Punksgiving Music Festival has announced its full line-up. This is the third edition of the fest that takes place every Canadian Thanksgiving in Red Deer, Alberta. This year’s mayhem is going down on October 11 and tickets are on sale now.
PG3 will feature a stacked line-up with Bad Cop Bad Cop headlining with Dead Pioneers, The Corps, PEST (featuring Jeff Ament), Church Fight, Trashed Ambulance and more joining them for the party.
Ticket link: Eventbrite
Seattle, WA – August 07, 2026 – Seattle punk rockers The Drowns have released an innovative lyric video for their new single “Have a Heart.” The song is the second single to be released from the band’s upcoming full length album Harsh Reality, which releases September 18, 2026 via Pirates Press Records.
Harsh Reality features 13 new songs produced by punk rock legend Bill Stevenson (Descendents, Black Flag) at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, CO. Pre-orders are available from Pirates Press Records, as well as Coretex Records in Europe & Plastic Head Megastore in the UK.
“Have a Heart” is now streaming on all major platforms plus Bandcamp. The lyric video was shot & edited by Brian Lewis of Digital Decay Films, and features the original artwork of Malwina Siedlecka of Old School Design incorporated into it.
Like all great political punk in the tradition of The Clash or Stiff Little Fingers, the lyrics to “Have a Heart” prioritize people over polemic, reaching out with compassion in an age where it is in distressingly short supply. “I’m sure that we could change it all if we only had a heart,” implores singer/bassist Andy Wylie in the chorus. This is life-affirming music for hard times, made for everyone that could sorely use it right now.
“Have a Heart” follows the album’s lead single “Relentless,” which features a music video created from the band’s personal footage shot on tour.
While the title “Relentless” could easily refer to The Drowns’ infamously non-stop touring regimen, it refers instead to something far more humanitarian: the crushing weight of capitalism on the working poor. The song acknowledges the toll it takes on one’s mental health, struggling day in & day out with no breaks only to be left farther & farther behind. “I wish life would just give it a rest,” laments singer-guitarist Rev Peters.
All in all, Harsh Reality, recorded by Stevenson and mixed by Jason Livermore (Teenage Bottlerocket), is an unapologetically political punk record.
Stevenson certainly got the best out of the band’s songwriting and playing. Rev, Andy, and drummer Jake Margolis largely bashed out the tracks themselves, with the exception of additional guitar work on “Vengeance” by Zach Blair (Rise Against, Only Crime, GWAR), and a touch of accordion on “3rd & Pike” courtesy of Matt Hensley (A-100s, Flogging Molly). This collection of 13 new songs fuses everything fans have loved about the band’s previous sonic experimentation and focuses it into laser-tight melodic songwriting firmly rooted in punk rock, but with the potential to reach listeners from all walks of life.
It is a record poised to give the band’s hard-earned position as a fan-favorite in the global punk scene an even greater trajectory. For a band that has won over fans around the globe, record by record and show by show, it is a big statement, but simply put: Harsh Reality is The Drowns at the top of their game.
Harsh Reality is now available for pre-order from the Pirates Press Records webstore on 12” Classic Black Vinyl (/100), 12” Iridescent Green Vinyl (/600), 12” Into the Deep Marble Vinyl (/600), or 12” Halloween Orange Vinyl with Blood Red Ripple (/1400)! 12” Stardust Torrent Vinyl (/100) has already sold out during pre-order. The album is also available on CD.
Along with the album, brand new merch is also available now, including T-shirts, hoodies, hats, enamel pins, and patches!
Fans in Europe can order from Coretex Records and get a Coretex Exclusive 12” Metallic Gold Vinyl variant (/100), while Seattle locals can inquire with Georgetown Records about their exclusive 12” Sea Blue Smoke Vinyl variant! Both of these limited edition variants are while supplies last! And finally, fans in the UK can order from Plastic Head Megastore!
