Category: Music News

BAD RELIGION TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM

True North Delivers Maximum Intensity With Stripped Down Sound

Preeminent punk band Bad Religion will release their new album True North this January 22nd on Epitaph Records. In a world still brimming with rampant anti intellectualism, inequality and oppression, the band’s signature brand of sonically charged humanist dissent seems as relevant as ever. On their newest record, the storied band deliberately revisits and refines the powerful and melodic Southern California sound they helped to define.

“We went back to our original mission statement of short concise bursts of melody and thought,” co-songwriter and guitarist Brett Gurewitz explains. “The intent was to record stripped down punk songs without sacrificing any conceptual density.”

The album’s first single is a propulsive anthem succinctly called “F*ck You.” As the band’s singer and co-songwriter Greg Graffin explains, “If any band should have a song with that title it should be us. It just sounds like a perfect Bad Religion song.”

Listen to the new Bad Religion single “Fuck You” by going to:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF0Mia7oYvA

Produced by the band and Joe Barresi, True North celebrates the stirring power of cogent punk in the face of pain and adversity. The result is one of the band’s most emotionally accessible albums to date.

“I think working within certain restrictions took away the mental aspect and let us devote more attention to conveying feeling,” Graffin says. “We all go through pain and the best elements of punk give us hope in those dark times.”

While some tracks such as “Robin Hood In Reverse,” “Land of Endless Greed” and “Dharma And The Bomb” ardently address pressing world issues, others like “Hello Cruel World” veer into a far more expressive terrain. The album’s title song “True North” utilizes a wall of guitars and charged beat to explore issues of alienation and loss informed by Graffin’s recent life experiences.

“The song is written from the perspective of a kid who is running away,” Graffin explains. “He says ‘I’m out of here, I’m off to find true north.’ It’s about recognizing that you don’t fit in and trying to find a truth and purpose. Those are all classic punk themes.”

“I think we both really responded to the challenge of writing short and fast songs on this record,” Gurewitz adds. “The constraints set us free. Like moves in a game of chess, there are really as many variations as there are stars in the galaxy.”

Fans are invited to pre-order the album by going here: http://www.kingsroadmerch.com/bad-religion/region/

For more information:
www.epitaph.com
www.badreligion.com

PENNYWISE REUNITES WITH JIM LINDBERG

BAND TO PERFORM IN LOS ANGELES ON JANUARY 18th, 2013
October 30, 2012 – Los Angeles, CA – After three years, Southern California’s raucous punk heroes Pennywise are pleased to announce the return of the band’s original vocalist, Jim Lindberg. Jim and Fletcher appeared on the world famous KROQ with Kevin and Bean Monday morning to announce that Jim will be returning to the band. The band was also happy to announce they will be celebrating Jim’s return with a show at the Palladium in Los Angeles, CA on January 18th, 2013. Tickets for this special show will be on sale Friday, November 2nd at 10:00 am with a special pre-sale for KROQ Street Team members, which will take place Wednesday, October 31st, 2012-10:00 am -10:00 pm. For ticket information, please visit:
http://www.livenation.com/event/0900495ADCAE78D3.
Continue reading PENNYWISE REUNITES WITH JIM LINDBERG

PROPAGANDHI STREAM NEW RECORD

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Failed States Out 9/4

Band To Tour North America This Fall
August  27, 2012 – Los Angeles, CA – In anticipation of the September 4th Epitaph release, Propagandhi are streaming their brand new record Failed States in its entirety. The album stream comes as the band prepares for an all-out North American tour beginning in September.

Fans can stream the new record by going to Propagandhi’s Facebook page:http://on.fb.me/U6csdA  and are also invited to share the stream by posting this embeddable code:

<script async type=”text/javascript” src=”//www.bandpage.com/extensionsdk”></script><div data-bandpage-rmid=”120213816842653696″></div>

Failed States is a milestone in Propagandhi’s musical journey as they willfully careen between brazen metallic tendencies and the ragged punk rock roots of their earlier work, picking up where their critically-acclaimed 2009 release,Supporting Caste, left off.

