Scott Heisel

Sparrows Cold Ground Ottawa quartet Sparrows are no doubt influenced by some of their Canadian emo forefathers—it’s quite easy to pick out elements of Grade, Moneen and Choke on their eight-song debut LP, Cold Ground. But this isn’t mere mimicry; the band hack and slash their way through Daniel Thomson’s ominous lyrics, adding an intensity […]

Drug Church Paul Walker To anyone younger than 25, Drug Church’s music will sound like the most awesome, most aggressive post-hardcore they’ve ever heard. To anyone older than 25, it’ll sound the same way, only we’ll appreciate it more since we were there in the ’90s for Snapcase, Helmet, Quicksand, Seaweed, Handsome, Fireside and other […]

Second-wave emo pioneers Braid have announced a temporary lineup change for their upcoming tour of the U.K. Longtime drummer Damon Atkinson will be unable to make the trip, so the band have enlisted Tony Thaxton, formerly of Motion City Soundtrack, to fill in. The band write: “Damon will not be playing drums for these 5 […]

[Photo: kannemilo photography] In late 2005, beard punks the world over mourned the end of Hot Water Music, the long-running post-hardcore band who were hugely influential yet never broke through commercially. But just as quickly as HWM dissolved, THE DRAFT—featuring every member of Hot Water Music minus vocalist/guitarist Chuck Ragan, who was replaced by Todd Rockhill—came […]

We recently spoke to Hot Water Music bassist Jason Black [far left] about the resurrection of his other band, the Draft, for a two-week tour later this month. (Look for that interview on altpress.com in the coming days.) But in the middle of our conversation, he dropped a pretty big bomb on us: He's started […]

When a topic becomes too hot for just one person, we turn to the CAGE MATCH. Two AP editors enter—and, well, two AP editors leave, too, because we’re not savages. But this is the virtual arena where our editorial staff can battle out opposing views and see if any sort of compromise can be made. […]

Relient K Collapsible Lung Maybe we should’ve expected this. Relient K’s last album, 2009’s Forget And Not Slow Down, was a brilliantly brutal breakup record penned by Matt Thiessen that sounded like what we imagine Ben Gibbard would create if he fronted a pop-punk band. Unfortunately, the album wasn’t a commercial success like previous RK records […]

Every week, AP receives mountains of new releases to review. In this recurring list, we will count down a few of the most anticipated albums we received (that have been announced and are cleared to talk about) and give you a couple quick fun facts about each. You heard it here first! CONTRIBUTORS [SH] Scott […]