Big news day today for Dyingscene homies Spanish Love Songs. LA’s favourite grouch rockers not only announced their signing to A-F Records (US) and Uncle M Records (EU), but also dropped a brand new EP. As the icing on the cake, title track ‘Buffalo Buffalo‘ even comes with a shiny new video, which we are very proud to premiere for you today. Frontman Dylan Slocum about the new songs:

“The songs on Buffalo Buffalo give a quick glimpse of where we’ve been for the past few years — falling in love while it feels like the world’s imploding, getting too old to be young dudes in a band, and trying real hard to stay positive. They’re also a glimpse of what’s to come, and we hope people love them as much as we do.”

If you’re just as excited as us to hear these songs live, be sure to catch the band on one of their upcoming West Coast tour dates with Ducking Punches or at pre-Fest and Fest in Florida. In the meantime, head down below to catch new tunes, a brand new video for ‘Buffalo Buffalo’ and SLS’ upcoming party dates. [Read more…]

I have to admit something, and it’s not easy. I’m addicted to preparing for The Fest. A cure might be hopeless but I’m hoping that my story can help other like me – first time Fest goers looking for answers to some of the weekend’s logistical questions.

First things first. Lock down your tickets. Then I would suggest locking down your accommodations. The more I deal with the fest, the people, the website, the more I realize that it is meticulously organized and curated. More on that later, but I suggest that people stay in the hotels dedicated to the fest. The Holiday Inn is supposedly located right in the middle of the action. The whole thing is booked by Fest attendees and will thus be an absolute free-for-all during the entire event. I’m not sure I can handle that type of commitment. I booked at the Wyndham. Another Fest hotel that is supposedly a little more chill. Once again I have no frame of reference on this and we shall see. I should also mention that the Holiday Inn has some kind of Flea Market thing happening. I’ve got it pictured where venders and bands can sell merch and other trinkets that would appeal to Fest-goers. Once again, I’m not sure about this. Pure conjecture at this point.

Band Prep: Right now I’m in band-prep stage. You might want to follow my lead on this as it will help you get a handle on the 350 plus bands that are playing The Fest. I was hoping for something a little more user-friendly from the website, but when you’ve got over 100 bands playing a day, there’s probably no “perfect way” to convey the when and where for each band. It looks like this breaks down along philosophical and/or personal-preference lines. Are you looking to stay in one spot and get the most bang for your buck? Then you will be looking at the schedule by location. If you are committed to catching at least a piece of some of the bands on your wish list, then you can break the schedule down by date and time. At this point, I found that I could no longer work with the website, I needed to get some micro-organization going. So I copied the time and date schedules and dropped them into an excel spreadsheet. I broke them up with a tab for each day. I found with a little tinkering you can get the day’s entire schedule in chronological order: my choice for the best way to get a handle on what’s happening when and where.

Phew. Okay. Are you still with me? Step one was to highlight all the bands I definitely wanted to check out. I found it useful to start here and get an idea of what the skeleton of my schedule was gonna look like. I’ve got some locks as you might guess: Against Me (performing Reinventing Axl Rose), Superchunk, Smoking Popes, Hum, 88 Fingers Louie, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Movielife, Pegboy, Off With Their Heads, The Bigger Empty; you get the idea. I had a lot of other bands that I wanted to check as well, and I really want to check some of the cover shows, but I digress. Get you’re a-list, can’t-miss picks in the spreadsheet; mine are highlighted in yellow.

After the skeleton is in place, you can fill in the meat. I chose to highlight these bands in blue. I thought I knew a lot about punk music, emo, screamo, indie, etc. Maybe I do, but I’m always willing to learn more, so I made a dive into some of the bands I hadn’t heard of. Once again the spreadsheet comes in handy for this task. I use eMusic for most of my music purchases these days, so I found it most useful to check out some of the lesser-known (to me at least) bands. You can use YouTube, that would probably be better and I’ve had to resort to it a few times when the band’s music is not available on eMusic. And most of the bands are available on bandcamp as well. One thing that I’m finding as I go through the bands that are new to me: they’re all really good. I spent a day checking out bands and one after another proved to be amazing. Some of the bands I’ve been turned on to (and subsequently really want to check at The Fest): Sinai Vessel, City of Caterpillar (how did I miss these guys?), Apologies I have none, Army of Ponch, Deadaires, Tartar Control and many many more. I’ve got my b-list highlighted in blue. Once again I must tip my hat to The Fest as they obviously know their music and have assembled an amazing lineup this year. I’m thinking you could conceivably just pop into any venue and end up getting into the show happening at the time. Which would require no prep at all. Can’t have that now can we?

OK. So you’ve got your tickets, accommodations, schedule. You’re well on your way to maximum family fun at The Fest. To round out your enjoyment, definitely download the App. Take your spreadsheet and then transfer that info over to the App and it will sort your schedule by date and time. Now you are ready to go mobile! Next, you might want to check out the website. It’s loaded with goodies!! If you haven’t already, download all the Comps!! Get them in heavy rotation on your sonic delivery vehicle of choice. I’m from the old school, so I burned CDs. You might just find one of your new favorite bands in there. I had to juggle my schedule because I came across a must-see through the comp: Tartar Control. I guarantee you’ll find something in there that you might have missed. Hidden gems.

If you are insane like me, you can start planning your wardrobe, but you might not be that hardcore. I just can’t decide if it makes sense to represent for your favorite bands at the fest, or to bust obscure band Ts to give you more street cred. I could go on for days on this subject. Don’t forget your swimsuit!! There are pool parties happening at both the Wyndham and Holiday Inn. I’m guessing that will be a sight to behold.

