Chris Hansen (No Sleep Records)

Chris Hansen, Owner of No Sleep records, is no slouch when it comes to running his label. While many of the bands on his label are out touring the U.S. and beyond, he's back at No Sleep HQ in Huntington Beach, CA pulling all nighters resolving website issues and packing orders. The hard work that Chris puts into the label is mirrored on the road by bands like La Dispute, Balance and Composure and Into It. Over It.. That hard work that the bands and the owner have put in to the label are what has made No Sleep flourish in recent years. Occasional Punknews Contributing Interviewer Adam Sever spoke with Chris just days after Record Store Day about the opening of their flagship store, the problems their new webstore was having due to the increased web traffic on Record Store Day, the music community they share with their friend's labels, and sustaining the label's growth into the future.

Hugo Mudie (Pouzza Fest)

Well, it's finally the big week! Montreal's Pouzza Fest is kicking off with a diverse group of bands from across punk's expansive history and wide spectrum! A large part of this cross-cultural collection is due to Festival Organizer Hugo Mudie. A native Québécois, Mudie personally selected the bands across the three day event. The result is a festival with the old and the new, the local and the international, and music from ska to hardcore to folk to music for the whippersnappers.

In order to learn about how the festival came together, staff writer John Gentile brushed up on his français and rang up Mudie to talk about his own history with punk, why he chose the bands that he did, and also what exactly a "Pouzza" is.

The Max Levine Ensemble

As the release of The Thing that Ate Larry Livermore (and thus our imminent disctruction) looms ever closer we continue our series of Livermore conducted interviews with bands featured on the compilation. This week LL Coolmore sits down with The Max Levine Ensemble to discuss pop-punk, politics and why Boy George hates them.

GnarBoots

There is a cult developing in San Jose. It's called "GnarBoots." and features former members of several well known bands, including Link 80, DESA, and Flat Planet. Although GnarBoots, insists that it is not a cult, requests as to what it actually is are quickly sidestepped, similar to other suspicious organizations.

Indeed, although GnarBoots. also functions as a band, the bounds of their control is murky at best. Although they seem to maintain a purposeful anonymity, they've somehow convinced Mike Park, owner of Asian Man Records, to put out their new album despite that they've never toured, never self-released a proper LP, and never even set up a website.

GnarBoots. recently contacted Punknews asking for a chance to clear up some misconceptions. We sent staff writer John Gentile on location so he could try to unravel some mysteries, and also because, if he happened to disappear, it would minimize Punknews' collateral damage.

Your Demise

It's pretty standard when a band changes their sound, especially something that is typically more accessible to the mainstream, that it is greeted with a mixed reaction and this is no different for Your Demise with the release of their new record The Golden Age – while maintaining their hardcore punk roots, the record adopts a more prominent skate-punk/pop-punk vibe, which has caused a bit of an uproar within the UK scene. Is it selling out? Have they lost sight on their direction? Or are they just embracing and acknowledging what they truly love?

Punknews interviewer Faye Turnbull sat down with frontman Ed McRae and guitarist Stu Paice ahead of their sold out headline show in Newcastle, UK, and talked bluntly about the controversy surrounding the new album, street wear and fashion within the hardcore scene, and that Paul McCartney "should have died a long time ago."

Staffan (Sectarian Violence/Stay Hungry)

Featuring members of Coke Bust (DC), Stay Hungry (Sweden), and Inherit (UK), Sectarian Violence is a trans-national super-group of sorts, playing a blistering fast brand of straightedge hardcore. The band recently completed a European tour and released their self-titled 7" earlier this spring, and was nice enough to speak with Punknews staff interviewer Andrew Clark. Bassist Staffan discusses the intricacies of being in a geographically dispersed band, politics in hardcore, and the band's upcoming east coast tour of the US.

Josh Waters Rudge (The Skints)

The Skints – no doubt one of the most exciting bands to come out of the UK ska-punk scene in recent years. From first interviewing them in 2009 in their grimy van on their second ever tour to catching up three years later while on tour with one of the UK's biggest rock acts, it's always a pleasure seeing a band flourish, both musically and professionally, as much as this reggae-dub-ska-punk mash-up from east London.

Punknews interviewer Faye Turnbull sat down with vocalist and guitarist Josh Waters Rudge about their new album, Part & Parcel, their reasons for funding it through the PledgeMusic, his thoughts on the current UK scene, and a lot more, before opening up for You Me At Six in Newcastle.

Steve Ciolek (The Sidekicks)

Have you ever hopped on a sea cow and manateed up? I didn't think so. But, if you ever listened to The Sidekicks song about doing so, you'd be motivated to do just that. Though they hail from northeastern Ohio, The Sidekicks have hit just about every major city you can imagine and are guaranteed to have you singing along with your first listen. In midst of a hefty tour with Cheap Girls, The Menzingers and Captain We're Sinking, Punknews Copy Editor Amelia Cline got to catch up with them and see how tour has been treating them so far.

Randy Bradbury (Pennywise)

So much has occurred since Pennywise's last album, Reason to Believe was released on Myspace records in the Spring of 2008. The biggest change is that Jim's out and Zoli's in. Whoa. So how is the band functioning now and what does their new album, All or Nothing have to offer longtime fans who are used to Jim's singing and songwriting? Punknews' interviewer Jason Epstein exchanged e-mails with Pennywise bassist Randy Bradbury, to chat about the loss of Jim, the addition of Zoli and other bits of pennywisdom.

Keith Morris (OFF! / Circle Jerks / Black Flag)

While some musicians ponder over albums for years, or even decades, OFF! only needs about three days to cut a masterpiece. Led by punk icon Keith Morris and Dimitri Coates, OFF! cuts violative, explosive music that harkens back to the nascent stage of West Coast hardcore, namely Morris' first band, the legendary Black Flag, all while feeling completely immediate.

In 2010, OFF! released their first collection, First Four EPs which gained acclaim from both inside and outside the punk community for being energetic, raw, nasty, and just straight-off-the-hook kick ass. Now, the band is gearing up to release their first true full length, which they wrote in about a week and recorded, mix, and mastered in about the time it takes Axl Rose to string his guitar. Because OFF! has a new LP coming up, staff writer John Gentile rang up Morris to talk about the new release, punching senators in the face and that one time Morris really made a connection with a cop over Styx.

Lipstick Homicide

Continuing to bring you things that interest us, Punknews has yet another interview by Larry Livermore (featuring a band off the compilation titled The Thing that Ate Larry Livermore). This time L-Mo chats up Iowa's Lipstick Homicide, about Green Day, Panera bread and who's better than Mixtapes.