The best Alternative Taylor Swift covers on Spotify

Politics aside, it is a crying shame that I am unable to add Taylor Swift songs to my pop playlist on Spotify. Luckily, there are countless bands still trying to hit the big time by putting their own spin on an already popular song! In the first Punktual Media post in a long time - and our best journalistic work to date - here are some of the best (or worst, depending on your POV) alternative Taylor Swift covers on Spotify..

I PREVAIL - BLANK SPACE



Starting with the song that set me off down this rabbit hole, I Prevail chug their way through Blank Space at an enjoyable tilt. Not sure why they needed to change the pronouns etc around if I am completely honest, but maybe covering a pop song AND singing about a guy as a love interest would have been a step too far? Anyway, I love this cover, even if the guitarists look bored as all hell.

THE ANIMAL IN ME - I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE



You will probably see a pattern emerging here, folks.. Well, The Animal In Me have an actual ladywoman as a vocalist, as well as some nice production values that create the overall all effect of Tay Tay backed by a metalcore band. And only the most bitter curmudgeon of the scene could find fault with that.

ALEX GROOT AND FRIENDS - 22



The most adorkable group of adorable dorks you are ever likely to lay your jaded eyes upon, Alex Goot and Friends serve up a sugary version of 22 that fills me with equal parts joy and..it might be envy..distrust? They might be a cult, is all I am saying. Jokes aside, there is a reason this has 12.5 million views on Youtube. The pop punk band in the vid, Against The Current, are not going away any time soon either.

(img: http://hbnbm.com)

Holly Would Surrender: a study in pop punk keywords

Good Days and Clichés is a confusing name for some.  It’s an in-joke based around paying tribute to and making fun of pop punk bands. I love pop punk, but have loved it for so long that I see the same lyrical themes/style of names/fashion sense come and go and come again.

Through the Skatepunkers forum I think I’ve found the most cliché-drenched pop punk song ever! Holly Would Surrender are more than a clever name. I’ve listened to this song on repeat all day because it is 3 minutes, 10 seconds of joyous pop punk. And besides the glaring emission of ‘pizza’ the boys have hit every keyword about Summer pop punk available. That’s it folks, they’ve used up all the keywords!

So, want to start a pop punk band? Here is a handy guide to the lyrical keywords you should include!

One Mile Left go full blink-182 worship

Don't get me wrong, I love blink-182 as much as the next guy whose teen years started in 98/99. I even really wanted Tom hair back in the day, but genetics were against me. Moreover, finding a band your own band all dig is a cool moment and a great team-building opportunity.


This, however may be taking it too far. While the bassist slowly betrays his Mark influences as it gets further into the video - shot, I'm assuming in the warehouse that one of them work in - the guitarist is full Tom worship from the start.

While Mark and Tom are both talented songwriters, Travis is the only 'real musician' in the band, and it's interesting that the drummer of One Mile Left seems to be influenced by the technique but thankfully not the style of Mr. Barker.

For the record, this is a cool version. But it's 2001 style, not 1999 style.

The new A Day To Remember video is fun

For the last year or so I've started to feel my age whenever I checked out newer pop punk bands, and not for the reasons you might think. Y'see kids, in my day, pop punk bands were fun. They dyed their hair stupid colours and their videos were a vehicle to show how funny and rebellious they were compared to the rest of their suburban friends!

So needless to say, I'm happy that A Day To Remember are keeping the faith, with their video for Right Back At It Again.



Sure, the lyrics rhyme 'school' and 'cool', and the video is essentially a three minute version of a gag from the My Friends Over You video by New Found Glory, but we gotta take our victories (sorry) where we can find them.

Top 10 Teenage Tunes: Ashley Overdrive

Everyone's fave scene girl and future mover n shaker Ashley Overdrive is back! Check out the soundtrack to her teen years and feel old because a blink-182 song from 2011 is included! Ashley can be found on tumblr and various other places on the internet @ashleyoverdrive
 

One of the most amazing feelings in the world is when you hear a song that makes you think of a certain moment; the way dust was swimming in sunlight, the smell of a particular place, a morning commute to school. These are literally just melodies and rhythms melded together in such a way that our brains take us back to specific sets of memories. If that isn't one of the coolest things about how a human brain functions you ever heard, then gtfo right now because here are some songs that bring on my own middle/high school nostalgia. 

1. Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day

This is a must-have for any middle school emo kid circa early-mid 00s. Green Day was probably the first band I had a serious obsession with, shortly followed by My Chemical Romance. The dramatic shift after the first two verses of this song were so emotional the first time I heard it. American Idiot in its entirety is truly a masterpiece, I can't even lie...if 12 year old me was able to sit through the 9 minute tracks without getting impatient, it must have been good. I remember when I took guitar lessons in 7th grade and learning this song, it made me feel like such a badass.

2. Sugar, We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy

I don't think there's much I have to say about this song besides the fact that if you do NOT air drum along to the intro, then I dunno if I can be your friend. FOB was this new & fantastic blend of emo-pop that I could not get enough of, even if they were a mainstream band constantly on the top 40 lists [UGH what POSERS!!!!1]. They were popular well before my parents allowed me to go to concerts in the city/by myself, so my first chance to see them was at Skate & Surf this past May. Standing in the pouring rain to see them after all those years and hearing the familiar drum intro, I almost peed myself. 19 years old going on 13 and no fucks to give, probably one of the best [and most long-awaited] shows of my life.

3. Bite To Break Skin - Senses Fail

Holy SHIT do I love Senses Fail. They were the perfect level of angsty for me, nothing too aggressive - I never got into metal, so this was my way of keeping up with my guy friends who were all into dad-rock [at age 13, wtf]. I think this was one of my first instances of anything "melodic" or whatever you wanna call it. I finally saw Senses Fail at Bamboozle 2011 [my glasses broke in my backpack during their set] and again last May. They came to a venue by my school the night before I left for summer break, and pulling an all-nighter after this amazing show to finish packing was absolutely beyond worth it. Their energy after all these years is fucking great, and their music keeps getting better.

