The Witzard

Middle-Out is a three-piece Pop-punk/Rock band based out of Detroit, Michigan. Formed in mid-2021 and consisting of members of popular Detroit bands Break Anchor, Extra Arms , Small Stresses, and Suburban Medicine, Middle-Out wanted to take a harder edge to their compositions than their previous outings. Their sound has been compared to The Lawrence Arms, The Copyrights, and The One Thought Moment. Having shared vocal duties, endlessly catchy chorus hooks, and blistering guitar riffs, the band tops everything off with lyrical content ranging from the melancholy of work life to the bodily ravages of getting older. Contemporaries can no doubt find relatability in these words and songs. Their six-song debut EP, Bender, is being released in full on September 2, 2022; recorded in Ferndale, Michigan by Chuck Huber at Drifting Sun Sound and mixed and mastered by Paul Miner at Buzzbomb Studios in Orange, California. "We are stoked to finally be able to share this record in its entirety ...

L.S. Dunes (CREDIT: Luke Dickey) Post-punk & Hardcore stalwarts, guitarist Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance, Ex-Reggie & The Full Effect,) guitarist Travis Stever (Coheed & Cambria, Weerd Science) vocalist Anthony Green (Circa Survive, The Sound of Animals Fighting,) bassist Tim Payne (Thursday,) and drummer Tucker Rule (Thursday, Ex-Murphy's Law) have joined forces to create L.S. Dunes . Unshackled from the expectations and aesthetics of their already successful careers, L.S. Dunes super-charge their heavy anthems with Punk energy into a sound unlike anything that has come before it. Their debut full-length, Past Lives, was produced by Will Yip (The Bouncing Souls, Quicksand, Turnstile) and recorded at his Studio 4 Recording in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Going deep on issues of fearlessness, dependency, nonconformity, and impermanence, writing for the album was a collaborative effort. After the shock of The Pandemic Shutdown, the close friends and mutual admirers urg...

FRND CRCL recently leveled up from a four-piece to a two-piece consisting of vocalist/guitarist Zac Johnson and drummer/back-up vocalist Aaron Smith. Johnson & Smith hail from Hopewell & Millville, New Jersey and are part of a Punk band that bears resemblance and influence to the explosive Pop-punk bands of the early 2000's, as well as modern Punk Rock & Indie Rock. Founded in 2016, FRND CRCL has released two full-length albums, an EP, and multiple well-recieved singles to date. One of FRND CRCL's latets singles, "Complications," landed on multiple editorial playlists, including Spotify's New Punk Tracks and Apple Music's Rise & Grind. FRND CRCL have toured in direct support of Goalkeeper and have hosted their own headlining mini-weekender tours in both October 2021 and February 2022. FRND CRCL have now returned with their latest single and first as a two-piece, "47." FRND CRCL's "47" is an upbeat, high-energy Pop-pu...

Battalion Zośka's new Blood line-up, L-R: Steve Vaiani, Arik Victor, Jonas Image, Jim Roadie & Pat Society (CREDIT: Erin Rudy) Hailing from nearby Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Battalion Zośka was initially formed in 2018 by vocalist Pat Society of Violent Society & Cranked Up!, along with former members of another Philadelphia-based band, Combat Crisis. After Battalion Zośka's self-titled release in 2019, the band had a line-up change that brought long-time producer and engineer Arik Victor on guitar, as well as Steve Vaiani on drums. The new line-up wasted no time in writing and recording new songs for their sophomore effort, New Blood. Battalion Zośka's newest album, New Blood, features 16 blistering soon-to-be Punk classics. New Blood features guest appearances by many Punk super-stars. Dez Cadena (Black Flag, The Misfits) added guitar on the tracks "Everyday's The Same," "Kids," "Thick In The Head," and "Tried & Faile...

