Tag Archives: Post-Hardcore

The Bomb – Speed Is Everything– CD Review

Hey Jawbox fans, have you been looking for something to tide you over until they finally drop something new this year?  I can’t promise that they will even release new material but that set on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon really brought suspicions to the table.  Let’s hope for the best and until then I have a recommendation for you.

The band I speak of is called The Bomb.  Why should you check them out you ask?  Simple, J. Robbins of Jawbox recorded and mixed The Bomb’s most recent album Speed Is Everything.  He might have also contributed some singing throughout the album as did Dan Yemin from Paint It Black.  This is The Bomb’s second release and was released on No Idea Records.

Need more reason to check out this band I speak of?  Well I can tell you that the band includes former members of Naked Raygun, The Methadones, and even Four Star Alarm.  Oh I might as well throw in that they also cover a Flock Of Seagulls song – more on that in a bit.

This Chicago foursome features Jeff Pezzati, as well as Jeff Dean, Pete Mittler, and Mike Soucy.  With years of experience in the music world they came together and dropped a sophomore release that can stand strong next to a two decade old Naked Raygun album with no intimidation at all.  Perhaps that is a bold statement but after listening to it I think many of you can and will agree.  To me it has a sound that fits in that, dare I say classic, era perfectly.

“The Kids” and “Holiday” really have a post-punk sound straight from the early nineties and fans of that era will appreciate.   “The Rescue” was interesting as the song was sung from a hero point of view with interesting lyrics including hiding the goods.  “Haver” had a little harder punk feel throughout making for a good listen.

As mentioned previously the band took at stab at covering a Flock Of Seagulls song and I honestly like it more than the original.  When “Space Age Love Song” started I immediately knew it was a cover but was unable to immediately grab of whom but after a quick Google check that all changed.

Dan Yemin lends his pipes on the fast fist-pumping “Integrity” track that really rises over the rest when it comes to speed in the album.  “Spaceman” was another track I appreciated on the album a lot with it’s old school post-hardcore sound.  Title track “Speed Is Everything” was another notable track on the album and I even got a kick out of the album ending track “Blown Away”.

I could not help but think of other acts like Husker Du and Jawbreaker while listening to the CD as well as of course Jawbox.    Heavy drumming and straight forward guitar playing formulate a solid album of course with post-Naked Raygun singing styles.  I am shocked this band has not gotten a ton of hype seeing what they are made of but perhaps that makes this album that much more likable.  Old school fans of punk rock will adore this CD, well, at least I do.

Screw all that crunk-punk, emo baby, try too hard crap that recent bands have been dishing out, you kids need to check out The Bomb.  God, I feel old now saying that.  I feel like I just told all the punk kids to stay off my lawn…

DOWNLOAD THIS! The Bomb – “Spaceman”

Here is a live video of the band at a record store in NYC. Notice the excitement in the kid’s faces…

Story Of The Year – The Constant – CD Review

St. Louis’ pop/post-hardcore ballad rockers Story Of The Year (SOTY) are back with an all new album entitled The Constant.  Matching the likes of their previous material the CD is heavy on the ballads that so many fans have been accustomed to over the years as well as carries a couple of tracks that are destined for mainstream play.  This is the band’s fourth studio album and has been released on Epitaph Records.

I’ll admit I was not a STOY fan after hearing their first album Page Ave.  The song “Until The Day I Die” was the first and only song I heard by the band  That was just too much for me and of course it was plastered all over the radio and TV so I never checked out the CD.  It was not until the band’s follow-up release that I finally gave them a chance.  In The Wake Of Determination really changed the way I felt about them with their likable post-hardcore tracks.  When I saw them play at the Vans Warped Tour a couple years later I deemed myself a fan.  They were not what I originally pictured them as, they were actually musicians that happened to dish out an instant hit and rocked out especially well live.

The Constant keeps inline with their previous albums with likable tracks as heard in the opening track “The Children Sing”.  The children in the background singing “don’t take this world away from me” instantly reminded me of The Lost Boys but the song itself is catchy as hell and just sounds well written.  “The Ghost Of You And I” follows with heavy intensity and, dare I say, reminded me of something Linkin Park might have done until the chorus fills in.

“I’m Alive” was once of the cuts on the CD that I liked over the others.  It’s a to the point rock ballad, nothing less, nothing more and hints back to the days when those heavy metal hair-bands showed a softer side to life.  “To The Burial” was without a doubt my favorite track on the entire CD with enough energy to incite a circle pit in portions of the song. The guitar solos, the singing, and the drumming on this track all amount to reasons why I am a SOTY fan.

Changing things up was more-so post-hardcore song “The Dream Is Over” but then came “Holding On To You” a track once again showing a softer approach of the quintet. It’s not all rock ballads though as “Won Threw Ate” proved.  This screaming vocal track was perhaps the heaviest on the album and kindly welcomed to my ears.  “Time Goes One” brought a little punk element to the CD as well as some group vocals that I am sure the fans will be singing along to at their live shows.  Ending the CD was another choice track of mine titled “Eye For An Eye”.  I loved the energy of the track throughout with heavier guitar playing and just brutal drumming.

I was honestly hoping for more of a heavier approach though the entire album but still SOTY put out a solid album.  Where as the ballads are welcomed I much prefer SOTY at their angriest and heaviest even though I know they are labeled “post-hardcore”.  As I previously mentioned former fans of this band will enjoy the CD and I am sure once a couple of tracks from The Constant hit the mainstream there will be a slew of new fans.

The band is getting ready to tour in support of The Constant.  If you are looking for a great live show you best check these boys out.  If you need reason why just pier below at some of the videos.

