The Counterforce - Articles

Aquí y Ahora, by Total Nada

MEM//BRANEIsrael Moreno

TOTAL NADA - Aquí y Ahora

Total Nadatrenchophiliac

BRUTE - Barbarism

Barbarism, by Brute

BruteEral

PORTAL TOMB / EXTENSIVE SLAUGHTER - Split 7"

AMERETAT - S/T

S/T, by Ameretat

LA VIDA ES UN MUS DISCOSplasticwoundrecs

RECALL - Demo II

Demo II

DEMO FEST 2025

UZU - À qui la liberté? لمن الحرية ؟

À qui la liberté? لمن الحرية ؟ LP, by UZU أوزو

10 track album

Symphony of destructioncaleb

EXTRAÑA HUMANA - Bailando en la Oscuridad

Bailando en la oscuridad, by Extraña humana

Extraña humanamythsyckfan

HARAM - Why does Paradise Begin in Hell

ليش الجنة بيتبلش في الجهنم؟ Why Does Paradise Begin in Hell, by HARAM

12 track album

HARAMtrenchophiliac

Greg's 2025 Top Ten

2026-01-08T17:01:04.000-05:00

A list of the top 10 (mostly) punk things I loved from 2025 in no real particular order:

ULTIMATE DISASTER - …For Progress

If I HAD to pick a favorite record from last year, this would likely be it. Might be a perfect record. Live, the band is also great.

KRIEGSHÖG live at Earthdom - Tokyo, Japan 11/16/25

Love & Revenge was on my top 10 list last year and I was lucky my trip to Japan lined up with this show. This set was unreal. An experience I will never forget. The whole show was great. SKIZOPHRENIA played and might have been just as good.

CONDUMB - s/t ep

I already wrote a review explaining why I loved this record. It’s gotten a lot of play this year.

CATHARSIS - Hope Against Hope lp

Another one I gushed about and continues to stay in rotation. A band whose presence is as poignant as it was in the 90’s.

MEM//BRANE - s/t lp

I love this band so much, and another record I reviewed for The Counterforce. I believe MEM//BRANE is no longer an active band which makes me sad but I heard a rumor they are putting out another 7” in 2026 so I’ll hold on to that as a consolation prize.

URIN live at Foto Club - Philadelphia, PA 3/7/25

Prior to this show, I had heard URIN before but was generally indifferent. I went to this show because I didn’t have anything else to do that night, and holy shit I am still thinking about their set. Crushing, chaotic, and dissonant.

RASKOL live at Cousin Danny’s - Philadelphia, PA 1/10/25

I saw one of the worst sets I have ever seen by THE BERSERK at this show. I audibly booed when they finished. RASKOL on the other hand played one of the best sets I’ve seen from them. The energy was palpable as they say. The band fed off the crowd. The crowd fed off the band. I might have moshed.

ADDISON RAE - Addison lp

There’s usually one yearly moment of pop music that I cannot shake. This year there were 2 (luckily I’ll get to save ROBYN’s new record for next year’s list). On paper ADDISON RAE’s music shouldn’t really do it for me. It’s a little more mainstream pop than I typically like and I’m not a huge fan of songs about fucking, but god damn this record is great front to back. I don’t know if she has a song I don’t actually like. Great live too.

OKLOU - Choke Enough lp

The second pop offering of 2025 that I obsessed over. This is much more my speed when it comes to pop music. "Harvest Sky" might be one of my favorite songs written since "Call Your Girlfriend". My most listened to song of the year for sure.

SHAKTI - s/t lp

I don’t think this record blew me away but I do love listening to it and have a lot this year. It’s cool peace punk. "The Riz Ahmed" intro is a little weird since they just lifted it from his record and is about Britain and this band, I believe, is from Barcelona, but I guess it works. Despite how lukewarm this sounds, it really is a great record.

P-Lou's 2025 Top Ten

2026-01-05T21:34:14.000-05:00

Contributed by P-Lou

Another great year for stinky people making music! I found myself listening to a lot of new music this year which is always a good thing! I am also very excited that most of my favourite releases of 2025 were made by friends. Great year for my crew, close and afar!!

Here’s my top ten in no particular order:

RECALL - Recall (11pm records)
TOTAL NADA - Aquí y Ahora (11pm recorda)
BASTARD IDOL - Demo 2025 (Demo fest 2025)
NORMAL NOW - Demo (Demo fest 2025)
HEALING - Healing demo (Roachleg records)
SPLEEN - Demo II (Roachleg records)
PUFFER - Street Hassle (Static shock records)
SUBJECTS - S/T (Youth attack)
KLEPTOCRACY - Demo (self release??)
FOOL’S BLOOD - S/T (Total supply)

This year again, the sub 10mins records reign supreme!!

Taylor Joy's Top Ten Shows of 2025

2026-01-04T10:44:08.000-05:00

Title photo: DEADBOLT at Lopez, Nov 29, 2025 by Hamza Yahyaoui

I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to both the easternmost and westernmost islands of Canada for punk in 2025 (almost made it to the Yukon for a mini-tour this year but it fell through! Maybe someday...) These tours and trips, plus some awesome shows in my home of Montreal, defined my year more than any records that I listened to, so to roundup 2025 I compiled my top ten shows (in chronological order).

New Years’s Eve Squat Show (NYC, undisclosed location) – December 31

Rang in 2025 in relatively balmy New York, getting to watch excellent bands like FLOWER, ABISM and LOVE & COMPASSION in a mess of punks, taggers, trains, burning flags and fireworks. The lack of flat surfaces in the illicit "venue" made everything extra chaotic, not entirely sure how all the people on nitrous managed to stay upright (edit: turns out maybe they didn't). Happy I finally made it to one of these infamous NYC generator shows, it was an ideal way to start the year!

New Band Show (Montreal, La Sotterenea) – February 23

Despite frosty temps and feet of snow on the ground, this year's edition of the New Band Show went off without a hitch and is becoming a Montreal winter tradition. Despite not being strictly locals, the instrumental section of POISON SPEAR made it out from PEI to knock our socks off. Tons of teenagers came out to the show, and I have this short video saved of a bunch of teens in corpse paint doing a can-can kickline during LIFELINE. The DUREX tape release show was the night before, and I think some of the energy from that spilled over into this event and made for a really fun deep-winter weekend.

VERIFY tour stop in St. John’s (Peter Easton Pub) – April 18

Wrote about this in my Atlantic Canada tour reportback but I finally made it to Newfoundland this year and it didn’t disappoint! This tour was amazing, but was also plagued by various stresses and misfortunes, so I think something about actually making it to St. John’s made the show at the Peter Easton feel extra cathartic. I fell in love with the wild weirdness of the land and the scene in St. John's.

Scorched Earth Fest (Vancouver, Rickshaw Theatre) – July 24-25

In July I traveled to Vancouver and Victoria, BC for the dual purposes of attending Scorched Earth fest and reuniting with my partner after a monthlong tour. It’s hard to name fest highlights because the bill was totally stacked, but CONTAGIUM’s reunion set was great, DEVIATED INSTINCT were delightful and managed to captivate my attention through a very long set, plus many beloved friends’ bands such as BLACK DOG, EXTENSIVE SLAUGHTER, STREET GLOVES and PORTAL TOMB fleshed out an absolutely crushing lineup. The matinée show with PHYSIQUE, YELLOWCAKE and BARREN SOIL was awesome top-to-bottom, although I got the wind knocked out of me during PHYSIQUE’s set because I was stupidly standing next to a chest-height table while the crowd went nutso. Worth it!! The main shows were in a huge theatre, and while the sound wasn't ideal, the seating in the back and balcony were a real blessing for all the aging crust war vets with bad backs. Shared a dreamy post-fest beach day with two dozen punks, followed by a peaceful walk through giant trees in Stanley Park and a huge crew rolling up to share awesome family-style vegan Chinese food. It was a hard comedown back to reality after this one.

Secret Trash Fest (Charlottetown, PEI Farm Centre) – August 23

I had so much fun playing PEI in April that I begged the Secret Beach crew to bring my other band RECALL out for the inaugural Secret Trash Fest in August. I was really hyped to see east coast pv duo UNCLE play, and I really wanted to go to the beach again – check, check! The drives were long but so worth it for this little mini-tour-cum-vacay rip with my buds.

URBAN SPRAWL (SF) w/ TOTAL NADA, DEADBOLT, UNFILED (Montreal, The Squat) – September 5

Awesome, scrappy hardcore punk show at a semi-ephemeral, dry, DIY venue (not an actual squat, it’s a gym). Many people who would’ve loved this show slept on it, which is too bad, but the few attendees really brought energy (DEADBOLT’s string section moshed enough to cover everyone who was too lazy to bike to St-Henri). The night was capped by a crazy moonrise over Fattal followed by a flash thunderstorm that necessitated urgently running all the zines and merch inside during URBAN SPRAWL’s set.

Varning XVII (Montreal, Piranha Bar) – Sep 11-13

I already wrote a whole Varning roundup so check that out if you wanna hear more about it. Blabbed with friends, watched too many good bands, ate vegan poutine in a park with an international crew of spiky punks and went a little insane trying to keep up with everyone on drugs.

Search for the Sun (Montreal, La Toscadura) – Oct 30-Nov 1

I can confidently say that the Friday show of this 3-day fest was one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to: THE MOB (UK), FLOWER (NYC), SCUMPUTER (UK), STREET GLOVES, FUCKIN’ LOVERS (Philly) and UZU. I don’t love Halloween so I was happy to have something else to do, but it meant the whole city was in a party mood – everything and everyone were just buzzing. SCUMPUTER (Gabba from Chaos UK’s electronic project) got everyone jumping around and dancing, inlcuding someone beside me in a full-head zebra mask – total surreal insanity. While I can’t condone SCUMPUTER’s silly AI-generated animations, I really love seeing older punks doing what they’re really passionate about rather than just trotting out the same old-ass songs. That said, as far as old punks trotting out their old-ass songs... THE MOB’s set was undeniably very fucking incredible. Finally seeing STREET GLOVES rip alongside another drum machine punk project rather than just being a total oddity on the bill was great, and I was stoked to finally catch FUCKIN’ LOVERS again – their set at a Varning Matinée a few years ago blew my mind and is imprinted in my memory as one of the loudest shows I’ve ever been to. Seeing and hanging with the buds in FLOWER is always a treat, and I was watching alongside a few friends who had never seen them before which was pretty special. This whole weekend was kind of unreal, with way too many highlights to name.

Never Going Away (Toronto, Parish Hall) – November 15

A DIY-to-the-core show in a church basement organized by some younger folks in Toronto who are extremely on the level. Per their request we rolled up with our zine distro, which was a hit, and several people even traded us their own zines. The lineup was solid and none of the bands were all white dudes – I especially enjoyed Columbus' REGALIA and locals HUMAN FORM, and our buds DEADBOLT played probably their best set ever. While I spent my first few years in Canada perfunctorily hating on Toronto, I actually always have a nice time visiting and have been to and played some really sick shows. There are some really cool and solid people keeping things DIY!

