Chicago’s own, Sincere Engineer has shared a video of her cover of the Paul Simon classic “You Can Call Me Al”. Sincere Engineer does a great job of channeling her inner Paul Simon and this is a pretty awesome cover, if we could only get Paul Simon to cover “Corn Dog Sonnet No. 7”. Check […]
Chicago’s own, Sincere Engineer has shared a video of her cover of the Paul Simon classic “You Can Call Me Al”. Sincere Engineer does a great job of channeling her inner Paul Simon and this is a pretty awesome cover, if we could only get Paul Simon to cover “Corn Dog Sonnet No. 7”.
Check Sincere Engineers take on “You Can Call Me Al” below. [Read more…]
Toronto based hardcore act The Bare Minimum are back with a video for their song “Hollow Animals” and Health Canada is stressed. The psychedelic video features extra arms, prisms and a mullet (probably what’s got Health Canada in a tizzy). The song comes off the band’s recently released Where the Busses Don’t Come EP released earlier […]
Toronto based hardcore act The Bare Minimum are back with a video for their song “Hollow Animals” and Health Canada is stressed. The psychedelic video features extra arms, prisms and a mullet (probably what’s got Health Canada in a tizzy). The song comes off the band’s recently released Where the Busses Don’t Come EP released earlier this month.
Check out the new video below. [Read more…]
French pop-punks Quitters are streaming the first single “Better off Dead” off of their upcoming album Singing Like Nobody’s Listening. Scheduled to be released in early 2019, this is an album you don’t want to sleep on. Check out the new single below. This is the first new music from Quitters since the 2017 release of Good Night […]
French pop-punks Quitters are streaming the first single “Better off Dead” off of their upcoming album Singing Like Nobody’s Listening. Scheduled to be released in early 2019, this is an album you don’t want to sleep on.
Check out the new single below.
This is the first new music from Quitters since the 2017 release of Good Night Memories. [Read more…]
Montreal punks Down Memory Lane are streaming their new EP Release. The new six song EP is being released through Thousand Island Records. With six other tracks “Coming Soon” and the message: “You can try again or wait a few months” we may be spoiled with six more tracks to this already stellar EP in a few […]
Montreal punks Down Memory Lane are streaming their new EP Release. The new six song EP is being released through Thousand Island Records. With six other tracks “Coming Soon” and the message: “You can try again or wait a few months” we may be spoiled with six more tracks to this already stellar EP in a few months? Let’s hope so!
Check out the six new tracks that you can play below.
This is the first new music from Down Memory Lane since the 2017 release of Vice Cache. If you’re a fan of 90’s inspired punk rock you will thoroughly enjoy Down Memory Lane. [Read more…]
Lots of fun and exciting music from Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers, and that’s pretty awesome in our book. First, in case you hadn’t heard, their first full US tour for next spring. Slated to kick off March 16th, the tour runs all the way through late April, and features support from New […]
Lots of fun and exciting music from Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers, and that’s pretty awesome in our book. First, in case you hadn’t heard, their first full US tour for next spring. Slated to kick off March 16th, the tour runs all the way through late April, and features support from New Jersey favorites Mercy Union and Philly’s Control Top, making for a trio of bands that are going to have a kick-ass 2019. Head below to check out the full rundown of tour dates.
Additionally, Laura Jane and company debuted the full video for the track “Apocalypse Now (& Later).” You can check it out below as well!
As you should know by now, “Apocalypse Now (& Later)” was the lead single from Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers’ debut full length album, Bought To Rot, which was released earlier this month on Bloodshot Records.
So a while back, I tossed around the idea of writing what was basically a think piece about how there continue to be loads of awesome bands with a variety of interesting influences emerging every year, but for the old guys who grew up on early 80s hardcore, there didn’t seem to be anything new […]
So a while back, I tossed around the idea of writing what was basically a think piece about how there continue to be loads of awesome bands with a variety of interesting influences emerging every year, but for the old guys who grew up on early 80s hardcore, there didn’t seem to be anything new to sink our teeth into. But think pieces are dreadful, so I didn’t write it. Also, turns out, I would have been wrong!
