Cincinnati pop-punkers Mixtapes just dropped a new song off their highly anticipated upcoming album. The song, called “Hey Ma Pt. 2”, can be heard on AbsolutePunk.com.
“This song was fun to make,” says singer/guitarist Ryan Rockwell. “When it was done, musically I felt like the verses had a bouncy almost Superchunk type vibe and we were really happy with how it came out. I think it fits the album well. The album as a whole is upbeat and was a blast to make.”
I for one can so I am super stoked about this song and their upcoming release. I am really excited to see this band mature in the last couple years and can not wait to see what they have to offer on their new album.
Check out another new track titled “Even On The Worst Nights” by Mixtapes on AltPress.com.
Leave it to Black Numbers to gather up some kick-ass pop-punk/post-hardcore bands and drop a sweet split release on vinyl and CD. At 8 tracks long, the 4-way split features a pair of tracks from Grey Area, The Copyrights, The Reveling, and Luther. The result is a great listen by a group of bands that have been having no difficulty getting noticed lately.
The release was dropped earlier this year, but I kind of fell of the face of Earth, so my apologies in advance. Shall we continue?
NYC’s the Grey Area started off the split with “Lucky”, a pepped up punk rock track that easily reached back to the 90s punk rock scene. This song was amazing and perfect for opening up the album. Following was “Bad Anything”, a track that reminded me of Dag Nasty in a good good way. Having not been too well versed with this band prior to listening, I know what I am going to be doing once I finish this review up.
Brooklyn’s The Reveling was another band I have not gotten into just yet, but of course after hearing their tracks on this release, I intend to change that. “Trust Me” sounded of The Menzingers at times but not in a bad way at all. The song was a little too quick for me and seemed to just drop, but all was well once “Its Time To Ride” kicked in. I must say, I was impressed with what I heard and can’t wait to hear more.
Do I really need to say anything about The Copyrights? Most of you probably know what they are all about already, but still, this is a review so I will at least tell you all that they are from Illinois and they rule. “The New Frontier” was easily the hardest sounding track in the split. Never ceasing to amaze me, they dropped “Straight To The Office” from 90s punkers Scared Of Chaka. The cover was great in my opinion and I hope more kids will check out Scared Of Chaka after hearing the cover.
Philly’s Luther put out one of my favorite EPs last year, so I may sound a little biased here, but their offerings on this split were killer. “Sixty-One” was likable the moment the signing kicked in. Seriously, this track was fun from start to finish and just more proof how talented this band is. “The Door Is A Penthouse” impressed me as well. I told you I probably was going to sound biased, didn’t I?
This split is a great dose of 4 hard-working bands that I feel one day will be all over the music scene. Thanks to Black Numbers for putting together such an excellent 4-way split. Having played the split over and over since I got it, it’s easy for me to think that fans of punk rock of all types will dig this regardless if they know any of the bands on the cover or not.
The split is available on CD, LP, and digital download. What the hell are you waiting for? Go grab you one! Rumor has it you actually appear to be cooler once you have a copy in your hand. Just saying…
As many of you know, good, wholesome punk rock is not just an American thing. Middle Eastern punk rockers Useless ID can prove that and have been for almost 18 years. The foursome, who hail from Haifa, Israel, signed with Fat Wreck Chords last year and recently released Symptoms.
So what took Fat Wreck Chords so long for them to suck them in? Well, perhaps because the band never seems to sit still and is too busy playing shows all over the world and befriending anyone in their path. Regardless, Fat Wreck Chords has them now and I seriously doubt they will be letting go anytime soon.
Symptoms was recorded with the legendary Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore (Rise Against, NOFX) at The Blasting Room Studios once the band was able to come back to the states from their current hometown of Tel Aviv. The result of months of hard work is a pop punk gem that Fat Wreck Chords should be beyond proud of. (I’m talking “dad, I just won my first fistfight in grade school” proud.)
“Live or Die” started the 12-track album off full of pop punk goodness. I was set back at how great this song started off the album. The lyrics were catchy, the music was solid and I wanted more. Good thing I was only on the first track. Lucky for me “Before It Kills” followed with the same amount of substance I was already craving. Hell, the second track was better than the first.
“I’m just suffering with you” repeats throughout “Normal With You”, a very singable track. “Erratic” hints heavily towards something Lagwagon might have meant to do years ago. I loved the lyrics on this track a lot and found myself singing “Down over the low, there’s always something on my nerves that gets me so erratic” almost instantaneously. Add in a great breakdown halfway though, and you have yourself a must hear song on the album.
