A musical mercenary armed with an accordion, Franz Nicolay has made a name for himself supplying old world oom-pah and soul to emerging modern rock bands. Although he just joined Against Me! as a touring member, he did several tours of duty in The Hold Steady, and until recently, was one of the more distinctive members of the already pretty darn distinctive World/Inferno Friendship Society. In addition to slanging his accordion and piano skills to some raucous rock bands, Franz recently released his first solo LP Major General, handles the keys in his Eastern European influenced band Guignol and is a member of Anti-Social Music which is avant-garde even among the avant-garde.
In order to at least try to keep the record straight, punknews interviewer John Gentile recently sat down with Franz to hear what hanging out with Against Me! is like, what’s next on his plate, and why he keeps jumping from band to band to band to band.
Spring Heeled Jack have released two of their previous out-of-print albums digitally through Paper and Plastick. The label has made available 1998’s Songs From Suburbia and 1995’s Static World. Paper and Plastick’s Vinnie Fiorello commented:
Back in the 90’s, Spring Heeled Jack was doing ska-punk right… mixing soul, punk, ska, and reggae together. I always thought they were ahead of the curve. As a fan, I wanted the albums to be available to other fans that may want to buy high quality MP3’s. From a label perspective, the fact that I can provide a release for these albums that have been out-of-print for so long is fantastic.
After being dormant for nearly a decade, the band played two reunion shows earlier this year in their hometown of New Haven, CT. The band recorded and filmed both nights, and will be releasing a live digital album later this year with two new songs through Paper + Plastick. Details regarding the video footage will be announced shortly. SourceContinue reading Spring-Heeled Jack plans reissues→
Razor2: Hidden Skies, a vertical scrolling shooter, is now available on Steam! The game has the style of successful classic arcade shooter while utilizing the latest technology to create great visuals and effects.
Razor2 has easy, yet deep gameplay that challenges your skills with hundreds of enemies and bullets. The soundtrack features classic, orchestrated music composed especially for the game. Includes ten achievements and support for worldwide leaderboards.
Available free of charge, the game thrusts players into an epic bug hunt featuring a unique blend of co-op play and squad-level tactics. Along with the game get the complete code base for Alien Swarm that features updates to the Source engine as well as the SDK.
Alien Swarm is a game and Source SDK release from a group of talented designers at Valve who were hired from the Mod community.
Jimmy Eat World have unfurled the album art for their next LP, Invented. Due out September 28, 2010, the record will follow up 2007’s Chase This Light. We’ll keep you posted on that as well as upcoming tour dates, which should be announced very soon. Check out the cover art at the record’s release page.
Invented was produced by Mark Trombino, who previously worked with Jimmy Eat World on 1996’s Static Prevails, as well as 1999 fan-favorite Clarity and the band’s 2001 breakthrough, Bleed American.
Our stream today comes from Armonk, NY-based Caravela. The band is a new project from Moving Mountains guitarist/vocalist Frank Graniero. We’ve got a stream of their forthcoming debut EP, Belvedere.
UK pop-punk outfit Pacer will be releasing a new EP/mini-CD on Chunksaah Records in September. The band features two former members of The Steal, who called it a day last year.
Australia’s Violent Soho have posted the video for “Muscle Junkie.” Violent Soho is signed to Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label and is often compared to early proto-punk bands like MC5 and the Stooges and more modern grunge and punk bands like Nirvana. The song comes from their self-titled debut.
I wish it was something crazier. I wish it was the fact that I hated everyone in the band, or that we had no more music to give. But, in reality, it’s nothing like that. The fact is, we have grown up. I am not the same guy I was five years ago; none of us are. And for me, new doors have been open for the next chapter in my life. The same goes for the rest of the members. We gave the good fight and toured through rain, sleet, hail, snow and with broken and bruised bones.
With their next album set to drop September 28, 2010, Bad Religion have begun booking the promised US and Canadian headlining run beginning in October 2010. Only a handful of dates have been confirmed so far, but besides the band’s Riot Fest appearance, the band has booked shows in Cleveland, Montreal and Boston with more to come.
Fucked Up have announced their next long-form 12-inch single, “Year of the Ox.” Due out September 14, 2010, the album is the latest in the band’s series which also includes Year of the Dog, Year of the Pig and Year of the Rat. The a-side of the album is an expected 11-minute song featuring a string section and vocalist Zola Jesus which Matador Records described as a “majestic orchestral piece.”
We’ve posted some new reviews. You can check them out below: 
