The Witzard

It's been quite a while since our last proper installment of our once-recurring column, Guts of The Ice: An Exploration of "Puck" Rock/Hockey-core... but today, we're back with a spook-tacular edition of Guts of The Ice just in time for Halloween! Past installments featured interviews, artist penned-columns, playlists, etc. with the likes of players from The Boils, Dropkick Murphys, Two Man Advantage, The Hextalls, The Hanson Brothers/Nomeansno, D.O.A. OFFSIDE REIDARS, Pansy Division, Violent Society, RAMOMS, CHIXDIGGIT! Light The Lamp, Protagonist, and Divided Heaven. One of our personal favorite squads we spoke with was Connecticut-based Punk-adjacent band, THE ZAMBONIS. We interviewed "Captain" Dave Zamboni, as well as band mascot The Hockey Monkey , and even had H. Monkey himself conduct a completey B-A-N-A-N-A-S Q&A with Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's own Light The Lamp . "E.B.U.G." by The Zambonis Through our various conversations,...

This past Saturday night, The Carolina Hurricanes squared off against The Toronto Maple Leafs . It was a bit of a nail-biter, to say the least, and The Hurricanes ended up beating The Maple Leafs in a miraculous 6-3 victory. Although, the most astonishing attribute on the ice Saturday night might have been when, in a pinch, The Canes had to turn to 42-year-old emergency back-up goalie (or E.B.U.G.) David "Dave" Ayres to help finish out the game. Ayres was called in midway through the second period when both goalies Petr Mrazek AND James Reimer were forced to exit the game due to injury. Regularly, David Ayres is a Zamboni driver for The AHL's Toronto Marlies and on that fateful night, was the E.B.U.G. for both The Hurricanes & The Maple Leafs . A feat unto itself, Ayres, was, then, able to block eight out of the 10 shots attempted on goal, while, also, scoring a shot on goal of his own. "E.B.U.G." by The Zambonis Saturday night, Adam Gretz at NB...

What we have here are essentially three newly un-vaulted Troubadour era non-album Stepkids tracks; Stones Throw quietly uploaded their Wanderers EP to it's label website and companion Soundcloud page this past Tuesday, June 17th. "The songs in this collection are different than anything else we've done. We wrote and recorded them at the height of our experimentation," The Stepkids quipped on the free-form nature of their latest mini-EP. "We spared no artistry and weren't limited to any business strategy, a target audience, single considerations, or [style] limitations... In other words, for better or worse, you will never again hear anything like this from us, let alone anyone else. Enjoy," bandmates Jeff Gitelman, Dan Edinberg & Tim Walsh collectively continued. The Wanderers EP standard download zip-file comes complete with three previously unreleased carelessly noodling Psych-Rock tracks and six variations of it's largely black-and-...

Rising comedian Kyle Mooney is one of the latest additions to a recently-gutted SNL , after a few long-time cast members made their final departure(s) last season; Director Henry Demaio recently pre-cast Mooney in his latest music video creation, "Moving Pictures," which itself is pulled from The Stepkids' second album recorded for Stones Throw , Troubadour (Sept. 9-10th). It's a mildly trippy affair, fittingly outfitted with plenty of real-life moving pictures, as the cameraman slowly pans across various scenarios. The Stepkids seemingly used green screens to their full advantage and were able yo "travel" to sun-soaked beaches, an awkward house-party with a kiddie pool, various city streets and sidewalks, an ever-changing trendy beach/desert party, and a giant-joint rolling super-science lab. Now, on a purely sonic level, "Moving Pictures" is really what we've grown to expect from The Stepkids : a seamless hybrid of cheesy Yacht Rock...

The Stepkids are kinda like a Hip-Hop -infused modern day version of Steely Dan ; equal parts sleaze, cheese, and white-bred Funk-Soul ! In-between The Stepkids (2011) and it's upcoming follow-up, Troubadour the band leaked a string of Jazzed up cover tunes: Daft Punk , Rihanna, and Justin Timberlake . Last year, Stones Throw even teamed them up with sharp-tongued emcees Homeboy Sandman , Percee P, and Pharoahe Monch for an all too short-lived remix project. The Stepkids' latest Funk -drenched concoction is "The Lottery" a freshly tracked video-single preceding Troubadour , which hits shelves nation-wide Sept. 10th. Guitarist Jeff Gitelman described the album's creation as "deep musically, there are whole sides to us [that] we haven't really explored yet." Gitelman further laments that The Stepkids haven't even discovered some of their "most exciting stuff" thusfar. "The Lottery" co-stars trombone dancer Jonathan...

