rolling punk rock 2025

let's talk about punk bands/artists and their music, especially new releases!

first up: Pigeon Pit - a great trans-fronted anarchist folk-punk band from Olympia, Washington - has a new album out Jan. 17:

https://pigeonpit.bandcamp.com/album/crazy-arms

it's great, and they're great.

also, world-class punk label Erste Theke Tontraeger kicks off the year with a new one from Aussie synth-punk freaks The Ghoulies ... listed as out March 1, but you can hear the whole thing already? idk ...

https://erstetheketontraeger.bandcamp.com/album/ett-095-the-ghoulies-shafted-by-the-algorithm-lp

^^ yeah I dig that one

this is a late 2024 release but i really enjoy these scuzzy garage punks from italy who have an incredible and absurd name

https://393756499464mytelephonenumber.bandcamp.com/album/album-1

The Gobs have added a 4th member on guitar, freeing the lead guitar player up for keyboards!

Live in an arcade:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb5qPAkb98U

should I go and see Bulldoze in a couple of months? I'm not really into beatdown/tough guy HC and their singer died a couple of years ago. the HC scene here seems to be into that stuff a lot, I thought I might lean into it a bit just for a change. I got a ticket for Madball in Feb lol. I think that will be a fun gig just because it's in a 150 cap venue. I will stand at the back with the other old people

i regret not going to see Terror a few months ago. go to the show.

new LP from one of my favorite egg-punk bands in recent years gathers songs from their 4 tapes, plus some new ones. 26 tracks, all under two minutes.

Ismatic Guru from Buffalo!

https://ismaticguru.bandcamp.com/album/an-incredible-amount-of-overwhelming-information

just seen that Dry Socket are playing here next Saturday so I think that's my first punk gig of the year. annoyingly the Subhumans and the Boys are both playing (different gigs) this Sunday but am already going to see the Jesus Lizard. I have seen both of those before (several times in the Subhumans' case) and have only seen Jesus Lizard once so that's ok

Jesus Lizard tonight for me which is my 6th or 7th I think?

V interested what your opinion is Mr B as I don't want to spoil your show with what I think

ooh. I like the new album, it's not up there with their first few but I like a few songs on it - I'm slightly dubious what they'll be like live nowadays but hopeful they can still do it I guess? I'll let you know

I started a thread about a band I am smitten with:
Lambrini Girls: Who Let The Dogs Out

new Tee Vee Repairmann 7" rules, it's called "I Wanna Be A Ramone"

out via Total Punk's "Order Of The Dirty Plates" 7" series

Ok since I think everyone has been...

Hated the Jesus Lizard show. The sound was really thin and Yow was on exceptionally bad/grumpy form - next to no crowd interaction except literally numbering the first half dozen songs played. Ventured into the audience twice with the first being very concernedly watched by Sims. Between that and sitting down during the set in Bristol, Leeds and London I wonder if he actually hurt himself in Glasgow or Manchester? Maybe the best way to describe the sound was if it was an arena band having to play through their amps? Duane in particular sounded weedy.

It probably doesn't help that I don't think the new album is much cop and the songs from it were a really noticeable drop in quality during the set. Also we got the hits early version - there are three setlists apparently - and imo anything that starts Seasick/Gladiator/Boilermaker/Dudley is doomed to feel front-loaded.

The 08/09 reunion felt like it was getting together for the right reasons, everyone was energised and obviously into it. This felt like a heritage act somehow still going where whichever one of them you were looking at was the original member trading under the name.

Watching the JL group on FB I am obviously alone on this as they're all unquestioningly calling them best shows of 2025, although mrs aldo didn't think it was nearly as good as the last time (her only reference point) and kid aldo didn't enjoy it as much as she expected to.

