sum 41

Not every album is destined to be a classic. No matter how much a band might like to recapture the magic every now and again, there are always projects that fly under the radar. If you look at the classics, though, you’re missing out on some of the best material that these bands have ever […]

Earlier this week, Simple Plan announced their new album, Harder Than It Looks, which is set for release on May 6. Now, they’ve released a brand new single titled “Congratulations.” The band spoke at length about creating their first record since 2016 in a press release. Read More: Simple Plan and Sum 41 announce U.S. […]

“Teenage dream, so hard to beat…”: 1970s pop-punk roots As long as there’s been punk rock, pop punk — a more tuneful variant — has existed. What’s wrong with washing down your high-speed guitar crunch with some sunny melodies? Many of the earliest punk rockers grew up in the ’60s, their ears glued to transistor […]

Simple Plan and Sum 41 have announced their Blame Canada tour. The co-headlining tour will take place in two parts of the U.S. The first leg of the tour features support from Set It Off and kicks off April 29. The second leg features support from Magnolia Park and starts July 29. The tour is […]

Simple Plan have teamed up with Sum 41‘s Deryck Whibley on the new single “Ruin My Life.” The track follows the band’s recent single “The Antidote.” It also comes ahead of more new music, including an album, out later this year. Read more: Simple Plan’s “The Antidote” video captures the growth of young love Simple […]

At this point, you could practically write a textbook on the art of creating a pop-punk song. Ever since people discovered Green Day’s Dookie and the masses fell in love with “All The Small Things” on MTV, the genre has blossomed. Pop punk’s big break didn’t mean the genre got locked into a formula, either. […]

How the year 2001 unfolded must’ve deeply disappointed Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, director and co-author, respectively, of 1968’s masterly sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey. For one thing, the space race had petered out aeons ago, and NASA had walked back its most ambitious dreams. In the meantime, we discovered there were bigger […]

Born and raised in Florida, Matthew Tyler Musto—these days better known as blackbear—has been making music, and making music his life, since at least 2006.  With five studio albums and seven EPs under his belt (or should that be pelt?), releasing his latest extended play, misery lake, Aug. 13, this year finds blackbear riding high […]

Welcome to Alternative Press’ 10 best punk vocalists of the ‘00s. When we counted down that decade’s finest punk guitarists, we noted that the beginning of the new century was a turning point. The ‘90s began with Nirvana breaking down the door for punk-influenced alternative acts to become the mainstream music of the decade, peaked […]

Important people in music aren’t just behind the microphone, drums or keyboard. They’re also slaving away on Pro Tools, tweaking audio and making the band sound better.  The late Jerry Finn produced Sum 41, blink-182, MxPx and dozens of others in the early 2000s. Tom Lord-Alge mixed scene-defining tracks. Popular musicians often join in, using […]

Waterparks frontman Awsten Knight discusses the production, themes, and fashion that inspired ‘Greatest Hits’ in conversation with several key figures.

Pop punk found new life in 2020. Young bands blossomed, while hip-hop and pop acts picked up guitars. Maybe you’re one of the many fans who rediscovered old favorites on social media. Possibly, Chase Hudson (aka LILHUDDY) acted as your power-chord gateway drug.  If so, welcome. There’s so much to see. And if you thought […]

In the music world, everybody has to start somewhere. While a producer’s early albums are their proving ground for a bright future in the field, they also need luck on their side to find a successful band and a scene-changing album to springboard the rest of their career into the stratosphere. From legendary production masters […]

Fact: Guitar solos are awesome. Plain and simple. They’re just as much fun to see live as they are to listen to, as they fully display the guitarist’s raw passion for the instrument. While solos are a staple of certain rock subgenres, they’re far less common in pop-punk songs. So, when we do come across […]

To consider Alternative Press’ list of 1994’s top 15 punk albums, one has to bear in mind two factors: Green Day’s Dookie was released Feb. 1. Kurt Cobain died by his own hand April 5. The alternative nation’s voice was suddenly, shockingly stilled. After three years of the most popular music being an agonized scream […]

It’s truly mind-blowing to believe that 2001 was really 20 years ago. The beginning of the 2000s was a strange time. We had the beginning of Myspace, the golden age of pop punk and plenty of questionable fashion choices. Read more: 10 vocalists who brought a unique sound to the 2000s scene It’s also crazy […]

The music and comedy worlds often collide whenever Saturday Night Live airs from Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center in New York City. Cast members such as Andy Samberg, Chris Redd, Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, Kenan Thompson and beyond have made the SNL music video digital shorts connect with audiences even more than the live sketches. […]

When blink-182 announced the collaborations for their upcoming album, the message-board grumblings were loud. The additions seemed too mainstream for a band who often mocked pop culture.  On the other hand, making a play at distant fanbases can only help the scene. If Pharrell fans turn back to blink-182, maybe they’ll get a taste for, […]

Hyro The Hero is treating fans to yet another hard-hitting collaboration. This time around, Atreyu vocalist Brandon Saller has joined the genre-blending artist on the explosive new track “Legendary.” The latest collaboration appears on Hyro The Hero’s upcoming mixtape Kids Against The Monsters which will be released later this year. Read more: Tetrarch debut nightmarish […]

Chaos and destruction have been a theme in punk and alternative music since the dawn of the genres. From old-school guitar smashing to intense moshing, punks love to destroy stuff to blow off some steam. The music has always been a gritty, realistic view of the world, including its darkest parts, which leads way to […]