Category: punk rock

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: METZ Performs “Pulse” Live at Toronto’s Opera House

Throughout the course of this site’s 11 year history, I’ve spilled copious amount of virtual ink covering Toronto-based punk trio and JOVM mainstays METZ. The JOVM mainstays’ fourth album, last year’s Atlas Vending found the band setting a goal for themselves and for the album before they set to work on it: they wanted to make a much more patient and honest album, an album that invited repeated listens rather than a few exhilarating mosh-pit friendly bludgeonings. Co-produced by Uniform’s Ben Greenberg and mastered by Seth Manchester at Pawtucket’s Machines with Magnets, the album sees the band attempting to intentionally craft music for the long haul, with the hopes that their work could serve as a constant as they — and their fans — navigated through life’s trials, tribulations and victories.

Sonically, Atlas Vending sees the band retaining the massive sound that has won them attention and fans across the world — but while arguably being their most articulate, earnest and dynamic of their growing catalog. Thematically, the album touches upon disparate yet very adult themes: paternity, crushing social anxiety, addiction, isolation, media-inducing paranoia and the restless urge to stop everything and just say “Fuck this!” and leave it all behind. Much like its immediate predecessor, Altas Vending offers a snapshot of the the modern condition as they see it. However, what makes Atlas Vending different is that each of its ten songs were written to form musical and narrative whole with the album’s songs following a cradle-to-grave trajectory.

As a result, the album’s material emotionally runs through a gamut of emotions — from the most rudimentary and simple of adulthood to the increasingly nuanced and turbulent peaks and valleys of adulthood. So in some way, the album finds the band tackling what’s inevitable for all of us: getting older, especially in an industry suspended in perpetual youth. “Change is inevitable if you’re lucky,” METZ’s Alex Eadkins says of the band’s fourth album Atlas Vending. “Our goal is to remain in flux, to grow in a natural and gradual way. We’ve always been wary to not overthink or intellectualize the music we love but also not satisfied until we’ve accomplished something that pushes us forward.”

METZ have developed and furthered a reputation as purveyors of abrasive melodicism and one of the planet’s most bombastic, contemporary live acts through relentless touring across the globe throughout both this site’s history and their history. Determined to connect with their fans and to find a way within the confines of the pandemic to create a live experience as dynamic as Atlas Vending, the members of the Canadian JOVM mainstays took the stage at Toronto’s Opera House in October 2020 to livestream their latest album in its entirety. Today, the band announced the official release of the live show, Live at the Opera House recorded by longtime collaborator Graham Walsh and mixed by Seth Manchester through all the digital service providers with bundles at Bandcamp and Sub Pop’s Mega Mart that include the full concert film, directed by the band’s longtime video collaborator Scott Cudmore.

There’s also a pre-order for a limited 1,000 piece vinyl pressing on tricolor (Black/White/Oxblood), which also includes a download of the full concert film. The LP can be ordered through megamart.subpop.com, METZ’s merch store, and Bandcamp, and will be available November 5th in select independent retailers in North America.

Now, as may remember I wrote about Live at the Opera House single “A Boat to Drown In,” which was also coincidentally, Atlas Vending’s first official single. While continuing the band’s long-held reputation for crafting enormous, aural assaults centered around layers of distortion pedaled power chords, thunderous drumming mosh pit friendly hooks and chorus, and Eadkins’ howled vocals, “A Boat to Drown In” also finds the trio subtly moving away from their grunge influences with the song possessing an oceanic heft.

“Pulse” is a seething and furious roar, full of the anxious and uncertain dread and that has become a part of our daily lives since the Trump Administration — and has continued through a deadly pandemic that has put most of our lives in disarray. The live footage finds the band delivering a blistering and forceful performance that’s shot with an intimate yet cinematic aplomb.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising Punk Act Kills Birds Releases an Uneasy and Furious Ripper

Rapidly rising Los Angeles-based punk act Kills Birds — currently founding members Nina Ljeti (vocals) and Jacob Loeb (guitar) with Fielder Thomas (bass) — was founded back in 2017 as a sort of secret musical side project for the band’s Ljeti and Loeb. The project evolved into a full-fledged band with the addition of Thomas. And since then, the members of Kills Birds have received attention locally and elsewhere for crafting material centered around jagged, post punk-like guitar driven melodies, slow-buying dynamics, and Ljeti’s urgent lyrics and delivery.

Kills Birds’ 2019 self-tiled full-debut, which featured the feral and uneasy “Volcano” was released to praise from the likes of NPR, Nylon, The Fader, The New York Times, Paste Magazine, Chicago Tribune. And they’ve been championed by the likes of Kim Gordon, Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, who invited the band to record their forthcoming sophomore album at this Studio 606 — and to join Foo Fighters for their November 10 Mexico City show. (I’m jumping ahead here but the tour also includes a December 14, 2021 stop at Elsewhere’s Zone One. You can check out the rest of those tour dates further below. They’ll also open for Sleigh Bells during their October national tour.)

