New York City post-hardcore band Quicksand have made their long-awaited return with the new single “Inversion.” The track follows the band’s successful album from 2017, ‘Interiors.’ Thoughtful, driving, and powerful, like the long-lived band itself, the song has an emotional resonance that is only amplified by the events of the past stressed-out, locked-down year.
“The music to ‘Inversion’ was very squatter punk at first,” says frontman Walter Schreifels. “To get something going vocally I started singing in an English Niel Nausea kind of vibe (Nausea are a peace/squatter punk band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan). The lyrics reflect the push and pull of being very connected through technology while at the same time being the most emotionally isolated group of humans to ever walk the planet and fun stuff like that.”
Today, the band have launched a colorful video with artwork by Japanese artist Tetsunori Tawaraya animated by Los Angeles-based artist Rob Fidel. Check it out here.
Formed in 1990, Quicksand made their full-length debut with Slip—a 1993 release praised by The A.V. Club as “a nearly flawless record that combines the irony and heaviness of Helmet with Fugazi’s penchant to dismantle sound in the most energetic ways.” Arriving in 1995, their sophomore album Manic Compression appeared at #1 on the Top Five Best Post-Hardcore Records list from LA Weekly (who noted that “if there were any justice in the world, Quicksand would have been the biggest underground band of the ’90s”).
Throughout the early ’90s, Quicksand toured with bands like Helmet, Fugazi, Rage Against the Machine, and Anthrax. After disbanding in late 1995, they reunited for a one-night performance in June 2012. They’ve since appeared at festivals like FYF Fest and Pukkelpop, and in 2013 embarked on their first North American tour in 15 years. In 2017, the band released their long-awaited third-studio album Interiors which saw Consequence of Sound praise the band for their sound “that nobody else has been able to replicate in all the time they’ve been gone.”
Quicksand is frontman/guitarist Walter Schreifels, bassist Sergio Vega, and drummer Alan Cage.
Psychobilly Legends THE METEORS Celebrate The Release Of Their Newest Album SKULL N BONES With A Killer Video For “A NIGHT IN THE TOMBS!” Los Angeles, CA – Meteors fans have been hotly anticipating the release of the band’s newest full-length album, Skull N Bones, for awhile now, but they’ve been even more eagerly awaiting an opportunity to see the band perform live. After all, The Meteors have built their reputation as one of the most outrageously raucous bands on the planet by putting together a high energy performance at every show, blending their punk rock sensibility and attitude with the swagger and style of rockabilly. Well, today The Meteors are proud to announce that the wait for their new album is finally over as Skull N Bones officially hits the street today, and accompanying the album is a fantastic new video that will at least gives fans a taste of what’s in store for them when the band is able to launch an official, full-scale world tour behind the album. The video for “A Night In The Tombs” consists of brand new footage shot while the members are in quarantine and mixed with excellent live footage of the band from older shows. It’s a genuinely thrilling way to launch the new album and is sure to get the fans clamoring for more!
Philadelphia indie punk band Mannequin Pussy will release their new EP Perfecton May 21. The EP is the follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2019 album Patience which landed the band on End of Year lists for Flood, NPR, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Spin, Vogue, and more.
Today, the band share the first look at Perfect with “Control,” with the cathartic music video directed by the band’s vocalist/guitarist Missy.
At the start of 2020, everything was looking up for Mannequin Pussy. The band had released their third album, Patience, and was touring steadily behind it. After nearly a decade of playing, the band finally had gotten the chance to turn music into a full-time occupation. And then, COVID-19 reached the United States, rescinding life as many people knew it. For a while, it seemed like maybe the lull would be temporary, a brief pause before things could resume as they were. And then the numbers ballooned, and the months stretched on, and memories of rooms packed with strangers started to feel alien, dangerous even in imagination. Mannequin Pussy’s new Perfect EP bursts forth from those sprawling months of social isolation and internet-fueled anxiety.
After spending most of the year apart from each other and everyone else in 2020, Mannequin Pussy decided to book studio time and work together in person again. They brought two pre-written songs into the session, but opted to write new material together on the fly from the excitement of reunion. “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.” What came out of that compressed session time with Grammy Nominated producer Will Yip, are some of Mannequin Pussy’s most furious, incandescent songs yet.
