sadly, Terry Hall of the specials has passed away. He was 63. The cause of death was an unspecified illness. The band issued a statement: "Terry was a wonderful husband and father and one of the kindest, funniest, and most genuine of souls. His music and his performances encapsulated the very essence of life… the joy, the pain, the humour, the fight for justice, but mostly the love. He will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him and leaves behind the gift of his remarkable music and profound humanity."

Santa Cruz-based hardcore punks Drain have released their Audiotree Live session. The band played “Feel The Pressure”, “Hyper Vigilance”, “Sick One”, “Army of One”, “Process of Weeding Out”, and “California Cursed” from their 2020 album California Cursed. Drain will be touring Australia with Comeback Kid in January and touring Europe with Madball, H20, Hometown Crew, and Hazen St in March. Check out the video below.

Milwaukee-based hardcore punks Big Laugh have announced that they will be releasing their debut LP. It is called Consume Me and will be out February 10 via Revelation Records. The band have also released a video for their first single “Mask”. The video was edited by Brian from POAC. Big Laugh will be touring the US with Gel starting next month and released their EP Manic Revision in 2020. Check out the video and tracklist below.

The Drowns have announced that a new guitar player has joined the band. This follows the departure of their previous guitarist earlier this year. Their tour manager Simon is now their new guitarist. The Drowns released their EP Lunatics earlier this year. See the announcement video in full below.

The Sidekicks have announced that they have broken up. A statement posted on their Instagram page reads, ”Folks have been asking and it’s about time that we let everyone know that we have called it a day. We are endlessly grateful for anyone who has given us a listen, attended a show or put us up for a night. We are equally grateful to all those who have helped us along the way and to those who we met through our travels and time in this group. So, this is a thank you, from us to you. We hope you had as much fun listening as we had throughout this journey. If you would like any of the remaining merch we have, there is a link in our bio. Keep an eye out on our new projects: Nothin’, Superviolet, Hunden, starboy_devoid, Mukiss and Orbits. So long, Soggy Dogs! Steve, Ryan, Sanders and Toby The Sidekicks”The Sidekicks released their album Happiness Hours in 2018.

Bad Religion and Social Distortion will be heading to Australia February 2023. Tickets to this run of date are on sale now. See below to check out the dates.

German punk festival Booze Cruise announced the first wave of their 2023 line up. The Menzingers, Ways Away, No Pressure, Makewar, Mobina Galore, Koyo, Timeshares, Primetime Failure, No Trigger, Sunami and much much more have been announce to play. Another announcement will happen in January 2023 with a second wave of bands. The event will happen on June 23rd to 25th in Hamburg, Germany. For more information on the festival and for tickets, you can click here.

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