Ahead of Bradley Riot’s upcoming full-length titled Dark Side of the Road, Dying Scene is pleased to bring you the second single titled “Port to Port”, an introspective tale of a great journey, not across seas to new lands, but of finding one’s self through first giving in to, then later abandoning, self-destructive behavior. “‘Port […]
Ahead of Bradley Riot’s upcoming full-length titled Dark Side of the Road, Dying Scene is pleased to bring you the second single titled “Port to Port”, an introspective tale of a great journey, not across seas to new lands, but of finding one’s self through first giving in to, then later abandoning, self-destructive behavior.
“‘Port to Port” is a song about being stuck in a loop of repeating the same negative habits, specifically when it comes to love. It’s about seeking external solutions for internal problems,” wrote Bradley. “I’d say one of my favorite lyrics in the song is: ‘I’m setting course for blacking out.’ It equates to me completely giving up and leaning into defeat, setting the intention of ignoring the issue instead of trying to solve it.”
One thing that’s become much more apparent since the Covid shutdown, at least in my own musical bubble, is the introspective nature of music both written and recorded during that time. Although as a concept this is nothing new, especially in the realm of punk-rock, when the world is forced into solitude, music lacking outward-looking themes is almost inevitable. I’ve found myself paying far closer attention to this idea, and usually try to question any artist I’m lucky enough to interview (Adrienne Rae of Plasma Canvas, Matt Goud of Northcote). Bradley was no different, and offered some unique insights that most likely resonate with much of what the punk-rock world was struggling with at that same point.
“Covid was definitely a major hurdle,” wrote Bradley. “I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve had to postpone recording sessions in order for someone to get well or test negative. It was a massive time killer.”
He then explains some of the other hurdles that were faced in writing and recording Dark Side of the Road, while also dealing with the overarching headache that was and still is Covid. Writing while simultaneously recording was highlighted, something that since talking with Sam King of Get Dead and Codefendants has become a trait I greatly admire. But the third struggle Bradley listed, that of sobriety, was what really amped me up and got me excited to hear the portrayed journey throughout this new record.
“Many of the vocals were sang between swigs of Jameson or after a night of heavy cocaine usage. Sometimes, that made for a fun vocal texture, but, more often than not, it was just problematic. After I decided to get clean, we revisited the album as a whole, took it back to square one, and I re-sang almost every line. Approaching the songs with a different mindset really opened them up and I’m grateful for (co-producer) Kevin Besignano’s compassion towards the process.”
In the short back-and-forth I’ve had with Bradley, “Port to Port” seems like a much more focused, direct version of what the full-length hopes to portray: “the idea of being a victim to oneself”.
Check out the brand new single below, and keep your eyes peeled October 13 for the full-length release of Dark Side of the Road.
Dark subject matter is no new theme to Fort Collins punk rock band Plasma Canvas, and it’s one of several components that drew me their way following KILLERMAJESTIC‘s 2020 release, their debut on SideOneDummy. The duo-turned-quartet captured this essence even more so with their upcoming full-length Dusk, which hits the streets today also via SideOneDummy. […]
Dark subject matter is no new theme to Fort Collins punk rock band Plasma Canvas, and it’s one of several components that drew me their way following KILLERMAJESTIC‘s 2020 release, their debut on SideOneDummy. The duo-turned-quartet captured this essence even more so with their upcoming full-length Dusk, which hits the streets today also via SideOneDummy. The opening track titled “Hymn” serves as a soft, yet triumphant prelude to a kick-ass, emotionally gripping record that already holds a firm spot towards the top of my end-of-the-year Top 10 Records of the Year list.
What immediately stood out to me about this release was how well-crafted it was. It has a fluidity that I have trouble finding comparisons to and each track compels you to check out the next. As we discuss more in-depth during our chat, vocalist/guitarist and band founder Adrienne Rae Ash describes a cyclical record as almost being the end goal, something that, in my opinion, was very much achieved with this release. Although some tracks do slow down in tempo, this record has no soft spots and I’m confident this will rank well on other Best Records of the Year as well.
What also caught my attention was the tendency away from what I became familiar with as the ‘Plasma Canvas sound’. Although this release still encompasses everything an early PC fan could want, songs such as the opener “Hymn” and eighth track “Dusk” (clocking in at close to 9 minutes) are unlike anything previously released by the group, but in all the best ways. In what can be at least partially attributed to the band’s shift from a two-piece to a four-piece, they hit the nail on the head with every fuckin’ track on this thing.
I had the great pleasure of sitting down (over zoom) with Adrienne Rae Ash, the mastermind behind Plasma Canvas. We covered all kinds of great stuff including the impact COVID had on the writing of Dusk, how things have been taking the DIY route to booking shows, and what it’s like playing with Miles Stevenson, son of Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson, plus a whole lot more. Keep scrolling for their upcoming dates and where to pick up the new release. As always, thanks for checking out the site. Cheers!
Shows:
2/17/23 – 7th Circle – Denver, CO – w/ Cheap Perfume, SPELLS, Wiff 2/18/23 – Vultures – CO Springs, CO – w/ Cheap Perfume, SPELLS, Bad Year 3/4/23 – Aggie Theatre – Fort Collins, CO – w/ Attack On Venus, Caustic Soda, Spliff Tank
(Editor’s note: The following has been edited and condensed for clarity’s sakebecause a good chunk of this interview was just us shooting the shit.)
Dying Scene (Nathan Kernell NastyNate): Hey Adrienne, how are you doing?
Adrienne Rae Ash: I’m great man! This is really cool, I wanted to say thanks for wanting to do this. I’m trying to let everybody know about the record and it’s cool that you were interested to talk about it.
Yeah absolutely. Congrats, by the way, this is such a good record. I’m just gonna go ahead and say, I know it’s early in the year, but when we do like our top ten records of the year for Dying Scene, this is going to be on mine. This thing flows so well from beginning to end, you start out with kind of a soft hymn, I mean that’s the name of the song, but you start off soft and then end that song and you get right into it. And you don’t slow down until track nine I think, then you get back into it again. I mean this is just such an unbelievable record, I’m very excited for it to be released. So did you plan that out at all with how it flowed, starting out soft and then kind of hitting hard and then ending soft; was that something you sought out to do?