PERFECT TRACK LISTING 1. Control 2. Perfect 3. To Lose You 4. Pigs is Pigs 5. Darling
Mannequin Pussy is Missy (vocals/guitar/keys), Colins “Bear” Regisford (bass), and Kaleen Reading (drums).
Ska-punk pioneers The Mighty Mighty BossToneS will release their 11th studio record When God Was Greaton May 7 via Hellcat Records.
Co-produced by longtime collaborator Ted Hutt (The Gaslight Anthem, Dropkick Murphys) and Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong (Transplants, Jimmy Cliff), When God Was Great is the culmination of their extensive and all-embracing career and sees the band bringing back friends, tourmates, and bandmates from the past for a sonic celebration that stresses the power of perseverance and human connection during tumultuous times. The album features 15-tracks that initially arose out of a collective sense of loss.
“We were lightly writing songs before the insanity without any sort of timeline in mind. All of a sudden, the world changed and benchmark events in a very long career that we were looking forward to, such as playing with the Madness at the Greek Theatre, were taken away from us,” explains frontman Dicky Barrett. “With all of this time on our hands, we started writing at a quickened pace and we were really inspired. As grim as everything around us was in the outside world, this was the most fun we ever had making a record.
WHEN GOD WAS GREAT TRACK LISTING 1. DECIDE 2. M O V E 3. I DON’T BELIEVE IN ANYTHING 4. CERTAIN THINGS 5. BRUISED 6. LONELY BOY 7. THE KILLING OF GEORGIE (PART III) 8. YOU HAD TO BE THERE 9. WHEN GOD WAS GREAT 10. WHAT IT TAKES 11. LONG AS I CAN SEE THE LIGHT 12. THE TRUTH HURTS 13. IT WENT WELL 14. I DON’T WANT TO BE YOU 15. THE FINAL PARADE
Since their formation in 1983, the BossToneS have been credited as one of the forefathers of ska punk and the creators of its subgenre, ska-core. With a career spanning over 30-years Boston’s best dressed band has built and continued to build a devoted following with their unique brass-infused brand of punk rock. To date they have released ten studio records; Devil’s Night Out (1989), More Noise and Other Disturbances (1992), Don’t Know How to Party (1993), Question the Answers (1994), Let’s Face It (1997), Pay Attention (2000), A Jackknife to a Swan (2002), Pin Points and Gin Joints (2009), The Magic of Youth (2011), and While We’re at It (2018).
NOFX RELEASE NEW FULL-LENGTH SINGLE ALBUM TODAY, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, VIA FAT WRECK CHORDS “NOFX Los Angeles punk veterans’ latest record tackles everything from drug addiction to mortality.” – COS
“If you think you’ve heard it all before from the veteran punks, this record begs to differ.” – Kerrang!
“NOFX’s Fat Mike on His Sobriety, Sexuality: ‘I Think I Came Out of the Closet Even More’”– SPIN STREAM: SINGLE ALBUM (IN FULL ON ALL PLATFORMS HERE)
Photo credit: Jonathan Weiner
Fat Wreck Chords and longstanding California punk band NOFX are thrilled to present Single Album, the band’s 14th full-length studio album, out now. As frontman Fat Mike explains, “Single Album was initially supposed to be twice as long, as I wanted to make a perfect double album, and I didn’t accomplish that, so I decided to just make a single album, hence the title.” Alternative Press interviewed Fat Mike in this extensive interview, tackling everything from drug addiction to newfound sobriety. Recently, Consequence of Sound caught up with Fatty to stream their latest opus, as well as post a lengthly track-by-track where Fat Mike breaks down his lyrics, musical arrangements, and more.
Check out the music video for “Fuck Euphemism” on YouTube. Read an extensive Interview with Fat Mike & Spin about the video HERE. View the music video for “Linewleum” on YouTube . Watch the music video for “I Love You More Than I Hate Me” on YouTube.
Nearly 40 years in, what else is there to say about NOFX?
And aside from the occasional negative headline, how can one of the pioneers of SoCal punk—a style hardly known for experimentation—surprise anyone these days?
