Ska punk vets Goldfinger have just announced two shows in San Diego and Anaheim, California on August 31 and September 1. The trio will be playing with The Suicide Machines, Buck-O-Nine, and Suburban Legends. Goldfinger last release their album “The Knife” in 2017 on Rise Records.
Ska punk vets Goldfinger have just announced two shows in San Diego and Anaheim, California on August 31 and September 1. The trio will be playing with The Suicide Machines, Buck-O-Nine, and Suburban Legends.
Goldfinger last release their album “The Knife” in 2017 on Rise Records.
Toronto melodic punks Family Meeting have just announced that they will be have joined the Thousand Islands Records army and will be releasing a new EP later this year under their new ranks. Despite the departure of frontman, Josh Riley, the new EP will offer a new look into bassist Davey Knight stepping up as […]
Toronto melodic punks Family Meeting have just announced that they will be have joined the Thousand Islands Records army and will be releasing a new EP later this year under their new ranks. Despite the departure of frontman, Josh Riley, the new EP will offer a new look into bassist Davey Knight stepping up as vocalist.
The five piece last released their EP, “No One Cares ‘Til You’re Dead” in April 2017.
Orlando punks Dial Drive are continuing on their tour, Summer Riot which will wrap up on July 8. The boys are touring in support of their new EP “Viva Le’ Jit” (A Jam Records) which began in Orlando and will wrap up in Nashville, TN. Check out the flyer above for dates and make sure […]
Orlando punks Dial Drive are continuing on their tour, Summer Riot which will wrap up on July 8. The boys are touring in support of their new EP “Viva Le’ Jit” (A Jam Records) which began in Orlando and will wrap up in Nashville, TN.
Check out the flyer above for dates and make sure to grab some tickets if they’re heading to a venue near you.
Brian Fallon has announced he is returning to the UK with an eight date acoustic tour that includes a stop at London’s Union Chapel. Which is listed as a Grade 1, meaning that it is a building of exceptional interest and would make a interesting venue to catch Brian’s brand of Americana rock and roll. […]
Brian Fallon has announced he is returning to the UK with an eight date acoustic tour that includes a stop at London’s Union Chapel. Which is listed as a Grade 1, meaning that it is a building of exceptional interest and would make a interesting venue to catch Brian’s brand of Americana rock and roll.
Tickets are already on sale. Check out the tour dates below.
Southern California skate-punk act Chaser have premiered a lyric video for a brand new track off their upcoming release on Dying Scene Records. “Nightmares” has got it all; gang vocals, killer lead guitar, catchy chorus, and don’t forget the “whoa-ohs”! It’s an absolute gem of a punk rock song and you can see what I mean by checking […]
Southern California skate-punk act Chaser have premiered a lyric video for a brand new track off their upcoming release on Dying Scene Records. “Nightmares” has got it all; gang vocals, killer lead guitar, catchy chorus, and don’t forget the “whoa-ohs”! It’s an absolute gem of a punk rock song and you can see what I mean by checking it out over at Punktastic.
“Nightmares” will appear on the band’s upcoming album “Sound The Sirens” due out digitally through Dying Scene Records (pre-order) and physically through Effervescence Records (pre-order) on July 20th.
Stream a few more songs from the upcoming release on bandcamp.
Frank Turner has had a bit of a mutual love affair with the greater Boston area over the last handful of years. While his first show inside the city limits didn’t occur until February 2010 – roughly six years after his first-ever show as a solo performer and three years after his first US show […]
Frank Turner has had a bit of a mutual love affair with the greater Boston area over the last handful of years. While his first show inside the city limits didn’t occur until February 2010 – roughly six years after his first-ever show as a solo performer and three years after his first US show which happened in San Antonio of all places – the years since have found the Wessex boy turning Boston into his North American home, with area’s bars and clubs and storage lockups serving as a virtual basecamp for his touring operation on this side of the Atlantic. There’s been obvious support from the likes of local heroes Dropkick Murphys over the years – including lengthy tours both Stateside and abroad – but Turner and his band, the Sleeping Souls, have also garnered a fair amount of radio play from the city’s holdover alternative and independent stations and won over crowds the old fashioned way: by playing their asses off.
Traditionally speaking, Boston, you see, prefers its musicians and its athletes to share a few overlapping characteristics. If you’re viewed a tough, scrappy, hard-worker who may not necessarily have been born with the most virtuosic capabilities but through blood, sweat and tears have carved out a spot for yourself, you’ll do alright here. (Not having an abundance of melanin helps as well, but that’s a conversation for another time and platform.) And so it was a little confusing to see only a couple of Boston dates on the initial list of North American dates in support of Turner’s new album, Be More Kind. Both dates were at Royale, a thousand-ish capacity club that is a great venue, however it’s much smaller than venues like House of Blues and, of course, the Agganis Areana that Turner has headlined in past runs through the city. And while Lucero and The Menzingers were listed as openers for the bulk of the month-long tour, neither were slated to appear in Boston. Hi-jinks, it seemed, were afoot. Within a few days, however, a bigger picture appeared. Tickets to the first two sold out in mere moments, and were quickly joined by two more shows, which also sold out quickly, and finally by two more shows, all without openers announced, meaning that Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls would be headlining the same venue six times in a week. All of a sudden, we had ourselves a big deal on our hands.