All Locals All Ages gig (Montreal, Lopez) – Nov 29

Another all ages/dry show at a semi-ephemeral-space (a cleared-out skate/fashion shop run by a member of FAZE) that was 100% friendship, rippin’ bands, wholesome fun. The kind of show where your cheeks hurt from grinning too much. It was PROGRESS?’s first show and they rocked so hard that a lightbulb spontaneously exploded. This was the platonic ideal of the kind of shows I want to attend and play.

RECALL at Lopez, Nov 29, 2025. Photo by Hamza Yahyaoui

Final thoughts:

As a known shit-talker of both reunion bands and “too many fests”, my list admittedly does include both. I appreciate being able to see bands who are at the top of their game, and to meet and hang with punks and bands who travel for bigger events. Circulation is good for the health of the subculture and seeing really awesome bands keeps me wanting to practice, write, start more bands, and keep doing what I’m doing (but better). But I wish just a bit more of the energy and cash that went into organizing blowout weekends or flying in big-name bands went into the more quotidian local gigs, on going all-out for bands who are struggling to break even on touring right now, or organizing for the kinds of infrastructure that would make our scene stronger (like a reliable all ages venue). That’s what I want to see more of in 2026!

THINK! Top 10 (c. 2025)

2026-01-03T15:06:42.000-05:00

AYUCABA - Operación Masacre LP
BLACK DOG - Sewn Into Confusion EP
COLD MEAT - Cake & Arse Party EP
KLEPTOCRACY - Kleptocracy CS
LAME - Lo Que Extrañas Ya No Existe
NÃO - Obrigada LP
NO VICTIM - No Victim CS
PLASTIKA - Sijamski Blisanac LP
RITUAL CROSS - Ritual Cross CS
THE SHARP PICS - Balloon Balloon Balloon LP

Recapitulation: way less centered on the contiguous 48 than last year. Felt like a whole lotta spinnin' tires, but how else to navigate an auto based country's pockmarked infrastructure? Still, the rest of the world felt bright with fury and possibility.

Hopin' for more hope, resistance and less image/status obsession in '27.

Kill the algorithm 107698345891238 dead cops.

Nab's 2025 Year In Review

2026-01-02T15:47:32.000-05:00

A bonkers year in terms of new music. I could legitimately not keep up with the amount of cool releases coming out, especially the sheer number of ripping hardcore demos. I’m a little bummed how North-American centric my list is but it is what it is. Very proud of the record we put out with SPITE HOUSE as well.

I made a digital mixtape with my favourite songs of the year too:
https://samply.app/p/oeHknJ7Vm4ynYzmXOjt0?si=10e5fwQJH5dIFoQQTqkaVVrLSFL2

Albums

ALEX G - Headlights
BAD BEAT - LP 2025
C4 - Payback’s a Bitch
COMBUST - Belly Of The Beast
MILITARIE GUN - God Owes Me Money
SCARAB - Burn After Listening
SOMERSET THROWER - Take Only What You Need to Survive
SPIRITUAL CRAMP - Rude
SUZZALLO - The Quiet Year
THE STARTING LINE - Eternal Youth

Demos

DEAD ON YOUR FEET - D.O.Y.F.
DIRECT ORDER - Demo 2025
FRÖTHING MAD - Demo
MADMAN - The Demo
ORDER OF LIVING - Demo
PRICE OF REDEMPTION - Demo 2025
SIXLET - Demo
TRUE FRAUD - Demo 2025
WITS END - Demo I
W.M.D - Demo I

EPs

EXO - S/T EP
LEAD SPIRIT - Self Titled EP
METHOD OF DOUBT - Total Soul Ignition 7”
MIL-SPEC - S/T 12”
SHADOW TIDES - Self-Titled
THE FINAL AGONY - Deprived From Darkness 7”

Reissues

AMENITY - This is Our Struggle: Anthology 1989-2009
FORCED DOWN - Liberate
LEATHERFACE - The Peel Sessions LP
MILTOWN - Tales of Never Letting Go

Honorable mentions: KALEIDOSCOPE, ETHEL CAIN, CATHARSIS, MOMMA, FEAR OF SIN…

Top Ten Moments of Rock 2025

2025-12-31T13:05:11.000-05:00

Let's be honest, I hardly listened to anything new this year, let alone remember it enough to discuss. My most listened to song this year was easily "Concerto In X Minor" by BRAND NUBIAN, if that helps put you in the headspace I'm in. The older I get, the more time I spend as a freak rocker, the more I put value on live performances and experiences in DIY rather than generic 4-song demos fast hardcore with flirtations of a d-beat riff. So with that I'm gonna hit you with my top ten moments of ROCK in chronological order.

Louisville Snowstorm

BAD ANXIETY and SILO KIDS embarked on a short winter tour early in January. We ended up driving right into bad weather. The first show of the tour was canceled because of snow and ice. We saw snow everywhere on this trip, but nothing like Louisville. Cars swerving, punks shoveling parking spots, so others could park, actually dangerous bad weather. After the fact we all agreed, this show should have been canceled. But the conditions just amplified the experience. Only the realest of freaks braved the weather to see us play in a detached garage, the set was bonkers and everyone was just smiling and stoked to be there. Living in the deep south, I don't experience snow. I soon won't forget white-knuckle driving the rental van while doing my best to encourage the troops that we wouldn't spin out and die, to then play the most fun set of the tour. Highly recommend Louisville in winter.

SILO KIDS vs BAD ANXIETY - Battle Set

This was the year of the battle set in Hattiesburg. Once we realized we had a big enough venue, enough gear, and bands that didn't share any members, we knew what we had to do. This show in January set the tone for the rest of the year, shows with gimmicks, having fun, doing things other scenes simply won't do. So many people say they've never seen or been a part of a battle set. Or that they haven't done that since they were 16. Time to bring it back. They rule.

ABI OOZE and JUDY AND THE JERKS

The OOZE crew and the JUDY crew went out on a nice midwestern tour this year. The tour rocked, but we capped it all off with a gig in Hattiesburg. Huge gig, everyone having fun, tossing balloons, throwing around props, people moshing with whatever object they could get a hold of. Whoops, I tried to lift Nevada from ABI OOZE onto my shoulder while they played, and they fell face first and fucked up their guitar. Whoops. SILO KIDS covered a JUDY AND THE JERKS song. Our friend Sophia played their first set EVER by playing bass for one JUDY song while I got to mosh for my own band. It was just a crazy sick gig that was a true celebration of friendship in my favorite little town in America.

PRIMAL BRAIN at Everything is Not Okay 4.5 in Oklahoma City, OK

I really like the band PRIMAL BRAIN from Oklahoma City. Amazing people making amazing music. Saw this band twice(?) this year and each time was incredible. But we're going to focus on the set at Everything Is Not Okay 4.5. You may have read my previous gripes about that fest. But one of the few redeeming factors was this set. Nothing better than seeing your friends play an incredible set, people go OFF, crawling around on stage during the mosh parts because you know all the songs. It was a blast and made me pump my fist in the air in ultimate satisfaction.

SILO KIDS at Gluesniffer Fest in Murfreesboro,TN

Similar to seeing PRIMAL BRAIN, there really is nothing better than seeing your friends' band dominate a set, command an entire room, and leave everyone begging for more. This time, I actually had the opportunity to play drums for SILO KIDS for this set, but I still felt like I got to be there as an observer to such an incredible set performed by the real current rulers of Hattiesburg. You can read more about it here. A legendary rock moment.

VIVA LA THRASH! in Nagoya, Japan

Describing VIVA LA THRASH! is not an easy task, I recommend just looking up a video online. It's two dudes, decked out in some silly gear, playing to a backing track of a weird mix of pop tunes and digital fastcore riffage. One guy just walks in a circle performing and singing and does a funny jump at the end of the song, the other member doesn't move a muscle and just plays the songs from a little device. It was like watching a comedy sketch, but played as a serious band. I knew going into this set it was going to be fun as hell and I would love it. The crowd loved every song, circle pitting with the main guy, crowd-surfing. They started the set off with an a cappella version of We Will Rock You by QUEEN with "Vi-va, Vi-va, Viva La Thrash!" for entirely too long. True weirdos doing weirdo shit. We didn't speak each other's languages, but we spoke volumes by just patting each other on the back saying "Viva La Thrash!" multiple times all night.

C.A.FEISSNER in Ashikaga, Japan

This show had it all. A competing gig in the same building with Japanese Rockabillys, muscle cars and poodle skirts and all. Friends laughing and having fun watching sick bands. An actual child moshing and the whole crowd mimicking her actions, letting her lead the crowd. And most importantly, C.A.FEISSNER from Sendai, Japan. Furious, no-nonsense Japanese hardcore punk. The front person was wearing an all white suit, holding up a custom bound book, whose contents were taken from old Japanese zines describing the burgeoning US hardcore punk scene. We were told that these zines were very influential in Japan, and here they were bound in a book, gold tassel, looking like a version of the Punk Bible. The front person was holding it up, going to the pages of BLACK FLAG, MINOR THREAT, and so on during the set. All while playing like his life depended on it. Every member of the band played like this was the craziest show that had ever happened. Not a dull moment, no moment to catch your breath, just an assault of pure hardcore punk like this was the last show on earth. It was inspiring. C.A.FEISSNER is a band you watch, and it sticks with you. In the words of C.A.FEISSNER "This is Sendai, not US".

BAD ANXIETY at the Jackson Folk Fest in Jackson, MS

This was a surreal gig. BAD ANXIETY was asked to be part of the 'Punk Block' for the 82nd National Folk Festival that was being held in Jackson, MS this year. Seemed odd, but the Folk Festival seemed like a really cool thing. A big multi-day event focusing on the music and art of the people in the area. So many incredible blues, gospel, and jazz acts performed. Booths from all sorts of local artists, even a zine making booth and a skate demo. It was rad. The stages for this event were huge. Like a big open air festival with markets and vendors, chairs for seating. This was a very 'normal' festival, and a huge one at that. This was going to be an awkward set for a very strange crowd. Before the show, we all agreed to play it like any other gig, go crazy and speak in between songs like you would with any other show. That includes curse words thrown at certain political figures, calling issues out by name, so on and so forth. Let me remind you this was in the deep south at the most normal of normal music events. Before we played, I literally had to beg for anyone who is able to please stand up and come closer to the stage, or we would die from awkwardness. Luckily, a lot of people did and we thankfully had plenty of friends there. The set was awesome, people had fun and danced, cheered us on when we called for the head of the current governor. What could have been the most awkward set of our lives ended up being extremely rewarding. So many folks afterward thanked us for saying what we said and for playing with such intensity. For some younger kids, this was their first time seeing punk live, and they loved it. They begged us for more info on how to find shows and bands. A few people in the crowd were disgusted sure, the police were called on us while we were playing. But they didn't do anything and no one cut our set short, all 12 minutes of it. The other bands on the 'Punk Block' were a noise act and a garagey kinda band. So, even there, we kinda stuck out hard. All the awkwardness was way worth it.

