I say it a million times, I know it…I have some talented ass friends here in Cleveland. Some of them are in bands and some of them form bands from other friends in other bands to make killer cool bands.
My god their EP is fantastic. Just stop now and listen:
That first track though…wow. Loving the poppy punk sounds with harmony and emo for all to sulk to. Featuring a dude from Worship This! and a dude who used to kill it in Annabel, I already knew it was going to be awesome.
I expect exciting things to come from these guys soon.
Until then, check out their EP release party next week at The Grog Shop. It’s going to be a good time for sure!
I admit, I do not get to crank out reviews like I used to. If I had it my way, I would quit my paying gig and do this full time, but the truth of the matter is that I do this for fun and not profit and I have bills to pay. 20-year-old me would kick my ass right now for even mentioning that. I sound like grandpa punk again…
I’ve been trying to find some time to write about one of my favorite albums of 2016 for the past month now. I am seriously stoked to have found some time tonight to do so. With that said, here we go.
Developing a Theory of Integrity by Brooklyn’s MakeWar immediately jumped to the top of my favorite albums the moment I heard the first song. I cannot get enough of this album and have been listening to it almost daily since it dropped on Red Scare Industries in September.
Side note: Not even two days after I heard the album, I learned that they were playing the final Dag House show in Cleveland (RIP DAG). As luck would have it, I had a free night and I booked it over to that historical home to see MakeWar do their thing in the basement and got to act like a fanboy afterwards who was short $1 when trying to buy their debut self-titled LP out of their van while they were literally trying to back out of the driveway to make a long ass drive to Omaha. Thanks Jose, I will pay you back that $1 next time you roll through town.
Originally an acoustic act called Sad and French, MakeWar took their songs to a new dynamic and turned themselves into a full fletched punk rock band that carries so many likable qualities from catchy hooks to relatable lyrical content. Don’t get me wrong, Sad and French were absolutely amazing, but plugging in the guitars and turning up those amps have MakeWar way more exciting to listen to.
As previously mentioned, opening track “Matador Pool Party” blew me away. There was so much going on with this track from the group singing to the Rancid/Face To Face reminiscing bass playing, brutal drumming, and lyrical content that just brought it all together perfectly.
“Ode” was just that, an ode to living life with booze in hand in NYC. I loved the line “fuck not drinking for a week” as I’ve said that in my heyday when having a rough week of celebrating but refused to give it up. I also loved the random thought process throughout the song that really could pertain to any city. This is about as real as a song gets with spirits raised high.
“DTFH” was another standout track that begged to be sung along to. Ironically this track reminded me in a sense of more upbeat Iron Chic who used to be on DTFH records. “Don’t Panic” resembled Taking Back Sunday’s earlier years in a good way.
“On Feelings” might have been the most emotional track on the album but not in a cowering sense. This track just make me happy for some reason and brought back some memories of great hangouts with great pals. “Sallie” was another amazing song on this album. I feel like I keep saying that, but it is true. There were a lot of songs of this album that caught my attention including this one that referenced the paying back of those stupid ass student loans.
“Distractions” was more technical like Strung Out. I really loved the change up of musical style on this track which clearly was the heaviest. “Dust” ended the album in a completely different style full of dismay and sorrow, but damn it was beautiful.
I can not say enough good things about MakeWar. If you are reading this, you need to at least check out the video for “Ode” below so you can see what got me so excited. If you dig like I do, snag the album. You will not be disappointed.
Visit MakeWar on Facebook and check them out live if you can.
Quick note to start things off: If you haven’t heard of Useless ID and have appreciation for punk rock, I can honestly say you are missing out on an amazing band and should check them out now.
I’ve been a fan of these guys for a long time now. They are one of the hardest working bands out there that most people probably have not heard about. If one or two people find this blog and turn into Useless ID fans, then my job is done.
With that said, let’s continue…
I’m happy to say I got to interview someone who I truly admire as a musician. Apologies in advance for the long read, but the outcome of this interview was great and I did not want to cut anything out of it.