Yeah, kind of. I sought to make it kind of cyclical, but also you know in general, it’s always been something I do, that sequence is always there whenever I’m writing the songs. Whenever I have new ideas, even when they’re still in like their infancy, I can kind of tell where they would fit next to each other or if they would at all. I’m always conscious of that and you know some of my favorite records are those records that kind of just guide you, they feel like you’re in a specific place that you go to when you listen to this record. Just the way that it ties together and the way the songs work together is just something that I’ve always found to be another opportunity to create something really cool. Specifically with this record and with our EP KILLERMAJESTIC I did the same thing, I was conscious of you know I wanted to start really heavy and then get tender toward the end. I wanted to just leave a mark and make something that I could be proud of whenever I’m older, I wanted to make something timeless and that’s sort of what I set out to do by just like choosing what I felt was the most important thing to leave. I’m not one of those artists that writes like 20 or 30 songs and then just chops out the ones I don’t like, I don’t really like to continue writing a song if I’m not 100% in love with it. The sequencing is definitely a big part of that.
Yeah that’s something that really stuck out to me, it fits so well together and flows so smoothly. So what are some of your favorite tracks off of this that you’re excited for people to hear?
Well first, as you were mentioning the flow of it, I think a lot of credit has to go to the Blasting Room, just the way that they drew all the sound together. Andrew Berlin and Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore, they just drew the best out of it and they made it all work together in sequence and it was awesome. So to add to that, the songs that I can’t wait for people to hear, it’s hard to choose because there’s a lot of entry points and it’s the entry point that you have to a record that almost kind of colors how you see. With our previous EP, if you got introduced with the very first track it’s like ‘Okay, this is like the heaviest thing I’ve ever heard, why does everything else sound like a little wimpy in comparison’. But if you maybe heard “Saturn” first you’d be like dang the band that made this song that kind of sounds like “Basket Case” also did this like super sludgy weird thing that’s kind of different. So right now there are three singles that I’m really stoked on. The first one we put out was “Blistered World” and then we put out “Need” and then “Election Year Relapse.” Of those three, it’s hard to choose a favorite because they’re all about different things, but they’re all kind of very strong emotions. I guess my favorite one that we’ve had come out and I’m glad that it’s starting to do really well, you know 105.5 the Colorado Sound has been playing it on the radio, “Need.” I really like “Need” a lot and it’s like a 6-minute song, I think there’s a lot of really cool, accessible stuff that’s going on there. But also like I wrote it in May of 2020 and so it’s good to see this song do well that I wrote about how much I’ve missed the feeling of being at a show, the community you end up creating, playing those shows and the friends that you have. Like having the absence of all of that and really just feeling how much that hurt you, that’s what went into that song and to see that song being released and people hearing it and it resonating with people and playing it live is awesome. I’m just really excited to play that one to as many people as possible because it was about like that exact feeling, like I cannot believe that I’m lucky enough to be here and do this.
Yeah that leads pretty well into what I wanted to talk about next. So KILLERMAJESTIC was released during COVID, what are some of the main differences you see from releasing this in a time when everything with COVID has kind of settled down versus releasing right in the heat of the shutdown?
Releasing KILLERMAJESTIC, it was one of the worst times of our lives and I hate to say that. Evelyn and I, we were the only people in the band at the time and if you look at the back cover of that record, she and I had gone and done these photo booth pictures, just being goofy and you know we decided to use it for the back of the record. It really just made me sad that we took those photos in what I think like January and when the record came out in June the circumstances had just changed so dramatically. At that point we were working with a booking agent who helped get us on with Lagwagon and Less Than Jake. It was supposed to be like the thing that did it for us. This record is a different experience in a positive way because I couldn’t have made it before COVID. I think that kind of thing in general is hard to quantify but I couldn’t have made this record when I was younger, there’s a weight to it that I’ve put into it that I don’t think I was ready to do. There’s a certain amount of contextualized spiritual weight that lives in a record where you’ve had a little bit more time to experience. Specifically with releasing KILLERMAJESTIC in the middle of the pandemic with this skate punk song called “Firecracker” that like belongs on a Tony Hawk soundtrack, trying to get people stoked on this in the middle of everyone’s loved ones passing away, not what we wanted or what we needed. So that was a really rough time and then just having everything at first get pushed back, so you retained hope and then everything was clear that it was not being pushed back, but it was just gone and wasn’t coming back for a very long time, years. Being so close to doing everything that you thought you were going to be doing and having all your plans go out the window, that was rough. This time around, this record was written in like in one room, I just did it on my laptop, that was the way I wrote most of it just to get me through living a life without shows and without music. There was hardly any interpersonal interaction so it’s a very lonely record, it’s a very introspective record and it kind of sucked to make but I’m excited to go do something with it because it’s what we have. I’m happy with what we’ve made because it’s honest and it might not be the most happy thing to listen to, but it’s definitely an honest time capsule for where I was at 30 and 31.
I think introspective, that’s a really good word to use. I’ve done a few of these interviews where these bands had their last release right during COVID like yours. I think that’s a great word to summarize it up with these releases that they maybe wrote during COVID that are getting released now, they’re very honest and very introspective.
Another topic I wanted to hit on was going from a two-pieceto a four-piece. I’ve always known Plasma Canvas as a two-piece, but talking to Henry beforehand, he said it was kind of a long story for going from a two-piece to a four-piece, but also that the four-piece that’s recorded is different from who’s touring, could you walk me through kind of how that happened a little bit?
