SMASH white supremacy

Howdy there ladies and fellas! Happy Iranian Day for Doctors, and welcome to the latest installment of Wednesdays With Andrew. This marks the first full write up in a couple weeks, so let me formally welcome you back to the mix. And what a mix it is. This week we got Rancid. We got Ramones. We got Big B, T.S.O.L., This is a Standoff and much more. So, without further ado, GO FUCKING LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST



Oh, and the web player link for all you webels.


Oh. Hellz. Yes. Spotify just added my favorite album from (DC-born) French punk rockers Uncommonmenfrommars, 2001's Vote For Me. We'll go ahead and kick off the week with this piece of sliced gold...Tatoo is a hard-hitting (yet cheery sounding) rebuke of all things intolerant and evil. I would also rank it as being in the Top 5 Ringtones of All Time list. If you haven't had the chance to listen to this album in its entirety, go check it out, NOW. My buds and I would go see these guys play every time they came to our town on tour; they killed it live, and they are super chill dudes to boot.

Track Fast is a fast track off Rancid's Trouble Maker, released earlier this summer. The opening song off what marks the seminal punk band's 9th studio album, to me it's reminiscent of the Life Won't Wait/2000 era for the group. It's the sonic equivalent of a train that's gone off the rails, incorporating pounding rhythms and affronting, twangy guitar licks. Since the song clocks in at under a minute (and that is NOT enough Rancid for one sitting), I am throwing in Junkie Man, which is off one of my personal favorite albums, ...And Out Come the Wolves.

This next one goes out to my own little Cuban hottie. Havana Affair is a glazed donut of a song from trailblazing punk band Ramones. Off their debut self-titled album (released all the way back in 1976!), the song features everything you'd expect from these Queens rockers: simple song structure built around 4 power chords, punctuated by sharp syncopated breaks, and sugary melodies courtesy of Joey Ramone. Although all four original members of the band have died, its hard to imagine that their music or impact will ever be forgotten.

Graveyards is a melodic shotgun blast from Canadian outfit This Is A Standoff. Blending complex guitar lines and rhythms, borrowed from 80s thrash metal bands like Megadeth and Slayer, with the raw energy and speed of the 90s skate punk movement, This Is A Standoff provides an aural smorgsaborg, rife with interesting things to listen out for. Do those pop-laden yet piercing vocals sound familiar at all? The band was formed in 2007 by Steve Rawles, founding guitarist/vocalist of cult favorite, melodic skate band Belvedere. Speaking of fucking Belvedere, DID YOU KNOW - that band is still very much active, having released a new album last year (The Revenge of the Fifth) on Bird Attack Records, and still actively touring. See them next time they swing by your local watering hole!

OK I think it's time to inject some zen vibes on this week's journey. Next up is a chill track from Las Vegas-based wordsmith Big B. Part of the original line-up of OPM, Big B struck out on a solo career in the early 2000s. Here Comes the Lightning is off his 2013 LP, Fool's Gold...this album features a lot of cool collaborations, including songs that feature Slightly Stoopid and Dirty Heads.

People! Places! OK, for this next track I gotta give a big ups to dude man Yvann. He showed me this song Monolith last week, and I am really digging the moody, neo-post-punk vibes. This was the cardinal track off the self-titled, debut studio album released in 2012 by Stockholm-based noise act Holograms. The whole album has an oppressive timbre, featuring synth-heavy hooks, straightforward four-on-flour bass drum and distorted amelodic vocals. If you dig this track, go check out their brand spankin' new latest full-length release, Surrender, out now!

Goonies-loving band Slick Shoes, hailing from the deserts of southern California, have been playing fast skate punk since their inception in 1994. Father Son Picnic is off their first EP Rusty, and the band uses it to show some teeth, focusing less on a single pop hook and more on the overall rock n roll feel of the song. Side note: some things simply don't change...when I checked Slick Shoes' Facebook page this week, looks like they're still touring with MxPx!

Our penultimate selection for this week is T.S.O.L.'s soothing ode, Flowers By the Door. This song was part of their 1984 album Change Today?; aptly titled, as the record was released after founding vocalist Jack Grisham left the band. Indeed, Change Today? marked the first album with Danzig-sounding motherfucker Joe Wood on singing duties, while the band's sound also drifted away from their early hardcore influences and more into the realm or art and goth rock sounds. Jack is back at the helm, and the reunited gang released a new record, The Trigger Complex, earlier this year. 