4. Reverse This Curse - Escape the Fate

Ahh, man, this album was so good. Ronnie wasn't as much of a sleazeball, the band drama was at normal levels instead of super ultra mega drama queen status, and their future as a Warped Tour-core band seemed bright. Alas, an entire avalanche of bullshit rained down upon them. Now the new Escape the Fate and Falling in Reverse are in a desperate attempt to "bury the hatchet" and scrambling to maintain the few fans they have left [and cash in on their so-called truce]. Will this be the end of the ETF x FIR feud? In my opinion, hell no, but this song reminds me of riding the bus back home in 8th grade, scouring myspace for their newest stuff, and wondering why my makeup couldn't be as good as Ronnie Radke's. 

5. Starlight - Muse

Honestly, I don't remember the first time I heard this song, but it makes me think of the city and having it as my Myspace profile song and being in 8th/9th grade, a lot, so yeah that's about it.

6. It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door - Underoath

I think Underoath was one of the first screamo bands I listened to that felt serious; it seemed like they put a lot of thought into their image as opposed to witty song titles and zany promo photos. The music sad but with sophisticated lyrics, very mosh4christ type stuff but it really drew me in. The chanting at the end of this song specifically ("drowning in my sleep/I'm drowning in my sleep") is almost haunting, and I loved it. 

7. Natives - Blink-182

Blink's return to the scene came the summer before my freshman year of college. I remember jamming to Neighborhoods when it was first released, and although there are a ton of great tracks, it was Natives that quickly rose up as my favorite. The fast-paced rhythm, the mix of Tom & Mark's vocals, and the opening of the second verse ("Don't start to panic for me, 'cause I have nothing to lose/I am as bright as the sun, I burn up all that I choose") all combine to make this track one of the most memorable songs of that entire year for me. Just listening to this song again makes me think of sunshine flooding my cramped dorm room and listening to this album as I walked to class.

8. Le Disko - Shiny Toy Guns

The only reason I found this song is because it was iTunes free download of the week when I was in middle school. It had such an industrial, underground, dirty rock & roll meets rave goth-type vibe that made me feel like I was dancing in an abandoned warehouse wearing a leather miniskirt. I still love this song, makes me feel kind of like a badass. Also, fun fact, the last bit of the chorus ("we're the girls le disko / supersonic overdrive") is where "ashleyoverdrive" really comes from.

9. Claims Should Echo - Dr. Manhattan

Dr. Manhattan [yes, their namesake is the dude from Watchmen] is a group of dudes from Illinois making alternative/indie/pop/rock music that is just plain weird....and I love it. They were opening at the first local show I ever went to, the summer just after 8th grade, and it was an amazing introduction to the scene. Since I got their CD that night, I've been hopelessly addicted to their zany style. My best friend and I were their #1 fans, even earning a spot on their myspace blog with a video we made for them [we baked them a cake, it was pretty sweet]. Just hearing them again makes me think of that time we got her mom to drive us all the way to Boston to see them play a free show on some random college campus, which definitely ranks as one of the coolest things a parent has ever done for me.

10. Escape Me - Tiesto 

I was never much into EDM besides the basic radio stuff and a handful of party mixes/full festival sets I dig up on Soundcloud, but one of my best friends in high school was obsessed with the whole scene. She loved Deadmau5 and Wolfgang Gartner, but Tiesto was definitely up there. Before I had my license, she would drive me around most of the time, and of course the driver is the DJ so we had a grab bag of stuff going on, everything from For the Fallen Dreams to Skrillex to A Day to Remember to Bayside. This song was one of those instantly catchy ones for me, and I put this one more often than not whenever I got the chance to control the music. It makes me think of her white Jeep, driving around at night, driving to this sketchy hookah bar where her boyfriend DJ'd a few nights a week, and the summer between sophomore & junior year. Definitely one of those "windows down, volume up" songs for me.

The Wonder Years - 28 NOVEMBER @ Bóveda, Barcelona - review by buh!

Is there anything more endearing than an enthusiastic Euro talking emotively about their passions? Skatepunkers Spanish forum member, and friend of this blog, buh! (not his real name..) agreed to share his experiences from The Wonder Years show in Barcelona. Would they wear sombreros and play some flamenco songs? Would they take a stance against bull fighting? Would they appear to have any fun at all? Let's hand over to buh! to find out... 

It was pretty cool because my last show was in May so I was thirsty haha. I wanted to have a nice singalong show and I went there with no expectations at all. Not really into the new album so I showed up and just let the thing go.

TWY got on stage fastly (and) started playing without saying hello. Soupy just showed up right before the first chord, there was no presence of them before the venue opened and they were nowhere to be found...Bad point.
 
They played 5 songs from the new album and I just liked 2 of those...boring moments... But at least they played some truly great songs like Coffee Eyes, Came Out Swinging (as the last one) Melrose Diner, Don't Let Me Cave In and Washington Square Park. Those were the highlights for me, no doubt. So much emotion I just run out of voice. Man, that was passionate.

In between songs there was Soupy motivational and posi speech...talking about "you can do whatever you want if you really fight hard to achieve it even though the world will be against you" kinda stuff. Really nice and heartfelt yes, but I would have loved 2 songs more instead of him talking...

Whatever...just 12 songs...less than 45 min of music? Oh c'mon!! That was really disappointing.

Fun fact: Soupy touched his hair more then 16 times during the show. At moments he was just about to cry, red eyed and looking kind of anxious. Passion, or he just gets into the role too much? 

The sound was good and they played nice. The 3 guitar thing is unnecessary for me but...


