The Witzard

Above, you'll see a flyer for an infamous mixed-genre show at CBGB's billed as HARDCORE 1997. Said flyer for a June 29, 1997 gig explains, "This IS the actual band order, so be there early! CB's... usually START ON TIME!!!" and lists the night's performers/genres: "SPAZZ (West Bay HARDCORE Mayhem, first tour ever!) Braid (A damned EMO band on tour from somewhere?) MONSTER X (Ebullition's only real HARDCORE band.) The Get Up Kids (Another wretched EMO band on tour.) HEMLOCK (HARDCORE? DEATH METAL? At least it's not EMO!) 97a (New Jersey HARDCORE, with a brand new record, too!) Ethel Meserve (Hmm... More EMO still?)" It's crazy to think bands as different as SPAZZ, Braid, and The Get Up Kids were all featured on the same bill for a 3:00pm gig at CGBG's, but, I guess, times were different and it's an awesome piece of Punk/Hardcore-adjacent to see nearly 24 years later. Last week, amidst The COVID-19/Coronavirus global pandemic, Japa

The Hanson Brothers - Gross Misconduct Cassette "Hockey Cards" (Alternative Tentacles, 1992) Not entirely unlike Wrestle/Wrassle Rap or Basketball Rap, there's, apparently, a whole sub-genre of hockey-themed Punk/Hardcore—oftentimes, referred to as "Puck" Rock or Hockey-core. Yes, I've been a die-hard fan of Punk/Hardcore for 15+ years and I, too, only first heard about Puck Rock within the last few weeks. Although, once I started diggin' around, I discovered about 10-15 bands at the forefront; this was, then, gradually narrowed down to 10 "front-line" bands, which will be chronicled here over the course of coming weeks. The "top-scoring" bands we selected include: Crippled Youth, SLAPSHOT, The Hanson Brothers/Nomeansno, Two Man Advantage, The Boils, D.O.A. THE ZAMBONIS, Pansy Division, The Hextalls, and THE RAMOMS' "Gritty Is A Punk" flexi-disc. We sent out a short 6-question interview form to all of the aforementione

Moor Jewelry (CREDIT: Bob Sweeney) Moor Jewelry —sometimes, known as " Moor X Jewelry "—is a collaborative Philly-based project consisting of Camae Anywa (Moor Mother) and Steve Montenegro (Mental Jewelry.) Don Giovanni Records released Moor X Jewelry 's debut collaborative EP, Crime Waves , back in June 2017 to both widespread critical and fan acclaim. Prior to Crime Waves , two early Mental Jewelry tracks, actually, appeared on Moor Mother 's 2017 album, The Motionless Present , released on UK-based The Vinyl Factory ; one of those formative tracks, "Big Crime," would end up re-appearing on Crime Waves and the other, "Remember," remains a Motionless Present -only exclusive. Moor Mother has since shared a solo album, Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes (2019) on Don Giovanni , as well as six appearances across Zonal 's 12-track 2019 Relapse Records album, Wrecked . Together, Moor Mother x Zonal , additionally, released non-album cu

The Aquabats! are a decades-long standing musical institution, who have flirted with Ska, New Wave, Punk Rock, Pop Punk, and Synth-pop stylings across five studio albums, one compilation album, one soundtrack album, two EP's, one live album, and miscellaneous recordings. The Aquabats! are widely know for their comedic personas, in which they're portrayed as crime-fighting superheroes. Their current line-up consists of founding members The MC Bat Commander & Crash McLarson (otherwise, known as Christian Jacobs & Chad Larson ,) along with keyboardist/saxophonist Jimmy The Robot AKA James Briggs , drummer Ricky Fitness AKA Richard Falomir , and guitarist Eagle "Bones" Falconhawk AKA Ian Fowles . Jacobs is one of the co-creators of popular live action/puppet educational, musical children's television show, Yo Gabba Gabba! ; with The Aquabats! he's produced a number of similarly-minded shows, including The Aquabats! Super Show! and most recently, a

Long-time collaborators Damu The Fudgemunk & Raw Poetic (AKA Earl Davis & Jason Moore ) have teamed up once more for a new collaborative album for Damu 's NJ/DC/CA-based label, Redefinition Records . For said album, Ocean Bridges , Davis & Moore have recruited prolific Jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp , along with a seven-piece band, for a unique hybrid Hip-Hop/live Jazz experience. Damu The Fudgemunk 's band assembled for Ocean Bridges consists of Archie Shepp on tenor/soprano sax & Wurlitzer electric piano, Raw Poetic supplying vocals/raps/lyrics, guitarist Pat Fritz , Aaron Gause on Wurlitzer electric piano & synthesizer, Luke Stewart providing acoustic/electric bass, Jamal Moore on tenor sax, clarinet, bongos & percussion, and drummer/percussionist Bashi Rose . "We were graced with the once-in-a-lifetime experience to record with the mighty Archie Shepp! Never could I imagine!! Never did I know that I'd be prepared to take on an opportu

