It’s Sunday, January 27th, 2008. Welcome to Navel Gazing, your look back at this week in Punknews. Thanks to Aubin for covering last week while the majority of us were out in Vegas for Punk Rock Bowling. Punknews Team 1 did surprisingly well, boosted by truly massive handicaps that the debacle of 2007 earned us. Team 2 is best left unmentioned. A big thanks goes out to the Stern brothers and Julie at BYO for throwing such an awesome party year after year.

The 2008 release schedule’s starting to shape up. That long awaited new Rancid album now looks like it’ll arrive in June. Popular act My Chemical Romance are planning a return to “punk rock” on the follow up to their theatrical recent work. Good Riddance set a date for their live album and unveiled the track listing. Labelmates No Use For A Name released the art from their new one as well. Millencolin unleased all sorts of information, including a new song, artwork, and album title. New Found Glory are headed back into independent territory, with plans for a 7″ via hardcore label Bridge Nine. Beijing’s Brain Failure spoke about their next one and discussed the challenges of performing in China. I suppose that’s a different level of censorship then you get at Disneyland, but the UK’s Gallows still managed to get themselves banned by the mouse

East Bay punk rock supergroup Pinhead Gunpowder, featuring members of Crimpshine and some unknown band called Green Day, are reuniting for two shows. The Vandals have a short set of North American dates scheduled before they hit Australia.The Dropkick Murphys and Big D and the Kids Table are touring in March. Looking for more? Avenged Sevenfold are supporting Iron Maiden soon and the Civic Tour will feature Panic At the Disco and Motion City Soundtrack among others. On the new music front we got a preview of the Night Marchers (ex-Hot Snakes, Rocket From the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu), a new epic from prog monsters the Mars Volta and a new tune from Fake Problems. This week also saw news of Minor Threat‘s Jeff Nelson selling some unique hardcore merch and an upcoming “Greatest Punk Songs” special on Sirius.

This week we spoke to Oregon pop-punkers Broadway Calls (interview). The twenty sixth edition of Vinyl File featured a look at the vinyl history of Dan Yemin, including detailed discographies of Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Paint it Black and Armalite.
Source Continue reading January 27th, 2008 →

Portland’s own Kill Your Ex has set April 15 as the release date for their debut effort From Words To Motion.

The album, which is being released via Crazy Lucky Recordings/Mediaskare, was produced by Stephan Hawkes (The Messenger, Inked In Blood, The Hollowed).
Source Continue reading Kill Your Ex to release debut in April →

Mike Herrera’s (MXPX) solo project, Tumbledown, has released a new music video for “Atlantic City.” The song is from his 2007 7″ of the same name.

You can check out the video by clicking Read More.
Source Continue reading Tumbledown (Mike Herrera): “Atlantic City” →

Through the Eyes of the Dead has issued a statement regarding their recent line-up changes. According to Justin Longshore (guitar),

To avoid any complications, we’ll just state that Josh [Kulick, drums] and Nate [Johnson, vocals] have both parted ways with the band under their own circumstances. We wish them the best of luck in the future.

We are excited to announce that Lech, formerly of As Blood Runs Black, will be handling drums for us on the upcoming tour. He’s a monster behind the kit and has proven to us to be the right fit for our style. And stepping into the vocal spot is Lou Tanuis, who has previously put time in with On Paths of Torment and Invocation of Nehek.

The band will head out on the road with Throwdown beginning in February.
Source Continue reading Through the Eyes of the Dead address line-up changes →

Transistor Transistor has finished their latest full-length, Ruined Lives. The album, which was three years in the making since 2005’s Erase All Name And Likeness, was recorded by Kurt Ballou and mastered by Alan Douches.

Level Plane will release Ruined Lives in May.
Source Continue reading Transistor Transistor complete, detail full-length →

Pulling Teeth has announced their touring plans for the next few months.

The band continues to tour in support of their 2007 Deathwish release Martyr Immortal.
Source Continue reading Tours: Pulling Teeth →

Good Riddance has set a release date for their live album Remain in Memory – The Final Show.

The 31 track album is slated for release March 18 through Fat Wreck Chords.

The long-running Santa Cruz act decided to call it quits in April.
Source Continue reading Good Riddance set release date for live album, post track listing →

Recently reunited NYC punk group the Lower East Side Stitches (or L.E.S. Stitches) have released two new songs online. These are among the band’s first recordings since 2000’s Artemis Records released Lower East Side. You can check out “Guess Who’s Back” and “Can’t Take It Anymore” at the band’s MySpace page or listen to them, along with two previously unveiled new recordings and material off the first three records, at PureVolume.
Source Continue reading L.E.S. Stitches: “Guess Who’s Back” / “Can’t Take It Anymore” →

March 14th will bring a number of acts to Plano, TX to take part in the South By So What? festival. The event is planning to host 35 bands over four stages, including bands like Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Halifax and the Audition. The confirmed band list features groups like Jeffree Star, the Medic Droid, Breathe Carolina, A Skylit Drive, Ivoryline, National Product, Automatic Loveletter, and Memphis May Fire. More details are expected to be announced as we get closer to the show date. The event will utilize the Plano Centre in the northern Dallas suburb.
Source Continue reading Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Halifax and more at South By So What? festival →