Jason Hall of Western Addiction

It’s been nearly fifteen years since melodic hardcore legends Western Addiction hit the scene and they’ve been tearing it up ever since (well, with a hiatus from 2006 to 2013). They’ve just released Tremulous in 2017, their killer new full length. Staffer Sean Crawford caught up with vocalist and guitarist, Jason Hall, to discuss his writing process, the real life events that inspired the new record, and how Morrissey and Conor Oberst have influenced his music.

Sammy Kay on 'Untitled', New Jersey and Pouzza Fest

Born and raised in the land of no left turns, Sammy Kay has returned to the place he knows best, New Jersey. He has lived and have traveled the path less traveled. Consistently seeking to improve himself as a songwriter and pushing himself upward and onwards to better places, Sammy Kay had released a new 10 song LP that highlights some of the best of what he has to offer. Editor Samantha Barrett spoke with Sammy Kay, Mitch Cady, Brandon Barron and Philip Holmes to speak about the new album, Pouzza Fest and life in New Jersey.

Brutal Youth's Patty O'Lantern on Pouzza Fest, 'Sanguine' and The Rebel Spell

Brutal Youth are one of Canada's most notable contemporary punk bands. Their album Sanguine , which was released through Stomp Records was one of the hardest-hitting records to come out in 2016. The band just finished off some European tour dates and they are set to play Pouzza Fest, which is on May 19-21, 2017 in Montreal, Canada (psst!…We're Sponsors!). Punknews editor Ricky Frankel caught up with lead vocalist Patty O'Lantern to talk about Sanguine, Pouzza Fest, how Todd Serious and The Rebel Spell affected the Canadian punk scene, Brutal Youth's music video style, why we keep seeing his head bleed during the band's live performances and more. Listen to the interview below or on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Jeff Crespi

The Winter Passing

Irish quartet The Winter Passing have been paving their way into the scene with their unique blend of indie, punk and emo influences. The band recently released a new album on 6131 Records called Double Exposure. The record is a perfect example of a collaborative piece of the personal narratives of the brother and sister songwriting duo, Rob and Kate Flynn, on the struggles of mental and physical instability. Editor Samantha Barrett spoke with Rob and Kate Flynn about the new album and the punk scene in Ireland.

Mark Stern on Punk Rock Bowling, soul music, and Iggy Pop

Mark Stern- the man knows how to throw a party. As a member of Youth Brigade, Stern started throwing shows in the early '80s as a way to enable punk bands to actually play live. Shows grew from small house parties to an unlicensed venue until things escalated with a full on riot at the Palladium.

Due to the ruckus, the Stern brothers laid off promoting shows for a while until resurrecting the art of the gig with Punk Rock Bowling (We're sponsors!) This year, the main man himself Iggy Pop is playing, along with OFF!, Choking Victim, The Dwarves, NoFX. Charles Bradley, and a lot more. So, Punknews' John Gentile spoke to Stern about shows in the early 80s, what new bands he thinks are cool, and what Iggy thinks of the term "punk."

Running the bases with The Isotopes

You can call them The World's Greatest Baseball Punk Band. The Isotopes have been firing catchy hits from the pitching mound since 2006, they specialize in baseball infused punk rock and have released a brand new album this year. Their new album called 1994 World Series Champions came out in April though Stomp Records. Editor Samantha Barrett spoke to lead singer Evan October to chat about baseball, the new album and Pouzza Fest.

Dimitri Coats on OFF!'s new LP, Punk Rock Bowling, and being Type A

Some people just know how to make a damn entrance. Bursting onto the punk scene after a fortuitously failed Circle Jerk’s album, Dimitri Coats, the down-stroke demon of Off!, has had little time to look back since the band’s first gig at South by Southwest in 2010. Touching down for a few minutes, Writer Stevie Navarre Allen was able to catch up with Coats to talk about Punk Rock Bowling 2017 [pssst… we're sponsors!], how Keith Morris shapes up as a DJ, and why things with Off! might not always be so “black & white.”

Photo credit: John Paul Allen

The Coathangers

Don’t mess with the Coathangers. They will jack you up. 2017 marks the trio’s tenth year of busting out completely kicking, totally catchy, often hilarious garage-punk. And one thing that has held constant for the group is that throughout the past decade, the group has had each other's backs, resulting in a band that rolls as a unified, hard rumbling unit.

Their last album, Nosebleed Weekend found them focusing more than ever before on melody and song craft, resulting in a killer release that balanced a punk smash against girl-group ear candy. But now, the women in the Coathangers are pissed off. Parasite, their upcoming EP, was inspired by assholes at the global and the personal level. To get the scoop on the fuel for Parasite, Punknews’ John Gentile spoke guitarist Julia Kugel.

Spike Slawson on the Gimme's new comp and Punk Rock Bowling

Spike Slawson has been plenty busy this year. He is touring a bunch with Me First and The Gimme Gimmes and the band released Rake It In: The Greatestest Hits via Fat Wreck Chords on April 7th. Slowly, but surely Spike has also been working on the next Re-Volts release and has some touring plans for his Uke-Hunt project. So editor Ricky Frankel talked with Spike about the new Me First and The Gimme Gimmes record, why TMZ decided to publish the band's rider, what it is like to tour with Bad Religion's Jay Bentley on bass as opposed to Fat Mike, the progress he has been making on the upcoming Re-Volts material, Punk Rock Bowling and a lot more. Read or listen to their conversation below or on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Denise Borders/PunkWorldViews.com

Ludvig Gür and Ralph D'Amato on their Tony Hawk Video Game Doc

It isn't very often that we find punk rock and video games coming together. It definitely didn't happen back in the late-90's and early-2000's where the most advanced consoles were the Nintendo 64 and the Playstation 1. But there was one video game series that brought those two worlds together and that was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The connection between skateboarding and punk rock was already very clear back in 1999 when the first game of the series was released. Video games were something that both of those had no real notable contact with until then.

Not only did the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video games explode in popularity, but they also got more kids into skateboarding and they exposed many kids to their first doses of punk rock and ska. The first two editions of the game especially had legendary soundtracks with songs from bands like Goldfinger, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Kennedys, The Suicide Machines, Bad Religion, Rage Against The Machine, The Vandals, Lagwagon, Swingin' Utters, Millencolin and many more.

Almost two decades since the release of the very first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, a documentary is being made about the video game franchise. Director and mega-Tony Hawk's Pro Skater fan Ludvig Gür and producer and former Neversoft producer Ralph D'Amato (who worked on the first eight Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games) have come together to make Pretending I'm A Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story with the help of fans via an Indie Go Go campaign. So editor Ricky Frankel spoke with Ludvig and Ralph about the upcoming film, some of the history of the game series and the amazing soundtracks that these games had. Listen to the interview below or on iTunes.

Getting to know Vasudeva

Instrumental indie punk band from New Jersey, Vasudeva has been jamming out for about nine years together and has built a catalog of post-rock, ambient songs together. The close-knit band toured and played numerous house shows throughout their tenure as a band and have evolved together to create a musical blend that crosses music genres. The band will be releasing their second full-length album titled No Clearance this Friday, March 31st, 2017 on Skeletal Lightning. Punknews editor Samantha Barrett spoke with guitarist Corey Mastrangelo to chat about the new release.