The Witzard

By now, we're all gotten mildly "used to" social distancing, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE,) missing out on birthdays, anniversaries, and everyday life milestones we all take for granted, nearly everything being indefinitely cancelled, cabin fever, etc. It's all become strangely "normal" and abnormal all at once, but we're all doing our part each and every day to beat this thing... even celebrities. We're sure you've seen a number of televised remotely-recorded concerts to help raise funds for our frontline workers. Most of these have been great, but some have been pretty cringe-worthy and seem a bit phoned-in, as if they feel required to do/say something during these trying times. Case in point: back in March, Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot and he famous friends' oft-parodied rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine." Eric Slick (Dr. Dog) even recruited some Indie Rock/Hip-Hop buddies to cover a similarly-minded tongue-in-chee...

Pat Society Pictured with Bernie Parent (Flyers, Bruins, Maple Leafs, Blazers) Not entirely unlike Wrestle/Wrassle Rap or Basketball Rap, there's, apparently, a whole sub-genre of hockey-themed Punk/Hardcore—oftentimes, referred to as "Puck" Rock or Hockey-core. Yes, I've been a die-hard fan of Punk/Hardcore for 15+ years and I, too, only first heard about Puck Rock within the last few weeks. Although, once I started diggin' around, I discovered about 10-15 bands at the forefront; this was, then, gradually narrowed down to 10 "front-line" bands, which will be chronicled here over the course of coming weeks. The "top-scoring" bands we selected include: Crippled Youth, SLAPSHOT, The Hanson Brothers/Nomeansno, Two Man Advantage, The Boils, D.O.A. THE ZAMBONIS, Pansy Division, The Hextalls, and THE RAMOMS' "Gritty Is A Punk" flexi-disc. We sent out a short 6-question interview form to all of the aforementioned bands, received some b...

Nautilus are a Funk/Jazz/Hip-Hop trio hailing from Tokyo, Japan. Their current line-up consists of drummer Toshiyuki "Toshi" Sasaki , bassist Shigeki Umezawa , and keyboardist Mariko Nakabayashi . Nakabayashi joined Nautilus earlier this year when long-time keyboardist Daisuke Takeuchi parted ways with the band. We've previously showcased Nautilus' expertly executed covers of the Beastie Boys' "Root Down," "Tears," a dual cover of both DJ Shadow's "Organ Donor" & Giorgio Moroder's "Tears," The Stylistics' "People Make The World Go Round," and De La Soul's "A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays" now re-titled "Rollerskating Jam Named "Sundays,'" which incorporates elements of The U.M.C.'s "One to Grow On." Primarily instrumental-based and released on limited-run 7-inches, when necessary, Nautilus have recruited additional musicians/vocalists to ...

SOURCE: Glenn "Glenno" Smith (@glennoart) "Glenn "Glenno" Smith is an art mercenary, paying the rent in Sydney with his wonderful wife Gina and the beginnings of an army of vengeful cats. He spends most of his time drawing wizards for Doom bands and spikey lettering for bands that don't care if the text is legible or not. He teaches illustration, plays in a band called CHINESE BURNS UNIT, and can be found sitting in position at his desk most hours of the day. Glenno is also making inroads into the dysfunctional world of fine art, curating, and exhibiting in a vain hope to seem legit and adult... not to mention gathering cult-sized numbers of Followers, via Instagram . Consider his refreshing Kool-Aid at #glennoart [@glennoart,]" reads the ABOUT THE ARTIST section from Bizarrism, Vol. 2: The Revised & Expanded Edition By: Chris Mikul with Illustrations By: Glenn Smith. I believe, we first heard about Glenno Smith's artwork, via a post on Chr...