Since I mentioned it earlier, Kills Birds’ sophomore album Married is slated for a November 12, 2021 release through Royal Mountain Records/KRO Records. Recorded at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606, the album is a brutal, intense and deeply personal account of an abusive romantic relationship fueled by struggles with power dynamics. While being deeply personal and cathartic, the album sonically oscillates between quiet and loud dynamics in a way that’s beautiful, aggressive and devastating.

“Rabbit,” Married’s first single is centered around alternating explosively loud sections featuring chugging power chords and thunderous drumming, Ljeti’s howled vocals and quieter sections centered around Ljeti’s hushed whispers. Sonically and thematically, the song evokes the shock, awe, revulsion and shame of a narrator in the middle of a dysfunctional and abusive relationship that has her questioning herself and self-worth. Plus, the recognition that this particular relationship is a defining moment of her life — one of which, every relationship of her life will compare in some way or another. The entire affair is devastating honest and unsettling.

“Lyrically, ‘Rabbit’ is about the experience of being in an abusive relationship with a powerful person,” Kills Birds’ Nina Ljeti explains. “To be with someone who was praised by the public, but hurt you (and others) in private really eviscerates your self-worth. There’s nowhere to turn for help. Like many people who share this experience, this particular relationship defined the majority of my young adulthood, and I’m still dealing with the emotional consequences of it.”

The band’s Jacob Loeb continues, “‘Rabbit” was the first song written for the new album. Despite being one of the harder-hitting songs on the record, it was originally written on an acoustic guitar at Nina’s house. The goal was for the chorus to have an almost disorienting quiet/loud dynamic which really came to life when we plugged in and all practiced it for the first time. We tried to make the chorus start so quietly that the listener feels like something went wrong with their speaker and has to kind of lean in to hear Nina singing before the repetition of “how could I?” abruptly and violently re-enters, startling them and making the emotion visceral.”

een film crew filming the band during a rehearsal take, which also includes someone oqccaiosnally pulling out a light meter. Intimately shot, the visual captures the band’s feral live energy — with Ljeti being an explosive and furious presence. Lteji, who’s an award-winning filmmaker herself says “It’s interesting to be on the other side of the camera for “Rabbit”, especially since the concept of the video involves an unseen crew doing a rehearsal take of our performance. though i had no problem relinquishing control as a performer for Susie (the director) it’s not something i’m really used to anymore. so it’s an exciting challenge.” The entire band adds “For ‘Rabbit’ we wanted to depart from the lo-fi aesthetic of our first record and come back with something that was super vivid, bold and direct. The idea was to capture the raw energy of our live performance, particularly from Nina, in the sterile and stilted setting of a film set, with the camera itself becoming this kind of ominous force that manipulates and distorts what it captures.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Gluts Take Us on a Hedonistic Glimpse of Ancient Rome

Rising Milan-based act The Gluts — Claudia Cesana (bass/vocals), Bruno Bassi (drums) and Nicolò Campana (vocals, synths) and Marco Campana (guitar) — derive their name from a term used to denote unsold goods and symbolically expresses a surplus of energy like the one that drives their work. Since their formation, the rising Italian quartet have established and honed an explosive psychedelic-take on noise through the release of their first three albums, 2014’s Warsaw, 2017’s Estasi and 2019’s Dengue Fever Hypnotic Trip.

The Gluts’ Bob de Wit-produced fourth album Ungrateful Heart is slated for an October 8, 2021 released through Fuzz Club and the album reportedly finds the Italian psych rockers making a decided sonic departure from with the material being rooted in a sound indebted to 70s punk, 80s hardcore and post punk — in particular, Fugazi, Gang of Four, Sex Pistols, Public Image, Ltd. and the Campana brothers’ obsessive with Italian and American hardcore punk. Recorded over a tireless week in which the band and their producer essentially lived and worked side-by-side in the studio around the clock, the Ungrateful Heart sessions were fueled by a forceful intensity and uncompromising fierceness. “Bob’s contribution to this album was essential. He pushed us beyond our limits. It was difficult, we can’t hide it, but it really was worth it,” the members of The Gluts say in press notes.

Ungrateful Heart’s latest single “Love Me Do Again” offers listeners a real taste of what to expect from the album: slashing and angular attack paired with scorching feedback, atmospheric synths, four-on-the-floor that builds up to a frenzied intensity paired with a snarled, old school punk rock vocal delivery and an enormous hook. The new single is a slick and uncanny mesh of Never Mind the Bollocks-era Sex Pistols and Mission of Burma — rooted in unadulterated hedonism. Written by the band’s Bruno Bassi while in lockdown, “Love Me Do Again” was “inspired by the different versions of the myth of Dionysus (the Greek god of wine, pleasure, madness and frenzied ecstasy) and an unexpected excitement caused by imagining how great it would be to be all together again. At the end of the song our fascination for The Sex Pistols can be felt, since Nico screams like Johnny Rotten.”

