The Witzard

Bay Area emcee, producer, and musician Luke Sick (Strike The Clutch, ON TILT, DANKSLOB, Grand Killa Con, Grand Invincible, Grand Collab, DANK GOBLINS, CCRRCCSSLLRRKKRRSSS, The Disturbers, Dwarves) has returned with a new release from yet another band/group. CREEP PLAYER is Luke's new Gangsta Rap-influenced group with producer AC415n AKA AC. Their inaugural release, RIVAL DEALER, was recently profiled within the latest edition of okayplayer's Mixtape Monday , along with choice cuts from Big Kahuna OG, Justo The MC x maticulous, Zilla Rocca & andrew., Rhys Langston, and plenty more rising stars. okayplayer's Karas Lamb reported: "Luke Sick & AC combine as CREEP PLAYER to drop their super-raw Gangsta Rap collection dubbed RIVAL DEALER." RIVAL DEALER by CREEP PLAYER Luke Sick himself recently told The Witzard, "I think the most important thing to get out there about this tape is that it was crafted in the fashion of the classic Bay Area analog mob

My Chemical Romance (ART CREDIT: Dan Schenker) Art Inhuman is a collaborative effort between Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) artist Dan Schenker and writer Matt Horowitz. Dan takes band names, lyrics, and song names and with the help of A.I., manipulates them into what he feels best represents them visually. If you have a suggestion for an upcoming addition to this series, Tweet Matt at @SharpChedder856 and/or Dan at @heydanschenker and Tag the band or artist you'd like us to feature next. This project spawned from Dan's decades-long love of music. Dan had been a fan of the band FOLLY since early high school—for the blend of Punk, Ska, and Hardcore they seamlessly wove, for the energy their music made him feel, and for the almost disproportionately poetic lyrics and topics they covered. So, when Dan thought to input some of his favorite FOLLY lyrics, song titles, and album titles into Midjourney, the results were staggering. He posted them to Facebook, which caught the atte

Denzel Curry is preparing to release a re-packaged and beefed up version of his fantastic fifth studio album, Melt My Eyez See Your Future , that showcasing his 10-piece ensemble, The Cold Blooded Soul Band. They recently helped make the Florida emcee's NPR Tiny Desk Concert and performance on The Tonight Show all the more captivating witha Roots-esque live jam band quality. Denzel Curry's live band/The Cold Blooded Soul Band line-up includes DJ POSHtronaut, trumpet players Marcus Paul (Anderson .Paak,) and Brandyn Phillips (Mac Miller, Robin Thicke) saxophonist/flutist Tim McKay, trombinist Alex Csillag (Mestizo Beat,) percussionist Brian Gazo (The Delirians, 2Mex,) drummer Brian Patterson, keyboardist Jay Winfield, guitarst Jack Siegel, and bassist David McKinzie. Along with the release announcement, Curry has shared a new music video for album highlight "X-Wing." Melt My Eyez See Your Future: The Expanded Edition will premiere on a livestream concert this Thursd

Beck dropped a new song this morning. Well, it's actually a cover of Neil Young's 1971 staple, "Old Man," from his iconic 1972 album, Harvest. And Beck's version of "Old Man" actually made its debut last night during the NFL's Sunday Night Football On NBC. It's a 30-second black-and-white spot showcasing Beck playing "Old Man" on his acoustic guitar inter-spliced with imagery of both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' newly un-retired quarterback, Tom Brady, and the Kansas City Chiefs' own quarterback and rising star, Patrick Mahomes. It sounds like next Sunday, October 2nd, The Bucs & The Chiefs will be facing off, as will 45-year-old Brady and 27-year-old Mahomes. The NFL's clip kinda frames Mahomes as being the next "Old Man" Brady and shows highlights of both players' careers. It even boasts a rather "heart-warming" exchange after 2020's Super Bowl LV wherein Mahomes says, "hey, you're

