The Witzard

Victor "Vic" Ruggiero is a Bronx, New York-based musician, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, who's best-known as the keyboardist and frontman of beloved Ska band, The Slackers. Ruggiero has, also, spent time playing with Stubborn All-Stars, Sic & Mad, SKAndalous All-Stars, Crazy Baldhead, Da Whole Thing, The Silencers, The Mooks, and Reggae Workers of The World. He's released several solo albums, EP's, and singles and has, additionally, been featured on recordings by Rancid, Transplants, P!NK, Tim Timebomb, and more. The Slackers recently released their latest 12-inch/digital single, "Nobody's Listening" B/W "Sleep Outside," as well as a vinyl re-issue of 2000's Live At Ernesto's! originally a CD-only release on Hellcat/Epitaph, with Pirates Press Records. Just a few months ago, we purchased a digital copy of Lauren Napier & Vic Ruggiero's collaborative Duets, Vol. 1 EP released on Chicago-based imprint Happy As A La...

It's almost hard to believe that Transplants have already been a band for the better part of 13 years; Initially forged as Tim Armstrong 's experimental Rancid side-project with roadie-turned-rapper and aspiring Punk Rock frontman "Skinhead Rob" Aston , Transplants soon recruited seasoned Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker , rather than continuing to use pre-recorded ProTools drum loops. Their overall sound is a mildly weird hybrid of Hardcore Punk , Hip-Hop, Reggae (Dub), Drum-N-Bass, and an underlying Pop sensibility. During a lengthy 8-year long gap between Haunted Cities (2005) and this year's In a Warzone , Rancid remained fairly active as always, Blink-182 broke up and re-formed, Aston worked with his [other] D-beat Punk band Death March , and Armstrong released an album and singles/covers series as "Tim Timebomb." But with that said, In a Warzone is a pretty straight-forward Hardcore album, sans Bun B and Paul Wall features, of cour...

Blink-182 were my [first] favourite band through most of middle school and high school. while I own nearly all of their 8-10 CD's and rare pressings, the "Blink-182" section on my iPod is fairly short and sweet, cause their music's just engrained in my head! Take Off Your Pants & Jacket is HANDS DOWN one of my all time favourite albums, Cheshire Cat/Dude Ranch are late 90's Hardcore classics, and The Enema Strikes Back is quite arguably the best recorded live album since KISS ALIVE ! (1975). Mark, Tom & Travis turned me onto great bands like Black Flag , Rancid , Misfits , Fugazi, Fall Out Boy , and Motion City Soundtrack through their well-written liner notes and interviews. I can vividly remember talking about Blink-182 (Untitled) during Gym class either junior or senior year; Like most of Blink 's albums and side projects, it was released right on the cusp of spring/summer. It was a "perfectly progressive" Punk Rock album, writ...

Let me simply start out by saying that Blink-182 have always been and will be one of my utmost favourite bands. Ever since first hearing Enema of the State (1999), Blink's albums and respective side bands have without a doubt soundtracked my summer days and nights. I've since delved back into the previous 2 albums [ Cheshire Cat-Dude Ranch ] gaining a solid sense of respect for 90's Pop Punk . Blink-182 went on to release two more albums: Take Off Your Pants & Jacket (2001) and "Blink-182" (2003) - along with a string of chart-topping hits before disbanding in 2005. "Another Girl, Another Planet" and "Not Now," 2 note-worthy non-album tracks were then included on Greatest Hits (2005) and release as successful radio singles. After what seemed to be a pretty messy [intense] fall-out, Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker , and Tom DeLonge broke off into a few respective separate side bands... (+44), Angels & Airwaes, Transplants , and TRV$D...