Directed by Brace Beltempo, the recently released and gorgeously cinematic visual for “Love Me Do Again” is set in ancient Roman times — but while nodding at Caligula and the anachronistic-style of Sofia Coppola, with characters wearing roller skates. Bassi explains ” “In the video Nico plays the role of Dionysus and Claudia a maenad. Dionysus is the God associated with irrationality and the excess(es) of life and that’s what is behind our own name . . . ”

The Milan-based act will be touring to support the new album with stops across mainland Europe throughout October.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Amyl and the Sniffers Release an Explosive yet Vulnerable Ripper

Acclaimed Melbourne-based punk act Amyl and The Sniffers — Amy Taylor (vocals), Gus Romer (bass), Bryce Wilson (drums) and Declan Martens (guitar) — formed back in 2016 and shortly after their formation, they wrote and self-recorded their debut EP Giddy Up. The following year, saw the release of the Big Attractions EP, which was packed as a double 12 inch EP with Giddy Up released through Homeless Records in Australia and Damaged Goods in the UK.

The band exploded into the international scene with a set at The Great Escape Festival, a series of sold out London area shows and a Stateside tour opening for JOVM mainstays King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. They added to a busy year with a headlining tours across both the UK and US before signing to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Flightless Records for distribution across Australia and New Zealand and Rough Trade for the rest of the world. The year was capped off with a Q Awards nomination for Best New Act and won the $30,000 Levis Prize.

storm, and then promptly released their self-tiled, full-length debut to critical applause globally while further cementing a feral and anarchic take on ’77 era punk. Adding to a breakthrough year, Amyl and the Sniffers won an ARIA Award for Best Rock Album. 

too, Mötorhead and Wendy O. Williams, Warthog, Power Trip, Coloured Balls and Cosmic Psychos. Taylor’s delivery and lyrics were inspired by her love of hip-hop and garage rock.

se with sick green walls. It sucked but it was also nice. We spent heaps of time in the backyard listening to music, thrashing around in shorts, eating hot chips. The boys had a hard time being away from the pub and their mates, but it meant we had a lot of time to work on this record. Most of the songs were really intuitive. Main thing, we just wanted it to be us. In the small windows we had in between lockdowns, we went to our rehearsal space, which is a storage locker down the road at National Storage Northcote. We punched all the songs into shape at Nasho and for the first time ever we wrote more songs than we needed. We had the luxury of cutting out the songs that were shit and focusing on the ones we loved.

ur for two years, you get really good at playing. We were a better band and we had heaps of songs, so we were just different. The nihilistic, live in the moment, positivity and panel beater rock-meets-shed show punk was still there, but it was better. The whole thing was less spontaneous and more darkly considered. The lyrics I wrote for the album are better too, I think. The amount of time and thought I put into the lyrics for this album is completely different from the EPs, and even the first record. Half of the lyrics were written during the Australian Bushfire season, when we were already wearing masks to protect ourselves from the smoke in the air. And then when the pandemic hit, our options were the same as everyone: go find a day job and work in intense conditions or sit at home and drown in introspection. I fell into the latter category. I had all this energy inside of me and nowhere to put it, because I couldn’t perform, and it had a hectic effect on my brain.

y brain evolved and warped and my way of thinking about the world completely changed. Having to deal with a lot of authority during 2020 and realising my lack of power made me feel both more self destructive and more self disciplined, more nihilistic and more depressed and more resentful, which ultimately fuelled me with a kind of relentless motivation. I became a temporary monster. I partied more, but I also exercised heaps, read books and ate veggies. I was like an egg going into boiling water when this started, gooey and weak but with a hard surface. I came out even harder. I’m still soft on the inside, but in a different way. All of this time, I was working on the lyrics. I pushed myself heaps and heaps, because there were things that I needed to say. The lyrics draw a lot from rap phrasing, because that’s what I’m into. I just wanted to be a weird bitch and celebrate how weird life and humans are.

ounding like a dumb cunt. So anyway, that’s where this album comes from. People will use other bands as a sonic reference to make it more digestible and journalists will make it seem more pretentious and considered than it really is, but in the end this album is just us — raw self expression, defiant energy, unapologetic vulnerability. It was written by four self-taught musicians who are all just trying to get by and have a good time. 

is an Australian car show and the Nanny cares about social issues and she’s read a couple of books, and Mr Sheffield is drinking beer in the sun. It’s a Mitsubishi Lancer going slightly over the speed limit in a school zone. It’s realising how good it is to wear track pants in bed. It’s having someone who wants to cook you dinner when you’re really shattered. It’s me shadow-boxing on stage, covered in sweat, instead of sitting quietly in the corner.”

Earlier this month, I wrote about Comfort To Me’s first single, “Guided by Angels,” a riotous, mosh pit friendly ripper centered around Taylor’s frenetic energy and punchily delivered vocals, buzzing power chords and a pub friendly, shout along with a raised beer in your hand hook. But underneath all of that, “Guided by Angels” is fueled by a defiant and unapologetic vulnerability and a rare, unshakeable faith in possibility and overall goodness; that there actually are good angels right over your shoulder to guide you and sustain you when you need them the most. Comfort To Me’s second and latest single “Security” is a Highway to Hell-era AC/DC-like anthem full of swaggering braggadocio, boozy power chords, thunderous drumming, shout along worthy hooks and Taylor’s feral delivery. Interestingly, much like its immediate predecessor, the song is fueled by a rare and infectious earnestness and vulnerability for most punk rock with the song’s narrator boldly and unapologetically declaring that they need and are looking for love — right now!