SAMIAM Art Week portraits (ART CREDIT: Masato / @imani_shit) Beloved Punk/Emo/Post-hardcore O.G.'s SAMIAM have now signed to Pure Noise Records and are actively working on what will be their first new album since 2011's Trips released on Hopeless Records. Along with the announcement of their signing, SAMIAM have just released their first new single in over a decade, "Lights Out Little Hustler." It features Chris Wollard (Hot Water Music, Ship Thieves, Rumbleseat) and it sounds like a classic revved-up rockin' SAMIAM jam. Vocalist Jason Beebout says, "'Lights Out Little Hustler" is about becoming emotionally detached and creating obstacles to keep people from being close to you. Wanting to be loved, but forgetting how to show it. Knowing that what you have is important, but too afraid to let it be." Check it out an accompanying motion video below. SAMIAM is, also, playing Atlantic City's inaugural Frantic City Festival this upcoming

Cresent Ridge with Mike Assatly (SOURCE: Mike Assatly) Crescent Ridge is a Stoughton, Massachusetts-based band whose music has been described as Alternative, Rock, Pop Rock, Slacker Rock, Soft Grunge, and Bubblegrunge. However, despite goofy genre labels and fabricated names, Crescent Ridge's musical output has drawn real-life comparisons to the likes of Dinosaur Jr., Foo Fighters, The Lemonheads, Pixies, Quicksand, and The Smashing Pumpkins; so, I guess we can kinda see how someone came up with the sub-genre label of "Bubblegrunge." Crescent Ridge's current line-up consists of guitarist and vocalist Derek Schepici, guitarist Aaron "Ron" Devoe, bassist and vocalist Chris Gill, drummer Kevin Merriam, and part-time guitarist Mike Assatly. Collectively, Crescent Ridge's members have spent time playing with slightly more Punk/Hardcore bands, such as BearTrap, Spirits, Clueless, Energy, and Terminal Crisis, and even our Emo/Indie-leaning favorites Little L

"Become What You Hate" (ART CREDIT: Dan Schenker) Art Inhuman is a collaborative effort between Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) artist Dan Schenker and writer Matt Horowitz. Dan takes band names, lyrics, and song names and with the help of A.I., manipulates them into what he feels best represents them visually. If you have a suggestion for an upcoming addition to this series, Tweet Matt at @SharpChedder856 and/or Dan at @heydanschenker and Tag the band or artist you'd like us to feature next. This project spawned from Dan's decades-long love of music. Dan had been a fan of the band FOLLY since early high school—for the blend of Punk, Ska, and Hardcore they seamlessly wove, for the energy their music made him feel, and for the almost disproportionately poetic lyrics and topics they covered. So, when Dan thought to input some of his favorite FOLLY lyrics, song titles, and album titles into Midjourney, the results were staggering. He posted them to Facebook, which ca

Mega Ran with Kevin Snith at the Clerks III premiere (SOURCE: Raheem Jarbo) We've been steadily covering, listening to, and enjoying Mega Ran's music since first hearing Forever Famicom with K-Murdock back in 2010. As his overall sound, style, and delivery has gradually evolved over the course of the past 12 years, Mega Ran (also known as Random & RandomBeats) has always remained unabashedly nerdy fully embracing the Nerdcore/Chiptune Rap genre tag(s). Mega Ran has recorded and released centered or loosely themed around his love and admiration for Star Wars, Final Fantasy, Mega Man, Sonic The Hedgehog, professional wrestling, Dragon Ball Z, Stranger Things, BTS, The Mandalorian, The Dewey Decibel System, Macross/Robotech, Metal Gear Solid, Encanto, and much, much more. Ran's latest effort and 11th solo full-length, Live '95 , has been described as an intersection between "Hip-Hop, basketball, and the inner-city cultures that have allowed each to thrive."