We'll close out the week's playlist with a punch to the head, PEARS' combative track Victim To Be. Off their first studio album, Go To Prison, the song encapsulates these Louisianians' brake-and-go style of speedy, catchy hardcore. Speaking of victims and punches to heads, here's a quick concussion update: I am still showing symptoms, like concentration difficulties, headaches, dizziness...but all in all, things are going pretty well and I have been able to avoid being attacked since!


Okie dokie, annie oakley, that is a wrap. Thanks for tuning in, warriors, and be sure to come back next Wednesday for your weekly fill of good, punk(ish) rock.

Portez-vous bien et comportez-vous mal!

Gonna be a borstal breakout!

Happy Wednesday, you mid-week fuddah muckers, and welcome to another WWA punk rock playlist. Let's cool those jets, get some snacks ready and turn the volume up to 11. This week has some real headbangers, courtesy of the likes of Rancid, Sham 69, The Pietasters, David Bowie and a few more. Let's boogie woogie.




Annnnd here's the web player link. Enjoy.

Let's kick off the playlist with a sugary and slightly nutty track, aptly titled Snickers or Reese's, from our friends in Milwaukee pop punk collective Direct Hit! Speedy and hook-heavy, and strategically arranged with thoughtful instrumentation and layered vocals, this song has everything you need to start the day right. Snickers or Reese's is off their debut full-length, Domesplitter, which was really just a collection of re-recorded versions of songs they had already released. At their inception, lead songwriter Nick Woods preferred quick and instant EP and single releases, as opposed to formulating and publishing full-length records.

Awww yiiiissss...Ghost of a Chance is an explosive-laden train of a new track from those intrepid and indomitable Berkely punk rockers, Rancid. The song is the first single the band has released as part of their upcoming album Trouble Maker, which will be available in its entirety on June 9th. This LP will mark the first new project Rancid has done together since 2014's ...Honor is All we Know, and I can tell you this hyena is fucking excited for it. Alright, well I am too worked up to not play another Rancid song...so let's also include a smash hit from their 1993 debut studio album.

This next one is a really rude song aimed at our Norwegian brethren. Fuck You, Norway is a tongue in cheek anthem from Boston punk band Showcase Showdown, who had quite the cult following during their relatively brief stint during the 90s. The band name, an allusion to The Price is Right, should tell you all you need to know about the depth of meaning that they put into their lyrical content. 

Out All Night is a cheerfully soulful ska tune from 8-piece group The Pietasters. Hailing from our nation's capital, these purveyors of pie have helped me meet the obligatory, and self-imposed, DC area band quotient for today's WWA playlist. Out All Night was off the 1997 album Willis, which was their third studio release, this time through Hellcat Records.

OK enough good feels for now. Lazarus is off the late, great David Bowie's requiem album, Blackstar. This was his TWENTY FUCKING FIFTH studio album..that is insane. The song, like much of the rest of this record, is dark and tender, and appears to reflect Bowie's struggle with his own mortality. Indeed, two days after the album's release, the Goblin King passed onto his next plane of existence. Would it be selfish of me to wish he would Lazarus back up to this world, return to us to continue writing great tunes?

Up next is So Grey, So Green, a crisp rock n roll anthem from The Bloody Hollies. Channeling the energy and soul of like-minded garage punk acts like The Stooges, Screaming Females and New Bomb Turks, these Buffalo-based art heads have blended their own flavors of southern and hard rock to make their own unique, bloody sound. So Grey, So Green is off their 2011 album Yours Until the Bitter End.

Disorder is a fuzzy bomb of groovy garage rock n roll brought to you by the good fellas of Meatbodies. Raised in the weirdness of the LA environs, Meatbodies has been serving up me-likey-drugs type of music since their inception in 2013. Disorder is off their eponymously-titled 12 song album, which dropped in 2014. They actually just released their third (and latest) effort earlier this year, titled Alice...go check it out, it's good!

We're going to end the playlist with Sham 69's school rebellion chorale (and inspiration for today's title) Borstal Breakout. Originally released as a live performance recording on their 1978 album Tell Us the Truth, Borstal Breakout would go on to be one of their most successful compositions. Founded in the mid 70s in Hersham by band leaders Jimmy Pursey and Dave Parsons, these motherfuckers are STILL active and playing shows...they also want to be your friend on Facebook, what are ya waiting for??


OK that's our show for this week. Hope you dug the tunes, and found the rambling spew of thoughts to go along with the playlist helpful. As always, feel free to send your feedback, song requests, opinions on 18th century British taxidermy techniques, FREE T-SHIRTS, etc.

Hail Hydra:

40, bitches!