nuing the band’s ongoing collaboration with John Angus Stewart, the cinematically shot visual for “Security” follows Amy Taylor in a cemetery at dusk in a blue bubble coat and jeans dancing and bopping through the entire video’s run. Much like the video for “Guided by Angels,” we’re reminded that Taylor is an atomic bomb of furious and frenetic energy, exploding across the screen.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New VIdeo: Amyl and The Sniffers Explosive and Life-Affirming “Guided by Angels”

Acclaimed Melbourne-based punk act Amyl and The Sniffers — Amy Taylor (vocals), Gus Romer (bass), Bryce Wilson (drums) and Declan Martens (guitar) — formed back in 2016 and shortly after their formation, they wrote and self-recorded their debut EP Giddy Up. The following year, saw the release of the Big Attractions EP, which was packed as a double 12 inch EP with Giddy Up released through Homeless Records in Australia and Damaged Goods in the UK.

The band exploded into the international scene with a set at The Great Escape Festival, a series of sold out London area shows and a Stateside tour opening for JOVM mainstays King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. They added to a busy year with a headlining tours across both the UK and US before signing to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Flightless Records for distribution across Australia and New Zealand and Rough Trade for the rest of the world. The year was capped off with a Q Awards nomination for Best New Act and won the $30,000 Levis Prize.

Building upon a rapidly growing profile took 2019’s SXSW by storm, and then promptly released their self-tiled, full-length debut to critical applause globally. The Aussie punk act’s debut further established — and cemented — a feral and anarchic take on ’77-era punk. And adding to a breakthrough year, the band won an ARIA Award for Best Rock Album.

The Aussie act’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Comfort To Me is slated for a September 10, 2021 release through ATO Records. The quartet wrote the album while quarantining in the same house together during the pandemic — and the writing process found the band spending more time refining the album’s material than they had previously. “The nihilistic, live in the moment, positivity and panel beater rock-meets-shed show punk was still there, but it was better,” Amyl and The Sniffers’ Amy Taylor says in press notes. “The whole thing was less spontaneous and more darkly considered.”

amount of time and thought I put into the lyrics for this album is completely different from the EPs, and even the first record,” Taylor continues. “Half of the lyrics were written during the Australian bushfire season, when we were already wearing masks to protect ourselves from the smoke in the air. And then when the pandemic hit, our options were the same as everyone: go find a day job and work in intense conditions or sit at home and drown in introspection. I fell into the latter category. I had all this energy inside of me and nowhere to put it, because I couldn’t perform, and it had a hectic effect on my brain. My brain evolved and warped and my way of thinking about the world completely changed. Having to deal with a lot of authority during 2020 and realising my lack of power made me feel both more self destructive and more self disciplined, more nihilistic and more depressed and more resentful, which ultimately fuelled me with a kind of relentless motivation. I became a temporary monster. I partied more, but I also exercised heaps, read books and ate veggies. I was like an egg going into boiling water when this started, gooey and weak but with a hard surface. I came out even harder. I’m still soft on the inside, but in a different way.”

y and aesthetically, Comfort To Me reportedly sees the band amping up their infectious and chaotic energy even higher. “People will use other bands as a sonic reference to make it more digestible and journalists will make it seem more pretentious and considered than it really is,” says Taylor, “but in the end this album is just us — raw self expression, defiant energy, unapologetic vulnerability.”

Comfort To Me’s first single “Guided by Angels” is a riotous, mosh pit friendly ripper centered around Taylor’s frenetic energy and punchily delivered vocals, buzzing power chords, a relentlessly chugging bass line, pummeling drumming and a shout-a-long-with-a-raised-beer-in-your-hands hook. But at its core, the song is fueled by a defiant and unapologetic vulnerability, and a rare, unshakeable faith in goodness and possibility; that there may be good angels, right over your shoulder when you need the most. When the shit has hit the fan, and all seems bleak and hopeless — as it all too often does — play this loud, yell along with Taylor while her bandmates rip and feel the small comfort of the blood flowing in your body, the roar of your own voice, and the hope that it usually does get a small bit better.

Directed by John Angus Stewart, the cinematically shot visual for “Guided by Angels” follows the band driving around their hometown, vamping and preening for what could be album art photo shoots in various abandoned parts of town. While her bandmates coolly drive their little sedan or stand around watching, Taylor is an atomic bomb of furious and frenetic energy, exploding across your screen.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: METZ Performs “A Boat to Drown In” at Toronto’s The Opera House

Over the course of this site’s almost 11 year history — it turns 11 next week — i’ve spilled copious amounts of virtual ink covering Toronto-based punk trio and JOVM mainstays METZ. With the release of their third album, 2017’s Strange Peace, the trio — Alex Eadkins (vocals, guitar), Chris Slorach (bass) and Hayden Menzies (drums) —  pushed their songwriting in a new direction, as they crafted some of their most personal and politically charged work with the material capturing the anxiety, uncertainty, fear and outrage of the 2016 election cycle.

