Florida melodic punks Kid You Not are allowing fans to stream their latest release for free. The EP, entitled 2017 Demos, features two new tracks of melody-laden, anthemic punk rock. You can give it a listen below or head over to the group’s bandcamp page to buy a copy. 2017 Demos is the latest new […]
Florida melodic punks Kid You Not are allowing fans to stream their latest release for free. The EP, entitled 2017 Demos, features two new tracks of melody-laden, anthemic punk rock. You can give it a listen below or head over to the group’s bandcamp page to buy a copy.
2017 Demos is the latest new music to come from Kid You Not since the 2016 EP Nothing Was Beautiful And Everything Hurt.
Philadelphia folk punk outfit Cottontail are allowing fans to stream their first single off forthcoming album Secret Hiding Place. You can listen to “Steal Everything You Can” below while you wait for the album’s full release on April 28, 2017. The band are also accepting pre-orders for the record now over at their bandcamp page.
Philadelphia folk punk outfit Cottontail are allowing fans to stream their first single off forthcoming album Secret Hiding Place. You can listen to “Steal Everything You Can” below while you wait for the album’s full release on April 28, 2017. The band are also accepting pre-orders for the record now over at their bandcamp page.
Slovenian skate punkers Start At Zero have announced that they will be taking their rapid, riff-heavy sound to Japan next month. Playing shows in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shiga, and Kyoto, it will be the first time the band have ever played shows outside of their usual European stomping ground. If you’d like to look at the full […]
Slovenian skate punkers Start At Zero have announced that they will be taking their rapid, riff-heavy sound to Japan next month. Playing shows in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shiga, and Kyoto, it will be the first time the band have ever played shows outside of their usual European stomping ground.
If you’d like to look at the full list of dates, check out the tour poster below.
A couple Fridays ago (March 10th, to be precise) Greg Graffin released a stellar new album, Millport (ANTI- Records). It marks the first time in more than a decade that the Bad Religion frontman has pressed the “pause” button on his punk rock day job in favor of a more traditional, folksy Americana vibe. Millport features […]
A couple Fridays ago (March 10th, to be precise) Greg Graffin released a stellar new album, Millport (ANTI- Records). It marks the first time in more than a decade that the Bad Religion frontman has pressed the “pause” button on his punk rock day job in favor of a more traditional, folksy Americana vibe. Millport features not only a core lineup that should seem very familiar to fans of both punk and Americana: Social Distortion‘s Jonny “Two Bags” Wickersham, Brent Harding, and David Hidalgo Jr., but it also includes production credit from Brett Gurewitz, long the musical yin to Graffin’s yang.
While Graffin and his Millport session colleagues rank as some of the most legendary names in punk rock, a project like this allowed them to let go of the traditional constraints of trying to hone a singular sound. “The great thing about this project is that you’re hearing unconstrained love of the songs, and unconstrained love of creating something that we felt was a blend of many genres and therefore something that’s truly creative,” says Graffin, though he quickly points out that none of that is to say that crafting a new Bad Religion album is formulaic; it’s just a different standard. “It’s one of the great challenges as artist is to maintain the tradition of his or her prior work. That’s hard to do. It normally takes (Bad Religion) two years to put out an album. Why has it taken us four year to release an album after True North? Well, True North was such a great album — and we owe it to our fans to take it seriously as a great album — that to do another one is going to take a lot more work.”
Graffin and company holed up at California’s Studio 606 and Big Bad Sound for ten days of creating and recording last April, in what he says was basically akin to “hitting record and having a party.” The result is an album that’s the strongest and most cohesive of his solo career, with sounds that range from folk to bluegrass to 70’s rockers that would make Neil Young and Crazy Horse proud. Perhaps the album’s most upbeat singalong is “Time Of Need,” with it’s “Hey Man!” chorus that draws heavily on traditional Gospel hymnals, a bit of a curious decision for someone who’s spent close to four decades fronting a band called Bad Religion. He explains: “One of the greatest things about religion — if it can be said from a guy in Bad Religion — there’s something good about it and it has nothing to do with theology or the philosophy of it, but it has a lot to do with the music. The music is what is handed down through the generations, and punk rock is a kind of roots music now.”
Instead of focusing on the lure of paradise and an eternal afterlife, “Time Of Need” places the responsibility for making things better squarely on the shoulders of the listener, and of humanity. “In the old days,” says Graffin, “the Gospels would sing about how hard times were and how God is going to deliver us. What I’m trying to say is that God’s not going to deliver us. We have to be responsible ourselves for this changing environment and changing surroundings. No religion can help this time of need.”
We caught up with Graffin over the phone during a recent late winter blizzard that blanketed much of the Northeast with some of the biggest snow totals of the season. As you might imagine, we talked quite a bit about Graffin and Gurewitz’s long history as collaborators, and just how the solo, Americana projects inspire the two punk rock icons in ways we might not have expected. We also touched on just what the Social D trio brought to the project, and how Graffin hopes to balance solo and Bad Religion material going forward while raising the bar in both areas.
