The Witzard

Don't Sleep 2023 band photo (CREDIT: unknown) Whoever said "lightning only strikes once" clearly has not met Dave Smalley. From being right in the middle at the birth of US Hardcore Punk with D.Y.S. to creating the blueprint of Melodic Hardcore with Dag Nasty, from helping to invent Pop-punk as we know it with ALL to finding himself in the middle of the West Coast Punk explosion of the 90's with Down By Law: Smalley was always on the forefront every time Hardcore Punk stretched its envelope. While others may use a legacy like that as an excuse to take it a little slower, Dave Smalley has no intention to rest on his laurels and keeps writing new music and releasing records. When he founded Don't Sleep with fellow East Coast Punk Rockers Garrett Rothman, Tony Bavaria, Jim Bedorf, and Tom McGrath in 2017, the world was more than excited about seeing him front a fast yet melodic Hardcore band again. Being motivated by the immense positive feedback, Don't Slee...

Fire Sale was formed during The Pandemic and their first songs were made entirely from their home studios during isolation. The band includes Matt Riddle, as well as members who have spent time playing with Ann Beretta, Fun Size, Making Enemies, Protest The Hero, Pulley, and ShotClock. "I like to take inspiration from stories from a historical point of view and use them as a theme," says guitarist and founder of Fire Sale, Christopher "Chris" (Swiss) Swinney, who previously played with The Ataris. "Then our singer, Pedro, takes it all and formulates a great lyric!" The Mercy Brown Vampire Incident, a well-known story here in The US: a whole family was killed by tuberculosis around The 19th Century, but one of the daughters, Mercy Brown, still had blood in her heart, which was enough for the medical examiner to eviscerate the body and label Mercy Brown as a "vampire" responsible for the disease that took out her entire family. "I like to...