Boarding zeee plane.

We are very proud to announce the winner of the Counterpunch design competition.  Tommy Knuts of Paris, FR is the winner.  We took a few extra days to decide the color we were going to be printing on…so sorry for the delay.  Thank you to everyone that took the time to put their creative skills to the test.  We appreciate all your love and support out there.  Keep an eye out for photos of Tommys shirt design posted during out stint in Europe…Including a the first and only European venue Belvedere Reunion show and the infamous GROEZROCK.  Hope to see many of you there!!!  Thanks congratz to Tommy once again.  For those of you who dont live in Europe and/or won’t be attending at CP show, there will be details about how to purchase this shirt online at a future date.  

It is with a heavy heart that we have to announce the departure of Richo Marquina from the band.  Due to some unforeseen and unknown circumstances he has decided to part ways with Counterpunch. We are saddened with the timing and way Richo has chosen to exit the band but we will be continuing on with our plans to record this new disc, and the material is the best offering CP has done to date.  

We are very proud to announce we have enlisted the extremely talented Jim Margle from  We Are The Union to join us on our European tour. We have known Jim for some time and couldn’t think of a better friend or talent behind the drums to embark with us on  our second European Tour. So get ready the countdown begins. One month from today we set foot in Europe, Get Stoked! Eric, Brian, Jared, Jim ~ Counterpunch ~

We’re happy to say that we have a brand new unreleased track on Disconnect Disconnect Record’s new compilation disc called Removals, and you can pick it up right now!  The track is a cover of ‘Blue Skies’, a nice old jazz tune we dusted off for fun.  I think it turned out pretty rad.  There’s also some tunes from our friends in Versus The World, She Likes Todd, The Fear, Samuel Calwell’s Revenge, and 13 other great bands on it for your listening enjoyment.  

Click on the link to snag a copy today!

Here’s the tracklisting:
1) Uncommonmenfrommars – Jim Got In A Fight With Brian Molko 
2) Hit The Switch – Retroactive 
3) IVS – Storm Warning 
4) Our Time Down Here – Under Dim Light 
5) Counterpunch – Blue Skies 
6) The Fear – Great News For Typists
7) Booze Cruise – I Said Light Cream Cheese, Not Light On The Cream Cheese 
8) 3 Cards Short – Ashitaka 
9) Harker – Loyal Than Most 
10) The Stereo State – Altamont 
11) Rebuke – Libertine 
12) Samuel Caldwells Revenge – The REAL Lost Boys Of Sudan 
13) After The Fall – Forgive And Forget 
14) Darko – The Smarter I Think I Am The Dumber I Get 
15) Caleb Lionheart – We’re Rooted Here and You Can’t Pull Us Up 
16) She Likes Todd – Explode 
17) Friends With The Enemy – Waking Up 
18) Versus The World – In Fear Of Finale 
19) Overtime Heroes – Open Hands 
20) The Braces – What Happened 
21) PJ Bond – Solitude

We are currently taking submissions for a contest that will get your art on a COUNTERPUNCH shirt.  The design should be a 2 or 3 color tshirt front only design, that we’ll be making for our upcoming spot on the Groezrock 2012 Fest & European tour.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re an artist that draws everything by hand or an artist that mainly uses computer design skills.   Really, the options are limitless for what you can do and how you can do it.  Make it good, make it big, make it bold, and make it stand out.  

Think, would you want to buy this shirt?  If your answer is yes, then you might be the winner!  And, speaking of winners, the artist who’s design we choose will get a nice little prize package which includes: your name and design posted on our site, a shirt with your design on it in your choice of size, a copy of our US release “Dying To Exonerate The World”, and a screen printed poster signed by the band.  We will also be taking photos of us selling the shirt on our upcoming tour, including the Groezrock festival in Belgium.  We will do our best to catch people with the shirt on and post those photos, maybe even do a little video post.  So, for all you artists out there that want some street credit, get to the drawing board.  And, if you know someone that might be interested, spread the word.  

