This is a cute little DVD that I bet some people could have some fun with. The premise is that there’s this punk rock karaoke band made up of an all-star lineup (musicians from, amongst other bands, NOFX, Circle Jerks, and The Adolescents) that about ten years ago started doing a live punk rock karaoke night. (I believe it began down in Southern California, although they do play shows in other areas as well). They’d make a list of songs that you (the audience member) could choose from, supply lyrics if you needed them, and then carry on in a regular karaoke way (only they’d play the songs live, instead of there being a TV and a DVD player and weird scenes of ducks swimming in a pond while a bouncing ball skipped over Blondie lyrics). Kinda fun, right? Sure! So, basically, this DVD gives you the opportunity to bring the fun into your living room.
On the DVD there are karaoke versions that play a video (anything from black and white war footage to circle pits to color scenes of bumper cars) with the punk rock karaoke band playing the music and no singer (but the lyrics across the bottom), full song versions, which show the band performing live and lots of different people doing the different songs (see if you spot anyone you know!), which is kinda cool (fun to see all the different ways people get into it), and a little bit of bonus footage. The songs are, unsurprisingly, quite well played, and there are some good tunes in there (“Back against the Wall,” “Minor Threat,” Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie,” etc.). The CD that also comes with it has the full versions of the songs played by the Punk Rock Karaoke band, with guest singers (for example, Dicky Barrett (Mighty Mighty Bosstones) sings “Suspect Device,” Joey Cape (Lagwagon) sings “Bikeage,” and so forth). I’m not actually a huge karaoke fan but I can imagine that if you had a few friends over and got yourself a couple beers, it might be a good time. –Jennifer Federico (MVD Visual, 422 Business Center H-840 N Circle Dr., Oaks, PA 19456)