YAHHO in Hattiesburg, MS

This year I booked the biggest show I've ever booked. While we don't have a total count for sure, but we guess it was near 200 people, on a Tuesday, in Hattiesburg, MS. Maybe for you that doesn't seem crazy but for us it did. Everyone was there to see YAHHO, a chiptune hardcore punk one man band from Okayama, Japan. His music is very hard to describe, so I recommend just looking it up yourself. He is an insane performer and captivated the whole crowd. People were crowd-surfing the whole time, screaming like they were watching the Beatles, just an insane chaos dance party. At one point, YAHHO climbed onto the roof of the venue and just performed from up there. The crowd lost it. At the end of the night he had a line of folks wanting to take pictures and get autographs. It was an insane reception that none of us had anticipated. Even the other band on tour with YAHHO, HAVANA SYNDROME (Buffalo, NY), had a crazy set. There was a wall of death for this synth punk band. It was nuts.

Wheel of Misfortune

I love a dumb idea. I thrive off a gimmick. No more gimmicky set can be had than the BAD ANXIETY vs SILO KIDS "Wheel Of Misfortune" Battle Set. Not only was this a battle set, this had the WHEEL. The Wheel Of Misfortune is a real big spinning wheel I made that has 10 slices. Each slice has a "misfortunate" thing the band that last spun must do. Examples include - play blindfold, play dizzy, switch members, play slow. The list goes on. It was dumb, whacky, stupid, and fun. The battle part made it even sillier. Watching SILO KIDS struggle through playing a song after spinning for 30 seconds and getting dizzy was incredible. BAD ANXIETY went first and when I spun the wheel it landed on 'MIME', we had to play our first song completely silent but acting like we were still going off being crazy. It was so dumb and awesome, people moshed, we didn't make a peep.

Slim's top 10 sets of 2025

2025-12-26T11:44:04.000-05:00

In no particular order:

PHYSIQUE @ Scorched Earth (Vancouver, BC)
YELLOWCAKE @ Scorched Earth
FUCKIN' LOVERS @ Search For The Sun (Montreal)
DECEPT @ Batiment 7 (Montreal)
WARKRUSHER @Batiment 7
UNCLE @ PEI Farm Center
DEVIATED INSTINCT @ Scorched Earth
BASTARD IDOL @ Sotterenea
ONE TRACK MIND's Ontario run
CONTAGIUM @ Scorched Earth

Bee's Best-of 2025

2025-12-19T15:06:54.000-05:00

Contributed by Bee

Every time I make my year-end best-of list I struggle to remember what the hell even came out in the last 11.5 months. After pouring through my “recent acquisitions/to-be-shelved” pile of records and tapes, revisiting label websites, or what photos I took, I come up with a list that, immediately upon publication, I realize is missing crucial selections. And year and year again I lack the foresight to just write down what I liked that year. Here’s my crack at it this year.

ZYCLONE - Visions of Impending Death (General Speech/Re_Vile)
TOTAL CON - This Whole World is Gonna Pay (Brainrotter)

RECALL - Ep (11PM/Broken Skull)
EXIT PLOOM - Live and Death (R.I.P. Peace)

LAUGHING CORPSE - Beyond Recognition (Sorry State)
ENDLESS JOY - S/T (Iron Lung)
ILLITERATES - Does Not Compute (Sorry State)
WHOSE REALITY - Demo (R.I.P. Peace)

TERROR ADVOCATE - Final Demonstration (R.I.P. Peace)
BLACK DOG - Sewn into Confusion (Iron Lung)

AUTO SEAR- Speed Noise Hardcore (Sex Fiend Abomination)
PRAY TO BE SAVED - Demo (Sex Fiend Abomination)
FUCKIN' LOVERS - Crucifixion of the Masses (General Speech)
TOTAL CON - Who Needs the Peace Corps? (Static Shock/Unlawful Assembly)

BRAINBOMBS - I Need Speed/Urge to Kill (Total Black)

PUPPET WIPES - Live Inside (Siltbreeze)
VENEDIKTOS TEMPELBOOM - Huys Opnamen (Minorie)
JONAS TORTENSEN - Viser og countryrock på fynsk (Afvikling Kassetter)

AMATEUR HOUR - Går I Kras (Discreet)
BLOD - Den Oändliga Historien (Discreet)
NICK DRAKE- The Making of Five Leaves Left (Universal)
DEATH KNEEL cassette releases (Life Of Sensation)
Living Water Assembly
Spiritual Endeavour
Ink Wash Apparition
Italian Math

LIFE IS BRIEF, PUNK RULES: A Recap of STRESS POSITIONS Fall 2025 Tour

2025-11-17T12:41:38.000-05:00

Contributed by Ben Rudolph, guitarist in STRESS POSITIONS

The first show of our fall tour was at Cobra lounge in Chicago. A nice and early all-ages gig on a beautiful, late summer Thursday. I pick up Steph and we head down to the venue. We are chronically on time to pretty much every gig we play. Jono, Russell and Danny are there to meet us for load in. After an hour or so of mulling around and hanging out with the other bands, people start showing up. Mostly young-ass kids who are stoked as hell to see the headliner. Our friends in the band LATTER are celebrating the release of their new EP tonight. A small cluster gathers in front of the stage trying to secure their spot for the show. I love this energy. It’s refreshing to see people giddy and ready to dance rather than jaded and drunk. It’s gonna be packed in here soon. KILL MOVES opens the show. They play a sort of mix of emo and noise rock. Changeover takes a little longer than ideal, but now it’s our turn to play. The lights on the stage are bright as hell and it’s hard to see what’s going on out in the sea of people. It seemed like people had fun even though half of them looked confused for the lack of mosh parts. Play fast or die! We rush off stage sweaty as hell. SNUFFED is next. They get better and tighter every time I see them and the kids go absolutely bonkers. Hell yeah. Everyone sings along as their vocalist Carly screams “ITS MY LOBOTOMY DREAM”

LATTER is next. They’re a somewhat newer band but have been hitting it hard this last year. They play a down-tuned medley of noise rock and punk. Hard to compare to anything in particular, but it’s powerful. Their stage show is wild as hell and the crowd is buzzing. Hell yeah. It’s so great to see a room full of sweaty young people hanging on to every word. The show ends at 11 and we’re all home by midnight. Tomorrow we hit the road for Cincinnati. The tour is just quick, six-day run through Appalachia, the final destination is Richmond where we will be playing Dark Days Bright Nights Fest.

The next day everyone meets at my place at 11. We all dote on my new pup Harley, an old anxious pitbull. She’s sad to see us go. We hit horrible traffic leaving the city, but once we get through it’s about as uneventful as a drive could be. We arrive at The Comet (again chronically early for the show) and realize no one is there for the gig yet. A few of us find a forest preserve nearby and go for a hike. My favorite pre-show ritual. We meet a friendly black cat along the trail. Must be a good sign. Steph and Danny later decide to go and do the quick hike and again meet the black cat. Definitely a good sign.

Photo by Ben

Back at the venue we are all killing time by playing pool. The Comet provides free food for bands and we all stuff down burritos. Some people hate all the waiting around you have to do on tour. I love it. It will always beat going to work. BUTCHERS DOG is the first band to play. I heard their record “Purists Piss Codes” a while ago and hadn’t seen them live yet – they did not disappoint. I met Landon and Jodie a few years back with another band. They’re immense sweethearts who are absolute punk lifers. RAZORBLADE from Pittsburgh played as well. They’re fun as fuck. Punk AF thrash stuff. They did a medley of “Come Feel The Noise,” it was fun. There was a somewhat solemn note to the evening as we found out the owner of The Comet had recently passed away. He seemed to be beloved by the community for helping create and maintain an all-ages space in town. These places are precious and not always owned by people who have good intentions so we're very happy to be able to celebrate the life of someone who contributed so much. Keeping the gigs going through grief seems like it’s exactly what they would’ve wanted.

Photos by Kaitlynne Cruz

Our gig in Roanoke the next day was unfortunately cancelled as the basement venue we were supposed to play had flooded. It’s a bummer to lose a show on such a short tour but these things happen. Finding a replacement last minute is easier said than done. We do the 10 hour drive to Richmond. It’s at least a beautiful winding route through Appalachia to help pass the time. We finally get to our hotel at around 10pm. I grabbed us some cookies from the Subway next door and we surf the TV for a while and end up watching queen of the damned. We all pass out by midnight. Hell yeah. Getting good sleep on tour is a high commodity.

Photo by Kaitlynne Cruz

We wake up early and smash the free breakfast at the hotel. A few of us use the gym. Coffee and then more coffee and it’s time to head to the venue. Load in is at 2. We get there at 145 to make sure we can snag a good parking spot. There are like 10 bands playing today so we’d rather make sure things are easy. The venue is called Studio Two Three. The building is reminiscent of an old schoolhouse. The first floor has a screen printing shop. The show will be upstairs in what seems like an old school gym/assembly hall.

Photos by Kaitlynne Cruz

At this point in my life I’ve been doing punk shit for longer than I haven’t. The buzz I get showing up for a fest is the same as it was 20-odd years ago when I first got into touring. I love scanning all the tables for merch, records and zines. I love seeing people I haven’t seen in years and reconnecting as if it’s only been a week. I owe so much to these experiences and friendships. The bill today is absolutely stacked and filled with friends. A musically very eclectic bill as well. SLOW HOLE, EYE FLYS and GREAT FALLS all blew me away.

The venue had a giant projector. All the bands got to pick what they wanted to have playing behind them. We chose a compilation video of dogs just doing cute dog shit. Who doesn’t love that?

Photo by Evan Kilgore

IRON LUNG played late in the evening. They were pulverizing. Less stand up comedy in between songs than other times I’ve seen them, but that added to the vibe of today’s set. It was relentless and punishing. REVERSAL OF MAN closed out the night. It was so cool to finally see them. The four of us grew up in Florida and never had a chance while they were still active. They were fantastic and full of the same energy that all of the lore speaks to. A bucket list band for me and Jono especially. A great way to end an epic day.

We set off for Asheville early the next morning. Again, another beautiful drive winding through the mountains.

We arrive at Static Age, again early, and find coffee. This was our first time playing here with this band so we didn’t know what to expect. The small record store filled up quickly after the doors opened. A lot of really enthusiastic young punks showed up which is always a good sign. MOCKERY played right before us and they fucking ripped. Nine minutes of raw D-beat. A killer first set for them. Look out for recordings soon. This was probably my favorite performance for us on this run. I love playing a small room. Steph and I are constantly dancing around each other trying to not knock the other over. It never gets old. The kids went bat shit, side to sides and slamming the whole time. The room was electric and we were all buzzing after. Hell yeah.