Hated probably too strong but it wasn't good.

that's a shame. I thought the sound was great last night - you could hear all of them really clearly, wasn't thin at all. Yow did sit down for a bit in the middle. looking at the setlists though, they did play more of my favourite songs in Brighton and spaced throughout the set, so I can see being a bit disappointed by the Bristol set

re Yow being grumpy, he did say the support band "fucking suck" at one point - I didn't see them because I was in the pub with people not going to the gig and only got there 5 minutes before the Jesus Lizard started, so I can't say whether I agree with him or not

I didnt see him sat down in London? Only complaint for London was that electric ballroom is awful when its 100% sold out - otherwise was fantastic, sound mix was excellent despite slight lack of volume. also thought new tracks sounded much better live than on the record.

saying the support band fucking sucks (with any sincerity) is an asshole move whether they do or not, or you're grumpy or not. fuck that.

yeah I thought it was a bit shit at the time, maybe it was a bit and they'd had a laugh backstage I dunno, I assume anything Yow does on stage is a performance of some kind. afaik support band was a standard modern hardcore band, that's partly why I skipped them and stayed in the pub, they're local and I'll see them probably more than once this year just going to punk/HC gigs, they're all over gig lineups. I can imagine he probably actually thought they sucked, but yeah not v cool

re "modern" harcore by which I mean post-about-1986 hardcore I did listen to Bulldoze this week, and I thought their demo tape from 1993 was pretty good but their other stuff was not great so I think I'll skip that gig. but I also listened to Cold As Life's 1989 demo and thought that was great. don't think I'll ever be sold on beatdown/tough guy HC but who knows maybe one day I'll end up doing kung fu in the pit after all

100% sleeve-core right here:

https://powerpantsrock.bandcamp.com/album/pp7

yep all over it! thx lol

I dunno if anyone has posted this before (possibly me lol) but I always love the interviews in GimmeGimmeGimme zine

they've been doing a priceless job documenting and signal boosting punk/DIY activity in Aust for the last 5-6 years (a country with pretty much zero critical infrastructure these days)

cool pub. they're like the only place that's gotten an interview out of Ishka Edmeades of Tee Vee Repairman / Satanic Togas / Research Reactor Corp., etc. i assume they cornered him at a gig or something ... i couldn't track him down for an interview when i was working on something. i tried to get the dude from ETT to help me and he laughed.

haha Ishka is truly the king of rock, he fuckin tore it up at that Gee Tee show

2024 was pretty good I think, I haven't properly caught up but it is February now so I guess I will post my list of good punk records from last year which is this:

(split) brain tourniquet + deliriant nerve - s/t 7”
(split) snooper + prison affair - s/t 7”
aihotz - niebla total 12"
alvilda - c'est deja l'heure
argh - se pudrio todo... adios
armor - afraid of what's to come 12"
assistert sjolmord - s/t 7”
aus - der schone schein 7”
bad breeding - contempt
balta - mindenki mindig minden ellen 7”
bed maker - s/t
bloodstains - s/t 12”
brux - fills de la nit 7”
buio omega - diva moment 7"
candy apple - comatose 12"
catastrophe - dead on arrival CS
chisel - what a fucking nightmare
coeur a l'index - adieu minette 12"
crawl space - my god... what've i done 12"
dark - sinking into madness
direct threat - endless siege 7”
dry socket - sorry for your loss
festa del perdono - societa mentale 7”
gen gap - hanging out with gen gap 7"
gimic - we are making a new world 7”
gobs - go soft / pop off 7”
heaven - 4-track 7”
hellscape - s/t 7”
homeless cadaver - champale wishes and cadaviar dreams 7”
human trophy - primary instinct
invertebrates - sick to survive
irked - s/t 12"
JJ & the A's - eyeballer 7"
koridor - kroz pukotine
kriegshog - love and revenge
lazer bullet - spirit suck shit 7"
melt-banana - 3+5
mutated void - tarnished 7"
nasti - people problem 12"
negative gears - moraliser
no future - mirror
norms - 100% hazaarulas 12"
objections - optimistic sizing
paprika - let’s kill punk 12”
planet on a chain - culture of death
poison ruin - confrere 12"
public acid - deadly struggle 12”
pyrex - bozo 7"
real losers - good clean fun
rixe - tir groupe 7”
S.H.I.T. - for a better world 12"
second death - s/t
sect mark - self obliteration 12”
sihir - ular akan patuk 12”
subdued - abattoir
uranium club - infants under the bulb
vampire - what seems forever can be broken
vidro - upp till dans 7”
violin - s/t 7"
W.M.D.'s - front toward enemy CS
white collar - s/t
X - smoke & fiction

top reissues

Apostles - There Can Be No Spectators
Antisect - In Darkness, There Is No Choice
NoMeansNo - Wrong
Rudimentary Peni - Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatric
Swankys - The Very Best Of Hero
Twelve Cubic Feet - Straight Out The Fridge
VA - Groucho Marxist Record Co-operative
Ye Ascoyne D'Ascoynes - Supersonic Shoes