Well it’s been a ride. Originally, it wasn’t anything, it was a collection of songs and to tell the story about going from a two-piece to a four-piece is to also tell the story about going from whatever it was to a two-piece. So when I moved here from St. Louis I had a bunch of songs that I had written and I wanted to just document them. I was inspired by like Laura Jane Grace, she was a big one. There were really no other trans rock stars that I resonated with at the time of this, other than like G.L.O.S.S. I had these songs that I wanted to document somehow and so I made a record with this guy that I found on Craigslist named Dave Sites and we tracked everything. We were not ready to record, it’s very loose, it’s not a very good record *laughs*. But it wasn’t supposed to be a two-piece band, it was just like I wrote these songs and I’m fine with just playing whatever and know I just need someone to play the drums. We ended up like enjoying playing as a two-piece and I was really into this sound of plugging like a Chinese counterfeit Gibson Les Paul into like some fuzz pedals and a bass amp. It just turned into being a two-piece thing and it was never really intended to be one, but you know I like ‘68 and The White Stripes and Royal Blood and all those bands. I was like ‘sure, this could be fun, let’s see where this goes.’ After a while, it became a practicality because it was easier just to hang out with one person and only have one other schedule to work with one other opinion to run things through, so we kept operations small to keep it true and honest; like not have a bunch of people poisoning the well. But also in doing that over time, I kind of realized that that was stifling the process, like a self-imposed creative limitation. Whenever Evelyn started playing with me in 2017 it solidified as a two-piece thing and it was very much a part of our identity. Every time somebody would tell us to get a bass player, we’d tell them to fuck off *laughs*. But I think the idea was there the whole time, I wrote baselines that are on the first record and on our first EP No Faces. I played bass parts and sang. KILLERMAJESTIC was the only one that I had just the guitar and bass amp and a bunch of guitar amps, there was no bass. But you know it kind of just needed to happen eventually because I felt the same like two-piece cliches coming of just putting various spins on what other people are already doing and you know. I felt that it was just what needed to be done to be true to the songs.
Right, that makes a ton of sense coming from the idea of limiting yourself by only having two members.
From the beginning of the project, Plasma Canvas, that name comes from just wanting to be vulnerable and share like blood on a canvas. Now I’m working with people who understand the idea is to keep it emotionally honest and to retain a tight rhythm section because that’s what we built our sound on. But it doesn’t have to be a certain thing, it’s all about serving the songs and what the songs need it to be, not that we can only have like a guitar and a drum set. It was just a matter of getting away from like some self-imposed box that we had put ourselves.
I think that idea lines up exactly with this new record because you have some songs on this that are unlike anything you’ve done prior. Could you talk me through maybe some of your influences that you think show through on this new record?
You know there are a lot of like subtle ones and some that are just not very subtle at all. I have a few favorite bands and I don’t like to be like ‘this is where this comes from’, but you know my favorite couple of bands are Jimmy Eat World and My Chemical Romance, a couple of bands that are really into albums that do great storytelling. That’s kind of the vein that I like to fall into but also keeping a conscious eye on esthetics, like how it feels to live in this record. I think all of that is a result of going through a traumatic event like the pandemic. The whole record in general has a sense, to me personally, as you’re brought it to the world of ‘I survived the pandemic motherfucker’. I think with KILLERMAJESTIC, we were trying to bring out like the five most diverse things that we could offer up to people, please like us or whatever. What this is is just kind of an honest look at where I am and not really giving a fuck, having fun with it and not worrying about the rules that people like punks and metalheads have. We’re a punk band more in ethos than sound because we really just want to do what we want.
I can really hear some good rock’n’roll come through on this new one. I mean a lot of bands are like fuck that, they’ve got something against playing solid rock’n’roll, but you guys aren’t afraid to do that. I was listening to Matt Caughthran from the Bronx on his podcast and he was describing their second Bronx record in the same way, as just putting out rock’n’roll, punk, whatever they wanted. And I think that kind of resonates with your new record, it’s really cool that you guys aren’t afraid to do rock’n’roll, punk, piano, whatever.
So what’s to come, do you guys have an album release show set up, do you have tours set up, what’s that look like?
Right now, just trying to get the word out and let people know that the album’s coming out. We’re playing these two album release shows, the day the album comes out we’re doing a super intimate hardcore show at 7th Circle Music Collective in Denver with our friends Cheap Perfume and Spells, and then we’re doing another show with them the next day in Colorado Springs at Vultures, same two bands with different openers. Then we’re doing a show at the Aggie in Fort Collins on March 4th, that would be a really, really good time for everyone to come out too because that’s like the album release party. And we’re gonna do the whole damn record that night so I’m excited to do that for the first time. We’re also gonna have like a bigger expanded lineup that night with some the played on the record too. And then we’re looking at a tour right now looping through California and then we’ll come back on March 16th in Denver at the High Dive. We have some other stuff in the works after that but it’s not really ready to like be published *laughs*.
How’s the experience been with Miles [Stevenson] playing because that’s kind of a cool little fact that Henry clued me in on when I was talking to him?
He’s great, he’s a really serious, professional musician, but he doesn’t really like to be defined by anything anybody else has done. He’s just a really good musician, like father, like son. He really cares about it, every time I come to work with him or he comes to rehearsal, he’s got his shit together, he just really cares. It’s really exciting, he played bass with us once before last year and it was like ‘damn, that was the most fun that we’ve had in a while’. So it’s nice to have him come back and really be a part of it.
Well I greatly appreciate you sitting down with me. Once again, congrats on the new release, really excited to see where this one takes you. Good luck with everything coming up, I hope to catch you soon!
Congrats on making it through 2023 and inching one year closer to the grave. 2023 was another year in which the ever-growing and developing genre of punk grew and developed just a little bit more. Several punk rock veterans proved why they’re still more relevant than ever, while a good variety of young bucks helped […]
Congrats on making it through 2023 and inching one year closer to the grave. 2023 was another year in which the ever-growing and developing genre of punk grew and developed just a little bit more. Several punk rock veterans proved why they’re still more relevant than ever, while a good variety of young bucks helped fuel the flame of the greatest fuckin’ music genre this world’s ever seen.
