Pop punk act Mest is following up their earlier one-off reunion gig with a full tour in the fall. They’ll play alongside Quietdrive, Rookie of the Year, and Automatic Loveletter on the entire trek. Earlier in the summer Mest discussed their lineup for the tour, so if you’re curious try and parse this impenetrable text blob from their MySpace page.

Mest was founded in Blue Island, Illinois in 1995 and broke up in 2006 after releasing Photographs a year prior. The band’s frontman Tony Lovato made headlines in 2007 when he stabbed another man and was arrested for murder. The charges were later dropped as the stabbing was deemed self-defense. He now fronts the band Kisses for Kings.
Source Continue reading Mest / Quietdrive / Rookie Of The Year / Automatic Loveletter →

80s hardcore act Final Warning is set to reunite for two shows in the Pacific northwest this September. The band will play on September 6th in Seattle at the Funhouse, followed by a gig on the 20th at Portland’s Satyricon. Here’s a little history lesson for the uninformed:

The “classic” Final Warning line-up consisted of Jeff Paul, vocals; Jeff “Simon” Simoncini, guitar; Tim Paul, bass and Dan Cunneen on drums. The band originally formed in 1982 with Simoncini, Cunneen and Tim Paul (on vocals), with past and future Poison Idea alumni Glenn Estes and Charlie Nims (aka Myrtle Tickner) each doing turns on bass. In early 1983, Tim Paul switched over to bass and Jeff Paul (no relation) joined the group on vocals. This line-up would remain unchanged until Final Warning disbanded in 1986 (except for a brief period at the end of the band’s career when Poison Idea drummer Steve “Thee Slayer Hippie” Hanford played several shows with F.W. on second guitar).

The band is supporting a collection of their recordings titled PDX, which was released last year by Southern Lord.
Source Continue reading Portland’s Final Warning to play two reunion shows in September →

Alive Records has posted a new video of Fort Wayne, Indiana’s garage / blues / punk duo Left Lane Cruiser. The band is currently wrapping up their “Hillgrass Bluebilly” tour with Bob Log III and Scott Biram.

The band is supporting their Alive Records debut Bring Yo Ass To The Table.
Source Continue reading Left Lane Cruiser →

We mentioned the upcoming split between Chuck Ragan and the Loved Ones this weekend and now have a few more details on it thanks to eMusic. The 7″ will come out on Ragan’s Ten Four Records in physical form sometime in October. It’s currently available for purchase at eMusic along with Bristle Ridge and a single for “Wash My Feet In the Waves.”

Ragan covers the previously MySpace streamed “Pretty Good Year” while the Loved Ones turn out “For Broken Ears.”
Source Continue reading Details on Chuck Ragan split with the Loved Ones; available on eMusic →

The Offspring‘s Dexter Holland issued a statement August 22nd regarding the death of producer Jerry Finn:

We would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Jerry Finn. We worked with Jerry in the studio many times over the years, and he produced the songs “Can’t Repeat” and “Next To You” for our Greatest Hits album. He was a pleasure to be around and we are thankful for the time we were able to spend with him. Jerry left his mark on countless great records, and he will be missed.

RIP, my friend.

The Offspring are currently supporting their latest release Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace.
Source Continue reading The Offspring mourn Jerry Finn →

Killswitch Engage bassist Mike D’Antonio has told MTV’s “Metal File” that the band is scheduled to enter the studio in October to begin work on its new album for a tentative spring 2009 release via Roadrunner Records. A headlining run is also in the works for March.

I’m one of those dudes who needs to write constantly, because I really suck at writing music with a deadline,” D’Antonio told “Metal File”. “My brain gets fried, and I can’t do anything, I just shut down completely. When we start on this next one, we’ll just bring our demos to practice, and we’ll listen to them, judge them and start rearranging the parts that need to be rearranged – or we just start jamming on what sounds cool.

He added that so far, the material is sounding “fast” and everything he’s written for the LP “has at least one blast beat and very fast drumming, with really slow riffs.”
Source Continue reading Killswitch Engage to enter studio in October →

Seattle’s On The Last Day has signed with Torque Records. The band will release their Steve Carter EP Make It Mean Something will hit stores on October 28th. They’re also set to enter the studio in April of 2009 with producer Kris Crummett (The Devil Wears Prada, Drop Dead Gorgeous) to record a new full length.

The band released The Meaning In The Static in 2006 via Victory Records.
Source Continue reading On The Last Day signs to Torque Records →

Boston MA’s Rotary have posted three songs from their upcoming EP Not if the Robots Get Drunk and Start Killing People! online. You can check out the songs “Moist Robots”, “Hate This”, and “Young Guns” over at MySpace.

Indianapolis 3 piece hardcore/punk act Agar Agar has posted their self recorded demo on their own donation based label Decaying Youth Records. The album can be downloaded here along with lyrics and printable demo slips. Agar Agar features former members of the Five Second Cummings, who released Stuck in my Brain in the summer of 2007.

