Category: Hard Rock

Video by William Ruben HelmsAug 19, 202622:00

New Video: Brighton’s Split Dogs Shares Bruising and Anthemic “Suffer”

Deriving their name from the classic zombie film Return of the Living Dead, Brighton, UK-based punks Split Dogs — founding duo and romantic couple Harry Atkins (vocals) (they/them) and Mil Martinez (guitar) (he/him), along with Chris Hugall (drums) (he/him) and Suez Boyle (bass) (she/her) — can trace their origins back to 2015: The band’s founding members had the idea to start a band fueled by their frustration over music they saw as soulless and commodified product made to sell the listener and fans more useless shit.

As a youngster in South London, Mil Martinez would hear Status Quo, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Dire Straits on the car radio while his father drove him to school. At home, he would invade his older brother’s record collection, which leaned towards punk and heavy metal. In the UK’s Black Country, Harry Atkins’ mother instilled a love of Northern Soul, Slade and rock ‘n roll, with stories of nights out at Club Lafayette and family singalongs at home. According to Martinez, “Our sound is a culmination of all those early influences and, to be honest, it really shows.”

Split Dogs officially appeared on the scene in 2022. Suez Boyle, a prominent figure in the queer punk scene, best known for her work with The Walking Abortions joined the band in 2023. Up until that point, Chris Hugall, an old friend of Martinez and a former member of ska punks Mouthwash, an act that was once signed on Rancid‘s Hellcat Records, helped design the band’s artwork. Hugall joined the band full-time last year, cementing the band’s current lineup.

The quartet quickly won over Bristol’s accepting and tolerant punk scene, a scene that has always welcomed LGBQT+ folks and marginalized people, with raucous live shows featuring infectious lyrics. As word spread, the gigs increased and in short order, the Brighton-based punk outfit was playing sold-out rooms across the European Union, which caught the attention of British label Venn Records.

The Brighton-based quartet released their Peter Miles-produced sophomore effort, Here to Destroy last year. Recorded over a breakneck three day session at Middle Farm Studios, the album, which featured album track “Lafayette” was laid straight to a 16-track reel-to-reel tape machine without autotune, effects pedals, and computers. Adding to the visceral authenticity of the recording, the album’s material was recored with Atkins singing along in a vocal booth. No cutting and pasting on a program. And it meant that everyone had to nail their takes. “It was a blast!” Split Dogs’ Martinez says. “We fully immersed ourselves, sleeping in a small apartment below the studio, cooking meals and listening to Pete’s extensive record collection.”

The quartet’s third album, Nice N’ Rough is slated for a September 25, 2026 release through Venn Records. Its predecessor, Here To Destroy was recorded while the band’s then-new lineup was still feeling their way while Mil and Harry were in the midst of early parenthood; however, Nice N’ Rough is a bolder, brassier, even more fun effort. The new ingredients are “confidence and time,” says the band’s Mil Martinez. “We’ve not lost what we were, but we’ve evolved and tightened the screws, cleaned it up, made it a little slicker. The songs are more thought-out and everyone’s had a hand in them.” The album’s lyrics are brutal and funny, continuing a long-held and beloved rock ‘n’ roll tradition.

“Rock’n’roll’s meant to be fun, isn’t it?” Mil says. “There aren’t enough bands doing that OTT [“over the top”], tongue-in-cheek thing. When I was younger, I wanted to seem cooler and tougher than I was. Now, I don’t care what people think of me, so I wear my heart on my sleeve. We’re quite shameless, really.”

Nice N’ Rough’s latest single “Suffer” is a bruising, arena rock ripper that seemingly channels Highway to Hell-era AC/DC, Ace of Spades-era Motörhead, Joan Jett and JOVM mainstays Amyl and the Sniffers. But beneath the power chord driven riffs and the rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses is a lived-in emotional and psychological turmoil. The result is a song that showcases a band that can deftly pair old school OTT rock riffs and bombast with deeply heartfelt, earnest lyricism.

Fittingly the accompanying video for “Suffer” features some hilarious rock tropes: The lead guitarist playing his explosive riffs as lightning bolts explode around him. Skulls, skulls and more skulls. The band playing the song in an eerie graveyard and more. It’s a bit of goofy fun.

Video by William Ruben HelmsJul 23, 202609:00

Throwback: Happy 61st Birthday, Slash!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Slash’s 61st birthday.

Video by William Ruben HelmsJun 27, 202622:30

Throwback: Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out”

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms on the last day of school for NYC public school kids — and summer.

Video by William Ruben HelmsMay 11, 202623:00

New Video: London’s The Howlers Share Swaggering, Arena Rock Friendly “Viper”

2024 was a breakthrough year for London-based rock outfit The Howlers. Their self-funded, self-released full-length debut, What You’ve Got To Lose To Win It All received widespread acclaim across Europe. The album exploded into the UK Independent Breakers Charts Top 10 while landing on several other independent, vinyl and physical sales charts. And adding to a growing profile, What You’ve Got To Lose To Win It All received airplay from BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, Radio X and Absolute Radio as well as editorial playlisting internationally across Apple Music and Spotify.

The momentum and buzz surrounding the band translated to the stage. A sold-out 18-date UK headlining tour saw the band quickly establishing themselves as one of the country’s newest, most exciting live acts. This was followed by a European Union tour that featured sold-out shows across eight countries, while they road-tested material that would ultimately shape what came next.

As the year came to a close, the band went through a massive lineup shakeup, which led to the band continuing as a duo featuring Adam Young (vocals, guitar) and Toby Richards (drums). The lineup change was a shift that redefined the band’s sound and creative direction, while bringing a renewed sense of focus and identity.

