The Witzard

Well, it's that spook-tacular time of year again wherein nearly every working musician decides to suddenely drop a ghoulish new batch of msuic THE DAY before Halloween. Now, don't get us wrong, we LOVE it... but it's just too much music for a one-man operation,s uch as ourselves to cover in just one day. So, expect another Halloween-centric feature either this weekend or early next week right here on these pages of The Witzard. We've been covering Halloween-adjacent content here for the better part of the past two weeks. However, today, just in time for your Halloween Weekend festivities, we're back with a brand spankin' new feature on one of our favorite artists: Brycon. For those unaware, every year around this time Brycon and his fellow producer/DJ G-Pek recruit a bunch of their beat-minded friends and peers to partake in their annual There's No More Room In Hell Halloween beat tape series. There's No More Room In Hell 6 by Brycon, G-Pek, Eons On...

Everyone's favorite Hard Rock/Comedy troupe Tenacious D have returned with a politically-minded cover of "Time Warp" from 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Tenacious D is, of course, the brainchild of actor/part-time musician Jack Black and his like-minded guitar-wielding cohort Kyle Gass. Since initially forming way back in 1994, Tenacious D has released four full-length albums: Tenacious D (2001,) The Pick of Destiny (2006,) Rize of The Fenix (2012,) and mostly recently, Post-Apocalypto (2018) all with Dave Grohl behind the drumkit. Plus, the self-proclaimed "Greatest Band In The World" even released a feature-length film, Tenacious D In The Pick of Destiny, as well as an album companion Post-Apocalypto: The Graphic Novel AND an animated web-series. Earlier this year, Ten D effectively announced The Purple Nurple Tour... Twisting Hard to The Left! which would consist of 10 shows taking place in Swing States from 9/25-10/9. Although, once COV...

Normal Creatures are a new Hip-Hop/Rock-leaning group hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who aren't exactly "new." Long story short, Normal Creatures once functioned as Sikes & The New Violence from 2014-20, but posted a message this past September accompanied by an image with the text "Goodbye Sikes and The New Violence. Hello Normal Creatures." Sikes explained within part of the heart-felt message, "I don't feel as though it's fair for the band to exist under the shadow of "Sikes" and I want us to be acknowledged as a collective unit..." He further explained all of Sikes & The New Violence's music released prior to 2020 will continue to exist online as such, although, a set of three singles recorded and released during Quarantine will soon be accurately re-uploaded to streaming services as Normal Creatures. Somebody's Watching Me (Rockwell Cover) by Normal Creatures Now, just in time for Halloween, The Ar...

Flogging Molly are a beloved and critically-acclaimed Irish-American Celtic Punk band now based out of Los Angeles, California, but originally hailing from Dublin, Ireland. Flogging Molly's current line-up consists of Dave King (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhran,) Bridget Regan (violin, tin whistle, vocals,) Dennis Casey (guitar, vocals,) Matt Hensley (accordion, concertina, vocals,) Nathen Maxwell (bass guitar, vocals,) Spencer Swain (mandolin, banjo, guitar, vocals,) and Mike Alonso (drums, percussion.) Since we're currently in a festive mood gearing up for Halloween later this week, Dave King was once the frontman of 80's Heavy Metal/Hard Rock band Fastway with "Fast" Eddie Clarke (Motörhead.) Fastway provided the soundtrack for campy 1986 Horror film, Trick or Treat, which, featured Dave King providing vocals for fictional in-film frontman Sammi Curr, alongside cameos from Gene Simmons, Ozzy Osbourne, and long-time Michael Jackson dancer Tony Fields. ...