Yotam Ben Horin fronts Useless ID and to say he is a busy man is an understatement. He’s fronted the Israeli punk band for 20 years now, toured the US solo for what seemed like most of last year, and seemingly is always doing something either with his band or solo.
Useless ID dropped State is Burning earlier this year on Fat Wreck Chords and it is easily one of my favorite releases of 2016. Granted there is no proper review of it (yet) on this here ol’ site, I will tell you I listen to it often.
Yotam was cool enough to take some time out of his busy day to chat with me about the new Useless ID album among other things. Check it out:
BHP: First up, I can not tell you how excited I am to hear you are coming back to the states with Useless ID to tour with NOFX. How stoked are you for this tour?
YBH: For us it’s crazy. When Useless ID started out, NOFX were one of the key influences to our sound. There was Green Day and Offspring slowly rising and I liked both at the time, but the good stuff to me was finding NOFX in Thrasher magazine, they just didn’t play by any rules. We played many shows with NOFX throughout our career and they always treated us like family, always having a great time and now this tour. We are stoked as hell and can’t wait!
If I recall correctly, you spent some time in the states a little while back and played tons of solo shows in support of your solo album. Seemed like you were here for a while. How did that whole tour work out for you?
Well, basically I reached a breaking point in life where I got lost in rent, taxes, and pretty much dug myself into a ditch playing bass for this production in Israel.
I started hating music altogether cause it became a job so I decided I need a break from life. We celebrated a 20 year anniversary show with Useless ID and I flew to the U.S 3 days later for the next 6 months. I didn’t really have a plan to go solo, I just needed a break to kind of figure out who I am and what I want to do. During this time, I bought a car and booked a few shows in the LA area. I met a few people and then got an offer to open for the Ataris, so I did that for a few weeks. From there, I got offered to play bass for Sic Waiting and opened a string of west coast shows as well and that lead to a tour with this French solo artist Forest Pooky. I let life kind of write itself and didn’t bother interfering and that eventually lead to the recording of the unplanned second solo record “California Sounds” since I’ve been performing with all these new songs that really started taking shape.
That’s insane. I had no idea it was more than just a tour for you. Going back home had to be nice after that, but seeing how Useless ID dropped a new release earlier this year, sounds like you and the band did not rest at all.
I had a few songs scattered around that I let the guys hear but not an album’s worth of material, so with my break it gave us time apart and time to draw new inspirations which worked out for the best cause when I returned in June, it was full on writing the new record. Ishay also brought some songs in so it changed things up. We had around 50 songs to choose from, we all collectively liked the 15 that made the cut so it worked out great.
It’s been four years between albums. Was there any reason for a delay in releases?
We don’t want to release an album every two years cause we have to, we did that in the early days, we were younger, not that I’m against it. As a writer, I usually like doing other things before I dive back into a new Useless ID record like a solo album or a trip somewhere or have a certain change happen to me. I don’t like sticking to the same subject either, so if I’m writing about my deteriorating relationship (Symptoms), I wouldn’t want the next record to be about that again so certain time needs to pass and certain changes need to happen. Honestly, now with the new drummer Corey in the fold, there is a sudden urgency in our sound and live show so I have a feeling the next one should be written sooner than planned.
I can certainly appreciate that. So, tell me about your new album State is Burning. It’s so much harder sounding than the previous release Symptoms. What prompted the change back to your punk rock roots?
We did a European tour in the summer of 2013 and by the first day we were walking in Italy somewhere and Ishay randomly says to me “Our next record should be shorter songs like Frenzal Rhomb or something.” We all love Frenzal Rhomb and it made total sense to me. We put out Symptoms but ended up playing like 2-3 songs off of it at shows so something was clearly not working with these tunes live. As a studio album, I think it’s great, but not my favorite of ours. I started thinking maybe I should go back and listen to all those records that got me into this in the first place like NOFX, No Use, Propagandhi, Bad Religion, Pennywise etc. I was getting a vision for it, in a way, “write the record that you as a 15-year-old fan would want to hear.” Since I’ve been writing from an artists perspective on “Symptoms” and “Broken Bones”, I wrote from a Fat Wreck fan [perspective] on “State” and it’s my favorite Useless ID record.