The answers lie on Single Album (Fat Wreck Chords, Feb. 26), NOFX’s 14th full-length studio album. There’s the nearly six-minute post-hardcore opener (“The Big Drag”). The meta sendoff for the band’s best-known song (“Linewleum”). The reggae-inflected song about a mass shooting (“Fish in a Gun Barrel”). Even a piano ballad (“Your Last Resort”).
It is, as frontman and bassist Fat Mike repeatedly describes, “a dark album.” That wasn’t the original intent. By early 2020, NOFX—which includes guitarist El Hefe, guitarist Eric Melvin, and drummer Smelly—had written and recorded enough songs for a planned double album to be released that fall. Like so much about 2020, those plans changed.
“When you write a double album, you write differently,” Mike says. “I was writing really different songs, and some fun songs, but you have to make a double album interesting enough to listen to the whole way. I wanted to make a perfect double album, and I didn’t accomplish that. So I decided to just make a single album, hence the title.”
Recorded at Motor Studios in San Francisco with Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore (Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Teenage Bottlerocket), Single Album pares down the roughly 23 songs NOFX tracked. “I just kept adding songs,” Mike says. “I was maybe a little out of my mind.”
How so? “I was pretty high on drugs that year,” he adds. While fans may wonder what else is new, Single Album casts the frontman’s habits in a surprisingly harsh light. While “Grieve Soto” eulogizes beloved Adolescents founder Steve Soto, it takes a meta turn when Eric Melvin warns Mike to be “cautious, more respectful, less obnoxious.”“Birmingham” has what people in recovery call “a moment of clarity,” when he realized he was an addict.
“That was a clarity moment in my life when I was by myself, and the sun’s coming up, and I’m scraping cocaine off the floor, like, ‘Eww, gross. I shouldn’t be doing this,’” Mike says. “So what did I do? I ordered more.” After being hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer—a terrifying experience that caused him to vomit blood—Mike entered rehab in fall 2020. He promptly wrote another new album while there and has been sober since.
Unsurprisingly, Single Album represents his most personal work to date. Heartbreak permeates “I Love You More Than I Hate Me” and “Your Last Resort.” “Fuck Euphemism” dives into Mike’s sexuality for a “pronoun bar fight.” “Doors and Fours” is a grim look into the early ’80s LA punk scene, when dozens of people—many of them Mike’s friends—overdosed on a prescription drug combo. “The Big Drag” is a personal vow to make the most of life, even when it undeniably sucks. “It’s one of my favorite NOFX songs ever. I don’t get sick of listening to that song,” Mike says of “The Big Drag.” “No measure is the same length. Every time a new chord change happens, there’s a different rhythm to the guitar. The bass never stays on one note. You’re not sure when the chords are going to change because they always change at a different point.”
In other words, it’s unpredictable—just like NOFX. Turns out there is a lot to say about them, even after all this time.
Fat Wreck Chords will release Single Album on Feb. 26, 2021. Single Album track-listing
FEATURING MEMBERS OF RANCID, THE INTERRUPTERS, FISHBONE, THE PIETASTERS, THE SPECIALS AND MORE
Hellcat Records is pleased to welcome the progenitors of ska, The Mighty Mighty BossToneS to the family.
Today, the band shares their new track “The Final Parade.” The track heralds the ups and downs of the band’s journey, the history of ska, and features vocal cameos and guest appearances from many ska-punk luminaries. At nearly 8-mintues, the track has been referred as “The Ska Summit” by Tim Armstrong, who co-produced the track with fellow Grammy award winner Ted Hutt. “It’s a love letter to Ska music and the people that make Ska music and it’s a whole lot of fun,” says vocalist Dicky Barrett.
The features on the track include Tim Armstrong (Rancid), Aimee Interrupter & The Interrupters, Stranger Cole, Angelo Moore (Fishbone), Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers), Jay Navarro (Suicide Machines), Chris DeMakes, Pete Wesilewski, Roger Lima (Less Than Jake), Jimmy G (Murphy’s Law), Toby Morse, Rusty Pistachio (H2O), John Feldman (Goldfinger), Laila Khan (Sonic Boom Six), Robert Hingley (Toasters), Dan Vitale (Bim Skala Bim), Dave McWane (Big D and The Kids Table), Sirae Richardson, Erin Mackenzie, Brie McWane (The Doped Up Dollys), Jesse Wagner (Aggrolites), Karina Denike (The Dance Hall Crashers), Christian Jaccobs (The Aquabats), Jon Pebsworth (Buck O Nine), Peter Porker (The Porkers), Steve Jackson (The Pietasters), Felipe Galvan (Los Skanarles), Jet Baker (Buster Shuffle), Fumio Ito (Kemuri), Glen “The Kid” Marhevka (Big Bad Voodoo Daddy), and Roddy Radiation (The Specials).