It's almost a bit hard to believe that in 2020, The Alchemist & MF DOOM haven't released a full-length project together. Although, it appears as though they have a few mutual friends/collaborators in Earl Sweatshirt , WestsideGunn, Madlib 's brother Oh No , and Egon from Now-Again Records. So, it doesn't seem entirely unlikely or 100% out of the question. However, the average fan may not be aware, DOOM & Alchemist have, in fact, worked together on a number of occasions on a couple lesser-known one-off tracks: "DOOMSAYER" was briefly released as part of DOOM 's mysteriously scrapped THE MISSING NOTEBOOK RHYMES series for [adult swim] in 2017 (a Young Guru -producer version was released in 2012) also, in 2017, Alchemist produced "2STRINGS" from WestsideGunn & MF DOOM 's super-limited edition WESTSIDE DOOM Griselda Records/Daupe! 12-inch. Then, without much prior notice, Alchemist jumped on Instagram Live this past Mon

D.O.A. 1994: Jay Scott, Brian Roy Goble, Matt Johnson & Joe Keithley (CREDIT: Colin Price) Not entirely unlike Wrestle/Wrassle Rap or Basketball Rap, there's, apparently, a whole sub-genre of hockey-themed Punk/Hardcore—oftentimes, referred to as "Puck" Rock or Hockey-core. Yes, I've been a die-hard fan of Punk/Hardcore for 15+ years and I, too, only first heard about Puck Rock within the last few weeks. Although, once I started diggin' around, I discovered about 10-15 bands at the forefront; this was, then, gradually narrowed down to 10 "front-line" bands, which will be chronicled here over the course of coming weeks. The "top-scoring" bands we selected include: Crippled Youth, SLAPSHOT, The Hanson Brothers/Nomeansno, Two Man Advantage, The Boils, D.O.A. THE ZAMBONIS, Pansy Division, The Hextalls, and THE RAMOMS' "Gritty Is A Punk" flexi-disc. We sent out a short 6-question interview form to all of the aforementioned bands

Since the start of Nation-wide self-quarantines about a month ago, Bronx, New York producer and multi-instrumentalist Ray West has been steadily recording and self-releasing projects on his imprint, RED APPLES 45 . For Week #1, RED APPLES treated terribly unsuspecting fans/onlookers to West's WALTER PPK EP , an Instrumental Hip-Hop split with fellow producer Giallo Point . A week later, saw the release of STRESS RELIEF , which features Dynamix emcee Junclassic alongside Ray West across a Name-Your-Price 5-track EP. Week #3 marked the surprise-release of Ray West & Eloh Kush 's IMPETUS EP featuring guest emcees Glorious , John Robinson, ID4Windz , and Jahbaton. We've been playing close attention and intently listening to April's RED APPLES 45 releases... although, we have to admit, Week #4's teased drop definitely intrigued us the most: this past Friday, April 16, 2020, saw the release of West's Rowhouse Whispers . For this latest release, Ray West re

ARTWORK BY: Chris Shary (@chrisshary) Here's a collection of remotely-recorded/filmed music videos and performances created by our favorite artists (and their fans!) We'll do our best to keep adding to this playlist until things get back to normal. This video playlist currently features selections from Urian Hackney (ROUGH FRANCIS,) Liberty & Justice, Goldfinger, blink-182, Two Minutes to Late Night "All-Stars," Light The Lamp, American Football, Neck Deep, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Scott Bradlee, Naeem FKA Spank Rock, Tankcrimes TV's Scotty "Karate" Heath, and Puddles Pity Party. Stay safe out there, my friends, and WASH YOUR HANDS!!!

Urian Hackney for Paiste (CREDIT: Luke Awtry) Urian Hackney is a Vermont-based drummer, engineer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and skateboarder. Hackney's credits include Lake Superior, Libido Reign, Maneuvers, Caroline Rose, Western Terrestrials, and Wild Leek River. Urian Hackney has filled in for Converge drummer Ben Koller on multiple occasions and plays full-time in his own band, ROUGH FRANCIS. Consisting of three brothers and two of their close friends, ROUGH FRANCIS was originally formed in 2008 as a tribute to their father and uncles' 1970's Proto-punk band, Death. ROUGH FRANCIS are currently prepping their third full-length album, Urgent Care, for release in early May. Although, amidst the global Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic, Urian Hackney has made a bit of a name for himself online as a result of his topical remixes/drum covers. Last week, we first heard about Hackney's work when Scotty "Karate" Heath from Tankcrimes (@tankcrimes) Tweeted a

The Original Hextalls Line-up: Devin, Nikki & Troy (SOURCE: The Hextalls) Not entirely unlike Wrestle/Wrassle Rap or Basketball Rap, there's, apparently, a whole sub-genre of hockey-themed Punk/Hardcore—oftentimes, referred to as "Puck" Rock or Hockey-core. Yes, I've been a die-hard fan of Punk/Hardcore for 15+ years and I, too, only first heard about Puck Rock within the last few weeks. Although, once I started diggin' around, I discovered about 10-15 bands at the forefront; this was, then, gradually narrowed down to 10 "front-line" bands, which will be chronicled here over the course of coming weeks. The "top-scoring" bands we selected include: Crippled Youth, SLAPSHOT, The Hanson Brothers/Nomeansno, Two Man Advantage, The Boils, D.O.A. THE ZAMBONIS, Pansy Division, The Hextalls, and THE RAMOMS' "Gritty Is A Punk" flexi-disc. We sent out a short 6-question interview form to all of the aforementioned bands, received some ba