Enter: School Drugs. Hailing from the Jersey Shore, the quartet are hard, fast, angry and aggressive, a byproduct of a knee-jerk educational system that seems hellbent on medicating a generation of school children. It’s like if Bad Brains or Black Flag grew up hooked on Ritalin. Check out their latest, razor-sharp EP Relative Suffering here!
Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom on the north side of the city played host to three heavy hitters Sunday November 4, 2018. The bill provided fans a bit of relief from near constant coverage running up to the midterm elections. There more than a few “I Voted” (early in those cases) wristbands, politically motivated t-shirts and buttons […]
Jawbreaker
Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom on the north side of the city played host to three heavy hitters Sunday November 4, 2018. The bill provided fans a bit of relief from near constant coverage running up to the midterm elections. There more than a few “I Voted” (early in those cases) wristbands, politically motivated t-shirts and buttons visible. But for the most part this show would promise a a time-out from the heavy 24 hours news cycle.
The crowd proved that they were among those undeterred by heavy rains. They were too interested in watching Jawbreaker, a beloved headliner returning to Chicago roughly a year after the city played host to the band’s reunion at Riot Fest 2017. There had been more than a little grumbling about the ticket prices for this show when it was first announced. However, it appeared those in attendance in short order decided that shelling out north of $40 was well worth it. Surely seeing two groups of favorite sons, Naked Raygun and Smoking Popes from Chicago’s tight knit punk rock community helped.
Speaking of tight knit, this show did draw a strong representation of aforementioned community. Spotted in the crowd, but not a complete list by any means I’m sure, were members of Pegboy, The Bollweevils, Death and Memphis; and The Usuals.
Smoking Popes
The Smoking Popes launched into a set of both old tracks and new tunes from “Into The Agony,” the band’s first full length album in many years. Lead singer Josh Caterer dedicated “You Spoke To Me,” off their third album, 1997’s “Destination Failure,” to Jawbreaker, as the song was written about Blake Schwarzenbach himself. Caterer described how fortunate he felt to be on same bill as one of his musical inspirations.
Smoking Popes
Smoking Popes
Smoking Popes
Smoking Popes
Smoking Popes
Smoking Popes
Smoking Popes
Naked Raygun is routinely described as legendary. And despite any hesitation about that word from its founder and lead singer Jeff Pezzati, it is so frequently used one may come to believe that is actually part of the band’s name.
There had been rumors that due to heath and other concerns, this show would be Naked Raygun’s last live performance. Jeff Pezzati dispelled those rumors and assured me they will in fact continue playing live shows.
Naked Raygun
Jeff Pezzati of Naked Raygun
Bill Stephens, of Naked Raygun, in a lighthearted moment, sticks his tongue out at photographers shooting from the pit below.
Pierre Kezdy, Naked Raygun’s longest running bass player is presently battling cancer and was not in attendance on stage or in the crowd. But his spirit was nonetheless felt and it was seen, on one of the most popular items at Naked Raygun’s table: a t-shirt featuring a full-bodied portrait of Kezdy.
Naked Raygun
Naked Raygun
Naked Raygun
Naked Raygun
Naked Raygun
Returning to Naked Raygun’s performance on this night, Pezzati’s bandmates, drummer Eric Spicer, Bill Stephens on guitar and bass player Fritz Doreza, in their respective roles matched Pezzati’s vocal strength and powered through almost two dozen songs. Highlights including “Home of the Brave, “Peacemaker,” “Vanilla Blue,” the perhaps fortuitously named “Treason,” on which Eli Caterer of The Smoking Popes guested on stage. And of course “Rat Patrol” with its frenzy inducing “Whoah oh oh oh oh oh.”