This is more post-punk than punk but this seems like the best thread for it.

https://scontent-lga3-3.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/480510364_10171099135890597_2399929662404007034_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=XrS183obfcoQ7kNvgHek_8n&_nc_oc=Adg209AZGSpg2e1ib8ZfSSj6EKF8Bw3PDcM1zLplMCWCmoOdxk1BVY6iNr1Uyl_zhOkBIdUtT-PXzn7au5y1BvoX&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-3.xx&_nc_gid=AM5hRE_UbdjBoS9IdwxE8iB&oh=00_AYA4rSIAskt-7IoHRQsDxXAhybA6HetzpgumofbT8aLIIw&oe=67BBC5D0

Ditz is a five-piece from Brighton. They have been compared to Jesus Lizard, and while that is not wrong, I hear a lot of Gilla Band (formerly Girl Band), Mclusky, and a little Pissed Jeans in the proceedings. I am a sucker for twitchy, noise post-punk with chugging bass lines and guitar skronk and this is in my wheelhouse.

What’s the groucho marxist comp like?

Glasgow area DIY punk/post-punk stuff c79-81. has a song by the Poems, which included Rose & Drew McDowall later of Strawberry Switchblade and Coil/Psychic TV

Ok i am sold.

https://www.paperfacezine.com/post/a-case-for-hatching-my-eulogy-for-egg-punk-explained

telling punks to spend more time on their songs and not stick to their template is funny to me. Maybe people are having fun, rocking out in their own way. Seems silly to judge that to me. Maybe it's just not for you anymore. And to connect that to the "world situation" we are in and be like it's your duty BE BETTER and TRY HARDER because *waves hands* all of this seems like a crazy demand of people having what little fun they can rummage up in this place.

I took it as "try not to be lazy, kids" but yeah I see yr point

Martin basically followed the "Gimme Indie Rock" template in his work afaict

who is Martin? is he in a band? sorry if he said this, i can't read the whole thing right now.

oh, he's from Lumpy and Soup Activists, i guess?

yep

understand why he feels the way he does but *shrug* this is how rock 'n' roll works

at least it's written by him and not some 23yo writer with strong opinions and not much else

wish I could see this!

EARLY WARNING.
JUDY AND THE JERKS + ABI OOZE
MIDWEST / SOUTH tour

APRIL 4th - Chicago, IL - just JUDY
APRIL 5th - See/Saw One Year Anniversary Party - Minneapolis, MN
APRIL 6th - Iowa City, IA
APRIL 7th - Kansas City, MO
APRIL 8th - Oklahoma City, OK
APRIL 9th - Austin, TX
APRIL 10th - Houston, TX
APRIL 11th - Hattiesburg, MS
APRIL 12th - New Orleans, LA - just ABI
APRIL 13th - Jackson, MS - just ABI

tbh I get what he was saying about when Lumpy & The Dumpers put out the 12" EPs, they weren't as good as the stuff they put out before that. but I had to laugh at the "this all sounds the same." - no fucking shit, are you familiar with punk music? that's kind of the thing

lol yes, in his zine Rotten Apple he talks about having started to smoke weed in the last few years which is why I mentioned "Gimme Indie Rock", this is a classic punk trajectory

(I like his later stuff much more than Lumpy, I do not get that music at all after numerous tries)

I have tried - seriously think Gnats In The Pisser is one of the best punk songs of the 10s if not ever - maybe you had to be there but when the sax solo kicked in I pissed myself laughing and also was like this is my favourite song of all time

ok I will check it out - I was almost won over by "I'm Gonna Move To NY"

the main issue I have here is there's a big active hardcore scene with loads of young people which should be cool but it's really beatdown HC heavy and you go to gigs and it's all fucking horseshoe pits because nobody wants to get punched in the face. Madball played here recently and Freddy was like why isn't anyone in front of the stage, and I'm like why do you think, you're at least partly blame for this lol

that sounds so brutal, IDGI

have never heard "horseshoe pits" before but I can visualize it, I miss the old thrash piles, hell I'm old enough that I remember actually dissing circle pits in writing for zines, I was not impressed at the time (1986)

iirc I wrote something like "did you ever think there might be a larger metaphor for how easily you all follow each other around in a circle?"

