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I Put A Spell On You: Horror-punk roots Horror punk? Well, the cheapest, tackiest horror films have always been part of the cultural detritus that’s informed the punk aesthetic. Think of Ramones’ ode to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, “Chain Saw.” Remember the bloody, dripping creature feature font adorning Iggy And The Stooges’ Raw Power […]

1997: All media is declaring the alternative–rock explosion—for which Nirvana lit the fuse—over. This means the commercial pop-punk wave Green Day touched off was over in their eyes, too. That selfsame media could not have been more wrong. Green Day had just issued their fifth album, Nimrod. The Offspring, the band who made the catchphrase […]

In case you don’t have a reminder programmed, last week marked a significant, albeit painful, emo milestone. That is, we’re now 15 years out from the June 6, 2006 release of AFI’s DECEMBERUNDERGROUND. That’s a decade-and-a-half of practicing the “Miss Murder” scream as we flat iron our hair and permanently adorning overpriced shoes in haphazardly […]

AFI certainly know how to rouse suspense—just look back to the effective erasure of vocalist Davey Havok‘s existence prior to The Missing Man announcement… Still, when whispers of their 11th album began in 2019, nobody suspected that it would take two years to actualize. Of course, we didn’t suspect that a pandemic was in the cards […]

In music, there are few universal truths. That said, the inherent ability for a well-crafted spoken-word part to send a shiver down the spine of anyone who hears it is definitely one. Of course, that goes double when such a moment is your first introduction to a song. There’s really no wrong way to incorporate […]

There are a number of factors that might make a song immediately recognizable—a whisper, a cough, a G note… But nothing gets our little black hearts racing quite as rapidly as a guitar riff we know like the backs of our hands. You don’t even have to be a guitarist to get the sentiment. As […]

“Goth-punk,” eh? Not as far-fetched as you might believe. Goth was essentially an offshoot of punk, especially its darker early bands—the Damned or Siouxsie And The Banshees, anyone? But basically, anyone playing chainsaw punk rooted in the artsier end of glam a la Bowie and Roxy Music, a fondness for Hammer horror films, macabre literature […]

While some bands have miraculously played for decades without a lineup change, most have had to replace a member or two throughout their tenure. We see it all the time, though it’s not always as staggering as, say, Matt Skiba stepping into a Tom DeLonge-shaped void. Often, it marks a natural progression for people who had […]

It’s an exciting day for AFI fans. After weeks of anticipation, the band have finally confirmed when their new album Bodies is arriving. On Thursday, the band debuted two more powerful songs from the forthcoming LP called “Looking Tragic” and “Begging For Trouble.” As well, as if all of this news wasn’t enough, AFI have […]

We know how to exhaust the discographies of our favorite bands, going back to their early foundations. But how often do we follow their journeys back to where they really started? Prior to achieving career success, many now-iconic artists started somewhere else entirely. Often, we’re so removed from these preceding outfits that we don’t even […]

The ’80s feel like a lifetime away, and for many in the scene, they actually are (yikes). The good news is the decade has left a longstanding musical legacy. The incorporation of 1980s sound elements into modern music is hardly new, but its frequency seems to be rising. It seems impossible to turn on the […]

The year is 2007. Cobra Starship’s “The City Is At War” plays from your Myspace page as you organize your Top 8. Your profile picture? A high-angle selfie that captures your teased Voodoo Blue hair. “I’m scene, not emo,” you insist. The Rawring ’20s are upon us, and while we doubt Myspace will make a […]

By 2006, scene culture had grown roots in every mainstream area possible. Myspace took over as the primary mode of social media communication, and bands spread like wildfire once they uploaded music. It was a whirlwind year, as music became more accessible to a larger group of people, Hot Topic brightened its lights and studded […]

If the flannelly, lo-fi nature of ’90s grunge killed the hairspray bravado of ’80s hair metal, then the 2000s definitely brought back some of its technicality and musicianship. The first decade of this century showcased way more than 20 perfect examples of a timeless guitar riff. It was quite difficult narrowing this list down, but […]

Post-hardcore broke out as a movement in a huge way during the first decade of the 2000s while shaping how people view the genre today. Countless others had pioneered the genre throughout the ’80s and ’90s, but bands such as Glassjaw, At The Drive-In and Boysetsfire helped push it to new heights. Take a look […]