The crowd was nice but too small...less then 50 people haha. Really sad. And there was a lot of kids who didn't know the old songs... I even yelled 'PLAY KEYSTONE STATE, KEYSTONE STATE DUDE CORE!!' two times but they looked the other way or didn't listen!

The moment they ended the set Soupy jumped offstage and vanished out the exit door. I was hoping for them to get a little bit closer to the fans but whatever haha.

Check out ELDER ABUSE (ex Daggermouth)

Elder Abuse blend 90s Epifat skate punk, modern pop punk and hardcore-influenced melodic vocals. Sounds sweet, right? It's pretty much skate punk played by better songwriters, or pop punk played by less socially awkward dudes. I've heard a few bands that seem to be doing variations of these influences and I’m hoping it becomes a thing. I also noticed that Elder Abuse had a few Irish bands listed in their influences, which confused the fuck out of me for a while.

Their drummer Dan, (ex – Daggermouth, in case you need another reason to check these guys out) filled me in on how the band started, the Irish connection and how their name isn’t a reference to beating up defenceless old people! Let’s start with a generic band biography.

Elder Abuse has dudes spanning from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, It's a little weird but its working for us right now. We play fast and catchy punk rock drawing influences from older skate punk bands like Lagwagon and NOFX up to newer pop punk bands. We all have a firm background in the hardcore scene, so that influence still rings true sometimes in some of our tunes. 

Dat name! What's up with it? Were all the other punk names taken, or is it a MILF thing?

The name haha… well I think we all kicked it around for a bit and weren't really to sure what to think of it, and eventually we decided we thought it was funny. Its sort of a playful shot at our parents more than anything, a few of us are getting on in age and its sort of a joke about how parents of people who have spent years in bands have had to put up with all kinds of painful shit that other parents will never have to experience haha. It definitely has nothing to do with the actual abuse of the geriatric, which we in absolutely no way condone haha. If people want to take it that way, then fuck em, they are just dinks that want to find something else to get offended by. 

Who's in the band and what bands have you all been in before?

The band consists of 5 dudes, sometimes we interchange some fill in guys..so it almost makes 6 dudes depending on the circumstances. I have played for quite a few bands in the past, probably the most notable past bands I played in Daggermouth, Withdrawal, Frustration - a bit of that Irish connection haha - and a few more, the other dudes mostly did roadie duties for Withdrawal, one of the dudes that helps us out plays in an awesome band from Saskatoon called Castaway, our guitarist played in a version of the California band Heart To Heart and our other guitarist played in sort of a crusty hardcore band from northern Manitoba called Good Things. 

How did Elder Abuse start?

The band started with my best friend from high school hitting me up to jam around, i'd put him off forever and finally had an opportunity to hang out and try out some tunes, It was slow going and we all thought it was just a big goof at first, the awful demos of our first material! I was so drunk I barely got through the material haha. But eventually as we were hanging out more and writing more we started to get into the shit that was coming together and decided to take a serious try at it and start touring and making shit happen.

Was there a set sound you were going for or did it happen organically? What I've heard so far seems pretty well conceived and put together.

We were definitely confused at first haha, we knew we were gonna stay in a punk rock area, but I think we all had some different ideas at first and then it sorta turned into a more gruff vocal styled pop punk. So yeah, I'd definitely say it sort of just organically came together as we all got comfortable with each other.

What's the Irish link in the band? I'm guessing Frustration and Bang Bros aren't universally known in the Canadian prairies?!

As far as the Irish connection, I met Nelly from Frustration when he was living in Van, we got to be pals and then as the years went on, I was finished with Withdrawal and never actually got the chance to tour overseas. Neal hit me up and said "You should come over and fuck with this tour we are doing with Cornered." So I ended up doing two UK and Mainland tours with Frustration playing drums, that shit was awesome. That's how i got familiar with Bang Bros and Nibiru and all the boys over there. 

What are the plans for releasing and touring?

As soon as Born to Lose is finally released we plan on pushing it, We have some western Canadian shows in the next couple months as well as our first stab at the Southern west coast coming up in November with our pals in Anchorless. We have some east coast plans for after Christmas but we are still working them out.

Listen to Elder Abuse here or be their 667th like on their bookface.

Top 10 Teenage Tunes: Mike from Flagpolers

Mike is the bass player and occasional vocalist of the predominantly Irish expat band Flagpolers. Not only that, but he is a mean vegan cook and the owner of five denim vests (but don't let that put you off him). He has also been a classmate, roommate and bandmate to myself, and introduced me to some of the best (and worst) punk I've heard, over the year!

Flagpolers have just released a new video, which captures their zany tour antics in the underground punk scene. - Alanso



I love nostalia shit! I’ll try to rip off Aidan’s list by keeping it in somewhat of an order of how I went along and became even more Punk.

Blink 182 - Adam's Song



I know if it wasn’t for this band I would never have gotten into punk and never started playing bass. I first got into them when I was maybe 11 or 12.  My older brother Brian bought the CD and I’d listen to it on repeat thinking I was the punkest thing in town. Adam’s song was always my favorite, I loved the funny songs and love songs, but this one always gave me goose bumps, I’ll always love Blink.

NOFX- Frano Un American



Haven’t listened to this song in a long time and actually am not into NOFX anymore, mostly because watching footage of NOFX made me angry watching Fat Mike talk to his fans like they're shit. But this was the first song I ever heard that had animal rights lyrics,  I was maybe 14 or 15 when I got into them but when this song came out I instantly started thinking about going Veg, I lived in a small village in rural Ireland and knew nothing of animal rights and thought of all vegetarians as hippies until this. I later went veg at 16 which then lead onto me becoming vegan which were the best choices I ever made. Although Fat Mike eats meat now anyways, at the time these lyrics opened my mind a lot.

Rancid- Old Friend



Still my favorite song of all time. Just recently got “Good morning Heartache“ tattooed on me actually after listening to this jammer for over a decade. I saw Rancid 10 years ago and then again last month and still to me they wrote the best songs ever written. I always loved the simplicity of the lyrics in Old Friend.

