The Witzard

The Clash @visionscollage (PHOTO CREDIT: Ebet Roberts) While my Spotify Wrapped said my Top Artist of 2020 was Rockabye Baby! (we have a 5-month-old son!) but I would beg to differ... it was The Clash. Since first discovering Punk/Classic Rock around age 15-16, The Clash have been one of my personal favorite bands and I've only become more of a fan the older I get. The Clash always just seemed to "get" it, they were unique enough, approachable enough, progressive enough, political enough, and without a doubt, cool enough! It seems like in uncertain times such as these, which we've all experienced again and again throughout 2020, The Clash have only grown more poignant and more essential to my own personal stability. Here at The Witzard, we've had a number of cohorts and close "online" friends of ours assembled Punk-minded playlists, a few of which, primarily focused on The Clash; these including, but not limited to, Spotify playlists curated by John Y...

The Clash in Philadelphia on September 25, 1982 (CREDIT: Ebet Roberts) We've been running these With The Quickness playlist columns (title thanks to John "Jumbled" Bachman!) for a while now and, in my opinion, they just keep gettng better and better with each new installment. They're, generally, curated by like-minded fans and supporters of Punk/Hardcore, who more so often than not, are adjacent to the scene and not directly involved with or playing the actual music. So, this latest 11th(!?) edition was curated by renown author and well-documented Beastie Boys super-fan Dan LeRoy. An email/Twitter friend of The Witzard in recent years, LeRoy has written a number of extremely enjoyable books, including The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique 33 1/3, its "66 2/3" quasi-sequel, For Whom The Cowbell Tolls: 25 Years of Paul's Boutique, and The Greatest Music Never Sold: Secrets of Legendary Lost Albums By David Bowie, Seal, Beastie Boys, Chicago, Mick Ja...

"Their musical anarchy and constant attitude to disregard rules and forge their own path was inspirational to me. [The Clash] meant death to genres, music, and message above everything," Diplo lamented about collaborators Mick Jones & Paul Simonon in a pre-release statement. Following the track's initial announcement this past Friday, "HERO" was unleashed early Monday morning as part of Converse 's annual Three Artists, One Song collaborative campaign. It was presumably produced by Mad Decent founder Diplo and was one of five tracks recorded recently between London , Hawaii, and Los Angeles ; Basic tracks for "HERO" were recorded at Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn 's Studio 13 , whom Jones and Simonon had previously worked with on Plastic Beach (2010). Fans of the newly-forged super-group's past works with recognize familiar elements of Hip-Hop -infused R&B , 1980's Punk Rock , and Reggae-Fusion , but I wouldn't ...

I just recently bought a second copy of The Wallflowers' Bringing Down The Horse (1996), which along with Jagged Little Pill & Crash , was one of the first CD's I ever bought with my own money as a kid. Now, we all remember those great mid-90's Alternative Rock hit singles like "One Headlight," "The Difference," and "6th Avenue Heartache" ... The Wallflowers' first single after a nearly 7-year hiatus, "Re-boot The Mission " is a really Dance-Funk -leaning Rock "N" Roll swinger of a track; Noticeably influenced by The Clash's unique brand of Reggae -fied Dance rhythms, it seems pretty fitting that "Re-boot" features the guitar/back-up vocal talents of Ska Punk pioneer, Mick Jones . The seasoned vet also lent his musical talents to another one of The Wallflowers' new tracks included within Glad All Over , which is out this upcoming Tuesday (October 9th). Black Dog Films director Sam J...