The Witzard

The Hanukkah Sessions - CREDIT: Lego Dave Grohl (@LegoDaveGrohl) Last year, Foo Fighters frontman and esteemed writer Dave Grohl and producer, multi-instrumentalist, and song-writer Greg Kurstin teamed up once more for The Hanukkah Sessions : a series of eight performance videos covering the likes of the Beastie Boys, Drake, Mountain, Peaches, Bob Dylan, Elastica, The Knack, and The Velvet Underground. Eight Jewish artists, one for each night of Hanukkah 2020. Sunday night, the first night of Hanukkah, Grohl & Kurstin re-emerged with Night One of The Hanukkah Sessions 2021. "Welcome back to the menorah, y'all. Let's kick it this year's Hanukkah Sessions with one of Dallas, Texas' favorite Jewish daughters. So, put on your coffee shop spectacles and your Betsey Johnson dress and HAVA listen to this... "Stay" by Lisa Loeb," read a video description uploaded along with Night One's festive candle-lit offering. Yes, Dave Grohl & Greg Ku...

"Hi, I'm Greg Kurstin and I'm Jewish. And I'm Dave Grohl. I am NOT Jewish... but this year, instead of doing a Christmas song, Greg & I decided to celebrate Hanukkah by recording eight songs by eight famous Jewish artists and releasing one song each night of Hanukkah for you. So, we hope you enjoy! Happy Hanukkah!" close friends, cohorts, and collaborators Dave Grohl & Greg Kurstin explained within a recent video. They were, of course, announcing what we now know to be dubbed The Hanukkah Sessions! credited to Kurstin x Grohl. However, thisisn't the first time Grohl & Kurstin have worked together, as Kurstin produced Grohl's band, Foo Fighter's critically-acclaimed 2017 album, Concrete & Gold . It appears as though Greg Kurstin was, also, behind the boards for Foo Fighters' upcoming tenth studio album, Medicine At Midnight, as he shares a co-producer credit along with The Foos. Plus, Dave Grohl fittingly plays drums on "Littl...

We've been eharing rumblings for quite some time now and this past weekend, Foo Fighters officially announced their tenth studio album, Medicine At Midnight. Leading up to their performance this past weekend on Saturday Night Live (SNL) Foo Fighters have been sending out weekly emails to their fan club breaking down/re-visiting their nine studio albums, labeled LPI-LPIX. Then, immediately prior to their SNL performance, Foo Fighters uploaded a number of myserious clips zoomed in our the band members' eyes, along with an unlabelled 30-second musical soundbite hashtagged "#LPX." During (actually, prior to) their first performance on SNL this past Saturday evening into Sunday morning, we recieved a press email concerning Foo Fighters' new single, "Shame Shame," and aforementioned LPX, now officially dubbed Medicine At Midnight. "Ladies and gentlemen, Foo Fighters..." host Dave Chappelle proclaimed, cool as a cucucumber, and Foo Fighters lau...

"Happy Friday people! Here is my newest track from 303 Construct , "Confess." It's a real toe-tapper and I hope you enjoy it nice and loud while you're... struttin' around on a FRIDAY!" Peanut Butter Lovesicle frontman Timmy Miller wrote within a rather tongue-in-cheek Facebook post this past Friday, December 16th. While his main band hasn't released any music since 2014's similarly-minded "Dragon Disease" (Miller and cousin Jake D'Arc released their Milky 22's EP back in 2015), sirtimmy-1 has slowly been leaking out nearly an album's-worth of material on his personal Soundcloud page over the course of the past two months or so; said project, The 303 Construct , will consist of 11 tracks and is set to explore a wide array of vocal styles, uncharted genres, and new-found instruments all played by Miller himself. "This one just has an awesome verse groove that goes into a much heavier chorus. Simple song, but I...

" The Saint Cecilia Hotel , named after the patroness saint of music, is known as "a lush retreat from the world." And, believe me, that it is! 14 rooms and a small bar, it's tucked away in the trees within a bustling, Austin neighborhood. As our van pulled up in the wee hours of September 30th, 2015, I was struck with a rather impulsive idea: to record some songs on our days off to give to the world as a "thank you" for the last 2 years," Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl wrote in a heart-felt hand-penned letter on the heels of their 5-song Saint Cecilia EP . "Though there's a world-class recording studio just on the other side of the fence ( Arlyn Studios ), the hotel manager, Jenny offered that we record in the hotel... by 6pm the nest day, the office was transformed into a control room and the bar was littered with microphones and cables. Amps were in the kitchen. Drums in front of the fire place. Instant studio, courtesy of the legenda...

