Michigan pop-punkers The Swellers have posted the second of their “Good For Me” studio update videos. In case you missed the first one, you can check both of them here.

“Good For Me” is set to be released June 14th on Fueled By Ramen and will be the followup to their 2009 release “Ups And Downsizing.” [Read more…]

New Found Glory have announced that their upcoming album “Radiosurgery” will feature guest vocals from Bethany Cosentino from the surf pop band Best Coast.

The band posted the following statement on their website:

“Today our friend Bethany from the band Best Coast came into the studio and sang vocals on one of our new songs! We are totally pumped to have her guest on our record. We have been big fans of her band for a while now. We met Best Coast through the power of Twitter. The story goes, I wanted to get in to see their sold out show at the Troubador and didn’t have a ticket. I tweeted them half kidding about putting me on the guest list! Come to find out they were NFG fans and totally hooked me up. Since then we’ve been buds! It’s refreshing when you meet a band you love that inspires you and they are actually cool people too! If you haven’t heard their newer album “Crazy for You” yet you are truly missing out. It rules!”

“Radiosurgery” is due to be released in September on Epitaph.

Minneapolis punk rockers Off With Their Heads and their San Francisco counterparts Dead To Me have announced a huge summer tour starting in July in California and working their way across the entire US, finishing in Nevada in September.

Bands joining them on their tour for stretches include The Riverboat Gamblers, The Holy Mess and The Riot Before. A full list of tour dates and which bands are playing where can be found here.

Off With Their heads released their album “In Desolation” on Epitaph in 2010. Dead To Me released “African Elephants” on Fat Wreck Chords in 2009.

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The annual Poison City (Records) Weekender have released the line-up for 2011 and it’s the goods.  Bridge & Tunnel, Screemfeeder, The Nation Blue, Mutiny and The Hawaiian Islands are just a few names included on the bill.  For the full list of bands click here.

The three day event which takes place on September16th – 18th this year is held over two venues and includes over 20 bands. Tickets will be available for purchase on the 20th of May from the Poison City website.  Three day passes are limited so be sure to snap them up quick.

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The Ink-n-Iron Festival has announced the current line up of bands slated to play on the festival’s 8th incarnation. The line up includes (but is not limited to) The Buzzcocks, The Adolescents, Anti-Flag, Batmobile, Turbo A.C.’s, Phenomenauts and more. You can check out the entire line up right here.

If you’re into these bands, fast cars, tattoos and girls with tattoos and also happen to be in Long Beach, CA on June 10th to 12th you can purchase your tickets right here.

Almost inevitably the Vancouver pop-punk act Living With Lions have started receiving harsh criticism for their recent album “Holy Shit”. In a recent article by LAWeekly the band is criticized for their blasphemous cover art (which, if it wasn’t obvious from the title, depicts the album as a Bible and contains images of Jesus as a lump of feces) and for sounding like “Worse Religion” (which I’m sure the writer of the article wrote as he chuckled to himself). However, the most interesting part of it all  is that the article looks down on the Government of Canada for funding the production of the album. You can read the article and comments for yourself here.

Living With Lions released “Holy Shit” yesterday via Adeline Records.

Local Resident Failure have been perfecting their own brand of melodic/skate punk, full of attitude and energy in Australia for the past four years now and things continue to pick up for the foursome.  The band will be making an appearance at Spoonfest this Saturday May 21 and is also reportedly making progress on their debut record which is scheduled for release later this year.

I recently had a chance to ask their front man, Dal,  a few questions and get their take on everything from Spoonfest, 90’s punk, their new record and to playing in Australia in general.  We are also streaming “Human Rights…and Wrongs” from their 2010 EP/album teaser,”Crack Is The New Black.”  Be sure to check out the full interview plus song stream here and catch their set at Spoonfest this Saturday.  BOOM!

There is only two days left till Spoonfest Brisbane punk-rockers.  Be there!  DS will be.  You should buy us a beer.  Kidding!  But definitely pick up a ticket first here.

