Pleasure Venom

Oftentimes, comedy is the best way to get an important message across. Film director, comedy improviser and Austin, Texas native Ryan Darbonne knows this to be absolutely true, especially when crafting his short film, I AM TX. Starring Audrey Campbell (Pleasure Venom), Jonathan Horstmann (BLXPLTN, Urban Heat) and Greg Williams (Chief And TheDoomsdayDevice), the plot […]

Post-punk had to happen. Punk rock opened all this space for people to make exactly the kind of art or culture that the disenfranchised had been imagining in their heads, and maybe had limited means or skills by which to make it. But what if you didn’t want to crank out recharged three-chord rock ’n’ […]

Women in rock, from Against Me! and Evanescence to Paramore and Tonight Alive, are larger than life. While shaping the alternative music world as we know it, they also proved that women belong in rock ‘n’ roll. They all continue to inspire other young women to push against the status quo of the male-dominated music industry. […]

February marks Black History Month, and while every day is the perfect day to celebrate artists of all genres, backgrounds and upbringings, we want to spotlight Black artists who you may not know well, but certainly will soon. Throughout 2020, some of our favorite rising acts, including Nova Twins, Meet Me @ The Altar, THEHXLIDAY […]

If the sonic leanings of new alternative bands are any indication, pop punk isn’t dead and neither is punk rock. Be it through the continued influence of traditional groups or experimental infusions by genre-bending outfits, the punk sound is still ever-prevalent in the modern scene. While not all of the emerging bands harness the sound from […]

Black musicians are at the heart of alternative music’s history. Whether it’s punk, emo, metal or pop punk, Black people have played an integral role in creating what the music scene is today. However, they’re consistently looked over in favor of white musicians, who have a long history of commodifying off the creativity of Black […]

Pleasure Venom hail from Austin, Texas, with social and sonic attitude to burn. Fronted by vocalist Audrey Campbell, the quartet have created a fascinating amalgam of hard-rock riffing and jagged treble attacks. Those sharp edges are capable of puncturing anybody’s jaded sensibilities or preconceived notions of what constitutes “heavy.”  In their five-year existence, Pleasure Venom […]

Keeping politics out of punk is impossible, and the idea of wiping the anti-establishment undertones would defeat the purpose of the genre completely. People of colors’ impact reaches far past what bands such as Bad Brains set the foundation for, creating a flourishing scene that’s developing faster than ever.  The main intent of this list […]