The Drowns, 2026: (L-R) Jake Margolis (drums), Rev Peters (vocals/guitar), Andy Wylie (vocals/bass)
Photo Credit: John Gilhooley
08/14/2026 – Weinheim, DE – Café Central (w/ PULLEY, HORACE PINKER)
08/15/2026 – Volynê, CZ – Summer Punk Party 2026 (w/ H2O)
09/16/2026 – Spokane, WA – The Big Dipper
09/17/2026 – Yakima, WA – Bearded Monkey Music
09/18/2026 – Springfield, OR – Richard E Wildish Community Theater
09/19/2026 – Portland, OR – Dante’s
09/20/2026 – Seattle, WA – Clock Out Lounge
w/ THEBONES, MURPHY’S LAW
10/23/2026 – Hamburg, DE – Kasierkeller/Hamburger Musik Club
10/24/2026 – Essen, DE – Turock
10/25/2026 – Drachten, NL – Poppodium Iduna
10/26/2026 – Kortrijk, BE – De Verlichte Geest – Kortrijk
10/28/2026 – Winterthur, CH – Gaswerk
10/29/2026 – Schweinfurt, DE – Kulturhaus Stattbahnhof
10/30/2026 – Wien, AT – Szene Wien
10/31/2026 – Prague, CZ – Rock Café
w/ SHEER TERROR
11/02/2026 – London, UK – New Cross Inn
11/03/2026 – Huddersfield, UK – The Parish
11/05/2026 – Nuneaton, UK – Queens Hall
11/06/2026 – Newport, UK – The Cab
11/08/2026 – Stockport, UK – Holy Diver
11/09/2026 – Portsmouth, UK – Kola
CHARGER ANNOUNCE NEW EP LAST CALL & LEAD SINGLE “BREAKOUT”
FIVE NEW SONGS FROM EAST BAY ROCKERS FEATURING MATT FREEMAN OF RANCID
Oakland, WA – July 24, 2026 – Pre-orders are underway for Last Call, the new record from the East Bay’s mighty Charger…just in time for your motorcycle trip to Hell! The EP is scheduled for release on October 23, 2026 via Pirates Press Records, and features the 5 new songs recorded by Chris Dugan at Studio 2200 in Sausalito, CA – the legendary Bay Area studio formerly known as The Record Plant. Pre-orders available from Pirates Press Records (as well as Coretex Records in Europe & Plastic Head Megastore in the UK). The lead single “Breakout,” is now streaming on all major platforms!
Charger members hail from legendary punk bands such as UK Subs, Rancid, & Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine, just to name a few, but make no mistake, this band is its own entity with its own sound forged together!
The record is an incredible showcase for bassist/vocalist Matt Freeman’s signature all-over-the-neck bass playing, guitarist/vocalist Andrew McGee’s dynamic riffing, and drummer/vocalist Jason Willer’s distinctive brand of powerhouse drumming. Lead single “Breakout” – now streaming on all platforms – is one of the tracks to feature the inimitable keyboard style of Kephera Moon, a past member – along with Willer – of pioneering Swiss Krautrock band Brainticket, as well as playing with Hedersleben & Nik Turner (Hawkwind).
In addition to the core band members, Lars Frederiksen (Rancid, The Old Firm Casuals) & Wayne Lozinak (Hatebreed) dropped by the studio to contribute vocals, and Frederiksen has co-writing credits on two songs.
To complete the package, the infernal artwork of Santos looks truly incredible across the massive gatefold jacket of the vinyl edition!
The five songs on the Last Call EP will take you on a powerful journey. If you’re a fan of heavy music in any configuration, you’ll find a lot to like on this release!
Pre-orders are available NOW in the PPR webstore on 12″ Ruby Ghost Vinyl (/250), 12″ Blue Smoke Vinyl (/250), and 12″ Blood Red Vinyl (/500), plus digipak CDs and a limited run of Cassette Tapes! Get your favorites while they last!
