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...

The Hanson Brothers - Gross Misconduct Cassette "Hockey Cards" (Alternative Tentacles, 1992) 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 aforementione...

Since we last featured Philly-based D.I.Y. Pop-Punks DARK THOUGHTS , they've self-released a self-titled 2016 album and its 2018 follow-up, DARK THOUGHTS AT WORK . Now, it appears as though Daniel Cox, Amy Opsasnick & Jim Shomo have joined forces with Peterwalkee Records , Stupid Bag Records , and Drunken Sailor Records for the roll-out and eventual release of their third full-length album, MUST BE NICE . Ahead of MUST BE NICE , which will tentatively drop January 2020, DARK THOUGHTS have let loose their new single from the album, "DO YOU DREAM?" on both pink and black 7-inch, as well as digitally on Bandcamp. Side B of said 7-inch/digital single features a non-album track entitled "IT'S TOO LATE." It first became available on Halloween on 100 pink and 400 black vinyl 7-inches, but it appears as though, now, the pink vinyl has completely sold out. However, Peterwalkee Records still have a mass (yet limited) number of black 7-inches available to pu...

"Theme from Spider-Man" was originally written by Academy Award-winner Paul Francis Webster with music composed by Robert "Bob" Harris for the now-iconic 1967 Spider-Man animated TV series. "Spider-Man" was recorded at RCA Studios in Toronto, Canada featuring 12 CBC vocalists—including members of The Billy Van Singers & Laurie Bower Singers groups—who embellished the musical backing track supplied by RCA Studios, New York; according to a long-standing rumor, the song's bassline might have even been played by American Jazz heavy-weight Charles Mingus ... It's been 52 years since Webster & Harris' composition was originally released and there have been countless Spider-Man animated series and live-action TV shows, as well as several made-for-TV films since. Although, most fans are, likely, most familiar with the onslaught of Spider-Man films released since 2002, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 1-3 , T he Amazing Spider-Man 1...

DARK THOUGHTS WINTER TAPE by DARK THOUGHTS "Some copies left from our tour of Mexico . 100 white tapes with blue insert. 3 songs from the upcoming LP ' DARK THOUGHTS AT WORK ,'" Philly Punks DARK THOUGHTS wrote on their Bandcamp page this past week. Fittingly-named DARK THOUGHTS WINTER TAPE is their latest quick-strike release and quasi-follow-up to October 2017's festively-appropriate DARK THOUGHTS HALLOWEEN TAPE . Not entirely unlike similarly-named DARK THOUGHTS HALLOWEEN TAPE , DARK THOUGHTS WINTER TAPE features three select songs from DARK THOUGHTS' upcoming sophomore album, DARK THOUGHTS AT WORK : "PSYCHO WARD," "NO GOOD," and "DON'T WANNA." "NO GOOD" and "DON'T WANNA" were previously featured on DARK THOUGHTS HALLOWEEN TAPE —along with "HATE THIS SONG" and "LITTLE THING" —in rough demo form; although, I'm assuming, much won't change from "rough demo...

DARK THOUGHTS HALLOWEEN TAPE by DARK THOUGHTS It really makes complete and total sense for a band entitled "Dark Thoughts" to make a spook-tacular Halloween -themed mixtape just in time for All Hallows' Eve . I'm actually, a bit surprised they haven't done it sooner; considering Dark Thoughts are a self-described Pop-Punk -minded band "dressing up" as their beloved The Ramones nearly each and every day. Dark Thoughts have already opened up for fellow Philly Punks Blank Spell , Pissed Jeans, and SHEER MAG and are currently working on the follow-up to their critically-acclaimed self-titled 2016 debut. HALLOWEEN TAPE showcases four rough demos currently slated to appear within Album #2: "NO GOOD," "DON'T WANNA," "HATE THIS SONG," and "LITTLE THING," all of which collectively clock in right around the 5-minutes mark. Then, the remaining nine or so minutes housed on Dark Thoughts' HALLOWEEN TAPE con...

" The Alpacas are Nick Harper, Greg Lee, Brett Garner , and Brent Lee : a four-piece Rock "N" Roll band from Barrie, Ontario . The Alpacas aim to write honest, hooky, and heavy tunes that strike a balance between raw and refined. The Alpacas' live show is loud and quiet, fast and slow, tidy and unkempt—but above all, The Alpacas look to create some good time vibes and entertain an audience," reads a fragmented chunk of Canadian Pop-Punks The Alpacas' on-site Willow Music band bio. "Born in the year of the Horse , Greg Lee can sing like a bird and scream like a wildcat from Northern Ontario . Brett was naturally gifted with the calloused fingers of a sea-faring gentleman. His leathery paws give him the ability to produce very low frequencies on the bass guitar. Nick 's timing is impeccable, he’s never been late his entire life. Some drummers practice to metronomes, but metronomes practice to Nick Harper ’s drumming. At the tender age of ...