Looking back, there's no question that a lot of hands helped punk and hardcore achieve the stature they enjoy today. True, Patti Smith released the first punk record in 1974 (the “Piss Factory” single) and, yes, The Ramones both set and leveled the foundation on which virtually every band who has even considered calling itself a punk group has played. Granted, Black Flag gets a lot of credit for breaking the ground and settling many of the paths punk would...

As gloriously sloppy as so much of the music in rock history has been known to be, sometimes it just feels good to know that all the explosions of raw, unfiltered passion are tempered by some well-plotted and carefully constructed sound creations. Some bands just want to rock a perfect sound forever – and that is precisely what California Wives was intent on offering with their major label debut, Art History. “This was our first big opportunity to flesh out...

”people, I wanna bring my third opera "hyphenated-man" around the u.s. again cuz there's some towns I missed last time… we promise to play our our brains out!" So begins and ends Mike Watt's announcement that he and his Missingmen are going on tour, grammatical mistake and all. This is good news; the part about them being on tour. I've been doing band interviews on and off since 2008, without any qualifications. I'm happy to announce that now, Four years...

Hey youse, Awright junky, so how's tricks? Ya free-wheelin' an' rhymin' an' stealin' ta yer heart's content, or are ya gettin' a bit itchy? I feel ya, no question; I ben lootin' everything that ain't nailed down fer you, anna numbas jus' keep gettin' betta! I'm layin' my dirty little fingas on more an' more stuff, ana quality is gettin' batta. Like dis week, I foun' a new song by dat band Dum Dum Girls – I guess ol' fi'...

Awrightchouse, Awright junky, so how's tricks? Ya free-wheelin' an' rhymin' an' stealin' ta yer heart's content, or are ya gettin' a bit itchy? I feel ya, no question; I ben lootin' everything that ain't nailed down fer you, anna numbas jus' keep gettin' betta! I'm layin' my dirty little fingas on more an' more stuff, ana quality is gettin' batta. Like dis week, I foun' a new song by dat band Dum Dum Girls – I guess ol' fi' dollar...

Some of the best moments are those when it's possible to listen to a new record and get a sense of discovery from it. Sometimes, the urge to shou “Eureka!” is just overpowering because, you finally get it; other people had already been singing this band's praises, but you just never saw the thrill in it that they were getting – until a new release strikes that chord which resonates so well within you that it shakes you right down...

It seems like Anthrax has been out in on the road in support of their latest (and quite possibly their finest) release, Worship Music, for well over a year now but, judging from their sold out show at the Ace of Spades in Sacramento earlier this month, the band shows no signs of becoming road weary. Kicking off the second leg of their North American Tour with fellow thrash icons Death Angel and Testament supporting them once again, Anthrax tore...

Remember back between the years 1997 and 2002 – after Alice In Chains went on hiatus but before Layne Staley died, when a bunch of bands including Staind, Godsmack, Days Of The New, Creed and a whole platoon of other soundalike bands rushed in to try and fill the void that band left? Pretty consistently, the first thing each of them did was down-tune their acoustic guitars to try and replicate the cathartic sound that AIC acheived on Jar Of...

It's funny to see how punk rock has mutated over the last few years, and look at what it has become. Since (just say, for the sake of argument) 2008, the genre has really seemed to both regain its identity in some communities, but become far more diffuse in others – but the results have always been mixed, regardless. In the case of OFF!, for example, hardcore punk has proven it can still be a virile force to be reckoned...

Sometimes there is just no rational explanation for events when they occur. In those cases, the bottom line is that whether one accepts or rejects the fact that the event even occurred is irrelevant – the only thing that matters is how one is able to digest the information. A textbook example of the “either deal with it or don't” phenomenon came along twelve years ago when Ben Folds Five just suddenly blipped out of existence without much warning; while...