Second Time Around Out June 19 via Red Scare
Upcoming Shows with Teenage Bottlerocket and Chicago Record Release Shows This Summer
For Fans of Naked Raygun, Bad Brains, Fugazi, Samiam
“Sludgeworth have to be the most underrated Chicago punk band ever. They should have been huge.” – Joe Principe, Rise Against
Private Stream: Second Time Around
Watch: “Hold Steady” on YouTube
Watch: “Can’t Change Yesterday” on YouTube
Sludgeworth — the Chicago punk band who came of age alongside Naked Raygun, Steve Albini, and Ministry in the city’s legendary 1980s underground scene — are returning with their first new album in 35 years. Three and a half decades after their debut LP What’s This? rattled punk kids everywhere, the veteran outfit is coming out of dormancy, ready for the Second Time Around. Today they share their new video “Can’t Change Yesterday,” exclusively via 23punk.
Out June 19 on Red Scare, Second Time Around is full of the band’s tried-and-true hooks and daggers like the tongue-in-cheek anthem “Can’t Change Yesterday” and the friendship anchor “Hold Steady,” a song about “allowing difficult emotions to simply pass without clinging to them,” reveals singer Dan Schafer. “A painful yesterday doesn’t have to define today. We’re always allowed to begin again.”
The 12 tracks – which reunite McQuaid and Schafer with guitarists Dave McLean and Adam White alongside new bassist Simon Lamb (Violets and The Methadones) — feel like a natural progression for the beloved pop punk band that ultimately disbanded in 1993, but not before making a sincere impression on fans and future generations of music makers. Not the least of which is McQuaid’s son Max who’s behind the kit in up-and-comers Feral Tact and also added instrumentation to Second Time Around.
The roots of the band go back to 1989 when McQuaid and Schafer left another legendary group, Screeching Weasel, and found just as much attention with their new project. But, really, it begins even before then when all the members were cutting their teeth in teenage riot acts in the Chicago suburbs, Schafer singing in the hardcore band Generation Waste. “I’ve always liked hardcore and still do, but I wanted to play something with melody, like Naked Raygun, Effigies, Descendents, and the Ramones,” recalls Schafer of the organic shift in sound that ended up defining Sludgeworth. “We were pop punk before there was pop punk.”
In their first life, Sludgeworth shared stages with an early Green Day, alongside The Offspring, Tool, Primus, Henry Rollins, ALL, Jawbreaker, Rise Against, The Effigies, and Naked Raygun. Their posthumous 1995 compilation Losers of the Year was released on the venerable Lookout! Records, which helped launch bands like Green Day. Red Scare reissued it in 2022 with two unearthed bonus tracks, never-before-seen photos, and liner notes from Rise Against’s Joe Principe, Naked Raygun’s Jeff Pezzati, Mikey Erg, and Dillinger Four’s Patrick Costello — deepening the lore and the demand for a comeback.
That demand proved real. When the band announced a return to the stage at Chicago’s Cobra Lounge in 2023, the show sold out in five minutes. A Riot Fest appearance and dates with Smoking Popes followed, as did their first post-reunion release, the Together Not Together 7-inch in 2024.
This summer, Sludgeworth hits the road with Teenage Bottlerocket, with hometown record release shows in Chicago.
Dates with Teenage Bottlerocket
6/25 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
6/26 – Detroit, MI @ The Sanctuary
6/27 – Logansport, IN @ Bonus Pints
Record Release Shows
8/29 – Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge w/ The Copyrights, Feral Tact
8/30 – Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge w/ The Brokedowns, Josh Caterer (of Smoking Popes)
New York, NY – April 23, 2026 – NYC ska/reggae legends The Slackers have released a brand new music video for the single “The Whole World Was In On It!” The video was shot by Eric Durkin & Alyssa Tennyson, edited by Pat Byrne, and completed with post-production & creative direction by Rock and Roll Creative. This song comes from the NYC ska/reggae legends’ latest EP, Money is King.
