More punk rock than you can (proverbially) shake a stick at.
While pretty much every modern punk band is influenced by Agent Orange and The Dead Kennedys, not too many carry the banner successfully blending surf vibes with ferocious 80s hardcore. Yet New Jersey’s Night Birds do exactly that, all without sounding completely derivative and managing to keep things fresh. Celebrating their 10 year anniversary as […]
I recently caught New Jersey’s hardcore band Sick Shit play in a dingy bar basement in Trenton with PEARS, and I was completely blown away. So much so, that after catching their set I quickly grabbed their EP Thick Spit. Released in March this year and recorded in central Jersey (yes it exists you north […]
Ska isn’t exactly dead, but it’s certainly been in critical condition on heavy life support for a number of years now. Just when you start thinking it might be time to pull the plug, it shows signs of life letting you know that it’s still kicking. The latest signs of life are from NJ’s Hub […]
New Brunswick, New Jersey’s recently reunited Sticks and Stones isn’t very well known outside of the Garden State, but chances are you’ve heard references, influences, or songs by the band even though they’ve been broken up since the 90s. Vocalist Pete Ventanonio went on to form the World Inferno Friendship Society under the moniker Jack […]
On a hot June day, I headed out to Asbury Park, NJ to catch the east coast version of the infamous Vegas Punk bowling tournament at the Stone Pony outdoor summer stage. Sad to say (just like last year) that there isn’t any actual bowling that takes place anymore, there are a fuck ton of […]
Fuck. I was hoping to make a post tonight about my top 10 albums of 2016, but instead am reporting on some incredibly depressing news. According to Not Like You Records, Dave Franklin of NJ hardcore band Vision has passed away. Growing up in NJ, Vision was incredibly influential to hardcore there, and to me […]
My ancestral homeland New Jersey, one of the few places in the US where ska is still big. As has become an occasional tradition at this point (went back in 2008 and 2013), I headed out to a packed Starland Ballroom to see some of my favorite ska-punk bands around play “Skanksgiving”… because is it […]
I’ve been going to The Bouncing Souls Home For The Holidays since the band started the Asbury Park tradition back in 2007. This year, I decided to go on Saturday due to the fact that both the World Inferno Friendship Society and The Low Budgets were playing it. I got to the Stone Pony right […]
I’ll admit it, it’s the year 2015 and I still shamelessly love ska and especially Mustard Plug. So much in fact, that I travelled 3 hours round trip to Brighton Bar, a small dive out in Long Branch NJ in order to get my skanking on since Mustard Plug was skipping over Philadelphia for some […]
New Jersey hooligan “ska for people who hate ska” Hub City Stompers are finally back with their latest album Life After Death and let me just say I’ve been waiting for years ever since I’ve heard some of these songs played live (shit, they’ve been doing “Pants Music” since at least 2009). For those who […]