LARS FREDERIKSEN TO RELEASE DEBUT SOLO EP “TO VICTORY”
STRIPPED-DOWN SIX TRACK EP
TO BE AVAILABLE ON VINYL, CD, & CASSETTE
Emeryville, CA – LARS FREDERIKSEN, from legendary punk band RANCID will be releasing his debut solo EP To Victory on November 19. It will be available for pre-order from Pirates Press Records this Friday, October 15th.
This solo venture for Frederiksen started back on March 7th, 2020 when he sold out the landmark Oakland club Eli’s Mile High Club. Frederiksen performed a Billy Bragg-esque set. The lucky fans attending the show [which was supposed to be the first of many, including an appearance alongside Dropkick Murphys on St. Patrick’s Day in Boston] had no idea that they would be the only ones to witness this unbelievable performance for quite some time… (Thanks Covid!)
The surreal performance was treasured by the lucky few who got to see it, and has given Lars even more confidence and validation to pursue this venture. Frederiksen headed into the studio to record these tracks in the vein of his live performance – simple, raw, emotionally charged, and powerful.
“So much happened in my life starting in 2018 and is just now sorta wrapping up here currently in 2021. This entire period, especially during my mom’s passing, was a great reflection point for me and a time to dive deeper than I’ve ever been into my Pagan roots,” remarks Frederiksen.
The album has six tracks, featuring a mix of covers and songs from his other bands – each song carrying personal meaning for Frederiksen, and each a standout performance in its own right.
With three videos on the way, and touring planned for 2022, this is just the beginning of a new venture for Frederiksen.
“There will be more to come ’cause I’m not done yet. I don’t think I’ll ever be. As long as I have breath I’ll unapologetically use my voice,” he remarks.
TRACK LISTING: 1. God and Guns (The Old Firm Casuals) 2. Army of Zombies (Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards) 3. Tomorrows Girls (U.K. Subs cover)
4. Motherland (The Old Firm Casuals) 5. Comin’ Home (KISS cover) 6. Skunx (Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards)
1. Come Find Me 2. Burning Questions 3. Middle America 4. Cyber World 5. The Talk 6. Guilt and Relief 7. Runaway Jane 8. Robots 9. Teenage Wallflower 10. Tears are Falling 11. Bitter and Sour 12. Maybe Tomorrow 13. Midnight Blue
(WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13 2021) — In January of 2020, Dan Vapid and the Cheats began recording their fourth full-length album at Encapsulated Studios in St. Louis, Missouri. They opted to stop the session due to the Coronavirus pandemic and it sat in limbo for over a year. Upon receiving the Covid-19 vaccine, singer Dan Vapid continued the session in the summer of 2021. Now they are ready to release their fourth full-length, Escape Velocity, due out on November 5th via Eccentric Pop Records. Listen to the single “Runaway Jane” here.
“Escape Velocity exemplifies the trials and tribulations the Coronavirus pandemic has had on all of us. But life goes on. And the year hiatus made clear that this life is too short to not do what you love. The single, ‘Runaway Jane’ is inspired by John Updike’s novel, Rabbit, Run. I thought about what it would be like if a woman from a small town in Illinois left her husband without giving him a warning. I pictured a woman who felt she lived her entire life serving the prescribed roles in our society, only for it to blow into a middle-age existential crisis.” – Dan Vapid
Dan Vapid And The Cheats is a punk rock band featuring singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dan Vapid. A veteran of the punk scene who has played in influential bands such as Screeching Weasel, The Riverdales, Sludgeworth, The Methadones, Noise By Numbers, The Mopes, and The Queers. The current lineup features Dan Vapid (Vocals/Guitar), Simon Lamb (guitars/vocals), Dillon Dunnagan (bass/vocals), and Gabe Usery (drums/vocals).
In 2013, they released their self-titled debut (recorded by Justin Perkins), a sophomore LP titled Two, produced by Matt Allison (Alkaline Trio, The Lawrence Arms), a split 7″ with Masked Intruder, a split 7″ with The Jetty Boys, and made an appearance on Our Lips Are Sealed – A Tribute to The Go-Go’s. Three, the band’s third full-length and first in six years, was released in 2019 via Eccentric Pop Records. Escape Velocity was engineered, mixed, and mastered by Gabe Usery at Encapsulated Studios in St. Louis, MO., and produced by Dan Vapid and Gabe Usery.
