When not on the road with his bands, blink-182 and Angels & Airwaves frontman Tom DeLonge always made it a point to read to his children, Ava and Jonas. Now the punk-rock papa is proud to share some of his story time with the world, through the release of his first children’s book THE LONELY ASTRONAUT ON CHRISTMAS EVE. This book, written by DeLonge, is a wistful story for the young and the young-at-heart alike.
Wonderfully illustrated by Mike Henry, THE LONELY ASTRONAUT ON CHRISTMAS EVE, is a tale of a rocketeer alone on the moon on a cold Christmas night, and the gift he receives from a few unexpected (and extraterrestrial) friends. To celebrate the spirit of the holiday season, DeLonge and Henry are proud to announce a charity auction to benefit San Diego’s Rady Children’s Hospital at CharityBuzz.com.
Starting next month and continuing throughout the first few months of 2014, the Hot Topic will be releasing exclusive splatter variants of basically every Blink record. View more info about the releases below
Single LPs will be $19.99, 2xLPs will be $24.99. Don’t ask about Dogs Eating Dogs, I have no idea if or when that will ever get pressed.
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket LP - Not too long ago Hot Topic had an exclusive pressing of TOYPAJ LP on clear vinyl with red, green and yellow splatter limited to 2000 copies. This sold out quite a while ago online but there’s still some copies floating around Hot Topic stores. This one was a little more at $22.99.
Self-Titled 2xLP - (there’s already a thread for this one on here) clear vinyl with pink and green splatter with the smiley face logo etched on the D-side limited to 2000 copies. This one has been bumped back a couple weeks and should now be available around early December.Right now it’s looking like a 12/10 street date.
Enema of the State LP - clear vinyl with red and blue splatter limited to 2000 copies available 1/7/14
The Mark, Tom and Travis How 2xLP - clear vinyl with pink, green and blue splatter limited to 2000 copies available 1/28/14
Dude Ranch LP - clear vinyl with orange and brown splatter limited to 2000 copies available 2/25/14
Greatest Hits 2xLP - clear vinyl with black and silver splatter limited to 2000 copies available 3/25/14
Cheshire Cat LP - clear vinyl with blue and yellow splatter limited to 2000 copies available 4/29/14
Neighborhoods 2xLP - clear vinyl with black and white splatter limited to 1000 copies available 5/27/14
A Wilhelm Scream brings a style that sounds like a heavier mix of Rise Against, A Day To Remember, and Blink-182 with their newest release “Partycrasher”. Though the sound of the band resembles those of other punk rock bands, A Wilhelm Scream is able to completely represent themselves as an individual group that can stand out from the rest.
The punk genre has a wide range of different styles where the pop side of the genre seems to dominate over the rest. A Wilhelm Scream brings a very refreshing and heavy sound with “Partycrasher” by creating a personally nostalgic atmosphere of punk rock. The band mixes styles of rock, metal, hardcore, and alternative into almost every song which creates an amazing and entertaining album for any fan of modern punk.
“Partycrasher” brings the heavy punk rock vibe back from the dead with their songs of rebellion and non-conformity that will make listeners think back to albums like Rise Against’s “Revolutions Per Minute”. The instrumentation of the album has classic fast-paced punk feel but with a hardcore twist adding much more originality to the band’s overall sound. Many of the songs keep things interesting with sparse odd time signatures, drums that are played as if part of a metal band, and a very alternative rock lead singer voice to send the message of anarchy and self-defiance.
Although on paper it may seem like a mix-matched bunch of styles, the way in which A Wilhelm Scream puts it all together makes things very easy for the listener to enjoy. The band took a sound that most people are familiar with and modernized it, bringing something new to the table and creating the feel of old school punk rock while keeping things current with their heavier sound but still identifiable punk style.
When it comes to failures on the album, the list is pretty short. And by pretty short I mean that there is no list. If you’ve read my other reviews, you know that I always try to keep an objective point of view and make sure my personal opinion does no affect the way I review an album. Well this is only the second time while analyzing an album that I have nothing to complain about. The band keeps a very consistent sound from start to finish while keeping each song distinct and memorable.
If I were to get very picky, the only thing I might criticize is that every song on the album is fast-paced and has a certain tone to it. This would be more of a problem if the style and sound of A Wilhelm Scream didn’t fully justify the tone of the songs, but they do. The style comes off as consistent and intentional rather than repetitive or monotonous.
Overall, this is an album I recommend 100%. “Partycrasher” kicks things off with a familiar yet current style of a heavy punk rock sound. If you are tired of the easygoing pop-punk bands that are all over the music scene, get your hands on this album and embrace the fact that absolutely incredible music is still out there! This is an album that I feel would make the most critical of punk fans very proud to see that the genre still lives on, and may be better than ever.