“Mani Depression” sounded to me like what would happen if the Descendants and Cobra Skulls would have joined forces. This was another killer track on the album and I think anyone who thinks that 90s punk rock is the best should take a listen to this track. I felt 18 all over again listening to it and favored this track over all of the others without a doubt. “Sleeping With Knives” was another track I just dug a whole lot. It was just one of those songs that once I listened to it for the first time, it felt like I had heard it a million times before.
If “Symptoms” was the post-breakup song, then “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” without a doubt was the “I’m so over you” realization. “Your obsessive compulsive disorder creeps me out, I don’t want it” loops throughout the track that hints at anything more than to go away. “Somewhere”, on the other hand, ended the album with almost a feared reconciliation.
If i had to describe what Useless ID sounded like to someone, I would tell them to take the pop punk from the Ataris, vocals of Milo and mix them up with loads of Cali 90s punk rock riffs. Symptoms has been in the CD player of my car for weeks now. I have listened to it over and over form start to finish and each time it ends I just tell myself that I need another listen.
It’s early on in 2012 and Symptoms already has a place on my best of list. This was a shocker of a release for me. I have a split by them as well as The Lost Broken Bones, but there is just something about this album that has turned them from a punk band I like, to one I adore. This is about the time when I tell everyone that I will be digging into their catalog. That is a given. If you like 90s punk rock you need to check out Useless ID’s latest release.
I used to love the Suicide Machines and I am sure a lot of you out there did too. I was stoked to learn today that Jay Navarro has decided to try his luck at a new band called Break Anchor. Sure, the Suicide Machines have played a couple of shows here and there since their 2006 break-up, but nothing has been released and there really have not been any talks about new material.
Break Anchor is straight up blue collar punk rock out of Detroit. I’ve only heard one song so far and am really looking forward to their debut.
Streaming on AOL Spinner is the song I speak of, “A Failure of Epic Proportions.” The song will be featured on Break Anchor’s first release, a three-track, 7” vinyl EP called Blackhearts and Blackouts. I need me a copy of this in my collection. The artwork alone is killer!
Navarro had this to say about why he started a new band as well as what happened with the Suicide Machines.
“People don’t really know the whole story of the end of the Suicide Machines…in short, I had decided to either to call it quits or just play shows once and awhile. I wanted to get a job and raise my children.”
“Things just ended up badly between Dan and myself. Six years have passed since then. A job with medical insurance and a 401k, not a ton of money but steady scraping by. The American Dream, right? It’s a brutal job working in a 10 below freezer, lifting heavy ass cases 60 hours a week. I come home tired and sore as fuck like most blue collar people. My high school education doesn’t qualify me for much. But then again I work with plenty of guys with college degrees and amazing credentials who can’t score a job. Now they can’t pay back their student loans and many of my friends and their families have lost their homes to banks. Some are just squatting till the police kick them and their children out. Michigan is at its worst. Like many, i’m so tired when I come home from work I want nothing to do with my wife or kids. Which was the whole reason I quit touring in the first place. I’m so sore I can’t sleep, so I drink and pop pills. I wake up in pain. I’ve watched, as i’m sure many of you have, the corporations rule and control the world…our system has completely failed us. I feel I have failed my kids, my wife, and myself. I have failed all those who have believed in me. American Dream? This isn’t living. So one drunken, frustrating night I wrote this song. It’s not a song about feeling sorry for myself or anyone, and it’s not an apology. It’s just me saying, ‘You know what world?….with my last dying breath, I will spit Hell at thee.'”
Look for the 7″ release by Break Anchor to drop March 20th on Paper + Plastick Records.
Fancy yourself a fan of the pop-punk rock? What about cute Aussie females taking over vocal duties? If you said yes to either of the two, then you need to check to Tonight Alive. I am pretty sure fans of Paramore will be digging this band in 2012. Having already toured the US in 2011 including a slot at Bamboozle, the band is scheduled to return in 2012 to tour in support of their upcoming release on Fearless Records.
You may have already heard of the band as they covered Mumford and Sons’ “Little Lion Man” on the Fearless Records Punk Goes Pop Volume 4 and if not, you need to:
Here’s their video for “Breaking & Entering”, the band’s first single off their upcoming release What Are You So Scared Of? due out on Valentine’s Day:
Formed in Sydney in 2008, Tonight Alive is made up of ingénue-with-attitude Jenna McDougall (vocals), Jake Hardy (guitar), Whakaio Taahi (guitar/vocals), Cam Adler (bass) and Matt Best (drums). The quintet finished 2011 with a bang in the U.S. with the release of a new EP, Consider This, a viral cover of Mumford & Sons hit song “Little Lion Man” from Punk Goes Pop Volume 4 and dates on The Fearless Friends tour with blessthefall, garnering them an impressive following in the US and around the world. The band explodes into 2012, kicking off their European tour with Never Shout Never this week before heading back to Australia for Soundwave Festival in February.