r themselves and for the album before they set to work on it: that they were going to make a much more patient and honest album, an album that invited repeated listens rather than a few exhilarating mosh-pit friendly bludgeonings. Co-produced by Uniform’s Ben Greenberg and mastered by Seth Manchester at Pawtucket’s Machines with Magnets, the album finds the band crafting music for the long haul, with the hopes that their work could serve as a constant as they navigated life’s trials and tribulations.r themselves and for the album before they set to work on it: that they were going to make a much more patient and honest album, an album that invited repeated listens rather than a few exhilarating mosh-pit friendly bludgeonings. Co-produced by Uniform’s Ben Greenberg and mastered by Seth Manchester at Pawtucket’s Machines with Magnets, the album finds the band crafting music for the long haul, with the hopes that their work could serve as a constant as they navigated life’s trials and tribulations.

hem attention and hearts across the world — but while arguably being their most articulate, earnest and dynamic of their growing catalog. Thematically, the album covers disparate yet very adult themes: paternity, crushing social anxiety, addiction, isolation, media-induced paranoia and the restless urge to just say “Fuck this!” and leave it all behind.  Much like its predecessor, Altas Vending offers a snapshot of the the modern condition as they see it; however, each of the album’s ten songs were written to form a musical and narrative whole with the album’s song sequencing following a cradle-to-grave trajectory. And as a result, the album’s material runs through the gamut of emotions — from the most rudimentary and simple of childhood to the increasingly nuanced and turbulent peaks and valleys of adulthood. So in some way, the album find the band tackling what’s inevitable for all of us — getting older, especially in an industry seemingly suspended in youth. “Change is inevitable if you’re lucky,” METZ’s Alex Eadkins says of the band’s fourth album Atlas Vending. “Our goal is to remain in flux, to grow in a natural and gradual way. We’ve always been wary to not overthink or intellectualize the music we love but also not satisfied until we’ve accomplished something that pushes us forward.”

, Atlas Vending closing track “A Boat to Drown In” was the album’s first official single and while continuing the band’s long-held reputation for crafting enormous, aural assaults centered around layers of distortion fueled powered chords, thunderous drumming, a mosh pit friendly hook and Eadkins urgent and howled vocals. But unlike their previously released material, “A Boat to Drown In” finds the band moving away from their grunge influences with their most expansive track to date, a track that finds them at their most oceanic. According to Eadkins, “A Boat to Drown in.” is “. . . about leaving a bad situation behind. About overcoming obstacles that once held you back, rising above and looking to a better future. The title refers to immersing yourself fully into what you love and using it as a sanctuary from negativity and a catalyst for change.”

Recently, the JOVM mainstays released a furious and urgent live version of “A Boat to Drown In” filmed as part of a live stream the band released last year at Toronto’s The Opera House that should serve as a reminder of their explosive live show — and of what many of us miss about live shows. Interestingly, with the release of the live footage, the members of METZ announced a co-headlining North American tour THIS fall with fellow JOVM mainstays Preoccupations. The tour will include two NYC area dates: December 9 at Elsewhere Hall and December 10 at Bowery Ballroom.

April and May 2022 sees the Canadians touring across the European Union.

“We are incredibly excited to be announcing a real in-person tour for later this year!” METZ’s Alex Eadkins says in press notes. “We cannot wait to share Atlas Vending with you and to reconnect with our musical friends and family worldwide.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Los Angeles’ Egg Drop Soup Releases a Furious New Ripper

Los Angeles-based punk rock act Egg Drop Soup — founding members Sam Westervelt (vocals, bass) and Olivia Saperstein (guitar) and their newest member Bailey Chapman (drums) — can trace their origins back to a previous band that its founding members once played in. Interestingly, when Westervelt and Saperstein started the band in 2017, it was centered around its founding duo’s deep and abiding simpatico. “Olivia and I just have this telepathy in our songwriting,” Westervelt says. 

Since their formation, the act has worked with Travis Parvur at Golden Beat Recording Studio on material, including their debut EP 2019’s P.M.S. Last year, the band expanded into a trio with the addition of Chapman — and they closed out the year with the Christmastime release of their sophomore EP Eat Snacks and Bleed, which featured the mosh pit friendly ripper “Swamp Ass,” a track that reminded me quite a bit of JOVM mainstays The Coathangers and Amyl and the Sniffers.

Building upon a growing profile, the trio will be releasing a split 7″ with fellow Angelinos Broken Baby that’s slated for an end of June release. The act’s contribution to that split release “Or Durves” continues a run of mosh pit rippers centered around fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming and Sam Westervelt’s insouciant, zero-fucks given vocal delivery. The song is instantly relatable to anyone who’s worked a corporate job that they found to be soulless drudgery but an ends to a means while they hold on to dreams of being a creative of some sort. In this case, the bad attitude having, indifferent employee narrator of the song gets fired and dedicates their life to their rock ‘n’ roll dreams. Interestingly, the track was recorded with longtime collaborator Travis Pavur at Golden Beat Recording Studio with their original drummer Greg Settino.