The first surprise for listeners will be the opening salvo “Note To Self”, a sprawling, swerving, cinematic journey through the mind of a smoldering first-world inmate, escalating into the full throttle siege of the title track, “Failed States”. The ride doesn’t get any less outrageous from there, reaching new levels of volatility with fierce, exacting tracks like the album closer “Duplicate Keys Icaro (An Interim Report)” and the borderline barbaric “Rattan Cane”. Keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times, people.

Propagandhi has created a truly monumental sixth album that is the  band’s most forward thinking and musically varied albums to date.  Failed States is not simply proof of Propagandhi’s continued dedication to pushing their musical boundaries, but an evocative (and provocative) meditation on human nature, meaning and life under an expanding, planet-wide technocracy.

Fans can pre-order Failed States now at The Epitaph Store.  Additionally, Propagandhi will kick off a North American tour in September with support from Comback Kid.  Dates are listed below.

Stay tuned to www.propagandhi.com and www.epitaph.com to hear more news about Propagandhi!

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Propagandhi Tour Dates:

9/25/12 London Music Hall London ON
9/26/12 Phoenix Theatre Toronto ON
9/27/12 Ritual Ottawa ON
9/28/12 La Tulipe Montreal QC
9/29/12 Hotel la Sagueneenne Chicoutimi QC
9/30/12 Imperial de Quebec Quebec City QC
10/2/12 Middle East Club Cambridge MA
10/3/12 Highline Ballroom New York NY
10/4/12 Le Poisson Rouge New York NY
10/5/12 Union Transfer Philadelphia PA
10/6/12 Otto Bar Baltimore MD
10/7/12 Altar Bar Pittsburgh PA
10/9/12 Grog Shop Cleveland Heights OH
10/10/12 Magic Stick Detroit MI
10/11/12 Town Ballroom Buffalo NY

BAD RELIGION BEGIN RECORDING NEW ALBUM

The visionary Los Angeles band Bad Religion has entered the studio to begin recording a brand new album. The yet unnamed work is being recorded at Joe Barresi’s JHOC studio and co-produced by band members Brett Gurewitz, Greg Graffin and Barresi.

The group reconvenes amidst a period of heightened activity. Singer-songwriter Greg Graffin is preparing for his second year of teaching evolution at Cornell University and is writing a new book “Population Wars” for St. Martins Press. Guitarist-songwriter Brett Gurewitz continues to shepherd his labels Epitaph and Anti- and recently received a prestigious Independent Spirit Award. Drummer Brooks Wackerman has been touring with Tenacious D and released a record by his band Kidneys. Throughout it all, the iconic band has performed throughout the world and appeared at the historic Reason Rally in Washington DC.

Formed in the suburbs of Los Angeles as disaffected teenagers, Bad Religion has generated numerous memorable hits and become synonymous with intelligent and provocative hook filled punk rock. This will be their 16th full length album.

For more information:
www.epitaph.com
www.badreligion.com

Born Wrong/Kleins 96-Split 10″

I have a couple confessions to make, Hardcore is not my genre.  Even in times when I need to listen to something with hardcore’s intensity, the style is not my choice.  So when I was asked to review the new Born Wrong/Kleins 96 Split 10″ from Rebel Time Records I was a bit apprehensive because I hate not giving something a good review because I think the punk rock community has a lot of negativity in it, a lot of division where there should be unity.  So to help me prepare for writing the review I actually Wikipedia’d Hardcore.  I wanted to get a bit of history.  What I found was that the term Hardcore possibly originated from DOA’s 1981 album of the same name.  I guess I just found that a bit fitting considering BornWrong (Hamilton, On) and Kleins 96 (Regina,SK) are torchbearers for their countrymen’s scene.

My last confession for the night is that in a collection of 300+ punk albums,  this split is only the 3rd hardcore album in it (Triple Crossed, and Sick of it All’s Based on a True Story are the other two) so I don’t have a huge frame of reference from which to draw from.  When I Wikipedia’d Hardcore it also talked about the more technical aspects of the style, and while I read some of it, I didn’t take a whole lot away from that portion of the article, but what I can tell you is this, I enjoyed the 8 song album (4 by each group).  It contains all of the intensity and aggressiveness that I think I always assumed hardcore was supposed to have, while also having all the emphasis on rhythm, screamed vocals, and drop tempos into musical breakdowns (thanks Wikipedia) that Hardcore fan have become accustomed to hearing.

