The Witzard

"Joe Stakun is in-demand; the 21-year-old film student’s resume includes interning for Ridley Scott, interviewing BMX superstar Mat Hoffman and working as a production assistant for Maroon 5. Now he can add directing a Modest Mouse video to his lengthy credentials. Stakun won the opportunity for a taste of mainstream recognition in April 2007 when Modest Mouse invited fans to submit videos for their single "We've Got Everything" as part of a contest; the winner would have his or her video played on mtvU," Temple News/Lifestyle scribe Jimmy Viola wrote within a 2007-published piece. Joe Stakun has since edited TV shows like Dream Corp. LLC, Check It Out! with Steve Brule, The Birthday Boys, Comedy Central's Another Period, and Hot Package, as well as directing duties on MUTHA and I Love My Bicycle: The Story of FBM Bikes. Stakun has additionally directed various Butterfinger, Wendy's Dairy Queen, Little Caesars, and Harold & Kumar commercials broadc...

"'The Bar Is Low," which, according to [Matt] Korvette , is "about how every guy seems to be revealing themselves as a sh*thead. It seems like every guy is getting outed, across every board of entertainment and politics and music. There’s no guy that isn’t a total creep,'" reads a fragmented chunk of Sub Pop 's latest WHY LOVE NOW-announcing Pissed Jeans press release; " WHY LOVE NOW picks at the bursting seams that are barely holding 21st-century life together," describes Sub Pop 's press release, which additionally refers to "The Bar Is Low" as a "grinding rave-up." It can only be assumed that Korvette is likely referring to one-time men of power and current American disgrace stories like Bill Cosby , Swans frontman Michael Gira , fallen Indie Rock PR heavyweight Heathcliff Berru , and our newly-elected President Trump . Pissed Jeans recruited New York No Wave pioneer Lydia Lunch , who's worked with eve...

"Power-dirge from Pennsylvania ; Pissed Jeans are noisy as a motherf*cker and proud of it on this, their debut full-length, which sounds like a big pile of mud and broken glass ripping through your stereo speaker in the most killer way imaginable," reads a juicy chunk of Sub Pop's overtly descriptive Shallow re-issue mini-press release. Frontman and part-time music critic Matt Korvette along with his fellow Pissed Jean-ers enlisted frequent collaborator Joe Stakun , who previously directed Honeys stand-outs "Bathroom Laughter" and "Romanticize Me," to shoot a clip for "Boring Girls" from their newly-remastered nine-year-old Shallow album (2005). Not entirely unlike Stakun's former creations, "Boring Girls" is an oddly disjointed visual presentation, which perfect matches Pissed Jeans' whole self-imploding Noise-Rock aesthetic; it starts out resembling your run-of-the-mill clip, with our long john-outfitted prot...

Let's be honest here, it'd be almost impossible for a part-time writer/web-master like myself with a regular 9-5, too to even attempt to assemble a 50-album year-end list in an effort to "compete" with the Big Dogs like Pitchfork , Stereogum, etc; I think it'd be far more feasible to do a list of my Top 5 Favorite Albums of 2013, not even your typical run-the-mill best of list. So, with that said, here's a collective run-down of the most played artists and companion albums on The Serpent (my 160GB iPod), my car stereo, and personal iTunes library. I tried to compile a pretty diverse broad-spanning list, which ranges from Industrial Aggro-Hip-Hop to Philly-bred "Pig-Fuck." Enjoy the list and Happy New Year! While The Wizard's #5-ranking album is seemingly an unwarranted 16-track leaked bootleg; the scattered fragments of Jai Paul 's long-rumored XL Recordings album. Included within were 16 rough tracks, 3 of which had been previously releas...

Although he largely retired from competitive figure skating around 2009-10, Braden Overett has decided to make a comeback, of sorts... call it a "blaze of glory" by way of Pissed Jeans new Joe Stakun -directed music video, "Romanticize Me." While the phrases Hardcore Punk and figure skating don't exactly line up, Stanuk makes it work much better than I could've (n)ever imagined; Upon announcing his retirement nearly 4 years ago, Overett penned an insightful article for USFS SKATING magazine, which blatantly laments, "In my mind, I was different... When I was done, it would either be because I had won the Olympics 19 times and broken all possible world records. I would have reached the pinnacle of sports fame, driving a different exotic car every day of the week and buying small countries with my 900 bazillion dollars. Or, I'd walk into the rink one day and there would be a giant neon sign reading: "Braden Overett's Retiring Today!...

Roughly 10 years and 4 albums deep into their career now, "Bathroom Laughter" is only Pissed Jeans' third music video!; Not too far behind behind Thrash Jams like "False Jesii, Part 2" and "I've Still Got You (Ice Cream)" (2007-09). Matt Korvette, Brad Fry, Randy Huth , and Sean McGuiness unleashed Honeys , which was recorded @ Milkboy Studios (Philly) with producer Alex Newport , on Sub Pop this past Tuesday, Feb. 12th. For you un-familiar slackers, Pissed Jeans kinda sounds like late 80's experimental Black Flag , complete with fuzzed out guitar licks and 1/2 sung-shouted vocal fragments. It's director Joe Stakun 's demented riff a late night knife set-selling info-mercial gone terribly wrong, which somehow morphs into a bloody rotten mess! We're talkin' about VMA -worthy performances from Mark Proksch (The Office), nerdy My Life As Liz [Lee] dame, up-and-coming actress Leigh Myles , and Philly wrestler Dragon...

Pissed Jeans are probably the most sobering, un- Rock "N" Roll Hardcore [Noise-Rock] band since like... Straight Edge pioneers, Minor Threat/Fugazi . Weasel-voiced frontman Matt Korvette is an insurance claims adjuster by day, for Christ's sake! "Bathroom Laughter" and "Cathouse" (released Monday) chronicle relate-able, everyday mis-doings that the average Middle American can easily relate to; I mean, we're talking about "crippling pert allergies," hallway screaming/kitchen crying, a "blistering fear of going to the doctor," and unrequited rhapsody with saucy women. "Cathouse" is most likely gonna be our last FREEBIE 'til Sub Pop drops the band's fourth studio album, Honeys , this upcoming Feb. 12th. Former Japanther director/graphic artist, Joe Stakun supposedly made [filmed] a music video for the band, which @PissedJeans' Twitter feed says should be unleashed to The Inter-web sometime dur...