Directed by the band’s Sam Westervelt, the recently released video for “Or Durves” is about as DIY as you can get it: Westervelt created the sets and sock puppets that inhabit the video’s soul-crushing corporate world. Most of the items that appear in the video were repurposed from things she kept for years without quite know why she was doing so — like underwire from a bra, that wound up being turned into headphones for one scene “I can’t stress the word ‘challenge’ enough, but it was a good challenge which tested my patience, tenacity and follow-through,” Sam says. “There have been moments when I was like how the fuck am I gonna pull this off but I think it’s really important for artists to stretch ourselves and find the comfort in the uncomfortable.” The end result is a video that’s not only hilarious but captures the modern sense of frustration and hatred for the corporate world.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Watch JOVM Mainstays Warish Appear on a Trainwreck of a Late Night Show

With the release of their 2019 full-length debut, Down In Flames, the San Diego-based noise punk trio Warish — currently founding member Riley Hawk (guitar, vocals), Alex Bassaj (bass) and Justin de la Vega (drums) — quickly established a reputation for crafting mosh pit friendly, bludgeoning rippers, that bring early Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, Incesticide-era Nirvana, Static Age-era Misfits and others to mind.

The San Diego-based JOVM mainstays’ 13-song sophomore album Next To Pay officially drops today and the album finds the noise punk trio at their darkest and most vicious.“Next To Pay is about a sense of imminent doom, everyone is going to die,” Warish’s Riley Hawk says in press notes. “It’s not the happiest record, I guess.” Sonically, the album finds the band continuing to draw from the same influences as its predecessor, but while pushing their sound in a much more forceful — and in turn, nastier — direction, with the album’s guitar sound being heavily influenced by the work of Greg Ginn and Buzz Osborne — i.e., wiry contortions drenched in various chorus effect pedals. “This album is more of an evolution, it’s a little more punk-heavy,” Hawk adds. “We figured out what our sound was.”  

It could be argued that the band’s sonic evolution was informed by a massive lineup changes within the band: The band’s original drummer Nick “Broose” McDonnell plays on roughly half the album’s songs while their newest drummer Justin de la Vega played on the more recently written and recorded tracks. Alex Bassaj joined the band after their debut was recorded, so Next To Pay marks his official Warish debut. 

So far I’ve written about three of the album’s released singles:

“Seeing Red,” a breakneck, Bleach-era Nirvana like ripper centered around Hawk’s howled vocals, scuzzy power chords, a forceful and chugging bass line paired with pummeling drumming that continues a run of mosh pit friendly material — but with a feral snarl. 
“S.H.M. (Second Hand Misery)” another breakneck ripper that sonically reminded me of a gritty synthesis of Nirvana and Melvins — but full of bile and evil intentions. 
Scars,” a piss and bile fueled ripper that managed to sound like a synthesis of
Nirvana’s “Territorial Pissings” and Ride the Lightning-era Metallica.

“Destroyer,” Next To Pay’s fourth and latest single is a furious and snarling ripper that may remind some folks of Melvins, Nevermind-era Nirvana and others, as its centered around fuzzy and distorted power chords, thunderous drumming and distorted vocals. Much like its predecessors, “Destroyer” is the sort of song meant to play excessively loud and jump into a mosh pit full of sweaty and jubilant humans. God, I fucking miss shows.

Filmed by Lannie Rhoades and Nate Correia, the recently released video throws the members of Warish on a low-budget, train wreck of a talk show, hosted by an indifferent and sarcastic host. The interview segment is cringe-inducing and full of Dad jokes, followed by a live performance of sorts much like a real talk show.

Next To Pay is out now through RidingEasy Records. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mannequin Pussy Releases a Feral Mosh Pit Friendly Ripper

That same month, the band had thirteen songs released on a split tour cassette with Idaho-based band Art Fad titled Banditos, released through Trash Palace Tapes. The band expanded to a trio with the addition of Drew Adler (drums) — and as a result, Paul moved to guitar. With that lineup, the band released their full-length debut, 2013’s Gypsy Pervert as a limited edition, cassette only released through Rarebit Records.

In 2014 the members of Mannequin Pussy signed to Tiny Engines, who re-released their full-length debut. Over the next two years, the band went through a series of lineup changes: 2015 saw Reading replace Adler on drums and in the following year Regisford returned to the band. The lineup of Missy, Reading and Regisford and Paul released their critically applauded, breakthrough album Romantic, which featured “Romantic,” a trace that landed on Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Songs of 2016 list.

In March 2019, the band signed with Epitaph Records, who released their third album Patience that June. Much like a handful of bands across the world, last year was looking up for the members of the band: they had started touring to support Patience — and after a decade as a band, they were finally able to turn music into a full-time job. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a massive monkey wrench into everyone’s plans, making touring, let alone playing anywhere impossible and dangerous. The band announced that Athanasios Paul had left the band to “start a new chapter in his life” and that they would continue forward as a trio.

After spending much of last year in anxious, pandemic-related isolation, the remaining members decided to reconvene and book studio time with Grammy-nominated producer Will Yip to work in person. They brought two previously written songs into the sessions, but they were so excited from their reunion, that they decided to write new material together on the fly. “We just figured if we forced ourselves into this situation where someone could hit ‘record,’ something might come out,” Missy says. “We’d never written that way before.” The end result is the band’s forthcoming EP Perfect.

