Chainsaw Kittens, Crimpshrine, Fifteen, The Misfits, The Hard-Ons, Get up Kids, Token Entry, the Zombies, Wilco, Beach Boys, Burt Bacharach, 80s post punk hardcore like Minor Threat and Husker Du, early Replacements, etc
To download all songs click one of our releases below:
We hate listing things here, but it helps in getting us to appear in search results: Rancid, Crimpshrine, fifteen, Eve 6, NOFX, Replacements, Swingin Utters, Dillinger Four, Good Riddance, Chainsaw Kittens
History
The Putrid Flowers were founded in NYC with personal and musical connections to the New York City Hardcore and Punk Golden Age of the late 1980s and early 1990s. They quickly impressed critics with their energetic live performances and a social consciousness that they were able to couple with the spontaneity of old punk/hardcore acts.
Indeed, the band would often bring homemade baked goods and hand them out in the middle of their set. Later, they went through a period of playing 2-3 gangster rap covers in their set, often taking out chairs and acoustic guitars and playing them as close as possible to the originals, adding to the fun and absurdity. Their tireless efforts established a reputation among a loyal cache of fans who followed them around to scores of gigs in NYC and the surrounding areas. The energy of their live shows would be captured on a series of seven inches and singles recorded by Chris Fasulo, a student at 5 Towns College, in the school's studio on weekends and vacations. These early tracks were to surface on many prominent punk rock compilations of the mid-late 1990s.
Their first major release, "...and for the little children, sing.", was released DIY after some label issues caused the band to go independent. Although all the songs had a certain poppiness to them, they were interested in connecting with underground music fans who felt the same way they did about music. These were people who searched out obscure bands and shared them with friends, and whose identity was forged through a religious devotion to music. The underground did respond well. Fanzines reviewed the album to almost universal praise getting them high marks in reviews in sources like
Hybrid Magazine, World Wide Punk and Punk International and mention on top album lists by sources such as PunkRockReviews. At this point they were satisfied with the level of interest that they were able to generate through informal channels like underground radio, internet and friends they'd made while playing out. They weren't so concerned about competing with popular bands and declined label offers.
Soon the group slowed their touring schedules and began writing the ambitious follow-up "Young for the Last Time." The songs, which focused on innocence and the limitations placed upon it (in both the personal and political sense), seemed especially appropriate in the wake of 9/11. With their initial dire pessimism subsided, the group put together a masterful tapestry of punk songs united by age old literary themes updated and applied to the postmodern era. Recorded with the help of John Agnello (who has produced for such bands as The Chainsaw Kittens, Son Volt, Sonic Youth, the Breeders, Social Distortion, Dinosaur Jr and more), the lyrical maturity and social understanding rarely found on punk records earned the group a new generation of underground fans.
In 2007, as a commentary regarding the sad state of mainstream punk music, the band decided to release the "Dancing with a Stranger EP." The songs were hastily recorded in a basement in Queens and an attic in upstate New York. When the band listened back to the recordings, they realized the songs had an ugly and urgent honesty that provided an appropriate contrast to the glossy, highly polished way that modern "mainstream" punk (and all music) is packaged. Though the songs were raw and "ugly", the band knew the songs had to be released.
Just passed another great weekend spent with friends in the front of the bonfire, singing Putrid Flowers songs. It's great how easily your music can become perpetually lodged in someone's skull. These particular friends had never heard any of your songs before, and yet I heard them humming the ones I'd taught them. Ah, summer! What fun.
I still want to hear you on the radio here in Portland. Did you ever talk to 94.7 about that?
And I'm sorry I've been so late on getting that article to you about the theory of Punk. It's been much harder to write than I'd initally thought.
Keep up the great work, and take pride in what you've already accomplished.
hi my dear buddy long time no see hows everything? im planing a trip around china this summer by myself my mother said its too dangerous for a girl but i learn that many europe n america people do it when they r young what do u think of it? do u think i should do it when im get older n more brave? thanx a million! xxx
anytime. i don't know if i have a favourite. they're all so fun to listen to. i think it really depends on what mood i'm in. i just listen to the entire albums without stopping for hours. the songs flow so well together
Right. So I went downtown today cuz I had to give some patches to these three homeless guys I'd met a few weeks ago at the protest near City Hall. I was wearing my jacket (which, by the way, has a massive Putrid Flowers back patch on it ♥), and they asked about the band. I think I'm gunna make them some CDs and give them to 'em (One of them's gotta really old school CD player from the '90s or something. It's awesome). Oh, what joy!
Oi. Never heard the verdict on that radio deal. Didja ever contact the station? Sorry I had to delay in getting back to you...apparently, wi-fi sucks in the mountains of Colorado...Never woulda seen that coming.
hey guys as you guys have already made it into the music industry i was wondering if you could give me a few tips or a hand on how to get there myself. im a musican (piano for 10years ive done some singing and i play guitar amaturally but im proggressing fast) music is my passion and my life after skewl im hopping to attend the school of audio engineering (SAE) so if you could help a fellow musician out that would be appreciated thank you!
First. I think I gotta way to getchoo on the radio here in Portland. It's an alternative station; they play a lotta mainstream crap, but are pretty open to different stuffs, too. Let me know what you think, and I'll see what I can do.
Second. I made a Putrid Flowers T-shirt the other day using the 'And for the Little Children, Sing' CD cover. I'm wearing it now. Also, gunna make a back patch for my jacket of the same thing. Great stuff.
Anyway, just thought I'd letcha know about the radio thing. It's 94.7 Alternative Portland if you're interested in lookin it up.
And thanks. A lot. One hell of a lot. I keep finding more and more depth to the lyrics of your songs, and it's done a lot for me in these last two weeks. But I'm not gunna trouble you with my annoying teenage dramas; I'm gunna make that patch and wear it everywhere I go. Yay.