yeah idgi either - if you object to it then you're a lame old head even though people have been doing that kind of shit for about 30 years and it was shit then too

lol circle pits are fun though

I think the UK was extremely late for circle pits actually - I didn't really do one until the 00s, to Agnostic Front which if you're going to do one, might as well be them - I remember seeing Pisschrist about 20 years ago and them trying to instigate a circle pit and nobody knew what they were trying to

that's wild, yeah first time I saw it in the US was at a Husker Du/Zero Boys show in summer of '86 and I was like "wtf is this shit", but yes I will fully admit I have enjoyed some circle pits in my time

the folklorist in me is now debating whether we can blame Boston or LA for the circle pit innovation lol

Boston imo

that was my gut feeling as well

Should I care about “The Spits”

my longest held non-musical grudge against a band involves The Spits, who i saw acting like absolute assholes in the audience at a Roky Erickson show like 15 years ago.

so i say "no"

I like the Spits but I always thought it was weird they did a split single with NOFX

I can't comment on their behaviour otherwise though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVoGj8OjmmQ

Snooper west coast tour (with a bit of the south before)

LUNDI GRAS TOUR
3/1 Atlanta @ The Earl
3/2 Starkville, MS @ Proof Arts
3/3 NOLA @ Joy Theater

WEST COAST TOUR
4/6-Austin, TX @ Mohawk
4/7- Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
4/8- San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
4/9- Austin, TX@ Hotel Vegas
4/11-Tucson, AZ @ Brick Box
4/12-San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
4/13- LA, CA @ Lodge Room
4715- San Francisco, CA @Bottom of the Hill
4/17-Portland, OR @ Polaris
4/18-Seattle, WA @ Clock Out
4/19- Boise, ID @ Neurolux
4/20- Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
4/22- Denver, CO@ Hi-Dive
4/23-KC, MO @Farewell
4/24-Springfield, MO OXO Bar

saw Descendents/Circle Jerks/Negative Approach tonight. the sound was really bad for Negative Approach unfortunately. I briefly came out of mosh retirement for Nothing, Thurston Moore played feedback guitar on that one, not that it helped much, it was a shame, the bass tone was absolutely filthy but most of the time all you could hear was the guitar playing what I can only describe as extremely loud mud. I guess the sound man woke up after that though because the Circle Jerks and Descendents sounded fine.

got Bad Breeding a couple of weeks, not been to any punk gigs otherwise lately, there's a hardcore weekender in May locally but that's about it

new Snooper EP is not for me, all of a sudden they sound like an electroclash "project" rather than a tight-as-fuck band

funny, i like the new EP better than the old stuff lmfao

hahaha I respect that, will try again

sound isn't the best (audience recording?) but this new live one from Billiam & The Split Bills is a blast

https://hiimbilliam.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-nottingham-at-jt-soar

I much prefer him in band mode

how have I never seen/heard of the acronym NOTAFLOF before?!?!

I don't get why a local journalist near me thinks "Straw Man Army are making visionary punk music," They're ok, but I don't hear anything really special

Straw Man Army is awesome, but also sometimes writers just write stuff. They're just saying "I really, really love this band."

You're talking about one of the more reliable / trustworthy music writers out there, imo, too. Benefit of the doubt, and all that ...

tbh kinda with curmudgeon on Straw Man Army. I do like them but not that much

I was having a little moment just now and reminiscing over Power Lunches, which was kind of the epicentre of the London punk scene around 2014-15, and was in a lot of ways a pretty horrible venue, a tiny basement that smelled really bad and was almost certainly a fire hazard, but it burnt really bright for a minute

this band was so good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZtFL7RlKso

I think 1 or 2 of them are in Es now

I was trying to put No Vision by Die on but I can't find it. anyway, I was slightly too old for it even then but the London punk scene was fucking great in the mid-10s, I'm glad to have seen some of it.

excellent band name

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOJ6dF4aMVA

^ I must say the guy in that looks a lot like a therapist friend who specializes with struggling young adults

smokin' scuzz, reminds me of Thee Mighty Caesars

https://totalpunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/time-to-lose-2025-total-punk-edition