That’s awesome. I really do dig this new one a lot. “Borrowed Time” was one that stood out to me. Are there any tracks on the new release you dig more than the rest?
I love “Land of idiocracy.” I heard it like a zillion times before it was released cause it pretty much sums up all of my frustration living in Israel. I really like “Closer to the edge” as well since it’s my “departure from work life” anthem.
I think “Genetic” is one of the best songs I’ve ever written and it all came to me in 5 minutes while I was out for a run on the beach before a Useless ID rehearsal. We worked on it the same day and that was that.
So, tell me just a little about yourself. I’m just curious how you have gotten to where you are today.
From a very young age, I always had a very strong personality about what I want[ed] to do, so when I picked up the guitar at 13, that was it for me, I knew from that point that I want[ed] to be in a band so when I met the Useless Id guys in ’95 who already existed, I knew that I must join these guys and be on the road. My first tour with Useless ID was in 1997, I was 18. I had already played two shows with them in 1996, but I had another year of high school which I dropped out of anyways. I don’t like getting too comfortable with anything and sometimes it backfires cause I feel as if life is not moving anymore and I like to keep things interesting, create as much as I can, music, art, poetry any figure of self expression appeals to me, and I can’t do without it. I can lock myself up for weeks watching 80’s movies or something from my past just to trigger a feeling and then the songs come out.
I am sure you are asked this a lot, but what is the punk scene like in Israel? How is the scene viewed there?
The scene always had its ups and downs. In 1996, me and a group of friends started this short lived movement in Israel called “Haifa City Hardcore”. We booked shows, put out tapes, and tried to create a scene but it didn’t really take off. Then in the early 2000s, I felt like there was some sort of a punk revival – in terms of Israel it’s still pretty small – but the scene was kind of dead in the 90s as far as punk goes.
I can happily say Useless ID was the first punk band from Israel that just took off to the U.S with only one planned show in Gilman St. and learned the ropes through being there and seeing how it’s done. Nowadays, many Israeli punk bands are touring all over the place cause it’s much easier to book a tour so that’s improved for sure. I’ve been punk since I moved to Israel in 1993. I was lame cause I only knew Nirvana, Sex Pistols and Pixies who are considered close to punk and not really punk, so when a year later I discovered all the other stuff through a skateboarding friend [like] Minor Threat, DRI, Black Flag, I knew I found my sound and wondered why I hadn’t till now. I liked the fact that it was underground and hard to find.
As for the genre, people frown upon this genre cause they listen to middle eastern music, which is by far the worst form of music, and exists only in Israel. Extremely shitty lyrics with assholes and other dickheads making it and getting famous cause the majority are made up of morons… It’s so shit.
Sounds like recent American hip-hop music, but worse. I know Israel is a lot different from the states in terms of adversary, but I only know so much about their culture. I’m just curious, what are some of the major differences in terms of the punk scene from Israel and the US?
I think the biggest thing is that no punk band could live off of their music in Israel. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how hard you try, the scene is just way too small to accept it as they do in the US where great bands like Descendents or Against Me! can actually make a living playing shows and releasing records, that’s amazing. For any artist, the biggest reward is to be able to live off your art.
So true. What do you like about current American culture?
Well I grew up in New York in the 80s, so that whole era really speaks in volumes to me and always has. That sense of naiveté in everything from WWF, John Hughes movies, [and] pop music. These are the kind[s] of things that can make me choke up like the theme song from the sitcom “Learning the Ropes”. I like the possibilities in the US. You can just come out of nowhere with a guitar and if there’s enough passion there, anything is possible. Having Joey Cape produce a record with me, that would never happen had I stayed in Israel minding my own business.
What don’t you like?
I guess like any other culture the majority decides, getting someone like Donald Trump so far in as a candidate is crazy but that just proves that anything being possible in the U.S. can backfire badly.
I do not even want to thank about that. So, has Useless ID ever come close to calling it quits over the past 2 decades? Care to talk about some of the challenges faced?
