We’ve got a real, genuine treat for you today that, as a lifelong Boston-area resident and scene-adjacent member, I’m fired up to be able to…new music from Avoid One Thing! We last heard from the highly-regarded side project featuring Joe Gittleman (Mighty Mighty Bosstones), Amy Griffin (The Raging Teens, Darkbuster, Jittery Jack) and John Lynch […]
We’ve got a real, genuine treat for you today that, as a lifelong Boston-area resident and scene-adjacent member, I’m fired up to be able to…new music from Avoid One Thing!
We last heard from the highly-regarded side project featuring Joe Gittleman (Mighty Mighty Bosstones), Amy Griffin (The Raging Teens, Darkbuster, Jittery Jack) and John Lynch (The Neighborhoods) all the way back in 2004 with the release of their sophomore album, Chopstick Bridge. After more than a decade-and-a-half of good times and bad times and all things in between, the band’s long-awaited third album is finally upon us. It’s called Right Here Where You Left Me, and it’s due out a mere two days from now (Friday the 13th) on Big Rig Records.
To give you a taste of what’s in store, we’re bringing you the brand new track, “Better Left Alone.” Here’s how Gittleman himself sums up the song’s theme: “I don’t know if this song’s apology will ever reach its target or be accepted. I hope so.” Check it out below!
Pre-order’s for Right Here Where You Left Me are available here; you can also check out the album’s title track right here! You can also snag tickets to the album release show coming up November 16th at Boston’s Great Scott right here on Friday!
Two Canadian sellouts started a podcast in which they discuss every single blink-182 song. They titled it Blink-155, named after the amount of songs the band had at the podcast’s inception. Two years in, Exclaim! journalist Josiah Hughes (also of Pre Nup) and major label shill Sam Sutherland (also of Junior Battles) are well past […]
Two Canadian sellouts started a podcast in which they discuss every single blink-182 song. They titled it Blink-155, named after the amount of songs the band had at the podcast’s inception. Two years in, Exclaim! journalist Josiah Hughes (also of Pre Nup) and major label shill Sam Sutherland (also of Junior Battles) are well past 100 episodes and make over $1,300 a month in Patreon support.
To get to the bottom of this senseless endeavor, I interrupted Hughes mid-settling in to his new Montreal apartment to talk about if Dude Ranch is a dirty joke, being friends with the singer of Imagine Dragons, and why he started a blink-182 podcast. You can read our discussion below.
Mike Herrera, frontman of MxPx, has shared an updated version of the song ‘1985’ ahead of some shows with Bowling For Soup. The song written and recorded by SR-71, was made famous by Bowling For Soup in their 2004 cover. You can hear Mike’s version on his facebook page.
Mike Herrera, frontman of MxPx, has shared an updated version of the song ‘1985’ ahead of some shows with Bowling For Soup. The song written and recorded by SR-71, was made famous by Bowling For Soup in their 2004 cover. You can hear Mike’s version on his facebook page.
The announcement of the ‘Hella Mega’ tour has caused ripples of excitement in the music world this week. If you haven’t seen, Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer have announced a co-headlining tour in Europe, the US and Canada for next summer. Speaking on Zane Lowe’s show about the tour, Billie Joe Armstrong said: […]
The announcement of the ‘Hella Mega’ tour has caused ripples of excitement in the music world this week. If you haven’t seen, Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer have announced a co-headlining tour in Europe, the US and Canada for next summer. Speaking on Zane Lowe’s show about the tour, Billie Joe Armstrong said: “It’s kind of a Green Day idea. And we talked about how we weren’t really wanting to do stadiums and do something that was like throwback to Monsters Of Rock Tour. There was, of course, Fall Out Boy and Weezer and now we’re stoked.”
The Interrupters, who seem to be going from strength to strength, have been announced as support for the US and Canada dates.
Senses Fail have re-recorded and re-released their debut EP, From the Depths of Dreams. It’s out now via Pure Noise. To mark the release, they’ve made a video for “Bastard Son”. Have a watch of it below – and read a commentary on why they’ve re-recorded these old tracks.
Senses Fail have re-recorded and re-released their debut EP, From the Depths of Dreams. It’s out now via Pure Noise. To mark the release, they’ve made a video for “Bastard Son”.
Have a watch of it below – and read a commentary on why they’ve re-recorded these old tracks.
San Antonio pop punk quarter Finding September have released a video for their latest single “Hostage”. The track is the first new offering since last year’s History EP. Have a watch below.
San Antonio pop punk quarterFindingSeptemberhave released a video for their latest single “Hostage”. The track is the first new offering since last year’s History EP.