My hope is that this isn’t the thousandth “end of the year Top 10” list that comes across your screen. Try not to get too offended by this either if we’re in disagreement; these are merely my favorites from the whole year. Check them out below and see what you think (or check out the playlist at the bottom for my picks of the best songs from the best records).
Hopefully Borrowed Sparks’ name and likeness have become a bit familiar around here. We were lucky enough to debut both the record’s first single “Run ’til You’re Dust” over the Summer, and the full-length itself before its October release date. All I can say is this thing is fuckin’ immaculate; I love every part of Mike Bay’s songwriting and I’m proud that something this rad is coming from right out of my backyard here in Nashville.
Let A Little Light In is the exact opposite of a sophomore slump. Equal parts Gaslight Anthem, Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen, Mike Bay has perfected the Americana-punk sound that many Dying Scene readers and writers have fallen in love with.
Being that the Souls very well may be my favorite band of all time, there was no way Ten Stories High was being left off of my top 10 list, even if I don’t rank it up there with How I Spent My Summer Vacation and The Gold Record. This record didn’t stray too far from the signature Souls sound, but just enough to make it unique and fresh. I feared that they may take the same experimental direction as Green Day’s new material, of which I am not fond of in the least.
But my fears were quickly put to rest, the title track opens the record and may be my favorite from the whole thing. Other tracks like “True Believer Radio” and “Vin and Casey” (ft. Kevin Seconds) would have fit in perfectly with their early catalog.
Thankfully, I was reacquainted with Decent Criminal’s music as I was preparing for an interview with founding members and brothers Tristan and Hunter Martinez. My last encounter with the band was in 2017 while they were on the road with Dwarves and the Queers in support of their debut record Bloom, an incredible display of Southern California skate punk. But the band’s sound has evolved enormously, a perfect example being There’s More To It Than Climbing.
The record has been described by both brothers as a journey, each track being able to stand alone, but also guiding to the next. “Blind” and “Driving” both stuck out as what I remembered as Decent Criminal. But outside of those two, many other genres and sounds were explored that reminded me of influences such as Bradley Nowell (and even some Long Beach Dub All Stars), making this an extremely intriguing record to keep coming back to.
In a scenario much like that with the Bouncing Souls, my second favorite band of all time also happened to release a full-length this year. Although this record came as a reemergence from an extensive hiatus, it has the sound and feel of still being well within their prime.
For me, this record is a return to the “Gaslight Anthem sound”, a quality that seemed a bit lacking with Get Hurt. “Positive Charge” and “History Books” were two brand new tracks that really got me in the mood to catch these guys at the historic Ryman Auditorium back on Mother’s Day. And the fact that The Boss is featured on “History Books” sold me on the record immediately.
I hope I’ve made it blatantly obvious by this point how much I admire, applaud, idolize, adore, fuckin’ cherish these dudes. Daikaiju is a national treasure, comprised of the most masterful performing I’ve ever witnessed. I’m trying to consider live performance more for this year’s list and, in including Phase 3 at the number 6 spot, the record itself only tells half the story…
Secret-man, the band’s fearless leader, is the very definition of a shredder. It’s one thing to play fast and flawlessly, but Secret-man’s soloing has occurred while crowd surfing, on the shoulders of fans, and even while their instruments are set ablaze. I still hold strong in saying these dudes are my favorite live show on Earth, and Phase 3 presented a whole new catalog of tunes for their cult-like following to lose their minds to.
This was undoubtedly my most anticipated 2023 full-length. I’ve adored Northcote ever since an intimate Dave Hause performance at the Bluebird Cafe in which Matt Goud was summoned up on stage and proceeded to serenade the fuck out of me with a couple of tracks from Hope is Made of Steel. It was an absolute treat for me to be able to pick Goud’s brain about the meaning and process behind Wholeheart.
Done in true DIY fashion, a quality that made me even more of a fan of this thing, this record is more of a raw, stripped-down release than those previous. Inspired by Indian devotional music and a renewed spirituality through nature, I truly appreciated how meaningful and sincere Goud approached this release.
Tomorrow Never Comes was the main release I was referencing with the statement “punk rock veterans proving why they’re still more relevant than ever”. This has become my favorite Rancid full-length in recent years, even topping ’09’s Let the Dominoes Fall.
Produced by Brett Gurewitz, I was ecstatic to hear a full-length that was, not mimicking the past, but embracing the developed Rancid sound in a record that’s about as close to perfection as you can get. It’s loud, it’s fast, it’s short and to the point; this record is what punk rock should strive to be.
Up until just before the release of Dusk, I would have called myself a casual fan of Plasma Canvas. But when I received an early link for the record prior to interviewing Adrienne Rae Ash, man was I blown the fuck away for so many different reasons (my first paragraph of that write-up even featured a spoiler that this would rank well at the end of the year).
Ash’s goal for the release was a cyclical record, one that ends right where it begins. This was very much achieved with “Hymn”, the piano-led banger of a lead track, and “Empyrean”, the closing track to a record I listen to almost daily. The band’s debut release as a four-piece brought about a whole new sound featuring Ash’s unmatched vocals and songwriting, creating what I’ll call a “Plasma Canvas sandwich”: soft and melodic bread on each end with a fusion of punk rock mayhem ingredients in between.
If it weren’t for Jay Stone, I may have entirely forgotten that this came out in 2023 (it’s been a long year, alright). In all honesty, up until Fest 20, I hadn’t given these dudes a fair shot, and little did I know I was missing out big-fuckin’-time. But luckily I’ve come around just in time for Samiam’s first release in over a decade.
Thanks in large part to the four Samiam live shows I’ve seen dating back to just before this release, I was well-prepared to rank Stowaway in the top spot this year. “Lights Out Little Hustler” and “Crystallized” were two live tracks that left me awestruck and questioning what kind of punk-rock-lowlife I’ve been by not getting on board with these guys sooner. But it took a truly special release, at least in my eyes, to dethrone Stowaway from its rightful place atop my 2023 list…
But first… a few honorable mentions. 2023 had way too many releases (365 days worth to be exact) to not show some love to some of my other favorites from the past year.