Another beautiful drive to Louisville. Tonight’s show is at warehouse spot called Camp Spaceman. The whole place reminded me of one of the big squat venues in Germany. Wall-to-wall graffiti and a sick professional PA. The stage is just high enough to dive off but not too high to where you feel far away. The gig starts promptly at 7. TOTAL FLESH were one of my favorite bands of the tour. They play fast, 80s-style American hardcore. No bullshit and catchy in all the right ways. DEADY headlined. Another band I’ve been itching to see for a while. A truly unique and refreshing band. They sounded immaculate. Their last song of the set involved inviting everyone in the crowd on stage to dance and bang on the drums. People went nuts. Good vibes all round.

We headed back home to Chicago the next day. The news that the National Guard is supposedly being deployed to our streets sets in. We’ve been reading about and hearing from friends all week about the massively increased ICE presence and their kidnapping of people in our home. For now we have a few hours in the van to contemplate the last few days and savor how lucky we are to get do this stuff. Life is brief. Punk rules.

Bread and Roses 2025 Reportback

2025-11-17T10:37:54.000-05:00

Contributed by Jolie M-A

In the years since 2020, there’s been a running joke that punks in NYC are in an ongoing competition to host the most insanely illegal shows. Makeshift “venues” began cropping up all over the city as organizers began outdoing one another, putting hardcore bands in tunnels and behind train tracks for one night only. The morning after, TikToks would surface of flags burning and fireworks exploding in a sea of moshers, somehow in the middle of Manhattan. When there’s not much else to turn to by way of DIY venues and everyone is sick of having shows at the same four bars that allow us, it makes sense that the underground becomes not just a necessity, but a badge of alleged authenticity and commitment to keeping a city’s scene ungovernable and raw.

In keeping with this tradition, Bread and Roses Fest set the bar for keeping the indie experience… indie. Generator shows are back, and audiences have accepted a level of danger and spontaneity in a city governed by such principles on a daily basis. And there was no one better to do it than their DIY collective, committed to holding the most punk and least-corporate event possible, truly taking “doing it yourself” to another level. Hosting almost 40 bands over three days, the event was advertised via email and a Google drive folder with handmade flyers, many of which were missing a confirmed venue. It ended up that most would be outdoor generator gigs, some permitted and some not, with a phone number to text for the coordinates. The temporary autonomous zone was real: every show started two hours late and was hosted in a pile of trash outdoors, with varying degrees of cooperating PAs and weather. They were all $20 or Pay What You Can, and rest assured, no one WAS turned away for lack of funds.

The collective, helmed by Donna of CHRONOPHAGE and Jake from BULLSEYE, did a fantastic job of getting together DIY bands from every ether of the indie and punk spectrum. It was a group effort though, with so many types of people helping out to ensure that the show could and did go on, even when logistical hurdles threatened to extinguish some of our fun. Their intent of “uniting anarchist and communist non-hardcorists and peace punks for the sake of enriching our connections and community” seemed quite successful. Indeed, they gathered some of the best and most committed underground artists across North America, with a dynamic crew of people, blasted into the chaos of an uncontrollable and spirited festival.

The first festival evening was located in an almost comically cutty “venue” carved out of a scrap of a skatepark along Newton Creek in a seemingly abandoned and industrial part of Long Island City. Walking there consisted of a pigeon-shit-splattered overpass with shattered bottles littering the abandoned sidewalk – not a bodega in sight – through a cinematic wasteland with no homes, just pure industrial filth. In order to get to the garden where the generator was set up, you had to scuttle across a broken bridge and watch your step to meet the dozens of other weirdos huddled about in clumps of woodchips, dangerously close to the poisoned body of water.

Local legend HOME BLITZ opened up the evening with his signature blend of weird-as-fuck, medieval-sounding flamboyant pop guitar genius. It was a treat to see Austin’s TOUCH GIRL APPLE BLOSSOM’s jangly, heartfelt, HEAVENLY-inspired indie pop, which got everyone moving and feeling good, bopping along to front woman Olivia Garder’s sing-song but powerfully twee vocals. A fest highlight was GOOD FLYING BIRDS from Indianapolis, who brought the party down using their multiple tambourines as weapons. The makeshift stage was squished with seven members, jamming raucously with co-singer Susie Slaughter screeching as she passed out loosies to the audience. The band refused to slow down or stop screaming and wiggling for even a second, and their Gen Z exuberance was contagious. I felt for HORSEGIRL, who were still game to go on around 2am, eschewing their usual in-ear-monitor-type professional shows for the complete disorder of Bread and Roses. They were good sports and sounded even better, with their melodic and restrained style of mainstream indie-approved guitar music successfully reaching the outdoor masses, including their compellingly soft vocals that sounded beautiful on even the scraggliest of blown out speakers.

The following day we somehow dusted off for round two, starting up at a church in Ridgewood for the day show. Catered by Food Not Bombs, I sat outside slurping their hearty soup to get brought back to life for the morning show. The basement scene showed out new bands as well as NYC faves, and the most fun was loitering outside getting to know new people who had the enduring curse and blessing of sharing the same subculture. TW33DY from Kansas City were among those new comrades, and their blend of slightly country-twinged, loud, jangly indie fuzzed out the audience with a fun “Cry No Tears” NEIL YOUNG cover. PROVIDERS played their first show, featuring Groovy Mike from VEXX, VANITY, and a million other guitar projects alongside my bandmate David from RIBBON STAGE – better known for TERCER MUNDO, POBREZA MENTAL, HYSTERIC POLEMIX and also a million other international punk bands, as well as Ava from CBS and an eponymous solo project she also performed under.

The daytime event was delightfully accessible compared to Saturday’s evening chaos, which was located behind a fence and past a park on the Williamsburg waterfront. Attendees were given coordinates to a location where someone was supposed to walk them into the show area, but I’m not totally sure if such a person existed. Real “if you know, you know” hours, and don’t expect it to be easy if you want an intentionally anti-corporate event. This involved climbing on a literal trash can to get over a fence, then walking another 100 yards down a carpet of broken glass to a small enclave of trees on top of rocks before the East River starts. We were treated to an end of summer rain that pretty much did not stop all night, lightly dusting our electronic equipment and creating problems with gear, prolonging the show’s start to at least 3 hours after alleged start time.

Miraculously, the generator held on, and RAT HENRY finally kicked it off with some stellar 39 CLOCKS-style catchy and down tempo post-punky, scrappy guitar music. My band, RIBBON STAGE then showed up for a surprise super-short set. In true B & R fashion, we were added to the lineup two days beforehand, and had only practiced with a new band lineup once before our three-song debut. Naturally, it was a mess. I didn’t love looking like a drowned rat while desperately trying to pee in the bushes before playing to an impatient crowd of some of my most beloved and annoying peers, but one has to pretend to be hardcore and not care about such luxuries.

JEANINES played after us, coming down from Western Mass to blast their saccharine and melody-laden clean indie tones through demonically loud amps, allowing Alicia’s clear and dreamy vocals to shred the whole waterfront. Other bands included the always great GALORE from SF, whose recent LP “Dirt” was one of my favorites of 2025 and quite overlooked in my opinion. Also on the lineup were MOPAR STARS, a Philly favorite with members of SHEER MAG and POISON RUIN who have an upcoming debut record on K in 2026. I think the show finished before 3am, but at least there were delis nearby if you felt like hopping the fence again to get to them.

We closed out the weekend at the amphitheater at Far Rockaway, an almost refreshingly “normal” venue by virtue of having a bathroom you could walk to close by – one that even had toilet paper lovingly provided by the NYC Parks Department. Due to permitting issues, the show had to start late and end early, but the morale was high as artists like BULLSEYE took the sunny stage. It was a lovely, sunny day and Dan Dimaggio and I took a dip in the water, which was definitely too cold at the absolute tail end of summer but still a necessity at the rock show. We didn’t put our shoes back on and indulged in the amphitheater's smooth floored safety to dance barefoot to Canada’s sweethearts, GARDEN OF LOVE. A Sunday highlight, the three piece was fronted by Donna’s frequent collaborator and multimedia artist Jane Harms who joined us from Montreal. They shared the stage with indie mainstays LIGHTHEADED from New Jersey, as well as hometown heroes the avant-garde AUTOBAHN who heralded the younger end of fest participants. I watched them while eating more nourishing yet slightly bland vegan food, provided by the illustrious Food Not Bombs squad once again.

The sun set on a successful event that brought together like-minded freaks from across the spectrum of whatever might be called "independent rock music.” The collective also graced us with a compilation tape and zine with artists who played, printed on newsprint and effectively capturing the ethos of Bread and Roses in all its xeroxed glory, available on an esoteric Youtube link. The fest’s vibe was decidedly inaccessible – yes they provided all the coordinates, but you had to will yourself to get there, descending into the “freaks only” kind of atmosphere. You have to really want to be there to be there, but somehow hundreds of people did.

Overall we were lucky to be together and have fun especially in a city with increasing brutality toward those who fall outside the mainstream, and I’m grateful to the organizers for creating such a dangerous and inclusive environment. Yes, the dream of the 90’s is dead and “indie rock” no longer exists, but for one dazzling weekend its corporate capture could be ignored to keep the DIY dream alive in NYC.

Victoria, BC Scene Report

2025-05-12T17:30:48.000-04:00

Ok, this isn't a full, true scene report – despite my name, I haven't lived on Vancouver Island for almost 20 years, but it's still a place I feel connected to and love. I have incredible friends here, some from when I lived here, and plenty are folks I have met in the 20 years since I left. I lived in Victoria for 10 years in the late 90's/early 2000's and since then, understandably, a lot of things have changed, but a lot has stayed the same. Here's a few things I tapped into while I was there recently.

How to find the gigs

The promoters here poster like the good ol days, but I can't tell you which telephone pole to check for the latest posters. Unfortunately the only good way to find out about shows here is Instagram. If you don't have Instagram, too bad for you! I'd say the best way is to hit up one of the shops at the end of this article and ask, bonus cause you'll make a local friend. Hopefully the Gigtoria folks will set up an alternative online calendar or something soon. Another option is Live Victoria, an independent website that has been going since I lived here. Back then it was mostly punk and underground stuff (and a forum we all argued on) but now it seems to list everything so check that out if you also want to know when the next DAVE MATTHEWS cover show is.

Bands

These are some of the bands I didn't catch live (all the bands I saw live are in the shows section). There are a ton of bands so sorry if I missed you! If I missed your band, you should write up a true scene report that isn't by some tourist who "used to live here."

LOVE LIFE is a pop punk band that has members of LOTS of other bands, the pedigree here is kinda close to unmatched. They were recording while I was here so hopefully that drops soon.

Demo, by Love Life

Love LifeBandcamp New & Notable Sep 21, 2024

CORRODE is a metallic hardcore band in the best way. Great snare sound, political lyrics, 10/10. Not to be confused with CORRODE from Western Mass (who also rule, btw)

Demonstration, by Corrode

CORRODEBandcamp New & Notable Dec 14, 2022

HEDONIST is death metal played by punks (yes!) I heard a rumour they are playing a particularly long-running Montreal punk fest this year, take this as a warning, but you didn't hear it from me.