I recently had the opportunity to reach out to Philly-area punk rocker and frantic Pissed Jeans frontman, Matt Korvette ; following their brief West Coast tour, Korvette and I were able to catch up and conduct an all-inclusive 11-question interview — outlining his home-grown vinyl record label, White Denim , his "passion for fashion," new-found affinity for the self-proclaimed "Neon Icon," RiFF RAFF, monthly-updated record review site, Yellow Green Red , and everything else in-between. Indulge yourself below, if you're interested in finding out just "how sexy, crazy, and dangerous" Matt Korvette 's daily life is; Pissed Jeans' long out-of-print 2005 Parts Unknown debut full-length, Shallow has very recently been re-issued and re-mastered on CD and vinyl, via their current label, Sub Pop. (1) I know that you guys just recently re-issued your first album, Shallow... but do Pissed Jeans have any immediate plans to start recording the follow-up...

"The music video is about people from different worlds connecting through music. And it's surprising how what eventually came out when everything was finished, was somehow so similar [to] the production process itself: Uri [Brauner Kinrot] and I connecting across the globe to get this project done and him flying from Israel to Peru to shoot it. It seems like a great parallel to the finished work, were Uri's almost arcane musical world gets connected to The Hermit 's darker underworld all for the sake of a good time!," director Mikael Stornfelt lamented about the making-of Mediterranean Psych-Rock band Ouzu Bazooka's latest single, "Southern Winds." While frontman Uri Brauner Kinrot (UBK) is largely based out of Tel Aviv, Israel , he's toured the world and recorded with his "drunken wedding, Balkan -surf, guitar-tuba-drums power trio Boom Pam ," as well as jet-setting acts such as Balkan Beat Box , Shantel, Firewater , and cou...

Trent Reznor abruptly disbanded his pride and joy, Nine Inch Nails , nearly 5 years ago now; Rumblings of a re-formed band reunion started to trickle out just few months ago and in almost one fall swoop, Pitchfork uploaded 3 separate stories late last night... album title/release date, a "leaked" radio single, and a 50-date world tour trek. Since splitting up NIN , Reznor formed another band with Atticus Ross and his wife, How to Destroy Angels_ (2010) and composed a few acclaimed film soundtracks for The Social Network/ Girl with The Dragon Tattoo . I guess you could say that my hippy cousin-turned-lawyer Adam turned me onto NIN , who I always associated with the weird Goth kids in grade school, about 8-10 years ago. Starting with their new albums @ the time, Dave Grohl -assisted With Teeth and Year Zero , I slowly delved backwards into Trent Reznor 's lengthy discography; a few of my personal favourites include The Downward Spiral , Further Down The Spiral, Sti...

Madison Square Garden held a benefit concert for Hurricane Sandy last night, appropriately dubbed "12-12-12." I didn't get a chance to watch the concert, but I guess it was on TV from about 7:30-1am; Rock "N" Roll greats like The Rolling Stones , Billy Joel, The Who , Roger Waters & Eddie Vedder, Eric Clapton , Chris Martin, and Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performed colorful sets. It looks like The Who ripped through damn-near a full album, while everyone else just plated 2-3 quick tracks. Adam Sandler covered "Hallelujah," Kanye , Alicia Keys, Michael Stipe , Bon Jovi, and Paul Schaffer (Letterman) managed to roll through, too. But arguably the most buzzed about moment of the night was when Paul McCartney performed with Nirvana 's surviving members: Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic , and touring guitarist Pat Smear . "So recently, some guys asked me to go and jam with them. So I showed up, like you do, ready to jam...

Dave Grohl is quite arguably the hardest working man in Rock "N" Roll , having laid down drum tracks for everyone from Paul McCartney to Nine Inch Nails . Grohl is a self-taught drummer/guitar player and high school drop-out who's most notable work includes playing with Nirvana, Foo Fighters , and DC Hardcore band Scream . He really isn't your average drugged-out, middle-aged Rockstar . Since Foo Fighters went on a hiatus in October 2012, Dave Grohl has been hard @ work on a number of interesting side projects; He'll be filling in as Queens of The Stone Age 's temporary drummer on their upcoming album, might "get back together and do stuff" with Them Crooked Vultures , has been tirelessly working on his directorial debut... centered around infamous Sound City [studio], recorded a Rick Springfield/Foo Fighters track, playing that 12-12-12 Hurricane Sandy relief concert, and recently filled in for buddy Chelsea Handler on her talk show, Che...

While they've already managed to make a pretty seamless transition from Hardcore Punk to throwback "Jersey Shore Sound," The Gaslight Anthem are slightly lesser well-know for their spot on, jaw-dropping cover re-arrangements. Spanning between 2006-12, they've successfully executed spirited takes on everyone from The Rolling Stones to Kelly Clarkson , either in the studio or a live setting. Frontman Brian Fallon was recently "across the pond" promoting Gaslight Anthem 's fourth and undoubtedly sing-a-long-able Mercury record, Handwritten ; Looks like he made a quick pit-stop @ BBC Radio 1 in his travels... playing a gut-wrenching, stripped down acoustic take on The Colour & The Shape hit-single, "Everlong" (1997). It doesn't really even matter that Foo Fighters released "Everlong" roughly 15 years ago now, Fallon still manages to breathe new life into Dave Grohl 's Modern Rock staple. Brian Fallon unleashe...