Highlights from the album include Kleins 96 “Eucharist” and Born Wrong’s “Burn a Debt” but for fans of this genre I don’t think there is a track that you could go wrong with.  Now when I need something to provide me with a little extra intensity, this is probably the album from my collection that I am going to turn to.

New Morning Glory Song!

Morning Glory’s debut Fat full length, Poets Were My Heroes, will be released on August 28th! A cathartic audio voyage from beginning to end. The album contains so many crescendos and opposing moments of reflection that when it came time to decide on which song best represented the album, we debated, hard…everyone had a favorite; but we settled on “Patiently” which does a nice job of representing the album as a whole. The verse is powered by strings (which is definitely different) and then the chorus brings a rollicking anthemic melody. It’s almost like a microcosm of the entire album. So, download it here, order your copy and get stoked to see them live! Preorders will receive a digital download link via email a week before release date. Read what Ezra from Morning Glory had to say about the song below:

 

Patiently… This is a kick ass song with a beautiful string section and it was one of the last songs we tracked for the new record; in part because it took a bit to save up for the string quartet. The words, especially the second verse, were written about an ex-gf who liked to destroy things, especially us. I hope she reads them one day. I really like this song, it’s got a beautiful staggered vocal section, a la “row, row, row your boat”, at around the 3 minute mark, which thoroughly frustrated Caleb, our violinist during the recording. This must be a great song cuz Fat picked it as the free download. It has a great melody and a lyrical tone which begs hope for everyone who feels like they do everything right even when no one is looking. We’ll definitely be playing it on our upcoming tour. In short, the whole record fucking sways and rocks and this is a good example of that cross section.

-Ezra Arrow Kire

The Wonder Years – A Year As A Ghost

THE WONDER YEARS

ANNOUNCE

A YEAR AS A GHOST: ON TOUR WITH

THE WONDER YEARS

                                       

               PRE ORDER BEGINS TODAY

 

 

June 14- Hopeless Records and The Wonder Years are excited to announce the upcoming release of A Year As a Ghost, a 200-page, soft-cover, full-color, matte-finished intimate look at life on the road and at home with The Wonder Years that includes a download card for the bands successful 2011 release “Suburbia I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing” plus 11 rare recordings including basement demos and B-sides.  The year or so during which The Wonder Years created and toured in support of “Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing”  was the most eventful of the band’s career thus far and photographer Mitchell Wojcik was there, camera in hand, every step of the way. Mitchell moved to The Wonder Years hometown and sat alongside them in the van during every tour in order to capture the moments previously only experienced by members of the band. Inside the book you’ll find original lyric book scans, hand-written tour stories, scans of artifacts and upwards of 500 photos taken on formats ranging from 35 mm film to cell phone camera pictures. An immense amount of time, energy and love was spent making this book more than just photos thrown onto pages; this is a story told through mixed mediums of a band putting their whole hearts into playing the music they believe in all over the world.

 

The audio portion of the collection includes the 13 tracks originally released on Suburbia plus three B-sides, two studio acoustic versions, one nervous energies session version, four basement demos and a joke nu-metal song the band wrote to break writer’s block.

 

Mitchell took over 100,000 photos during his time with the band. Orders placed before June 30th will receive an original print, unique to them, signed by everyone in the band.

 

 

 

Pre order A Year As A Ghost: On Tour with The Wonder Years here!

www.hopelessrecords.com/thewonderyears

Pre order bundles include the book or book + A Year As A Ghost T-shirt.

 

An official street date is yet to be set due to production times, but expect it to ship to you as soon as it arrives to us in the early fall. Information on exact ship dates will be sent out as soon as they are available.