Sepulchral Lacerations (Demo), by Hedonist

6 track album

Hedonist

SHOPLIFTER is on the shoegaze-y end of grunge, kinda gives me a lofi DINOSAUR JUNIOR vibe.

EP, by Shoplifter

5 track album

ShoplifterBandcamp New & Notable Feb 29, 2024

COUP D'ETAT is I guess screamo? Scramz? I'd call this post hardcore, but like the good 90's kind of post hardcore. They have a super pretty Bandcamp page.

SPLIT, by Coup D’état, Lakeside Amusement Park

Coup D'étatBandcamp Album of the Day Mar 22, 2019

BODYROT is a crust grind band, for fans of crust grind (like me). I'd love to see this band play in a packed basement on a super hot summer day.

FLESHWORKS, by BODYROT

Injecting Logic - Volume II, by i.o

BODYROTNerve Salad

I.O is a one piece drums only noise project. Fucking wild, I love it.

9 track album

i.oBandcamp New & Notable Mar 6, 2022

AK-47 is a fast super political hardcore band that started in 1997 and are still fully DIY, playing real punk shows and dropped an LP last year. They released an album in like 2000 called Free Palestine, you know they are legit.

Call Them Out, by AK-47

25 track album

AK-47Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 11, 2025

Shows

WHITE COLLAR & GLOBAL FAKE @ Wheelies – Victoria, BC, Canada

Show poster for WHITE COLLAR and GLOBAL FAKE at Wheelies in Victoria BC Canada. The main image is a skull wearing a mask with the WHITE COLLAR logo between the eyes

Wheelies is a motorcycle-themed cafe in an industrial area of Victoria. I've heard they do shows in the parking lot, which would be kind of a perfect outside spot for shows since it's closed on three sides. This show was on a rainy Victoria night so the show was half inside. The bands played outside in a kind of covered patio, and the crowd was inside. This could be a pretty cool setup, except the cafe is mostly immovable booths so all of that was in the way for everyone watching the bands. That's a bummer cause I was ready to mosh and WHITE COLLAR is a very moshable hardcore punk band. They ripped it even though the crowd literally couldn't move to show our appreciation.

GLOBAL FAKE started setting up and I could tell it was going to be an early night for me. I gave them the benefit of the doubt but they started and really were not hitting the spot. They say they are post hardcore but that means something completely different in 2025 Victoria than it did in 1996 Victoria. They were tight, just not my thing.

Demo 2, by White Collar

1 track album

White CollarRiot Radio

Remove the Ugly Visitors, by Global Fake

Global FakeBandcamp New & Notable Oct 16, 2023

POOCHED LP release show with DISPOSAL, SUNDIVER, and CHERRY VENOM @ Little Fernwood – Victoria, BC, Canada

Show poster of a black letter board with white letters with the show details. POOCHED LP release show with DISPOSAL, SUNDIVER, and CHERRY VENOM Littel Fernwoos All Ages $5 youth $10 adult 7PM

Little Fernwood is a small community center in a central Victoria neighbourhood. It has been hosting shows on and off for over 30 years, and at times it was central to the Victoria punk and hardcore scene. I hadn't been there in probably 20 years so to say I was very excited would be an understatement. This show ticked so many boxes for me: all local celebration of a local band's release, all ages with a lower price for youth, early start, community center, plus there were free chips and pop at the door.

SUNDIVER opened things up, they are a slightly mixed bag of folky pop punk and hardcore but it worked. They covered DEAD KENNEDYS "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" so you know I loved that. I was very down. CHERRY VENOM played second, They were a fun pop punk kinda vibe, they had great stage presence and played a solid set. DISPOSAL played next, if heavy dirty riff-y hardcore is your thing, definitely check them out. They put on a great show. POOCHED headlined, as they should every show they play. Heartfelt pop punk the way only a three piece can do it. I love them, definitely check them out and pick up their new LP. The crowd was moving right from the start, and that's what you get from an all ages gig in Victoria. Huge bonus for the show was that the POOCHED LP has a dog on the front and the dog made an appearance at the gig (in between bands of course, no doggo ears were harmed in the making of this gig).

How to Live With Yourself - EP, by Sundiver

6 track album

SundiverBandcamp Album of the Day Apr 5, 2022

Dispösal

Hardcore punk band from Victoria, BC

Dispösal

self-titled, by pooched

12 track album

poochedemmatonkss

SLANT, DRAÜMAR, BOOT LICKER, SELF DEFENCE @ Moon Under Water – Victoria, BC, Canada

Show poster green and pink on a white background. Band logos for SLANT, DRAÜMAR, BOOTLICKER, and SELF DEFENSE and show info, Thursday April 17 2025

I was pumped for this show and it did not disappoint. The energy was buzzing right from the start, the show was sold out well before the sun was down or the bands started. This was SLANT's second show of tour and when I went to buy tapes I got the last one. SELF DEFENSE got things started off right despite some technical problems. Fast hardcore that constantly felt like it was about to go off the rails (and maybe did a couple times) which is exactly how I think hardcore punk should be. BOOTLICKER played next and I was impressed. I've never listened to this band before because I couldn't get over their name, but their live show won me over and now I'm a fan. I moshed. Fast, tight, energetic hardcore punk. Joke's on me for sleeping on them for years. DRAÜMAR from Oslo, Norway played next. They were a late addition to the show, their tour plans got scrapped when they decided not to tour the US due to possible immigration issues. Very cool that they still made a go of it by playing a bunch of shows in BC. They were rad and the crowd loved them, especially the oogles. How did oogles get into a sold out show? SLANT from Seoul, South Korea headlined (obviously) and they put on a set worthy of the slot. What a fucking great powerhouse of a hardcore band, they deserve all the hype they have. I moshed, everyone moshed, some oogle tripped me in the pit and I went face first into the floor. No regrets.

Self Defense, by Self Defense

from the album SELF DEFENSE - 12 Track E.P.

Slow Death RecordsBart

Bootlicker LP, by Bootlicker

14 track album

BootlickerBloke_Whistler

DRAÜMAR

DRAÜMAR. Oslo, Norway.

Record stores and adjacent stuff

Pogo Pope Printing

Screen printing shop with a bunch of records, bootleg shirts, and punk accessories. Owned and seemingly staffed exclusively by active punks, go here if you need to find the latest hype release or some cool old record at an affordable price. I think these folks also run or are a part of Slow Death Records. If you are in Victoria and you don't stop here, idek, that says something about your priorities. 3588 Quadra St., Victoria, BC V8X 1H2

Downsided Distro

Cool local grind and crust distro, the name says it all. Obviously run by a punk, you gotta catch 'em at gigs I think.

Cavity Curiosity Shop

This is a super cool spot that's basically someone's special interest turned into a store. There's lots of books, VHS, records, CDs, tapes, patches, trinkets, some toys probably. Owned and run by an active punk. 2514 Douglas St., Victoria, BC V8T 4M1

Supreme Echo

Tiny record shop with lots of niche records, CDs and tapes. Collector's gonna collect kinda vibe, bring lots of cash if you wanna buy something here, you will find something cool, but it's gonna cost ya. Owned and run by an old head. Fucking stoked someone is living their dream. 2504 Government St. #102, Victoria, BC V8T 4P7

Ditch Records

Cool long running record store, usually has lots of cool punk and hardcore stuff and always has. 784 Fort St., Victoria, BC V8W 1H2

Camas Books

Anarchist bookstore, has books, zines, random stuff, a crucial stop for any anarchists and anarcho-curious. 2620 Quadra St., Victoria, BC V8T 4E2

Full disclosure, I love Victoria

I don't get to come back to Victoria very often, every few years at most, and this trip was the longest I've spent here since I left. I'm really glad I got to catch up with the scene a bit and shed a little tear of happiness that punk is going strong and the scene is so fucking cool here. If you are a band on tour and Vancouver is on your list, book a show in Victoria. It's worth it for the ferry ride alone, maybe you'll see orcas, and for sure it'll be a fun gig.

Malas Artes 2025 Reportback

2025-05-13T18:42:28.000-04:00

Malas Artes is already a classic in Barcelona. After so many years of the festival (previously called MDA), each edition seems more impressive than the previous one, and the imagination and energy behind this huge event has opened new spaces to punk in this city. The fest is organized by a nonprofit association with three punks behind it and lots of people who collaborate in many different ways. This year, all the proceeds were donated to the Palestinian Community of Catalonia, who also were there (and even danced!) during the whole fest.

Thursday, May 8th

The first day of the fest started at Paral·lel 62, an old theater/club that is now run by a cooperative of different music venues. The space is downtown, a bit far away from home, and in an area where normally you wouldn’t find many punks nowadays. The venue is impressive – in past editions of Malas Artes, the show happened onstage, but this year the organization decided to do a floor show, allowing the crowd to nearly surround the bands.

This day started with the local band KIRE, who I missed, and the news that DOMINACIÓN were finally playing the next day. KIRE was followed by one of the acts that I was more excited for: GLAM. They were playing for first time in many years, after they split at some point in the previous decade, spawning several amazing projects (BARCELONA, UNA BÈSTIA INCONTROLABLE...). Their original mix of HELLHAMMER riffs, fast hardcore drums and dark, oppressive lyrics sounded exactly as I was expecting, and their explosion of energy fulfilled all my dreams of seeing them again.

After them, TENTÁCULO from Sevilla took the floor to show how punk has evolved lately in Andalucia – slower and melodic, but addictive, with great hooks and very well-crafted lyrics. They were followed by CŒUR À L’INDEX, who continued with the slower sounds but in a more power pop style, showing the potential of this Brussels band that already visited us last year. After this peaceful time in Paral·lel 62 the drums of war resonated with the first notes of S.H.I.T.

The venue was dark, with only a few lights directed at the band, and the crowd was so packed and wild that it looked like a scene from Fight Club. The energy delivered by this Toronto band is impossible to express with my broken English but it was amazing for those who like the raw energy of punk and the perfect midtempo parts that they have been polishing over the years.

The day finished with one of my favorite group of Mediterranean punks, the acclaimed CHAIN CULT from Athens, Greece – they demonstrated that their post-punk is alive and kicking, with more new rock flavors added to their formula. They are exceptional people and musicians! Sadly, I had to go back home very early and missed part of the set, because I had to wake up very early the next morning.

Friday, May 9th

The next two days of the festival happened in the great Ateneu Popular de 9 Barris, one of the first squatted places of Spain, before squatting was a word here. It was originally an asphalt factory that was built to create the new roads around Barcelona, but the neighbors decided to sabotage the machines and take the space. It is not squatted anymore but it’s one of the most important cultural public spaces of the city.

On Friday I arrived after work, very tired but decided to see the local band DOMINACIÓN, who opened the day and delivered the rawest sounds of the festival. Even playing a bit slower than usual, their wall of sound was unstoppable. After their set, I spent a lot of time at the door, just hanging out with lots of people, especially Italian friends that haven’t seen in ages. Lovely people. It seemed the craft beer in the venue had a weird sweet taste, and the punks went feral around the neighborhood looking for beers. We saw two supermarkets with no beers at all, and of course they didn't understand what was happening.

