French punks Guerilla Poubelle have released a new video for their song “Golgotha”. Guitarist and singer Till had this to say about the new video: “Here’s our new video, we used footage for the Carpenter movie ‘They Live’ (or ‘Invasion Los Angeles’ as they named it in France, don’t ask me why!), what a delight to […]
French punks Guerilla Poubelle have released a new video for their song “Golgotha”. Guitarist and singer Till had this to say about the new video: “Here’s our new video, we used footage for the Carpenter movie ‘They Live’ (or ‘Invasion Los Angeles’ as they named it in France, don’t ask me why!), what a delight to watch our hero finds out about capitalism and punching cops, destroying a bank and rampaging a TV station building.” The stirring video is about as punk as it comes and features the iconic Rowdy Roddy Piper, and I’m pretty sure you can’t argue with a Canadian who wore a kilt to the squared circle.
Along with the new video, Guerilla Poubelle has announced a tour through Europe with label-mates Arms Aloft.
You can check out the new video and tour dates below.
This is the first new material from Guerilla Poubelle since their acclaimed album La Nausée was released back in 2017. [Read more…]
Southern California punk legends TSOL have released a video for their surprising cover of Amerie’s 2005 hit “1 Thing”. Frontman Jack Grisham says, “I like go-go music and soul and anything that really moves. I first heard Amerie’s “1 Thing” in 2005, when it was released. Fucking infectious man, the way that groove keeps rolling, and […]
Southern California punk legends TSOL have released a video for their surprising cover of Amerie’s 2005 hit “1 Thing”. Frontman Jack Grisham says, “I like go-go music and soul and anything that really moves. I first heard Amerie’s “1 Thing” in 2005, when it was released. Fucking infectious man, the way that groove keeps rolling, and she’s such a great vocalist. The lyrics were your basic relationship trip but then it hit me, this isn’t just a song about some dude, these lyrics read like a song to a system or a government that’d been up to no good. When she sang, “memories keep ringing bells” I was thinking of the state of our union today, the turmoil in our society, and where we’d been before—I was musing on our involvement in the Middle East, Latin America, Vietnam. I was thinking about the dirty deeds that this nation had been up to and then she sang, “why don’t you just admit it” and I realized that no one in power, not in this country, was ever gonna admit that we were wrong.”
You can check out the rousing cover below as well as some tour dates.
The new song will be available on 12″ single. This is the first new music from TSOL since the release of Live At The Observatory last year. You can order the upcoming single here. [Read more…]
Fallen Monuments is a rawkin’ little San Diego punk quartet for fans of Descendents and Strung Out that’ll get you up and moving this happy Tuesday afternoon, or I ain’t the damn Dolly Llama. Gary, Todd, Brandon, and Aaron are four old-timer best buds that whether it be through excretions of hyperintensive melodic leads or […]
Fallen Monuments is a rawkin’ little San Diego punk quartet for fans of Descendents and Strung Out that’ll get you up and moving this happy Tuesday afternoon, or I ain’t the damn Dolly Llama. Gary, Todd, Brandon, and Aaron are four old-timer best buds that whether it be through excretions of hyperintensive melodic leads or the sweet Bill Stevinson-esque bass kick snap tone, apparently secrete punk rock down to their very core. They’ve been making music together since 2016, and released the band’s debut full-length, Distance and Time, in May of last year.
To follow up on that well-received album (available here) Fallen Monuments is releasing a new EP, Experiments, which is set for release on April 2, this year of our lord, and will be again made available on the (previously linked) band’s bandcamp page for digital streaming and purchase.
“It Doesn’t Mean a Thing” is the first single off the EP, as well as the only original, where just for funsies they’ve included a couple of covers: “Overkill” by Men at Work, and “Under the Milky Way” by The Church. Of “It Doesn’t Mean a Thing”, it’s a damn-good song, and has the sounding of playability where you can listen to it on repeat for a while, or at least until you’re bashing your head on the rails and begging for …Men at Work to come on(?) Can you hear the thunder? I for one can’t wait for the rest!
“It Doesn’t Mean a Thing” talks of growing old and falling folly. It almost takes a sarcastic air with the thematic cant of a more insightful Nelson Muntz. “It’s just so sad that it happened to you. It doesn’t mean a thing.”
I’ve listened to it like twenty times and all I hear is “Ha-Ha,” but you tell me.