"We had to do this song... Only way to pay tribute to Daft Punk, Pharrell , and Nile Rodgers in one fell swoop. Enjoy y'all," The Stepkids Tweeted Tuesday morning; Diehard Daft Punk fan or not, I suggest you take a break from that Random Access Memories "leak" for a sec. and check this one out, my friends! Unlike Thomas Bangalter & Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo 's Electro-Funk -tinged original, The Stepkids have successfully infused "Get Lucky" with a sort of cheese-less Lounge Jazz vibe. The Stepkids are signed to genre-blending Indie Hip-Hop label Stones Throw and it's 3 extremely talented multi-instrumentalist members -- Dan Edinberg, Jeff Gitelman & Tim Walsh -- have separately worked with everyone from Alicia Keys to 50 Cent . Since inking a deal with Stones Throw a few years ago, the band has released The Stepkids (including "Legend In My Own Mind" ), Sweet Salvation EP , and a forthcoming album that's be...

Lots of interesting activity over @ Stones Throw today, Nov. 21. Sounds like The Stepkids Tim Walsh , Jeff Gitelman , and Dan Edinberg have been quite the busy cats lately. Whether it be laying down unintelligible vocals with Jonti & Illa J [above] or pumping out singles from their STELLAR self-titled debut. The Stepkids Album is without a doubt a dense, multi-layered musical journey... prepared by 3 extremely talented session musicians, now front and center - Finally in the limelight! "Suburban Dream" is in fact, The Stepkids' third official music video; As it's essentially the follow up to both "Legend In My Own Mind" and "Wonderfox." This most recent video was directed animated by Chris King and really teeters the line between the previous videos' sense of surrealism/realism. Throughout the course of "Suburban Dream" we follow a down-on-his-luck young fellow as he wonders through the city, stumbles into a speakeasy...

Once upon a time, I had a "Summer Kick-Off" Memorial Day 2011 BBQ. In preparation, I invited a motley crew of close friends including Wyatt Cenac , The Stepkids , and Kurt Braunohler . But of course, the last few additions to the guest list didn't end up showing; I'm sure they were probably off doing something better... like making the people of the world laugh infectiously. The Stepkids are made up of 3 multi-talented singer-songwriters: Tim Walsh, Jeff Gitelman , and Dan Edinberg . Together, they craft a unique blend of Hip-Hop, Psych-Funk , and Pop music - Sounds which can now be heard and enjoyed by way of The Stepkids' self-titled debut long-player (Stones Throw) . Tom Scharpling 's finely executed music video concept is in fact, fairly simple: It opens with a CD-peddling New York City street vendor (Wyatt Cenac) selling The Stepkids album to an off-duty "suit," Kurt Braunohler . Once the CD is unwrapped, a hazing purple mist steams up, o...

"Shadows On Behalf" The latest addition to Stones Throw 's ever-growing, Hip-Hop genre-straying roster are The Stepkids . Tim Walsh (drums), Jeff Gitelman (guitar), and Dan Edinberg (bass/keys) - 3 singer/songwriters - [along with live additions, Fred Dileone and Jesse Mann] make up the group. Together crafting a brand of Psychedelic [ Zappa-esque ] Jazz/Folk Rock, the 3 core members have previously spent time touring with Alicia Keys , 50 Cent , Lauryn Hill , and Indie Punk band Zox , as well as recording commissioned music for movies/TV commercials. The Stepkids join the likes of Stones Throw 's varied genre signees (Tony Cook, James Pants, Mayer Hawthorne, Dâm-Funk, and Gary Wilson). Rumored 2011-12 additions also include Vex Ruffian, Bryant K., and the artist formerly known as "Danimals" - DJanimals. The Stepkids ' [limited edition] "Shadows On Behalf" / "La La" 12" will be released in April, with their self-titled Stone...