An interview with the Brokedowns way back in January presented me the perfect chance to really dive into what Chicago’s funniest band had to offer. Maximum Khaki, the band’s first full-length in 5 years, quickly gave me the dose of fast, humorous, raw punk explosiveness that I was craving. Maximum Khaki is the very epitome of punk rock done the right way.
If we’re going off of technicality here, the much-anticipated Wes Hoffman and Friends debut isn’t “officially” released yet. But my vinyl copy showed up at the door a couple of weeks ago, and since we make the rules around here, this eclectic piece of pop-punk shreddery is getting an honorable mention (until next year when it very well may crack the official top 10 list).
I picked a pretty damn good year to attend my first Lucero live show. Should’ve Learned By Now added another handful of catchy tracks to what I’d call the strongest catalog in the game, with this batch being more rock-forward than what some fans may have expected; and I absolutely loved it.
An intimate live show at Music City’s greatest punk bar earlier this year turned me onto these dudes, and I’ve fallen in love. J. Navarro and the Traitors‘ new record All of Us, or None emerged as my favorite ska record of the year, displaying the very same two-tone ska-punk that drew me as a fan of the Pietasters.
Jason Cruz has proven that he can do no wrong. Jason Cruz and Howl‘s Wolves gave me an entirely new appreciation for the musicianship of Cruz and the rest of Strung Out. I’ll even go out on a limb and say that Cruz’s voice may be the most malleable in all of punk.
Thanks for making it this far. Now, for the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Nasty Nate’s pick for 2023 record of the year is…
No. 1: Codefendants – This is Crime Wave
This is Crime Wave appealed to me for so many special reasons.
It’s equal parts punk rock and hip hop, something that, on paper, seems extremely difficult to execute successfully. All expectations were exceeded, with nothing seeming forced on this record. These songs are about as raw and natural as possible (revealed by both King and Cechi in our interview. My number one New Year’s resolution is to have that posted ASAP).
The emotion is insane. Tracks like “Coda-Fendants” and “Disaster Scenes” gave me chills and nearly brought me to tears. Vulnerability and honesty are at the forefront of every song on this release.
Not only was I opened to an entirely new genre in hip-hop, but my appreciation for the songwriting of Sam King, Ceschi Ramos, Fat Mike, Stacey Dee, and many others grew immensely. Hearing the D.O.C.’s triumphant return after 20 years quiet, paired Onry Ozzborne’s contributions, were far more than I needed to justify dipping my toes into what I’ve been missing in the realm of hip hop.
But most convincing of all was seeing all of these qualities portrayed ten-fold on the live stage by the King-Ceschi duo, backed by Zeta. I can confidently say the Codefendants’ show was the most powerful I’ve seen in the last ten years.
So there you have it, Nasty Nate’s favorite new tunes of 2023. Check out the sick playlist down below with all of my favorite songs of all of my favorite records this year. If we’re in disagreement and you think I’ve got it all wrong, make sure you talk all kinds of shit down in the comments. As always, thanks for checking out the site, Cheers!
There’s More To It Than Climbing, the much-anticipated, brand-spanking-new full-length from Southern California’s finest, Decent Criminal, is live on all streaming services now. I had the absolute pleasure of getting to chat with Tristan and Hunter Martinez, the duo responsible for making up 50% of the Decent Criminal gang, and got to question the minds […]
There’s More To It Than Climbing, the much-anticipated, brand-spanking-new full-length from Southern California’s finest, Decent Criminal, is live on all streaming services now. I had the absolute pleasure of getting to chat with Tristan and Hunter Martinez, the duo responsible for making up 50% of the Decent Criminal gang, and got to question the minds behind a record that is unlike anything the group has released previously.
My last encounter with these dudes came back in 2017 on a bill featuring Dwarves and The Queers (it’s actually been so long that the venue, Exit/In, has since closed and reopened its doors) and it was back in the days when I was still exploring the genre that I’ve now come to love so much. That tour was in support of their sophomore release, Bloom, a record that was described by PunkNews as having “much more oomph and power” than their debut. This was the Decent Criminal that I had obsessed over for a while, but later fell out of touch with until this current release.
Parts of this record allude to the Southern California brand of punk that served as my very introduction to Decent Criminal, while the remaining majority explores genres outside that which fans have previously experienced from the group. On more than one occasion, heavy shades of Sublime are present, with little sprinkles here and there of qualities that remind me of the glory days of Everclear and Sugar Ray (but in only the best ways).
You can tell these dudes let loose with this record and just had a good time making it and the end product is something that’s both riveting, yet easy listening at the same time. Tracklist construction is something I’ve paid more and more attention to as I conduct more interviews, and as we discuss during our chat, this record is extremely well-crafted in a way that guides you along a journey of where these guys are currently at. I very much encourage you to check this thing out below from start to finish because, although each track can stand alone in its own right, it truly is a journey in that each recording guides you along to the next until “Hold Me Down” serves as a worthy conclusion.
Due to the heavy emphasis on this record being more of a journey rather than merely a collection of tracks, conducting this interview in a track-by-track format seemed fitting. Catch the full interview below, and go catch these guys live because, with this release being unlike anything in their catalog, both Hunter and Tristan assured that their live shows will feature some changes.
(Editor’s note: The following has been edited and condensed for clarity’s sakebecause a good chunk of this interview was just four guys shooting the shit.)
Dying Scene (Nathan Kernell NastyNate):I appreciate you guys reaching out to do this interview. It was nice diving back into your music, I’d kind of fallen out of the loop with you guys since the last time I saw you. I caught you guys years ago here in Nashville I think during the Bloom tour, maybe with like Agent Orange or Dwarves or somebody. It was back at Exit/In before they shut down and reopened.
Tristan Martinez: Oh Dwarves, yeah man. We did that run with them and the Queers, that was one of our first tours.