Multifaceted singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Dan Andriano is thrilled to announce the debut album from his new project Dan Andriano & The Bygones. The album features Bay Area musicians Randy and Dylan Moore and Nick Kenrick. The album Dear Darkness will be released February 11 via Epitaph Records.
Today, Andriano unveils the title track “Dear Darkness,” which creates tension by combining a somber message with a buoyant arrangement, with crunchy riffs and an almost poppy vocal melody. The track follows the previously released singles “Sea Level,” and “The Excess.”
The self-produced project finds Andriano venturing into deeply personal lyrical territory while also pushing the limits of just what his unclassifiable sound can be.
Andriano first began work on what would become Dear Darkness during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, writing demoes and raiding his archives of unfinished ideas, doing so more out of a deep-seated need to create than with any true end project in mind. Having spent so much of his life touring and making music, the time off forced by the pandemic was foreign to Andriano, who, at moments, struggled with how to use this newfound freedom, but also found it to be fruitful for his creative process.
In addition to writing, Andriano used his time during the pandemic to broaden his already encyclopedic musical knowledge, saying, “I spent that whole time trying to get better at music. I learned a lot about music. I sat in my garage every day and just played guitar and, you know, tinkered with basses. Which is something I try to do anyway, but I did it with a little more of an active interest in education, like time I feel like I lost learning or trying to get better at music while I was just on tour doing the same thing.”
Originally, Dan had been hopeful to wrap the session with an EP, but Andriano had finished the first week with so much material to work with — and felt such a natural rapport with the Moore brothers — that the impromptu session led to a full-length album. “It did feel sort of magical, just being that everything fell into place in such a crazy time when nothing was falling into place. That was something I haven’t felt in a long time,” says Andriano.
From the desk of Justin Courtney Pierre; My earliest memories are of a boy named Charlie. He was my best friend growing up and we used to play with Hot Wheels together. My mom was always getting mad at me for trading my brand new cars for his beat-up broken old hand-me-downs that he received from his older brothers (it seems I’ve always had a predilection for weathered things). I didn’t mind if my toys looked as if they’d been played with, as long as everything was in its place. I had a tendency to spend more time categorizing and organizing things as a child than I did actually playing with them. And anytime Charlie would come over (I never played at his house, he always came to mine) all my shit would end up out of the boxes and containers and splayed out all across my bedroom like a murder scene. It stressed me out to the point where we’d eventually get into a shouting match and my mom would have to send him home. Our relationship was tumultuous at best. I’d have these reoccurring nightmares about hearing his footsteps slowly climbing up the stairs to my bedroom. I’d count each one, all 12 steps, but he’d never appear. And yet the footsteps would continue to climb. I’d jump out of bed in the middle of the night and start organizing shit, like my sock drawer, thinking if I refolded each sock just a little better, then nothing bad would happen. I was 4 years old at the time.
As we grew older, Charlie became like a second kid to my family of 2. He always seemed to know when we were eating because he’d show up just as we were sitting down to dig in. It got to the point where my mom would just start setting an extra place at the table in anticipation of him. The two of them would go through this 1950’s black and white tv sitcom routine at every meal, with her asking “Don’t they feed you over there?” and he’d smile and reply, with his usual charm, “Yeah, but my mom’s cooking isn’t nearly as good as yours, Mrs. P.,” and then he’d turn to an imaginary camera and wink, and an imaginary crowd would burst into laughter and applause. I hated him for how easily he was able to manipulate my mother. It almost seemed to me as if she even preferred him at times.