For the contest itself, all we’ll need is a high quality un-layered jpeg image of your design/idea.  If you’re selected as the winner/winners, we’ll ask for a color separated, hi-res vector art file ready for print….or as close to that as we can get! 

We will be taking submissions until March 18th via our Facebook page and will announce the winner on March 23rd.  Good luck and if you have any questions, feel free to hit us up!  

Brian, Eric, Jared, & Richo

www.counterpunchrock.com

www.reverbnation.com/counterpunch

www.facebook.com/counterpunchrok

All good things must come to an end, and I can’t think of a better statement to stamp on 2011 as we move forward.  We met a lot of great people, made some awesome new friends, and played with some amazing bands last year (sounds weird saying last year…) that made the year for CP one to remember.  But, as we are past the time for reflection, let us take a quick look at 2012…

For starters, our first endeavor of this new year will be recording these new songs and putting together a new release for all to enjoy.  We’re going about this by ourselves, so you can probably expect to see a kickstarter page started here very soon.  I’m not 100% sold on the idea as we’ve never used it before, but I’m seeing friends have success with it so I think we’ll give it a shot.  Also, we’re all poor bastards so it’s almost like a last resort.  ha.

New and actual website?  Yes. It’s true.  I know I’ve been talking about this on and off for a while, but I saw it.  It exists!  Just a couple more bug fixes and we’re live with it.  ’Bout time right?!?

I can’t even begin to describe the anticipation for the spring tour.  It’s crazy.  ’Nuff said.

I don’t think I have anything else for now, but I hope you and your fam a safe and rad 2012.

E

gummy bears.

Sup guys.   So we played tonight with the Get Go @ Beat Kitchen, and they were great.  Great guys great show!  We had a blast given the circumstances….

Which brings me to my next point.  If you’re in a band and you’re ‘stoked’ to see us play along side you, and you ‘checked us out online and love NOFX and can’t wait to see us’ and ask me ‘if I’m going to check out your set’ you might not want to pack up your merch and leave while we’re playing, or for that matter, not even appear in the room while we’re playing. You look like total assbags.  Just sayin’.  I was totally not stoked to see you, but gave you a listen to check you out based on our convo, and then you show that you’re actually a fake douche.  I hate to call people out, but for real.  No bueno.  Let that be a lesson to all you younger bands out there. If you play a show, you’re there until the end.  No questions asked.  That is unless you have to go to the hospital or broach the subject up front.  Being this guy not only reflects badly on you, but it makes people think you’re band is all a bunch of douche-s.  ’Nuff said 

Anyhoo, in other news, we got the routing for the Spring Europe tour and it looks awesome.  I can’t wait to release the full extent of the damage we’re going to cause to our livers and your ears, but rest assured it’s going to be a crazy good experience.  Thanx Manux :D

Also, I’m proud to tell you guys that we’re working on a new release for that tour, and the new songs are f’n killer.  You’re going to love them.  And if you don’t, you can always pack up your merch and leave ;) .  

That is all.  Happy holidays to you and your family from all of us here at CP, and we’ll see you soon….without pants…..

E

Hey everyone!  

First off, thank you sooo much for your support during the first round of this competition from Popchips.  Without you, we wouldn’t have even had the chance to make this video.  We stole the Reggie’s rock bus, took it out for a spin, and played a show on the bus.  It was a rad time!  The video earned us a spot as a finalist to get to SXSW.  We beat out 50 other bands from Chicago to be the last one standing!  Now we’re up against the winners from New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles.  WE ONCE AGAIN NEED YOUR VOTES!  

All you have to do is stop by this link and click the vote button!!  You can vote once a day, and please please please share this as much as possible on your FB page!  We want to represent Chicago proudly, and rock some faces in Texas!

Again, thank you so much for your support!  This is the home stretch!  Let’s do this!

E