That’s right, yeah. I get all those shows mixed up because Agent Orange and the Queers came through every other month pretty much, always at Exit/In. So where are you guys calling from?
Tristan: We’re in sunny Los Angeles, California, it’s pretty sweet. We just finished up tour yesterday so we’re back here in California.
It looks a hell of a lot better than it does here in Nashville right now *laughs*. So I wanted to start out and see if I could get some background on the record, where it was recorded, how long you’ve been sitting on these songs. It’s due out in May, correct?
Hunter Martinez: Yeah it’s coming out May 19th, this first pressing is gonna be on our own label called Diissed Records. Then Gunner is out in Germany and they’re doing distribution out there and Best Life Records out of the UK is doing distribution there too.
Cool, have you guys been sitting on these songs a while or did you write these leading up to getting this recorded?
Hunter: Essentially we had like a record’s worth of material before the pandemic, and then that happened so we basically threw it all away except for one song, that’s on the record. Yeah so we just made like a whole ‘nother record.
Yeah that’s kind of been a common theme with a few of these interviews I’ve been doing. Guys will have stuff that they released right during COVID or they’ve got material, and then we’re starting to see now records that are released that were written during COVID. It kind of gives a different spin on some of these new releases.
Hunter: Yeah, it was like a period too where you didn’t really know what the hell was gonna happen.
Tristan: Some of it’s very dark, it’s almost like a reminder of why you even write or play music in the first place, it was kind of freeing for me.
So congrats on the record guys. What stood out to me, it seems like it kind of jumps around from genre to genre. There was a short bio at the top of the email I was sent that listed influences like Silversun Pickups and Dirty Nil, kind of a wide range of influences. But it made sense after listening to it.
Tristan: Yeah we dabble man, we listen to a lot of different kinds of stuff so I think it shows.
I mean I definitely heard some like old-school grunge in there, and then I heard some of what I was familiar with from seeing you guys back in like 2018 or 19. I heard some of that and then I heard some stuff that was kind of caught me off guard, completely different.
With this record, would you say the variation in style is kind of the biggest difference from what you’ve released before or do you have something that comes to mind for what’s different about this release than what you guys have put out before?
Hunter: Yeah I mean check out the whole thing, I think it’s meant to be listened to in its entirety, everything’s intentional. I mean I think it’s gonna be obvious that there’s way different shit than we’ve done before and that’s cool.
Tristan: Very, very happy about this record, how everything came out is a good interpretation of where we are right now, we’re stoked to actually be out play and play it in full probably coming up here.
So “Outside” kicks off the brand new release. I’m gonna ask a super original question, can you tell me about it *laughs*?
Tristan: Yeah “Outside” is cool, it’s Brian’s tune, Brian starts it off pretty. It’s kind of like the whole record, in a way, it’s a good scope of like where things are at and where things are going. Brian’s no longer in the band and I think it sort of opens up that and you know where he’s at, where he’s going and where we’re going. So unfortunately we had to part ways.
Hunter: I think he wrote that after he did mushrooms with his wife and I think some of that he references in the song. He showed us that demo a long time ago and I was very much pushing him on recording it because it sounds so fuckin’ cool. I really, I love that song.
So “Driving“, that’s one of the singles, that was one that I was kind of referencing as what I’m familiar with as Decent Criminal. Did you plan that out with that kind of sounding like what you guys traditionally sound like, was there a plan behind releasing that one first?
Tristan: It was just kind of the first one that we thought like “Oh this could be our first single”. As far as singles go, these first two kind of guide you along. Like “Smooth” almost takes you like a little bit further into where it’s going, so it all kind of leads you. So the first parts kind of familiar if you’re into our band, but then the next two are gonna be vastly different.
Was “Driving” the one you kept from that basically full length you had during COVID?
Hunter: No, that song is called “Wanna Be.”
Oh gotcha. So tell me a little bit about the meaning behind “Driving.“
Tristan: Yeah “Driving,” essentially it’s kind of metaphorical in a way, like the car is myself, my body, my lifestyle. Driving my car is you know like living a different lifestyle than most people and kind of the toll it takes on your life being in a band and all that shit. I don’t know, I think it could be taken pretty literal and that’s chill too. So yeah that’s the actual meaning behind it.
Sweet. So then moving on to “Soothe,” that’s another single out, that’s probably my favorite. I like how simple it is and it kind of makes a lot of sense, you talking about that one taking the listener a little further to where this record is going. I thought it was more of like a traditional grunge sound.
Tristan: Yeah for sure, it just hits in certain places and it comes down other places. And yeah that was a cool song. Hunter and I were just jamming, I record everything we jam, so it’s a song where none of those parts were written alone, it just happened on the spot and we just like put it together over the course of a few weeks.
Is that common with you guys, just kind of writing like spur of the moment?
Hunter: Yeah. I mean moreso with the last couple records. This one, you know Tristan did a lot on his own, Brian, our other songwriter, had a couple songs that he brought to the table. But yeah moreso the last four records we were like in a room jamming together. This one was like every now and then we would have stuff on the spot, but most stuff came through Tristan working on songs at our apartment.
Tristan, are you kind of the primary songwriter or is it more of a collaborative thing?
Tristan: I mean two of the songs on the record are Brian’s, but yeah I’m the primary songwriter. And I mean we just, you know, hash it out together really. So I come up with basically most of it and kind of get it together.
So then “Same,” that one was kind of giving me like beach Sublime vibes. What I did really want to ask you guys was what kind of what influences of yours do you think show through in this record the most, because it’s kind of all over the place in terms of like genre?
Tristan: Well it’s kind of cool to just kind of write to a drum machine instead. So all I did was take like a loop, same as the first song I wrote during the pandemic.
Hunter: That one stayed pretty true to the demo, too, which is awesome man. And more like the home recording style I’d say, which is something that we always loved from other bands, which is why Sublime I guess is a perfect comparison *laughs*. I mean they did that a lot.