 

Track listing:

1. Came Out Swinging

2. Woke Up Older

3. Local Man Ruins Everything

4. Suburbia

5. My Life as a Pigeon

6. Summers in PA

7. I Won’t Say the Lord’s Prayer

8. Coffee Eyes

9. I’ve Given You All

10. Don’t Let Me Cave In

11. You Made Me Want to be a Saint

12. Hoodie Weather

13. And Now I’m Nothing

14. My Life as Rob Gordon

15. Me vs the Highway

16. Living Room Song*

17. Don’t Let Me Cave In (Nervous Energies)*

18. Woke Up Older (Acoustic)*

19. Local Man Ruins Everything (Acoustic)*

20. Came Out Swinging (Demo)*

21. Don’t Let Me Cave In (Demo)*

22. Coffee Eyes (Live Demo)*

23. Woke Up Older (Live Demo)*

24. It’s Murder-Suicide (Nu-Metal Jam)*

* Previously Unreleased

FOR MORE INFO:

www.hopelessrecords.com 

www.thewonderyearsband.com

STREET DOGS FRONTMAN MIKE MCCOLGAN TO PLAY “GET OUT THE VOTE RALLY”

STREET DOGS FRONTMAN MIKE MCCOLGAN TO PLAY “GET OUT THE VOTE RALLY”

Multi-Platinum Recording Artists Headline Rally June 1st

Mike McColgan, the lead singer of the Boston Punk band Street Dogs, and the original lead singer of the Dropkick Murphys will play alongside Grammy Award-winning guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, Tim McIlrath of the punk rock band Rise Against, and many others in Madison, Wisconsin  this Friday, June  1st .

The artists are all hitting the stage in Madison in support of bringing out voters to the  Wisconsin recall election with current Wisconsin governor,  Gov. Scott Walker and challenger,  Milwaukee Mayor, Tom Barrett.
About Get Out The Vote Rally:

The “Get Out The Vote’ Rally” is sponsored by We Are Wisconsin and will help to provide a massive boost to canvassing efforts days before the recall election on June 5. The event, which will be held at the Madison Labor Temple at 1602 S. Park St., is free to the public with a sign up to volunteer to help get out the vote. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

For more information:
www.street-dogs.com
www.epitaph.com
www.hell-cat.com

Bad Religion – Reason Rally

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The venerated Los Angeles band Bad Religion is honored to be appearing at the historic Reason Rally this March 24th in Washington DC. The event is a free nationwide celebration intended to “unify, energize, and embolden secular people nationwide.” Bad Religion’s singer, Greg Graffin (author of Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God) will sing the national anthem and the world renowned band will perform a one hour set.

Slated to be the largest secular event in world history, the rally is sponsored by the top secular organizations in the United States and will feature music, comedy, and addresses by leaders of the secular movement. Scheduled to appear are Bad Religion, author Dr. Richard Dawkins, actor and comedian Eddie Izzard, writer and comedian Bill Maher, comedian Tim Minchin and many more.  The event is intended to give secular Americans an opportunity to unite under a banner of reason and community, at a level never seen before.

Bad Religion’s appearance at the Reason Rally is only fitting. Formed over three decades ago in the suburbs of Los Angeles amidst the incendiary punk movement, the popular and influential band has a well documented history advocating for intellectual freedom and secularism. From their provocative name, to their iconic “cross buster” logo to a lyrical canon filled with humanist themes, few other artists have so unflinchingly aligned themselves with issues of humanism and rational thought.

As Bad Religion guitarist and co-songwriter Brett Gurewitz explains, “People often ask whether I think music makes a difference; whether it’s a force for change.  Bad Religion’s invitation to appear at the Reason Rally (history’s largest secular gathering) for me affirms the notion that art has the power to transform social norms, that over the past 30 years our band, through its music and message, has contributed to a real and very positive trend toward secularization.”

The band’s singer and co-songwriter Greg Graffin offers, “We thought it was a good gathering of people who want to stress that reason should characterize the citizenry of this country, not affiliation with some religious group or socioeconomic stratum or any other criterion besides the willingness to engage in reasonable debate that is informed by rational knowledge. All I’ve ever heard from fans (and that includes parents and their kids alike) is that they have been inspired to learn more and care more by listening to our music. I think therefore, that the Reason Rally—like Bad Religion—can be very inspirational. “

Bad Religion’s latest album titled, The Dissent Of Man is available on Epitaph Records.

The Reason Rally will occur this March 24th, 2012, from 10:00AM – 6:00PM at the National Mall in Washington DC. For more information go to: www.reasonrally.org/