Wednesday warriors! Can you believe that this will mark the 40th shitty playlist I have made for you guys? I certainly cannot, given my fear of commitment...oh, you don't think I am terrified of commitment? Just ask my wife, or the bank that holds the long-term mortgage on the house we live in. Anyway, this is gonna be extra fun. This week, we have a number of great tunes, including the likes of Kid Dynamite, Conflict, Local H, The Smiths, Vision and more.



Annnnd here is the web player link for all your doinkies.

Okie dokie, we're gonna kick off this week's gem-studded playlist with New Jersey hardcore band Vision's popular anthem, Close Minded. A good first on any list, this was the opening track for their 2000 album, Watching the World Burn. Vision's lead man Dave Franklin sadly passed away earlier this year, and was mourned publicly by many in the community, with tributes pouring in from friends and comrades like Sick of it All, Shai Halud, H20 and Agnostic Front.

Our second track is courtesy of indie band Archers of Loaf. Bred in the highlands of Asheville, NC, the Archers met in 1991 and produced four LPs and a handful of EPs up until 1998 when they decided to call it quits. Although Archers of Loaf got back together for a brief stint in the early '10s of this millennia, the band members are mostly focused on new and different projects, including forming a new band, Crooked Fingers, and filling in as live accompaniment for bands like Band of Horses and Analog Moon.

Diabolical is a jangly punk tune, which is not surprising given it was written and recorded by the old ass jangly motherfuckers of Rancid. Rancid is arguably the most important and influential punk act of the 1990s, leading the charge of that decade's punk renaissance. They also, along with  bands like Green Day and The Offspring, exposed the genre to mainstream audiences with a ton of radio success. Diabolical is off Rancid's latest release, the 2014 studio album ...Honor is All We Know, which was their first record in over 5 years. Time for another, boys..

Up next is iconic 90s rock duo Local H's take on Wolf Like Me, originally written and performed by the rad dudes of TV On The Radio. Frankly, this cover isn't SUPER exciting...I don't think they do enough to differentiate from the original. That being said, they do add some Local H flavor to it, like Scott Lucas' brash vocals, a tom-driven, mirage-y feeling breakdown, and infusing that up-tempo 90s rock sound throughout. Besides, Wolf Like Me is such a great tune to begin with, why change it all that much?! Local H released this as part of their first covers-only EP, Local H's Awesome Mix Tape #1 (which also has a great Agent Orange cover on it!)

Skumbag Skuad is a moody and aggressively horn-y track from LA's ten piece ska act Roncovacoco, which is really a mouthful of a band name. The horns are blaring, the verses catchy as fuck, and I absolutely love how they end the song in such thrashy fashion.What's not to like?

Throwing in a couple Kid Dynamite tracks from their self-titled because, well, they're just one of the best melodic hardcore bands to grace this little green and blue planet of ours (oh happy late Earth day by the way). Who does 'whoa whoa whoas' better than Jason?? No one, that's who. Kid Dynamite fact of the week - guitarist Dan Yemin, despite all his punk rock accomplishments, is also a professional child psychologist. So, like, if you have problems, and you're a kid - go get your head checked out by him.

Bigmouth Strikes Again! I think that The Smiths must be one of the first bands most think of when they think the 80s. The silky baritone notes and sarcastic lyrics of Morrissey, in  cahoots with guitarist Johnny Marr's Fleetwood Mac-style strumming, sets the stage for this pop barrage of a song. Big Mouth Strikes Again was released as a single shortly before appearing on The Smiths' 3rd studio album, The Queen is Dead, which dropped in the summer of 1986.

We're going to close out this week's sparkling playlist with a track from The King Khan & the BBQ Show, a band which is about as farcical and raucous as their name would suggest. This Canadian duo is made up of ex-Shapeshits members Blacksnake (King Khan) and Mark Sultan (BBQ). Zombies is a really fun song off the weirdos' 2nd full-length, 2006's What's For Dinner? Enjoy.

Hard times are comin your way..but never surrender, never go down!

Hey there kiddos, and welcome to another episode of Wednesdays With Andrew. I am eschewing the typical format of doing write-ups for each song, mainly because I have been very busy (read: drunk) with the new year, friends, family, yada yada yada. That means you get all the sonic goodness without having to strain your eyes reading my bullshit. Some really neat tunes today, ranging from old school thrash/hardcore from Cro-Mags to sunshine ska sounds a la Catch 22, all the way to good old fashioned skate punk anthems courtesy of blink-182, Dillinger Four and Guttermouth...and even a little more.

OH ALSO...tune in later this week for a sneak preview of a yet-to-be-released album from an up-and-coming punk band outta Austin, TX. It's gonna be schwifty



Annnnd the link for the web player: https://play.spotify.com/user/agood1no/playlist/0NCdKscL2kWnE5htM1bkT0