Gabby, the lead singer of Manic Hispanic is undergoing open heart surgery on November 28th.  Please send your prayers and good thoughts his way.

The Darlings have posted a music video for their song Where Do We Go, which appears on their self-titled EP released in December of 2008.  You can check it out right here.

The band is currently in the studio recording their debut full-length.

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Street Dogs are playing a grip of “Wreck The Halls” shows in December over New Year’s.  This press release makes it sound amazingly fun:

Boston punk stalwarts Street Dogs are set to roar into the holiday season with a joyful slew of mayhem inducing, beer toasting “Wreck the Halls” shows guaranteed to warm the hearts of young and old punks alike alongside Roger Miret & The Disasters and Stigma. Fronted by original Dropkick Murphy singer, war veteran and Boston firefighter turned pub rock legend, Mike McColgan, Street Dogs will be playing a traditional set of energetic Irish American chestnuts perfect for rousing holiday sing alongs and celebratory circle pits. What better way to welcome in the New Year than with a set of freshly ringing eardrums care of Street Dogs raucous socially charged punk anthems? The band will be joined on selected date by notorious guitar wielding heathen Reverend Horton Heat.

Street Dogs will be teaming up with Marines representing the Toys For Tots Organization to collect new, unwrapped toys for children in need on every date of the Wreck the Halls tour.

Click here for the dates.

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According to a blog post from lead singer, Deryck Whibley, Sum 41 will officially begin pre-production on their new album next week.  Here it is from Deryck:

today our producer gil norton flies into LA. him and i are going to spend the next week talking and going over all the songs. next week the whole band is getting together and we officially start full pre production. can’t wait to start recording. we’ve rented a house in the hollywood hills that we’re all going to live in and record in. i’m sure there will be some interesting stories!

Sum 41 released their last album, Underclass Hero, in 2007 on Island Records.

Well, looks like Christmas has come a little early for MxPx fans. The band just announced that they will in fact be releasing a holiday album appropriately titled Punk Rawk Christmas.

The band has released one (sometimes two) Christmas songs every year for the past 10  years to their fan club members around the holidays. Finally, all these tracks will be available on one album.

The band will premiere the first single off of the album on November 27 via their MySpace page ,just a few days before the drop of the album on December 1.

My Chemical Romance, Alexisonfire and Rise Against just three of almost 50 artists that have donated items for an online auction to help raise money for Deftones bassist, Chi Ling Cheng. For those of you who don’t know Chi was in a horrendous car accident last year that left him in a semi-conscious state. His family has set up a trust fund to help cover the rising medical costs required for his survival and recovery.

A lot of the bands and artists have been creative in the things they have offered up for auction. You can bid on a day in the studio with Blink 182 bassist, Mark Hoppus where he will produce a track for the winner, framed and autographed rare artwork from Alexisonfire’s album Old Crows /Young Cardinals, 2 tickets to the Kroq Almost Acoustic Christmas show to see Rise Against with meet and greet or bid on a signed ESP guitar from My Chemical Romance.

To donate or bid on items to support Chi Ling Cheng, visit the auction home page here

**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.

Chuck Ragan, originally of Hot Water Music, has been a recognizable name in the punk scene for years.  Recently, he has been releasing solo records with many friends including Jon Gaunt, George Rebelo, Austin Lucas, and Digger Barns to name a few.  A bit of a departure from the sound of Hot Water Music, in his solo career Chuck has gotten back to his roots, playing “good ole folk music” more suited for swinging on front porch swings than swinging fists at somebody in a mosh pit.

Like very few can, Chuck Ragan makes great straight up blue collar music, and just listening to his most recent release, Gold Country, is guaranteed to put calluses on your hands.  The album starts off nicely with an up beat track titled For Goodness Sake; the lyrics making for a great guide to life.  His emotions really start to come out, however, on the album’s third track Rotterdam, a wistful song about his memories and the tracks ahead of him.  Glory, Done and Done and The Trench sound like the Chuck everyone knows and loves.  Good anthems to sing along to, spilling your beer all over the guy next to you as you raise it high.  As he slows it back down a bit with Don’t Say a Word you can feel that emotion start to come back out. This song gives more of a darker side to the album.  Its somber tone and self reflective lyrics really make this song a stand out track on the album.

As the album plays on with 10 West you can hear the raspy mountain man preach his convictions about hard work, family, friends, being on the road and relationships made along the way.  It was on the intro to Ole Diesel when the cello caught me ear and I’ve come to think of this song as the heart of the album. It really gives it a warm feeling, a feeling that no matter where you are in life “Ole Diesel” will get you on back to where you belong.  With Cut ‘Em Down Chuck reveals more of his views on life and how to live it.  The words “to hell with political champagne charades, I’d rather dig a hole in the earth…” show where he stands. One of my favorite styles of Chuck can be seen on Let It Rain. He does a great job of getting everyone involved on this one; Digger on the stand up, Jon Gaunt on the fiddle, and Chuck belting out what means most to him. Then he takes us on the road with him out of Birmingham, Alabama with Good Enough for Rock n’ Roll.  This song makes you feel like you’re in the tour bus with the boys, helping out on gang vocals and clapping along the whole way to the next stop.  The next stop brings us to the last song on the record. Get Em All Home is a heart felt song about the people who have fought and are still fighting today overseas.  This song is sung in perspective of a soldier not only of war but of life itself.   We are all fighting our own wars one way or another, whether overseas or in our own struggles with daily life.

Compared to Chuck Ragan’s earlier works this album, in my opinion, does the best at showing the listener more of who Chuck really is as a musician and as a person.  With the help of his good friends, Chuck creates a sound that deserves to be heard no matter what genre of “punk” you’re into.  The man speaks true and has proven repeatedly that he should be listened to; and remember “There ain’t no good byes on the road, unless you aim to be dead and gone.”  Keep trucking Chuck and so will we.

For the past year, hardcore band Take It Back! have been having problems with maintaining a full-time bass player. They have had a handful of fill-in players and are now pleased to announce that the search is over. The new bassist, Devin, played with Take It Back on their most recent tour and is now going to be a permanent member of the band.

Take It Back head back out on tour in the next couple weeks; be sure to check the band’s Dying Scene Shows page for details.

Taking Back Sunday has just posted a new video from their fun this summer at the Virgin Mobile Free Fest. The video is part of a one-hour ‘rokumentary’ that was filmed by 14 college students during the day-long festival. The complete video aired on the Independent Film Channel earlier this month. In this clip, travel with members of Taking Back Sunday as they explore the fairgrounds of the festival, discuss pre-show rituals, and finally watch them live! Check the video out here.

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If you’re still all teary-eyed from the announcement that Fall Out Boy is “shelved indefinitely”, then cheer up, I have good news! Altpress.com has just reported that a new super-group has formed, entitled The Damned Things. Members include Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman (guitar) and Andy Hurley (drums), Every Time I Die‘s Keith Buckley (singer), as well as Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano (guitars) and David Karon (bass). The band has a definite metal edge, and has stated that they plan on heading to the recording studio before the end of the year. Keep checking back on Dying Scene and the band’s  MySpace page for updates.