The Witzard

Fiona Snapple posing backstage on her last tour (SOURCE: Fiona Snapple) Fiona Snapple, the Norwegian Black Metal singer turned Nerdcore & Hyperpop collaborator, emerged from Kristianstad, Norway's dreary depths during The Pandemic. With eight years of music under her belt, Fiona Snapple's clever name is a nod to both the Snapple drink and her black cat, Fiona. She signed with Audentes Records, collaborating with Cowboy Coder & MC Lars to blend spooky and high-tech sounds. Fiona fearlessly covers Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Kate Bush, and more, fusing Black Metal with Pop music. Fiona's chaotic process involves tearing tracks apart and adding screaming guitars, synths, and Black Metal elements. She draws inspiration from Mayhem, SOPHIE, MC Lars , and Cowboy Coder. We recently got in contact with Fiona Snapple's label representatives and press agents online, who facilitated an interview with Fiona via email. Along with Fiona's interview question responses,...

A Winter-ready MC Lars (CREDIT: Nicole Mago) 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 this slightly re-vamped edition of We've Got A Flyer On You, we'll be spotlighting a noteworthy musician, rather than a singular infamous show, for each installment. For over 20 years, MC Lars has built a fanbase across The US, The UK and the rest of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. In addition to touring, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, at South By S...

AGES, Vol. 1 by Mega Ran We've been closely following Phoenix by way of Philly emcee Mega Ran 's career since the earliest aughts of The Witzard, coinciding with the 2010 release of Bits & Rhymes ( Ran & K-Murdock )'s Kickstarter-funded collaborative album, FOREVER famicom . Mega Ran &/or K-Murdock were amongst our first-ever published interviews here at The Witzard, as well. Needless to say, we've thoroughly enjoyed Ran 's wide array of genre-eschewing output released nearly non-stop over the past 10 years since. His latest full-length effort, THE DEWEY DECIBEL SYSTEM with rapper buddy MC Lars , is a mic-aided journey through literature, novels, comic books, poems, short stories, etc. and is currently being used as a learning tool in class rooms Nation-wide. Now, Mega Ran has returned (once again) for one final solo project of 2019: AGES, Vol. 1 . Technically, a "surprise Winter 2019 release," AGES —that's "SEGA" spelled b...

"Ever since our fortiutious connecting at Comic-Con in 2008, we have been teaming up to drop fresh rhymes and play concerts for our fans and friends. It's been a wild ride and it feels like we are just getting started. For the last three years, we have been working on an album and are glad to say that it is 90% finished! In other words, this will be in your hands this year! We know some Kickstarters have taken longer than expected, but this project is super-close to being complete... Simply put, this album will contain Rap songs about some of our favorite literary works (works of Fiction, short stories, poems, and even graphic novels) transforming them into bangin' and joyful Hip-Hop jams with help from some of the hottest beat-makers and guest rappers in the game. We rap about Shelley's Ozymandias, Moore's Watchmen, Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Poe's Masque of The Red Death, and so much more. This album features guest appearances by MC Frontalot,...

Going To The Garden by Mega Ran Let's just go ahead and deem this what it's organically become already: it's unofficially "Official" WrestleMania 35/WWE Monday Night RAW Week here at The Witzard !!! So, to continue the frantic festivities, we have a new track from wrestling aficionado and sharp-tongued Philly -based emcee Mega Ran ! "GOING TO THE GARDEN" was commissioned by Ring of Honor (ROH) and produced by frequent Ray Strife collaborator iLL-Omega , whom Ran initially got in touch with through his friend Eric at NERDS Clothing . "It was hard, fast-paced, and unlike anything I'd ever done before. I wanted to flex some chops and rap a little faster than I normally would on it, to fully capture the excitement of the moment," Mega Ran said on his approach to iLL-Omega 's beat for "GOING TO THE GARDEN." Mega Ran has previously released, at least, three wrestling-themed/ Wrestle Rap albums between 2016-18: Mat Mania:...

"20 years to the day of the tragic murder of rapper The Notorious B.I.G. Mega Ran offers this heartfelt creative tribute to the man they called Biggie. Ran and producers Fresh Kils & DJ DN3 cleverly re-sample 10 classic B.I.G. bangers, adding new lyrics and perspective to the sounds of the legendary emcee. Narrated by Ran's childhood friend, Notorious R.A.N. revisits the feeling, the rhymes, and the charm of the fallen Hip-Hop hero, while continuing Mega Ran's track record of quality releases," reads an emailed press release sent along with Mega Ran's Biggie tribute mixtape, Notorious R.A.N: Ready to Live. As Ran (formerly Random) states, he's releasing Notorious R.A.N: Ready to Live today on March 9, 2017—the 20th anniversary of Christopher "Biggie" Wallace's tragic murder—with little to no prior press. I believe I first worked with Mega Ran—then, still Random AKA Mega Ran—around the time of his 2010 video game-sampling album, Forever Famic...