The Witzard

S/T by Witchtrial It's always reasonably enjoyable when artists start up a new side-project or band that's slightly outside of their typical/expected genre; for example, Hardcore Punks playing "Classic Rock" ( Angel Du$t on Pretty Buff or The Men on Tomorrow's Hits ,) Norwegian Heavy Metalers playing sunny Power-Pop ( Kvelertak as Beacheads ,) Fleet Foxes drummer J. Tillman re-emerging as Indie Rock/Folk heart-throb Father John Misty , members of Anthrax, Fall Out Boy & Every Time I Die joining forces as Pop Punk -inflected Heavy Metal band The Damned Things , Brownout covering Black Sabbath as Brown Sabbath , Ty Segall 's Noise-Rock/Punk side-band GØGGS ... I could, honestly, go on and on! So, this brings us to the latest band of merry misfits doing unexpected things musically: WITCHTRIAL . A primarily DC-based band, WITCHTRIAL consists of members of some of The East Coast 's finest Punk/Hardcore bands, including, but not limited t...

"No Guns on TV Hill" b/w "Dog" by Blue Streak Blue Streak is a DC/Baltimore -based "super-group," of sorts, consisting of current and former members of local area Punk/Hardcore bands Angel Du$t , Give, Pure Disgust , and Red Death... although, they're playing jangly Power-Pop , rather than your typical Hardcore/Punk fare. Blue Streak consists of guitarist/piano player Ben Schultz (Give,) drummer/percussionist Robin Zeijlon (Red Death, Pure Disgust, Lackluster,) bassist Nick Heitman (formerly Angel Du$t,) and vocalist/guitar player Mike French (Angel Du$t, In Between.) French, Heitman, and Zeijlon previously played together in "Throwback Pop-Punk" outfit Dizzy Pleasure Club (DPC) with Pat McCrory of Turnstile & Angel Du$t , who released a 5-track EP entitled D.C.P. on Photobooth Records back in 2016. As you might have already gathered, Blue Streak is named after 1999 Buddy Cop Comedy film Blue Streak starring Martin Lawre...

Pure Disgust by Pure Disgust "The NWODCHC [New Wave of DC Hardcore] is so powerful and on the rise. It’s great to see young kids being in the center of it all as well. It’s even cooler to see that all my friends are [getting] on bigger labels, putting the name of DC back on the map. You've got Protester putting a record out on Triple-B Records , Stand Off putting one out on Youngblood , Red Death putting something out on Lockin' Out ... I love it all. My friends are what keep me here, and I love every single one of them and what they're doing," Pure Disgust frontman Rob Watson recently revealed to DC -based publication Bandwidth ; it's fitting that Washington, DC is currently experiencing a period of musical rebirth— nearly some 40 years after 1980's Hardcore founding fathers Bad Brains , Fugazi, Minor Threat , Dag Nasty, Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins , Scream, Rites of Spring , Embrace, etc. initially burst onto the scene. Watson formed...