Tour Dates:
Feb 26 – Chicago, IL – Cubby Bear
Mar 25 – Denver, CO – The Marquis Theatre
Mar 26 – Salt Lake City, UT – Murray Theater
Mar 27 – Las Vegas, NV – Desert Breeze Skate Park
Mar 28 – Anaheim, CA – Bamboozle West
Mar 30 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
Mar 31 – Orangevale, CA – Boardwalk
Apr 2 – Phoenix, AZ – Clubhouse
Apr 3 – Tucson, AZ – The Rock
Apr 5 – Dallas, TX – The Door/Prophet Bar
Apr 6 – San Antonio, TX – White Rabbit
Apr 7 – Houston, TX – Channel
Apr 9 – St. Petersburg, FL – State Theatre
Apr 10 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade

These Arms Are Snakes Announce Break-Up

These Arms Are Snakes announced their depature as a band today…

Direct from the band:

It’s with a heavy heart we tell you that These Arms Are Snakes is no more. It’s been a great run and we’d like to send out a very hearty “Thank You” to everyone that we’ve worked with or anyone that we’ve toured with; anyone that lent us a floor, towed our van and / or trailer, lent a van, given us a listen, downloaded our records prior to their coming out, bought our shit, or asked us where our band name came from; everyone who cooked us food, made habanero-infused tequila, had a safety meeting with us, let Steve gyrate all over you, had to live with any of us, made us pay shitloads of money to get off your punk label, got us into LOST, found Steve drunkenly wandering the streets of Tokyo alone, played Madlibs in the van (plural nouns), lost money promoting one of our shows, took Chris to the hospital, put up with our drunken sorry asses, got into a fight with us, etc. etc.

This band could not have been possible without all of you. We sincerely thank you.

Much love,

TAAS 2002 – 2009

Escape The Fate NSFW Video Premieres On Playboy.Com

Las Vegas post-hardcore act Escape The Fate have made it to the mile high club in their recent video “10 Miles Wide”.  I am not going to be posting the video on the site here as it is NSFW at all.  The video actually has premiered on Playboy.com and shows a lot of…well…unclothed womens.

The uncensored version is actually a pretty entertaining video if you like metal, screaming, and skin…

To risk having any of my younger readers being exposed to that kind of filth (haha, I kill me) I am not going to post the link on my site for the uncensored version but I am pretty sure if you head over to Google and type in “10 Miles Wide uncensored” a link will pop up for your viewing pleasure…

The video features Josh Todd of Buckcherry stepping in for some vocals as well as cameos by Good Charlotte‘s Benji Madden, Ron Jeremy, as well as a whole array of adult movie stars.

Escape The Fate will be performing all summer long on the 2009 Vans Warped Tour.  For more info on one of rock’s biggest new bands visit the band’s MySpace page.

Times Of Yore: Stompbox – Stress

So this is my first of a series of posts about bands from the past or as I like to call it “Times Of Yore”.  Recently I have been digging deep into my collection and found some real great acts from the past and have decided that people need to know about them or at least need to be reminded of their existence.  I already have a few in mind and will continue to look.  Most of the bands I have discovered were from the 90’s when I was buying everything I could get my hands on.

So let’s kick thinks off shall we?

Stompbox - Stress
Stompbox - Stress

In the day and age when Soundgarden was more grunge metal than adult contemporary and Helmet was still united there was a band that I found at Disc Den called Stompbox.  The CD was called Stress and it might have been the best blind purchase I ever made in 1994.

Already being a huge fan of Helmet, this band was right up my alley.  They had a port-hardcore grunge sound that may have been replicated by many bands at the time, but they sounded so good with their hard striking chords and heavy riffs.  The lead singer’s voice, sounding like Page Hamilton (Helmet) mixed with Neil Fallon (Clutch),was even tolerable throughout the entire CD.  It’s too bad that the band did not continue after their first release.

Not much can be found on the internet about why they disbanded.  Formed in 1991 the band hailed from Boston.  From what I have gathered they were picked up Sony/Columbia and then dropped after the release.  They just didn’t catch on like other bands did and it is a shame.

The lead singer of the band went on to pursue other projects and the remaining members stayed together and changed their band name to Slower (which I am still looking for).  I am still trying to confirm this, but there is a possibility that some of the members even helped out The Blue Man Group and even Juliana Hatfield.  I can not find any proof though…

There is no band website, no Wiki even. There are some reviews out there from fans and everything is thumbs up.  I just wish I could find out a little more about what the members have been up to these days.

I do remember this band having a lot of promotional material for a debut release.  There were posters and fliers all over the place after I bought the CD.  I was also handed a couple of sampler cassettes to give out to my friends as well as a square 2 song record…and I still am kicking myself for doing whatever I did with it.  I wonder if the over-the-top-promotion resulted in this band’s dismay.  I know that kind of happened to Sponge and they were out around the same time as Stompbox….hmmmm….

It’s sad nothing else ever came from Stompbox.  You look at bands like STP and Soundgarden who got their start around the same time and look at how they have progressed.  I can only wonder what would have happened to Stompbox if they would have continued.

This was one band I never got to see live during their heyday.  Luckily YouTube exists.

The CD is long out of print but you can find it for $5.00 or less at a used music shop if you look hard enough.  I myself saw quite a few come in to The Exchange when I happily worked here (sarcasm at it’s finest).  It is worth dishing out the cash if you are looking to hear a straight forward rock album.

Here’s a couple of videos I found of the band.  Boy do these bring back memories.