Scott Heisel

Contributions

Why Warped Tour still matters.

That right there is a picture of me (on the left) and my older brother John at our first ever Warped Tour, way back in Chicago in 1997. I've attended every year of Warped since then, and it's not by accident: The feelings I felt that day 13 years ago in Chicago are some of […]

The spirit of blog.

I've been a pretty big fan of the Gaslight Anthem ever since I heard their first album, 2007's Sink Or Swim, and found the band crashing on my living room floor numerous times over the next year or so. Yet somehow, in spite of my fervent fandom, the band's achieved a level of success I […]

Circa Survive - Blue Sky Noise

Circa Survive Blue Sky Noise Circa Survive fans were a little nervous upon hearing the news that their beloved band jumped to a major label after 2007’s On Letting Go. How well would the quintet’s psychedelic post-hardcore translate in a world where the bottom line is dollar signs? Thankfully, Blue Sky Noise puts all fears […]

Paramore - Brand New Eyes

Paramore brand new eyes Assuming you already read this month’s cover story, you’re well aware of what Hayley Williams & Co. have overcame since 2007’s Riot!, and brand new eyes is aural proof that what doesn’t kill you most certainly makes you stronger. The band sound tighter than ever on the disc’s lead single, “Ignorance”—sort […]

Attack Attack! - Attack Attack!

Attack Attack! Yes, Attack Attack! are “that crabcore band” who made one of the most ridiculous music videos ever for their song “Stick Stickly.” Yes, they've cycled through two previous vocalists (all in the span of one album) and a mountain of shit talk. And yes, their song titles are positively absurd, annoying inside jokes […]

VersaEmerge - Fixed At Zero

Versa Emerge Fixed At Zero Being a female-fronted act in the contemporary punk/emo scene means that, without fail, your band will be compared to Paramore. (It doesn't hurt that VersaEmerge are labelmates with the Fueled By Ramen king-and-queenpins.) So let's get it out of the way up front: VersaEmerge don't sound like Paramore, and VE […]

Set Your Goals - This Will Be The Death Of Us

This Will Be The Death Of Us New Found Glory comparisons will fall by the wayside with This Will Be The Death Of Us. The album isn't so much the natural extension of Set Your Goals as it is a quantum leap forward by an essentially entirely new band (neither of SYG's current guitarists played on […]

MUTEMATH - Armistice

Armistics As the press machine's wheels begin to turn on Armistice, MUTEMATH's sophomore album, one angle guaranteed to be beaten into the ground is that the New Orleans-based quartet–frontman Paul Meany, guitarist Greg Hill, bassist Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas and drummer Darren King–scrapped an entire album's worth of songs (16, to be precise) at the encouragement of […]

Jeff Kummer - Your Best Alternative

Your Best Alternative Most people never view drummers as anything more than doting timekeepers for their favorite bands (or the guy who is forced to stare at his bandmates' asses for approximately 75 minutes every night). But a number of stickmen have left the kit for the front of the stage and achieved some pretty […]
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