Since their formation in 1983, the BossToneS have been credited as one of the forefathers of ska punk and the creators of its subgenre, ska-core. With a career spanning over 30-years Boston’s best dressed band has built and continued to build a devoted following with their unique brass-infused brand of punk rock. To date they have released ten studio records; Devil’s Night Out (1989), More Noise and Other Disturbances (1992), Don’t Know How to Party (1993), Question the Answers (1994), Let’s Face It (1997), Pay Attention (2000), A Jackknife to a Swan (2002), Pin Points and Gin Joints (2009), The Magic of Youth (2011), and While We’re at It (2018).
The Mighty Mighty BossToneS are vocalist Dicky Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, saxophonists Tim “Johnny Vegas” Burton and Leon Silva, Bosstone Ben Carr, drummer Joe Sirois, guitarists Nate Albert and Lawrence Katz, keyboardist John Goetchius, and trombonist Chris Rhodes.
Fresh from the Badasonic Records as part of the Badasonic Sound Clash series Vol.1 is an always fun split 45. This one in the “bands cover bands” format.
The two track split features The Slackers take on “Countryman Fiddle” from Aggrolites, and the Aggrolites spin on The Slacker’s “Wasted Days.“
Grab a copy if you can and freshen up your sound system with a fresh take on some classic tracks. The split is currently sold out, but there’s always hope for another pressing, right?
Today, legendary punk band Descendents share their new track “That’s The Breaks.” The track follows the politically-charged two-song single Suffrage, released ahead of the 2020 general election encouraging voting to take down the Trump administration. In triumph, “That’s The Breaks” serves as a farewell to 45 ahead of the upcoming inauguration.
“Loser. Big time loser. Delusional loser. SORE loser. The time has come. The time is now. Just go, go, GO. I don’t care how. Donald J. Trump, will you please go now!,” adds vocalist Milo Aukerman. “What’s it gonna take? A gazillion dollars? (Oh wait, you already grifted that from supporters)… A get out of jail free card? (Only if our judicial system totally fails us)… A wooden stake through the heart? Whatever we can do to make you go away, we need to do it. And I don’t mean just leave the White House, I mean crawl back into your hole of hate and live out the rest of your life as a nobody. A loser. Because that’s what you are. Worst. President. Ever.”
Formed in 1978 Descendents are Milo Aukerman (vocals), Stephen Egerton (guitar), Karl Alvarez (bass), and Bill Stevenson (drums). They have released seven studio albums, Milo Goes to College (1982), I Don’t Want to Grow Up (1985), Enjoy! (1986), All (1987), Everything Sucks (1996), Cool to Be You (2004), and Hypercaffium Spazzinate (2016).
INFLUENTIAL PUNK BAND NOFX ANNOUNCE NEW FULL-LENGTH, SINGLE ALBUM
WATCH: AVENGED SEVENFOLD, AND MORE, IN NOFX’S NEW VIDEO FOR THEIR FIRST SINGLE, “LINEWLEUM”
SINGLE ALBUM, PRODUCED BY BILL STEVENSON & JASON LIVERMORE (BLASTING ROOM), IN STORES AND ONLINE VIA FAT WRECK CHORDS ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26 WITH PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE NOW
Photo credit: Jonathan Weiner
Fat Wreck Chords and longstanding California punk band NOFX are excited to announce Single Album, the band’s 14th full-length album, due out on Friday, February 26 (pre-order). Boasting 12 new tracks and recorded at Motor Studios in San Francisco with Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore (Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Teenage Bottlerocket), Single Album is their most personal album to date. Check out the new video for the lead single “Linewleum,” and get the nitty gritty from the fat one himself:
“I have no idea why “Linoleum” is THE NOFX song that is covered by so many bands while other NOFX songs get hardly any attention. “Linoleum” wasn’t a single, it had no video, it got no radio play, and most importantly, it didn’t even have a chorus!!! All popular songs have choruses! WTF! So, One night I stayed up till 4:00 am checking out all the different versions on YouTube. Watching hundreds of bands from over 28 countries (mostly Indonesia) doing “Linoleum” was a humbling experience for me. So I decided to write a song that was a shout out to all those people that learned those four chords and remembered the non-rhyming lyrics. Then I asked the biggest of all the bands (Avenged Sevenfold) to play some leads on the song. Then M Shadows suggested we do a video together. Then I figured I should put all of the bands in the video. Well, I couldn’t fit all the bands, but I picked a bunch of cool ones! A song about not playing a song that’s not a hit song with a video about other bands covering the song! This is why I love punk rock writing punk songs. Rules out the door!”