WORLD BE FREE, 2020 CREDIT: Atiba Jefferson (@atibajefferson) Los Angeles-based WORLD BE FREE is a Punk/Hardcore "super-group" in nearly every sheer essence of the term. Its current line-up features vocalist Scott Vogel, guitarists Joe Garlipp & Andrew Kline, drummer Sammy Siegler, and new bassist Alex Barreto; collectively, having played with the likes of TERROR, Buried Alive, ENVY, Constant Elevation, STRIFE, BERTHOLD CITY, Judge, Gorilla Biscuits, RIVAL SCHOOLS, Chain of Strength, and Excel. WORLD BE FREE formed around 2015 and released their full-length debut, The Anti-Circle , on Revelation Records in 2016, which featured Arthur Smilios (CIV, Judge, Warzone) providing bass duties. Now, WORLD BE FREE have returned with a slightly altered line-up, as well as the announcement of a new EP. One Time for Unity has already yielded one single, "Acceptance," and ahead of next month's wide release on Revelation Records, WORLD BE FREE have dropped a second sing...

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,...

The Bronx are a long-standing Punk/Hardcore band hailing from LA, who have been together since 2002. Its members moonlight as both Mariachi El Bronx AND Pounded By The Surf. The Bronx have, somewhat confusingly, released four albums simply titled "The Bronx" between 2003-13 with their fifth being titled "V." Amidst those, they've released three separate albums titled "Mariachi El Bronx" with a slightly expanded line-up between 2009-14. However, Instrumental SurfRock/Western (side) side-project, Pounded By The Surf, has only released one album, No Waves... in 2015 to date. Last year, The Bronx released a career-spanning two-volume/2xLP compilation entitled Dead Tracks, Vol. 1-2, which consists of B-sides, rarities, and demos. Earlier this year, Mariachi El Bronx released their own similarly-midned career-spanning two-volume comp. dubbed Música Muerta, Vol. 1-2 this time, containing an assortment of previously unreleased B-Sides, covers, and live ...

Chris Wrenn founded Bridge Nine Records in 1995 and started sporadically releasing 7-inches up until about 2000. It was at that point, Wrenn committed full-on and Bridge Nine seemed to grow full-force and quickly became one of the leading Punk/Hardcore imprints and distributors in the land. Bridge Nine Records' roster of bands and one-time affiliates includes the likes of American Nightmare/Give Up The Ghost, Good Riddance, SLAPSHOT, TERROR, Agnostic Front, H2O, CEREMONY, New Found Glory/The International Superheroes of Hardcore, Gallows, Dave Hause, and more. Their discography currently includes almost 300 releases and counting, all of which have been meticulously photographed, cataloged, and posted by Chris Wrenn himself on the official Bridge 9 DISCOGRAPHY page. In addition to Bridge Nine Records, Wrenn has managed sub-labels (or "collaborations with friends...") Violent Happy Records & Quiet Panic and runs Sully's Brand and The Gravestones of Salem, MA Instag...

Let it be known on-record: Action Bronson is easily one of our favorite emcees! Maybe, it's his zaniness, charisma, orsharp-tonged emceeing skills, love for food, natural wine, wrestling, and obscure 90's films, next-level sample selection, or propensity for randomly bustin' out a backflip. In addition to his emceeing skills, Bronson is an acclaimed chef, television personality, and actor on the rise; he has his own food/travel show on VICE, F*CK, THAT'S DELICIOUS! and has appeared on-screen in Game Over, Man! The Irishman, and, most recently, The King of Staten Island. However, maybe, most amazingly, during Quarantine, thanks to his close friend and personal trainer, Dave Paladino (@davepfit) has lost upwards of 100 pounds! Bam Bam Bronsolino, as he's often called, released his most recent amazingly-titled album, Only for Dolphins , during Quarantine, as well, on Loma Vista Recordings/Caroline International. Yes, this now means Action Bronson AND Marilyn Mans...

CIRCLES is a Nantes, France-based Punk/Hardcore band founded in 2017, who, as NO ECHO once explained it, is "a new French combo firmly rooted in the Revolution Summer-era sound of 1985." CIRCLES current line-up consists of members Antoine Boisset, Guillaume Martin, Julien Normand, Mathias Peronne & Guillaume Salort and are, seemingly, aligned with Coretex, Unity Worldwide & Swell Creek Records. CIRCLES make a very unique brand of Hardcore/Melodic Punk, which harkens back to Dischord Records' 1980-90 output, such as Dag Nasty, Embrace, Fugazi, Minor Threat, and Rites of Spring. CIRCLES' disography currently includes a 2017 demo (fittingly titled Demo 2017) and a 2019 EP entitled Resonate . Now, CIRCLES have effectively returned with a new self-released single, which, actually, duals as a cover. It's a surprisingly spot-on rendition of the Beastie Boys' "Time for Livin'" from their 1992 album, Check Your Head. However, it appears as thou...

