2017 was not a great year for me. Between looming mental health issues, broken hearts (both breaking someone else’s and having mine torn), and a handful of failed attempts at restarting my life, I don’t even have to mention the state of the world to get into how bleak things were… I even stopped regularly contributing to Dying Scene this year! But I still got invited to share my 10 favorite records and since music is one of the things that helped me get through this year, here I am.

In years past I’ve gone all out when sharing my favorite albums: bringing attention to those that might not have gotten as much notice as the heavy hitting names in the scene, or giving each album a number one spot in their own category. This year I’m keeping it simple: my 10 favorite albums by artists that we cover at Dying Scene. You can check it out below. [Read more…]

As Dying Scene fresh meat 2k17, I feel like I’m still being held in check more than our senior writers. For example: I asked our big boss if I could fill out my end of the year list with just the Jurassic Park theme song. He threatened to kick me out of the team if I ever called his house again at 5 am in the morning. Luckily, a lot of good bands made a lot of good music this year, and even though the Jurassic Park theme song is still the biggest masterpiece ever created, I ended up listening to a lot of other stuff too. Read all about it below.

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Hey boys and girls, Jay Stone checking in with yet another year-end list. As has been the case every year I’ve done one of these exercises, I put way more than ten albums on my list this year, because honestly, cutting the list at ten leaves out too much awesome music. As you should also know, there’s a lot of awesome music that we don’t cover at Dying Scene, so I put some of that on the list as well. And if you scroll all the way down, there’s also a handy Spotify playlist that’ll keep you fired up for a couple hours. Check it all out below!

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Pop-punks from the Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan Good Grief have premiered a lyric and tour video for a brand new track titled “Mayfly.” You can watch it below.

The track is taken from the band’s upcoming EP Sweet, which is set to be released on January 19th, 2018. The video also contains footage from the band’s live shows throughout the year.

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Manchester, England based anti-folk/folk-punk act Crywank is now streaming their brand new full length album titled Egg on face. Foot in mouth. Wriggling Wriggling Wriggling. You can listen to it below.

The album was released on December 21st, and follows the band’s last full length titled Don’t Piss On Me, I’m Already Dead which was released on July 20th, 2016.

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Jamie here, as a relatively new writer on Dying Scene I feel a certain level of responsibility and excitement with giving my first top 10 albums article. Most of you know me as Goldfinger, and if you’ve had the opportunity to catch any of my articles you’ll notice I’ve got an unhealthy love for my home-grown punk rock. Fortunately 2017 was a banger year for Canadianity as we were spoiled with several home-grown Canuck classics. Anyway, enough with the filler. Check below to find out if we can be friends or not. [Read more…]

I’m not entirely sure how it’s been a full calendar year since I last put one of these compilation posts together, but here we are. I remember pulling last year’s year-end photo gallery together and thinking “damn…that was a busy year.” Fast forward 365 days, and somehow 2017 was actually busier, featuring nearly three dozen shows in five different states and countless memories that have left me not only crossing items off my bucket list but pinching myself as to how surreal this little hobby has become. I shot shows that varied in scale from catching one of my favorite songwriters (Bryan McPherson) at a little bar (The Thirsty Turtle) in the town I grew up in (Nashua, NH) to catching probably the area’s biggest punk band of the last two decades (Dropkick Murphys) at a 7000 seat hockey arena. I shot two separate Warped Tour stops, one of which (Mansfield, MA) took place in a driving rainstorm that parted for just enough time to allow personal favorites Bad Cop/Bad Cop to play a kick-ass set.

I finally shot longtime faves like The Menzingers and Hot Water Music and The Adolescents and Smoking Popes and Bouncing Souls each for the first time, then shot the Souls twice more. I got to see some old pals like Dave Hause and Jared Hart test the waters in some new projects, and some bands I’ve been friendly with for years, like The Interrupters and Bundles and most importantly my dudes in Rebuilder play on bigger and more prominent stages (that are still somehow smaller than they deserve to be playing). I shot one of my favorite all-time bands (Lucero) on a boat on a picture perfect night in Boston Harbor. But more than anything, I got to share an awful lot of awesome experiences with an awful lot of awesome people, some of whom I’m lucky enough to call friends. I still make a lot of this photography stuff up as I go along, but I try to capture the moments that make performances, no matter how big or small, unique and special – eyes, hands, faces, fists, smiles, scowls, exhaustion, celebration, chaos.

Mike McColgan, Street Dogs

What follows below are some of my favorite moments of the year that I was lucky enough to capture in a way that I’m proud of. If you were at some of these events, hopefully this helps you relive some special moments; if you weren’t able to get out to a show, hopefully we helped bring the experience to you. I’ve got some cool stuff cooked up for 2018; thanks for coming along for the ride!

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According to a recent post on their Instagram page, California skate punks Cigar are working on new music. It’s been 18 years since their one and only album Speed is Relative was released.

We’ll keep you posted as more details on new music from Cigar come to light. For now, here‘s their fantastic 1999 debut LP to tide you over.

Hopefully you haven’t put the finishing touches on your “Best of 2017” album lists yet, because we’ve got ourselves a pretty solid contender added to the field from seemingly out of nowhere! Well, out of New Jersey, but still.

It comes to us from none other than Jared Hart, probably best known for his role as frontman of Garden State punk band The Scandals. He released his first solo album, Past Lives & Pass Lines, a couple years back and went on tour both as a member of Brian Fallon’s band, The Crowes, and as a solo artist, where he performed alongside the likes of Frank Iero, Cory Branan and a bunch more. While on those shows, he had the occasion to perform a few of his solo songs alongside a full band, and got the bug to re-record some of the more standout tracks with a band in a studio setting. The result? A four-song EP called Past Life Regression…which is not only officially out today, but is officially available for “pay-what-you-want” download below. Check it out!

Past Lives & Pass Lines was released in November 2015 on Say-10 Records.

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Fat Mike has revealed he and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker are working on a “Cokie the Clown” album. The NOFX frontman made the announcement on Instagram, noting that Barker is “the one drummer that I’ve really wanted to collaborate with”.

This is the first we’ve heard of this album, so that’s pretty much all we know about it. Stay tuned as more details are divulged.