The Witzard

LEKTRON, L-R: Matt Skiba, Atom Willard, Hunter Burgan, and Randy Moore (SOURCE: Facebook, photographer unknown) LEKTRON was born in a torrential rainstorm in San Jose, California on a fateful winter night. What started out as an excuse for Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio, blink-182) to make some noise in a friend's studio quickly evolved into a Garage-esque Punk Rock band thanks to the recording prowess of Ryan Perras and the Black Belt guitar musings and structural sensibilities of Randy Moore (GET MARRIED, DOKI DOKI, Dan Andriano & The Bygones.) Moore actually works at Asian Man Records with owner and founder Mike Park. The three built the foundation for the songs "Dirty Jacks" & "She's A War" to be taken up by rhythm section juggernauts Atom Willard (Social Distortion, Against Me!) on drums and Hunter Burgan (AFI, Matt Skiba & The Sekrets) on bass. What started in the vibey confines of District Recording Studios in San Jose would be taken down to...

J.R. SLAYER (CREDIT: Robin Laananen) Just a few days before the release of their eagerly-awaited Will Yip-produced debut EP, Not Rotten, comes one of J.R. SLAYER's stand-out tracks, "The Fade Out." Keeping with the feeling of falling into Earth-shattering love that washes over the entire EP, "The Fade Out" feels nostalgic and hopeful while rocking amidst soaring guitar riffs and melodic Indie Punk sing-alongs. Out on Yip's label, Memory Music, this Friday, Not Rotten sounds as opposite as it can from Cody Votolato's past work; it's clear that the Seattle-born, LA-residing artist is at a new place in his life. "There's so much bad shit in the world, there's a lot of bad things happening. But when you fall in love with someone, you have this feeling that all that stuff can disappear momentarily," Votolato explains. "Everything goes away but you and this person and your feelings about them and yourself." J.R. SLAYER comes ...

JR SLAYER (CREDIT: Bob Sweeney) What started as a creative catch-all for Cody Votolato has morphed into one of 2022's break-out bands: J.R. SLAYER. And that's pronounced "jay-arr" slayer, not "junior" slayer, just for clarity's sake. J.R. SLAYER seemsingly first started years ago as a character and an illustration, a simple, aimless piece of imagination. "I think the world is gonna die before I do," Votolato sings on their new single and the title track to their debut EP, Not Rotten. "And if that's true, I just want to spend the rest of my time right here, sitting next to you." Produced by Will Yip (Title Fight, Anthony Green, Touché Amoré,) Not Rotten is a celebration of the feelings, words and, music that gives life color and energy to break through the bleakness. It sounds as opposite as humanly possible when compared against Votolato's past work; with melodic Indie-Punk sing-alongs, Bubblegum-Pop choruses, and soar...

Scottish Punks Cold Years (CREDIT: Pirate Photography) Aberdeen, Scotland-bred Punk trio Cold Years have released their brand new single, "Kicking & Screaming," a ragged and rousing anthem about leaving toxicity behind in one's life in the pursuit of better living. "There's so many times in my life I've been in bad situations and just couldn't see a way out," frontman Ross Gordon said. "But, now, I'm in a much more positive place. It's fight or flight—you have to take chances and do what's best for you." "Kicking & Screaming," "Headstone," and "Home" are the first new songs from the band since the release of their acclaimed debut album, Paradise , released in September of 2020. It's a sarcastic snarl aimed at the band's remote hometown that bursts from the speakers with a "clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose" spirit. Echoing the infamous, despairing "it's...

I'll never forget seeing The Gaslight Anthem at The Mann Center 's Skyline Stage in South Philly on a warm September 2014 night with my then-girlfriend Caroline . It was one of the first 10 dates of a 40-date jaunt across North America and Europe behind their latest album, Get Hurt , which little did we know, at the time, would be Gaslight Anthem 's final run before their 2015 indefinite hiatus . I don't believe we caught Against Me! but we did catch Jimmy Eat World 's phenomenal career-spanning set; to this day, I still recount how Gaslight 's set was and still is one my favorite performances I've ever seen—I previously caught a portion of their set at Metallica 's ill-fated 2012 Orion Music + More Festival —especially, since drummer Benny Horowitz had an unexpected "family emergency" and Against Me! 's Atom Willard learned the entire set in a matter of mere hours. It was a rather riveting, increasingly charismatic 20-song set f...