Jersey rockers (and personal faves) Mercy Union have got a brand new video for your viewing pleasure. It’s for the track “Chips And Vics,” and it was shot by David Patino and Greg Pallante, the latter of whom also gets photo credit for the image you see above. You can check out the video below. […]
Jersey rockers (and personal faves) Mercy Union have got a brand new video for your viewing pleasure. It’s for the track “Chips And Vics,” and it was shot by David Patino and Greg Pallante, the latter of whom also gets photo credit for the image you see above. You can check out the video below.
“Chips And Vics” appears on the band’s debut full length, The Quarry, which was released back on October 19th via the band’s own Mt. Crushmore Records. They’re in the very early stages of a lengthy US tour in direct support of Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers; get dates here!
Red Scare might just be my favorite label, and while others have come and gone; or, alternatively rose to prominence and kept chugging under the radar, it’s easy to see why. Red Scare was the punk label that gave us the Lawrence Arms, Menzingers, Copyrights, Direct Hit!, Arms Aloft, MakeWar and many, many more. The […]
Red Scare might just be my favorite label, and while others have come and gone; or, alternatively rose to prominence and kept chugging under the radar, it’s easy to see why. Red Scare was the punk label that gave us the Lawrence Arms, Menzingers, Copyrights, Direct Hit!, Arms Aloft, MakeWar and many, many more. The way I see it, it’s all B.R.S. and A.R.S, the B.C. and A.D. of turn of the millennium punk. Before Red Scare, melodic punk meant double-time drums and skate rat intensity, the stuff you’d find on Epitaph and Fat Wreck—hardcore’s singing cousin. Red Scare gathered up bands who were picking at the other 90s punk—Jawbreaker, Hot Water Music, Radon, Avail, Crimpshrine. Punk rock has been melodic since the beginning, but it wasn’t until Red Scare that melodic punk (or beard punk, or orgcore, or whatever), became a codified part of our sonic landscape.
Which brings me to one of Red Scare’s latest offerings, a pop-punk band called Tightwire that I have seen almost zero buzz for. Which is, admittedly, really fucking weird. I mean, c’mon guys! This is Red Scare! They basically built the basement on this shit! Why isn’t everyone putting Tightwire on the proverbial chair and dancing it around the Jewish wedding like we did for Success? My theories run amok, and my data offers little. Six Feet Deep was released all the way back in October. Maybe it got lost in the Fest shuffle? Maybe October is just an awful month to release anything? My realest theory is that on first listen, listeners just weren’t that interested. A sad, bummer of a theory—but considering that was my first reaction, I think it holds the most weight.
Tightwire is a gooey, sticky peanut butter and honey sandwich of a pop-punk band that has hooks for days and a sense of humor as well. They belong to the Dillinger Four school of punk rock, in that their status as a band feels incidental at best. Throughout Six Feet Deep, there’s a very real feeling that maybe this band was never supposed to make it out of the garage, and we, the listeners, are just lucky and dumbfounded it happened at all. Because that’s the thing: Tightwire sounds like a catchy pop-punk band, the kind we’ve all heard ad nauseum—but after a couple listens, the hooks set in. I listened to the lyrics. I smiled, I sang along, and suddenly, I had favorite songs. A little while longer, and I had a favorite album. Another listen, and I needed to show it to people.
Tightwire’s lack of immediacy on first listen might be due to saturation of the genre (or a couple of well-loved juggernauts soaking up all the love). Deja vu is seldom welcome in music, and pop punk is a genre that wallows in it. Tightwire doesn’t exempt themselves from any wallowing, as I’d say Six Feet Deep is more rigidly traditional than other modern genre offerings like Direct Hit! and Hospital Job. There are chugging chords, sugary choruses, shimmering harmonies—and they’re propelled by drums, bass, and guitar. But the point is this: genre doesn’t make for good songs, songwriting does. And Tightwire has killer songwriting across the board.
“Draggin’ Me” opens the album with screeching atonal feedback, before galloping into its absurdly singable melody. “Told Ya” is probably my favorite of the tracks, a mid-album singalong targeted at the sort of ‘friend’ you can’t help but rubberneck as they go William Tecumseh Sherman on their own life. It has one of my favorite choruses of recent memory (“I don’t wanna say I fucking told you so, but I fucking told you so.”) and the lyrics imbue it with an irresistible smart-aleck energy. Listing favorite tracks from Six Feet Deep is an exercise in tedium, as there are thirteen tracks and all of them are pretty worthy of pontification, but if I allow myself one more, I’d like to shine a light on “Body Language” and it’s absolutely gorgeous melody—highlighting Tightwire’s harmonic prowess along the way.