Inspired by months of social isolation and anxiety-fueled doom scrolling, the EP and its title track in particular, thematically examines the practice of condensing your daily life into a manicured stream of images for social media consumption. “Last year, I found myself spending more time on my phone than I ever had in my life. Physically separate from other people, I spent hours of time watching other humans perform on my rectangle. I realized that through years of social media training, many of us have grown this deep desire to manicure our lives to look as perfect, as aspirational as possible,” the band’s frontwoman Missy explains in press notes. ““We want to put ourselves out there, share our lives, our stories, our day to day – and these images and videos all shout the same thing: ‘Please look at me, please tell me I’m so perfect.’ It’s simultaneously a declaration of our confidence but edged with the desperation that seeks validation from others.”

Clocking in at a little over 2:30, “Perfect” is a hardcore punk-inspired, feral bludgeoning, centered around thunderous drumming, howled vocals and explosive power chords and a mosh pit friendly break. Play this one loud. Play it so loud that it frightens your neighbor.

Directed by the band’s Missy, the recently released video for “Perfect” is inspired by the 1997 cult comedy Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. Taking viewers to Sugarbush High’s 10-year anniversary, the video reveals the rot, unease and freakishness under the veneer of perfection. The freaks who uproot everything are the heroes and the norms are awful — and that’s generally the case, isn’t it?

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Warish Release a Feral and Bruising Ripper

With the release of their first two EPs and their full-length debut, 2019’s Down In Flames, the San Diego-based noise punk trio Warish — currently founding member Riley Hawk (guitar, vocals), Alex Bassaj (bass) and Justin de la Vega (drums) — quickly established a reputation for crafting mosh pit friendly, bludgeoning rippers with an aggressively sleazy Troma Films-like vibe that seemingly drew from early Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, Incesticide-era Nirvana, Static Age-era Misfits and others.

The JOVM mainstays’ sophomore album Next To Pay is slated for an April 30, 2021 release through RidingEasy Records. Reportedly, the San Diego noise punk trio’s highly-anticipated 13-song, sophomore album finds the JOVM mainstays at their darkest and bitingly vicious. “Next To Pay is about a sense of imminent doom, everyone is going to die,” Warish’s Riley Hawk says in press notes. “It’s not the happiest record, I guess.” Sonically, the album’s material finds the band drawing from the same influences as its predecessor but while pushing it in a new and forceful direction. While still centered around heavy guitars, the JOVM mainstays stray away from straightforward cookie cutter punk and lean more in the direction of Greg Ginn and Buzz Osborne — wiry contortions drenched in various chorus effects. “This album is more of an evolution, it’s a little more punk-heavy,” Hawk adds. “We figured out what our sound was.”

Unsurprisingly, that evolution necessitated a massive lineup change: the band’s original drummer Nick “Broose” McDonnell plays on about half the album’s songs while their newest drummer Justin de la Vega took over for the more recently written and recorded tracksHawk. Alex Basassj joined the band after their debut was recorded, making Next To Pay, his official Wartish debut.

“Seeing Red,” Next To Pay’s latest single is a breakneck, Bleach-era Nirvana like ripper centered around Hawk’s howled vocals, scuzzy power chords, a forceful and chugging bass line and pummeling drumming and a scorching that continues a run of mosh pit friendly material –but this time with a feral snarl.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Death

Today is February 21, 2021. It’s the 21at day of Black History Month. And as I’ve mentioned throughout this series, I’ve been featuring Black artists across a wide and eclectic array of genres and styles — with the hopes that it’ll be a bit of a primer on the Black experience and on Black music.

Of course, I hope that these posts will serve as a reminder of these very important facts:

Black culture is American culture — and Black music is American music.
America’s greatest and beloved contributions to the world are Black music styles — the blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop.
Black art matters.
Black lives matter — all of them, all of the time.

etroit-based garage rock/punk rock act Death have one of the most interesting backstories I’ve come across in this site’s 10-plus year history, and it’s worth retelling: Formed by The Hackney Brothers — Bobby (bass, vocals), David (guitar) and Dannis (drums) — in 1971, the band began as an R&B and funk band. But the sibling trio’s lives were transformed after they caught The Who and Alice Cooper in concert. As the story goes, David, the youngest of the sibling trio pushed for a hard rock-like song unbeknownst to them managed to presage punk and post-punk by several years, Of course, a change in sonic direction necessitated a change in band name — to Death, As Bobby Hackney explained in 2010, David’s concept was spinning death from the negative to the positive. “It was a hard sell.”

In 1975, The Hackney Brothers recorded a handful of songs written by David and Bobby at Detroit’s United Sound Studios with engineer Jim Vitti. According to The Hackney Family, Clive Davis funded those recording sessions — but while doing so, repeatedly implored that the band change their name to something much more commercially palatable. The Hackneys refused. Davis pulled his financial support and as a result, the band was left with seven recorded songs instead of the planned for 12. By the following year, the band released an extremely limited release of 500 copies of the “Politicians In My Eyes”/”Keep On Knocking” single, followed by their full-length debut to little fanfare.