Head below to read our full Q&A!
As my username may suggest, the Bouncing Souls are my all-time favorite band. Seeing them live is always an amazing experience, but having the opportunity to shoot the show was a dream come true. After nearly 30 years in the punk scene, the Souls’ set it still infused with energy as if it is the […]
As my username may suggest, the Bouncing Souls are my all-time favorite band. Seeing them live is always an amazing experience, but having the opportunity to shoot the show was a dream come true. After nearly 30 years in the punk scene, the Souls’ set it still infused with energy as if it is the first time they are gracing the stage. With 10 full length albums, there is no shortage of songs to comprise the setlist (anyone else lucky enough to catch the “For All The Unheard” shows back in 2011? The LA ones still rank as some of the best shows I have ever seen!).
The Bouncing Souls’ catalogue includes many anthemic sing-alongs for their hour+ long set, and this night at The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA was no exception. New songs were peppered in with all the old favorites, including “Anchors Aweigh,” “Kate Is Great,” “Ghosts on the Boardwalk,” “The Gold Song,” “Sing Along Forever,” “That Song,” “Writing On The Wall,” “Manthem,” and (of course) “Hopeless Romantic.”
I wish I could have seen the opening bands, but unfortunately, the LA to Orange County traffic on a Thursday prevented me from seeing Get Dead (and I walked in at the end of AJJ‘s set). The Souls alone were worth the hours in traffic and I can’t wait until Punk Rock Bowling in Vegas to see them again!
Check out the gallery from the show below.
“Limits” is the debut EP from Yorshire, England’s Traits. They may have only formed last year, but there’s some serious pedigree on show – the band formed following the hiatus of long-touring ska-punks Random Hand and during a dormant period for melodic hardcore quartet The Human Project. The five tracks on offer here are a […]
“Limits” is the debut EP from Yorshire, England’s Traits. They may have only formed last year, but there’s some serious pedigree on show – the band formed following the hiatus of long-touring ska-punks Random Hand and during a dormant period for melodic hardcore quartet The Human Project.
The five tracks on offer here are a side-step from the output of either of those two bands – seemingly straight up pop punk, but not as easy to pigeon-hole as you would at first expect. There are So-Cal elements on parts of the EP; “Nobody Likes A Narcissist” is more early period Lagwagon than anything else. The straight up “We’re All A Dick Sometimes” may sound like a falsetto Ataris, but juxtaposed with that is an equally strong nod to 90’s UK rock – and, in particular, local muses Terrorvision.
The feeling from the EP is Traits have chosen the ‘carefully deployed simplicity’ approach. Fourth track “Fed to Me” demonstrates this best; almost sounding like the slower output from Ten Foot Pole, no lead and minimal backing vocals leave you humming the melodies underneath yourself. The result is a synoptic record that could have come out any time in the last 20 years. The difference is – records that sound like this don’t come around too often. If you like you pop sensibilities, you can’t go wrong with this. A really promising debut.
4/5
“Limits” is out digitally in the usual places now.
Aussie punk-rock legends Frenzal Rhomb have announced that they will release their new album Hi-Vis High Tea on May 26th through Fat Wreck Chords. The follow-up to 2011’s Smoko at the Pet Food Factory includes 20 tracks and was recorded once again by Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado. Pre-order it […]
Aussie punk-rock legends Frenzal Rhomb have announced that they will release their new album Hi-Vis High Tea on May 26th through Fat Wreck Chords. The follow-up to 2011’s Smoko at the Pet Food Factory includes 20 tracks and was recorded once again by Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado. Pre-order it here.
Along with the dates for an upcoming Australia tour, you can find the track listing of Hi-Vis High Tea, as well as the video for a new song called “Cunt Act”, below.
Indiana based easycore outfit Chin Up, Kid have released a lyric video for their brand new song “Expectations”, taken from their upcoming album Swing With Your Eyes Closed, which will be released on April 28th via Standby Records. The lyric video, along with upcoming U.S. tour dates, can be found below.
Indiana based easycore outfit Chin Up, Kid have released a lyric video for their brand new song “Expectations”, taken from their upcoming album Swing With Your Eyes Closed, which will be released on April 28th via Standby Records.
The lyric video, along with upcoming U.S. tour dates, can be found below.
New Jersey ska-punk maniacs The Best of the Worst have premiered a music video for their song “In My Apartment”, which you can check out below. “In My Apartment” is taken from The Best of The Worst’s upcoming record Painted Fools, which will be released on April 20th, and you can pre-order a copy of it here.
New Jersey ska-punk maniacs The Best of the Worst have premiered a music video for their song “In My Apartment”, which you can check out below.
“In My Apartment” is taken from The Best of The Worst’s upcoming record Painted Fools, which will be released on April 20th, and you can pre-order a copy of it here.
British emo/punk band KidBrother have premiered a music video for their brand new single “A Draught I Want”, which was released earlier this week. You can check out the video below.
British emo/punk band KidBrother have premiered a music video for their brand new single “A Draught I Want”, which was released earlier this week.
You can check out the video below.