Minor Threat- Straight Edge



Up until Minor Threat I thought you were meant to start drinking at 15. Even though I never had any interest I assumed it was some sort of milestone that everyone had to do. Especially living in Dunmore, Ireland. Which is what anyone underage only seemed to do in shitty little youth discos.  As I had no money I used to just download Minor Threat’s complete discography through my old dial up internet which took about 2 hours for a 1 minute song!  After hearing this song I claimed Edge pretty much right after, People have a lot of views about Straight Edge and most of them are completely wrong. So fuck them this song rules and changed my life.


Oxymoron-  Run From Reality



Around 16 I started getting into more Street and Oi! Stuff because I preferred the simplicity of the music and lyrics. The attitude that I didn’t find in a lot of punk I was listening to at the time. I still love the 'Fuck The Cops' and 'Be a Punk' mentality that I found in bands in Oxymoron. I bought all their CDs and listened to them on repeat and still do. Classic band.

The Rebel Spell- I See Fire



I got a compilation CD in Razorcake when I was maybe 17, It was pretty good but The Rebel Spell were by far the best band on it. So I went home and with my chubby little fingers I ordered the cheapest Rebel Spell I could find on Interpunk. I thought Todd’s lyrics were amazing and still do, The fact he could sing so fast and still never fuck up, he's a lyrical genius. I used to e-mail them all the time when I was younger and didn’t know much about doing shows, asking them to come play Ireland. Then years later I was living in Galway and setting up shows with my bud Dan in Us Vs Them and they e-mailed me asking to help them with an Irish tour. It was one of the best days ever! I booked them the tour and they came and slept on my floor for 3 nights and it still blows me away how great DIY is. I now live in the same city as them and they’ve became my great friends. If only my 16 yearr old self knew! Love this song and band so much.

Only Fumes and Corpses- Resolution



Possibly the biggest influence on me when it comes to being involved with DIY Punk. I love this band so much and was blessed that we’re from the same city so I got to see them more than anyone else. I always felt like a member of the band and I shared a jam space with them and many of shows. When you’re younger you imagine all the best shows are played elsewhere but when I moved up to Galway it blew my mind that the best gigs you’ll ever go to are in the back of a small pub in your own city. Those shows were my everything when I first moved up to the city, My favorite memories of Galway were Only Fumes & Corpses shows. It makes me sad thinking about it now, they’ve recently ended and it’s a great loss to Ireland.

Foreveraftermath - Ok The Night



There wasn’t much footage of Foreveraftermath on the ol' Youtube so I found the best I could. They were from Ballina, which is like an hour and a half from Galway but I got to see all their Galway shows when they came. Their record was one of the best albums ever made. The first band I was ever in was meant to be a complete rip off of this band just because we all loved them so much. My bros and I even traveled up to Ballina to see their last show and where all the lyrics were written about. Everyone in this band went on to make other amazing bands but Foreveraftermath were my first. And ya never forget your first filthy shag.

The Lobotomies- Don’t Look Back



I think I was maybe 17 when I first heard the Lobotomies, Up until then I only listened to bands who were from elsewhere because living in the middle of nowhere in Dunmore you expect that all the best bands are from elsewhere. So when I first saw The Lobotomies I thought they were the best thing ever and still do. They all looked and acted like they didn’t give a fuck but were the nicest people I’ve ever known. The first night they played they stayed in my living room, They were the first of many dirty punks to sleep on my floor and it completely since then changed how I view music. Your best friends could be your favorite band. I’ve toured with these handsome boys and played some of my favorite shows with them, I love them all so much and every band they’ve done after.


Bob Seger - Night Moves



Not punk but one of my favorite songs ever, Probably because my Dad who’s the best man and biggest punk ever used to play in on repeat since I was a baby. I love this song so much I even got it tattooed across my toes and want to get a second tat in honor of it. I love all of Bob Segers stuff, He has a genius way of making every song sound nostalgic and I’m a big fan of nostalgia. He hails from where I lived as a child in Michigan so I find a certain closeness to him singing about driving through cornfields and Michigan summertime. When Flagpolers were playing shows up north I met this great old dude playing this song on the beach and we sang it together, it really made me smile like a fat child again.

Hookie sound alot like early blink 182

Lots of bands try to sound like blink-182. Some unintentionally sound more like blink than they mean to. And somewhere in between is Hookie!

Holy Tom Delonge, Batman! The guys from Hamden, Connecticut say they are influenced by MxPx, Home Grown, Inspection 12 and NOFX, but it is impossible not to hear strains of blink in this. In fact, if someone told me this was a b-side from Cheshire Cat, I'd believe them!

While the band, who are still in their teens, are trying to distance themselves from blink, I wouldn't be so hasty. blink have gone from pariahs to godfathers of the melodic punk world, whether that one GG Allin fan on your street likes it or not!

And also, they don't actually suck, at least  not as much as they'd like you to believe they do. Sure, the recording is crude at best and it sounds like they're using instruments from WalMart, but it's a catchy song underneath all of that and lots of people do like this stuff. What set blink-182 apart was the desire to grow as songwriters. Sure, they maintained the 'loveable loser with ADHD' persona, but their output got steadily better over the years.* If Hookie can expand their MP3 collection, stick to demos for a while, and invest some time and money into their band, who knows where they could end up.

*Until the self-titled album, that was a small dip..
*Also, finding Travis Barker was like winning a musical lottery. Like seriously, that man is ridiculous at taking some shitty riffs and making it a song. A song that can be played on the radio!

New Tunes: Cliffhanger

Cliffhanger are a pretty slick pop punk band from Chicago, who have no qualms about bringing the pop, but are also old enough to remember when punk was on film and game soundtracks in the nineties. They blend new, shiny pop punk, with 'Epifat' melodic punk and for the most part this works really well.