Michael D. Thorn live with Stockholm Syndrome (CREDIT: Dan Africa?) Stockholm Syndrome was a short-lived Bay Area Thrash and Punk/Hardcore unit only active from about 2001-02 'til 2004. Now, nearly 20 years since their dissolution, Stockholm Syndrome has partnered with YOFC & 625 Thrashcore to jointly re-release their complete discography packacged as Death Watch. Side A features an unreleased studio session from 2004 and Side B contains the full recording from their debut 2004 EP, One Way Out . Featured across both sides are members that also played in BAADER BRAINS, xINEPTx, YOUNG OFFENDERS, CHARM, VULGAR PIGEONS, SPAZZ, and many other notorious Bay Area bands. Death Watch is strongly recommended for fans of fast, straight-forward Hardcore Thrash, like RIPCORD, DEAD NATION, and DS-13. This special vinyl re-issue package includes a gatefold poster insert and artwork by the indomitable Tommy Wilson. It's limited to 540 copies with 215 on red vinyl and the remaining 325...

"Happy one-year anniversary to the @jonsnodgrass & His Buddies 7-inch record. To celebrate the occasion, we decided it was time to finally release the songs for download. LINK IN BIO. As a bonus, Snodgrass, also, threw in a few unreleased demos of "Vannen, The Friend" & "Destroyers of Sleep" that are only available at @Bandcamp! Six songs total for only $5. Thanks again to everyone involved (@StayFreeRecordings, @ChrisShary, @VannenWatches, Billy, Miles, Frank, Julia, Conor, and Jaybird) and, also, a massive thanks to ALL of you out there who bought the 7-inch. THANK YOU. Stay sweet. ⚾🐊⏰💜," VANNEN (@vannenwatches) wrote within an Instagram post earlier this week. Yes, you read that right; the now-completely sold out 2021 Jon Snodgrass & His Buddies 7-inch is now available digitally for the first time ever exclusively on Bandcamp . Jon Snodgrass himself explains, "I wrote about 52 little jingles in 2020. They were ALL pretty much wri...

Last we heard from Nashville emcee Spoken Nerd, he had orchestrated a Synth-Pop-laden, Hip-Hop-infused album GRAPES chock-full of Horror-themed lyrics. Now, Spoken Nerd is back with a fresh set of collaborators: The Mad Gear (T.M.G.) The Mad Gear's current line-up consists of players Cameron Chiles AKA Bruce Irons (drums,) Justin Scott Harriger AKA Shreddy Krueger (guitarist,) Josh Hellvig AKA Big Vig (bass,) Josh Minyard AKA Berserker Joe (keys,) and Chris Watts AKA Rex Skeleton (sax/keys.) Since forming in 2014, T.M.G. have released three albums foll of video game covers, their own video game, The Mad Gear: Go Right & Fight! its companion original soundtrack, and their own animated short, Turbo City Gaiden . The Mad Gear & Spoken Nerd have taken an analog approach to The Game of Life with their first collaborative single, "Poor Farm." They say one of the greatest things about a city like Nashville, Tennessee is the collaborations that are often born within ...

Jupiter Hearts is Robert "Rob" Pennington (Endpoint, By The Grace of God, Black Cross,) Charles "Charlie" Wood (Vines, Broken Hearts Are Blue,) Tim Kriependorf (Triple Threat, Hands Tied,) and Scott Wishart (Late Bloomer, Scout.) When Pennington left the weird little island of Louisville, Kentucky for a new job in Charlotte, he thought that he, also, would be leaving music and his Punk community behind. A year later, he found himself playing music with a fellow Charlotte professor and guitarist, Charlie Wood. Wood, native to Kalamazoo, Michigan, grew up a stalwart member of its mid-80's Punk scene, heavily influenced by the bands that would regularly play in the region. They recruited bassist Tim Kriependorf , who had moved to Charlotte a decade prior and who first met Pennington in Germany during what would, ultimately, end up being Endpoint's 1992 European tour. s/t by Jupiter Hearts Finally, they asked drummer and owner of Lunchbox Records, Scott ...

