It's just under two weeks until Harvest of Hope kicks off in St. Augustine Florida. While we have been (and will continue to) feature interviews with a number of the bands playing the festival, we thought it would be nice to chat with organizers Ryan Murphy and Tony Weinbender. This interview comes courtesy of Michael Dauphin.
Canada's Propagandhi have a new album coming out shortly, and our own Dante 3000 recently talked with the band's Chris Hannah about said album as well as a plethora of other topics.
The band recently released two songs to benefit charity and will be playing Harvest of Hope before Supporting Caste is released on March 10.
With Harvest of Hope just over a month away, we would like to spotlight some of the bands participating. We kick things off with an interview between our own Tyler Barrett and Greg Attonito of Bouncing Souls. While the band's last full-length was 2006's The Gold Record, they are two songs into their plan to release one new song every month during 2009. "Gasoline" was released on January 1, while "We All Sing Along" was made available yesterday.
While this year's CMJ Music Marathon brought a host of sub par indie rock bands to New York City, it also brought The Bronx. And what this means is if you were one of the lucky ones who made it into the 100 person capacity basement of China Town's Fontana's, then you now know what it feels like to have your face melted.
It's shows like this that make bands like Bad Religion and Social Distortion want to take you out on tour. They're what makes ex-Guns 'N' Roses guitarist, Gilby Clark, want to produce your record. Flat out, they're what make bands and characters of this caliber, LA's finest, want to pass the torch.
Guitarist Joby Ford took some time beforehand to discuss what it means to be homeless in the name of music, how much office jobs suck, White Drugs, and white drugs with our own Francis John Corva III,
There are people in the world who believe the more technically proficient and lyrically profound a band is, the better they are. Then there are those of us who realized long ago that raw power and heartfelt energy (two elements that make up the very soul of punk rock) could more than make up for any amount of guitar lessons or thesaurus thumping. Teenage Bottlerocket is a relative new addition to the latter and we figured it was high time to give the Laramie, Wyoming four-piece a closer inspection.
Detroit's Fireworks may not be releasing their new album until the end of March, but that's no reason not to listen to 2006's We Are Everywhere and get stoked on the promise this pop punk band is showing.
Punknews interviewer Sarah El-Hamzawi spoke with Fireworks' Kyle O'Neil about their upcoming album and much more.
River City Rebels are back with a new album. In Love/Loveless follows their 2007 effort, Keepsake of Luck. The band only printed 1,000 copies of the album and sold them only on their recent tour. Our own Zack Shapiro caught them on their Denver stop and talked with both Brandon Rainer (keyboards, harmonica, vocals) and Dan O'Day (vocals, guitar, bass).
One of Deathwish Inc's latest signings, Narrows, is getting ready to release their first full-length, which is due this winter. You may know the members from their many influential projects, like Botch, Roy, Some Girls and These Arms Are Snakes.
In the meantime, you can check out their recently released self-titled seven-inch and this interview between our own Ryan Raffin and the band's bassist Rob Moran.
Far, one of Jonah Matranga's many musical projects recently got back together to tour the UK. While we missed them on this side of the pond, our very own Sarah El-Hamzawi took some time to talk to Jonah and band-mate Shaun Lopez about the band and their recent shows.
With the release of their 5th full-length record, Appeal To Reason, Rise Against have hit their stride and have established the core of their sound. Much like their predecessors, Bad Religion, NOFX, Strung Out, etc. one knows what to expect from a Rise Against record at this point. Urgent verses swell into anthemic choruses as frontman Tim McIlrath's caterwauling commands over the band's melodic hardcore instrumentation. Live, nothing is lost in translation, as the band crushed New York City's Roseland Ballroom this past October, headlining over its once more popular peers in Alkaline Trio and Thrice.
While on stage McIlrath is a force to be reckoned with, behind the scenes he couldn't be more unassuming. Seemingly happy to be contributing yet another interview to Punknews, Francis John Corva III spoke in person before the band's second consecutive night headlining the venue about the cyclical nature of punk rock, the artist's role as an educator and just how important Guitar Hero is these days.
We were thrilled when we heard our friend Mitch Clem would be publishing his first comic book, compiling much of his beloved Nothing Nice to Say material in a Dark Horse-issued trade paperback. So after reading through the book, we decided to get Mitch to tell us a little about his art, his process, Dillinger Four and a few other things.