We have been around for 21 years now so there were obviously some breaking points along the way, but something kept us together and it wasn’t the fear of breaking up. We just love our band, we care too much about the music we do and we don’t want to play these tunes with other people. There’s a certain energy going on between the four of us cause we come from similar musical backgrounds, but at the same time, we are so different as people and all opinionated. I think that’s what [makes] a band like The Beatles or The Ramones the greatest band in the world. The different characters; everyone in the band brought something else to the table. We’ve obviously had some fallouts in the past but the band is at a very good place right now. We’re promoting our best record to date and the shows have all been crazy fun.
Tell me, what does it feel like to play your heart out in front of all of your fans?
We just did a short run of Russia and Japan and all four shows were packed and great! I told this to one of the guys last night – in Japan I don’t really feel like I’m playing a show, I’m more like floating on cloud 9 for an hour. When you have a room packed with people who know every word you wrote and just lose their shit when you play its like an [out-of]-body experience. You just lose sense of time and life all of a sudden has a different pace.
How did this upcoming tour with NOFX happen? I know you are stoked about it.
We were just about done with the mixes of “State is Burning” at The Blasting Room and decided to send it to Fat Mike. By the next day, Mike told me how much he loved the record and would be honored to put it out, so I knew he liked it and eventually we got a mail from Kent Jamieson asking us to do this upcoming tour.
We are stoked as hell! Doing all these shows alone in the US for the past two years, I promised many fans that I’d be back with Useless ID soon enough and here we are and PEARS are with us too so that’s extra fun, those guys are nuts!
PEARS are so good. Stoked for you all to be back on tour in the states. Might as well ask, what do you do to pass the time while on tour?
I read a lot, take pictures, write in my journal. If I’m in the U.S., I film a lot of footage and edit them into funny short 5 minute movies called “DRIVER”. It’s my alter ego in the U.S. I grow out a beard, wear a trucker cap, a flannel and pretty much turn myself into a Chuck Ragan lookalike. During the long drives, I listen to a lot of music, stuff I don’t know. The drives are good for that. I find time to exercise, go for a run or workout to stay in shape and not completely lose it.
I need to find some DRIVER clips. That sounds amazing. You are very active on social media. Obviously we did not have this 20 years ago. How important is it to you to be able to connect to your fans globally thanks to social media?
It’s very important. That’s the cool thing with Facebook. For example, I use it mostly for musical purposes less about writing my opinions on politics or what I just ate or who had a baby. I try to put something there every day whether a picture of where I’m at, a live video playing songs for the people at home, and saying hi to friends all over the world. My mission overall, besides making music, is to show people that there is an alternative even if it’s hard and a struggle, it’s all possible. Once you focus your energy into something you really, really love and believe there’s no room for failure and if you do fail, it’s just an obstacle, you get back up and try again. I receive many mails about people telling me how I inspired them to drop everything and hit the road or form a bluegrass band or go solo, anything. It means the world to me seeing that.
That’s just perfect, Wow. Now that Useless ID has dropped something, when can we expect more solo material from you?
I have an album in Hebrew coming out soon which I wrote in 2013 and recorded in 2014 -before my U.S disappearing- and just finished mastering it a few weeks ago. Other than that, I’ve been writing alot for my upcoming “One Week Record” which Joey Cape will be producing this coming November. He really pushed me to write better songs and I’m still writing for it.
I love Cape’s One Week Record project. I can not wait to hear that when it comes out. What about the next Useless ID album, any plans on the next release?
As I mentioned before, it’s probably good to tour “State Is Burning” some more before we decide to write the next one, I have a feeling it’s going to be great. I really want us to continue doing the faster stuff for the next one but you never know which direction it’ll go.
Finally, what’s next for Yotam?
As for me, I took up Muay-Thai Kickboxing for the past 4 months and I’m loving it and what it’s adding to my self-confidence, so I’m thinking of doing a month of training in Thailand, hopefully start lining up some solo tours afterwards once my One Week record is out. {I have] got a few musician friends in mind I really want to tour with for sure. I have ideas for a few books I want to write so I’m going to try to jump into that for a while and see how it goes. What else? There’s a Useless ID movie in the works so were gathering a lot of footage for that at the moment. That’s me, always looking forward to the next exciting thing!
