Swedish punk act, Splitside, has posted the new track, To: Jimmie, from their upcoming album, This Sinking Ship (listen here).

This Sinking Ship is scheduled for a 12 May 2010 release.  Every day until the album’s launch, the band will be releasing a new track to their MySpace (presumably in order since To: Jimmie is the disc’s opening song).  The tracklist to This Sinking Ship can be seen here (artwork is the thumbnail for this article).

This Sinking Ship is the follow-up to the band’s 2007 release, Our Days Are Numbered, both of which released on Knuckle Ride Records.

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The first official video from Tucscon, AZ’s, The Bled’s, Heat Fetish, has made its way onto the Interwebs.  Smoke Breaks is a tune about mindlessly plugging away at work all for naught.

Watch the video and read the lyrics for Smoke Breaks here.

Heat Fetish is The Bled’s fourth studio album and is their first Rise Records release.

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Orange County punkers The Vandals are facing more legal troubles over the use of the logo for Hollywood’s entertainment trade magazine, Variety.  This time around, though, the band claims to not hold culpability for the use of the magazine’s trademark.

The band’s latest release (2004’s Hollywood Potato Chip) featured artwork that resembled a little too closely Variety‘s logo, resulting in a cease and desist order being  issued against the band.  The band complied and all materials rendering the logo were removed from retail shelves and subsequent pressings of Hollywood Potato Chip contained different artwork (which can be seen at the top of this article).

Since then, apparently, the original cover art has been cropping up around the Internet (specifically, Kung-Fu, etc., related websites) much to Variety‘s chagrin, thus sparking yet another lawsuit.  This time, the complaint from the magazine was that the band had committed a breach of settlement.  As previously stated, The Vandals state that the matter is out of their hands; the logo does not appear on any of their affiliated websites and is not in their control, yet, according to the statement released by The Vandals, Variety refuses to inform the band as to where the offending art can be found.  For their supposed sins, Variety is suing The Vandals for an exorbitant amount of cheddar in addition to a demand of $25,000  for damages.

On top of the cockamamy accusations, Variety has hired attorneys in Delaware where neither of the parties involved do any kind of business nor do they dwell.  This, surely, a move to force The Vandals to settle so as to avoid frequent and costly travel expenses.

The band is left confounded and has requested the aid of their fans and supporters to help them resolve this issue.  Joe Escalante (the band’s only remaining original member, a label owner, radio host, director, and amateur lawyer) asks for whoever comes across The Vandals’ Variety logo (check it out here… I’d have posted the original cover, but that may prove counter-productive (hint: Wikipedia)) on a site that The Vandals control to contact him at joe@vandals.com with the whereabouts.  Joe also promises that one’s efforts will not go unrewarded.  To those who contribute to their cause, he is offering two tickets to an upcoming benefit show to help fund their legal fight against the Variety.

Also: Joe is also asking for assistance in seeking a Delaware attorney to aid them in getting the trial moved to California (I, actually, really don’t know why he’s complaining… isn’t Delaware’s state motto “The Resort State”?).  Again, any information should be directed to joe@vandals.com.

Hooray for capitalism vs. the First Amendment.

PS – According to Wikipedia (and UrbanDictionary.com), a “Hollywood potato chip” is a vulgar industry term for a dried spot of semen which lies upon a casting couch.

Philadelphia’s Dirty Tactics have leaked another track off their upcoming album exclusively here on Dying Scene.  The song is titled Baltimore and it will appear on the band’s upcoming album It Is What It Is, which is slated for release May 25th on Say-10 Records.

Recently featured in Alternative Press’s “100 Bands You Need To Know For 2010” issue, now would be a great time to get yourself familiar with the band.  Dirty Tactics will be touring the US (May) and Europe (June and July) in support of the album so check out their Dying Scene Shows page for dates and locations.

Interesting note: The song is about Gary from Dirty Tactics trying to balance a gig as a lab rat for pharmaceutical company with the demands of a touring band and a lonely ex girlfriend.  I think, anyway… read his own explanation here.

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**The Album Reviews published on Dying Scene are written and submitted by regular users of the site. These users are not professional music critics nor are they paid for what they write.  If you disagree with an album’s rating, feel free to voice your opinion and give it your own rating in the comments. If you’d like to submit your own review do it here.

The first time I had a chance to listen to Low Value I was amazed by the band’s song structure, including Matej’s vocals. These guys were my first taste of the ever so dominant European technical punk rock scene.  The Slovenian punk scene is not the biggest by any means but in the last couple years it has seen a lot of killer releases from bands such as Golliwog, Leaf-Fat, In-Sane, and of course Low Value’s “The Language Of Stolen Music”.