We went to Catholic grade school together at St. Jude Of The Lake in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. I remember my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Gibson, had a nervous breakdown while reading the end of ‘Bridge To Terabithia’ to us, because (spoiler) when the kid dies at the end Charlie burst out laughing. She lost her fucking mind and screamed at us about not respecting the preciousness of God’s gift of life. Charlie said something like, “It’s just a book, Lady,” and she threw it at him. He ended up having to get stitches above his left eye and she was quietly let go. Our principal filled in for a week or so and his first act as 3rd grade substitute was to liquor us all up on milk and donuts and tell us that Mrs. Gibson had had another miscarriage, and that’s why she reacted the way she did. Fuck Catholic School. I got into so much trouble because of Charlie. He used to fart real loud in church and then dramatically scoot away from me, gasping for breath. He knew I had a tendency to faint in church, and without fail would silently reach around and kick me in the back of the knee at some point in the service, instantly toppling me over. I had so many welts and bruises all over my head from years of repeatedly hitting it on the pew in front of me on my way down. My mom even wrote the school notes excusing me from having to go to church at all, but the teachers always made me anyway. I’ll say it again: Fuck Catholic School.
I don’t know why I was friends with Charlie. He was kind of a piece of shit, now that I think about it. All we did was fight. Or rather, he pushed my buttons to the point where I’d lash out, and then I’d get in trouble, and he’d just enjoy the aftermath. The last time I saw him was in 4th grade. We were all gathered around the television watching The Challenger Shuttle take off. And then it exploded. And then it was quiet. And then there was an announcement. And then it continued to be quiet. And then the teacher turned off the tv and said we could do whatever we wanted for the rest of the day, but everybody just sat quietly at their desks and stared blankly out the window. And then Charlie screamed. He let out a wild guttural scream that ripped through us as violently as a tornado siren. He continued to scream as he stood up and flipped his desk over, spilling all the contents within. He continued to scream as he walked out of the room. I could hear his scream slowly fade as it made its way down the hall, turned the corner, and exited the school.
I never saw him again.
Shortly after the incident, my mom put me in therapy. I don’t really remember a whole lot about that particular time in my life, other than the therapist was a big woman who gave me pretzels and popcorn whenever I participated in the session. I learned to manipulate her, in order to acquire a handful of snacks, purely out of boredom, which in hindsight is what probably kept me in therapy for several more years.
I’m not sure if everyone has had a version of this experience, but a few years back my mom started cleaning out the attic and began gifting me random boxes of all the old garbage of mine she had collected over the years. Boxes containing old G.I. Joe action figures, Hot Wheels cars, report cards, shitty finger paintings, class photos, old Guitar Magazines, cassette tapes, Hardy Boys books, address books, and journals. I kept a lot of journals as a child. Or rather I had a lot of half-finished journals that all started with a similar version of the same promise, “This time I am going to write every single day…” It never happened. However, I was reminded of Charlie while reading through my journals from the early ’80s. A lot of the aforementioned scenes above, that I hadn’t thought about in 30+ years, all came flooding back. One night I was having dinner at my mom’s house and my daughter and I were playing with some of my old Hot Wheels in the middle of the living room. I told her the story of how I used to trade my brand new ones for Charlie’s old beat-up ones and how that really upset grandma Debbie. And then I felt the room go quiet.
I’ve never seen such a vacant look on another human before. It was as if my mother went away and was instead replaced by a husk of herself. She had a faraway look in her eyes. She was somewhere else. I asked her what was going on. She instantly snapped back from wherever she had gone and took a gulp from her wine glass. “Whatever happened to Charlie?” I asked. “It’s like one day he just up and vanished.” My mother instantly went faraway again and mumbled something under her breath that sounded like, “His dad got a job out of town and they had to move away.” She spoke in slow motion monotone as if reciting a poem she had been forced to memorize as a child. Then just as suddenly as she had disappeared, she snapped back into the present moment and looked over at my daughter for a good long while. Then she looked at me. She smiled, but the damaged landscape of her face, due to the emotional weathering of the past, convoluted her intended expression. Carefully, she asked, “Does Maxtalk to any friends?”
-Justin.
—-
Ghost World, produced by Joshua Cain (Motion City Soundtrack), will be released via Epitaph Records on November 12. You can listen to the first track from the EP “Horse Racing” here. Ghost World follows the previously released The Price of Salt, and An Anthropologist on Mars EPs which came out earlier this year.
GHOST WORLD TRACK LISTING 1. Horse Racing 2. Steady As She Goes 3. Somewhere A Dark Heart 4. Temporary Education 5. Gate Kicker
Fuck These Fuckin Fascists, the fourth studio album from Durham, NC punk band The Muslims, is out digitally now via Epitaph Records. CD and Vinyl will be available November 5.