Sheesh man. You are really keeping busy. I’ll let you go so you can get back to all of that. Thank you Sir!
Now here I am sitting here wondering what the hell I am doing with my life while he is kickboxing and traveling the world and even making movies. I can always just live vicariously through him. Someone needs to keep updating this site!
BTW – Proud father moment. I just realized my kiddo is in a Useless ID video:
I really need to thank the band for adding my little dude into their video.
Check out State is Burning below and if you dig it, head over to Fat Wreck and grab a copy.
Useless ID is touring with NOFX and PEARs this November. Check them out if you can!
11/02/16 – Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
11/03/16 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
11/04/16 – Vancouver, BC Canada – Commodore Ballroom
11/05/16 – Vancouver, BC Canada – Commodore Ballroom
11/07/16 – Edmonton, AB Canada – Union Hall
11/08/16 – Edmonton, AB Canada – Union Hall
11/09/16 – Calgary, AB Canada – MacEwan Hall
11/11/16 – Winnipeg, MB Canada – Burton Cummings Theatre
11/12/16 – Minneapolis, MN – Cabooze on the West Bank
11/13/16 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
11/14/16 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
11/16/16 – Omaha, NE – Sokol Auditorium
11/17/16 – Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall
11/18/16 – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Live!
I can sit here and blow a bunch of smoke up all the buttholes of NOFX, but for the sake of time and whatnot, I will skip a few paragraphs of introduction and get to the point.
Chances are if you are reading this, you already know of NOFX and do not need to read any type of introduction, but just in case you have no idea who I am speaking of, I will put in a small, small intro.
So here’s my review:
NOFX have a new album. It’s called First Ditch Effort. It’s freaking good. After 4 long years, the foursome is back and have taken their 13th release and made it a personal triumph of sorts. I should mention that the band has been around for 30 years now too.
Impressive.
This album was not like the others. Where I was used to drug fueled witty pokes at anything and everything, this album was serious and seemingly was written from torn pages of the band’s personal journals.
“Six Years On Dope” started with Fat Mike and Melvin arguing who should scream / sing the song. This romper of a track was a confessional tale of sorts with both Melvin and Fat Mike disclosing their lower times of hardcore partying. Not surprising, the track was catchy as hell, but destructive in hearing all these two have been through.
“Happy Father’s Day” continued with heavy riffs and had Fat Mike more or less vanquish his father figure.
“Sid and Nancy” is a punk rock conspirator’s dream track in that Fat Mike and crew suggested Nancy Reagan killed Sid Vicious. Providing an insight to what happened by the hands of Nancy proved to be quite interesting to listen to and very well could become the start to what would be a killer cult movie.
“California Drought” referenced Fat Mike’s current cleanse he been experiencing after years of recreational drug use. The positives were null in this track as Fat Mike sung about the struggle on wanting to use when he knows he can’t. It was cool to hear El Hefe supply a horn solo in the middle of this track.
“Oxy Moronic” was brilliant. Pointing the fingers at the big pharmaceuticals with plenty of tongue-and-cheek references to the thousands of stupid drug names, this track was all about exposing the doctors who prescribe for profit. See below for the Funny or Die created music video.
Listening to “I Don’t Like Me Anymore” was like listening to Fat Mike have an intervention with himself. The content of this song was nothing positive, but man, this song ripped. If this track is what makes Fat Mike feel better about his actions and future, then I would say this is a win.
Maybe it was because of the NOFX autobiography released earlier this year exposing the truth of the band, or maybe it was just for the hell of it, but “I’m a Transvest-Lite” was all about Fat Mike and his cross-dressing tendencies. As he is open to his dressing preferences these days, the song talked about his secret over the years and how he’s ok with not going full forced cross-dressing as he is too lazy to apply makeup. He ended the track perfectly with: “You gotta know it’s not just girls who wanna have fun.”
