The Black Tie Operation are an aggressive street-punk band from Albany, New York that sound like an angrier version of older Rancid (a great thing in my opinion).  On February 20th they will be releasing their sophomore release on vinyl/digital download and I’m assuming <= that’s the cover art, which I’m also assuming means the name of the album is “Carpe Diem.”

Based on the 3 album tracks streaming on their MySpace page, I gotta say, I’m actually pretty excited to hear the rest.  Go give them a listen yourself if you consider yourself a fan or older rancid and/or street-punk.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes have posted “I’ve Done Everything for You”, “Have You Never Been”, “Friday is on my Mind” and “Never Tear Us Apart” off their upcoming EP “Go Down Under”.

You can listen to the songs here.

“Go Down Under” will be released on February 1st, 2011 through Fat Wreck Chords. Check out our review of the EP here.

UK punk rockers Sharks will be releasing “The Joys of Living, 2008-2010” on Rise Records on April 5th 2011. The album will feature the band’s recordings in the first two years (two EP’s and a single) plus two new songs.

In addition, tour dates with Chuck Ragan and Social Distortion have been announced. Check our the dates here.

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New Jersey street punkers, The Scandals will head into the studio February 19th in Asbury Park, NJ to begin recording their next album. The band will be working and recording with Pete Steinkopf of the Bouncing Souls.

The Scandal’s last album “The Sound Of Your Stereo,” was released in June on Skelaton Crew Records.

Direct Hit! has posted their contribution from their upcoming split with Tit Patrol on their bandcamp for free download. “Brain Surgery” and “Mutant Drunk” can be checked out here, as well as “Werewolf Shame” from their split with Mixtapes.

The record will be out on March 1st, and will be available by mail from both bands, as well as at two release shows in Chicago and Madison, Wis. on March 25th and 26th.

In a recent interview with Punk CD Sampler, Tom May vocalist / guitarist of The Menzingers mentioned that the band has made some progress writing on their upcoming album, as well as continuing work on their acoustic EP. The acoustic EP will include new songs as well as acoustic renditions of old ones.

When asked about the full length he had this to say:

“It’s going good, we’ve got a couple songs in the bag. Well, almost in the bag, we’re trying to sort that all out now. We wrote party songs, pretty great, a lot of fun to play. I’m really excited about it.”

Listen to the full-interview here.

The Menzingers’ latest release, Chamberlain Waits, came out last year in on Red Scare.

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While on tour with their buddies Underoath and Thursday, A Skylit Drive has posted their first video update. The video features some interesting ways the guys pass the time while on the road, as well as a new track “Too Little Too Late.” You can check out the video here.

The band’s upcoming album, “Identity On Fire,” will drop February 15th via Fearless Records.

Margate has released a video for their cover of the Lagwagon classic “Razor burn” in their latest installment of their “Live From Room 57″ series. Check it out here.

Each Friday for 30 weeks the band will post a new video that features a live performance by the band with “no overdubs, auto-tune or studio trickery” involved. That’s right, just live, raw and awesome punk-rock.

Margate’s last album “On The Other Side” came out in August of 2009, and you can download it–as well as the audio for all of the Room 57 Sessions–on their site for the punk rock price of “Pay what you want”. NICE!

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This spring, NorCal screamo group Dance Gavin Dance is embarking on the Downhill Battle Mountain Tour, in support of their upcoming release Downhill Battle Mountain II. They will be supported by Iwrestledabearonce, In Fear and Faith, a couple others as they traverse the States. Check out the dates here to see if you are nearby to see this show.

Downhill Battle Mountain II will hit stores March 8th on Rise Records.

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Okay, I personally told you guys that I’d give you more info on Los Angeles’ Touche Amore going in to the studio to record their first Deathwish Inc. release.

Well, here you go.

Touche Amore is releasing a followup their 2009 debut release called …To The Beat Of A Dead Horse. Now they are headed to Kansas to record with Ed Rose (The Get Up Kids, Small Brown Bike) at his Black Lodge Recording Studio. This new album will be called Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me. Frontman Jeremy Bolm has this to say about the recording:

“We are very excited to get to work with Ed Rose, he has an unmatched ability to drive out some of the cleanest but heaviest sounding records. He was first on our list of people to work with and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity.”

Parting The Sea… is set to be released “later in the year”.