So, The Witzard regulars may recognize the artwork/overall style displayed above to be that of one Patrick "Pat" Quinn AKA Pecue Design or simply, Pecue . Quinn previously designed the "top-billing" movie poster-sized feature artwork for our Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique 30th Anniversary All-around Breakdown (PB30) last year. Basically, I just gave Pecue the idea to take inspiration from one of my personal favorite Beasties lyrics, "I'mma Die Harder... like my kid, Bruce Willis!" and he just ran with it, incorporating elements from the Paul's Boutique cover, the iconic Capitol Records Building , Willis' beloved character John McClane , and, of course, the Beastie Boys themselves. Not only is Pecue a Philadelphia/South Florida-based designer, but he's, also, a producer in his own right; having released a slew of instrumentals, remixes, and the like on his own Bandcamp page, as well as on his newly-minted imprint, Sole Imperial ,...

Not entirely unlike Wrestle/Wrassle Rap or Basketball Rap, there's, apparently, a whole sub-genre of hockey-themed Punk/Hardcore—oftentimes, referred to as "Puck" Rock or Hockey-core. Yes, I've been a die-hard fan of Punk/Hardcore for 15+ years and I, too, only first heard about Puck Rock within the last few weeks. Although, once I started diggin' around, I discovered about 10-15 bands at the forefront; this was, then, gradually narrowed down to 10 "front-line" bands, which will be chronicled here over the course of coming weeks. The "top-scoring" bands we selected include: Crippled Youth, SLAPSHOT, The Hanson Brothers/Nomeansno, Two Man Advantage, The Boils, D.O.A. THE ZAMBONIS, Pansy Division, The Hextalls, and THE RAMOMS' "Gritty Is A Punk" flexi-disc. We sent out a short 6-question interview form to all of the aforementioned bands, received some back, heard a few choice words, and still have yet to hear from a few more. We...

Youth of Today - We're Not In This Alone CD Booklet (Revelation Records, 1997) Youth of Today (YOT) are a Straight Edge Hardcore hailing from Danbury, Connecticut/New York, New York and originally active from 1985-90, 1994, 1999, and 2003-04. Founding members Ray Cappo & John "Porcell" Porcelly re-formed YOT with bassist Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand,) and drummer Sammy Siegler (Side By Side, RIVAL SCHOOLS) in 2010 and have been moderately active ever since. Youth of Today are oftentimes credited with helping establish the "Youth Crew" sub-culture of Punk/Hardcore, along with popularizing both straight edge and vegetarian/vegan lifestyles. YOT 's seminal albums Break Down The Walls , Can't Close My Eyes , and We're Not In This Alone all released between 1986-88 on Wishing Well, Positive Force & Caroline Records —all of which have since been re-released on Revelation Records —are critically-acclaimed, widely-beloved,...

THPS Film Crew L-R: Andrei Duman, Mark Giles, Tony Hawk, Ralp D'Amato, Ludvig Gür, Austin Droguett & Sam Young Last week, Activision announced their plans to release a re-mastered version of their wildly successful video games, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1999) and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (2000) together, packaged as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 . Affectionately known to fans as "THPS," this beloved game series birthed THPS 1-5 , Tony Hawk's Underground 1-2, American Wasteland, Project 8, Proving Ground , Ride, Shred , HD, and more between 1999-2016. My sister and I, personally, "owned" (well, our parents bought us) THPS1-4 , THUG 1-2, and American Wasteland for our N64 and it was a major part of my childhood. Plus, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 's in-game soundtracks played a huge role in my musical exploration as a youth and even as an adult. Last year marked 20 years since the original THPS game was released, which spawned a whole s...

Daniel Ledinsky & Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio) are THE NEVERLY BOYS . While it appears as though they've released a few now-scrubbed songs and have, seemingly, had a couple false starts over the years, Ledinsky & Sitek have finally unleashed their proper debut album together as THE NEVERLY BOYS , Dark Side of Everything . Back when these Nation/world-wide shut downs first started happening a few months ago, as events, concerts, and whatnot started getting cancelled indefinitely, many artists began hosting livestreamed concerts, album listening parties, etc. It was Tuesday, March 17, 2020 and we saw a post on both THE NEVERLY BOYS & Dave Sitek 's personal Instagram page that Sitek would soon be hosting a late night stream of THE NEVERLY BOYS' then-untitled album on his page (@davesitek.) We, of course, tuned in, as did many other fans who had been hearing rumblings about the project for quite a while now; R&B/Psychedelic Soul-Funk singer and producer Migu...

