I'm not sure I will ever be able to look at another skateboard without thinking of Protest the Hero, just like I will probably never listen to Protest the Hero without thinking of skateboarding. While this association may seem odd, I can say without hesitation that learning to kickflip at 22 feels just as strange. With a clean, white Protest the Hero sticker courtesy of an AAM promo package slapped firmly to the bottom of my Blackout skateboard, I saw more of that sticker in one summer than I saw of the charcoal griptape I was trying to land on. [more]

It hurts when you realize you could’ve seen a beloved band before their end. The Ramones, Nirvana, the Smiths…I know I never could’ve caught them in their heyday. But Discount, Jets to Brazil, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros and Latterman were all within my reach. I even remember specifically choosing not to go to what would become Latterman’s last Philadelphia show.

I am a fucking idiot.

Another band to add to my list of never-saws is Shorebirds. The band’s two new-ish 7"s came in the mail two days after I read about the band’s breakup. [more]

Joe Haege is a carnival barker at a progressive post-rock cabaret, and he probably doesn't care whether or not you're in the audience. Don't get me wrong -- I'm sure he'd love an adoring audience, but 31 Knots is one of those bands who've never made music for anyone but themselves, and their work has always come off as unapproachable to the average ear. And none of it would be possible without his key players, Jay Winebrenner on bass and Jay Pellici on drums. Together, it's a weirdo stage show for the indie kids, minus the camp. [more]

In the Great Backlash Against Throwback Metal Bands of 2006, The Sword seemed to have taken the full brunt of it all. Not commercial enough to be ignored like Wolfmother, not swooped up by a major label to a ho hum re-release like Priestess, Age of Winters was panned by most of the indie media while the band garnered critical praise from more mainstream outlets. [more]

There's a very Canadian notion that underscores the Constantines' entire body of work. While most of us live in cities, urbanites by birth and habit, we take great pride in portraying ourselves as rural creatures. We've romanticized the pioneer, that ideal of the rough hewn, nature conscious, working class figure that's at the heart of the Canadian myth. We'd like to think that deep down we're all Voyageurs out there in the hinterlands, even if we're only ever pulled north on summer weekends to fight off Muskoka black flies. [more]

Although they hail from Massachusetts, high school chums Goodbye Sluggo sound like a band that I, a Pennsylvanian, would have loved to have grown up with. See, to me, the band strikes a balance between The Loved Ones and Atom and His Package. Maybe it’s the mix of power chords and synthesizers, or gravelly and nasally vocals. Or maybe it’s because, like The Loved Ones and good ol’ Adam Goren, Goodbye Sluggo is pretty gosh darn good.

The band self-released an EP, Frampton Comes Alive!, back in April, and for the most part, it’s a keeper. [more]

Like Hellmouth, Detroit’s Hifi Handgrenades formed from the ashes of beloved ska-punk/hardcore mainstays, the Suicide Machines (also ex-members of the Fags). Anyone looking for even a scant sonic resemblance to Rich and Ryan’s previous band won’t find one in Carry On but soon as you hit play you can see why the band’s partnership with Montreal’s New Romance For Kids Records makes sense. [more]

It's not often that a band is able to truly defy convention, to defy the pigeon-holing that reviewers such as myself have been doing for years. It's much easier when bands fit in a box, capable of being named and classified -- but it's much more fulfilling when they don't.

The music of Brass' Set & Drift has an almost theatrical feel, due in large part to the larger-than-life vocals of singer Joe Webber. Webber's booming baritone is as captivating as the guitars that cut and swell below him; each of the five pieces that make up Brass' sound offers something strong. [more]

Who’s to say what makes a band special? Now more than ever, there are scores of “competent” bands vying for attention, many paying obvious allegiance to a specific genre and offering nothing new in terms of musical adventurism or, worse yet, displaying a complete lack of heart and conviction. For me, there are many qualities in bands that can catch my ears, but in recent years the biggest draw I have felt has been towards bands that show a total disregard for any type of rules while still managing to get my neurons firing. Sabertooth Zombie fits that definition to a 'T. [more]

It’s finally here! It’s been 11 years since what was thought to be the Smoking Popes’ swan song and last original material, 1997’s sublime Destination Failure, an album whose popularity and influence seems to have exploded in the years after the band’s demise. I was happy to at least still have Josh Caterer’s voice as he continued on with Duvall, and despite a rotating cast, Duvall sounded practically identical to the late-`90s Popes with the only difference being a tasteful injection of his faith into the lyrics. [more]