The production of this album has a raw feel so don’t expect that polished Fat Wreck sound. To be honest, I really have come to appreciate the D.I.Y. feel instead. Intros, intros, intros…these guys seem to come up with the best! That’s one of the first elements I found very gratifying. “Feces” or “Digging” are great examples. It’s pure progressiveness at its best so you just have to enjoy the ride. Matej, as indicated before, has a clean/ straight up punk rock voice. You won’t see any screamo or shouting from his part. Obviously there is that European accent but you still get that Californian skate punk feel with Swedish tendencies. (Speaking of Sweden, the music can be compared to the Swedish scene of the 90’s with L.V.’s all around influences. I like to think of Bowser especially and Venerea.) Lyrically, Matej talks about personal life issues and one thing is for sure, Low Value are not a political band. As you’ll see with some songs, some topics can get personal (“Found My Way”).

All the songs of this release bring out something special so I’ll take a look at a couple. First, the single of the album, properly entitled “Low Value” is a really upbeat song all through, much different then the others of the album. Live it must be amazing! You can see a video of this song on the band’s myspace so make sure to check that out. “Take Control”, again bringing a kick ass intro, has pure speed and tempo changes with many little guitar tricks. The production adds more elements on the guitars as well, and all throughout the album you hear these wicked guitar elements. “Found My Way” not only brings speed but also has a reggae element further in the song. Splendid! Low Value’s release even comes with a Slovenian sung track (Tragicno Mrtvi ) which brings a more personal aspect to home. In the end this band/release holds a special place for me. I’d like to give Low Value a big thumbs up for this release.

Oh, man… this song is the topic of lamentation amongst tens of thousands of SoCal residents.

Bro Truck, the latest from Voodoo Glow Skulls, is an homage to all of the dudes (and, on the rare, horrendous occasion, girls) who are, typically, from the Inland Empire and who drive the canonical, excessively-raised trucks adorned with the “nutsack hitch” and “Maltese cross” as they are on their “way to Glamis to drink some beer and act a fool.”  Have a listen and a laugh at the Skulls’ MySpace.

Last week, Voodoo Glow Skulls released another track (Knucklehead) from the yet-untitled upcoming album, release date pending.  They released their last album, Southern California Street Music on Victory Records in 2007.

In a dramatic and intense video exclusive premiering on NoiseCreep.com, Georgia metal band Norma Jean has released the album artwork for their upcoming album Meridional. Any band can post a picture of their album artwork, but Norma Jean wanted to tell a story. Check out the video revealing the artwork here.

Meridional is set to be released June 13th on label Razor & Tie Records, and will be Norma Jean’s fifth studio album, following their 2008 album Anti Mother.

The band will be co-headlining tours with Every Time I Die in May before embarking on this summer’s Mayhem Festival. Check their Dying Scene Shows page to find out when you can catch them in your town.

While out on tour promoting their new album, Kill Surf City, released March 16 on Solidarity Recordings, Dying Scene was able to chat with “horn-tinged rock ‘n’ rollers” The Atom Age before their performance in San Jose last Friday. In the interview, vocalist/guitarist Ryan Kwon Doe discusses the meaning behind the album artwork, what it was like to play drums with The Queers, and how amazing the band’s new release is, and more. The Atom Age has a lot of plans coming up in the future, so be sure to keep checking back for updates as they come. Learn yourself something about one of Northern California’s up-and-comers and check out the entire interview here.

While you’re at it, head over to the band’s MySpace page and give their new album a listen here.

The Atom Age has several shows lined up in the next month; visit their Dying Scene Shows page here to find dates and locations.

Thanks again for doing the interview guys!

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New Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem have released a studio video for their American Slang album. You can watch the video here.

In the video, frontman Brian Fallon talks about their upcoming album, describes the influence that The Clash had on the band, and how the new album is different from their 2008 release The ’59 Sound.

American Slang is scheduled to be released on June 15th on Side One Dummy Record . The band announced yesterday that they’re going on tour this summer so make sure to their Dying Scene shows page to see when they’ll be in your town

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In a recent post we told you that Canadian punk legends D.O.A. were streaming a new song off their MySpace page titled I Live In A Car. Well, today you can check out the music video for the song right here.

I Live In A Car will appear on the band’s upcoming studio album entitled Talk – Action = 0 due out May 1st on Sudden Death Records.

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