A couple hours later, the sound of some noise (the kind of noise we like) arrived to my already fucked up ears and I decided to enter the venue to see what was going on. BOMBARDEMENT were playing – one of the finest d-beat acts of Europe, proving that Bordeaux still has something in the water (maybe wine?) that makes their inhabitants create amazing hardcore punk bands. Sadly, the venue was too full and I only saw a bit from far away. Then I missed SEEIN RED, from Amsterdam, and honestly if you don’t know this band you should!! Everyone said they were so good, and now I think I should have gone inside for their set. Lesson learned, no more socializing for me. After them another very anticipated act came: E-150, already-classic local hardcore punk that were reunited for this special occasion. I loved to see them, but the stage of this show was too big and the sound in the back of the venue was not very consistent.

Finally THE MOB (UK) took the stage, and hundreds of people melted into one single entity of love, anarchy and punk. Smiles everywhere, funny dances, hugs, and sing-alongs were the summary of their show. They played a bit slower than in the albums, but it was still amazing. I felt like a child for a couple days, I never thought I was going to be able to see them! An Ulrike Meinhof quote in the back of the show, the Palestinian flag and the flag in support of Blokes Fantasma (a squat in risk of being evicted soon) made the whole scene an even more beautiful memory that I will keep with me forever.

Saturday, May 10th

The fest was ending but we still had a whole day of music and talks. I woke up a bit earlier than I wanted and went downtown with CHAIN CULT to have some tapas. It was super nice, but then we rushed back to the venue where a very special talk was happening: Penny Rimbaud from CRASS who explained the details of the Dial House, shared many thoughts and was so nice trying to answer every question. I wanted to ask him if he still thinks that, after how interesting his life sounds, they still owe him a living (I think they owe me a living for sure). Or if he really found that living a bit later than he was expecting. But I’m too shy. He probably would have answered that of course they owe him a living, and I would seem like an idiot. After a small pause another talk, very different but very interesting: Laura Macaya and A. explained the complex concept of transformative justice. It was very good, I wish there could be more talks around this idea since many things were left out because the shows were starting.

Again, I missed a bunch of bands: BRAGAS PONTE, BOLA DE CRISTAL, BORLA… there were too many people I hadn’t seen in years from all around the world! But I interrupted my socializing in time to see ASTIO, an amazing band from Trento, Italy. Their live set full of effects and energy took me on a trip to a different dimension, I felt like I was seeing a totally psychedelic post-punk show. Again, I missed some more music, but some time later I got to see a few tracks of PIÑÉN, the perfect hardcore duo from Berga (a city close to Barcelona) that destroyed the ears of those who offered them to their raw sounds. After them, TENUE from Galicia played some emo crust that sounded so heavy, but it’s not my kind of band.

There are different stages in Ateneu Popular de 9 Barris, and the big venue opened its doors with SHAKTI, a new local band who surprised me with some anarchopunk beats and sometimes mixing post-punk riffs with faster punk songs. I really liked the drums, and I’m curious to see how these already experienced musicians (BELGRADO, GOOD THROB, etc.) evolve this sound. The day was ending for me – I was too tired (yes, I am a weak punk), but I went to see the last show of the smaller stage: S.H.I.T. were playing again! That was fabulous. I saw all the younger punks dancing to these gritty hardcore songs and I just hope they start more hardcore bands after seeing such a good show. We need bands made by younger people! S.H.I.T. were probably the best band of the fest after GLAM for me.

The fest wasn’t ending but I went back home, I was very tired. I would have loved to see E.V.A and TATXERS if they would have played a bit earlier, but I’m sure we will have time to see them again soon.

Touring Atlantic Canada: VERIFY Tour Reportback

2025-04-21T10:59:52.000-04:00

We recently took our powerviolence/hardcore band VERIFY on an 11 day tour of Atlantic Canada. What follows is both a traditional tour diary, but also a tour guide, hopefully something that will empower and encourage other bands to visit this frequently overlooked and underrated part of the world.

Atlantic Canada covers the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland/Labrador (one province including the island of Newfoundland and the mainland region of Labrador). If you've heard about "the Maritimes," that's everything in Atlantic Canada not including Newfoundland and Labrador.

We live in Montreal, so this region is at our doorstep. Punks from Atlantic Canada regularly visit Montreal to play or attend shows and fests, as it's their closest "big city," but it's rarer for Montreal punks to return the favour and travel east. It's rarer still for bands who are touring through Montreal and Toronto include Atlantic Canada on their route. Getting out there is a "long drive"—to Fredericton, it's an 8 hour drive from Montreal, or a 6.5 hour drive from Boston—but once that's done, everywhere else in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI is 2-4 hours apart. One long drive to get to a concentrated region of thriving punk scenes nestled among beautiful coastal landscapes shouldn't be a deterrent to any but the laziest punks.

Atlantic Canada punk has a long and storied history. Check out the still-active Atlantic Punk blogspot which digs into the history of the region with interviews and discographies. That history has built many strong punk scenes today, regularly repopulated with youth hungry for any new bands who come from away. These kids will go out of their way to support your band, buy your merch, make sure your gas, bridge tolls, and ferry tickets are paid for and just generally make you feel welcome. We've never heard of a decent hardcore/punk band having a bad time or losing money on an Atlantic Canada tour leg.

Fredericton, New Brunswick

New Brunswick is the gateway to the rest of Atlantic Canada. From Montreal you have to drive through 8 hours of Quebec/New Brunswick highway before you get to the first city of note (Fredericton).

There are several small cities in New Brunswick. Fredericton and Moncton are both along the Trans-Canada Highway and Saint John is off the highway down towards the Bay of Fundy. Don't confuse Saint John, New Brunswick with Saint John's, Newfoundland!

All these cities have a rock or show bar and you might have luck getting a bar show but probably only on a Friday/Saturday/maybe Sunday. All-ages shows in Atlantic Canada are much better and more fun than bar shows, but the difficulty is the same in getting a show booked on a weeknight. At present, Fredericton seems to have the most active scene in New Brunswick. Seger and Sienna from GAZM moved back there and settled in at the start of the pandemic, and we think a lot of the current scene's health is due to their influence.

Fredericton is the only place on this tour we had played previously and the large and enthusiastic all ages turnout at the Odell lodge mirrored our last gig there in 2023. Our version of the perfect show (three band show, over by 9PM) opened with a playful and interactive harsh noise set by MILKWEED, followed by a new death-metal-y band WAYWARD CORPSE, fronted by our friend Seger. Our set was a bit rough around the edges—it was the first show of tour, and also Taylor's first show playing guitar in VERIFY (a last minute line-up change due to our guitarist Jay having a family emergency). We got our only big technical hangup of tour out of the way early, the supportive crowd waiting patiently while Taylor hunted down the bad cable in her pedal chain and tucked it away for the rest of tour. Once we finally started, the energy was through the roof and people danced super hard. A really encouraging start to the tour!

WAYWARD CORPSE

Since it was still pretty early, we went to the house and got some good quality kitchen hangs with Seger and Sienna, plus a few acquaintances we remembered from our last trip to town. We talked about the local struggles kids are facing to start bands or book shows, and there seems to be a bit of a bottleneck around places for new bands to practice. Despite this, it was encouraging that Jackson, a local younger, long-haired shredder who had opened for us in 2023 with a solo project was now starting full bands and taking on booking shows. We hope the next time we play Fredericton there's a crop of new bands to share the stage with!

Charlottetown, PEI

PEI (Prince Edward Island) is a small island off the north coast of Nova Scotia. A lot of the world's potatoes come from this island, which is about the size of Delaware or Palestine. It used to be more isolated, but in the 90s they built a 13 km/8 mile bridge (the longest in Canada), making it much more accessible. There is a $50 toll to leave the island on the bridge, but we've never heard of a band not covering that easily with a show there.

Crossing that famous bridge onto island #1 of tour and taking in the martian-esque red dirt landscapes, we rolled into Charlottetown and immediately spotted posters for our show that night, always a great sign! Being a small island, the punk scene is concentrated in Charlottetown, the largest city. The drive from Fredericton was short, so we had time to avail ourselves of the island's offerings in the hours before load-in: first hitting up Splendid Essence, a veg buddhist spot and probably my favourite food of the whole trip, and then a quick drive to one of the island's famously nice sandy beaches, complete with dunes and a charming lighthouse.

The show itself was at the PEI Farm Centre, a building with a big multipurpose room and offices for a bunch of agricultural organizations.

What the Farm Centre looks like when not hosting a gig

Our friends and PEI veterans CELL DETH opened – they're one of the best current Canadian hardcore punk bands, it was a huge tour highlight to be able to share the stage with them. We were also excited to learn that they were recording the morning after we left, so keep an ear out for that! CELL DETH's drummer Brett is one half of Secret Beach with his partner Sophia, and they ran the show like fucking pros. They even had little name tags where people could write their name and what instruments they play, so attendees could mingle and find others to start new bands with.

Secret Beach start-a-band name tags!

The rest of the show was a classic mixed bill and we loved every second of it. Teenage rippers KRATOM were on second, followed by heavy hardcore band CUT DEEP and the wildcard GIRLS NIGHT who had a saxophone and synth basslines and almost-rapping vocals. Luckily we played pretty well, because videos from this show followed us around the rest of tour: "I saw clips from your show in PEI the other night, it looked insane!" greeted us everywhere we went afterward. We sense that the scene in PEI is on the upswing, and it's clear that the Secret Beach crew and others are really putting in a lot of work to make it happen. The show was packed, other bands were releasing their tapes or abuzz about upcoming recordings or future shows they were playing. It was Taylor's first visit and she was totally charmed by PEI and got just enough of a taste that she is already plotting a return—maybe even for Trash Beach Fest (August 23rd, 2025) which was announced via a banner that was unfurled during our show!

CELL DETH and the early crowd

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax is in Nova Scotia, and it's the biggest city in Atlantic Canada and has a pretty well-known punk scene with a long lineage of crusty punk, youth crew hardcore, folk punk, etc. Current bands likes MUTATED VOID, BLACK DOG (d-beat legends who we got to play with on this tour), and BOTFLY are keeping Halifax on the map right now. Ever heard of CONTAGIUM, LIFE CHAIN, FRAGMENT, WORD ON THE STREET, or xENVISIONx? Look them up.

It's common for bands to play both an all ages show and a bar show in Halifax, to maximize the turnout and help make the long trip worthwhile for touring bands. Gus's Pub is a common bar for punk shows, but for all ages shows Radstorm is the spot.

Radstorm

It's a legendary social centre, jamspace, zine library and all-ages show venue that has been digging in its claws to stay open amid Halifax's soaring rents and property values. We learned that they have successfully fundraised to buy their building through crowdfunding and a community financing initiative, so hopefully they will be around for a long time! Despite this, they are still facing constant harassment from the property developer neighbours. Halifax has had a pretty crushing wave of development since the start of the pandemic as many people across Canada who started working remotely moved there and bought property. Rents have shot up and everyone we spoke to had problems making their rent. In this context a space like Radstorm is crucial.