Taking inspiration from classic punk and afropunk roots, The Muslims have successfully synthesized the “fuck you” energy of the oppressed into an ass-kicking, head-smashing, fascist-punching sonic experience. Fuck These Fuckin Fascists, is the perfect balance of humor, tenderness and political rage, wrapped in affirmations for oppressed peoples. Musically, The Muslims continue to bring dynamic melodies to the foundation of classic punk riffs, sprinkled with out-of-this-world rhythmic outbursts. Lyrically, the band unapologetically uses music as a vessel to call out racism, the American political landscape, and white supremacy.
The band’s leader and resident bad Muslim, Sheikh QADR, draws songwriting inspiration from trailblazing Black artists, such as Bobby Hackney Sr. (Death), Nina Simone, Jimi Hendrix, and Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex), while drummer Ba7Ba7 and bassist Abu Shea blend their diverse musical backgrounds to drive a noisy-melodic truck into your face.
FUCK THESE FUCKIN FASCISTS TRACKLIST 1. Hands Up, Don’t Shoot 2. Crotch Pop A Cop 3. Unity 4. Illegals 5. Kill Your Masters 6. Fuck These Fuckin Fascists 7. IDGAF 8. Coronavirus 9. GCDC 10. Froot of The Loom 11. Live Laugh Lead 12. John McCain’s Ghost Sneaks Into The White House And Tea Bags The President
The Muslims formed in 2017, brought together by the aftermath of the 2016 election. They have since released three albums The Muslims (2018), Mayo Supreme (2019), Gentrified Chicken (2020), and one EP Inshallah: Tomorrow We Inherit the Earth (2020).
The Muslims are QADR (vocals/guitar), Abu Shea (bass), and Ba7ba7 (drums).
Most known for his role as songwriter and lead singer of punk rock band Pennywise, Jim Lindberg has been making inspiring, thought-provoking music since the 1990’s. Musically, he is influenced by an array of genres from punk and folk music to old school country and americana. Lyrically, Jim takes inspiration anywhere from transcendental philosophers to real-life events; seeking always to tell a story or find the answers to life’s big questions. Today, Lindberg shares the first glimpse of his acoustic solo project with the track “ThePalm of Your Hand” produced by Ted Hutt (The Gaslight Anthem, Lucero, Flogging Molly). The track features David Hidalgo Jr. (Social Distortion) on drums, Joe Gittleman (The Mighty, Mighty BossTones, Avoid One Thing) on bass, and Marc Orrell (The Dropkick Murphy’s, The Walker Roaders) on guitar. Check it out here.
Lindberg began writing “The Palm of Your Hand” over fifteen years ago, coming up with the chorus at the time but the song remained predominately unfinished until 2020 when he entered the studio to work on his forthcoming solo record. “I wanted to create two fictional characters who are struggling with shame, guilt, and self-delusion to match the chorus lyric and so that’s how ‘Left-Handed Sal’ and ‘Walleyed Sally’ were created,” notes Lindberg. “It’s a song about two people who for one reason or another can’t seem to get out of their own way and end up inflicting all kinds of damage on the people around them. The only way they’ll get out from under all their problems is to ‘Let that ego drop’ and let their feelings show. The answer is right there in front of them, in ‘the palm of your hand’”
This weekend, Jim Lindberg will perform at BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach, California alongside Jane’s Addiction, Cage the Elephant, Trever Keith of Face to Face, and many more. Lindberg has curated the lineup for the festivals’ “SpeakEasy” stage. The stage will also feature a pop-up art gallery provided by Punk Rock & Paintbrushes, which highlights artwork from some of the Festival’s musicians and local artists. For more information, visit Beachlifefestival.com.
Epitaph Records is pleased to welcome Santa Cruz-bred hardcore quartet Drain to the family!
