The Witzard

Punk/Metal maniacs Chesty Malone & The Slice 'em Ups are from the bowels of New York City, USA and they've been playing their twisted brand of Rock "N" Roll up and down The East Coast & The Midwest for over 13 years. They were weened on 1980's Punk, Hardcore, and Metal, long-forgotten Rockabilly bands, and an unhealthy dose of Zombie & Slasher flicks, trashy novels, late night Sci-Fi TV. Formed in 2006 in Astoria, Queens, New York by singer Jaqueline Blownaparte and guitar mangler Anthony Allen Van Hoek, Chesty Malone & The Slice 'em Ups unleashed their debut album, Now We're Gonna See What Disaster Really Means, in 2008 on Wrecked Records. It was soon ollowed in 2011 by sophomore effort, Torture Rock. Chesty, then, released their third LP, We're Still Dead!, in 2017. They had two acclaimed 7-inch EP's drop throughout 2019 on 1332 Records, Satantic Brooklyn Scum and Destroy All Humans. My War (Black Flag cover) by Chesty Malone...

KIRA Roessler (CREDIT: Jack Grisham) Black Flag is just one of those bands—along with The Misfits, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Dead Kennedys, and more—that every young Punk/Hardcore fan cutting their teeth with the genres should experience. Kira Roessler was bassist (and the only female member!) of Black Flag during the Rollins-era between 1983-85. However, within those short two years, Roessler played on FOUR studio albums, Family Man, Slip It In, Loose Nut, and In My Head, as well as two live albums, Live '84 & Who's Got The 10½? and an EP, The Process of Weeding Out. During her now 46-year career, Roessler has spent time playing with Approximation, AwkWard, DOS with Mike Watt (Minutemen, The Stooges, fIREHOSE,) Geza X & The Mommymen, MinuteFlag, The Monsters, Puzzled Panthers, Sexsick, Twisted Roots, The Visitors, and Waxx, as well as appearances on various compilations Roessler describes herself as a "bass player first and foremost. Then, a sound editor, dog mom...

The Blasting Room is an iconic studio based in Fort Collins, Colorado co-owned by legendary Punk/Hardcore drummer Bill Stevenson and his engineer counterpart Jason Livermore. Additional engineers and revered staff members at The Blasting Room include Andrew "The Silent Assassin" Berlin, Chris Beeble, and Jonathan Luginbill. Stevenson is, of course, best known for his work with Descendents, Henry Rollins-era Black Flag, ALL/Tony All, and Good Riddance frontman Russ Rankin's side-band, Only Crime. However, over the course of his storied career, Bill Stevenson has additionally spent time playing with Elevator, Higley, The Last, The Lemonheads, Minutemen/Black Flag super-group MinuteFlag, The Nig-Heist, October Faction, and Rise Against. Legend has it, ALL used the advance they received from their record label to secure a location for a studio and practice space, which, eventually, became The Blasting Room. In addition to Bill Stevenson's own bands and passion pr...

"Rarely, when formulating combinations of musicians you would like to hear play together, do you get to, actually, hear it. If Brian Chippendale & Ty Segall made a record, would you want to hear it? If the answer is "yes," read on. If the answer is "no," it's too bad you ended up canned, suspended in syrup with nothing but other peaches to keep you company. Ty 's 2019 album, First Taste , and the new Lighting Bolt album, Sonic Citadel , are easily some of the best material either entity has ever released; so, if these two happened to find themselves in the same recording studio, a fan just might entertain elevated expectation levels. In fact, some might, actually, show signs of enthusiasm, even excitement at the fact that from July 5-13th, 2018, in the air-conditioning free environs of Ty 's home studio, the duo, eventually, calling themselves Wasted Shirt , wrecked the joint as thoroughly as you hoped they would." "Prepare to ...