Listening to “I’m So Sorry Tony” was tough for me and really had me bumming after listening to it for like four times in a row. For years now, I have been waiting for this song. Ever since Sly left this world, there have been songs and tributes, but I’ve always wanted to hear Fat Mike’s take. This song was all heart and took it past band mates to a family level. Forget that Sly was an amazing musician, Sly was also a voice of reason and an inspiration and Fat Mike really emphasized that in this song. Listen to this track and you’ll get chills, especially the ending…
“Generation Z” could be the last song Fat Mike and crew ever write and I would be ok with it. This track was about the foreseen sad future according NOFX as seen by the youth with them being the last. Not holding back, Fat Mike wished his daughters nothing but the best in this messed up world. Being a father myself, it was kind of rough to hear the lie: “so we tell our daughters and our sons that they’re not the final ones to see this planet as a decent place to live.” As if that did not hit me hard enough, hearing Fat Mike’s kids perform a spoken word, just left this record ending in a whole mess of emotions.
It’s been a couple of weeks since this album dropped and I admit I held off on finishing this review as I just kept telling myself to listen to the album one more time. With each listen, I am becoming a bigger fan of it. It’s intense to hear an album full of realizations from a band that used be known for partying their asses off.
Having seen this band at least 15 times live in my life and have called myself a fan of them since I was about 17, I can see that these Peter Pan punk rockers are finally growing up a bit and cherishing all they have accomplished.
NOFX is touring with Pears and Useless ID and I am hoping I can check them all out:
10/22/16 Waterfront Park – San Diego, CA
11/02/16 Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR
11/03/16 Showbox SoDo – Seattle, WA
11/04/16 Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC Canada
11/05/16 Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC Canada
11/07/16 Union Hall – Edmonton, AB Canada
11/08/16 Union Hall – Edmonton, AB Canada
11/09/16 MacEwan Hall – Calgary, AB Canada
11/11/16 Burton Cummings Theatre – Winnipeg, MB Canada
11/12/16 Cabooze on the West Bank – Minneapolis, MN
11/13/16 The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
11/14/16 House of Blues – Cleveland, OH
11/16/16 Sokol Auditorium – Omaha, NE
11/17/16 Liberty Hall – Lawrence, KS
11/18/16 Gas Monkey Live! – Dallas, TX
03/10/17 On A Cruise Ship – Miami, FL
03/18/17 Pot of Gold Music Festival – Chandler, AZ
James Alex as been through a lot of shit in a short amount of time with his band Beach Slang, both good and bad.
The pressure of being 1/4 of Beach Slang (now 1/3) almost had him call it quits earlier this year, but thanks to a fan who caught him after a show that night before he disappeared, he reconsidered.
Let’s face it, being in your 40s and having your band blow up the way Beach Slang did in such a short amount of time can not be easy. For what it is worth, I am glad Alex did not throw the towel in yet.
With that said, Beach Slang just released their followup to 2015’s The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us.The band actually wrote most of this sophomore release while touring. That right there is dedication if you ask me.
A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings, on Polyvinyl Records, is incredible. It’s an encompass of Jawbreaker and The Replacements with plentyof held back angst and passion to produce an album worthy of multiple listens.
“Play it loud, play it fast. Play me something that will always last” starts off on “Future Mixtape for the Arts Kids.” This track is a perpetual anthem for anyone who uses music as a crutch to get through life.
“Atom Bomb” followed with plenty of fuzz and rock to keep anyone who listens entertained. This fast-paced track may have clocked in at less than 2 minutes long, but its effects lasted much longer. “Spin the Dial” was full of hooks and solos with Alex laying out some lyrics that sounded more personal.
“Punks In a Disco Bar” was perfectly contained in that the band sounded so together yet not overly produced. This was one of the first singles off the new release and it’s no wonder why they chose it, the song rules.
“You’re my favorite weirdo” is sang during “Wasted Daze of Youth”, a love track of sorts that seemingly repeated many phrases I have said out loud when I felt smitten. The hopeless swooning and the confessions combined lyrically was the best thing about this song.
The complementing “The Perfect High” focused on the best correlation between two individuals while carrying a 90s musical feel. I really enjoyed this track a lot, especially the bass line throughout. I almost felt like a teen again listening to this track.