“The Whole World Was In On It” is about the events that leave their mark on your life, and it was written by guitarist Agent Jay, who says:
“The summer of ’77…there was a fire in my building in Queens, Elvis died, and New York fell into a legendary blackout. In my mind, as a kid, all these events happened on the same night, and were all related. The blackout caused Elvis to die, and my building to catch fire…which caused the blackout, etc. Everything was connected…the whole world was in on it!
But of course, Elvis did not die during the blackout…although I’m not sure [of] the night of the fire in my building. Things aren’t as connected as we’d like them to be. Nothing makes sense anymore.“
The video is a masterful concoction of original footage of The Slackers – shot by Eric Durkin & Alyssa Tennyson and edited by Pat Byrne – combined with public domain historical footage of New York City, with creative direction and post-production by Rock and Roll Creative (rockandrollcreative.com), who also produced the videos for The Slackers‘ previous two singles, “Hold On” & “No One Likes the Truth.”
Chicago Punk Vets Sludgeworth Announce First New LP in 35 Years
Second Time Around Out June 19 via Red Scare
New Single “Hold Steady” Out Now
Announce Shows with Teenage Bottlerocket and Record Release Shows in Chicago this Summer
For Fans of Naked Raygun, Bad Brains, Fugazi, Samiam
“Sludgeworth have to be the most underrated Chicago punk band ever. They should have been huge.” – Joe Principe, Rise Against
Sludgeworth — the Chicago punk band who came of age alongside Naked Raygun, Steve Albini, and Ministry in the city’s legendary 1980s underground scene — are returning with their first new album in 35 years. Three and a half decades after their debut LP What’s This? rattled punk kids everywhere, the veteran outfit is coming out of dormancy, ready for the Second Time Around.
To mark the announcement, the band has shared new single “Hold Steady,” available today exclusively via Riot Fest.
“I don’t think anyone had Sludgeworth putting out a full-length record in 2026 on their Bingo card,” jokes drummer Brian McQuaid. “But during the hiatus, there were plenty of moments where I found myself imagining the record we never got to make — the one that should have come out as a follow-up in 1992. I think we finally made that record.”
Out June 19 on Red Scare, Second Time Around is full of the band’s tried-and-true hooks and daggers like the tongue-in-cheek anthem “Can’t Change Yesterday” and the friendship anchor “Hold Steady,” a song about “allowing difficult emotions to simply pass without clinging to them,” reveals singer Dan Schafer. “A painful yesterday doesn’t have to define today. We’re always allowed to begin again.”
The 12 tracks – which reunite McQuaid and Schafer with guitarists Dave McLean and Adam White alongside new bassist Simon Lamb (Violets and The Methadones) — feel like a natural progression for the beloved pop punk band that ultimately disbanded in 1993, but not before making a sincere impression on fans and future generations of music makers. Not the least of which is McQuaid’s son Max who’s behind the kit in up-and-comers Feral Tact and also added instrumentation to Second Time Around.
The roots of the band go back to 1989 when McQuaid and Schafer left another legendary group, Screeching Weasel, and found just as much attention with their new project. But, really, it begins even before then when all the members were cutting their teeth in teenage riot acts in the Chicago suburbs, Schafer singing in the hardcore band Generation Waste. “I’ve always liked hardcore and still do, but I wanted to play something with melody, like Naked Raygun, Effigies, Descendents, and the Ramones,” recalls Schafer of the organic shift in sound that ended up defining Sludgeworth. “We were pop punk before there was pop punk.”
In their first life, Sludgeworth shared stages with an early Green Day, alongside The Offspring, Tool, Primus, Henry Rollins, ALL, Jawbreaker, Rise Against, The Effigies, and Naked Raygun. Their posthumous 1995 compilation Losers of the Year was released on the venerable Lookout! Records, which helped launch bands like Green Day. Red Scare reissued it in 2022 with two unearthed bonus tracks, never-before-seen photos, and liner notes from Rise Against’s Joe Principe, Naked Raygun’s Jeff Pezzati, Mikey Erg, and Dillinger Four’s Patrick Costello — deepening the lore and the demand for a comeback.