I. Atom Age Industries: MISFITS ENAMEL PINS WAVE 2 (@atomageindustries) Atom Age Industries is a Bellflower, California-based clothing company and store-front. They re-produce and sell goods from artists such as AC/DC, Blondie, The Cramps, D.O.A. Dead Kennedys, FEAR / Lee Ving, Hüsker Dü, The Misfits, The Police, and Suicidal Tendencies. Atom Age primarily sells T-shirts, records, and enamel pins and carries a host of limited edition capsule collections for the above-listed artists, as well as countless others. Etched beer mugs/glasses, letterman jackets, enamel pins, patches, can & bottle cozy's, skateboard decks, button packs, CD's, silk-screened posters, and other assorted items. These newly-released Misfits Wave 2 Enamel Pins are now available... just in time for the next (fingers crossed!) Original Misfits show! Wave 2 features 6 glossy "BULLET," "FIEND EYES," "HALLOWEEN," "EVIL NEVER DIES," "DIE, DIE, MY DARLING" ...

It looks like it's poised to be a pretty BIG week for Philly Hoagie-core pioneers Body Spray , as their long-awaited debut full-length, Music to Fall Down To will be released digitally this Friday, March 15th. They're also, playing a Music to Fall Down To Record Release Show on "St. Body Spray Day," Sunday, March 17th, at Ortlieb's with Plot & Table. Just this past Friday, Adam Black, Dan Haddigan, Eric Kenney & Ian Kiesel unleashed their second music video from Music to Fall Down To for Bandcamp single, "New Smell." It was directed by James Powers and edited by B.S.' own Adam Black and features the band running around "the mean streets" of Philly wreaking havoc, all the while, donning giant middle finger masks on their heads. Honestly, the "New Smell" is "Philly" through and through; from Body Spray 's Rocky -esque sweatsuits to punching meat slabs... well, much smaller pieces of meat strappe...

Music To Fall Down To by Body Spray Body Spray (@BodySprayStinks) are a South Philly -based Noise Rock/"Hoagie"-core band consisting of frontman Dan Haddigan , bassist Adam Black , drummer Ian Kiesel , and guitarist Eric Kenney . Their Bandcamp page boasts: "We met in a bowling league. We rolled together and then, we Rocked together!" For a Punk/Hardcore -adjacent band, Body Spray are surprisingly active on social media; regularly maintaining and updating their own Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter pages. Since first seeing Body Spray 's set at Pissed Jeans' WHY LOVE NOW? Record Release Show at Boot & Saddle back in March of 2017 with M Ax Noi Mach , I've been frequently corresponding with Adam & Ian , I believe, on the band's Twitter page and through email. Although, I've been listening to Body Spray 's phenomenal 2016 Hell EP for, at least, a year or so now, I've known they've had a proper full-length looming ...

Posse In Effect 1 by POSSE IN EFFECT Not entirely unlike Peanut Butter Wolf, Madlib, Egon & John Doe , dj BC, Jeremiah Jae , and TT5BR before him, Awkward has unleashed a 10-track collection of Beastie Boys remixes fittingly called POSSE IN EFFECT 1 . Awkward is a UK -based producer/emcee/artist/DJ with affiliation to Los Angeles crew The Cloaks and Bristol 's Ghost.Locust Music . He has previously worked with clipping. The Kleenrz, Nocando , Open Mike Eagle, Self Jupiter (Freestyle Fellowship,) Third Sight, Zackey Force Funk , and Malakai's Stepchild AKA Stepasaur. We, here at The Witzard , actually, first heard about Awkward after he mastered Roughneck Jihad 's recent compilation album, The Red Herring Mixtape . In conjunction with Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz & Michael "Mike D" Diamond 's newly-released memoir, BEASTIE BOYS BOOK , Awkward has collected 10 choice cuts from throughout The Beasties' storied three decades-long caree...

Not as They Do by Manikineter Carl Kavorkian has returned with his third release as MANIKINETER in just two years; Not As They Do EP follows 2017's Missing & Mannequin Eater EP 's, as well as a stand-alone single entitled "Shoot The Chalice." Kavorkian self-describes his MANIKINETER output on Bandcamp as " experimental , hip-hop, industrial , electronic, noise , and punk," but I've generally, just described it simply as Noise-Rap since first hearing Mannequin Eater . I've always enjoyed Punk/Hardcore and Hip-Hop concurrently without finding many releases successfully able to blend the two (very similar) genres in a natural, organic way, aside from Mos Def & Black Jack Johnson 's 2004 magnum opus The New Danger , of course. It appears as though Carl Kavorkian had been toying with the idea of merging Hip-Hop , Punk/Hardcore, Industrial , and a multitude of genres on his releases prior to MANIKINETER 's Mannequin Eater EP ;...