Album closer “Warpaint” was an inciting jam that slowly built up a credence with Alex ending the track “don’t be afraid to want to be alive.” These are the kinds of songs I clung on to as a lost juvenile – songs that made me feel better about my situation Hell, there are some days I can still use the encouragement.
I’ve heard some banter recently from folk based on the album’s title alone that maybe Alex has been writing music that he is a little too old for, but I have to disagree. He is writing for the all-ages fan who is looking for a release with a comparable ideal. Alex is the voice for many and Beach Slang certainly carries the talent to do so. The band has proven this on A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings and I’m positive the fans will confirm this.
My only complaint with this album is that it is only 29 minutes long and the selfish me wanted to hear double that. I won’t lie, this is the best album I have listened to so far this year.
Beach Slang is playing the Grog Shop next month in Cleveland with Bleached. This is a show to NOT miss.
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In order for your website to be seen online, you need a web hosting service. Web hosting services differ by how the servers are set up (i.e. the space allocated) and the type of access that people (aka hosting customers) have to them. All websites we visit have web hosts. The main types of website hosting are Shared, Dedicated, VPS, and Reseller. Learn more about web hosting ?
What is Shared Hosting?
Shared Hosting is a type of web hosting where a single physical server hosts multiple websites. Considered the cheapest hosting plan, many users utilize the resources and web hosting services on a single server, which keeps the costs low. Users each get a section of that server where they can host their website files. Shared servers can host hundreds of users. Each customer who uses the Shared Hosting server has access to such features as databases, monthly traffic reports, disk space, email accounts, FTP accounts, and other add-ons offered by the web hosting provider. System resources are shared on-demand by users on the server, where each one gets a percentage of everything from RAM and CPU as well as the single MySQL, Apache, and mail servers. Learn more about cheap hosting plans ?
What is WordPress Hosting?
Managed WordPress Hosting simply means that all technical aspects of running WordPress sites are taken care of (i.e. managed) by the web hosting provider. Namecheap’s Managed WordPress Hosting, EasyWP, also features a user-friendly dashboard that allows you to update, manage, and back up all of your future installations. This means that with managed hosting, you don’t have to figure out how to use a control panel (cPanel or Plesk) to manage your website. (As a friendly reminder, cPanel is a dashboard that is used to control your hosting service.)
What is VPS Hosting?
VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting is the best web hosting type for those who have outgrown Shared Hosting. Since multiple websites reside on a single web server with Shared Hosting, with no guarantee of resources, VPS Hosting allows for fewer users to share allocated resources of hard drive space, memory, and processor power. Each user on a VPS server has access to a virtual machine that runs on its own copy of an Operating System (OS). This lets VPS Hosting customers experience web hosting services with similar capabilities and performance levels as Dedicated Server plans.
What is Reseller Hosting?
Reseller Hosting is a form of web hosting where the account owner has the ability to use their allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites on behalf of third parties. In other words, the reseller purchases the provider’s wholesale hosting solutions and then sells them to their clients/customers for a profit. Want more info? Check out Namecheap's “Getting Started” guide for Reseller Hosting.
Why should I use Email Hosting from Namecheap?
Although some web hosting providers offer free email, there’s often very few features and little-to-no support included. Private Email Hosting from Namecheap, however, features a premium interface with way more flexibility and cloud power to manage all your communication—both personal and professional. Learn more about what we offer ?
What is your money-back guarantee?
First-time EasyWP, VPS, Reseller, and Shared Hosting customers are eligible for our 30-day money-back guarantee. Dedicated Hosting customers are offered a refundable period of 7 days. Addons for web hosting services and Private Email Hosting are non-refundable. Read more about our website hosting guarantee ?
Does Namecheap provide an uptime guarantee for web hosting?
Whenever you purchase web hosting plans from us, we offer you a monthly uptime guarantee. If for some reason we don’t deliver on this guarantee, which is determined by Namecheap, you’ll be eligible for a prolonged service cycle—depending on your chosen web hosting plan. Learn more ?
Does web hosting include a free domain name?
