Month: March 2026

The Format Announce Saturdays in the Park

The Format
Jason Tate

The Format have announced an acoustic organizing event.

Join The Format at Saturdays In The Park to hear music and learn about local organizations doing important work in your community. Make buttons, connect with other fans, and enjoy acoustic performances from The Format and some of their musical friends. Saturdays In The Park events are free, all ages, and will run during the afternoon.

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The New Faces of Pop-Punk (The Genre’s in Good Hands)

Super Sometimes
Jason Tate

Over the past few years there’s been a nice wave of new pop-punk bands that have turned my head. From Super American (RIP), to People R Ugly, to FRND CRCL, to The Paradox — all of these bands have that special characteristic, or feeling, that elevates them above the pack. They carry the torch of a genre I’ve loved most of my life with a genuine fire and clear shared love for the music. You can tell they love it as much as I do.

Add to that list: Super Sometimes.

Their new album, due out in May, is absolutely everything a pop-punk album should be. Fun, energetic, and full of melody and dual vocal harmonies. I don’t think a single day has gone by where I haven’t played it at least twice since I first heard it.

The genre is alive and well.

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Review: Kiss The Scientist – Better In My Head

Kiss The Scientist - Better In My Head
Adam Grundy

If Saves The Day were still pumping out tunes regularly with a vocalist this confident, paired with the musicianship of The Early November and Thrice, you’d find the sound of Kiss The Scientist. On their debut EP, called Better In My Head, the Los Angeles emo band showcase why they are already making waves in the revived emo/punk scene. The band is a four-piece unit comprised of Maxwell Tomack-Villalobos, Devin Rodriguez, Nick Anoci, and Kevin Middleton, and their great chemistry is on display over these slick six songs that make up their debut EP. With a classic pop-punk/emo sound rich in the lore of the AbsolutePunk days of old, Kiss The Scientist carry the torch for the next wave of emo bands today.

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EEP-OOP! – “Don’t Waste Away With Me” (Video Premiere)

EEP-OOP
Adam Grundy

Today is a great day to share the latest single and music video from Seattle pop-punk band, EEP-OOP, for their fun song called “Don’t Waste Away With Me.” EEP-OOP! is built for cheap beer, garage hang-outs, and full-throated singalongs. Hailing from Seattle, they’ve been marking their territory on regional stages for the last two years, converting fans with raucous live sets and earnest lyrics. This quintet sings about all the good stuff—anxiety, depression, and alcoholism—but does it with a catchy flair that puts them somewhere between the melancholy of Off With Their Heads and the sunny pop punk of Blink-182. These influences are on full display in their debut Sorry. Dirt-bag anthems soar with big melodies, pairing perfectly with a six-pack and a dozen of your sweatiest friends. The band shared, “Our 2nd single ‘Don’t Waste Away With Me’ now has a brand new music video that is a lot of fun! The song is about a relationship that’s on its last leg with borne people begging each other to walk away and it’s a lot of fun for such a sad subject!”

If you’re enjoying the video, please consider purchasing the band’s new album called Sorry here.

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Make Do and Mend Announce New Album

Headphones
Jason Tate

Make Do and Mend have announced they’ll release their new album On Going later this year.

Over the past year or so, we started to bat around what being creative together again might look like. We began sharing ideas, which led to a collection of new songs that will make up the fourth Make Do and Mend album. We humbly regard it as our best.

We’ll have more to share soon about when and how this new album will find its way to you. For now, we’ll let you know, the album is called On Going.

Live Nation Executives Brag About “Robbing” Ticket Buyers

Video
Jason Tate

Walden Green, writing for Pitchfork:

The conversations are between Ben Baker, now head of ticketing for Venue Nation, and Jeff Weinhold, currently a senior director in the ticketing department. Baker and Weinhold joke about overcharging and price-gouging fans—“Robbing them blind, baby,” Baker brags in one exchange pertaining to a Kid Rock show in Tampa Bay—as well as being able to raise prices on ancillary services such as parking seemingly at will. “These people are so stupid,” Baker writes. “I almost feel bad taking advantage of them BAHAHAHAHAHA.”