The Witzard

Chesty Malone & The Slice 'em Ups - Torture Rock vinyl re-issue promotional cover artwork (CREDITS: Anthony Allen Begnal / Holly Neal Hawkins) Brooklyn's own Chesty Malone & The Slice 'em Ups are re-issuing their second album (originally released in 2011) on vinyl for the first time. Boise, Idaho's most evil record label, 1332 Records, is releasing Torture Rock on red/white and red/black splatter vinyl, along with classic black. The album, recorded back in the Fall of 2009 at Queens, New York studio Wild Arctic by engineer Shawn Kimon, also, features maniac drummer Angel Cotte ( Demolition Hammer ) who said recording Torture Rock was "the best experience of my life!!!" When it came out in 2011, it was only on CD and streaming, so the band is pretty excited about this release. "Torture Rock is finally coming out on vinyl, just like the devil intended!" singer Jaqueline Blownaparte said. The album's artwork was faithfully re-created fr

Town Liar, L-R: Benny Horowitz, Nick Remondelli, Heath Saraceno & Paul Stanley from KISS(!), and Jason Shevchuk (SOURCES: Facebook & Google) Town Liar's members include drummer Benny Horowitz (The Gaslight Anthem, WAX BOTTLES, The Killing Gift, Full Circle Swing, The Low End Theory, Yellboy, Bottomfeeder, Antarctigo Vespucci, ex-Mercy Union,) guitarist Nick Remondelli (Autumn, Bound, The Break In Mile, ex-None More Black,) bassist/vocalist Heath Saraceno (Midtown, ex-Senses Fail,) and vocalist/guitarist Jason Shevchuk (Kid Dynamite, None More Black, Former Member, Bound, OnGuard, LaGrecia, The Break In Mile, ex-R.A.M.B.O.) Shevchuk & Remondelli played together in New Jersey Vegan/Straight Edge Hardcore band Bound around 1996. They briefly played together again in a band short-lived band called The Break In Mile, which Remondelli says, "never went off the ground." Lies: One Through Seven by Town Liar Shevchuck, then, formed Kid Dynamite and soon afte

ILL COMMUNICATION (CREDIT: Matt Welch) ILL COMMUNICATION started as a few friends from the Oxnard & Tehachapi, California Hardcore scenes who had talked about making music together for over 15 years. After playing and touring North America & Europe in bands, such as THE WARRIORS, Diehard Youth, NO MOTIV, Retaliate, and Gravemaker, they named the band, wrote some music, and started playing out. Soon after, they recorded two EP's that where released online, as well as a one-sided 12-inch on Another City Records. All their release have been and will be written, recorded, and engineered by a core group of friends. Musically, pulling from classic Hardcore bands, such as Beyond, Turning Point and Inside Out, as well as well as mix of other music styles. Lyrically, addressing a variety of topics covering the state of the world to chillin' out with friends. With the aim to give back to a scene that has given them so much, ILL COMMUNICATION joined the Safe Inside Record

Vic Ruggiero performing live music (CREDIT: Matt Kursmark) Victor "Vic" Ruggiero is a musician, singer/song-writer, producer, and multi-intrumentalist hailing from New York City. Ruggiero has been recording, making, and playing music since about 1998 with his bands The Slackers, Stubborn All-Stars, The Silencers, SKAndalous All-Stars. Sic + MAD, Da Whole Thing, The Mooks, Vic & Kepi, The Witch & The Burro, Reggae Workers of The World, and more. The last time we spoke to Vic, it was in 2018 coinciding with the release(s) of The Slackers' "Nobody's Listening" B/W "Sleep Outside" 12-inch and Live At Ernesto's! 2xLP re-issue. Since then, Ruggiero has released projects with The Slackers, Reggae Workers of The World slightly re-branded as R.W.W., Kepi Ghoulie, lauren.napier, The Mooks, and other odds, ends, and curiosities on his personal Bandcamp page that launched in 2020. Stuff In My Pockets is the latest solo project from the aways

Madlib x Meyhem Lauren x DJ Muggs - "Fresh Out The Water" music video still (SOURCE: YouTube) "Long story short, I was working on an album with [DJ] Muggs and I was working on an album with Madlib. When all three of us ended up in the same room, we started playing songs from each project and immediately realized that we should make a collaborative album. The other two projects are completed and still coming out in the very near future, but the first thing on the agenda is MEYHEM x MUGGS x MADLIB's CHAMPAGNE FOR BREAKFAST dropping on April 7, 2023..." Meyhem Lauren posted on his personal Facebook page Thursday morning. And we can fully attest, this pretty much echoes the same sentiment Meyhem told us when we interviewed him for UK-based publication GrownUpRap late last year. When we asked Mey, "What do you have planned for us next?" he replied, "Meyhem/Madlib LP, Meyhem/DJ Muggs LP, Meyhem/Harry Fraud LP, Meyhem/Buckwild LP, and a few comp

Just about a month ago, Bearded Gentlemen Music scribe and Twitter personality Dane Jackson (parody) ( @almightydanish ) alerted his oodles of trusty Followers, and I paraphrase, they "should totally check out The Pomps' "Ska-ellar" new album, Bottom of The Pomps." So, we obviously dropped everything we were doing and immediately went and checked out Bottom of The Pomps and, indeed, totally loved it! It was released on rapidly-growing Alameda, California-based Ska/Ska Punk label Bad Time Records , who has very recently issued albums and EP's from We Are The Union, CATBITE, JER, The Suicide Machines & Coquettish, DISSIDENTE, Joystick!, FOLLY & The Best of The Worst, Eichlers, and Abaskadabra. Then, one thing led to another and soon enough, we had gotten in direct contact with The Pomps' founding member, vocalist, and guitarist Alex Stern (Big D & The Kids Table, The Inevitables, The Sterns ,) via email transmission. Stern and I got a chanc