That demand proved real. When the band announced a return to the stage at Chicago’s Cobra Lounge in 2023, the show sold out in five minutes. A Riot Fest appearance and dates with Smoking Popes followed, as did their first post-reunion release, the Together Not Together 7-inch in 2024.
This summer, Sludgeworth hits the road with Teenage Bottlerocket, with hometown record release shows in Chicago.
Dates with Teenage Bottlerocket
6/25 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
6/26 – Detroit, MI @ The Sanctuary
6/27 – Logansport, IN @ Bonus Pints
Record Release Shows
8/29 – Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge w/ The Copyrights, Feral Tact
8/30 – Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge w/ The Brokedowns, Josh Caterer (of Smoking Popes)
As I’m sure anyone who finds their way to Upstarter can attest to, we all have certain bands in our lives that are absolutely timeless. Heroes of our youth, names we wrote on our backpacks with permanent marker. Bands we saw in their prime while in our prime. They were foundational building blocks of how we shaped our identities, and the soundtracks to some of the best nights of our lives, as well as the ringing in our ears to the worst hangovers of our lives (those actually come later when you’re 46 and have three IPAs in the sun, but that’s not relevant right now). I think for most people, the all-time favorite bands lists pull mostly from our younger years.
Despite the present day affording us the privilege of having nearly every song ever recorded in our pockets, it’s instead the shallow pool of bands that we have ancient personal history with that wind up tattooed on our arms, brains, and hearts forever. Every few years or so though, a new one breaks through. A first ballot hall of famer. A group of people who perhaps draw from a similar library of classics, and are able to incorporate those ingredients into something equally perfect, but also entirely new and their own. The Pretty Flowers are one of those bands for me, and Never Felt Bitter is their new album.
I feel like I need to preface this by saying I’m about as much of a writer as I am a musician. I’m just a middle aged man with Google Docs and a guitar. I wish I had the proper skill to explain to you how and why everything on here is so fantastic. If I leave out any individual member’s contribution, I’m sorry. I don’t really have the vernacular to explain the minutiae of song craft. It sounds very good and I like it a lot, and I’ll probably just have to resort to saying this in as many different ways as I can think of. Get your own friend named Jerry with a URL if you think you can do better.
In preparation for writing this review I queued up the album, and hopped on my bike for a nice springtime tour around Southeast Portland. Just as difficult as it is for me to not get carried away by a new PF record, it is equally hard to not be swept away by the city on one of the first truly warm days of the year. Cherry blossoms everywhere, people walking their dogs and drinking coffee, the low hum of lawns being mowed. During this unbelievably shit time in human history, on this tiny lone droplet of water in the endless dark vacuum of space, I find myself surrounded by beauty just as the opening track “Thief of Time” transitions into the full throttle “To Be So Cool”. I start pedalling faster.
Now, the last two Pretty Flowers albums come out of the gates hot with immediately gripping superhits on track one. On Never Felt Bitter, although “Thief of Time” is a fabulous song, it is more of a slow, meandering opener and clocks in at more than four minutes. As with much of the record, it dabbles in more elaborate instrumentation and song structure, but loses none of the craft that’s made their other output so memorable. It also tees up “To Be So Cool” so well. Sequencing has always been a strength of this band.
“Ocean Swimming” comes on next, and although I’ve only had this album for a few weeks, I can’t believe how familiar with it I am already. Even though some of these songs are slightly different from the rest of their catalog, they fit so seamlessly into it that they’re already occupying the same space in my brain. I even glanced down at my phone thinking that I may have accidentally put an old song on a PF shuffle or something. How do I know this song so well already? These songs almost immediately demand to be sung along to.
“Came Back Kicking” is track four, and I guess you could say it’s the single of Never Felt Bitter. You know it’s a hit ten seconds in, and nothing that happens for the next three and half minutes dissuades you otherwise. I don’t want to disparage it with words, it’s perfect. It’s like the Jaws of songs.