By 1977, The Hackneys ended Death and relocated to Burlington, VT where they released two albums of gospel rock as The 4 Movement in the late 70s and early 80s. In 1982, David returned to Detroit while Bobby and Dannis remained, eventually forming the reggae band Lambsbread. Sadly in 2000, David Hackney died of lung cancer. But reportedly before he died, David Hackney told his older siblings that although they were misunderstood and forgotten in their heyday, history would prove them and their work as Death as truly revolutionary and important — even if it was after his own death. In a serendipitous spin of fortune that seems too good to be true, several years after David’s death, Bobby’s sons stumbled upon the original Death masters hidden away in their parents’ attic. Bobby’s sons were so impressed and innpisred bay what they had heard, that they began covering Death’s material during their own sets — and that helped bring attention to their father’s and uncles’ work together.

Drag City Records, re-released Death’s original recordings in 2009, 35 years after its initial recording and release.The band’s sound which effortlessly meshed elements of reggae, garage rock, porto-punk and metal manages to presage the punk movement by three years — all while being an important musical bridge between Parliament Funkadelic and Bob Marley and Bad Brains, Fishbone, Living Colour, Lenny Kravitz, TV on the Radio, Prince and countless others.

Sine the re-release of their demos and full-length debut, the current Death lineup — surviving brothers Bobby (bass, vocals) and Dannis (drums) with Bobbie Duncan (guitar) — have gone on a number of national tours, including making stops across the national festival circuit, winning over new fans with their groundbreaking sound, while further cementing their rightful place in music history.

Punk rock is Black y’all. And being Black is punk as fuck.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays METZ Follows Two Dedicated Skaters in New Visuals for Furious Ripper “Sugar Pill”

Co-produced by Uniform’s Ben Greenberg and mastered by Seth Manchester at Pawtucket’s Machines with Magnets, METZ’s fourth album Atlas Vending sees the JOVM mainstays attempting to craft music for the long haul, with the hopes that their work could serve as a constant, as they — and of course, the listener — navigated through life’s trails and tribulations. The end result is an album’s worth of material that retains the massive sound that has won them attention and hearts across the world, but while arguably being among their most articulate, earnest and dynamic of their catalog and careers to date.Thematically, Atlas Vending covers disparate yet very adult themes: paternity, crushing social anxiety, addiction, isolation, media-induced paranoia and the restless urge to just say “Fuck this!” and leave it all behind. Much like its immediate predecessor, Atlas Vending offers a snapshot of the modern condition as the band sees it; however, Atlas Vending’s 10 songs were specifically written to form a musical and narrative arc with the album’s songs and sequencing following a cradle-to-grave trajectory.

Interestingly, as a result of the album’s cradle-to-grave narrative arc, the album’s material runs through a gamut of moods and emotional states, starting off with the most rudimentary and simplistic sensations of childhood, all the way to the increasingly nuanced and turbulent peaks and valleys of adulthood. Getting older — particularly getting older in an industry that constantly suspends itself in perpetual youth manages to be both text and subtext to the material. “Change is inevitable if you’re lucky,” METZ’s Alex Eadkins says of the band’s fourth album. “Our goal is to remain in flux, to grow in a natural and gradual way. We’ve always been wary to not overthink or intellectualize the music we love but also not satisfied until we’ve accomplished something that pushes us forward.”

Over the course of last year, I wrote about six off the album’s released singles:

Album closing track “A Boat to Drown In,” which may be the most expansive and oceanic tracks of their entire catalog.
“Hail Taxi,” an explosive and deceptively prototypical METZ track that’s centered a narrator, who desperately attempts to reconcile who they once were with what they’ve become.
“Blind Industrial Park,” a rapturous and euphoric ripper that’s an ode to the naivete of youth and the blissful freedom of being unburdened by the world surrounding you.
“Parasite,” a frenetic and pummeling ripper that they filmed at The Opera House in Toronto.
“Pulse,” a furious roar, full of the anxious and uncertain dread that was familiar to daily life during the Trump Administration.
“Framed by the Comet’s Tail,” Atlas Vending‘s most punk-like song, centered around the bitter recrimination and heartache of betrayal and the desperate desire to just say “Fuck all of this!” and start over.

“Sugar Pill,” Atlas Vending’s seventh and latest single is a furious, mosh pit friendly ripper, fueled by a bitter and uneasy dissatisfaction: it’s one-part desperate howl of the aging, who suddenly realize that they’ve been sold empty bullshit that has made their lives equally empty. “And now what?” the song seems to ask.

Directed by Shayne Ehman, the recently released video follows two diehard skaters — Jojo Johnson and Sara Smith — heading out to skateboard, even in the middle of a brutally cold, Canadian winter. Talk about dedication, right? “Skateboarding feels great. We love to skate. The birds need to sing, we need to skate,” Ehman says of the video. “I hope the winter skateboarding footage carries with it some of the love we have for skateboarding. I hope it contains a spirit of perseverance and the will to make it happen. Come wind, ice, or stormy weather, we shovel snow, we torch frost, we skate.”