Another year in the books, and while I scaled down the amount of shows I shot this year for a variety of reasons, it was still pretty awesome and eventful. The year started with a trip to Jersey to catch Jared Hart and a barn-burner of a Ben Nichols solo performance at the inimitable Crossroads venue booked by the equally inimitable Andy Diamond. There was also a trip to Connecticut to see Lucero and Jake LaBotz, a trip to Memphis for Lucero’s Family Block Party-slash-20th birthday celebration, another trip to Connecticut for the last installment of the Warped Tour (so, mostly, to see The Interrupters) and another trip back to Jersey for the Bouncing Souls‘ annual Stoked For The Summer throwdown that featured sets from Against Me!, Tim Barry, Titus Andronicus and Smoking Popes. Then there was a whirlwind Brooklyn trip to see Brian Fallon and Craig Finn. Oh, and there was another trip to Connecticut for a rager of a Bouncing Souls/Swingin Utters show. And a trip to New Hampshire for another Utters show. And a Frank Turner show in New Hampshire with Bad Cop/Bad Cop too.

Michael Kane

Oh The Humanity

Johnny Rioux (Street Dogs)

Rebuilder

But don’t think that means there was a lack of spectacular shows here on the homefront. There were stellar nights with Bundles and Birdwatching and Michael Kane & The Morning Afters and Art Thieves and Street Dogs and of course Rebuilder and of course Rebuilder again and Dan Webb and the Spiders a few times and Mint Green and Depressors and Oh The Humanity and KCUF and Weathered Friends.

Jared Hart and his better half, Casey

Ben Nichols

Trever and Dennis of Face To Face

Kayleigh Goldsworthy (Dave Hause)

National acts of all shapes and sizes came through the Boston area as well. Of course there was Lucero. And the same Brian Fallon/Craig Finn tour. And The Penske File. And The Lawrence Arms with Sincere Engineer and Red City Radio. And Fallon again. And Face To Face with Austin Lucas. And Dave Hause a couple times in a couple different formats. And another Frank Turner show. And Iron Chic. And Dead Bars. And Noi!se. And of course there was Pearl Jam at Fenway.

CJ Ramone

Bouncing Souls

Dave Hause crowd surfing during Frank Turner

Sincere Engineer

If you check this site out a lot, you’ll know I take a ton of pictures at most shows, and I try to present some of my favorite ones on a regular basis. Below, however, is a few dozen of my favorite pictures of the year. Some of them came out great, some of them came out less great but tell a cool story or evoke a great and personal memory. That’s ultimately, I guess, what I try to do when I’m shooting shows. Thanks for reading, and for looking, and for supporting the people and the venues that keep this thing chugging down the road.

Click on the individual pictures to see blow them up. Bring on 2019. -JMS-

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Brazil’s 69 Enfermos and California-based Symphony of Distraction have united on record for your listening pleasure. The combination of this skate punk fusion is a split effort entitled They Came From Faster Space. The record features five tracks of rapid fire, uber melodious punk rock, tailored to those with a pining to return to the mid-nineties. Handling the release for the two bands is Dutch label Morning Wood Records.

Guitarist and vocalist of 69 Enfermos, Dalin Focazzio, had the following to say about They Came From Faster Space:

You can check out the entire split below. If you like it, pick up a copy here and help support great underground sounds.

The previous releases from Symphony of Distraction and 69 Enfermos were the 2018 comeback album, Horse, and the 2017 full-length, A Place to Call Home respectively.

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New Jersey punks Hub City Stompers have just premiered a new video for “Philly, What the F*ck?” which follows the video premiere for their track “Phantom.” Both release on BlankTV to hit the streets.

Hub City Stompers recently released Haters Dozen earlier this year.

Check out the video below!

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And now, for the announcement that, probably mostly I, but also you all have been waiting for! Camp Anarchy has announced that they’ll be playing host to The Offspring, Rancid, and NOFX and more. The three day festival will take place just outside of Columbus, OH at Legend Valley. Dodgeball, S’mores, craft beers (and yes, they do offer drinking passes so let’s get it on!) and other fun and games over all three days will be offered with day and weekend passes for admission (camping admission separate).

Make sure to check out all the deets here!

Hey boys and girls, Jay Stone checking in with yet another year-end list. I’m the dopey one on the left up there. Anywho, as is par for the course, I put way more than ten albums on my “top ten” list, because rules are for squares or whatever. I tend to have a tough time coming up with a definitive number one, but my choice here has occupied that spot for the last eight months and never really got knocked off. A lot of the top half of the list is almost interchangeable based on my current mood, and might have even changed in the time between when I typed this list and when I actually published it. There’s a pretty extensive (fifty-ish song) Spotify playlist that features at least a couple tracks from each of these releases, so check it out and maybe find some new music! Check it all out below!

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Last weekend, the punks and skins came from far and wide, descending upon Boston’s Brighton Music Hall for the 13th installment of Street Dogs‘ annual Wreck The Halls festivities. The hometown working class heroes have been riding high this year, primarily due to the release of Stand For Something Or Die For Nothing, their first full-length in eight years. As the band’s members – and fans – spread far and wide, it can be hard to get all the moving parts in one place at the same time, making events like the three-day Wreck The Halls blowout all the more special.