The excessively titled They Used to Call Me "Anal Girl" is the best offering on their three track EP, 'Ignite'.





Songs that have a catchy pre-chorus and chorus = $$$. Plus I've had the 'You used to say' part stuck in my head all week. Thanks, guys.

Their preferred choice of song, City Skyline, was a slight let down to me as it started with Alkaline Trio type vibes, however I get the feeling the singer gets uncomfortable at the thought of his friends smoking, and he only drinks on special occasions and always in moderation. What I'm getting at is that they sound very polished, in that 'might actually get some airplay and female fans' way. So while skate punks in their late 20s like myself might want something with a bit more bite, the people who matter when it comes to merch/music sales, ie. young teen girls, will probably lose their tiny minds over this.

Plus, the fuckers sneak in a breakdown towards the end so the dudes at their shows feel more macho.

'Just Ignite' is a none-too-subtle subtle reference to a band on the brink of going places in terms of music and success, and I hope they follow through on their potential.

As they have their shit together, you can check them out on Soundcloud or any other form of social media there is out there. Get to it, so you can say you knew them before they got big!

There was a rollerblading version of Tony Hawk's called Aggressvie Inline

Ah the early 2000s.. A time when pop punk and rock were kings of the soundtrack, and extreme sports games like Tony Hawk's and SSX were heavy hitters in the gaming world.

So gritty! Mom's not gonna like this one!

It seems that somewhere in a meeting room a gaming company decided to jump on the extreeeeme bandwagonto be down with the kidz. But instead of picking one of the cool X sports, they went with rollerblading, beloved sport of homosexuals, nerds and crazy middle aged women who really should know better.

'Rollerblading man' on google. Says it all, really.

The gameplay actually looks like it was pretty good, despite my misgivings, and word on tha streetz is that Tony Hawk's stole incorporated some better elements in the game. Even better though, the game came with a sweet soundtrack, typical of the time and filled with punk, nu metal and a bit of ska and hip hop.

This video gives a good taster of what the game was about, including all the Tony Hawk's-like elements and the soundtrack, in this case from a band called Student Rick. NOT TAKING BACK SUNDAY as the uploader of the video angrily proclaims. JEEZ U GUYS, KNOW UR MID-TABLE POP PUNK ALREADY. He also left the character dialogue in, which ruins the song, but it does stay 'honest to the Aggressive Inline experience' according to uploader MexiricanBassMonkey. LOL.

To keep true to the punk roots of inline skating, The Vandals were adding to the soundtrack. All aboard for the non stop to Irony Town! As if The Vandals ever cared about punx roots.

There was also some reaaaally dodgy emo and nu metal, but I'll leave that for now.

New Music Crush: Smalls + bonus interview

I love it when my kinda punk band comes together. My wishlist usually goes a bit like this:

• A female vocalist that is and equal band member, not just a singer out on front
• Predominantly melodic vocals, with some 'heavier' second vocals
• Interesting guitar-work that focuses on a strong song backbone rather than a million solos
• Varied song structures that flow well 
• A drummer who is good, but not so good he doesn't know his place
• Some breakdowns would be nice but you can't always have everything

And with Smalls from LA I've discovered my latest music crush! They've recently released their debut EP Expecting The Worst and my goth, it's such a delicious mix of sugary pop punk, spicy skate punk and beefy hardcore.

The 4 song EP leaves me wanting more on each listen, aided by the fact the last song is my favourite:

• How perfect is that intro for synchronised jumps and/or crowd call outs?
• And then at 00.30, get that circle pit moving!
• The pre-chorus/chorus at 00.55 is really where it's at though, angsty AND melodic enough that the teenage girls AND their hormonal boyfriends, who say they 'only like the fast parts', will both enjoy it.
• The mix of the drum beat and vocals at 1.16 are just perfect. Moar of this macho hardcore with female pop punk vox pls.

And if you want to pretend you'd like them more if they were faster with more male vox, then don't worry, they've covered that too!




I'm hoping for big things for these guys, and things are expanding within the Smalls camp as we speak. I caught up with guitarist Billy to talk about their new band members, seemingly forgotten female led punk rock bands from our youth and of course, DAT BAND NAME.

GDAC: Give us the generic biography of the band, from the EP it sounds like you guys know each other quite well? There seems to be a familiarity and shared sense of purpose.

Billy: Well, this project began about 2 years ago when I first met Ashley. It has always been difficult to form a band with a lead female singer, this is my 4th attempt at a band with a female lead, other genres this was the first in the punk genre. For months and months we failed to acquire the rest of the band. Instead of sitting around waiting on people we began writing as much as we could ourselves. As a multiple instrument musician I was more than capable to write everything from guitar, bass to drums. So i took everything and recorded it with Garageband and sent it to a couple musician friends to see if anyone would help us out. Russ' band at the time was dissolving, he wanted to keep active so he agreed to play with us since he had nothing else going on. He also really liked the songs and really wanted to see what we could do with this. We played a few shows with a drummer Ashley met at a mall and things took off from there. That guy ended up not working out, as a matter of fact 6 days before the last show we played march 2nd he cut all contact from us. Left us high and dry. We ended up getting a friend of ours to fill in and we played a really short set that day but it was the biggest crowed we ever had there must have been 300 kids in this backyard. I'm going to go ahead and  say we did good that day because we sold about 90% of our crewnecks!

How does the songwriting process go, do you find it easy to write rhythm and lead guitar parts by yourself?

It's pretty hit or miss. There's times where things just come to me and I try to record them as soon as they do. I try to let it flow, I pretty much go with my gut and dont over think it too much as far as 

how to arrange everything. There's also times where I'm like "ok im gonna write today" and I totally hit a wall and can't do anything. I try to have fun with it. 

The lineup is being shuffled and added to, what was the thinking behind it?

