So Cal skate punks, We Found A Map are headed back …To the Haunted Arcade with the release of their newest lyric video for the single “Animality”. Stream “Animality” below. Enjoy! [Read more…]

Well, how about that! The guys took a break from their “busy” lives and graced us with a new episode of Dying Scene Radio! Guess they couldn’t be bothered to find an awesome band to interview but they’re back nonetheless. Not only are they back, they brought a ton of music from new and emerging artists that you were probably too lazy to discover with ’em! But, but, but, wait it gets better (or worse depending on how you look at it) they’re also covering some of the most noteworthy scene news from the last few weeks so you don’t have to scour the internets. ‘Tis a dark and dangerous place, that internet. All of that and more in Episode 14 of Dying Scene Radio! Check it out, below!

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Evolving from the seminal Bear vs Shark and Wildcatting, Bars Of Gold have been quietly building up a following since their debut “Of Gold” was released in 2010, and they follow up their excellent 2013 LP “Wheels” with “Shelters”; the first album they’ve issued exclusively through Equal Vision (despite reissuing their back catalogue through the label recently).

Here, the band perfect the light work they’ve made in the past of throwing genres in a blender, crafting an urgent, accomplished sound across a nine track album that rarely hands over a track that clocks in at less than four minutes. Despite taking heavy influence from jazz and post rock, “Shelter” is a punk album at heart, with versatile, accomplished instrumentation cycloning around the fits and starts of sonic anxiety from Marc Paffi’s elastic vocal.

Bars Of Gold are yet to etch out the same cult status of the members’ former outfits, but here they proves they deserve all of the same plaudits. From the frantics of “Madonna” and “$20”, to the delicacies of “Montana” and “G”, the band have created a varied, complex collection of meandering twists and sharp turns, surpassing and building on everything they’ve put together to date.

“Shelter” is an album that’s been well worth waiting six years for. It’s a pleasure to listen to and a marvel to explore at greater depth, and there’s should be little doubt that it’ll introduce Bars Of Gold and their back catalogue to a sea of new listeners. For those that enjoy their music off-the-wall, raw and passionate; this is for you.

4/5 Stars

The latest guest on The Wasting Time Podcast is Chris Messer, singer of Chicago pop punk band Showoff and owner of Dodgeball Records. He goes into detail about Showoff’s early days and how they became the first band to record with mega producer John Feldmann. He tells the story of their sophomore effort recorded with Mark Trombino and the crazy reasons it never saw the light of day. Chris also candidly tells about the disgraceful behaviour of a certain band (Everclear) that were huge in the 90s. He talks about his years in other bands including The Get Go, and why he wasn’t keen on joining Fall Out Boy when he had the chance.

This can be found on all the usual podcast platforms or their website.

Pop punk legends New Found Glory have shared a third video from their upcoming ‘From The Screen To Your Stereo Part 3’ out May 3 via Hopeless Records. This time Survivor’s ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ gets the New Found Glory makeover. They clearly had a lot of fun making this cover EP and the videos. All three released so far have been a fun listen (although this one is probably the least interesting).

Check out the video for ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ along with the EP track listing below.

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For anyone heading to Slam Dunk Festival in the UK at the end of May, the stage times have been announced. There’ll be some tough decisions to make as this is one of the most impressive lineups the festival has had in it’s relatively short history. Slam Dunk Festival will take place in Leeds, UK on May 25 and Hatfield (near London) UK on May 26.

Here are clash finders in regards to stage times for Leeds and Hatfield.

Brooklyn Vegan is premiering a new song ‘Real Name’ from the debut album from Big Nothing. The band is made up of Spraynard singer/guitarist Pat Graham, Liz Parsons of Casual, Matt Quinn of Crybaby and Chris Jordan from Young Livers. They released their self-titled debut EP via Asian Man Records in 2017, and are now about to release their first full-length album ‘Chris’ which is out May 10 on Salinas Records.