Naked Raygun
Oh and a photographer’s note: After the first three songs were completed Pezzati glanced down into the photo pit when he noticed the security signaling for the shooters to leave the pit and indicated to them with “he stays, she stays…” and so on. When the security again signaled for us to leave, Pezzati once again took a moment to tells the security, “they stay.” This was not the first time, Pezzati has advised security that the photographers stay for the entire set. It’s always appreciated by those of us documenting the show.
Naked Raygun
Naked Raygun
Naked Raygun
Eli Caterer of Smoking Popes guests on a couple of Naked Raygun songs.
Jawbreaker’s reunion at Riot Fest 2017 whet their fans’ cravings for more shows. Headlining the annual festival weekend apparently also whet the band’s own appetite to play together more often. Jawbreaker kicked off its set with West Bay Invitational and filled it with some of its best songs, including “Jinx Removing,” “Chesterfield King,” “Kiss The Bottle,” and “Accident Prone.” Their energetic performance challenged the crowd to keep up.
Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker
By the end of the night, many the show attendees straggled out of the Uptown venue and up to the “L” red line platform just across the street, shoulders hunched with exhaustion and clothes soaking wet. But it was hard to tell if that was more due to the rain outside or sweat earned inside by leaning into a solid punk rock bill top to bottom, working to match the energy expelled by those on stage. Just your average Sunday night in Chicago, IL.
The punk rock world is wide and weird, and in a joining between comedian Connor Ratliff and the incredibly busy Mikey Erg, it has just gotten a little weirder. Christmas albums aren’t entirely outside of the punk scene’s wheelhouse (just look to Bad Religion and Chris Farren), but this entry might be the most unique […]
The punk rock world is wide and weird, and in a joining between comedian Connor Ratliff and the incredibly busy Mikey Erg, it has just gotten a little weirder. Christmas albums aren’t entirely outside of the punk scene’s wheelhouse (just look to Bad Religion and Chris Farren), but this entry might be the most unique I’ve encountered. The Spirit of Ratliff is an ode to the season, delivered with acoustic gusto via songs like, “Have Yourself a Merry Secular Xmas,” “No One Wants A Pizza on Xmas Day,” and “Xmas is Over (Let’s Keep the Lights Up 4 Awhile).” In a more bizarre twist, this album is as much about hating summer (see: “Summer is the Worst”) as much as it is about loving Christmas—secularly, of course.
It is, in a word: ridiculous. But—for a laugh and a little holiday cheer (or to curse the sun), you might just want to take a trip over to State Champion Records and check out the pre-order. The Spirit of Ratliff comes out, appropriately, on Black Friday (11/23), but for a more immediate taste of what the Chris Gethard alums have cooked up, check out the video below for “XMAS is the Best.”
Spanish melodic hardcore export Main Line 10 have released a video for “Phoenix”. The track is from the band’s most recent album, The Fox, which came out back in April. Have a watch below.
Spanish melodic hardcore export Main Line 10 have released a video for “Phoenix”. The track is from the band’s most recent album, The Fox, which came out back in April.
Have a watch below.
Spanish skate-punk group Blowfuse have released a video for new track “Bad Thoughts”. The song is taken from their upcoming album “Daily Ritual”, out on a plethora of labels around the world on February 8th 2019. The record is out on HFMN Crew (ESP), Long Beach Record Europe (GER/AUS/SW), Morning Wood Records (HOL), Paper + Plastick Records (US), […]
Spanish skate-punk group Blowfuse have released a video for new track “Bad Thoughts”. The song is taken from their upcoming album “Daily Ritual”, out on a plethora of labels around the world on February 8th 2019. The record is out on HFMN Crew (ESP), Long Beach Record Europe (GER/AUS/SW), Morning Wood Records (HOL), Paper + Plastick Records (US), Epidemic Records (ITA), Infected Records (POR), Disconnect Disconnect Records (UK) and Melodic Punk Style (POL).
You can have a watch of the video below.
