Punknews speaks to Chris Gethard about his new show

Just minutes ago, Chris Gethard aired the very last episode of his public access show, The Chris Gethard Show. Over the course of five years, Gethard grew the talk show through a punk rock dedication to DIY culture, and created a weird world with regulars like Vacation Jason, a man who is always on vacation, The Human Fish, a fish in a man’s skin that dispenses sage-like wisdon, and… um… “The Beast Masturbator.”

On top of that, almost every TCGS features wild, new acts, most of them culled from the punk and indie circles, such as Night Birds, Plow United, and Crazy and the Brains. Despite all the chaos, with many shows collapsing during filming, the affable Gethard remained the constant straight man, reacting to the chaos constantly shambling about the set. (Fittingly, the last episode was cut off with two minutes to go.)

Now, Gethard is taking his show to a for-real-deal cable network, executive produced by Will Ferrell. It’s a big step for Gethard and the show's fans seem to be as excited as they are pensive. To get the details, features editor John Gentile spoke to Gethard on the afternoon before the final taping of the public access show. You can click read more for the interview.

Adam Turla (Murder By Death)

The new-to-Louisville residents Murder By Death have been creating albums and stories through song for over a decade now. They've built an (oc)cult-like following and maintained an impressive pace in the independent music world. The band continues this legacy with their newest full-length, Big Dark Love, which hits the shelves and Internet downloads on February 3, 2015. Interviews Editor Britt Reiser and Bojangs Hughes sat down with vocalist/guitarist Adam Turla on the morning after night one of their three-night run at the historic haunted Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado to discuss the annual Stanley Hotel shows, the new album, the Great Lakes and ghosts.

Read the full saga after the jump. Look for Big Dark Love on February 3 from Bloodshot Records, and if you're feeling antsy, you can still pre-order it here.

James Graham (The Twilight Sad)

The Twilight Sad have been plugging away for about a decade seeming almost autonomous in sound and aesthetic, progressing from the wistful, strained anthems of their first album, 2007's Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, through to their latest, Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave, a masterstroke amalgamation of dark indie rock and cathartic post-punk. Plastering the covers of their releases with intricately drawn, morose scenes and sounding emotionally weathered and honest, they've been a model of consistency while developing their unique style. The band wrapped up a North American tour supporting fellow Scottish indie rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks last month. Brian Shultz sat down with the Twilight Sad frontman James Graham just after their set at the Boston, Massachusetts stop to chat about the record and more.

Gustav Burn (Atlas Losing Grip)

Hailing from the land of Sweden, Atlas Losing Grip is at it again in creating a new set of melodic, metal-inspired tunes for our listening pleasure. They released their fourth full-length album titled Currents on Jan. 16, four years after their previous release, State of Unrest. Contributing editor Samantha Barrett met up with guitarist Gustav Burn in The Cake Shop in New York City to chat about the new album.

Chris Urban (Crazy and the Brains)

Crazy and the Brains are talking about God and sex. Their new EP, Good Lord (Baldy Longhair), finds the band dissecting concept of religion, but never being exactly clear with their motive. At times, they seem to appreciate the great tradition of Catholic art, and at others, they seem to be pissing on the same exact thing. Also, there are sex jams on the EP… a lot of sex jams.

The band somewhat puzzled the punk scene with their debut from a few years ago: Here was a revved up, garage rock-influenced band that played at 100 miles per hour, that had a front man who perpetually wore a skipper's hat, that had xylophone on every track. They were weird, confusing and totally rocking. Well now, they’ve increased the juice. Good Lord kicks harder than their earlier stuff, indulges in soul swinging more than ever before and has a song about how great “ice cream” is.

To try to get a handle on what is going on with this quartet, features editor John Gentile spoke to front man Chris Urban about the church, getting expelled from school and why Vampire Weekend sucks.

Witch Mountain

Witch Mountain's newest LP, Mobile of Angels, is heavy as hell, baby. It lumbers, it twists, it rumbles. In fact, a lot of people think it's the doom metal band's best release to date, aided in part by the band's more existential musings and how they just completely submerge themselves in the tenets of doom metal. But, there's more here than just riffage -- though there is a lot of that. There's psychedelic wandering, experimental production and hella bad ass solos. Also, vocalist Uta Plotkin wails like a banshee. Think Ozzy meets Janis.

But just before the band released what might be their crowning achievement (so far), Plotkin informed the band that she was leaving soon after the album's touring cycle. The result is Plotkin's swan song and the last chance to observe the band in this incarnation.

But founding members Nathan Carson and Rob Wrong are going forward, evolving the band once again. To get the scoop about the new album, Plotkin's departure and how far out Hawkwind's Nik Turner really is, Features Editor John Gentile called up the band and talked about all things heavy.