Australian DJ, producer, and turntablist Scott Barker , better known as DJ Bacon , is a well-documented Beastie Boys super-fan. Barker has previously released remixes of Beasties fan favorites "Egg Man," "Sure Shot," and "Shake Your Rump," as well as an infamous Run-D.M.C./Beastie Boys mega-mix fittingly titled "RUN-BST." We conducted a comprehensive 2018 interview with DJ Bacon himself, in fact, coinciding with the 7-inch/digital re-releases of both "Back In Hell" (Run-D.M.C. vs. AD/DC) B/W "Sure Shot" Rock Steady Remix and the aforementioned "RUN-BST" mega-mix. So, of course, when it came time to coordinate our full-album 3-part Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique 30th Anniversary All-around Breakdown AKA PB30 , DJ Bacon was amongst the first people we reached out for contributions. He ended up penning a deeply personal blurb for "A Year & A Day" (Suite d.) from "B-Boy Bouillabaisse...

Not entirely unlike Wrestle/Wrassle Rap or Basketball Rap, there's, apparently, a whole sub-genre of hockey-themed Punk/Hardcore—oftentimes, referred to as "Puck" Rock or Hockey-core. Yes, I've been a die-hard fan of Punk/Hardcore for 15+ years and I, too, only first heard about Puck Rock within the last few weeks. Although, once I started diggin' around, I discovered about 10-15 bands at the forefront; this was, then, gradually narrowed down to 10 "front-line" bands, which will be chronicled here over the course of coming weeks. The "top-scoring" bands we selected include: Crippled Youth, SLAPSHOT, The Hanson Brothers/Nomeansno, Two Man Advantage, The Boils, D.O.A. THE ZAMBONIS, Pansy Division, The Hextalls, and THE RAMOMS' "Gritty Is A Punk" flexi-disc. We sent out a short 6-question interview form to all of the aforementioned bands, received some back, heard a few choice words, and still have yet to hear from a few more. We...

HARD FOUL & These Bastards at KFJC 89.7FM's "Wall," 2020 (SOURCE: @these.bastards) El Puente Benefit Compilation Album Vol​​​.​​​3 by These Bastards Last month, we told you about SPAZZ LIVE AT CBGB JUNE 29, 1997: A BENEFIT FOR EL PUENTE YOKOHAMA and conducted a very informal "interview" with Dan Lactose (SPAZZ,) Scotty Heath at Tankcrimes , and Shigeru "Shiggy" Sato from El Puente Yokohama . Shiggy 's infamous venue/bar/restaurant, El Punete , has been shut down since this whole COVID-19/Coronavirus calamity started and, unfortunately, he's received little to no financial backing form the Japanese Government. Shiggy launched an el puente yokohama Bandcamp page at the beginning of April and has gradually been collecting and uploading releases in an attempt to keep El Puente afloat. Shiggy 's long-time friends, fans, and supporters have donated releases to help support El Puente Yokohama , which appears to be how he attained S...

Fight Amp Live, 2005-06 (SOURCE: Mike McGinnis) Knife Hits Records is an independent Heavy Punk music imprint based in Philly. Their current roster includes Low Dose, Rid of Me, now-defunct Fight Amputation (or Fight Amp,) Günna Vahm, Plaque Marks, Lesser Light, Hulk Smash, and Arcadius. In fact, Low Dose, Rid of Me, Plaque Marks, and Lesser Light feature ex-members of Fight Amp. Knife Hits is owned and operated by Mike McGinnis, who plays/played guitar in Fight Amp, Low Dose, Plaque Marks, and Rid of Me, as well as Pale Shelter. Knife Hits was founded in 2004 as "an off-shoot of the Sludge Punk band FIGHT AMPUTATION, the label was originally coined [as] a collective due to it's on-again-off-again habit of releasing various formats, it's communal nature of various entities chipping in to release music, and it's existence as a show/tour promoter from time to time," their website explains. Although Fight Amp has been broken up since 2016, they're still fair...