The Witzard

Q: Is Disco Vietnam a A. producer, B. band, or C. All of The Above? A: C. All of The Above. Disco Vitenam's Bandcamp page explains, Disco Vietnam is a Rock "N" Roll band and Hip-Hop instrumentalist from Huntington, NY. All songs by Barry & Kenny Schwartz, brothers united by blood. All beats by Barry." It appears as though Barry (@SupernovaLox) currently lives in New York and Kenny (@MadDrums) hails from somewhere in-between Los Angeles & Texas. As a two-man unit, Disco Vietnam released three EP's between 2007-12 with awesomely-titled Get At Me Corruption, Totally Awesome Decisions, and Fear of Lava. Across said recordings, The Brothers Schwartz were oftentimes assisted by bassist Jared Winzelberg, keyboardist/backing vocalist Nicki Winzelberg, and bassists Keith Allen, Tom Cumming, and Ryan Siegel. Then, as a one-man unit, Disco Vietnam has produced tracks for emcees Zilla Rocca, Dick Wolf, Curly Castro, Gods Know AKA Scorcese Shells & Alpha Da...

It's been previously discussed right here across these pages of The Witzard, but the various Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (THPS) in-game soundtracks were very influential on my musical tastes as a young adult. Being the oldest of two kids, my four older cousins and my close friend/musical mentor, Jason, were, luckily, alwats exposing me to interesting music I probably wouldn't have discovered on my own. However, the soundtracks for THPS 1-4, were really the first time I had "discovered" music on my own—most of which, I still listen to to this day—including, but not limited to, Dead Kennedys, Goldfinger, Primus, Bad Religion, Del The Funky Homosapien, De La Soul, NWA, and much, much more. However, of particular note were Los Angeles-based Third-wave Ska/Punk band Goldfinger, whose "Superman," essentially, became the unofficial theme song to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1) and equally strong "Spokesman" later, appeared on THPS4. Goldfinger, like ...

Pretending I'm A Superman Producer Ralph D'Amato (Left) & Director Ludvig Gür (Right) "Friends, I know it's been a little quiet on my side this past week, but, I assure you, everything is fine. Two weeks ago, my feature-length directorial debut, @thpsfilm, was released to a fantastic reception from critics and fans alike. It has remained in the Top 100 list of most-streamed films on @itunes for almost two weeks and still retains a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes . However, today is a very special day for another reason: 21 years ago, the game that the documentary is all about, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, was released. It took the world by storm and changed the lives of so many people throughout the years. I cannot overstate how much of an impact this low-budget video game made by a team of 12 people had on my life. It changed everything! So, here I am, holding up my first copy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for the PS1 (which was released as "Tony Hawk's...

Following a 3-4 year self-imposed sabbatical period, Travis Mills has made his triumphant return to music with his new band, girlfriends. Consisting of Mills on vocals/guitar and drummer Nick Gross, girlfriends have premiered their first fun-loving music video for "California" on YouTube, following a sneak peek on MTV's Friday Livestream last week. Fans might recognize Travis "T. Mills" Mills from his stint on MTV's Catfish spin-off, Ghosted, his popular Beats 1 show, or numerous acting gigs. Nick Gross is the founder of Big Noise, Gross Labs, and Find Your Grind and was once part of an unnamed "Pop-punk band featured prominently on Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County," according to a recent press release. Produced by the legendary John "Feldy" Feldmann (Goldfinger, blink-182, The Used, Good Charlotte) "California" is the perfect introduction to girlfriends. "Getting to shoot this video for "California" was an e...

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!!!

" Mustaine & Ving created the band name by reversing their initials. Dave Mustaine 's reversed are "MD" and Lee Ving 's are "VL," which is 45 in Roman numerals, hence, the name MD.45 ... The initials, also, stand for members of the band: Mustaine, DeGrasso, Ving, and LeMieux," according to an answer given on Megadeath's website . MD.45 was, in fact, a short-lived Punk/Metal side-project of Megadeath guitarist and frontman Dave Mustaine , along with FEAR 's founding guitarist Lee Ving , Electric Love Hogs and future Goldfinger bassist Kelly LeMieux , and former Suicidal Tendencies drummer Jimmy DeGrasso . DeGrasso would, later, join Mustaine's Megadeath between 1998-2002 for Risk, The World Needs A Hero , and Rude Awakening ; in-between his time spent with Electric Love Hogs & Goldfinger , LeMieux was, also, briefly a member of FEAR from either 1995-97 or 1997-98. Lest we forget, FEAR were one of the first and only Punk...

Let me first just preface this by saying: THIS WILL NOT BE A SUBJECTIVE PIECE... I've been a die-hard Blink-182 fan for as long as I can remember and I believe their Enema of The State (1999) and utterly hilarious live album, The Mark, Tom & Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back (2000) were amongst my first CD's nestled within my barren Walkman CD wallet, alongside Alanis Morissette 's Red Hot Chili Peppers -assisted Jagged Little Pill and Mariah Carey 's Daydream (which I believe featured her Ol' Dirty B*stard -helmed "Fantasy" Bad Boy Remix ). It always felt as though a Blink-182 or Blink -related side project like Box Car Racer , Transplants, Angels & Airwaves , (+44), short-lived Hip-Hop super-group Expen$ive Taste , etc. released an album almost every summer from 8th grade all the way through my college years; a sentiment that even rings true for the reunited California Pop-Punk band's latest Neighborhoods (2011) and appropriately...