Nights two and three of this year’s Wreck The Halls featured opening performances from Slapshot, Dori Cameron and the Invisible Monsters, Ramallah and 1916. Dying Scene made it out to the first night, particularly to get the chance to see Street Dogs take the stage with a couple bands that we’ve been fired up to finally see live: Noi!se and Art Thieves, and boy are we glad we did.

Fresh off the release of their own stellar full length, Russian Rats (State Line Records), Art Thieves kicked off the long weekend of Wreck The Halls shenanigans in fine fashion. The three-piece local band play a no-frills style of street punk that’s been the calling card of the local scene for a long time. They’ve sort of perfected the fuck-the-government calls to arms from a past generation and morphed it with the melodic sensibilities of the newer school. If there’s a local band to carry the torch that Street Dogs have been brandishing for the better part of the last couple decades once they decide to hang it up, it may well be Art Thieves.

Noi!se followed up in one of the most eagerly-awaited sets I’ve seen in quite a while. The Tacoma-based quartet has been around for seven-ish years now, but had yet to make it to this side of the Mississippi River. And yet, in many ways, Noi!se’s 45-minute set had the feel of a hometown show of their own, as a solid majority of the 435-strong capacity crowd was well versed in the band’s entire catalog. “Rank And File,” from the band’s 2012 Pushing On full-length (and previously from the This Is Who We Are 7-inch) kicked things off, and from their the band mixed in a dozen other tracks from across the last half decade. The first real pit of the night – and the first in a seemingly endless barrage of crowd-surface – fired itself up by the time fan-favorite “How We Made It Through” made its way into the set at the halfway point, pushing the gas pedal on an energy level that wouldn’t let up for the remainder of the evening. It was one of those times where the event actually exceeds lofty expectations, and where the symbiotic relationship between a band and a crowd is truly palpable.

It can be tough to come up with new phrases or adjectives to describe the live performance of a band that’s long been a stalwart of the scene. Still, the recent Boston Music Award winners for Best Punk/Hardcore act seem to find new ways to mix things up and keep them fresh, perhaps now more so than ever. The band ripped through “Stand For Something Or Die For Nothing,” the title track and lead single from their latest album, as they took the stage (well…after the rocking out to a few minutes of Boston’s “Foreplay” as the instrument-wielding 4/5th of the band took the stage anyway) before proceeding to dig deeper into the back catalog than I’ve seen them do in recent memory. “Pull The Pin” and “You Alone” and “Katie Bar The Door” were welcome additions to the setlist that I can’t recall having seen in the last handful of SD shows. The band played without a barrier (and, as a result, without a photo pit, which is something I’ve become apparently waaaaaaay too comfortable with in my old age), meaning that a band that already gets up close and personal with its fans anyway was able to raise that bar even further. There were guest appearances from Big Truth of American War Machine (I think) and the legendary CJ Ramone, the latter of whom took on vocal duties for a cover of his namesake band’s classic track “Blitzkrieg Bop.” It was a raucous first night for both band and crowd — many of whom were in attendance for two or three nights — and set the stage brilliantly for what was to come.

Head below for our full photo rundown.

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Christmas music is dope. Don’t be a cotton-headed ninny-muggins, and get into the spirit… or spirits. The fat man’s coming and all those corporations we’ve been talking shit about are lining their pockets with our Christmas bonuses… but the bag’s full and the reindeer are high. Shotguns are loaded and the rottweiler is asleep by the fire. That poor bastard Elf on the Shelf just joined the “Me Too” movement. Oh yeah, Christmas is here. It’s time to spike the punch bowl.

Hats off to Manic Kat Records, whose been feeling a little bit cheers-y this holiday season and decided to release their first Christmas compilation showcasing the labels adroit roster. So let go of your holiday glum and get with some punk rock sugar plums, because this comp is kickin’. It releases December 21 here, but Dying Scene knows you’ve all been good little punk rock n’ roll hooligans so we’re gonna’ let you open this one present a day early. Track list is as follows. Maybe you can spot one or two of your favorites. Stream that album below.

1. Noise Brigade – I’m Gonna Deck Your Halls, Bub
2. When Thieves Are About – Happy Christmas (War is Over)
3. For the Record – You Won’t Be Home For Christmas
4. Hard to Hit – Up on the Housetop
5. Cult Classic – (Not So) Silent Night
6. Serious Matters – Christmas Just Isn’t the Same Without You
7. NoraStone – Run, Run, Rudolph

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Chicago pop punk veterans Allister have announced that they will release a new record on January 30 via Universal Japan. ‘Twenty Years And Counting’ will feature songs from all of their albums along with four previously unreleased tracks. Given they do not own the rights to their first three records, they have re-recorded some of the old songs. It should be particularly interesting to hear the older tracks re imagined.

Allister’s last official full length was 2012’s ‘Life Behind Machines’. The band has not toured full-time for many years, but the members have remained fairly active in the music world, notably bassist Scott Murphy with his double act with Rivers Cuomo ‘Scott and Rivers‘.

Update: The band filmed two new videos for the release. You can see the video for the new version of ‘Somewhere On Fullerton’ below.

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Soulful punk act, Nowhere Fast has launched a new lyric video for their single “Anoesis” off their new album “Aeonian”. That album is available for streaming and purchase here. They have also announced a short tour of sorts to promote the new album. Check those dates and stream the new video below.

“The search for euphoria is always behind a lonesome mind.”

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