It was Winter 2013 and "Thrift Shop" was still rapidly rising through the ranks of Billboard 's Hot 100 chart. I'll never forget the first time I met Jason Brown , it was up in the Shop Rite break room and said, "what's up, Macklemore ?" I don't think it was in a particularly nice way, but regardless, we still became friends. I worked as a baker and Jason was checker at the front-end registers and eventually, worked his way back to frozen foods department. I soon learned about Jason 's rapping alter-ego, "Jason Brownies" and he, knowing I ran an online music publication, was constantly passing me CD-R mixtapes and hand-made cassette tapes of his musical musings. He eventually hung up his "2 turntables and a microphone" in exchange for fuzzed out Garage Rock guitars and lush Indie Rock -minded melodies and formed solo projects/bands Bear Faces and Sapwood , which both still appear to be active, in one form or another. ...

The Heartbeat Deluxe Digital Edition by Analyrical It all started with one fateful Passion of The Weiss -published Rework The Angles piece re-arranging Mos Def 's pummeling Bad Brains & Living Colour -assisted The New Danger (2004) penned by Zilla Rocca . I soon realized, through a number of conversations with the man himself, that Zilla was in fact, a Philly -based rapper, producer, and Noir Hip-Hop originator; along with Minneapolis -based producer and music critic Egypto Knuckles , Zilla Rocca recently started a nostalgic 90's-leaning inner CD booklet highlighting @RapBooklets Instagram and Twitter page. I recently discovered Egypto Knuckles' Soundcloud page, which showcases a number of 2-5 year old instrumentals and assorted compositions, as well as "TV Party," which somehow miraculously manages to sample Black Flag 's similarly-titled 1982 12-inch EP. "10 years. Sometimes, you pour everything into an idea: money, time, effort, energy,...

Bitmilltary by ayyy donkey Death Grips are a notoriously on again, off again, and currently reformed Hardcore Punk -infusing Sacramento -based "Aggro-Rap" band; if you're not familiar, just think, a hypothetical musical ménage à trois between Black Flag, Beastie Boys , and Gravediggaz – two of which are coincidentally sampled throughout their genre label-pulverizing debut mixtape, Exmilitary . Death Grips' underlying influence can, believe it or not, be heard on everything from recent father of two Kanye 's own 2013 Dancehall -leaning Aggro-Rap magnum opus, Yeezus to recently deceased incomparable Thin White Duke's final album, ★ (Blackstar) which was additionally influenced by President Obama 's favorite rapper, Kendrick Lamar . While we patiently await Bottomless Pit , the long-rumored follow-up to Death Grips' double-disc March-April 2015 "reunion" album, The Powers That B , an amateur remixer known as ayyy donkey has taken it u...

Rat Fist are a newly-formed Punk band who you may not have heard about yet; consisting of primary members Sean McGuinness & Randy Randall from veteran Sub Pop Post-Punk bands Pissed Jeans & No Age respectively, along with part-time bandmates Michael J. Sabolick, Jelle de Cremer , and Aaron Farley . They're gearing up to head out on a three-date West Coast mini-tour with Canadian punks rockers, F*cked Up , which will double as a 7-inch re-release jaunt. Rat Fist previously self-released 50 test press copies of their debut 7-inch that were were sold exclusively at their initial run of East Coast gigs, while the second pressing has since been expanded to a batch of 500 limited records. "We will have 7" available for mail order starting next Monday 8/25. Send $7 for shipping in the USA or $10 for shipping everywhere else. Make check out to: Randy Randall 10658 Sable Ave. Sunland, CA 91040 USA... It might take a while for me to get to the orders, so please...