Bad Canoes

Bad Canoes is the berserk new band featuring Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females on vocals. Sounding sort of like a cross between The Slits, The Screamers, and X-Ray Spex, the band has songs about Satan, marshmallows and good radio stations. They also frequently post information about Polar Seltzer on their Facebook for no apparent reason.

The band recently released the fantastic Sisterhood is Powerful EP and have begun recording a follow-up release. To see what this group was all about, features Editor John Gentile met up with them after a gig to talk about how they formed, their tunes and what the deal is with Polar Seltzer.

Such Gold

Such Gold had to make some re-arrangements recently. Their longtime guitarist Skylar Sarkis left the band a little while back, and afterwards people were pretty sure Such Gold was over. But, that wasn't the case at all. In fact, they took it in stride and moved forward. Rather than searching for a replacement, they looked at what they already had inside the band and decided to have vocalist Ben Kontin take over as the second guitarist. Then they went quiet. For a second it seemed like Such Gold wasn't doing anything at all. The truth is they were working harder than ever on a new record that would, and now has, introduce us to the new Such Gold. While not exactly a departure, their latest record, The New Sidewalk, shows a band who've taken the core elements of their sound and had it grow with them as people, rather than grow with the changing trends. Some people weren't stoked on it, some people were more satisfied with Sidewalk than any other of Such Gold's previous releases.

When Such Gold stopped through Chicago, Punknews contributing editor Xan Mandell decided to treat guitarist Nate Derby and bassist Jon Markson to Korean BBQ to chat about the record. Their conversation over dinner hit various topics, and we got the inside story on why Skylar left and how awesome eating Pho will Bill Stevenson is. At this point, we're pretty sure the term Such Gold is really just their way of describing great food, "Man, those dumplings were Such Gold, they hit the spot." No word from the band if this is true or not though…

Andrew Low (The Jazz June)

The Jazz June are an influential emo band, active in the late '90s and early 2000s. Now, a decade later, after a couple of shows here and there, the band are finally back as a full-fledged band.

New record After the Earthquake has recently been released via Topshelf Records and shows the band picking up where it left off. Punknews staff writer Max Qayyum had a chat with lead singer/guitarist Andrew Low about the reunion, their views on the so-called “emo revival” and their plans now that they’re back together.

Domenic Romeo (A389 Records)

Domenic Romeo is a dealer of the dark arts. As the head of A389 Records, he puts out the heaviest, blackest, meanest, nastiest, most brutal hardcore and metal. In fact, he’s put out pitch-black tunes by bands including Integrity, Full of Hell, Haymaker, Bloodlet, Iron Reagan, Weekend Nachos, as well as his own band, Pulling Teeth.

And every year, he convenes his dark accomplices and organizes the annual A389 bash, which features the baddest of the brand new bands and returning legends. Last year featured the insane reunion of the Dwid Hellion/Melnick version of Integrity. Before that, mighty weightlifter/musician Thor played a set backed by Pulling Teeth.

To learn about the label and the 2015 bash, which starts on January 15 in Baltimore, features editor John Gentile spoke to Romeo about running a label in the download age, this year’s shindig and moshing.

Edward Colver

If you don’t know who Edward Colver is, chances are you’ve seen his pictures of the LA hardcore scene, some of the iconic punk album covers that he took the pictures for, or maybe you even saw him in the documentary American Hardcore.

Edward Colver is a self-taught photographer who documented punk rock history. Between 1978-1984 he went to shows five nights a week to take pictures of the LA hardcore scene. What he documented is absolutely fascinating and is an essential part of punk rock and even American music history.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what Jello Biafra said about his photography in Edward Colver’s book Blight at the End of the Funnel: “Anyone even slightly interested in LA’s underground has seen it through an Edward Colver photo. Edward shined a light on the underlying darkness in a way that would make Weegee proud. The menace, the alienated kids, they’re on again off again camaraderie, and the fright behind macho eyes. The threads of disturbance in Edward’s work stitches together live fast die young no hope suburbia with hardcore homeless of dying downtown Los Angeles; before their ranks mushroomed as Reagan-Clinton America abandoned its misfits and disadvantaged. Edward brings out the Fellini in almost anything that steps into his lens.”

Punknews staffer Ricky Frankel met Edward at his gallery showing in Los Angeles, which you can read a review of here, and interviewed him about a week after first meeting him.

His exhibit ran from September 20, 2014 to November 21, 2014 in downtown Los Angeles. There’s more information about it here. And you can check out some of Edward Colver’s work here, or you can buy his awesome book Blight at the End of the Funnel.