Turnover have announced they are to release a new album, Altogether, on November 1st via Run For Cover Records. Pre-orders are up now – plus the band are streaming two tracks from it, “Much After Feeling” and “Plant Sugar”. Check both tracks – and upcoming dates – below.
Turnover have announced they are to release a new album, Altogether, on November 1st via Run For Cover Records. Pre-orders are up now – plus the band are streaming two tracks from it, “Much After Feeling” and “Plant Sugar”.
Cali punks United Defiance have released a new single, “Cool Kids Club”, via new home Thousand Islands Records, They’ve released a video for it, which you can watch below. The band embark on a short Canadian tour this month – details are also below.
Cali punks United Defiance have released a new single, “Cool Kids Club”, via new home Thousand Islands Records, They’ve released a video for it, which you can watch below.
The band embark on a short Canadian tour this month – details are also below.
The pop-punks from the Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan are back, Good Grief bringing what could be the best pop-punk release of the year in mini-album Square One. From the moment the mini-album begins, with an emotional spoken-word acoustic track reminiscent of how After Tonight began their iconic first-and-only album, there’s this special feeling surrounding it. […]
The pop-punks from the Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan are back, Good Grief bringing what could be the best pop-punk release of the year in mini-album Square One. From the moment the mini-album begins, with an emotional spoken-word acoustic track reminiscent of how After Tonight began their iconic first-and-only album, there’s this special feeling surrounding it.
The boys in Good Grief have this incredible energy, which is translated into their music. As soon as the intro ends we’re brought into the track “Forever,” a pop-punk banger, complete with bright guitar work and gang vocals that just beg to be sang along with. The ending line of “I spend another night alone” slows things down to a brief sombre moment, but the energy is kicked right back up again with “Canvas.”
“Canvas” is another impressively crafted pop-punk gem, with some tasty melodies bringing us towards the shining center of the release. “The Paul,” followed by “Rotting In My Chest,” strikes me as quite probably my favorite pop-punk tracks in quite a long time. The Paul hits the ground running, leaning on the easycore influence quite a few Japanese pop-punk bands have. Yastin’s delivery of “This is my life!” hits hard in the middle of “The Paul,” then a final “YEAH” to finish off the track brings that intense energy up to boil.
“Rotting In My Chest” is everything you could want from a pop-punk song, calling on early Knuckle Puck and Real Friends with an iconic sound they grab hold of and make their own in a beautiful way. It’s one of those tracks that you can’t help but have on replay all day. “I hope you remember” stands out as that line you can’t help but sing along with, brings back how their track “Home” from a previous EP stood out as that endlessly singable tune.
Following that killer midsection is a nice reprieve, a gentle acoustic track in “Delete.” The flow of the mini-album is pretty spot on, and winds down with “Delete” into the finale of “Wasted Miles,” beginning with twinkly guitars but quickly working into their sound, making a nice bit of contrast. The flow of the track has the aura of some punkier emo tracks with the dips and rises, ending with passion, looking back on past mistakes.
Japanese pop-punk is a beautifully flourishing scene at a local level, with a lot of creativity and expression shown through the bands that work incredibly hard to build the very scene they love. In influence the scene sits somewhere around the Defend Pop Punk era, but drawing on elements of easycore, emo, and hardcore, Japanese pop-punk is creatively growing impressively. Good Grief always bring quality in catchy and emotional punk music, but Square One marks a step forward from there, honing their skills and putting together something really special. Don’t sleep on this!
Square One releases on September 8th. You can stream the mini-album below.
Stiff Little Fingers, out of Belfast, Northern Ireland was amongst the first wave punk bands, and among those with a lasting impact. Their debut album, the seminal Inflammable Material celebrated its 40th Anniversary earlier this year. The album features a trilogy of angry, political songs. S.L.F. founder and lead singer Jake Burns still has a […]
Stiff Little Fingers, out of Belfast, Northern Ireland was amongst the first wave punk bands, and among those with a lasting impact. Their debut album, the seminal Inflammable Material celebrated its 40th Anniversary earlier this year. The album features a trilogy of angry, political songs. S.L.F. founder and lead singer Jake Burns still has a bit of that same early anger in him and is hitting the road again as Stiff Little Fingers readies itself for another tour. The tour, entitled “40 Years of Inflammable Material,” celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the band’s debut album of the same title and they will be playing said record in its entirety. The first leg, well the US leg, takes them across the nation from October 1st in Phoenix, AZ and ending on the Flogging Molly Cruise with Burns’ friends and fellow Chicago residents in Pegboy.
Speaking of Chicago, Burns’ journey from his youth in his hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland to his adopted home, the Windy City, was one of the subjects we recently discussed. Read the entire interview below.