Starting a band doesn’t seem very hard. If you’ve got four members and one of them isn’t holding their own, you can generally still get by, unless it’s the drummer. You can’t hide a bad drummer. In stand-up comedy, there’s no protection, and there’s less distractions. John-Michael Bond, editor of music zine The1stFive began doing [...]

PART TWO of an insanely long conversation with Patrick Kindlon of Deathwish artists SELF DEFENSE FAMILY. We pick up the interview during James’ withering examination of song lyrics, whether being ‘mysterious’ as a band works in the age of social networking, and generally whether or not Kindlon is an jackass who simply can’t help but crap [...]

BANQUETS really need no introduction. You will be hard pressed to find many Best of 2011 lists in the DIY punk scene that don’t have Top Button Bottom Shelf listed somewhere amongst the writer’s favorite records of the year. In the past year, the New Jersey quartet has really hit their stride as a band, [...]

The last time we checked in with Patrick Kindlon, his band was called END OF A YEAR. Then it became END OF A YEAR SELF DEFENSE FAMILY. And now, it’s down to just SELF DEFENSE FAMILY. The highly prolific band has been churning out 7″s and splits left and right over the past 12-18 months, [...]

The story of Trustkill/Bullet Tooth Records is about as “All American Small Business” as you can get. Trustkill began as a zine in the mid 90s that turned into a label, a label that grew into an indie powerhouse, then one with a major label partnership, and then a major label falling out. I’ve always [...]

If you get caught up in thinking about why certain hardcore immediately make an impression on people, you will likely turn your brain into mush. But every so often, there comes a long a band where it’s perfectly clear from their kinetic energy, live AND on record, that they’ve tapped into a reserve that’s going [...]

CAMPAIGN is sort of an interesting anomaly. They have received a fair amount of buzz and internet hype, but have played no more than five out of state shows, and only a few handfuls of shows in their native Atlanta. When you talk about bands who, under a traditional sense, have “done everything right,” Campaign [...]

I’m never quite sure what to make of an ENVY release, except that it makes me feel emotion on a level that U.S. bands have a hard time matching, despite the language barrier between ENVY and I. So, when I got the chance to interview them thanks to the promotional cycle of Recitation, I jumped [...]