The Witzard

Quicksand (CREDIT: Annette Rodriguez) One of Walter Schreifels' many active bands, Quicksand have returned today with quite a few announcements: they dropped a new single, "Missile Command," from their upcoming fourth studio album, Distant Populations, and announced a 22-date US tour for this fall. Schreifels has spent most of his time since 1986 playing with Dead Heavens, Gorilla Biscuits, Moondog, Project X, Quicksand, RIVAL SCHOOLS, Vanishing Life, Walking Concert, Warzone, and Youth of Today, as well as solo music under his own name. Quicksand's bassist, Sergio Vega , has spent his career working with Absolution, Champions of Sound, Collapse, Deftones, Moondog, and Project Kate. While curent drummer Alan Cage has played music with Beyond, Burn, Enemy, New Idea Society, and Seaweed. Quicksand released their self-titled EP on Revelation Records and followed it up with Slip & Manic Compression on Polydor & Island Records, respectively. Quicksand broke...

HONEY (SOURCE: Jay Laughlin) Philadelphia-based guitarist and musician Jason Laughlin, AKA "Jay," has been consistently making msuic since the late 1980's. Laughlin has spent time playing with Godspeed, Lenola, Like A Fox, Shadow Season, Turning Point, and Twelve Hundred. Jay is primarily known for making Straight Edge Hardcore/Punk with Turning Point and the like, although, his newest band, HONEY, leans more so towards Crossover/Thrash Metal. Jay Laughlin fully recorded and released HONEY's 2020 debut EP, Nightmare Come to Life, on his own... but, now, he's back with a full band for their proper debut album. Forever Fire features Laughlin providing vocals/guitar, along with drummer Miles Ziskind, lead guitarist Chris Hunter, and bassist Greg Karlowitsch. Forever Fire is now available on Trenton, New Jersey's own HellMinded Records. Nightmare Come To Life by Honey I. Who are the various members of HONEY and what is each members' role within the band...

So, we don't post too much about 80's Metal, Hair Metal, or just Metal in general... but we do very much enjoy loud, fast, and generally hard music, as well. Van Halen (VH) have always been one of those bands that holds a special place in our heart; both David Lee Roth & Sammy Hagar had goofy, charaismatic personalities during their tenures with VH, but are, arguably, two of the best frontmen to ever hold a mic! Not to mention the sheer artistic ability and musical innovation of guitarist Eddie Van Halen, his brother/drummer Alex Van Halen, long-time bassist Michael Anothony, and later, bassist Wolfgang "Wolfie" Van Halen, who was, actually Eddie's own son. Van Halen have countless great albums that play extremely well from front-to-back, but one of our personal favorites is their 1978 self-titled debut. It includes an endless amount of hits, such as "Runnin' with The Devil," "Eruption," "You Really Got Me" (a Kinks cove...

Scott Reynolds with Anti-Flag at The Friffid, Australia, 2016 (SOURCE: AAA Backstage) New York-based artist Scott Reynolds has become something of a legend amongst underground Punk/Hardcore die-hards. Reynolds is widely known and beloved for his grizzled tone, acrobatic-like vocal abilities, and short time spent with Descendents' off-shoot ALL from 1989-93. Scott "Ratchet" Reynolds has intermittently performed and/or recorded with the likes of The Bonesaw Romance, Fastgato, Goodbye Harry, The Pavers, Scott Reynolds & The Steaming Beast, Three Car Pile-up, TonyALL, and, most recently, cover band Wuttin Tarnation with members of Just Like Them & Fuzzy Dustmite. For his latest solo effort, Chihuahua In Buffalo , worked with his former ALL bandmate Bill Stevenson, who produced and engineered the album, along with Andrew Berlin & Jason Livermore, at his own The Blasting Room. It's the first time Reynolds & Stevenson have worked together on an album since ...

CBGB's "Frankenstein" Flyer (CREDIT: David Ackerman) We’ve Got A Flyer On You will (hopefully!) be a new recurring column here at The Witzard. It’s set to feature, examine, and re-visit mixed bill/genre, once-in-a-lifetime, iconic, and otherwise noteworthy Punk/Hardcore show flyers and their corresponding line-ups. As often as possible, we plan to speak directly with the promoters, bookers, flyer artists, soundmen/women, show attendees, and, most importantly, the artists themselves. If all goes well, we’re even hoping to, eventually, cover a handful of shows we attended ourselves in years past, as well. For the inaugural edition of We’ve Got A Flyer On You, we’ll be spotlighting an infamous December 2000 show at CBGB’s featuring Mouthpiece (who were reuniting,) BANE, Reach The Sky, American Nightmare, and Tear It Up! The infamous Frankenstein/Santa Claus flyer was posted last December across a bunch of Punk/Hardcore flyer Instagram, and like-minded, pages in honor of ...