Watch the music video for “Linewleum” on YouTube HERE and stream the track on all platforms HERE
Nearly 40 years in, what else is there to say about NOFX?
And aside from the occasional negative headline, how can one of the pioneers of SoCal punk—a style hardly known for experimentation—surprise anyone these days?
The answers lie on Single Album (Fat Wreck Chords, Feb. 26), NOFX’s 14th full-length studio album. There’s the nearly six-minute post-hardcore opener (“The Big Drag”). The meta sendoff for the band’s best-known song (“Linewleum”). The reggae-inflected song about a mass shooting (“Fish in a Gun Barrel”). Even a piano ballad (“Your Last Resort”).
It is, as frontman and bassist Fat Mike repeatedly describes, “a dark album.” That wasn’t the original intent. By early 2020, NOFX—which includes guitarist El Hefe, guitarist Eric Melvin, and drummer Smelly—had written and recorded enough songs for a planned double album to be released that fall. Like so much about 2020, those plans changed.
“When you write a double album, you write differently,” Mike says. “I was writing really different songs, and some fun songs, but you have to make a double album interesting enough to listen to the whole way. I wanted to make a perfect double album, and I didn’t accomplish that. So I decided to just make a single album, hence the title.”
Recorded at Motor Studios in San Francisco with Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore (Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Teenage Bottlerocket), Single Album pares down the roughly 23 songs NOFX tracked. “I just kept adding songs,” Mike says. “I was maybe a little out of my mind.”
How so? “I was pretty high on drugs that year,” he adds. While fans may wonder what else is new, Single Album casts the frontman’s habits in a surprisingly harsh light. While “Grieve Soto” eulogizes beloved Adolescents founder Steve Soto, it takes a meta turn when Eric Melvin warns Mike to be “cautious, more respectful, less obnoxious.”“Birmingham” has what people in recovery call “a moment of clarity,” when he realized he was an addict.
“That was a clarity moment in my life when I was by myself, and the sun’s coming up, and I’m scraping cocaine off the floor, like, ‘Eww, gross. I shouldn’t be doing this,’” Mike says. “So what did I do? I ordered more.” After being hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer—a terrifying experience that caused him to vomit blood—Mike entered rehab in fall 2020. He promptly wrote another new album while there and has been sober since.
Unsurprisingly, Single Album represents his most personal work to date. Heartbreak permeates “I Love You More Than I Hate Me” and “Your Last Resort.” “Fuck Euphemism” dives into Mike’s sexuality for a “pronoun bar fight.” “Doors and Fours” is a grim look into the early ’80s LA punk scene, when dozens of people—many of them Mike’s friends—overdosed on a prescription drug combo. “The Big Drag” is a personal vow to make the most of life, even when it undeniably sucks. “It’s one of my favorite NOFX songs ever. I don’t get sick of listening to that song,” Mike says of “The Big Drag.” “No measure is the same length. Every time a new chord change happens, there’s a different rhythm to the guitar. The bass never stays on one note. You’re not sure when the chords are going to change because they always change at a different point.”
In other words, it’s unpredictable—just like NOFX. Turns out there is a lot to say about them, even after all this time.
Fat Wreck Chords will release Single Album on Feb. 26, 2021. Single Album track-listing
1. The Big Drag 2. I Love You More Than I Hate Me 3. Fuck Euphemism 4. Fish in a Gun Barrel 5. Birmingham 6. Linewleum 7. My Bro Cancervive Cancer 8. Grieve Soto 9. Doors and Fours 10. Your Last Resort