Today, the Northern California-based band shares their new single “Watch You Burn,” produced and engineered by Taylor Young (Nails, Twitching Tongues, Rotting Out). “’Watch You Burn’ is a pissed off and in your face song that I wrote after hitting a breaking point this year,” explains vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro. “Lyrically, it is exactly what I felt like I needed to say to convey the way that I had been feeling, while also being the exact words that I needed to hear at that point in my life. I was in a really dark place and I used my mindset and troubled environment as fuel to create and make a positive out of a negative. Life handed me lemons and I made a badass song out of it”
Since their formation in 2014, Drain has released two EPs and one full-length record; Over Thinking (2016), Time Enough at Last (2017), and their debut record California Cursed (2020). The band takes heavy influence from thrash, and ’80s to ’90s hardcore mixed with a modern influence.
Having gained notoriety for their energetic and chaotic live shows over the years, Drain will be on tour this fall as direct support for Terror. Additionally, the band will play a handful of dates with REGULATE. Tickets are on sale now. For more information, visit https://www.drain831.com/.
DRAIN TOUR DATES supporting TERROR 9/6 Phoenix, AZ The Rebel Lounge 9/7 Henderson, NV Eagle Aerie Hall – SOLD OUT 9/8 Los Angeles, CA Lodge Room – SOLD OUT 9/9 Anaheim, CA Chain Reaction – SOLD OUT 9/10 San Diego, CA Soda Bar – SOLD OUT 9/11 Santa Cruz, CA Santa Cruz Vets Hall 9/12 Sacramento, CA Holy Diver 9/14 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court 9/15 Denver, CO Globe Hall 9/17 Dallas, TX Three Links 9/18 San Antonio, TX Vibes Underground 9/19 Houston, TX The Secret Group 9/20 Austin, TX Empire Control Room 9/21 Oklahoma City, OK 89th Street 9/22 Memphis, TN Growlers 9/23 Nashville, TN Studio 615 – SOLD OUT
with REGULATE 10/15 Hingham, MA Sons Of Italy 10/16 Philadelphia, PA The F.U. Church 10/17 Oakdale, NY Shakers Pub
Drain is Sammy Ciaramitaro (vocals), Cody Chavez (guitar), Mike Durrett (bass), and Tim Flegal (drums).
Durham, NC punk band The Muslims have announced their forthcoming albumFuck These Fuckin Fascists. The band’s Epitaph Records debut is out digitally September 24 and on CD/Vinyl November 5.
Taking inspiration from classic punk and afropunk roots, they have successfully synthesized the “fuck you” energy of the oppressed into an ass-kicking, head-smashing, fascist-punching sonic experience. Fuck These Fuckin Fascists, is the ultimate sing-along anthem against all forms of oppression. It’s the perfect balance of humor, tenderness and political rage, wrapped in affirmations for oppressed peoples. Musically, The Muslims continue to bring dynamic melodies to the foundation of classic punk riffs, sprinkled with out-of-this-world rhythmic outbursts. Lyrically, the band unapologetically uses music as a vessel to call out racism, the American political landscape, and white supremacy.
The band’s leader and resident bad Muslim, Sheikh QADR, draws songwriting inspiration from trailblazing Black artists, such as Bobby Hackney Sr. (Death), Nina Simone, Jimi Hendrix, and Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex), while drummer Ba7Ba7 and bassist Abu Shea blend their diverse musical backgrounds to drive a noisy-melodic truck into your face.
Today, the band share their new single “Unity,” a song dedicated to activists fighting to make change and call out the hypocrisies in government policy. “Love is an action word that demands of us to speak up and fight, passionately, for the future we all deserve,” proclaims vocalis QADR. “I’m so tired of their belligerent screams for ‘UNITY,’ corny dances and symbolic gestures. We don’t want Harriet Tubman on a fuckin $20, we want reparations and no more racist police.”
FUCK THESE FUCKIN FASCISTS TRACKLIST 1. Hands Up, Don’t Shoot 2. Crotch Pop A Cop 3. Unity 4. Illegals 5. Kill Your Masters 6. Fuck These Fuckin Fascists 7. IDGAF 8. Coronavirus 9. GCDC 10. Froot of The Loom 11. Live Laugh Lead 12. John McCain’s Ghost Sneaks Into The White House And Tea Bags The President
The Muslims formed in 2017, brought together by the aftermath of the 2016 election. They have since released three albums The Muslims (2018), Mayo Supreme (2019), Gentrified Chicken (2020), and one EP Inshallah: Tomorrow We Inherit the Earth (2020).