Your annual Shared Hosting plan comes with one domain name on offer. You have a wide range of top-level domain names (TLDs) available with discounts up to 100% for the first year. You may check the offers here. Shared Hosting customers also receive 50 free SSL certificates and free automatic backups. For our VPS and Dedicated Hosting customers, your server setup is completely taken care of. If you’re looking to build your website, our Shared and Reseller Hosting customers are encouraged to take advantage of our free Website Builder tool as well as a control panel (cPanel). For Private Email Hosting, you can enjoy a two-month trial for free.
What Namecheap web hosting plans are suitable for my WordPress website?
All of our web hosting services, besides Email Hosting, work with your website. If you’re a beginner and you’re looking for the simplest way to host, we recommend EasyWP, which takes care of all the technical aspects, or Shared Hosting, which is one of the cheapest web hosting plans and also features the free Website Builder tool. If you’re looking for the best web hosting service to scale to your business needs, a VPS or Dedicated Server is the perfect website hoster choice. Learn more about the types of web hosting ?
Which type of web hosting is best for me?
If you’re not completely sure which type of web hosting to go for, it might be a good idea to take our Hosting Quiz. This will help to show you which web hosting is best suited to your individual needs at this stage in your web project.
Disclaimers
Our Stellar Plus Plan offers unmetered disk space, intended only for your website. This space must be used in accordance with our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), in particular Paragraph 10, Disk Usage Provision.
Only first-time Shared Hosting customers and VPS hosting customers are eligible for our 30-day money-back guarantee. For example, if you previously created an account with Namecheap, subsequently canceled and signed up again, unfortunately you are ineligible for a refund. The same scenario applies to those who have already opened a second Namecheap account. Please be aware that the sales of Dedicated Servers are only refundable within 7 days (not including addons and licenses).
Namecheap will provide a free domain name (first year only) with purchase of any annual or biennial Shared Hosting plan as long as the domain name is not considered "premium". Learn more about Premium Domain Names ?
Cloud Storage is available with all Stellar plans with EU and Singapore datacenters and Stellar Business plans with a US datacenter.
On your EasyWP website, you’ll be able to install all the plugins available for WordPress, with a few exceptions. Since the EasyWP plugin already handles three different layers of advanced caching, you don’t need to install any caching plugins. Please note that some untrusted plugins can’t be activated. Check the full list.
All Namecheap Private Email plans have 60 days free trial period. Starter plan free trials are limited to 5 per Namecheap account. Pro and Ultimate plan free trials are limited to 1 per account. All trial offerings can not be used more than once per domain.
Trial subscriptions are considered a regular purchase so no introductory offers may be used for renewals after the trial period ends.
Depending on the Server Management Plan, additional software and resources chosen for VPS and Dedicated Servers may incur a higher fee.
Namecheap does not charge an additional fee to transfer an existing website and/or a Dedicated Server or VPS. Please note that a cPanel to cPanel transfer is fully supported while other transfer options may need to be checked by our Technical Team.
Our advertised discount offer for Stellar plans only applies to purchases of annual and biennial plans. This discount offer does not apply to renewals.
I started hating music altogether cause it became a job so I decided I need a break from life. We celebrated a 20 year anniversary show with Useless ID and I flew to the U.S 3 days later for the next 6 months. I didn’t really have a plan to go solo, I just needed a break to kind of figure out who I am and what I want to do. During this time, I bought a car and booked a few shows in the LA area. I met a few people and then got an offer to open for the Ataris, so I did that for a few weeks. From there, I got offered to play bass for Sic Waiting and opened a string of west coast shows as well and that lead to a tour with this French solo artist Forest Pooky. I let life kind of write itself and didn’t bother interfering and that eventually lead to the recording of the unplanned second solo record “California Sounds” since I’ve been performing with all these new songs that really started taking shape.
I can certainly appreciate that. So, tell me about your new album State is Burning. It’s so much harder sounding than the previous release Symptoms. What prompted the change back to your punk rock roots?
So, tell me just a little about yourself. I’m just curious how you have gotten to where you are today.
Tell me, what does it feel like to play your heart out in front of all of your fans?
James Alex as been through a lot of shit in a short amount of time with his band 