Californian punk act The Darlings have announced a show supporting the Street Dogs and Time Again at the Hollywood House of Blues on October 18th. The band has a number of songs online at MySpace.
Source Continue reading Rotary, Agar Agar, The Darlings →

Hello everybody and welcome to Navel Gazing: your look back at the week in Punknews. I’m Adam White and I’ll be your guide through some of the most popular, notable, and otherwise attention getting stories of the past seven days. Each and every Punknews story is built from tips contributed by you fine folks, and here’s what got the strange, slow, old people in the community talking…

NOFX seems to have landed themselves a pretty high profile gig, as the veteran punk act will perform their classic Punk In Drublic at the Democratic National Convention. The band’s announcement was quickly overtaken by their labelmates Dillinger Four, who appear to have an actual non-fictional release date set for their new record. This is for real this time, the last one was just an April Fools joke on our part. Speaking of which, a joke we made about the Gaslight Anthem that same day somehow ended up in the New York Times this week. It looks like the long running Dead Kennedys conflict is dwindling down to a close, as the Jello-less band has announced an indefinite touring hiatus. Like any DK article it got quite the reaction among the Punknews community. What else had you talking? How about the Hold Steady‘s guitarist criticizing Radiohead or Bad Religion‘s Greg Graffin discussing his professorship. Of course it was hard not to react when the RIAA shut down the very neat mixtape sharing site Muxtape.com and CNN publicly mused that Guitar Hero is saving rock ‘n’ roll. Revisiting last week’s big story, we saw a response from 30 Seconds to Mars on the 30 million dollar lawsuit they’ve been stuck with.

There was lots of new music in the works this week. The ever popular Brand New are set to record a new full length soon. Epitaph Records announced the signing of indie rock act Settle. Underoath detailed their upcoming Lost In The Sound Of Separation, while Iron Chic (Latterman, Agent, Small Arms Dealer) talked two upcoming releases. We heard new audio from Rise Against with their new single “ReEducation (through Labor)”, and HR of Bad Brains who previewed tracks from his new href=”http://www.punknews.org/article/30178″>solo outing. On the touring front we saw dates for the Aquabats and Suburban Legends. Alkaline Trio also posted a video of the band performing “Wake up Exhausted” by Tegan and Sara.

This week we also said goodbye to producer Jerry Finn (1970-2008). Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

This week we spoke with Jason Shevchuk, Colin McGinniss, Paul Delaney and Jared Shavelson of None More Black (interview), Kyle Johnson of Misery Signals (interview) and (via podcast) had a chat with Lemuria (interview). This week’s edition of Vinyl File featured a look at upcoming releases. As always we brought you new Streaming Music including, the new record from Leeds, UK-based Forward Russia, the split between the East Bay’s Wolves & Thieves and Sacramento’s Bastards of Young, the brand new record from Suicide Note, California melodic punk/hardcore band Radio Suicide, Pygmy Lush, which features members of City Of Caterpillar, Majority Rule, malady and pg.99. So what’s coming up this week? Look for releases from Motörhead, the Creepshow, and Valencia with tours kicking off from Bad Relgion (Europe, Canada, US).
Source Continue reading August 24th, 2008 →

Defunct Chapel Hill, NC based pop-punk band The Scaries will reunite for an appearance at this year’s Fest in Gainesville, Florida. The band called it quits in December of 2003 with a pair of hometown shows. Since then members of the band have played in J. Page, Colossus and Amish Jihad.

The Fest will take place between October 31st and November 2nd in Gainesville. The event feature over 250 bands playing 8 stages and annually lures many bearded or otherwise scruffy Punknews readers to the Sunshine State.
Source Continue reading The Scaries reunite for The Fest! →

We’ve gotten word that Bill Clower of Radon and Cro(w)s has joined Austin, TX’s The Anchor as their new permanent drummer. Clower will relocate to Austin to join the group, with current drummer Josh moving over to guitar.

The band is currently supporting a split with O Pioneers!!! released by Triumph Of Life Records.
Source Continue reading Bill Clower of Radon joins The Anchor →

Burlington, Ontario’s Saint Alvia Cartel have posted the first track from their upcoming sophomore full length Between The Lines. You can check out the song, also titled “Between The Lines,” at MySpace. The 13 song full length is expected in stores on on September 9th via the Union Label Group. You can check out the cover art here. The record hits stores just as the band embarks for a September tour across Canada with Against Me!.

Interestingly all the promotional material for the new record is calling the band Saint Alvia. So it looks like the group’s shortening the ol’ moniker.
Source Continue reading Saint Alvia: “Between The Lines” →

These Arms Are Snakes recently blogged about an upcoming split 7″ for Vinyl Collective with Minus The Bear. The Seattle band chose to cover a track from defunct Memphis garage act Lost Sounds on their side. In their own words:

Yes, the new record isn’t even out yet. But we’re back in the studio laying down some new songs for some upcoming projects. We haven’t quite allocated all of the material yet, but one thing is certain: one song will wind up on a split 7″ to be released by our friends over at Vinyl Collective. Our side of the record is a cover by our favorite defunct garage/goth/new-wave band out of Memphis… Lost Sounds. We figure it’s a fitting nod to their guitarist/co-vocalist Alicja Trout, who was awesome enough to contribute backing vocals to our song “Red Line Season.” We opted to tackle a rendition of “Energy Drink and the Long Walk Home” of the Rat’s Brains and Microchips album. For the other side of the 7″, our good friends in Minus The Bear will contribute a cover of their own. Not sure what song they’ve picked, but I’m sure it’ll be mind-blowing. More details will come as we figure this shit out…

Just yesterday These Arms Are Snakes unveiled the first song from their upcoming record Tail Swallower & Dove. You can grab the song “Red Line Season” from Spinner.com or stream it at MySpace. The record is due out on October 7, 2008.
Source Continue reading These Arms Are Snakes cover Lost Sounds for split with Minus The Bear →