The Witzard

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...

It should be no secret by now that Buffalo Wrestle-core bruisers PURE HEEL are one of our favorite rising Punk/Hardcore-adjacent bands here at The Witzard. HEEL's current line-up consists of Eric Borawski AKA Doughy Ramone AKA Sweaty Vedder AKA Thick Neilsen AKA Bad Borawski, Jay Galvin AKA Captain Annoying, Jesse Muscato AKA The Claw, Rob Ohlenschlager AKA The Boy, and Joey Simmen AKA The Mangler. Amongst them, PURE HEEL's members have collectively spent time playing with The Bonesaw Romance, Buried Alive, Despair, Ghosts of War, Heavy Hearted, Kid Gorgeous, Lewd Dwedz Phased Out, P*ssing Match, Slugfest, Worse Things, and Wreckage. PURE HEEL have been together since 2016 and started dropping music online with Demo '16, soon followed up by King Kong Bundy EP (2017,) and Crime Spree (2019) all self-released on their Bandcamp page. PURE HEEL signed with Fullerton, California-based Irish Voodoo Records in 2020 and shortly dropped a self-titled 2-track lathe-cut/digi...

"Today is the day that this gets released. There are so many people to thank for this and I hope you all know who you are, so "thank you" a million times. I sat in a room writing these songs on an acoustic guitar and every time I would finish a song, I would take my guitar and go see my mother. I would go into her apartment and play the song for her, letting her hear everything first. My mother loved every song, but all she asked for me to do was to always make sure that I kept the music real and pure with lyrics that people can relate to. "Put your pain out into the world, so others can heal, Zak." Those were her exact words. So, I just want to say that is what I will always do; I will always write music to help people feel less alone. I will always write music that will have a positive message for not only myself, but for every person that listens. To anyone suffering from anxiety, depression, family problems, mental illness, addiction, fear, or any other fo...

Whether or not you're a fan of The White Stripes , The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather , or his recent work with Neil Young , you really can't deny the sheer impact that Jack White 's own Nashville -based Third Man Records has had on the vinyl record industry or the modern day Blues-Rock revival in recent years. Entirely intentional or not, White has single-handedly helped usher in the 21st century resurgence of the age-old waxed medium; the former Record Store Day ambassador has gotten involved in a number of unique record-centric projects including producing Young's latest covers album, A Letter Home from inside a 1940's Voice-o-Graph portable recording studio and somehow managed to record, press, and sell the world's fastest record in record-breaking time this past Record Store Day . While Jack White's second solo album, Lazaretto was released last Tuesday, June 10th, I was lucky enough to receive my pre-ordered "ULTRA LP" the weekend prior ...

Death Grips are a compelling Experimental Hip-Hop band hailing from Sacramento , who somehow manage to comfortably straddle the "line in the sand" between underground/mainstream. Essentially fronted by Indie Rock drummer Zach Hill , the band also includes Stefan "MC Ride" Burnett and producer-keyboardist Andy Morin . Since transitioning from next door neighbors to bandmates in Dec. 2010, Death Grips self-released a STELLAR, sample-heavy mixtape called Ex-military and Death Grips EP . Going out on a serious limb, LA Reid signed them to Epic Records and together, they announced a MASSIVE 2-album plan for 2012. The Money Store was liberated to the masses on April 21st and it basically duals as their major label debut; It's gotta be the most weird, un-commercial, and aggressive label-funded project released since Neil Young 's disastrous "Techno" album, Trans (1982). Death Grips' latest track, "@deathgripz" was supposed...

Seems as though White Denim's primary singer-songwriter, James Petralli decided to partake in one of Middle America 's most cherished pastimes over the weekend: "Spring Cleaning." Like all too many of us, Petralli was rooting through his Austin, TX garage and quickly dug up a lost treasure... Tascam Portastudio fully in toe, Petralli then took to Facebook , asking White Denim 's trusty fans to submit classic songs that they'd like to hear covered. By late Friday evening, James Petralli re-emerged complete with a 6-track zipfile, Fun Friday : Elvis Costello , Ween, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder , King Crimson, and White Stripes' "WEAReGOinGTObefriENDs" (2002). Arguably a tad bit more laidback than White Denim 's usual rapid-paced, Jazz-Fusion output, Fun Friday was recorded straight to Petralli's handy Tascam Portastudio over roughly 5-6 hours... further topped with a few Austin Jenkins -crafted guitar riffs. It should also be of pa...