Tristan: Yeah that song kind of reminds me of this Minutemen song, kind of has just a 90s vibe all together.
I mean love them or hate them, it was almost giving me Sugar Ray vibes. And I mean that in all the best ways, not the shitty ways *laughs*.
Hunter: I love Sugar Ray man, I don’t care what anyone says *laughs*.
Tristan: They’ve got some hits man, they write some great pop tunes.
So then “Blind,” that’s another hard-hitting one. So how I kind of see it, with this first half of the record, you’ve got “Driving” which is kind of what you’d expect, kind of the hard hitting one, and then “Soothe” you’re backing off a little bit, showing where the album’s heading. And then :Same,” kind of an unplugged vibe, but then “Blind” is another hard-hitting one. Was that done on purpose, I guess just with the flow of the record?
Hunter: Yeah just with the flow. I mean, I think putting “Blind” later in the record wouldn’t have made any sense. Because, I don’t know, the second-half of the record, I don’t wanna say I like it more, but I like the direction where it’s headed. “Blind,: it’s kind of just like a liberating song in a way, the lyrics are funny.
Tristan: That one’s also one where we jammed it out together in the garage, and I remember like working out “Blind” pretty well. I wrote that during the pandemic, at the very start of the pandemic and, yeah, I don’t know man, it’s just a cool song.
Yeah, so since I’ve been doing these interviews, with a few of them right as releases are coming out, I’m starting to pay more attention to how you construct a record, what order you put things in. And that’s kind of something that stood out to me with yours, it flows very well, it’s put together very well.
Tristan: The track listing is something we put a lot of emphasis on, we think about that a lot.
Well I mean that can make or break the record, like if you do it right it helps a lot. I was talking to Adrienne from Plasma Canvas out in Denver and they had a very cyclical approach to their record. It started off very soft with a piano hymn and then closed with another very soft song and it was done very well. And that immediately stood out about your release, how well it flows together.
Hunter: Cool, glad you feel that way. Thanks man. Yeah that definitely was important to us, to have flow.
So “You Dog” is another one where I think it demonstrates the variation in styles. Was that kind of a goal for you, having like a having a bunch of different styles, or did that just come naturally, were you just kind of writing whatever?
Tristan: Yeah it was just natural, you know just sitting around playing guitar, I came up with that riff on our couch. And I think that was one of the best parts about this record is it’s like not really trying anything, not really caring about it; more authentic and just feels more like ourselves and myself. So yeah this is one of those songs that sort of shows a different side.
So that’s the first half of the record, do you guys have any songs you’re particularly excited for people to hear, I know two of the songs on the first half are already released, but do you have any other ones you’re particularly excited for people to hear?
Tristan: I mean all of them really, we’re gonna make videos and basically every song’s gonna have like a video component. I’m excited for it dude, I’m excited to kind of let every song shine on its own.
Hunter: We’ve been playing a couple songs live on this last tour and coming up until the album comes out, we play the song called “Wanna Be” that’s been getting some good crowd reaction and I’m excited for that for one to finally drop. Also a later song, the last song on the record, “Hold Me Down”, is another great tune that we’ve been messing with live. It feels good to change it up a little bit, not just be that kind of like garage rock punk band that people have seen play live before, you know.
Coincidentally, that leads right in to “Wanna Be,” track 7. Tell me a little bit about that one, what the songwriting process looked like and kind of the meaning behind it.
Tristan: Yeah “Wanna Be” is just a song that, I guess it was a few years old at that point, and then I finally finished it. I was just like messing with the bridge and coming back into shit that I figured out during the pandemic. And yeah it’s just a love song really, that one felt really good in the studio early on when we were tracking the record.
Alright so then “Time,” that’s another one that kind of veered into it a different style I guess.
Hunter: Yeah “Time” was just another drum machine beat that Brian brought, it’s almost got a hip-hop vibe.
Yeah that’s another one that gave me Sublime vibes, but more of like the hip hop, Long Beach Dub All-Stars side. Sorry if this is getting a bit repetitive, I’m trying to keep from asking the same questions about each track.
“Each Time I’m Away,” that’s the next one. For like the last two tracks I didn’t really have many notes because they were both kind of different, not really what I was expecting from having last seen you guys years ago. I guess they kind of took me by surprise, I kind of saw the way the record was going, but wasn’t sure how you were gonna end, if you were going to have another hard-hitter or end softer. You guys were somewhere in the middle.
Tristan: Yeah “Each Time I’m Away” is the oldest song, like writing-wise. We played an acoustic show in Berlin in 2019, I had never played that song for any of the guys and I just like busted it out and they told me how much they liked it. So we made it into a song *laughs*. Yeah probably one of my favorite songs on the record.
Hunter: Yeah that song came together pretty quick, we didn’t really mess around with the structure at all, it didn’t really take much effort, it was just kind of there.
Tristan: Yeah even when I wrote it I think it was just kind of smooth sailing.
So then “Hold Me Down,” that concludes the new release. Was there any reason throwing that at the end, just thought it fit well?
Tristan: Yeah I just thought it sounded pretty at the end.
Hunter: And yeah it was the last two, we didn’t even actually do that in the studio yeah it was added on, Tristan and Brian put it together at Brian’s house in the garage and we really liked it. I think we jammed it during pre-production and I just fuckin’ always liked the tune, the melody was really good, but yeah these guys kicked it out.
Tristan: Yeah Brian and I recorded it in his garage and I was like back and forth kind of about recording it or even having it on the record, now it’s probably my favorite song on there, it just came out really pretty. Just, you know, a sweet song that I wrote in the studio by myself.
Yeah man so I think it’s cool, the whole groove of the record, it’s just a trip through everything that we’ve been doing and a lot of different music that we haven’t really represented on our other records.
Hunter: And during the pandemic we moved down to San Diego from Los Angeles too, and I feel like some of the songs are really just a reminder of that time of us being there together in that apartment in San Diego and the friends we had. The jam spot I feel is very crucial in writing and being together during all that.