Ashley and I knew from the start that ideally we wanted this to be a 5 piece band. At first when we finally acquired a drummer I hit up Russ and he was stoked to play bass. He had never done it before and he thought it would be way fun to do it. I showed him the songs and then let him basically do whatever he wanted to do with it. We played shows as a 4 piece we figured it was good enough. Fast forward to after we recorded the EP, I got two texts  literally within fifteen minutes of each other. My friend Eddie text me asking if we were interested in a second guitar, because he had found us a perfect match. After that russ text me "Hey I want to jump on guitar lets find a bassist... i kinda suck at bass man!" It was funny because I saw the messages like an hour later because I didnt have my phone on me. So I texted Eddie and said 'Hey, Russ wants to jump on guitar so I guess we need a bassist now.' Eddie text back "Perfect, this guy also plays bass and he has really good gear, you should meet up with him hes a really cool guy and hes stoked on your EP, i showed it to him when you sent me the first drafts." So last wednesday we got together for the first time. with Russ on guitar, Gus on bass, and our new fill in Mark on drums. Mark is a friend of ours who's in a band with Eddie called Anchorless. Mark did the drums on the EP.

In Ireland (where I'm originally from) it's still relatively rare for a girl to be in a punk band, is it more the norm in LA or does Ashley still draw some extra attention? 

Southern California is the breeding ground for bands. Female leads are all over the place here. The only thing that we feel makes us stand out from all the other bands is we're not trying to ride someone else's coat tails. It just seems like every band tries to sound like "the band" that made it big with a female lead. You have 1,000 paramores, you have 1,000 Flyleafs. In the punk rock community we dont really have that that much. and i dont think its acceptable. But I think that the reason for that is that every band tries to do the Paramore sound, they try to do the hard rock, indie-emo sound. We're a punk band. It's died down now, or maybe we're just not paying attention. So it's good, we're not in the spotlight. In this scene at least its not so much a focus were not playing the 'we're a female fronted punk band' (card). We're just a band, with 5 members. Period.

I'm all for equality so the female bassist/singer in my band had to endure the same bad jokes, smelly practice space, beer drinking etc, have you guys been on tour yet and had to censor yourselves around Ashley?

You know, we're still fresh as far as being a 5 piece. We dont practice much, maybe two or three times before a show. We're all pretty laid back. We get together and we practice and thats our focus. When we do hang out theres usually girlfriends around or other people so things dont really get out of hand. We're not really party animals. I have had those moments in past bands though, where it gets awkward really fast. And practicing in mid summer in a lockout with no A/C, I def not miss that.

I realize how cliched it is to talk about the female member of the band, and I'm sure as you guys are doing promotion for the EP you're already tired of that angle. But seeing as this blog is partially about finding cliches in music, indulge me; last one, which is more common; Paramore or Tsunami Bomb comparisons?

Believe it or not if you go asking around our local current scene 'Paramore or Tsunami Bomb?' 90% of them would say "who's Tsunami Bomb?". most of the kids in this scene are 16 to 23. Not a single one would know. It's actually really weird because most of us are older. Gus being the youngest at 20 fit in with us so well because he grew up with an older brother who is Russ and myselves age so he grew up listening to our music. Again, Paramore isn't a thing anymore around here. It's not pop punk, its not punk rock. Sure kids listen to it but its not as hyped up as it used to be. Ashley really has a unique voice, its not Paramore at all. To be honest we don't promote ourselves as a female fronted pop punk band. We're just a band like any other band. We're not here to focus on one person, we're here to focus on Smalls, the band.

Were there particular influences in mind when forming the band? 

As far as bands we did have a focus on what we wanted to sound like but in the long run I don't know if we pulled it off. We were going for a Lifetime, The Movielife, 7 Seconds, Kid Dynamite, Rufio sound. I know those are all a bunch of pretty different bands but that was the general idea. We wanted to be melodic and fast like Rufio, we wanted to have heart like Lifetime and The Movielife and we wanted to have that fast punk sound you get from 7 Seconds and Kid Dynamite. I wish we sounded a little more youth crew to be honest, but it is what it is. 

To me there's a blend of pop punk, punk rock, skate punk and melodic hardcore and I love that you list all these genres on bandcamp. Are you that nerdy that you know all the subgenres of punk you are playing, I know I am, or was ticking as many boxes in the genre list as possible?

Honestly the 'melodic hardcore' was a joke. Fat Mike was asked how he felt being categorized as a pop punk band and he gets irritated, hes like "were a melodic hardcore band ok? Stop it." I always found that funny. But yeah being older we used to use so many different names for different bands; skate punk, pop punk, punk rock, ska punk, punk ska, I could go on forever. I used a couple hash tags to get to those different people who would run into it. 

Speaking of which, where did the name Smalls come from? It must be an SEO nightmare! Any plans to call an album Biggie?

Haha, a couple days ago i thought about doing a Biggie shirt rip! You know that iconic picture of him with a crown and a gold chain? Well that with our new bassist Gus on it instead. He has a killer beard right now and it needs to be on a shirt. As far as our name its from The Sandlot. The only thing i dont like about it right now is that yes if you look up smalls in hash tags 80% are Biggie Smalls threads. But its ok i guess. 

What's next for Smalls?

July 16th well be playing with Mixtapes, Last Call, Light Years, You Blew It! at Cobalt cafe in Canoga park. We have tickets on our bandcamp and bigcartel you can also message us for tickets. We'll be trying to play as many shows as possible this summer and the remainder of the year. I know its too soon but possibly hit the studio by the end of the year for another EP

Smalls are on facebook, and their EP is on bandcamp. 

New Music Crush: Midtown

Growing up in the middle of nowhere in Ireland, you tend to miss out on bands that a lot of people know, while often loving bands that never really got that big. My punk rock family tree had it’s roots in Epitaph/Fat Records, P-Rock TV and Tony Hawk’s skate games. To me, Alkaline Trio were the cool but slightly emotionally fucked up cousin of the family. I didn't discover other bands like Bayside until much later, or my new music crush Midtown until this year. More than a decade after the band split up...