Dying Scene have had the privilege of covering a bunch of Frank Turner shows over the years, and night four of this six-night run (which turned into a seven-night run as Turner played a benefit show for the Claddagh Fund at one of Dropkick Murphys’ founder Ken Casey’s new dining establishments on July 3rd) marked yours truly’s seventh time shooting Turner locally at venues ranging from a record store to a college hockey arena to a giant outdoor festival, and while it’s generally hyperbole state that a show was the best of a particular bunch, I’ll be damned if this one wasn’t right up there. The varied setlist covered all seven of Turner’s full-length studio albums (pretty sure I’d never heard “Journey Of The Magi” off 2009’s Poetry Of The Deed live before) as well as the 2010 Rock & Roll EP (definitely sure I’d never heard “Pass It Along” live before). Turner is able to change at a moments notice from being the solo, folk-punk troubadour persona that has long been his bread and butter, to the consummate showman, singing and dancing in non-stop, high-energy fashion, including a lap around the entire venue balcony during the show-closing “Four Simple Words.” Hell, he even got opener Dave Hause to play along, as the latter crowd-surfed his way around the venue as though it were a punk rock baseball diamond during fan favorite “If Ever I Stray” (see the last photo above for proof).
Oh and as was mentioned briefly above, Dave Hause and his band, The Mermaid, were added as opener to this show after the sell-out had been announced (other shows featured support spots from some combination of Speedy Ortiz, The Homeless Gospel Choir, Jeff Rosenstock, Restorations, Tim Barry, Hotelier, War On Women, Kevin Devine and Trapper Schoepp, making each of the six shows a truly unique experience). Hause and his brother/musical counterpart Tim were in town for a stripped down show at Boston’s new City Winery establishment during the altter stages of their tour with Northcote earlier this month. While we enjoyed the hell out of that experience, the elder Hause is masterful at commanding an audience and a full band at a sweaty punk rock show, and this particular band has turned itself into quite a force that’s able to seemingly effortlessly pull off the myriad sounds that have been woven into the Dave Hause solo catalog – yes, that’s Kayleigh Goldsworthy on melodica above – particularly on its latest entry, last year’s Bury Me In Philly. It was a disorientingly early set – Royale turns into a dance club at 10pm, prompting a hard 9:30 curfew, but the dynamic Hause fired the crowd up the way few others can. (Plus, his merch girl was pretty cute!)
Head below to see our full photo gallery from the evening.
Dan Cribb has recruited Australian singer-songwriter Guy Sebastian for the latest song in the ongoing tribute to The Simpsons. “We Put the Spring in Springfield” is the twenty-fifth song on The Worst Tribute Ever. Guy Sebastian is a multi-time platinum soul singer, who’s rise to stardom began with winning the Australian Idol in 2003. This […]
Dan Cribb has recruited Australian singer-songwriter Guy Sebastian for the latest song in the ongoing tribute to The Simpsons. “We Put the Spring in Springfield” is the twenty-fifth song on The Worst Tribute Ever.
Guy Sebastian is a multi-time platinum soul singer, who’s rise to stardom began with winning the Australian Idol in 2003. This definitely adds some depth to both the quality of the song and the impressive guest list on the album. Other guests so far include Ball Park Music, The Beards, Luca Brasi, Tired Lion and more yet to be announced.
Stream the track below.
Nashville indie-punks H.A.R.D. have released their debut EP Have a Rad Day. A rowdy guitar fueled romp, that is full of positive energy. H.A.R.D. is currently on tour in the southeast in support of this EP, so be sure to get out there and check them out. Check out the stream and the tour dates […]
Nashville indie-punks H.A.R.D. have released their debut EP Have a Rad Day. A rowdy guitar fueled romp, that is full of positive energy.
H.A.R.D. is currently on tour in the southeast in support of this EP, so be sure to get out there and check them out.
Check out the stream and the tour dates below.
Sid Broderius and the Emergency Exit have released a new song and video! “Rebel Heartache” is a slow-jam rocker about getting older, growing up, and the giveths and takeths of living a punk rock lifestyle. In true DIY fashion, the video was shot on smart phones, and while it won’t be on the band’s upcoming […]
Sid Broderius and the Emergency Exit have released a new song and video! “Rebel Heartache” is a slow-jam rocker about getting older, growing up, and the giveths and takeths of living a punk rock lifestyle. In true DIY fashion, the video was shot on smart phones, and while it won’t be on the band’s upcoming album, it is available for free on bandcamp.
Singer/guitarist Sid Broderius had this to say, “This song was recorded for fun right after I wrote it a month ago, on the fly, at our drummer Jasen’s studio. We shot the video a month later, also spur of the moment as hell. This song is straight from the heart to anybody who enjoys our music. This one isn’t on our new full length Light it Up coming very soon on No Affiliation Records.”
