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Tag: hard rock
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.
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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.
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New Video: Brighton’s Slung Shares Brooding “Collider”
Brighton, UK-based outfit Slung was initially the brainchild of its founding member and Small Pond Records label head Vlad Matveikov (bass) with the band actually being some time in the making: Mateikov randomly met Ali Johnson (guitar) at an Australian campground back in 2009. He fell in love with Katie Oldham (vocals) during COVID-19 related lockdowns. He had been familiar with drummer Ravi Martin through his work with his previous band, which he heard demos through his role with Small Pond.
But the actual genesis of Slung began when Mateikov’s previous band InTechnicolour broke up, and he began formulating new musical ideas without knowing where exactly they would lead him. Matveikov started out working with a series of like-minded vocalists including Sugar Horse‘s Ash Tubb, El Moono‘s Zac Jackson, Projector‘s Lucy Sheehan, CTRL DRP‘s Annie Dorret and Sick Joy’s Michael Barton before Oldham joined.
According to the band, bringing Oldham was its own journey. “First thing you need to know is that Vlad is an absolute machine,” Katie Oldham says matter-of-factly. “He has creativity, passion and drive like nothing else, and an ability to ‘get shit done’ that is second to none. He approached me about two years ago with these demos to see if I wanted to work with him as a vocalist, and maybe try turning them into a band. I *totally* bitched out,” she admits, laughing. “My previous band (Sit Down) had only very recently fallen apart and my confidence was in the gutter – I just didn’t feel ready. But immediately from working with him (on just one track to begin with), I felt incredibly reassured and encouraged by him, and it was such a different songwriting experience than I’d had before. After about a year of convincing and with Vlad having successfully recruited Ali and Ravi, I finally took the plunge and joined.”
Last year, the Brighton-based outfit released their first two singles, which captured the attention of folks across the music industry and the internet. But before that, they earned fans the old fashioned way — hitting the road before they officially released a note of music. Building upon the growing buzz surrounding the band, the Brighton-based band’s highly-anticipated full-length debut In Ways is slated for a May 2, 2025 release through Fat Dracula Records.
Drawing from an eclectic array of influences including like Deftones, Baroness, Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Queens of the Stone Age, Chappell Roan and Fleetwood Mac, the Brighton-based band’s debut album is a collaborative meshing of the band’s members’ experiences, circumstances and musical prowess.
The album’s material lyrically and thematically sees the band’s Oldham brining together personal, lived-in experience with more abstract, conceptual ideas and characters. Thematically, Oldham’s inspirations range from sex workers and the power dynamics that come along with the profession; the tragic occurrences of bull fights in Spain and more.
The album also features contributions from the band’s former collaborators including Sick Joy’s Micheal Barton, Projector’s Lucy Sheehan and CTRL DRP’s Annie Dorret.
Additionally for the band’s Katie Oldham, one of her personal missions for the band relates to representation, sisterhood and women being a more dominant force within the music industry, whether on stage, behind the scenes or in the crowd. “My love for women knows no bounds. Everything I do, I do for the girlies, the women and the female gaze exclusively. (This extends of course to ALL women inclusively, no TERF bullshit here.) There is just an unparalleled magical feeling when you’re around liberated, electrifying women who speak with honesty and clarity and without fear,” Oldham says. “The world is built to try and make us resent, envy and destroy each other, and I LOVE those moments where we realise we are more alike than what divides us. I want to be around women all the time, to be inspired by them, to connect with them and to share and to bond and unite.”
Earlier this year, I wrote about “Laughter,” a swaggering and pummeling, most pit friendly anthem that struck me as being a sort of synthesis of Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones and Paramore anchored around scorching power chords, thunderous drumming, heavy down-tuned bass and enormous arena rock friendly hooks and choruses paired with Oldham’s impassioned, powerhouse vocal.
“This song is about a face-off that’s been a long time coming, and the difficult relationships we can have with members of our family, especially our parents,” Slung’s Katie Oldham says. ” When we’re children we’re so desperate for our parents’ attention and approval that their dismissal or rejection can feel agonising. With an emotionally absent parent, trying desperately to earn love or consideration from someone who isn’t capable of giving it can be so destructive. This hurt can often develop into resentment as we age and we may even later villainise this person, wanting to fight, confront, defeat them.”
In Ways’ latest single “Collider” is a bass heavy, stoner rocker/desert rock-like dirge that brings back memories of Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and 90s grunge that also manages to perfectly complement and showcase Oldham’s powerhouse vocals.
Originally worked on by founding member Vlad Matveikov and El Moono’s Zac Jackson, the song was reworked a bit. “I kept most of Zac’s melodies as I really like the simplicity and drawn out syllables,” Katie Oldham says. “For the lyrics, I came up with a new narrative for this one based on the psych-infused nature of the tune. They tell the story of a cult who are ruled by a deity they refer to as the ‘ritual prophet’ and whom they converse with through the use of psychedelics.”
Shot by David Neale and edited by James Eldridge, the accompanying video for “Collider” is shot a moody, black and white silhouette with trippy bursts of color during the song’s chorus and guitar solo.