I really could keep going and drive this whole preparation thing right into the ground, but I think I’ve already lost most of you, so to those who stayed til the end. I’ll see you on Sunday night. Teen Agers and Tiltwheel are my choices to close things out. Let’s get together and toast the fact that we survived. Cheers.

Australian pop punks Raised as Wolves have been killing it lately! In the past year or two, the trio has opened for heavyweight acts like, Frenzal Rhomb and The Bennies, played the Yours and Owls Festival alongside huge names like At the Drive In and AJJ and now, the lads have announced dates for a tour of their homeland! To kick things off in style, the band has released their first new song in over a year and wanted DS readers to get an exclusive first listen! The new single, “Don’t We All…” is chock full o’ masterful melodies and catchy hooks which we’ve come to expect from these awesome Aussies! Check it out (along with tour dates) below!

[Read more…]

11 years is a long time in the music industry. For many bands, it is an entire lifetime, but for The Lillingtons it was just an opportunity to gather strength. For years, The Lillingtons flew just beneath the general radar with a rabid cult-following…until now. Stella Sapiente sees the band gather their acolytes in a campaign for hearts, minds, souls and the domination of the earth.

The dark and otherworldly echoes of “Golden Dawn/Knights Templar” open the album, with lush guitars reverberating into the shadows: equal parts dark ritual and signals from another world. Vocalist and guitarist Kody Templeman paints an aural picture of mystery, that bleeds seamlessly into “Insect Nightmares’. Buzzsaw crunch gives way to a dueling guitar riff Ronnie James Dio would solemnly flash an approving pair of horns at.

The retro vibe continues with “Night Visions”. Deep chorus effects evoke a dark-wave feel, while the gothic horror of the lyric “recurring nightmares cloud my mind, eradication of mankind” weave a Lovecraftian atmosphere of intrigue and foreboding. The band then powers into “K6” and “Zodiac”, more up-tempo, driving tracks. “Pursuit of Pleasure” has one of the most fun choruses I have heard in a while: simple and inescapable like a black hole.

“London Fog” opens with a riff and tone that evoke The Misfits “London Dungeon” with reverence, without feeling like a lift. “Cult of Dagon” is a dis-harmonic, synth powered acid trip followed by “Villagers” and “The Walker”: tracks that maintain the macabre atmosphere while revving the intensity and beats per minute back up. “They Live” shows the band at its absolute best: galloping drums leading scorching guitars in a harmonic race into the unknown. Dual guitars rip into leads that would bring Thin Lizzy to tears. The album closes with the same speed and strength with punk rock/80’s metal hybrid “Drawing Down the Star”, then fades out enigmatically.

Just from the opening riffs of Stella Sapiente, you quickly appreciate the band’s evolution as musicians from their Ramones-core origins. Effects are used to establish mood and emphasize the music brilliantly. The album radiates a dark, mysterious energy while keeping the speed and seriousness of The Too Late Show. This record may be The Lillingtons crowning achievement to date: showcasing a band at the peak of its songwriting ability pushing its own boundaries. This record isn’t a reinvention, its an evolution. My only real complaint is the length: like a dream, the record is over before you’re ready to wake up.

Stella Sapiente is available now through Fat Wreck Chords.

5/5 Stars

UK punk veterans GBH have premiered another track from their upcoming album Momentum. This time it’s “Birmingham Smiles”, and you can check it out below.

Momentum is set to release on November 17th through Hellcat Records. It will be the band’s first LP since 2010’s Perfume and Piss. Head over here to pre-order the album. [Read more…]

Welsh pop punkers Seven Stories High just released a video for their brand new song “Apathy”, and you can check it out below.

“Apathy” is taken from the band’s upcoming EP Deadweight, due for release on November 24th, and you can pre-order a copy of the record at their Bandcamp page.

[Read more…]

San Diego screamo band Pierce the Veil have released a music video for their song “Today I Saw the Whole World”, and you can check it out below below.

“Today I Saw the Whole World” is taken from Pierce the Veils’ recent album Misadventures, which came out over a year ago through Fearless Records.

[Read more…]

Aussie punk-rock legends Frenzal Rhomb have announced a two-month tour of Australia. The tour begins right before the end of the year, and ends in early February. Tickets go on sale this Friday (October 13th), while the tour’s dates are below.

The tour sees Frenzal Rhomb continuing to support their latest album Hi-Vis High Tea, which was released in May through Fat Wreck Chords and is their first in six years.

[Read more…]

When I first came across Nachthexen and heard the description synth-punk I was instantly weary. Synthesizers are not my preferred instrument when listening to punk, but they were playing along side some bands I liked (Anxiety, Snob and Hex) at a gig so thought I would give them a go! At that time their self titled 7″ was out so I turned it on and prepared for the worst. However I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the unique sounding feminist tunes. I couldn’t make the gig in the end so can’t tell you about their live performance! If you want to catch them live they are currently in the middle of a tour supporting Sleaford Mods, you can find more info here.

The band are now streaming their new 7″ titled “Disco Creep” which you can listen to below.

[Read more…]

One of the UK’s finest bands, Jaded Eyes, are streaming their new 7″ on Spotify, it’s called “Hatespeak”, and you can listen to it here.

It contains two great songs that are exactly what fans will have been waiting for! The band members have been active in the diy scene for a long time now in other great bands such as Voorhees, The Horror, John Holmes and more. They are great musicians and song writers and always put out excellent music as well as riveting live performances. This is the latest release since “The Eternal Sea” which came out back in 2015, and is also an absolute belter. Check it out! You will not be disappointed.