Light it Up is out this summer on No Affiliation Records. Check out the video below, and click here for the bandcamp!
John Feldman took some heat for The Knife. Many referred to it as the first John Feldman and Friends album rather than the seventh Goldfinger album. Feldman, the only remaining original member of the band, is now joined by Mike Herrera of MxPx, Phil Sneed formerly of Story of the Year, and, on the album anyway […]
John Feldman took some heat for The Knife. Many referred to it as the first John Feldman and Friends album rather than the seventh Goldfinger album. Feldman, the only remaining original member of the band, is now joined by Mike Herrera of MxPx, Phil Sneed formerly of Story of the Year, and, on the album anyway but not usually in concert, Travis Barker of blink-182. That’s a hell of a super group Feldman put together following his messy breakup with original drummer Darrin Pfeiffer the year before.
Feldman does more producing these days than he does performing, and he hit the biggest-of-times producing and co-writing blink-182’s Grammy nominated California. Some have complained that the songs on The Knife sound too much like California rejects. It’s easy to imagine Feldman hanging on to drum tracks from unfinished Blink songs and deciding to use them for himself, particular on “See You Around”, a slower song which actually features Mark Hoppus singing the second verse but is otherwise the most forgettable song on the album, and “Put The Knife Away”, one of the strongest songs here, and what would have been among the strongest song on California.
Still, there are plenty of us simply happy to have a new Goldfinger album, no matter who is playing now. A lot has changed since Goldfinger’s gritty debut-album back in 1996, so indicative of mid-90s punk, very similar to Dude Ranch, really, as far as style and production-quality goes, minus the ska-influence of course. Feldman looks exactly the same as he did in the “Here In Your Bedroom” video, though his voice twenty-one-years earlier is almost unrecognizable.
The Knife opens with “A Millions Miles”, taking off at ludicrous speed just as “Mind’s Eye” kicked off the self-titled album once upon a time. The brief second verse morphs into an upbeat ska feel before hitting the chorus again – “Where did my life go? I just can’t hold it back no more” – followed by a barrage of whoas to take us out; at 2:05, “A Million Miles” is a great opener.
“Get What I Need” is the kind of song the Goldfinger purists are looking for – a straight-forward ska song with horns a-blasting and lyrics filled with nostalgia, drug references, and f-bombs. Later on, “Who’s Laughing Now” is another throwback representing what was so great about ska’s far-too-brief time in the mainstream sun – more horns, more breakneck lyrics, reinventing a line from a classic children’s song (“ashes, ashes, we all fall down”), heys and more whoas, and a pretty sick “This is not the end-o” breakdown.
The cover looks like a Tim Burton movie, but there’s nothing macabre about “Tijuana Sunrise”, one of the singles used to promote The Knife, a slower ska-reggae song, with a great lead-trombone line and a full horn section later on. More nostalgia-themed lyrics here, though now Feldman is focusing on the not-so-good moments, that some things aren’t as good as they used to be – “I’ve been drinking to forget just how good it was, I was drinking with you, then I’m drinking ‘til noon, now I’m drinking by myself”. “Don’t Let Me Go” is the album’s mellow song, a slow and beautiful reggae song again featuring tip-top trombone-playing and possibly Feldman’s best singing ever.
Time for some complaints, though: “Am I Deaf”, the first song released from The Knife back in 2013, sounds far too much like turn-of-the-century Good Charlotte and Sum-41, which personally I can’t stand. “Orthodontist Girl” is only a so-so song without taking into account the freakin’ weird lyrics, i.e. “with your gloves on, it’s like you’re inside me, yeah, it turns me on.” “Liftoff” isn’t a bad song, but it’s way out of place, sort of a reggae song but too overproduced to recognize as one. The lyrics are clever, though, and Nick Hexum guest sings, which is kind of cool because 311 always recorded a reggae song or two for their albums, but overall it doesn’t seem like it belongs. And speaking of lyrics, the chorus for “Say It Out Loud” contains the weakest lyrics on the album – “say it out loud right to my face”, over and over and over again – and the song in general sounds like a poor man’s version of Weezer’s“(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I want You To”, only with a terrible sax solo in the latter half.
As for the ho-hum songs – the good but not overwhelmingly fantastic – I would include “Beacon”, which has possibly the strongest lyrics but musically is, well, ho-hum, and I’d also categorize “Mila” here, a cute song about Feldman’s daughter (remember that Hello, Destiny’s bonus track was “Julian”, about his other kid). Oh and “See You Around,” too, which I earlier described as forgettable because it’s the one song I always forget about.
Still, I say if you can get over the massive lineup overhaul and get past the similarities with the last blink-182 album, this album has more highlights than lowlights. I mean, “Put The Knife Away” is about as strong a pop-punk song as I’ve heard in many, many years, and might be the strongest song on the album. I’m not sure. The Knife has several contenders.
4/5 Stars