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Balance and Composure have owed us (and probably themselves) a proper full-length for quite some time now. Expectations were high for the 5-piece; since their inception the band hit the ground running, leaving only rave reviews of their sporadic EPs in their wake. From the generally short EPs, it was clear that a band of their talent was capable of doing something far larger and more ambitious. Now we find ourselves in 2011 and the band has released their long-awaited full-length “Separation” on No Sleep Records. To be fair, I wasn’t expecting to be disappointed and almost unsurprisingly I wasn’t.

The album begins with the airy drone of “Void.” A lone guitar plucks away and quickly the band introduces the darker nature of the album with Jonathon Simmons’ voice dripping out from the speakers as he sings “found out everyone is shallow…” .  The mellow intro is then accompanied by a post-hardcore buzz of guitar feedback before the band kicks into a ridiculously catchy and energetic pulse reminiscent of the 90’s grunge rock movement. I decided to go into this track with particular detail because I feel like it strangely incorporates a lot of the elements that make “Separation” such a solid listen, even though it ticks out in a little over 2 minutes. The band is extremely comfortable cruising down in every gear and are capable of flawlessly incorporating their heavier moments with the quieter, spacier sections and these two with their infectious brand of darker pop.

Take “Quake” for example, which like most of the songs found on the album consists of layer upon layer of shifts in melodies, tempos and stylings. Yet the track sounds fluid and boundless, with enough pop twang to leave its contagious chorus spinning around your head at least until the next song grabs your interest. “I Tore You Apart In My Head” and “Patience” both come in kicking the door down with crunchy guitars and pounding drums while Simmons shreds his vocal chords with an energy not found in post-hardcore since Brand New released “Deja Entandu.” This is an element in Balance And Composure’s music that I have come to enjoy very much since I was introduced to them. Despite being usually pushed with bands such as Brand New and Manchester Orchestra, it’s their vibrant young angst that separates their music from that of their contemporaries. Though it’s impossible to deny that there isn’t a little bit of Jesse Lacey, Andy Hull and even Jeff Mangum in Simmons’ delivery, it’s when he sings verses such as: “Fuck what you told me / It all leads to smoking alone in my room in the end” and “Keep it inside and swallow whatever it is that keeps you warm” that he becomes the backbone of Balance and Composure’s brand of post-hardcore. I often find that as much as I love me some wonderfully airy and metaphorical lyrics it’s refreshing to find a voice that speaks as clearly as Simmons. Though it’s pretty clear who Balance and Composure listen to on their spare time, they are able to keep their collective head safely above water.

A band in their genre could fall into many potholes along the way, especially with an album as dangerously long as “Separation.” Fortunately the band has paid close attention to this detail. Every element is at the right portions and lengths; just when you thought “man, I’m about to get real bored of this little riff here” the band quit the lingering and take a stride into something new. Though I’m sure most people writing music listen to music, Balance and Composure were clearly trying to write an album that they would enjoy listening to. They’ve cut the fat that the genre often comes with and have produced a leaner and meaner final product. In today’s music it’s very hard to truly write new, original music without resorting to gimmicks, but that hasn’t stopped Balance and Composure from writing something intelligently refreshing. “Separation” may not find the band reinventing the wheel but honestly they probably weren’t trying to. At least they have taken the time and care to change out the old, worn out tires and put in new wheels on the post-rock/hardcore genre.

Cover songs are like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.  We here at Dying Scene love hearing punk bands do their own take on other band’s songs.  Sometimes they pull off amazing interpretations of old classics, sometimes they’re not much more than humble tributes to a fellow artist, and other times they’re just downright laughable renditions of otherwise great songs.  Good or bad.  Intriguing or mundane.  We’ll let you be the judge. This week it’s Detroit’s ska infused hardcore punk act The Suicide Machines covering “Smile” by the Japanese ska band Potshot.

Listen to both versions here.

The original appears on 2002 album “A Go Go”. The cover appears on the 2002 Potshot / The Suicide Machines split release. I recommend you pick up that split if you can find it. It’s golden.

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Dirty Tactics have unveiled a new music video for their song “Your Song”. The song comes from the band’s latest EP, “The Divine Middle” which was released on May 2nd.

You can check out the video here.