Six Feet Deep is the best album I’ve heard no one talk about. Which is a shame, because although it doesn’t attempt to broaden the soundscape of pop-punk, it’s essentially a perfect, almost classical, execution of the genre. Tightwire are a deceptively competent group of musicians, and their debut stands to weather the storms of taste. Maybe not now, but someday, Six Feet Deep will be considered latter-day canon, rightly placed beside other contemporary classics.
Aussie thrashers Clowns are allowing fans to stream their latest audio and visual offering, “I Wanna Feel Again”. The track features on the band’s much-anticipated fourth studio album, Nature/Nurture, which is due out next month on the 12th. You can check out “I Wanna Feel Again” below. The previous collection of tunes from Clowns was the […]
Aussie thrashers Clowns are allowing fans to stream their latest audio and visual offering, “I Wanna Feel Again”. The track features on the band’s much-anticipated fourth studio album, Nature/Nurture, which is due out next month on the 12th.
UK thrash punks Pizzatramp are back with a new album. The effort, titled Grand Relapse, is due out on much-loved domestic label TNS Records on April 5. According to a press release from TNS, Grand Relapse is the finest work from the Pizzatramp three to date. Guitarist and vocalist Jim had the following to say of it: “This […]
UK thrash punks Pizzatramp are back with a new album. The effort, titled Grand Relapse, is due out on much-loved domestic label TNS Records on April 5.
According to a press release from TNS, Grand Relapse is the finest work from the Pizzatramp three to date. Guitarist and vocalist Jim had the following to say of it:
“This album tackles the cult of Scientology, the dangers of taking pills on school nights, the stupidity of white racist scum, the systematic destruction of the NHS, the mindless hell of working rubbish jobs and a load of songs about hangovers, comedowns and drinking.”
The previous release from Pizzatramp was just last month – a split record with The Domestics called Discipline.
Texas-based ska outfit Madaline have put their entire latest album online for fans to stream. The record is titled It Is What It Is and features a total of 10 horn-driven ditties – ideal for a pre-summer skank. You can check out It Is What It Is below. It’s the latest music from Madaline since their 2017 effort, The […]
Texas-based ska outfit Madaline have put their entire latest album online for fans to stream. The record is titled It Is What It Is and features a total of 10 horn-driven ditties – ideal for a pre-summer skank.
You can check out It Is What It Is below. It’s the latest music from Madaline since their 2017 effort, The Coast is Clear.
Former Rufio guitarist and vocalist Scott Sellers has released his latest solo album under his own name and will be streaming two of the tracks from the effort, which is titled Being Strange. Handling the release for Scott Sellers is Canada’s Punk and Disorderly Records. The two songs chosen to tease the album are called “Only in […]
Former Rufio guitarist and vocalist Scott Sellers has released his latest solo album under his own name and will be streaming two of the tracks from the effort, which is titled Being Strange. Handling the release for Scott Sellers is Canada’s Punk and Disorderly Records.
The two songs chosen to tease the album are called “Only in December” and “Being Strange”. You can listen to them below.
The previous release from Scott Sellers was the 2018 album, Strings.
Milwaukee-based punks Direct Hit! are streaming a music video for a tune that appeared on their 2018 album, Crown of Nothing. Nick Woods, the vocalist for Direct Hit!, had the following to say about the track chosen to release as a single: “Devon brought “Altered States” to the table early on in the process of writing Crown […]
Milwaukee-based punks Direct Hit! are streaming a music video for a tune that appeared on their 2018 album, Crown of Nothing.
Nick Woods, the vocalist for Direct Hit!, had the following to say about the track chosen to release as a single:
“Devon brought “Altered States” to the table early on in the process of writing Crown Of Nothing. Lyrically, it’s a nihilist song – it’s the point at which the characters in the album’s story find themselves on the same page, and come to a bunch of bleak conclusions about humanity and the afterlife… Even though it’s one of my favorite tracks on the record, if I listen too closely I have to listen to all the rest of the tunes that follow it to remind myself of the redemption that comes from hopelessness. We shot the video pretty quickly in a single night with our pals Adam and Derek and their crew, who’ve created a lot of our media over the last few years.”
You can check out the video for”Altered States” below.