Louisiana’s Iwrestledabearonce are working on a new album. They’ve already been tracking the drums and are working on everything else. They’re producing it themselves with the help of Ryan Boesch, who has worked with the Foo Fighters, Melvins and Andrew WK.

If you want to keep up with their recording process, IWABO started a Tumblr blog where fans can see what they’re up to and ask questions. There’s no official release date yet, but the band mentions on the blog that it should come out this summer.

They’re also heading out on tour this spring with Dance Gavin Dance, In Fear and Faith, Close to Home and Just Like Vinyl to support the as-yet-unnamed new album. Check the dates out here.

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Metal act Avenged Sevenfold has brought on ex-Confide drummer Arin Ilejay as a long-term replacement. The group fired their previous drummer Mike Portnoy at the end of 2010. Portnoy came on to fill the spot left when Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan passed away in late 2009.

The band commented on the “signing,”

“We recently asked several friends who knew Jimmy and his style, and also knew our music and each of our personalities to suggest drummers to tour with us starting this year. Our longtime studio drum tech Mike Fasano recommended Arin Ilejay. We’ve rehearsed with Arin and have been impressed with his technical skills, attitude and work ethic. We’re very excited to tour with Arin and hope all of you will give him the warm welcome to the family we have.”

Avenged Sevenfold released their latest album “Nightmare” on July 27th on Warner Bros. Records.

Craig Owens from D.R.U.G.S (formerly from Chiodos) chatted with Jay Hudson on Detroit radio station 89x last night. They talked about basketball, Tim Burton-esque album art, forming the band and writing the album.

It’s not too long of an interview, so head over to the D.R.U.G.S. site and have a listen.

The group’s debut album is coming out February 22.

Belgian punks State of Mine are streaming another new song today. It’s called “Backstabbers” and you can check it out at their MySpace page. They’ve been streaming different tracks from their debut album, Accelerate, all week.

Accelerate is coming out on January 29th via Kickass Records.

The dates have been announced for the 13th annual Punk Rock Bowling tournament. The multi-day festival of music, gambling, booze and bowling will take place in Las Vegas from May 27-30.

They haven’t announced the official venue or any bands yet, but last year they had Flogging Molly, Youth Brigade, Swingin’ Utters, NOFX, The Cobra Skulls, Teenage Bottlerocket, and Old Man Markley (among others). Check back and we’ll let you know when they announce this year’s roster.

Fat Wreck Chords was the big winner in 2010. Who knows who will take the grand prize this year?

Brooklyn-based Daytrader heads out on their Winter Tour tomorrow to spread their brand of emo/punk up and down the East Coast.  Joining them on the road are fellow Run For Cover labelmates Transit, as well as Into It Over It, Florida’s Go Rydell and Cincinnati’s Mixtapes.  The tour will make 24 stops along the eastern seaboard, including stops in Providence on January 24th, Philly on January 29th and Orlando on February 5th.  More details here.

Daytrader’s EP “Last Days of Rome” came out yesterday.

Massachusetts “hahd-coah” band Defeater debuted a snippet of a new song, “Dear Father,” from their upcoming release “Empty Days and Sleepless Nights.”  Andy from Defeater stopped by the First World Problems podcast and chatted with the fellas about myriad topics, including the new album, and played a one-minute clip of “Dear Father” in the process.  Check out the podcast .

“Empty Days and Sleepless Nights” is due out March 8th on Bridge Nine Records.

When I added We’re Not Afraid to my Top 10 of 2010 list a few weeks ago I had really only heard four of the tracks off their debut full-length “Adventures In Poverty” because the rest of the album hadn’t been released yet.  Needless to say, I was stoked when the band reached out and said they’d send me a copy.  So stoked was I, in fact, that I couldn’t keep it all to myself and figured I’d share it with the rest of you readers.

“Adventures In Poverty” doesn’t hit stores here in the US until February 8th but you can stream the whole thing right here.  Hey oh!

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Tuscaloosa’s own hardore act Gideon have debuted a new track, “Virtue,” on their MySpace page.

The song will appear on the band’s upcoming release, “Costs,” which will mark their first release on Strike First Records.  No word yet on an official release date, but the band have announced a few different pre-order options available today.  As soon as we hear about a firm date, we’ll break it for you.

The band have also been kind enough to post lyrics to the new jam.  Wanna sing along at home? Check out the lyrics here.

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For our next installment of the Dying Scene Sessions we decided to do things a little bit differently by going global, baby! We packed our shit and went all the way to the Arctic Tundra, to a strange and wonderful city by the name of Montreal, to shoot one of our favorite Canadian punk bands, The Flatliners!

The videos were shot at Underworld Skate Shop where guitarist Scott and guitarist/vocalist Chris perform acoustic versions of their classic songs “Monumental” and “Count Your Bruises.” Check them out here.

The Dying Scene Sessions feature acoustic sets from some of our favorite punk acts.  Check out our last session with Chaser here, as well as Street Dogs here, and our first ever session with Joey Briggs right here.

The video was shot by our Canadian friends at Raw Cut Media.  Go check out their Youtube for tons of live performances from the best bands in music! [Read more…]