Anchor Zine Library

After landing in Halifax (again immediately greeted by posters for our show wheatpasted to a Canada Post box!) we hunted down the highly-recommended vegan donair, took a stroll around historic Point Pleasant Park, and then rolled up to Radstorm. Unfortunately, due to aforementioned neighbour tensions and code issues, the space is currently operating with a 50-person capacity limit, which we hit pretty much immediately upon doors opening. Some latecomers didn't get in, but the young punks who showed up promptly all did!

A brand new grindcore act SCATTERED TEETH opened the show, followed by VOMT, a scrappy punk trio who would become our mini-tour-mates. Despite the small cap, the show felt full and fun, although Halifax being a bigger city meant the crowd was a bit more self-conscious and didn't start really going off until almost the end of our set (our friend Renee getting on the mic for our INFEST cover helped!). It was definitely another night for a local sandwich, and d-beat warriors BLACK DOG were a treat as always—we would've almost driven to Halifax just to see them. Halfway through their set, nervous eyes began to dart around the room searching for the source of a familiar scent—whiffs of smoke were coming from the bass cab. The gear was quickly swapped out and BLACK DOG continued their assault of noisy dbeats, grunts, and earsplitting guitars. Fried gear aside, Lucas who booked the show dealt with a lot of chaos that night, on top of doing sound AND door/managing capacity AND dealing with the cops showing up during our set. Radstorm can't be stopped!

Bear River, Nova Scotia

There are many smaller towns around Atlantic Canada. Besides the bigger cities in New Brunswick (Fredericton, Moncton, St. John), we've heard about recent shows in Bathurst, Sackville and Miramichi. Summerside is the second largest town on PEI and it seems possible to play a show there. In Nova Scotia there's Truro an hour north of Halifax and then the whole rural section of western Nova Scotia where many punks, queers, anarchists and other weirdos live rurally.

To try and fill out our tour, we got a show in Bear River, located about two hours west of Halifax along the Bay of Fundy. The turnout was great as people from all over the area drove in to attend the first punk show ever in Bear River. We ended up in Bear River simply because we had a good friend/retired show promoter there who was willing to find a space (a soap workshop in a community arts building), source a PA, and put together the show. We can't recommend any specific rural or small town in Atlantic Canada, the place for you to play is anywhere you have a friend or fan willing to pull it off for you.

If you are talking to a promoter in one of the bigger towns, ask if they know any bands or punk kids in a smaller town or rural area nearby who might be really excited to bring a band to their specific town. Keep your expectations low—it might just be you and another band playing in a shed. But if you want to fill out the tour and have an extra show or two, as well some adventure, it will be absolutely worth it and you will likely be surprised.

After the short two-hour drive from Halifax, we were at our friend's place, eating lunch in the cute cabin they built themself and making friends with their sweet dog. Everything on the tour past Fredericton was new to Taylor, so we made sure to make another beach stop and see the legendary Bay of Fundy.

The Bay of Fundy

Stopping for a coffee in a small town on the way to Bear River to load in for the show, our car started acting weird. It wasn't totally dead, but we were about 30 minutes away from the venue and definitely didn't have time to troubleshoot it or risk getting stuck in a worse spot (at least we were in a town, with a few garages nearby). Our friends were able to procure an extra vehicle (#RuralLife) and we swapped our gear into a different car, abandoning ours as a tomorrow problem.

VOMT playing in Bear River

Luckily our new pals VOMT from Halifax were able to get off work and were super game to come play this weird gig with us on a Monday night in the middle of nowhere! Additionally, the promoters had put an announcement about the show in a local newspaper, and a local band had reached out asking if they could open—a group of skatepunk dads + one of their 14-year-old sons, playing mostly covers plus one original. So in the end it came together and we had a proper three-band show! The turnout was great, probably about 50-60 people, and we were grinning from ear-to-ear the whole time, despite some underlying dread about the car situation. It was super wholesome, and people seemed genuinely stoked and thankful that we had come out there to play—definitely one of the more special and unique shows of tour.

Newfoundland

Newfoundland is a large island (the size of New Brunswick or Maine) located 160 kms (100 miles) off the eastern coast of Canada. To get to St. John's, the main city, you drive four hours east from Halifax, then take an eight hour ferry, and then drive 10 more hours. At that point you are basically a stone's throw from Greenland, and are in a special half-hour-ahead time zone.

It sounds daunting, but it's a worthwhile place to go and play. St. John's has always had a punk scene (ever heard of DA SLYME?) and in recent years it's more common for bands to get flown out there to play a weekend. Still, whether driving or flying, it seems like only 2-3 punk bands per year will put in the effort to get there.

Previously it would be hard to get a show anywhere besides St. John's unless you were willing to try and book your own show at a bar and hope that the bar regulars like whatever kind of punk you play (fine if you play folk punk, not so great if you play powerviolence). But these days, Billy in Corner Brook (a city on the western coast of the island, closer to the ferry) is coordinating with Barely There/Liam (in St. John's) to ensure a string of shows for any band who comes through: if you time it right, you can play four shows on the island, with an all ages show and a bar show in both Corner Brook and St. John's, making the ferry cost and logistics well worth it. There also seem to be scenes brewing in other towns—we saw some promising graffiti in Grand Falls-Windsor, and at our St. John's shows we met punks who had traveled from different smaller towns to see us play.

Obviously there are no guarantees, but from our experience we had absolutely no problem covering costs—despite Newfoundland being quite an economically depressed place, the scenes there are incredibly supportive. Bands don't come that often, so it's a big deal when they do. Bring more merch than you think you'll need!

Corner Brook, Newfoundland

After getting our car towed to a trusted neighbour mechanic and re-loading our gear into a rental car, we headed toward the ferry terminal in North Sydney, crossing onto island #2 (Cape Breton Island, part of Nova Scotia) and arriving with plenty of time for our near-midnight departure on the overnight sailing to island #3, Newfoundland! In retrospect, it was good timing for the car to break down, as we were grateful to have a more reliable vehicle as we hurtled into the blackness of the North Atlantic towards "The Rock." We slept decently on the ferry, except the last hour or two where we were occasionally woken by heavy winds rocking the vessel, the island greeting us with a windstorm and 110km/h gusts. Welcome to Newfoundland!

Getting off the ferry

We really can't overstate how beautiful Newfoundland is—it's like Iceland, Ireland, and a bit of B.C. thrown in. If you time it right you can see icebergs and/or whales, and even if you don't time it right there are dramatic landscapes, beautiful cliffs crashing into the ocean, abandoned U.S. military ruins, thick fog and allegedly lots of moose (although we didn't see any). A women on the ferry home even informed us we'd just missed a herd of Caribou crossing the highway!

The show in Corner Brook was a blast. Another teenager band, BLOOM, played covers and originals, and were incredibly good sports about having to leave the bar immediately after their set because they were all under 19, RIP!! If we would have known that was gonna happen we probably would've played a few more songs during sound check, sorry guys! LIFE CRISIS, one the promoter Billy's bands, played next—math-y screamo-y metalcore, they totally ripped. The room felt a bit empty when BLOOM and their parents left, but the crowd started filling in during LIFE CRISIS' set and by the time we played there were plenty of people there and the energy in the room was great! We didn't book a second all ages gig in Corner Brook because it was Easter weekend, but next time we come through we'll definitely prioritize it, as from everything we heard the all ages scene there is thriving.

St John's, Newfoundland

Peter Easton was a cool pirate

After the long but stunning drive across the island and a proper night off, we rolled up to the Peter Easton Pub for St. John's gig #1. Everyone seemed to have a strong affection for the Peter E, a neighbourhood bar with a dedicated show room. While we're both not usually wild about bar shows, the place had a great vibe and was clearly a comfort zone for most of the bands and attendees. The five-band show moved along efficiently, with one of the promoter Liam's bands BIRCH BEER opening, replacing our friends DESPERTÁ, who unfortunately had to drop (luckily one of DESPERTÁ's singer Peppa's other bands MAGICK did play, plus the drummer/our friend and host Christeen joined us on the mic for the INFEST cover!). People were dancing during the whole show, but DISCIPLINARY ACTION really brought the energy up to the next level, they were a tough act to follow. But there was no reason to worry—this was hands-down the most passionate crowd we've ever played to. People were singing along, moshing at the right parts and going nuts, and thanked us profusely in kind words and sheer enthusiasm. The Friday show was closed out by the excellent LIFE JOLT, clearly a local favourite, with lots more moshing and singalongs.

LIFE JOLT, VERIFY, BIRCH BEER, DISCIPLINARY ACTION (Photos by Steve)

Red Cliff, near St John's

We spent the next day sightseeing around St. John's and had dinner at the second killer buddhist veg restaurant of the trip (shoutout Peaceful Loft!). Then it was time for our last show of the tour—the first all ages show at the Anna Templeton Centre, a labyrinthine former bank right downtown. There was some overlap in the crowd from the night before, but with the addition of lots of younger people, including the opening band TWIN RINKS who wore construction helmets/vests and seemed to be really stoked about making loud noises, hell yeah. FLOORWALKER and INVISIBLE HAND (another of Liam's bands) played and even though Taylor was tired, she moshed for both because they absolutely fucking ripped.

The Anna Templeton Centre

While we were setting up, we got a text message that our ferry crossing home had been postponed because of more extreme wind. This was pretty rough news—getting home was already gonna be a big trip, plus the logistical challenges of recovering our broken-down car. But we managed to compartmentalize the tomorrow-problems, and played a final awesome last set with another super enthusiastic crowd response. There were a lot of young aspiring photo/videographers at this show. At least three DLSR's, a camcorder, and even someone with a Nintendo DS documenting the whole show. Kids are just excited and trying to participate any way they can, but sometimes there can be too many people trying to take photos. For our last song, we made a polite request: everyone put away the cameras and mosh. It worked, and the room exploded as young and old went all-in to dance. It was a great way to end our last set of tour. Local metalcore band HANGYOURHEAD closed the show, absolutely check them out if you're on the metalcore revival train because they nailed it. Perfect end to a basically perfect tour.

TWIN RINKS, INVISIBLE HAND (photos by Steve)

St. John's didn't seem to suffer from the shortage of bands or lack of participation you might expect in a small or isolated place—even though there were one or two shared members, I was impressed that we had two shows with four different local bands each night. And the bills weren't even that mixed—almost all hardcore bands on the faster/heavier side of things, with a thread of powerviolence influence running through many of them (possibly Martin's old band VILE INTENT playing there in 2018 could be partially responsible for this...). There were a lot of people at the shows and playing in the bands who weren't dudes, which made me very stoked. There were also a ton of straightedge kids, some of whom we got a cute group photo with at the end of the all ages show, and several people participating in the scene in other ways by doing zines and putting out tapes (shoutout again to Liam who booked our shows and does Barely There distro, and also Steve of Open Veins distro/zine who kindly loaded us up with his wares, took some of the photos in this article AND moshed very hard both nights!).

