The Witzard

LEKTRON, L-R: Matt Skiba, Atom Willard, Hunter Burgan, and Randy Moore (SOURCE: Facebook, photographer unknown) LEKTRON was born in a torrential rainstorm in San Jose, California on a fateful winter night. What started out as an excuse for Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio, blink-182) to make some noise in a friend's studio quickly evolved into a Garage-esque Punk Rock band thanks to the recording prowess of Ryan Perras and the Black Belt guitar musings and structural sensibilities of Randy Moore (GET MARRIED, DOKI DOKI, Dan Andriano & The Bygones.) Moore actually works at Asian Man Records with owner and founder Mike Park. The three built the foundation for the songs "Dirty Jacks" & "She's A War" to be taken up by rhythm section juggernauts Atom Willard (Social Distortion, Against Me!) on drums and Hunter Burgan (AFI, Matt Skiba & The Sekrets) on bass. What started in the vibey confines of District Recording Studios in San Jose would be taken down to...

The Abruptors (CREDIT: Chris Graue) New York-based Ska/Rocksteady group The Abruptors have returned to release their new single, "Best Wishes, Warmest Regards," via Asian Man Records. An ode to the people in their lives that are better left behind, this is the lead single off The Abruptors' forthcoming album, Noticeably Cheerless. The new single is unrelentingly upbeat in the face of its sore subject matter and its accompanying video by fellow musician and director Chris Graue (Lo(u)ser) mirrors that perfectly. In-between clips of the band performing on stage, you can catch shots of them riding a miniature train, juggling, and getting into hijinks with goats. The black-and-white video radiates a light-hearted, optimistic attitude that is woven throughout the song. "Best Wishes, Warmest Regards" is an allusion to popular series Schitt's Creek and features a host of horns by their resident saxophone sovereign and lead vocalist, Toni LaMantia, alongsid...

Mike Park, Jeremy Hunter & Angelo Moore in a video still from "Did You Find The Money Farm?" music video (SOURCE: The Bruce Lee Band) The Bruce Lee Band is back at it, a year after its acclaimed Division In The Heartland EP—released a mere seven months after its predecessor, Rental!! Eviction!! ! "Did You Find The Money Farm?" is the first single from the band's upcoming full-length album, ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK, delivering a sneering indictment of the dehumanizing excesses that are in lockstep with Late-stage Capitalism. "You pattern your life after powerful people, follow the path through the door / one step inside and you'll never look back, you ride on the backs of the poor," vocalist Mike Park sings over ominous horns and an unrelenting rhythm. It's a serious message delivered with the loose swagger The Bruce Lee Band has perfected over the past few decades. "Did You Find The Money Farm?" also, marks the first m...

Mike Park pictured with Biz Markie & Yo Gabba Gabba!'s DJ Lance Rock (SOURCES: @asianmanrecords & metroactive/activate) Marcel Theo Hall, better know as Biz Markie and oftentimes, affectionately referred to as The Biz, The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop, The Inhuman Orchestra, The Diabolical Biz Markie, and The Emizah-Emizah, was highly revered as one of the most genuine emcees to ever do it. Biz passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021 at the tender age of 57, likely due to complications from Type 2 Diabetes, although, no official Cause of Death has been revealed just yet. Biz Markie is most well-known for his infectious 1989 break-out single, "Just A Friend," but he was a truly multi-talented artist, as well. Biz Mark's lesser-known talents included beat-boxing, dancing, producing, DJ'ing, acting, singing, and song-writing. It was proven time and time again that "Nobody Beats The Biz," but he surely didn't mind collaborating with just about anyon...

The Bruce Lee Band 2021 Line-up (CREDIT: @supercoolnstuff) The Bruce Lee Band is a long-standing Ska/Punk band from the mind of Asian Man Records' founder and former Skankin' Pickle sax player Mike "Bruce Lee" Park. Since his time spent with Skankin' Pickle between about 1989-97, Park has spent time playing with The Chinkees, KEMURI, Kitty Kat Fan Club, Maguma Taishi, Ogikubo Station, and one-off Shaken 69. The Bruce Lee Band's various iterations through the years have all primarily featured Mike Park, along with various bands acting as his backing band, including Less Than Jake, RX Bandits, and Death Rosenstock. Thus, the most recent line-up of The Bruce Lee Band consists of Mike Park, along with Jeff Rosenstock, Dan Potthast & Kevin "The Guch" Higuchi. In 2019, The Bruce Lee Band returned with their first proper release since 2014's Everything Will Be Alright, My Friend, a 12-inch/digital EP entitled Rental!! Eviction!! Division In The...

