Felony Records has added two awesome bands to their roster.  The first is Las Vegas, melodic punk act, Battle Born.  Their first CD, Stick To Your Guns, is an 8 song EP produced by Paul Miner of Death By Stereo and it will be available via Itunes & interpunk soon but you can check out a couple tracks on the band’s MySpace page.  Battle Born is also writing a new album and looks to record it in early 2010.

The second Felony signing is Strike Twelve, a melodic punk outfit from Southern California.  Strike Twelve  recorded their first full length with Sushi Fish recordings and the 16 track album ranges from funny Pop to straight out Punk.  If you like NOFX, Lagwagon or Blink then you’ll dig this band – give them a listen here.  The artwork is finished and the album should be released next month.

We all remember Will Ferrell’s hysterical performance on SNL playing the cowbell with Blue Oyster Cult as Christopher Walken quotes “I got a fever… and the only prescription… is more cowbell”. Well, we got some more cowbell for you! Watch this awesome video of Green Day performing East Jesus Nowhere on SNL- I dare you not to laugh.

East Jesus Nowhere is featured on the bands last album 21st Century Breakdown which was released May 15th on Reprise Records. [Read more…]

Sparks The Rescue has released their new music video for We Love Like Vampires and you can check it out now by visiting the band’s MySpace blog. The song is featured on the band’s last release Eyes To The Sun which was dropped last May on Fearless Records.

STR has 3 days left on their tour with Hit The Lights so be sure to check their Dying Scene Shows page to see if they’ll be stopping by your hood.

To all you serious environmentalists out there who also enjoy listening to the Canadian punk band Propagandhi, I’ve got a video here that’ll make you…..you know. The Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada have put an intense strain on our environment, and in a field the size of New York state with 173 billion barrels of proven oil, it’s getting worse and worse by the day. Propagandhi would like to say to you, STOP THE TAR SANDS and take a look at this video to further educate yourself on the situation at hand. [Read more…]

Jeff Kummer, the kid with the funniest last name I’ve ever heard, is coming out with a new album entitled Your Best Alternative. The release date is December 22nd, through iTunes. To check out the track listing click here, and to listen to some of the new albums tunes, visit his MySpace page… Jeff Kummer, that just kills me.

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Someone went crazy with the label-maker in this new music video for The Almost‘s Lonely Wheel. You can check out Aaron Gillespie [who also plays drums for Underoath] in full effect, meaning not always behind a drum kit, by clicking here.

Lonely Wheel comes off the bands new album Monster Monster which was released November 3rd on Tooth & Nail Records.

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Danger Death Ray has announced that the recording and mixing of their new EP Stop And Smell The Moses is complete- all they have left to do is the mastering. The album will come with a digital-booklet that has all the lyrics to the songs as well as some fun artwork. The official release date has not been announced yet, but the entire album will be available for download within a week. To get a taste of what this band sound like, check out their MySpace page.

Check out Life On Repeat‘s cover of Miley Cyrus’ Party In The U.S.A on the bands MySpace page. While I think they did a great job with this cover, I have to giggle to myself when I hear lead singer Pat singing “nodding my head like yeah, moving my hips like yeah” and “who’s that chick that rockin kicks, shes gotta be from out of town”.

Life On Repeat’s new album As I Grew will be released December 1st on Equal Vision Records.

Lead guitarist Jayson Nugent of NYC ska outfit The Slackers,  has gotten together with James Blanck to create their very own side project, Wolf & Leopard. Nugent quotes:

It’s anti-Ska… It’s experimental Dub… It’s noise with a beat…

You can check out the one track up on their MySpace page to get a feel for this new two-man-band, then you can check out a blog written by Jayson to find out how Wolf & Leopard came to be.

If there’s any indication that Punk Rock is not a dying scene, nowhere is it more evident than in the tunes of 7 year old punk rocker, Nicolas Merritt.

Born in San Diego, California, Nicolas exhibited his first punk rock inclinations when he began playing the drums at 18 months old.  Sitting on the lap of the drummer in his dad’s own punk band 16 Hour Drive, Nicolas would keep time on the high hat and snare, and by the time he was 8 months old he received his very own, junior kit.  At six he had upgraded to an Orange County Percussion kit and had already begun coming up with lyrics and melodies for songs of his own.

It wasn’t long afterward that while 16 Hour Drive were in San Diego mixing/mastering their “Anti-Social” album Nicolas came up with his first song, Rockstar In My Head.  It was then that the 16 Hour Drive album producer, who had known Nicolas since he was born, told father and son that they should start working on some songs with Nicolas laying down the drums and vocals.

Fast forward a few months and Nicolas already has 10 songs completed for his very first full-length album.  Nicolas plays all the drums to a click track and does all the vocals, as well as his own background vocals.  Says Nicolas’ dad, Chad Merritt, “I do the guitars and bass for him but he tells me what he wants and how he wants the chord progressions.  The next step is to start teaching him guitar and bass!”  Videos of Nicolas laying down vocals and jamming on the drums can be found here.

The coming album, titled Punk Rock Elementary, should be finished by the end of this year or the first part of Jan 2010 but you can preview a couple of the tracks right now on Nicolas’ MySpace page.

Our hat goes off to both Nicolas and his father, Chad, for keeping the scene alive and we look forward to hearing more in the future!

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