Notes on getting to Newfoundland

Some bands will just fly in to St John's to play one or two shows, and this is great but if you do that you'll deprive yourself of the beautiful drive across the island, playing Corner Brook or any other towns, not to mention the rest of the Maritimes. Doing a more traditional tour to Newfoundland requires a bit of logistics and planning, but no less than visiting other faraway places. It's all relative.

Ferry

There are two ferry routes to Newfoundland. Both depart North Sydney, NS, but one goes to Port-aux-Basques on the west side of Newfoundland, and the other goes to Argentia which is a bit closer to St John's and only runs in the summer. Don't take the Argentia ferry, it's for tourists. It's a lot longer, and a lot more expensive: you have to book a cabin for everyone in addition to paying for your vehicle, and you still have to drive a few hours from Argentia to St John's. It's not cheaper than driving across the island so you don't save any money on gas. It's not even really faster. You just spend more time on the boat and less time driving.

Take the Port-aux-Basques ferry, and probably do the overnight ferry to give you more time for hanging out. You aren't allowed to stay in your vehicle for the crossing, but there are comfortable reclining chairs like you'd find on a train, so it's possible to sleep.

Weather

Avoid traveling there in winter, as the weather can make a lot of things unpredictable. Even touring in April we ran into ferry cancellations that thankfully didn't cause us to miss any shows. Planning to go anytime between May and October is probably best. Newfoundland only has true summer weather in August, but outside of August your reward is spectacular fog!

Conclusions

Overall, we were totally bowled over by this tour. There wasn't a bad show. Someone asked us which was our favourite show and we pretty much just ended up naming every show for one reason or another. We ran out of tapes and were low on shirts before we even got to Newfoundland. We brought hundreds of free/PWYC zines with us and got rid of almost all of them. Part of our good fortune was having old friends and good connections who hooked us up with killer shows and local support, but even people we didn't know were so incredibly generous, supportive and grateful that we came.

We had two more Montreal tours following behind us: our two-stepper friends ONE TRACK MIND (pairing with Halifax's BREAKNECK) came through the weekend after us, and TYPEFACE and LOBOTOMITE the weekend after that, though these bands just did a long weekend tour through the Maritimes rather than the full Atlantic Canada experience of traveling to Newfoundland. Everyone had a similar top-tier experience as us. Great shows, great crowds, and new friends made.

We would highly recommend touring Atlantic Canada if you want to go somewhere beautiful, slightly off the beaten path, and where your coming through will be super appreciated and contribute to helping build these awesome smaller scenes!

Our zine distro on the tour

Show review: UTOPIE (FR) and STEZK (CZ) in Prague

2025-04-21T17:29:02.000-04:00

Montrealer DLA contributed this show review from their recent travels abroad. A show review and brief scene report from Prague!

A punk show with hipster blazers and film photography? Let's go!!!

If in Prague and if in need of a concert, do yourself a favor and hit up Eternia Smichov. I found myself there on a cold Tuesday night in March after some deep diving into the depths of internet forums sent me to the Berlin lefty/punk aggregator page StressFaktor (https://stressfaktor.squat.net/termine), which in turn, after even more digging through bandcamp tour listings, led me to a French post-punk band who was currently on tour and playing a show in Prague.

Loosely translating their website, Eternia is located in the Smichov neighborhood of Prague and hosts a vegan restaurant, skate ramp, tattoo studio, rehearsal rooms, music equipment rentals, a pole dance studio and spaces for shows and events – in addition to hosting a bunch of different organizations, including Extinction Rebellion in Prague, and an archive of dissident Czechoslovak punk zines and other things from the Communist era.

The space for the actual show had a bar, comfy couches, a bookcase of zines, a community sale rack for clothes, shoes, CDs, and a skate ramp – as the crowd filtered in, we enjoyed our 30 crown beers while flipping through some Dutch and American zines, mostly from the era of Bush 2, including a really insane zine from a bunch of NYC people published soon after 9/11 – both about the NYC scene, and also about seeing the aftermath of the event and the increase in policing in the city.

STEZK (https://stezk.bandcamp.com/album/na-pokraji) were up first. Their bandcamp describes them well – a perfect combo of 90s emo and hc/crust, some dramatic/upbeat riffs, shrieks, and lyrics you can’t understand since they’re in Czech. Shoutout to the more spoken word sections of some of their songs, I think it adds some great atmosphere.

UTOPIE (https://utopielille.bandcamp.com/album/virage-lp) were also great. They play dancey, fun, and heavy post punk with a definitive cold wave influence, hitting us with a bunch of live vocal effects (love to check out everyone's pedal setups). You can't help but to dance to their shit. Lyrical content includes anxiety, probably also a bunch of stuff about capitalism and the oppression of everyday life (you can tell my French isn’t good enough to catch all of it). Talking with the band after, they said they were going to come for a festival this past summer, and it didn’t work out – so maybe they will come to Canada in the future! You can also follow UTOPIE here: https://utopunx.noblogs.org/

In addition to the great bands, what I deeply enjoyed about this show was seeing a different scene in a different city totally new to me. Of course, everything seems especially cool when it’s new to you, but it was fun being at a show with no more than 25 people for the first time in ages. I always love people watching at shows, and I’m still shocked at how toned down people look outside of North America (and probably the rest of the anglosphere but I’ve never been to the UK so don’t come at me about this), even when in a space like this. My limited take at this point is that I think it’s a little less of a principled rejection of a need to look a certain way to participate in a scene, and is more just a representation of the overall culture. A lot less tattoos, a lot fewer piercings. Two separate indie millennial looking guys with glasses and tweed blazers, one of whom was taking film photos of the show – and a normal collection of punk dudes, people wearing street clothes, and a strikingly gorgeous girl who looked very Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction in a floor length black coat.

The blazer guys specifically reminded me of a friend telling me about his read on the hipster scene in Saint Petersburg – it felt more organic to him, when not a little hipster passé, than scenes he’d experienced in New York. It’s as if the scene was able to create its own stylistic or aesthetic sensibilities that were truly original because of its distance (geographical, linguistic) from others. It’s maybe just a romantic idea, but I love a throwback and reaffirmation to the fact that small stylistic changes like dressing a little old fashioned (although still in dialogue with global trends) is “dressing punk.” To be fair, we see this in Montreal too. I was super impressed by a girl last Saturday at Bâtiment 7 wearing a kilt, a plaid hat, and a floor length red coat, showing up to see some bands play and some dudes strung up on flesh hooks. At the end of the day, this shit is all about doing you want and finding community in that – full stop, and it's always good to get a reminder of that.

The venue/organization/building -- whatever you call Eternia -- is also super impressive. We’re all frustrated by how expensive things are getting in Montreal, and the fact that the rent is too damn high for people to do the work they want to do, and create the art that’s important to them. There’s also not enough space -- industrial buildings and non residential leases want tons of money per month, evict and kick out bands and practice spaces, or have already been converted into condos. To me, spaces like this show us how fucked up our conception of “real estate” actually is in Canada. There’s absolutely enough determined people with the will to build spaces like this -- and we’re prevented by the continued commodification of the housing market.

All in all -- great show, super cool venue, I would highly recommend checking out their schedule if you ever find yourself in Prague. And as a bonus for shows and counterculture in Berlin: check out https://stressfaktor.squat.net/termine and https://knox.p-u-n-k.de/db/! Stressfakor has community events, free food, manifs, shows, and an encyclopedia of lefty/radical addresses, groups, and businesses to visit. I recommend viewing on a computer instead of your phone so you can translate the pages from German to English.

CORN'S CORNER: DEMO DUMPSTER DIVE #1

2025-02-28T17:11:34.000-05:00

I think a lot about the way things get lost: band shirts that evaporate, ignored buildings demolished after you leave the neighbourhood, faint acquaintances delete their social media and you never see them again, digitally or otherwise. Almost all punk demos are like this: tossed off to niche audiences in limited quantities, uploaded to incredibly fragile file sharing sites, and usually eventually abandoned for lack of interest by either the band, the audience or both.

This article lines up roughly with issue #500 of Maximum RocknRoll, so I'm going back into that musty pile of greying newsprint I've been lugging from apartment to apartment, finding some gems of yore (ie 2011) and re-reviewing them here on the Force. Fans of 2010 laptop mic recordings, bitloss, and the smallest JPEGs imaginable won't wanna miss this.

FUSS - Cold Porn - Greensboro, NC

"...VOID influenced stuff that seems so popular with all the troubled teens these days." - Aaron

Real deal teenagers in a basement shit, spazzy and straight ahead. I love the terrible album art and heart on sleeve lyrics, not a huge fan of the nonsensical and offensive Vietnam War sample, but such was the time. The EP they recorded a year later is the real treat I'd say.

Synaptic Havoc EP, by FUSS

FUSSBandcamp New & Notable Oct 17, 2024

THE FUCKING COPS - You Have The Right to Shut the Fuck Up - Cleveland, OH

"A bit too much harmonization for my taste, but if they keep the guitar leads going everything should be OK." - Brad

Felt my JAWBREAKER tattoo tingle for this one, deep in the paint "orgcore" shit, the all-dressed hot dog on this tape: tired after work song, political song, song about a city, song about a girl. Pretty perfect.

You Have The Right to Shut The Fuck Up, by The Fucking Cops

The Fucking CopsVolker J.

RAGRAGE / TWAT SAUCE - Discography / Clash of the Tight Ones - Chattanooga, TN

"So apparently there's this new thing called 'crust pop'..." - Kevin

Not a split, but might as well be, seems like they shared members and sent their demos in the same month. Somebody with more skin in the game should write about the Chattanooga / sloppy gay punk scene flowing out of this era, but I think part of the special thing about it that it never coalesced under a genre tag or something easily apeable (crust pop is pretty good though), and so remained specific to a small group of punks, a time and a couple places. Still, these songs all sound like being drunk in the summer and I love it.

discography, by RAGRAGE

RAGRAGEBandcamp New & Notable Mar 1, 2025

TWAT SAUCE - “Clash Of The Tight Ones” - Tape - 2010

TWAT SAUCE, hailing from Chattanooga, TN, is a force to be reckoned with. They’re a group of rowdy, sleazy punk girls (and dude) who w…

2010Harvester

FAMILY OUTING - Demo 2013 - London, UK

"... weird and damaged and wrong in a compulsive manner." - Layla

Easily the best thing I found in this dig, mean as shit hardcore. Best tracks were 'Thicko' and 'Sickos', not the same old guitar lines as a lot of bands splashing around in this pool. Same singer as the almighty GOOD THROB, but much more straight-ahead. Already broken up by the time MRR was reviewing this, a classic move. I can't help but love a side project or a one-off. Each tape came with "an individually stamped old postcard from your auntie's crap trip to Ramsgate with her arsehole children", so that's cool.

Family Outing demo tape, by Family Outing