Side A finishes off with two absolute rippers in “Big Dummy” and “Convent Walls”. Both with huge leads, massive hooks and choruses. The traditional Pretty Flowers sound is like a confluence between Promise Ring, Mrs. Magician, and Bum. On Never Felt Bitter, I feel like they’ve also (very successfully) added some Teardrop Explodes into the mix, making the songs a bit more odd while maintaining all of catchiness. This really shines through on these last two songs. Side A = A+.
Side B opens with “Ring True”, my current favorite track on the album (it has changed as many times as there are songs). Thundering rhythm section, and effects laden guitars pound out something fairly different sounding than their other output, but equally excellent.
“Safe & Secure” is next, and contains my favorite line on the record, “You can always call your mom until you can’t”. Another banger, and has an excellent bridge and solo bit that makes it one I frequently come back to.
Another fast one for the title track comes in as song #9. It’s maybe the most aggressive sounding PF song to date, in all the best ways. Often bands will throw in a fast one on their difficult third album to compensate for the change, but this one feels right at home. Some absolutely sick bass lines make it very special.
“Feel A Little Vague” and “Tough Love” follow this up with another example of how strong the sequencing is on here. The former is a slow jam that’s very reminiscent of Mrs. Magician, with a great lead that wouldn’t sound out of place on Starfish by The Church. It pairs so well with the more upbeat and danceable “Tough Love”.
The closer “Not Dissolve” distills down the newer elements of the band that makes Never Felt Bitter an expansion of their sound. It’s long and slow, orchestral, kinda weird, and fantastic. A perfect closing track to this record.
Never Felt Better is absolutely everything you could want from a third album of one of your favorite bands. They “mature”, but all of the elements of what makes them a perennial favorite are still there. It’s an incredibly difficult thing to do, pulling off a run of albums like this to start a band’s career. It’s obviously the highest possible rank of highly recommended. I can’t wait to catch them again on a west coast swing next time they tour. A friendly reminder that I am out of town July 13-17th, so please don’t come then.
Closing thoughts: I feel I need to shout out Tim Pop Kid for introducing me to The Pretty Flowers first record when it came out. Without his persistent enthusiasm, they may have slipped through the cracks. Tim is patient zero for so much of my favorite music, and I owe him a lot for that.
Cheers.
Zach Nellis-Tessmer
LOS ANGELES based Ska outlet HARRY KATZ AND THE PISTACHIOS announce
East Coast Tour in support of their upcoming EP Last to Know.
“It’s for people who like who feel like they have discovered a magical whole other world and community when they find you.” Katz affirms on the EP. Their music is entirely designed for the whimsy they bring to the stage. The band has been hosting an annual circus style festival Pistachioland for their community over the last 4 years.
Katz, originally from Yonkers, New York, began as a punk bassist before hitchhiking west and developing a catalog of original songs while busking. The Pistachios evolved from his rotating group of friends on the L.A. live circuit. Their sound fuses ska rhythms, surf swing, and big-band brass with a tongue-in-cheek theatrical edge, a self-described “rock-and-roll show” built for dancing and storytelling.
The band is slated to perform in 6 cities in the Northeast USA.
After jumping through several hoops today, the new Cheats’ video for “The Only Thing I’m Fucking Is Up” premiered on Vive Le Rock Magazine’s website. It seems YouTube put an 18+ restriction on it making it unable to be shared publicly. Also viewers had to actually log into their YouTube profile and confirm their age to see it. So we scrambled and uploaded it to Vimeo and so far so good. Here’s the link.
https://vivelerock.net/blogs/news-1/25-years-of-cheatin
Pittsburgh’s barroom heroes, The Cheats celebrate their 25 years of Punk Rock by teaming up with Western Maryland’s snotty young Dystopian Punks, Wayward Brigade for a killer 4 song 7″. Each band offers up an great original and a classic punk rock cover. This four song, 33 rpm 7″ entitled “Split It Up” will be limited to 150 Black (Retail version) and 150 Ice Cream Splits (Pink/Chocolate).