The Miggstape, Vol. 1 came [out] Summer of 2009 and was, ultimately, a barrel of everything I'd recorded up until that point; sketches of what was to come. I spent the next three years performing and writing with my band, Word of Mouth, other Savannah artists, and my group, F.E.B. back in NY, building and getting a bit sharper. I put out The Miggstape, Vol. 2 just in time to take it on my first tour Summer of 2013. Between then and now, I've released more solo material, as well as collaborative albums. I always wanted to do a third installment to, possibly, cap the series, but who knows. Once this whole COVID bullsh*t started and we were shut in the house, luckily, the only thing I "caught" was The Holy Spirit. I wrote and recorded 11 of these 15 tracks in the crib over the summer and threw four joints on there that were already released. BOOM! In the meantime, my group F.E.B. (Four Elements & Beyond) have been marinating a handful of new tracks toward our ...

Last year, Pop-punk pioneers New Found Glory (NFG) released the third installment in their film covers EP series, fittingly titled From The Screen to Your Stereo 3. Then, earlier this year, NFG returned with a new studio album, their tenth, Forever + Ever x Infinity, which was widely regarded by both fans and crits alike as a return to the band's Pop-punk/Melodic Hardcore roots. Forever + Ever x Infinity was initially slated for a May 29, 2020 release to be sold as a Target-only exclusive, but because of the then-impending COVID-19 Pandemic, was pushed back by New Found Glory and their label, Hopeless Records, to June 19, 2020 and saw a more wide release due to various safety concerns. Now, a number of moths post-release, Forever + Ever x Infinity has birthed a number of singles, both official and promotional, including "Greatest of All Time," "Stay Awhile," "Himalaya," "Shook By Your Shaved Head," and, most recently, "Scarier Than Jaso...

Hamburg Spinners (Illustrations By: Erobique) "Palmaillerennen" is the debut single from Hamburg, Germany-based Hammond Jazz quartet Hamburg Spinners; a full-length album, Skorpion im Stiefel, will follow this November on Légère Recordings/Asexy Records. Hamburg Spinners features keyboardist and composer Carsten Meyer, guitarist Dennis Rux, bassist David Nesselhauff, and drummer Lucas Kochbeck. Meyer moonlights as live "party" pianist Erobique and Nesselhauf has a solo recording project dubbed Afrokruat. Collectively, Hamburg Spinners' members have written scores for German TV series, Der Tatortreiniger, recorded music under the guises of International Pony & Babyman for labels such as Skint, Acid Jazz, and Staatsakt, mixed and contributed to Funk, Soul & 60's Garage-style music, toured with the likes of Tetrao Urogallus, Trashmonkeys, Rhonda, and Thee Pounders, composed film scores, performed as session musicians, and have logged studio time with...

It's been previously discussed right here across these pages of The Witzard, but the various Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (THPS) in-game soundtracks were very influential on my musical tastes as a young adult. Being the oldest of two kids, my four older cousins and my close friend/musical mentor, Jason, were, luckily, alwats exposing me to interesting music I probably wouldn't have discovered on my own. However, the soundtracks for THPS 1-4, were really the first time I had "discovered" music on my own—most of which, I still listen to to this day—including, but not limited to, Dead Kennedys, Goldfinger, Primus, Bad Religion, Del The Funky Homosapien, De La Soul, NWA, and much, much more. However, of particular note were Los Angeles-based Third-wave Ska/Punk band Goldfinger, whose "Superman," essentially, became the unofficial theme song to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1) and equally strong "Spokesman" later, appeared on THPS4. Goldfinger, like ...