Alright, full disclosure: I've been in top secret email transmission with Baltimore -based Noise-Rock band Dope Body since around mid-April and I've been fully aware that they were planning to drop an album's-worth of new material around September/October, too; that album, now titled LIFER , is currently slated for an October 23rd release on Drag City Records . While I'm not entirely sure if I discovered Dope Body 's last album, Natural History (2012) or drummer David Jacober 's solo cassette, Water Karaoke first, I guess my initial interaction with the band was a fateful 14-question interview conducted with Jacober a few years ago. LIFER was recorded back in January 2014 after roughly 19 months of non-stop touring behind Natural History , following a brief hiatus to work on the members' outer-band outlets: Nerftoss , Player Press, Holy Ghost Party! and frontman Andrew Laumann 's gallery-displayed visual art exhibits. Drag City further describ...

It's pretty safe to say that Fall Out Boy are far from the righteous Chicago Punk band they used to be and quite honestly, their most recent album was far from "Saving Rock and Roll." But I also have to admit that FOB 's live show, which I caught on Temple 's basketball court, was an enjoyable Pop-Punk experience all in itself; a mix of tracks both old and new spanning from Take This to Your Grave (2003) to Save Rock and Roll (2013), scattered with giant branded beach balls and momentary piano/acoustic guitar break-downs. Post recording and releasing Rock and Roll, Fall Out Boy headed down to Alt. Country /former Punk youth Ryan Adams' Los Angeles -based studios. Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Andy Hurley, Joe Trohman & Mr. Mandy Moore managed to record 8 tracks over a 2-day period at PAX AM Studio , sessions which would eventually become the PAX AM Days EP ; It was officially announced in the wee hours of Sunday-Monday morning that the Ryan Adams -...

It's pretty damn AMAZING that Dope Body are prepping their sixth EP-LP release, considering the sheer fact that the band was initially assembled for a one-off gig @ Baltimore 's Natural History museum (2008). Drag City will unleash Saturday 7" tomorrow, March 19th; It's positioned to out-sell Justin Timberlake 's return to form, The 20/20 Experience ha. Serving as a quasi-follow-up to last year's Natural History , "Leather Head" was plucked straight off Saturday (Side A) . Four horsemen Andrew Laumann, David Jacober, Zachary "Zeke" Utz , and new bassist John Jones star in "Leather Head"'s stark black-and-white music video. Director Sheena Callage did her best to harness the band's righteous Black Flag meets Rage Against The Machine Hardcore/Noise-Rock vibe. Callage managed to create a very simple, yet highly effective treatment: Dope Body rockin' out in an empty performance space inter-spliced with face-mo...

I first discovered Brooklyn 's premier Indie Rock experimentalists , Dirty Projectors , quite a few years ago; Right around the same time that frontman Dave Longstreth decided to re-record an entire Black Flag record from memory (2007). The band's line-up seems to morph/permeate a little bit with each album and has previously included cats like Angel Deradoorian , Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend), Adam Forkner, and former-drummer Brian McOmber . Dirty Projectors-13 's latest line-up consists of Longstreth, Nat Baldwin, Michael Johnson , and the sultry 3-part harmonies of Amber Coffman/Haley Dekle/ Jenn Wasner Olga Bell . I guess I'd almost describe their overall sound as some sort of post- Destiny's Child R&B crooning. Case in point: "Stillness Is The Move," which Beyoncé 's little sister Solange just so happened to cover, too. I just ordered used copies of Rise Above, Bitte Orca , and Swing Lo Magellan from Amazon and s...

While I think my overall musical tastes are pretty cultured and broad-spanning/sound, I must admit that I'm not too keen on current world music. Honestly, when I hear "World Music," what first comes to mind is African Tribal drums, Middle Eastern Acid Rock, Swedish Pop , Mariachi, and South African jam bands . I'm vaguely familiar with Asian Jazz-Fusion , Grime, bagpipe-led Celtic Punk , and Finnish/Norwegian Death Metal. When I first got my learner's permit [license] back in high school, my buddy Ryan and I were driving all over New Jersey , searching for terribly assembled D.I.Y. Punk shows @ dirty VFW halls and seedy hole-in-the-wall bars/clubs. 1970-80's Hardcore Punk is generally associated with it's formative New York , California , and UK scenes... But I guess we, myself included, tend to forget that there are rebellion-fueled, aggressive, socially awkward teens all over the world! Somehow, throughout my 10-12 year relationship with Punk Roc...