Philly-based Hardcore Punk legends R.A.M.B.O. (@r.a.m.b.o._official) have triumphantly returned and signed to Relapse Records for the November release of Defy Extinction, the band's first full-length album since 2006! The cover art, tracklisting, pre-orders, and more have been shared , along with a video for the album's lead single and title track. R.A.M.B.O. was a Straight Edge Vegan Hardcore Punk band initially active from 1999-2007. They were well-known throughout the local scene for their political lyrics and wild live shows where the crowd was often encouraged to dress in costumes to match a specific theme, such as Cops vs. Robots. "R.A.M.B.O." supposedly stands for Revolution Anarchy Mosh Bike Overthrow. To say that R.A.M.B.O. occupies a singular space in Punk history is an understatement. During their initial run from 1999 to 2007, the band took influences from Thrash, Anarcho-punk, D-beat, Crust, and Hardcore and combined that with intelligent but very fun—

Chris Candy performing with Chotto Ghetto (CREDIT: Tomas Caledron) Late last night, we got a Bandcamp notification email from Phat 'n' Phunky Phonics about Chill Power!!!!! from a mysterious new band/artists called Bull Shannon. Chill Power!!!!!'s attached Bandcamp description explained, "Here's the 4-track debut for the Los Angeles trio, BULL SHANNON. Featuring Chris Candy (Chotto Ghetto) on vocals and bass, Bob Vielma (Shinobu, Fuss) also, on bass, and Neil Hennessy (The Lawrence Arms, Joyce Manor) on drums, their dual-bass style is surprisingly melodic and nimble. Recorded by [Neil] Hennessy at Asher's House in beautiful Los Angeles, California. Mastered by Hans DeKline." Bull Shannon is, of course, a reference to iconic Night Court character Aristotle Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon played by actor and voice actor Charles Richard Moll. Chill Power!!!!! by Bull Shannon We reached out to Bob AKA BOBOSO, Neil & Chris directly even later l

Guilty Party, L-R: Angelo Celli, Rob Herrera & Rosie Gonce (SOURCE: Angelo Celli) Guilty Party is a new Oakland, California-based Pop-punk band consisting of members of Bracket, The Good Life Crisis, toyGuitar, Long Knives, Middle College, and My Last Line. Earlier this summer, Guilty Party rolled out a couple pre-album singles , as well as an adorable animated music video for "Baby Bird." Guilty Party formed in mid-2021, soon signed to Paper Street Cuts, and played their first proper show together in November of 2021. We've known vocalist and guitarist Angelo Celli for a few years now and interviwed him for features here a number of times for Bracket's recent releases. He got us in touch with drummer and vocalist Rosie Gonce, who was kind enough to answer a handful of questions about Guilty Party and their debut four-track EP, Imposter Syndrome. Check out our interview below, whish has been lightly edited for general clarity. Guilty Party have at least five

J.R. SLAYER (CREDIT: Robin Laananen) Just a few days before the release of their eagerly-awaited Will Yip-produced debut EP, Not Rotten, comes one of J.R. SLAYER's stand-out tracks, "The Fade Out." Keeping with the feeling of falling into Earth-shattering love that washes over the entire EP, "The Fade Out" feels nostalgic and hopeful while rocking amidst soaring guitar riffs and melodic Indie Punk sing-alongs. Out on Yip's label, Memory Music, this Friday, Not Rotten sounds as opposite as it can from Cody Votolato's past work; it's clear that the Seattle-born, LA-residing artist is at a new place in his life. "There's so much bad shit in the world, there's a lot of bad things happening. But when you fall in love with someone, you have this feeling that all that stuff can disappear momentarily," Votolato explains. "Everything goes away but you and this person and your feelings about them and yourself." J.R. SLAYER comes

Jenna Pup is the frontperson and found of The HIRS Collective (somtimes, known simply as HIRS or +HIRS+) who describe themselves on Facebook as "a collective of freaks, faggots, friends, lovers, and favorites that will never stop existing. [infinite]." HIRS' Discogs page further ellaborates, "The HIRS Collective exist to fight for, defend, and celebrate the survival of trans, queer, P.O.C., black, women, and any and all other folks who have to constantly face violence, marginalization, and oppression. We are a collective of freaks, faggots, friends, lovers, and favorites that will never stop existing. infinite and never ending. No one is going to kill us; we are going to live forever." HIRS' last proper album, Friends. Lovers. Favorites, was released on Get Better Records in 2018 and featured guest appearances from the likes of Shirley Manson (Garbage,) Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!, Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers,) Martin Crudo (Limp Wrist,