All Souls on their new album, metaphysics, and flamenco

Totimoshi is now at rest. After some 20 years, the experimental desert rockers have ascended into the ether. But, in their wake, All Souls have been re-born. Comprised of Totimoshi's brain and backbone, string slinger Antonio Aguilar and bassist Meg Castellanos, All Souls also includes Tony Tornay of Fatso Jetson on drums and Erik Trammell of Black Elk on the bass. The band's new, self-titled album is out February 9th, so Punknews' John Gentile spoke with Aguilar and Castellanos about the new record, cosmic connections, and how to do the flamenco. Check it out below.

Felix Hagan and the Family are bringing spectacle to a boring rock scene

London's Felix Hagan And The Family call themselves a "seven-piece beast made of makeup, hairspray and rock and roll." The theatrical multi-genre group has been touring in support of their new album Attention Seeker, which arrived last October. Writer Graham Isador caught up with the band recently to dig into their storied live performances an what makes Hagan tick.

Kody Templeman of The Lillingtons and Teenage Bottlerocket

2017 was a busy year for Kody Templeman. Both of his bands put out a full length and a seven inch. He toured middle America with The Lillingtons. With Teenage Bottlerocket he went to Hawaii, Australia, Europe, the East Coast and South America.

So, to catch up with the man and all his antics, Punknews writer Tom Trauma rang Templeman up and got the inside dirt. Check it out below.

Blag Dahlia on image, Trump, and the new Dwarves album

Ever since their resurrection with 2011's Born Again album, The Dwarves have been getting leaner and meaner. 2014's Invented Rock & Roll found the band stripping back to their hardcore and pop-punk aspects and blasting through a 25 minute album. Now, their new album, The Dwarves Take Back the Night, is even more primal, more savage, more vicious.

It opens with the slamming "Forget Me Not" and gets more crazed from there. "Take Back the Night" is a sinister, swaggering slash. "Everything and more" is 44 seconds of violent aggression. Of course, the band does slip in a few sweets here and there- with its bubblegum hook, "Trace Amounts," which is about OD-ing on coke, is downright cheery.

Because the band is coming out swinging on their latest LP (out February 9 via Burger/Greedy), Punknews' John Gentile spoke to frontman Blag Dahlia about how he is perceived, how he perceives himself, and drugs, of course.

Deanna Belos of Sincere Engineer

Deanna Belos has been blazing a trail attending shows and writing songs on her guitar since she was a teen. Over a decade of being in the crowd, and with some encouragement by some local Chicago punks, she assembled a band together and switched sides to write her debut album, Rhombithian, earlier this year under the name Sincere Engineer. Editor Samantha Barrett spoke with Deanna Belos about punk, anxiety, and the new record.

Jello Biafra on what makes up Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra is tricky to decipher. Despite the nearly 20 albums of music that he's released, despite the dozens of hours of spoken word discs that he's cut, it can be tough get a glimpse of what makes up the seminal musician, and moreso, what he thinks about internally. There are hundreds of hours of Biafra attacking the president or other political figures (and those are well worth your time) and there are numerous tunes of Biafra lashing out at big biz types who trample the less fortunate. But, how often does Biafra really open up about how he's feeling deep down? And moreso, how did he become the living fireball that he is? To cap off Jello Biafra week at Punknews, Editor John Gentile spoke with Biafra and a few of Biafra's close friends about just how the iconic singer/label owner/provocateur, came to be.

Photo by Dod Morrison

Reflections on Jello Biafra

To quote Plato if we may, "The measure of a man is what he does with power." And no doubt, Jello is a man of power and influence in the punk rock/alt-scene (even though he may deny it himself.) And to that end, he has influenced countless, countless, countless musicians and artists over his FORTY YEAR mischief-filled career. So, to get a perspective of how far the guy reaches, as Jello Biafra week continues, we asked a bunch of bands, artists, and arty-type-people to relfect just a little bit on the Boss B. Check out those thoughts, below.

Jello image by Chris Urban .

Jello Biafra Walks Us Through his Entire Discography

Jello Biafra has done about a million projects. From the seminal Dead Kennedys to his fititing team up with DOA to his surprising combo with Melvins to his newest band Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine to the berserk, industrial pummeling of Lard, the J-man has done it all. Really, you could fill an entire book with any one of his albums. But, to get just a taste of his works-a-plenty, we had Jello tell us a little bit about almost every single one of his albums (and that's a lot of albums, mind you). Check out Jello's reflections on his LPs below. Later this week, we'll sit down with the reigning champ himself for an in-depth interview.

Sima Brami and Nir Klein of Not On Tour

If you follow the European festival scene even just a little bit (or attend them), chances are that you have seen Tel Aviv, Israel's Not On Tour in a line up be it Sbäm Fest, Brakrock Ecofest, FFUD Fest or Punk Rock Holiday. Or perhaps you saw them open for bands like the Descendents, Strung Out or Useless ID. To many of us in North America, the band is a hidden gem for those who love melodic punk rock with songs filled to the brim with unrelenting guitar riffs and huge, anthemic vocals. Just listen to their latest full-length, 2015’s Bad Habits and you will immediately become a believer. Punknews editor Ricky Frankel spoke to lead singer Sima Brami and bassist Nir Klein about their style of punk rock, the punk scene in Tel Aviv, some of their more special shows, what they have planned for the not-so-distant future and more.

Photo Credit: Arthur Landa

For Halloween Craig Finn is Paul Stanley. We Should All Be Paul Stanley.

Craig Finn is in the midst of a North American tour with John K. Samson in support of his recent full length We All Want the Same Things . He and his band, the Uptown Controllers, will conclude their month-long trek this evening in New York at the City Winery. This being both Halloween and the big finale, Finn's got a plan to make the show special -- a plan that pretty heavily involves the Starchild. Toronto-based writer Graham Isador caught up with the Hold Steady frontman to get to the bottom of it.

Spike Slawson of Uke-Hunt

Spike Slawson's Uke-Hunt is kicking off an East Coast tour tomorrow evening in Quebec CIty. It'll include several shows in la belle province along with gigs Ontario, New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. Toronto-based writer Graham Isador caught up with Spike for to chat about the ukulele-driven band, his recent work with Me First and The Gimme Gimmes, and more.