JR SLAYER (CREDIT: Bob Sweeney) What started as a creative catch-all for Cody Votolato has morphed into one of 2022's break-out bands: J.R. SLAYER. And that's pronounced "jay-arr" slayer, not "junior" slayer, just for clarity's sake. J.R. SLAYER seemsingly first started years ago as a character and an illustration, a simple, aimless piece of imagination. "I think the world is gonna die before I do," Votolato sings on their new single and the title track to their debut EP, Not Rotten. "And if that's true, I just want to spend the rest of my time right here, sitting next to you." Produced by Will Yip (Title Fight, Anthony Green, Touché Amoré,) Not Rotten is a celebration of the feelings, words and, music that gives life color and energy to break through the bleakness. It sounds as opposite as humanly possible when compared against Votolato's past work; with melodic Indie-Punk sing-alongs, Bubblegum-Pop choruses, and soar...

Lenny Lashley's Gang of One (CREDIT: John J. Bowman) Boston's own Folk singer and Punk Rock stalwart Lenny Lashley (Darkbuster, Street Dogs, Lenny & The P*ss Poor Boys) will be releasing a collection of new songs titled Five Great Egrets under the moniker Lenny Lashley's Gang of One later this year, via Omerta MIA. Five Great Egrets is the proper follow-up to Lashley's acclaimed 2019 album, All Are Welcome , released on Pirates Press Records. BrooklynVegan recently unveiled Lenny's lead single, "It Got So Dark," describing it as "an anthemic, shambolic, Heartland Rock-infused Punk song." In support of his newest effort, Lashley will be supporting this release by staying on the road as much as possible under the current circumstances, including Mercy Union's record release show this past Friday, August 5th, at Crossroads in Garwood, NJ. "The album title came to me on a morning drive along the coast where I live," recalls singe...

BONUS A.I. Original: "Punk Rock Princess" (ART CREDIT: Dan Schenker) It all started back in April when renown New Jersey-bred Ska-core/Punk pioneers FOLLY (@follynj) randomly a series of eerie, yet completely striking and utterly compelling imagery to their somewhat newly-active Instagram page. FOLLY wrote, "Our talented photographer @heydanschenker entered FOLLY lyrics for A.I. to conjure generative art. We're absolutely fascinated with this artistic movement (despite its controversial nature.) What incredible visual witchcraft and digital sorcery this is!" It was accompanied by eight odd, creepy, and compelling images conjured up by fellow New Jerseyan Dan Schenker with assistance from Artificial Intelligence or A.I.—alright, all I can think of whenever I hear "A.I." is that awful Microsoft A.I. commercial featuring Common waving his hands around! So, to make a long story short, I reached out to Dan via email, told him how much I dug his FOLLY A...

Little Low, L-R: Mike Assatly, Christine Atturio, Kris Moya & Eric Pocock (CREDIT: Kelly Sullivan) Little Low hails from The Bay Area, formed by guitarist and vocalist Christine Atturio (Save Ends,) drummer Mike Assatly (Spirits, BearTrap,) guitarist Eric Pocock ( Discourage ,) and bass player and vocalist Kris Moya (Jabber, Long Knives.) Originally started as a solo project in Boston by Atturio, Little Low released a self-titled EP of acoustic songs in 2020. After a move across the country in 2021 and missing the comradery of a full band, Atturio & Assatly asked Pocock & Moya to join the band and Little Low was born anew. After recording at The Atomic Garden Recording Studio with Jack Shirley in early 2022, the band is set to release their Reasons to Grow EP of five new instant classics this fall; with each member bringing their unique background to the table—Little Low melds driving Hardcore drums, sparkly Emo guitars, melodic bass lines, and infectious hooks and harm...

THE RUSTY NUTZ are a feedback driven noisey five (or six?)-piece from Swansea, Wales, UK. Heavily influenced by the weird, the wonderful, and downright odd! A band not afraid to speak out about what they believe in: shut down pubs, microwaves, marbles, and pre-historic monsters in man-made lakes. The band's debut album, We tried to make it big but something somewhere went wrong & we can't work out what that something is, sees a world-wide release today, August 1, 2022, on over 20 different musical formats, via the Lavender Sweep Records label. This album has been many, many years in-the-making. To celebrate the occasion, THE RUSTY NUTZ & Lavender Sweep will be releasing the album on a different format every Friday for the foreseeable future. THE RUSTY NUTZ formed as an Experimental Punk four-piece in 1998. The band recorded and released several hundred songs on cassette between 1998-2002 before splitting up. Although, several rumors have stated that the band never b...