The Streets was a long-running musical project of English emcee and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner . Skinner was active as The Streets from 1994-2011 and released five full-length albums, one mixtape, an EP, and countless singles. However, following mass of amounts of critical and fan-acclaim, Mike Skinner suddenly decided to dissolve The Streets in 2011. It, then, fell to the wayside as one of his former projects, along with Grafiti and The Beats . Since the dissolution of The Streets , Skinner stayed relatively active, sporadically releasing music as The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light , The D.O.T. Tonga Balloon Gang , and, simply, as Mike Skinner. I can still remember diving around in my car, as a 16/17-year-old with my "little" sister (then, about 12-13) listening to The Streets' "Fit But You Know It," both of us expertly rhyming along every word is terrible faux-Cockney accents. A few years back, when I first created my Spotify account,

Over Easter Weekend, MATAMOSKA! (@matamoska) posted a rather cryptic message on Instagram, which simply read: "[soundcloud] exclusive only." along with a Monkey Emoji and hashtags "#matamoska&friends" and "#thespecials." It took a little while, but with some earnest digital sleuthing, we soon stumbled upon MATAMOSKA! & Friends' cover of The Specials' "Monkey Man" uploaded to multi-instrumentalist and mixing engineer Esteban Flores Valenzuela 's Soundcloud page. According to Facebook, MATAMOSKA! 's core line-up consists of Flores on keyboards/backing vocals, rhythm guitarist/vocalist Jose Padilla , drummer Richard Sanchez , bassist Hector Rivera , trumpet player Ivan Lopez , trombonist Robert Verdugo , and tenor saxophonist Jovan Loera . We first heard about by way of their amazingly-titled 2017 album SKALLUMINATI released on limited edition cassette through Illinois-based In The Lake Records . Next we heard from MATAM

So, we recently told you about Jonah Falco & Mike Haliechuk from F*CKED UP 's other band, Jade Hairpins ... well, now Jonah & Mike are back with yet ANOTHER other band, MASTERPIECE MACHINE . Not entirely unlike Jade Hairpins , it appears as though MASTERPIECE MACHINE was birther from F*CKED UP album sessions; although, this time, in addition to Jonah Falco & Mike Haliechuk , they've recruited a third member for MASTERPIECE MACHINE , Riley Gale from POWER TRIP . "Jonah & I were in the studio for two years writing the last F*CKED UP album, [ Dose Your Dreams ] and ended up with tons of music that didn't fit on the album. We had these two specific songs that sounded huge and aggressive, so we wanted to carve them off into their own project," Mike Haliechuk recently told REVOLVER . In stark contrast to both F*CKED UP & POWER TRIP , MASTERPIECE MACHINE —at least, from their debut single, "Rotting Fruit"—MASTERPIECE MACHINE appear t

First and foremost, Steely Dan are great, but I can assure you, you've never heard them like this before! Here, we have a remotely-recorded Heavy Metal-tinged cover of Steely Dan 's infectious 1973 single, "Reelin' In The Years" from their debut album, Can't Buy A Thrill (1972.) It was all orchestrated from self-quarantine by Two Minutes to Late Night 's own Jordan Olds AKA Gwarsenio Hall/Doctor Mayor and Drew "Hollywood" Kaufman AKA Diet Hellboy . Two Minutes to Late Night 's Facebook page describes the how as "a Heavy Metal-themed talk show featuring a corpse-painted host and the world's best House Band, Mutoid Man !" According to Stereogum Senior Editor Tom Breihan , Mutoid Man 's Stephen Brodsky , also, leads Cave In and drummer Ben Koller plays with Converge & All Pigs Must Die . Last month, when these self-quarantine recommendations first started happening, Two Minutes to Late Night (2M2LN) and some mus

The Boils at Wachovia Center, 2006-07 (SOURCE: DAVE "Sausage" Walling) Not entirely unlike Wrestle/Wrassle Rap or Basketball Rap, there's, apparently, a whole sub-genre of hockey-themed Punk/Hardcore—oftentimes, referred to as "Puck" Rock or Hockey-core. Yes, I've been a die-hard fan of Punk/Hardcore for 15+ years and I, too, only first heard about Puck Rock within the last few weeks. Although, once I started diggin' around, I discovered about 10-15 bands at the forefront; this was, then, gradually narrowed down to 10 "front-line" bands, which will be chronicled here over the course of coming weeks. The "top-scoring" bands we selected include: Crippled Youth, SLAPSHOT, The Hanson Brothers/Nomeansno, Two Man Advantage, The Boils, D.O.A. THE ZAMBONIS, Pansy Division, The Hextalls, and THE RAMOMS' "Gritty Is A Punk" flexi-disc. We sent out a short 6-question interview form to all of the aforementioned bands, received som