The Witzard

The Roughneck Riot - CREDIT: Jim Taylor (@jimtaylorphoto) The Roughneck Riot have recently unveiled their forth studio album, Burn It to The Ground, on SBÄM Records . The Folk-Punks from Warrington, UK shared their debut release, Night Train with The Reaper , self-released in 2010. Since then, this band of highly talented musicians have become Folk-Punk legends. Armed with banjos, mandolins, an accordion, and, of course, guitar, bass, and drums, they are often mentioned in the same breath as greats, like Flogging Molly & Dropkick Murphys. When it comes to The Roughneck Riot, a political and socially-critical message and the passion for Punk Rock are, clearly, the mission first and foremost. The Roughneck Riot are without a doubt anti-Fascist and anti-"d*ckhead" (but aren't we all?) who believe International solidarity is more important now than ever. Burn It to The Ground is an album born out of what the band calls a "post-Brexit Apocalypse" that takes t...

Ryan Taylor Swinging (CREDIT: Mark Champion) Ryan Taylor is the frontman of both Liberty & Justice and Trash Magz. Taylor owns and operates his very own Houston, Texas-based business, East End Barber. He has previously made music with the likes of Black Coffee, The Burden, Clean Break, Grave Robbers, I Am Wolf, Ten Crowns, Thug Boots, Titan Blood, and Your Mistake. Since Liberty & Justice without a doubt hand-crafted one of our favorite releases of 2021 (we're not making a year-end list!) with PRESSURE, we figured we would ask Taylor about his top releases from this year. Scroll down to learn all about Ryan's Top 20 of 2021. Liberty & Justice's PRESSURE is now available on Contra Records/Death Exclamations! TRASH MAGZ's debut full-length, Give Me The Beat, is now available on streaming services with a physical release coming soon on Death Exclamations! "What can I say about 2021? Less hunkering down and more anxiety in crowds, I suppose. Did you kn...

CREDIT: Mark Champion (@markchampion_tx) Few bands have been busier amidst the pandemic than Houston's Liberty & Justice. Off the back of not one, but two 2020 EP's comes the Telephone Road band's sophomore full-length, PRESSURE. The co-release comes via their home town's recently exhumed Death Exclamations! and Germany's premiere Oi! peddlers, Contra Records. Still replete with the street-wise anthems that made debut 4 All such a rousing listen, the band's latest is a level-up in every way. Fans of First Wave Oi! & Street Punk would be hard-pressed to find anything more rumble-ready and massive sounding. Their collective résumés have clearly come together for a newly-definitive collection that should appeal to fans of Bishop's Green, Lion's Law, and other booted legions. Yet, the band incorporates a myriad of influences, varied guest spots, and a thickly-muscled sound indebted to Hardcore that will appeal to loyalists of The UK's newe...

Aside from The Clash and despite what Spotify thought (Rockabye Baby! was my "TOP ARTIST") I think, it's pretty safe to say Liberty & Justice were amongst my Favorite Artists of 2020. They self-released a series of singles and charasmatic covers—which largely seem to now be absent—on their Bandcamp page, as well as a phenomenal EP entitled MY AMERICA. We very much enjoyed their pandemic cover of Robyn's "Dacing On My Own" and it's accompanying socially-distant remotely-recorded music video and were fortunate enough to host a premiere of Liberty & Justice's video for their Green Day cover of "Jason Andrew Relva (J.A.R.)" Frontman Ryan "Crowns" Taylor even curated an installment of our recurring column, With The Quickness entitled Telephone Road Street Essentials, Vol. 1 featuring Skinhead, Street Punk & Oi! stand-outs. All the while, we've been hearing rumblings about Liberty & Justice's For All follow-...

CREDIT: Mark Champion Last Friday was yet another Bandcamp Friday event, wherein Bandcamp have vowed to waive 100% of their revenue share on all sales on the first Friday of every month giving musicians more money from each purchase. One of our personal favorites, Houston, Texas-based Skinhead Punk/Hardcore crew Liberty & Justice, returned just in time with another exclusive Bandcamp Friday special. It's a quick-strike 3-track EP entitled my america. Liberty & Justice made a number of exclusive packages available, including a 32-piece run of limited press cassette tapes, a limited edition "yellow a** shirt," a special T-shirt/tape combo, and, of course, digital EP. While we purchased one of the last my america EP cassettes (there are currently ONE 13 left!) on Bandcamp Friday, we reached out to East End Barber owner and Liberty & Justice frontman Ryan "Crowns" Taylor this weekend for some additional information concering said release. my amer...