Not sure what they're going for here

Simply because Drive Thru Records didn't have the same gravitas where I was from as some other punk labels, I missed out on great songs like Just Rock and Roll


Look how zany this videos is, totally unfair that it was kept from me, I would have loved it as a teenager! They're playing a bar mitzvah...but the people there don't understand rock music! It's just noise to them! What a hilarious concept! Who could possibly have made such a booking mixup?

Seriously though, I love this mix of pop punk and punk rock. Despite trying to look more bad-ass with the all black stage outfit, the nerdy, stupid fun side ultimately wins out through all the 'comedy' elements of the video, the drummer's DGAF attitude while wearing his glasses and the mandatory girl with big boobs.Also, dat 'jump' riff at 1.20 is delicious.

On the same album is depressingly-titled We Bring Us Down



This is a more PUNX song! Well, it's short and kinda fast, at least. Not sure if the lyrics are about an ex-girlfriend or some guy having sex but either way, it's a good song.

Like more pop in your pop punk? Try Like A Movie


This is a song they released after the last two, when I guess they signed to a bigger label. They act and dress kinda like douchebags in the the video but I guess they were hoping that would make them more popular or something. Still a pretty good pop punk song now that summer has hit.

The band broke up after this and one of the guys joined Senses Fail, while another made a synth pop band called Cobra Starship. This is obviously a very divisive issue amongst fans of these various projects, which is pretty funny because it's all music made by awkward dudes with the aim of trying to get girls to like them, whatever way you slice it. Makes no difference to me, I just get more albums to check out!

Can't Bear This Party interview: "We won't ever turn troo pop punk"

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote a post pondering what Can’t Bear This Party would do next. Would they continue writing ‘progressive easycore’ (aka fast melodic skate punk with extras), or would they go down the dreaded hipster route.

It seemed like disaster had struck when the band broke up earlier this year but the good news is that not only are CBTP! back, but they are still as zany as ever! After I posted about their new song Lil Bowotomi, guitarist Quentin aka Sushi, was cool enough to answer some of my many questions over the weekend. I’ve cleaned up some of the ‘Frenglish’ (his word not mine) here and there. My questions are in bold. – Alanso.

GDAC - So to start, a lot has happened with CBTP! in the last few months. For a time it looked like we would never hear from you again. Can you tell us anything about the last few months, and how are things in the CBTP! camp now?

Quentin - Yes we were done, our guitarist Lino left France for Boston so we were a bit demotivated. After 6 months, we all really missed the band so decide to revive it! Lino won't play live with us but is still implicate in composition at this time. We already have friends to can replace him on tour.
We are about to record our upcoming album and will tour in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Russia this winter. We hope to reach UK and USA in 2014.

The new song, Lil Bowotomi, has really grown on me since I first posted about it. The lyrics seem batshit crazy, what the hell is it actually about?

It’s a long story dude…it talks about a booking agency from France who gets pretty famous American bands play here! We played for them with title fight and transit. These guys are really bitchy with local bands. We were not paid but we’re okay with that. But we expected to be treated with respect, we’ve never felt uncomfortable like this in any other show before! It’s a shame that foreign bands think French shows are all shitty like this, every single DIY promoter does a way better job. The song talks about the owner (of the agency).

What I love about your band is that you aren't afraid to mix up the genres and add different instruments. I often call you 'progressive easycore'. Did this happen naturally over the years or was it something the band always wanted to do?

I don’t know! It came naturally, it offers a lot of new ways to compose. I don’t think we use too much stuff, basically, it's still pop punk (but) in a different way.

And what is the songwriting process within the band? I've found it hard to get a band of 3 people to agree on things, how does it work with six French dudes who add xylophones and phone tones?!

I usually compose the songs then the others arrange their parts the way they like. But on our last song, it's our singer jean who composed the song. At first it was only 8 bit but I added pop punk part and beats! The singers write the melodies. We don't take CBTP too seriously, the goal is to have fun and play catchy and energetic music!

You guys do still seem to be having fun with the genre, I hope there aren't any plans to start writing boring indie-influenced songs to show how you are 'real' musicians who want to be taken seriously?

I know what you mean! We won't ever turn troo pop punk, even though I love some of those bands I think it’s just being close minded. You can show you are a real musician and play fun music.

I'm from Ireland, so I can understand how you guys could have grown up listening to lots of different genres without knowing that some people think you have to be one or the other. It's pretty mind blowing to me that there seems to be a great scene in France right now. I thought everyone there just played accordions and drank wine. How did you get into 'heavy' music and what is the French scene like now? What are some other good French bands?

Haha don't believe your cliché! I imagine you drunk, with red hair and wearing a kilt dude! (Chillingly close to the bone – Alanso)  I think every country has a stereotype of others!
There are more and more cool little bands in France. There has been ‘heavy’ music in France for a long time. Some (bands) are getting really famous like chunk! or BTM (Betraying The Martyrs) and I think it's really awesome!

So, I posted on skatepunkers.net that I'd be asking you some questions and there are some questions from the forum users there, so I'll pitch some at you. 

“Where did the name come from and what does it mean?”

I don't know dude! I don’t even have a good fake explanation for this!

“How old are they?”

We’re all 24 or 25 but Remi, he is 17!

"Are they ever going to visit their Spanish neighbors?”

I don't know yet but we would love to! It’s really not far from us…same for Ireland.

"Do they sing with that accent on purpose or did they just have bad English teachers?"

Our singer jean has a terrible accent even when he speaks in French! One day we’ll get accent auto-tune and your question will be obsolete!

