelled us forward was the live show. Our live shows tend to get pretty insane; Broken bottles, pits galore, and Goldy (me) has been compared to David Yow. For an old fat guy he never stands still. 

PDR: Is it a self release or a label release? 

JG: Self release.

PDR: who are the members of the band?

JG: Jake-Guitars, Creepy-Bass, Brian- Drums, Goldy vox

PDR: where you cats from?
JG: the band hails from a south suburb of Chicago, called Alsip. But our home will always be Blue Island.


PDR: how long have you been playing?

JG: As a collective 2 1/2 years, but Creepy Brian and Jake have been together Jamming for years upon years. Goldy(me) took a break from the music scene, kinda settled and had a son. After my son turned 3, I received a call from Jake asking if I was interested in singing for his Hardcore Punk band. I told him I have been out of the game for a while, but I was willing to come out to a practice and check them out. So I went and listened to them. They started playing a tune (which is now Lonely Nights) and when I heard it I immediately had lyrics in my head. I grabbed a pen and paper, jotted down the lyrics, picked up a mic, and well the rest is history.

PDR: any upcoming shows we should know about? 

JG: Got Thursday, February 16th at the Ultra Lounge in Chicago, and the we are really excited about being part of the very first Chi Town Anarchy Fest at the Mutiny in Chicago. A free 3 day festival of some of the greatest Punk/ hardcore bands Chicago has to offer. 


PDR: plans for a follow up release?

 JG: We are currently weighing our options and looking to record. We would Love to go back to Steve Antoniazzi, and 127 Riot Studios. But our Schedule's never seem to line up. So we may be recording with a different party. But we do plan on recording and releasing a full length and having new tunes for our fans in 2013.