Tristan: And this is like what we’re doing in our lives, there’s parts of it that are beautiful and parts of that are stressful. So I think between Hunter and I there’s all sorts of like natural intensity that comes and goes or whatever, we communicate with each other. So it’s all kind of there you know, it’s a trip to live your band.
Sweet yeah, so what’s to come after this, I know you guys just got back from tour, but do you have a record release show set up? Do you have a tour you’re looking at doing to promote this?
Tristan: Yeah we’re doing a tour next month with Direct Hit!, we have ten dates with them, it’s their 15th year anniversary so we’re doing a run of shows with them. We’re doing a split, we have some extra songs we recorded in a session in San Diego actually and it’s coming out a 7-inch on Dirtnap Records [OUT NOW!!!!]. And Direct Hit! made up a comic book for it as well, which is pretty cool.
Hunter: And then we’re doing Pouzza Fest in May out in Montreal, and then we’re going to Europe in June and July. Around June we’re planning a couple record release shows in California. Super excited about that, we’re planning to get together a bunch of friends for the record release show, so that should be fun.
Well that about wraps things up. Once again, congrats on this release, this thing’s killer!
Greetings comrades! Episode 26 is finally in the can and just in time to help you ignore the absurdly depressing news cycle! Buuuuut hold on to your hats, kiddos because in this episode, Adrienne (one half of the dazzling duo, Plasma Canvas) joins us to talk about ‘Re-Amping’, why her chili recipe is better than yours and how working with punk legend Bill Stevens impacted their newest EP, KILLERMAJESTIC. As always, we’re gonna be playing some exceptional tunes from emerging acts as well as giving our stupid opinions about some of the more noteworthy scene news from the last few weeks. All of that and much more in this episode of Dying Scene Radio: Civil War!
You can also stream from your browser over on our podcast homepage or find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts and I Heart Radio.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more news, updates, show & fest pics and articles!
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*In a band? Want to be featured on the podcast? Send your shit to dyingsceneradio@dyingscene.com and if it’s good enough, we’ll probably play it! If you send us some swag, it’ll increase your chances… just sayin’!
Episode 26 Playlist
Symphony of Distraction – “Time Is Not on My Side”
Catholic Guilt – “A Boutique Affair”
Street Justice – “Cut X Off”
Cardboard Box Colony – “Pathetic”
Last Edition – “Good Luck”
Hell’s Ditch – “Hope Is Hope”
Plasma Canvas – “KILLERMAJESTIC”
Half Mast – “When The Levity Breaks”
Salem Wolves – “Never Die”
Omnigone – “Swallow Poison”
CC Potato – “Jackson's Blood”
Hiding from Humans – “Whinge”
Listen to these songs, along with all of the other songs we've featured on the podcast on our iTunes and Spotify Playlists!
<p>Greetings comrades! Episode 26 is finally in the can and just in time to help you ignore the absurdly depressing news cycle! Buuuuut hold on to your hats, kiddos because in this episode, Adrienne (one half of the dazzling duo, Plasma Canvas) joins us to talk about ‘Re-Amping’, why her chili recipe is better than yours and how working with punk legend Bill Stevens impacted their newest EP, KILLERMAJESTIC. As always, we’re gonna be playing some exceptional tunes from emerging acts as well as giving our stupid opinions about some of the more noteworthy scene news from the last few weeks. All of that and much more in this episode of Dying Scene Radio: Civil War!</p> <p>You can also stream from your browser over on our <a href= "http://dsradio.libsyn.com/">podcast homepage</a> or find us on <a href= "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/dying-scene-radio-official/id1287380361"> iTunes</a>, <a href= "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/robert-burns/dying-scene-radio-official"> Stitcher</a>, <a href= "https://open.spotify.com/show/0Ewrjwl6wXwl6cCREBswz1">Spotify</a>, <a href= "https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ih3adpqld3benktbuojg6kjmrw4"> Google Podcasts</a> and <a href= "https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-dying-scene-radio-official-30990574/"> I Heart Radio.</a> </p> <p>Follow us on <a href= "https://www.facebook.com/dyingsceneradio/">Facebook</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/official.dyingsceneradio/">Instagram</a> for more news, updates, show & fest pics and articles!</p> <p>————————————————————————</p> <p><em>*In a band? Want to be featured on the podcast? Send your shit to dyingsceneradio@dyingscene.com and if it’s good enough, we’ll probably play it! If you send us some swag, it’ll increase your chances… just sayin’!</em></p> <p>Episode 26 Playlist</p> <p>Symphony of Distraction – “Time Is Not on My Side”</p> <p>Catholic Guilt – “A Boutique Affair”</p> <p>Street Justice – “Cut X Off”</p> <p>Cardboard Box Colony – “Pathetic”</p> <p>Last Edition – “Good Luck”</p> <p>Hell’s Ditch – “Hope Is Hope”</p> <p>Plasma Canvas – “KILLERMAJESTIC”</p> <p>Half Mast – “When The Levity Breaks”</p> <p>Salem Wolves – “Never Die”</p> <p>Omnigone – “Swallow Poison”</p> <p>CC Potato – “Jackson's Blood”</p> <p>Hiding from Humans – “Whinge”</p> <p>Listen to these songs, along with all of the other songs we've featured on the podcast on our <a href= "https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/dying-scene-22/pl.u-8aAVXElsvR5yRz"> iTunes</a> and <a href= "https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2C21HBcB7epknlRtUxObZs"> Spotify</a> Playlists!</p>
Plasma Canvas have released a new song. The song is called "Need" and is off their upcoming album DUSK that will be out February 17 via SideOneDummy. The tracklist for the album has also been released. Plasma Canvas released their EP KILLERMAJESTIC in 2020. Check out the song and tracklist below.
Plasma Canvas have released a new song. It is called “Election Year Relapse” and is off their upcoming album DUSK which will be out February 17 via SideOneDummy Records. Plasma Canvas released their EP KILLERMAJESTIC in 2020. Check out the song below.