The Muslims are QADR (vocals/guitar), Abu Shea (bass), and Ba7ba7 (drums).
Los Angeles, CA – SUZI MOON has just released her video for “Nuthin’ To Me” which can be seen exclusively over at GRIMY GOODS. The song comes from Moon’s critically acclaimed Call The Shots 3 song EP, the debut solo release for the former CIVET member and TURBULENT HEARTS frontwoman. The video, like her others, was self-directed and edited.
“Nuthin’ To Me is a classic “fuck you” song about running into an ex-lover and realizing that they no longer hold a place in your heart. In fact, you can’t remember why you fell in love with them in the first place. It is one of those tunes that wrote itself in 10 minutes, the words & melody came pouring out of me. The chorus was so direct & straight to the point that I felt like there was no reason to add extra lyrics. I said what I needed to say. Repeating the hook over and over again continues to be a cathartic and empowering mantra,” says Moon.
The video, which once again showcases Moon’s directorial and editing chops, highlights her love for old B horror movies & weird burlesque videos from the 60s. “Visually, I knew I wanted a black & white video to reflect the mood of the song. I definitely see a story in there, others may see something completely different. It’s up for interpretation! I hope that viewers enjoy the weird, wild ride,” Moon adds.
Since the release of her debut EP to rave reviews, Moon is finally getting ready to hit the road. Moon and her crew will be playing songs from her EP plus a few more surprises!
Catch SUZI MOON live: 09/09/2021 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fire 09/10/2021 – Brooklyn, NY – Our Wicked Lady 09/11/2021 – Artemas, PA – Four Quarters – Camp Punksylvania
Los Angeles-based, all-female punk band The Linda Lindas have released their highly anticipated new single “Oh!” “’Oh!’ is one of the first songs we collaborated on during the pandemic, masked and distanced on the front porch,” recalls the band. “It started with the main riff and progression Bela brought to the band. Eloise wrote the verses and Lucia and Mila wrote the choruses. The song deals with trying to help out someone and having it blow up in your face.”
Along with the track, the band share their colorful and fun video directed by Ryan Baxley (Best Coast, The Regrettes, Charlie Hanson) featuring American skateboarder and photographer Ray Barbee. When coming up with the video concept the band worked backward from the single artwork featuring Polaroid photos of themselves and imagined a world where these photos come to life. Check out the music video for “Oh!” here.
The track is featured in the trailer for the upcoming Netflix series “The Chair” starring Golden Globe winning actress, Sandra Oh. The Chair follows Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim (Oh) as she navigates her new role as the Chair of the English department at prestigious Pembroke University. Ji-Yoon is faced with a unique set of challenges as the first woman to chair the department, and as one of the few staff members of color at the university. Check out the trailer, here.
ABOUT THE LINDA LINDAS Formed in 2018, The Linda Lindas first played together when former Dum Dum Girls frontwoman Kristin Kontrol invited them to take the stage to play covers for Girlschool LA (a music and ideas festival focused on connecting and empowering women-identified artists, leaders, and voices). After forming their own band and playing DIY gigs around Los Angeles, they were asked to open for punk icon Alice Bag and for seminal riot grrrl band Bikini Kill at one of their 2019 reunion shows at the Hollywood Palladium. In time, the band began writing their own material, including a song featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary The Claudia Kishi Club.
The Linda Lindas released their self-titled, self-released debut EP in 2020 showcasing their high-energy and heartfelt brand of punk, naming Jawbreaker, The Go-Go’s, and The Alley Cats among their inspirations. Months later, they appeared in a key scene of Amy Poehler’s Moxie!
In May 2021, The Linda Lindas’ set at the Cypress Park branch of the L.A. Public Library was streamed as an AAPI Heritage Month event (the band members are Asian American, Latinx, or both). The bands blistering performance of “Racist, Sexist Boy,” amassed over four million views on Instagram, and earned major praise from the likes of Hayley Williams, Questlove, Flea, and members of Rage Against the Machine and Sonic Youth.
The Linda Lindas are Eloise (vocals, bass), Mila (vocals, drums), Bela (vocals, guitar), and Lucia (vocals, guitar).