Last year, as a duo, the London-based outfit released two singles “Night Crawling” and “You Can Be So Cruel” before signing with FLG, who will release their highly-anticipated sophomore album, Heavy. Written and produced alongside longtime collaborator, Black Honey‘s Chris Ostler, The Howlers’ sophomore album sees the band deliberately eschewing traditional studio methods. The album was written and recorded remotely — with demos, ideas and reworked arrangements sent back and forth across digital platforms — stripping everything back while pushing each song to its strongest form. Only in the album’s final stages did the duo enter rehearsal spaces to capture live drums, grounding the material’s experimental edges with raw, physical energy,

“This album is those late night experiences, the after dark conversations, late night phone calls, the seductive nature of impulsiveness that seems so alluring and losing yourself in the addictive nature of recklessness — but it’s also the mirror in the morning, the wake up call, and the harsh reality of knowing those feelings won’t always last,” The Howlers’ Adam Young says. “It’s the moment you find yourself again.”

Heavy‘s latest single “Viper” is a swaggering, arena rock friendly ripper, featuring a pulsing and slithering riff and driving rhythms paired with songwriting anchored in inputs, tension, unease, desire and consequence. The song’s narrator talks about being drawn to something or someone, knowing it’s bad for you — and doing it anyway.

“Viper speaks to an experience of being totally drawn towards someone even though you can see the red flags — the desire for all of us to willingly make bad decisions for the thrill of what comes next, regardless of consequences.” says Young “You’re lost in the moment together. But no matter how much you kid yourself into believing the Bonnie & Clyde fantasy, they will always cause you pain in the end.”

The accompanying video features some sleek, stylishly shot footage of the band performing the song in the studio — as though they were in an arena.

Video by William Ruben HelmsApr 21, 202613:00

Throwback: Happy 79th Birthday, Iggy Pop!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Iggy Pop’s 79th birthday.

Video by William Ruben HelmsMar 31, 202609:00

Throwback: Happy 71st Birthday, Angus Young!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates AC/DC co-founder Angus Young’s 71st birthday.

Video by William Ruben HelmsMar 26, 202618:00

Throwback: Happy 78th Birthday, Steven Tyler!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler’s 78th birthday.

Video by William Ruben HelmsNov 21, 202509:00

New Video: Mariachi El Bronx Shares Stylish Visual for Swooning “Forgive or Forget”

Started back in 2008 as both a side project and creative experiment for the members of Los Angeles-based punk rock The Bronx, Mariachi El Bronx — Matt Caughthran (vocals), Joby J. Ford (guitar, vihuela, accordion), Jared Shavelson (drums), Keith Douglas (trumpet), Ray Suen (violin), Brad Magers (trumpet), Ken Horne (jarana), and Vincent Hidalgo (guitarrón)– has long been deeply rooted in their deep connection to the Hispanic music and culture of their hometown. Although seemingly different, the and doesn’t see punk and mariachi as mutually exclusive. Instead, they view both genres as spiritually entwined forces anchored in resilient storytelling. “Punk rock and mariachi music are very similar in soul,” The Bronx’s and Mariachi El Bronx’s Matt Caughthran says. “It’s working class music. It’s real music.”

Despite almost two decades of success, that has included sharing stages with Foo Fighters and The Killers; sets across the global festival circuit, including Coachella and Glastonbury; performances on Late Show with David Letterman to NPR’s Tiny Desk; and theme songs for shows like Weeds and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the members of Mariachi El Bronx still consider themselves lifelong students of the art form. That reverence carries over to their charro suits, which often attract as much attention as the music itself. The band has long turned to Boyle Heights-based Casa del Mariachi, a historic Los Angeles area landmark, where Jorge “Mr. George” Tello has been handcrafting the traditional suits for over 50 years. “This band has always been about learning and exchanging culture through music and art,” says Caughthran. “That’s what it’s all about! Everything we do comes from the heart and soul.”

Mariachi El Bronx’s long-awaited fourth album, the John Avila-produced Mariachi El Bronx IV is slated for a February 13, 2026 release through ATO Records. The album, which is the first album from the project in a decade, sees the trailblazing alter-egos of The Bronx continuing to embody the same ethos that sparked their creation — honoring the rich Hispanic music and culture that has always surrounded them in their hometown, while pushing creative boundaries.

Clashing emotions of profound loss and overwhelming love shaped the album’s themes. The songwriting “started as a battle between love and death but became a way to process all the chaos of the world,” Caughthtran explains. Throughout the run of the album’s 12-tracks, the band documents the stories of gamblers, former playboys, warriors and lovers — characters that became vessels for the specific pressures of modern life.

Returning after a decade away felt “joyous and familiar from the jump,” the band’s Joby J. Ford says. But the album’s recording process proved to be much more complex than expected. Within the year that he began writing the album’s lyrics, Caughthran contended with the deaths of several loved ones. And as they tracked the album’s material at producer John Avila’s San Gabriel Valley studio, the Eaton Canyon wildfires blazed across East L.A. “We came out of the studio one night, the entire side of the hill was just on fire,” Ford recalls.

While dealing with grief in his personal life and within Los Angeles, Caughthran also got married in the same year. All of these very profoundly human experiences and feelings have informed what may arguably be Mariachi El Bronx’s most emotionally resonate work to date.

Mariachi El Bronx IV’s first single, album opener “Forgive or Forget” features violinist Ray Suen on a swooning and galloping track that captures the nostalgia, bitter heartache, the longing to forget that heartache, and the desire to move forward with a seemingly booze-tinged haze. Fittingly, the song is rooted in a complicated and uneasy mix of despair and hope that feels lived-in and familiar.

The accompanying video for “Forgive or Forget” features the members of Mariachi El Bronx in the traditional mariachi charro suits performing the song in silhouette in front of colorful backgrounds. It reminds me quite a bit of the ad campaigns for Apple iPods back in the day.