Scott Waldman
10 modern punk bands who are channeling acts from the first wave
Despite what some TikTok troll in his aunt’s basement is incoherently ranting about in 2021, punk rock isn’t dead by any means. It never has been, and a sea of incredible bands in its aggressive world get overlooked all too often. We’re here...
10 albums produced by Howard Benson that deserve more recognition
You may or may not know this, but producer/songwriter Howard Benson was likely behind the boards for at least one of your favorite albums of all time. Want proof? Monster breakout records by My Chemical Romance (Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge), the All-American Rejects (Move Along) and even Daughtry (Daughtry) were all produced by Benson...
21 Northern Californian artists who have influenced AFI’s Hunter Burgan
Southern California gets a lot of credit for being the birthplace of many bands that you know and love such as Black Flag and Bad Religion, but Northern California’s discography, which includes both Green Day and Metallica, isn’t exactly that shabby either. The area m...
21 alternative albums from 1998 that are still influencing bands today
1998 really wasn’t that long ago, but after saying the number 2021 out loud, it feels like it happened during another lifetime. To put things in perspective, Billie Eilish was born three years after 1998, and, hell, even FINNEAS was born the year before.
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Fat Mike knew NOFX’s new record couldn’t be a double album– here’s why
It’s hard to believe that SoCal punk-rock legends NOFX have been around for nearly 40 years, but the band are still proving naysayers wrong song after song with their enduring and tenacious success. To showcase such, the band are releasing their 14th full-length Feb. 26 v...
23 Canadian bands Silverstein’s Shane Told knows will keep the scene alive
If we had to pick one band from Canada keeping the scene alive, it would have to be Silverstein. No question. The post-hardcore band show no signs of slowing down after 10 albums over the course of two full decades and have influenced countless other people to start a career in music...
20 underrated punk albums that should be considered classics
Some of your favorite punk bands released (what should be) classic albums that, for whatever reason, superfans and the general public just couldn’t get behind. And sometimes bands you’ve never heard of release an album that would top many “best of” lists had there been a proper push and an ardent buzz behind the record.
Regardless, we pre...
Here’s why ‘Never Look Back’ feels like a classic Goldfinger album
The mighty Goldfinger released their ninth studio album, Never Look Back, the band’s first full-length in three years. The LP runs for a constantly moving 33 minutes, and its 12 energetic songs totally encapsulate the renowned Goldfinger sound that you know and love in the brightest and most succinct manner possible. The ...
How Long Beach Dub Allstars’ Tippa Lee and H.R. collab came to be
In the ’90s, just after the tragic passing of Sublime’s Bradley Nowell, and years before the band reformed with Rome Ramirez as their frontman, it seemed that Long Beach Dub Allstars were everywhere. In fact, it was quite difficult to attend a rock festival date or a third-wave ska show without seeing at least three Long Beach Dub Allstars T-shirts in the audience. Maybe thin...
20 scene closing album tracks that you should always skip to first
Sometimes you have to finish before you start. While streaming and playlists have killed the album experience for some, there are plenty of other music fans who still clamor for the full record. The bands below found creative and inspiring ways to end their LPs with a song so strong, it remains the perfect closing statement to their batch of standout tracks...
10 underrated bands you don’t remember defining the ’90s
Nirvana. Pearl Jam. Green Day. These are three monster bands that people often name-drop when reliving the incredible and renowned legacy of ’90s music. Even if they don’t get mentioned in a reverential manner as much as many of their counterparts, some less “cool” bands end up defining a time period (and influence future decades) just as much as the trailblazers. What is hip doesn’t ne...
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Here’s how to see MxPx play some songs live for the first time
Like everyone reading this, pop-punk legends MxPx are tired of waiting for the world to open back up. Live shows, in-person meet and greets and tours are out of the question for now, but the band are proudly taking matters into their own hands...
QUIZ: Which Green Day era are you the most like?
This is a public service announcement: If Green Day’s epic ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tre! trilogy counts as one really, really long album, then the classic band have eleven diverse albums in their esteemed 30-plus-year catalog. Eleven. That’s 170 son...
How ‘Perks Of Being A Wallflower’ inspired Goldfinger’s surprise single
Surprise! Ska-punk legends Goldfinger just dropped their first new piece of music since 2017 in the form of an unexpected single called “Wallflower.” The track packs a third-wave punch for all ages and will be a welcome Easter egg for ardent GF superfans who have been rewatching the band’s amazing recent quarantine videos over and over.
The single i...
REVIEW: Anti-Flag live by the political messages they promote in new doc
Anti-Flag are a sharp and substantive band who will have a legacy that stands the test of time. But don’t just take our word for it. Watch Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, Rise Against frontman/guitarist Tim McIlrath, Brian Baker of both Minor Threat and Bad Religion and many more musicians sing the band’s praises in the new documentary Beyond Barricad
QUIZ: Which ’90s metal band are you the most like?
Some people claim that classic-rock juggernauts Led Zeppelin started the heavy metal genre. Other purists say that isn’t the case, and heavy metal owes everything to Black Sabbath (and Ozzy Fuckin’ Osbourne). Regardless of where you stand on the genealogy, the oft-lampooned genre hit its commercial peak in the ’90s, with albums from the Big Four moving more units than ever before and receiving amp
ETF’s Craig Mabbitt is reminded of his own addiction in ‘Sno Babies’
Since 2006, Better Noise Music has been consistently putting out hard-rock and heavy-metal music from huge acts such as Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch and Nothing More. Earlier this year, the label’s founder Allen Kovac, who also heads 10th Street Entertainment, launched a sister company, Better Noise Films, and hit the ground running with the fascinating and poignant film Sno Babies. Sno ...
QUIZ: How much Drive-Thru Records trivia do you really know?
Siblings Richard and Stefanie Reines changed the course of popular aggressive music when they started their own label called Drive-Thru Records in the late ’90s. Although it started as a small family affair, Drive-Thru Records became synonymous with early 2000s pop punk, emo and post-hardcore.
B...
20 side projects you should already be listening to by now
Side projects have the special ability to give artists the chance to express themselves in whatever manner they choose without snobby genre lords or the (sometimes self-imposed) shackles of their previous works confining their sonic decisions...
QUIZ: Can you pass this ultimate Ozzfest trivia test?
Living well is the best revenge. After Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne’s famed manager and wife, was rejected by alternative powerhouse festival Lollapalooza for an Ozzy band performance, she took matters into her own hands and created a metal event of her own, Ozzfest.
I...