Biz Markie has gotta be one of the most awkward rappers male vocalists in the history of music. But with that said, "Just a Friend" quite easily ranks within my [imaginary] Top 50 favourite songs OF ALL TIME list! Markie recently logged a few recording sessions with fellow Psych-Rock weird-o, Wayne Coyne . Together, Biz & Wayne managed to conjure up "2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)" along with Ke$ha , which was the lead-off track from The Flaming Lips' semi-recent Record Store Day comp, Heady Fwends . Now, they've teamed up with skate clothing brand, Volcom to create a child-like Yo Gabba Gabba! -inspired T-shirt line for adults ha. Volcom then commissioned Markie & Coyne to self-design a bunch of signature T-shirts along with Dave Grohl , Jack Black, "Napoleon Dynamite," Mark Mothersbaugh , and their forward-thinking kids. "I Can't Believe It's Really Happening" is the second track to materialize from Biz Ma...

Jonwayne must've tracked down a copy of that bare bones Nirvana - "In Bloom" (a capella) mp3 when it leaked way back in 2008. I'm pretty sure that Jonwayne chopped up and remixed Kurt Cobain 's POWERFUL, echoing vocals into a broading Boom-Bap track, which has now been cleverly re-titled "In Spite." Wayne quietly uploaded the track to Soundcloud just a few days ago under the musical moniker, "Digital Diamonds" and fellow rapper-producer Scoop DeVille is the other 1/2 of his new Rap Band . All of the new track's assorted, miscellaneous parts are essentially built and anchored together around Cobain's skeletal vocal performance. "In Spite" somehow manages to inter-weave Kurt's heart-felt wail right against Jonwayne/ Scoop DeVille 's rhymes, effortlessly blending in like a deep-rooted hook. I wonder what Digital Diamonds have in store for us next... a mixtape? Joint album? They've gotta be up to something, ...

For all intensive purposes, writer/director Scott Crawford was roughly 12-years old during the height of "Reaganomics" (1981-89) and of course, the rise of Hardcore Punk forming adjacent to the nation's capitol: Washington, DC . D.I.Y. fanzine publisher, Crawford was a fairy instrumental player attached to DC Hardcore 's initial burst in popularity. Around the same time, young Hardcore bands like Misfits, The Ramones , and Beastie Boys were making waves on the nearby coasts of New York and New Jersey ... Now, some 30+ years later, he's piecing together an end-all-be-all documentary to properly tell the story of the genre and city that he knows best! Salad Days: The DC Punk Revolution is scheduled for a 2013 wide release and interviews are still being conducted, but we already have 2 short "teaser trailers" to help whet your appetite. In an earnest attempt to fully convey the passion-filled story of DC Punk , Scott Crawford is currently re-intervi...

Born in 1987, I really can't say that I remember the events surrounding the tragic deaths of Biggie , Kurt Cobain , and 2Pac . But I do recall that these people meant a lot to many adoring fans and that everyone was really sad. Over the course of the past 15-18 years since, I've grown to know and love the music of 2Pac & Biggie . The older I get, the more I grow to appreciate Nirvana (Nevermind) and now I [fully] understand Kurt 's vast artistic vision. I must say though, that I'm a bigger Foo Fighters fan, hands down! In no way would I ever "knock" Nirvana 's legacy... maybe simply because of age, Foo Fighters is the band that I've grown to know, love, and favor instead. We all know that lead Foo , Dave Grohl used to be Nirvana 's drummer and prior to that, he ripped it up along with legendary DC Hardcore band, Scream . I can honestly say that I vividly remember watching the "Big Me" video on MTV way back when (1995), and have...

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for a good, solid cover (band's take on another's original composition); A "good cover," in my eyes, displays equal parts respect, admiration, and creativity all @ once. "Come As You Are" is the latest addition to my desktop mp3 download file... recorded in a single take by Porcelain Raft [Mauro Remiddi] in London , the day before he laid down "Amateur's Feeling" - lead track from Fountain's Head EP . Seemingly recorded and released in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Nirvana 's Grunge staple LP, Nevermind (1991). Remiddi takes the liberty of gutting and re-arranging the track's trademark instrumentation, adding in his own Italian -bred brand of SWAGGER. Having already independantly reelased a set of 4-6 EP's, Mauro Remiddi is currently hard @ work on Porcelain Raft 's debut long-player for Secretly Canadian .