If you were familiar with their more punk sounding EP, you will notice that this is in a slightly different direction. Check out the ‘Real Name’ below.

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Memphis Tennessee based punk duo HEELS has signed to Altercation Records.

HEELS is the combined effort of Joshua McLane and Brennan Whalen. A two-piece band from Memphis, TN. They started as a stripped down acoustic outfit in 2015. Over the course of the last few years they have evolved into a fast paced electric punk outfit with a more heavy and melodic sound. Equal parts ragers and conversationalists, HEELS writes pop songs for a dying planet.”

Altercation Records co-owner Travis Myers had this to say about the signing;

“My partner in Altercation Records, funny man JT Habersaat discovered HEELS while on tour and wouldn’t stop talking about them. Then one day I received a demo for “Good People Even Do Bad Things” and after one listen I was sold as well, and I knew we had to sign them.”

“Good People Even Do Bad Things”, will be released this summer and will be a ten song monument to better days. With gritty undertones throughout, each song weaves through punk, Americana, and rock n’ roll. Each will tell a different story and each song will make the author look worse than the last.

The second “Get Out Of Our Way” kicks in, you get a feeling that The Old Firm Casuals aren’t fucking about on “Holger Dankse”. There’s no holding back from bassist Casey Watson as he leads the beginning of the album with a menacing snarl, delivering a statement of intent and a spit in the face to those that would write the band off as a mere side gig.

Once the middle finger to the world is over, The Old Firm Casuals enter into more familiar territory with Lars Frederiksen’s trademark wail on “Motherland”, an ambitious, anthemic street punk track firmly rooted in the big chorus approach he’s become known for over the years.

From here, “Pendulum” begs you to throw your weight around in a pit, and the anti-fascist tones of the record reach their first climax here before “De Ensomme Ulve” segues into the title track. “Holger Danske” tells the tale of the album’s eponymous Dane, in what feels like the original album opener enduring on the tracklisting despite more visceral content entering the fray as the writing went on – for all its intent and swagger.

Next up, “Casual Rock-N-Roll”, creates an effortless marriage of AC/DC and Lars’ “…Wolves” era that throws up visions of Mashall cabs and mohawks, letting the band cut loose and have fun before “Traitor” brings The Old Firm Casuals right back to the line of punk and hardcore that they’ve walked so well in the past.

The album’s such a patchwork of genres at this point that it’s almost disorientating, but that’s meant entirely in a complimentary way: it’s a “best bit” of sorts from each genre that the band touch on, living as both a throwback and a breath of fresh air, so much so that the uplifting “The Golden Fall Pt. 1” giving way to Casey Watson’s growl on Sick Of It All-esque throwdown “Thunderbolt” doesn’t even feel jarring.

“Overdose On Sin” kicks in with a solid bass solo and bulldozes through a snotty, two minute hardcore before the woahs return for “Nation On Fire” (which could easily have been a lead track on the record) and the record yields with a five minute epic in “Zombies”.

“Holger Danske” is a landmark record for The Old Firm Casuals. It’s an album by a group of experienced and confident musicians making music on their own terms, with little regard to what other people expect them to sound like. There’s no hammering the songs into a fixed genre, no restrictions on the ideas, and it’s a thrilling listen because of it – especially if you’re a fan of the collective work of its members.

The Old Firm Casuals have delivered a well balanced full length that has depth, quality, passion and piles of energy in “Holger Danske”, and it’s absolutely one of the best punk records of 2019 so far.

4/5 Stars

Ten Foot Pole have announced that they will be releasing their new album, Escalating Quickly, on May 10th via Thousand Islands Records.

The band has also announced some tour dates to promote the new album.  You can check out all of those dates and locations below.

This will be the first time the veteran punks have put out new music since Setlist in 2017, which was released via Cyber Tracks and featured two new songs. The last full studio album was Subliminable Messages back in 2004. [Read more…]