Top 10 Teenage Tunes: Aidan from Murdock

New Feature Time! I was going to call this nostalgiacore but I'm pretty sure that's what Title Fight are doing, hence the awkwardly long, alliteration-heavy name. Anyway, seeing as I know lots of folks who also have opinions on music, I figure once in a while I should ask them about the songs they loved when they were dealing with hormones and whatnot. 


I think I want to be Aidan from Murdock when I grow up. For those of you that don't know, he is singer/guitarist in Irish metal/hardcore punk/noisecore nice guys, Murdock. (We're not big on sticking to one genre in Ireland, thank goth). Not only this, but he also runs his own studio, The Forbidden Zone. And his day job? Oh yes, he only goes and teaches sound recording! - Alanso


Nostalgia you say? Any of my friends will tell you that I am a very nostalgic guy, sometimes too much so! To me, all great memories are safe and cannot be changed, they are good times locked up in the bank of nostalgia, to be called upon whenever needed. They are mine, and YOU can't have them! Why, did you want them?

So I will do this in some what of a chronological order of me getting older. These are not my favourite songs by any means, they are the soundtrack to memories that stick in my head and make me happy.

Stereophonics - Bartender and the Thief



This song was the first I ever heard that made me realise how loud gutiars could be, and Im pretty sure It is the reason I bought my first electric guitar. At the time I was about 12, I was getting lessons on acoustic guitar playing 'she'll be coming round the mountain' and that was boring me. I heard this song I and thought 'THATS WHAT I WANT TO DO'


Nirvana - Mr Moustache



So I started playing electric guitar, and I thought I was so awesome. I had braces, too much gel in my hair, a navy sweatshirt and beige trousers with white runners, I couldn't talk to girls, and my voice was at the squeeky head wrecking 'pre-drop' stage. Did I give a fuck? NO! Cos I had an electric guitar. I first got into Nirvana from the Nevermind album, which I LOVED, and I remember saving up to get some more of their stuff. I got the album bleach and could not get over how much better it sounded, it was darker, dirtier, and much less polished and I loved that. Im still convinced to this day, that the Bleach album is responsible for getting me into darker, weirder, noisier, music and it is the reason that my band Murdock sounds like it does today. We don't sound anything like Nirvana, but it is in there somewhere.

Less Than Jake - Gainsville Rock City



So as far as I knew, the only bands out there were Green Day, Nirvana, Blink 182 and Korn. And that was all I needed, or so I thought.
One day I came home from school, it was just coming into the summer, and my dad had bought Sky Tv for the house, which had Kerrang, Scuzz and P-Rock TV showing music videos around the clock and my mind was blown away. So many new bands, so many cool videos and all summer long to watch them all and learn them all on guitar.
This was the first song I saw on Kerrang TV and it always reminds me of how good that summer felt.

Alien Ant Farm - Movies



Following on into the next Christmas after I got Sky TV, I must be 14 by now? All I wanted was the guitar from this video! I nagged my parents and ended up getting a guitar which I thought was this guitar, but it actually wasn't, BUT it was an awesome guitar which I still have. That Christmas the house was snowed in, so it was me, my guitar and all the songs that I could learn from Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3. A game I still play every Christmas to this day!


Blink 182 - Anthem Part II



So the next summer I got a part time Job. For the first time I had some money to spend. There was a bass in the local music store on special offer and all I could think of, waking up in the morning, going to sleep at night was THAT BASS. I ended up not buying it, but this song reminds me of that summer. I also vividly remember my friends calling over to get me to go to a youth disco to hang with some girls, and I wouldn't because I was too busy learning the new Blink album on guitar. I have no idea how I have a girlfriend today.

Korn - Clown



So around this time, Nu-Metal was everywhere, and I loved it. I still throw some of it on every now and then. My part time job was cleaning cars. They were all older used cars, and they all cassette decks in them. Every morning going to work, I made sure that in my top right pocket of my overall's, I had Korn's first album on tape in there. The album is about 40 minutes long, and I listened to it ALL DAY, EVERY DAY! And I never tired of it

Every Time I Die - Ebolorama



2003 hit and everything changed for me musically. MTV 2 started showing 'headbangers ball'. All of a sudden things got, heavier and faster and louder. Hatebreed, Converge, Every Time I Die, Poison The Well, As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, The Black Dahlia Murder were regularly on. Late one Tuesday night, Ebolarama by Every Time I Die came on and I could not believe what I was hearing. It was rock and roll but it was insane!
One of the coolest moments of my life happened last year, where my band played a few shows with Every Time I Die. They were playing the song, while a couple of them were wearing my band Murdock's tee shirts, and I couldn't help but smile like the biggest weirdo in the venue, thinking back to 2003 and falling in love with this song/band. (That is me being nostalgic about being nostalgic, cos that gig was Oct 2012, That is like inception shit!)

Between the Buried and Me - Mordecai



One night me and all my guys (2 of which would start Murdock with me), were hanging out in the car park in a retail park. Driving around bollards, skateboarding. I don't remeber much of the details but I remember that this song was blaring thought it.
Also one of the guys jumped in though the window of the moving car and landed perfectly on the passenger seat. It was great!

Moden Life Is War - D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S



This song is probably the reason that I play music and drive around in a smelly van, with smelly guys playing smelly venues.
This song is from 2005 and at this stage we were playing music for fun, with out biggest goal being to get a gig at a local venue.
The song made me dream of playing a million miles away from home and being so tired you cant even breathe. If any song resonates inside me, with any sort of a creed or anthem, then this is it

Posion The Well - Ghostchant



The opening guitar riff and snare roll of this song, actually bring me back in time to 2003. No TARDIS or Flux Capacitor needed.
I remember reading a review of this album in Kerrang magazine, before I had ever heard of this band. And from the reviewers words alone, I knew it was going to be the best thing in the world. I still have the magazine in an old drawer somewhere, I dont think I have ever had music make me shiver as much as this song does when the chorus kicks in.