The Witzard

New Found Glory while recording Make The Most of It (CREDIT: Stevie Lowstein) New Found Glory have learned, with all their success, that everything can, also, get upended in the blink of an eye. In December 2021, fresh off the celebratory Pop-punk's Still Not Dead Tour in support of their tenth album, Forever + Ever x Infinity , guitarist and founding member Chad Gilbert was found unresponsive in his bed at home, rushed to a local hospital, and diagnosed with an eight-inch cancerous tumor. Hospital stays, surgery, and a long road to recovery followed—but, in typical New Found Glory fashion, so did the songs. The band's new album, Make The Most of It —their twelfth overall, first acoustic, and first for Revelation Records—tackles the last year head-on with their most emotional and cathartic collection of songs to date. Written in the wake of Gilbert's cancer diagnosis and mixed by Mark Trombino (blink-182, Jimmy Eat World, Midtown,) Make The Most of It is a rumination on w

Fall Out Boy, L-R: Andy Hurley, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman , and Patrick Stump (CREDIT: Pamela Littky) "'Time is luck..." Finish another tour. You reflect, but not like a gem in the sun—more like a year-long stare in yourself in a mirroe in aother airplane bathroom. Sometimes, you gotta blow up everything you were and put the pieces back together in a new shape. The same, but different—the foundation dynamited and the dust used to create the concrete pour. I have a tendencey to get a little sad whenever I think about anything... but I, also, feel pure joy when I think that I exist at the same time as whales or that bread happens to rise at a certain temperature. And that we happen to be spinning on this little blue rock at the exact same time together. So much (for) stardust," reads a note signed P.S., P.W., J.T., and A.H., also known as Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman , and Andy Hurley, collectively known as Fall Out Boy. So, there's a lot to unpack th

Big Laugh's Revelation Records and Bandcamp profile photo (SOURCE: Big Laugh) For decades, the Upper Midwest of the United States has been a hotspot for Hardcore bands that bend genres and refuse to stick to tired formulas, producing acts like Hüsker Dü & Die Kreuzen. Milwaukee's Big Laugh are here to continue that tradition with a sound that finds them as much at home playing D.I.Y. shows in dingy basements as playing large clubs alongside some of Hardcore & Punk's luminaries. Recently signed with legendary Hardcore label Revelation Records, Big Laugh are set to unleash their debut album, Consume Me, in February 2023. It follows the band's 2020 EP, Manic Revision (11PM Records,) which will, also, see a vinyl re-issue from the label. Recorded with producer Matt Russell at Altered States studio in Chicago, Consume Me is an energetic blast of creative Hardcore. Shadow Figure by Big Laugh Self-described "Punks who listen to Judge," Big Laugh work

Black Thought and Leon Michels of the El Michels Affair (CREDIT: Sesse Lind) When Leon Michels and his El Michels Affair (EMA) released their first record, Sounding Out The City, in 2005, it was hard to guess what was next for Michels and his then-introduced, now-patented "Cinematic Soul" sound. Now, four EMA studio albums and scores of tribute and remix projects later—all while producing for some of the biggest names in the industry—Michels has trademarked his sound with each project taking audiences somewhere new and pushing the boundaries even further. Michels has racked up both song-writing and production credits with JAY-Z/The Carters, Adele, Kid Cudi, Charles Bradley, Common, Rick Ross, Ludacris, Travi$ Scott, Mark Ronson, Norah Jones, Lizzo, and Mary J. Blige. The man is a river, not a lake, and this time he takes his golden touch into the realm of Hip-Hop laying down a musical bed for one of the greatest to ever rhyme into a microphone: Black Thought of The Legenda

Saint Didacus' "The Most Silent Room" and "The Silent Room." single covers (SOURCE: Bandcamp) Saint Didacus has released a new single, "The Most Silent Room." Well, it isn't exactly a "new" single... or at least not entirely "new." Their Bandcamp Bio explains, "Simply put: Saint Didacus is a low-key music project for friends who are collaboratively using their talents to make a difference." We do know their one consistent member is Chef Josh Kemble ( Dogwood , The FAMILY? Cast: Food & Music Is Life, Yes? Podcast.) Chef Kemble does Punk /food and drink pairings on his own through various outlets, but did a few exclusively for us here at The Witzard last year, as well. As a Bandcamp Release Notification email further explains, Saint Didacus originally released "The Silent Room" as part of their first few single releases in August of 2020, but now proclaim, "IT WASN'T FINISHED!" The Most

AM0RA 2022 press shot (CREDIT: Nicky Fechtmuller) It's funny how things work out sometimes. My friend, Omarey, and I went to a The Color Fred Bend to Break 15-year Anniversary Show at Underground Arts in Philly back in mid-November. Both long-time fans of Fred Mascherino (ex-Taking Back Sunday, Breaking Pangaea) and going primarily for his not one, but TWO bands on the bill—his current band, The Color Fred, and long-defunct super-group Terrible Thing's first show in 11 years—we admittedly didn't know any of the other bands on the night's bill. We got there early and got some beers and Liquid Deaths before the show started. Omarey & I were treated to an impromptu one-song solo set from Liam Frost from Oceans In The Sky, who is signed to Fred's recently-launched label imprint, Heading East Records . Next up were openers AMORA, whom I had never heard of before, but we're f***ing fantastic! See, this is why you must trust the musical tastes and overall judgem