The Bruce Lee Band , who have now, seemingly dropped the "The," are a long-standing San Jose, California-based Ska/Punk band. Its longest standing member is Asian Man Records founder and one-time Skankin' Pickle, Mike "Bruce Lee" Park and former members have spent their time playing with Less Than Jake, RX Bandits, Classics of Love, Kitty Kat Fan Club, and Rehasher. Bruce Lee Band 's current iteration includes Mike Park , along with Jeff Rosenstock, Dan Potthast & Kevin "The Guch" Higuchi . Since 1990, they have collectively played within a multitude of Punk, Hardcore & Ska-adjacent bands including Skankin' Pickle, The Chinkees, Bomb The Music Industry!, The Arrogant Sons of B*tches, MU330, Sharkanoid, The Brownies, and Whiskey Avengers. Frequent Bruce Lee Band contributors, also, include trombonist Gerry Lundquist of MU330 & Skankin' Pickle fame and bassist John DeDomenici of Bomb The Music Industry!, who both often appear...

Mike Park is a Korean-American Punk-adjacent musician and founder of Asian Man Records , Dill Records, and Fun Fun Records . Park either currently is or was, at one point, part of Psychiatric Disorder , Kitty Kat Fan Club, Maguma Taishi , Ogikubo Station, Shaken 69 , Skankin' Pickle, The Bruce Lee/B. Lee Band , and The Chinkees. Mike Park has toured the world countless times since the 1980's, although, has recently been forced to scale back a bit due to Tinnitus and general hearing loss. In addition to a gaggle of releases with the aforementioned bands, Park has recorded and released three largely acoustic solo albums between 2003-11: For The Love of Music , North Hangook Falling, and a children's album called SMILE —plus, a self-titled CD-R exclusively "produced for (and sold on) Mike Park 's UK tour in 2009 with Classics of Love." It appears as though Park has recently been going through the Asian Man "vaults" and has managed to re-discover som...

Grumpster is an Oakland, California-based Punk trio consisting of vocalist/bassist Falyn Walsh , guitarist Lalo Deetz , and drummer Noel Agtane , who make "Rock & Roll for the young and old." After first forming Grumpster in early 2017, Falyn, Lalo & Noel cut their teeth playing gigs at 924 Gilman Street and soon became mainstays amidst Gilman 's tight-knit D.I.Y. scene. Earlier this year, Grumpster submitted a cover of Green Day's "Having A Blast" to GILMAN STREET'S RIPOFF (A Tribute to DOOKIE ) jointly issued by Asian Man/Lavasocks Records. Grumpster have previously self-released a handful of musical offerings, including "KAIROS" (2017,) a split with Slumped, Cutting Ties EP (2018,) and "Strangers" from earlier this year. Now, Grumpster have once again reunited with Asian Man Records to properly release their full-length debut, Underwhelmed and lead-off single, "Crumbling." Asian Man founder Mike "B...

"New @bruceleeband coming soon. Even made an [Instagram] page which means this is serious stuff, so please Follow. This photo was taken about 20 [minutes] ago in San Jose in front of @districtrecording I ❤️ San Jose," Mike Park (@mikeparkmusic) mysteriously posted on his Instagram page over the weekend. The Bruce Lee Band has existed in various incarnations since 1995, while the "Bruce Lee" name itself was adopted as a pseudo-nickname by Mike Park during his time spent playing saxophone and singing with Skankin' Pickle from 1989-96. Although, the band is, often, officially known as "The B. Lee Band" because, supposedly, following the release of The Bruce/B. Lee Band 's 1995 self-titled debut, "Lee's brother, Robert, who happened to be the manager of the CD manufacturing plant responsible for pressing the album, contacted Park to give him a friendly word of caution that Bruce Lee's name and likeness were copyrighted." Mik...