The Cheats
A1 – “Only Thing I’m Fucking Is Up”
A2 – “Fun City” (Tuff Darts cover)
Wayward Brigade
B1 – “LNT”
B2 – “Situations” (Slaughter and the Dogs cover)
Recorded and mastered by Johnny Razorblade.
Cover art by Alex Hagan.
Layout by Eric Corbin
www.therealcheats.com
https://www.facebook.com/waywardbrigade
Originally hailing from the iconic Woodstock, NY music scene, The Bobby Lees – led by singer and guitarist Sam Quartin, drummer Macky Bowman, and bassist Kendall Wind – bring wildness and danger back into punk rock. Today, they announce their new album, New Self, due for release on June 12th. For their fourth full-length and Epitaph debut, the record marks a thrilling new chapter for the band while doubling down on what’s always made them so magnetic.
After revealing their move to Epitaph last Fall with the seething, fiery single “Napoleon”, The Bobby Lees preview the album with its raucous and bittersweet title track, out today. A jagged, desert-hazed confession that turns teenage chaos into sharp self-reckoning, Quartin reveals, “This song feels like a diary entry that I’m letting strangers read, it’s kinda weird to share – but fuck it. We were listening to late 90’s Hip Hop and Nu Metal when we wrote it. We told Dave Sardy, who produced the track, that sound was our goal, that kinda feel.”
Accompanied by an erratic performance video set in a seedy motel, check out “New Self” below:
Watch the “New Self” music video HERE
Pre-Save/Pre-Order The Album HERE
The Bobby Lees don’t need much in the way of introduction. Within a few seconds of exposure to their furnace-blast live shows or their bottled-lightning studio records, it’s easy to hear why they’ve earned fans in legendary musicians like Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, and Henry Rollins. They’re as uncompromising in their sound and generous with their energy as any of their punk ancestors who first rewrote the rules of engagement back in the 1970s.
The members of The Bobby Lees first met in Woodstock, NY, in 2017, and officially released their debut album in 2018. Since then, they’ve toured extensively on both sides of the Atlantic, building a dedicated following year by year. Their ferocious presence has always been undeniable, but New Self elevates their sound to even brasher heights. Produced by Dave Sardy and Alex Pasco in Los Angeles, the album sets The Bobby Lees’ signature bravado loose across a wide and reverberating soundscape. They’ve never sounded quite this expansive or emboldened before.
The record arrives after a period of deep uncertainty for The Bobby Lees. Toward the end of 2023, the members went on an indefinite hiatus: The deepening economic pressures of the music industry weighed heavily on them, and the labor of touring edged the group close to burnout. “We hit a ceiling with the cycle of funding our own records and then barely breaking even on tour,” says Quartin. The band took a break from performing and started trying to find a sustainable balance instead of working at their limits with no end in sight.
After they announced their hiatus, The Bobby Lees received an outpouring of support from their fans — including actor Jason Momoa, who contacted the group and offered to fund their next record. “That was such a gift for us,” says Quartin. “It made the whole experience of making the record a lot lighter.” Returning to writing was a welcome relief to the musician, who begins to feel ill, “spiritually and physically,” without a creative outlet. With creative energy reignited, the band joined forces with Epitaph Records and are now barreling into an exciting new chapter.
Sometimes when you give up control, you end up claiming more power than you ever knew you had. On New Self, you can hear the Bobby Lees easing into a new confidence — one that’s both looser and more towering. This is the sound of a band who’s scrambled over shaky ground only to come back stronger than ever: more confident, more connected, louder and fiercer and secure in their own skin.
New Self Tracklisting
1. Give
2. Napoleon
3. The End
4. 50 Ft
5. New Self
6. All I got
7. Got me good
8. Red Hot
The Bobby Lees Online