KROQ is reporting that Blink-182 will be playing at the Hollywood Palladium on November 6th and 7th! The band is celebrating the 10th Anniversary of their iconic self-titled release and will be performing the album in its entirety, as well as other classic Blink songs.
But that’s not all… the band will also be performing live in the Red Bull Sound Space at KROQ on November 7th at 1pm!
Tickets for the Palladium shows go on sale Friday, October 25th at 10am via Ticketmaster.com. Tickets for the Red Bull Sound Space show can’t be purchased, but you can listen to win all week long or click the link at the bottom of this page for an additional entry!
In an interview with AP.net; Mark Hoppus reveals the band are shopping for labels and plan on recording next year
I know a lot of fans are going to be curious about the next record. How far along are you on that whole process right now?
We’re just talking to labels now. We met with a bunch of labels while we were out on tour. We’re getting offers from labels right now. We’re figuring out what the recording schedule is going to be and going from there.
I think the plan is to start recording sometime early next year, right?
Yeah, after the holidays I plan on flying out and getting into the studio with Tom and Travis and starting to hash out the next record. I’m excited.
Are you still planning on writing most of it when you’re all in the same physical location?
I hope so. I think that’s when we do our best work. When we did the Untitled album, we had some riffs and some parts here and there. Tom had some skeletons of songs, I had some skeletons of songs, but basically we wrote all together and it was really a great creative process. I want to do more of that rather than everybody going into their own corner, working on stuff, and then coming back.
All Time Low will be releasing Don’t Panic: It’s Longer Now! on October 1st featuring four acoustic tracks and new songs including one with Vic Fuentes from Pierce the Veil. The tracklist can be seen below
Track Listing 01) The Reckless and The Brave 02) A Love Like War (feat. Vic Fuentes) 03) Backseat Serenade 04) Me Without You (All I Ever Wanted) 05) If These Sheets Were States 06) Somewhere In Neverland 07) So Long Soldier 08) Canals 09) The Irony Of Choking On A Lifesaver 10) To Live and Let Go 11) Outlines 12) Thanks To You 13) For Baltimore 14) Paint You Wings 15) So Long And Thanks For All The Booze 16) Oh Calamity! 17) For Baltimore (Acoustic) 18) Somewhere In Neverland (Acoustic) 19) The Reckless and The Brave (Acoustic) 20) Backseat Serenade (Acoustic)
With the release of Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!’s second album “Pardon My French”, fans can expect to hear the beloved pop-punk/hardcore band at its best.
The opening track “Restart” immediately brings listeners into the style of pop sung melodies followed by the rivaled heaviness of the sound that the band has come to master. This band has really proven that pop-punk and metalcore can be fluidly mixed at a happy medium, and in a more original way than most bands. The album reeks of an aura that can be compared to “Homesick” (A Day To Remember’s most popular album) only with a more creative spin to it. Songs like “Taking Chances” and “Between Your Lines” are perfect representations of the band and especially of this album.
Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! takes the all too familiar sound of pop vocals with hardcore breakdowns to a more personal level on this album. The album’s eighth track “I Am Nothing Like You” gives an insight to the heavy side of the band. The song was not as intrusive as “Mr. Highway is Thinking About The End” was on A Day To Remember’s album “Homesick”, but it still has an impact that excites the listener for the rest of the album. The band also represents its versatility in the pop-punk genre with their song “So Close and Yet So Far”. This song shows a slightly softer side of the band that can be compared to a more intense and modern version of “I Miss You” by Blink-182.
Although the songs themselves are very good, this album does have its downfalls as a whole. The band created its pop-punk/hardcore sound from its first album “Something for Nothing” and the new release seems to follow too closely in its footsteps. Even though a definite progression can be heard overall, it seems the band played it safe with this album. They stayed close to the pop structured songs, catchy melodies, and punk verses that can be heard on almost every single song on both of their albums.
In the end, this album is a very good representation of the band but doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Considering that this is only the band’s sophomore album, not much else can be expected. Many bands will stick to what has worked in the past when it comes to releasing new material. For fans of the band, this album will be highly praised as it only reinforces the Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!’s definitive style. But for listeners that may not have liked the band’s first album, there really isn’t anything new to hear. It is more of a continuation of the pop-punk/hardcore style than a new revolutionary take on the well known genre.
Today’s contribution of our 5 Albums That Influenced Me feature comes from Coastline.
1. Jimmy Eat World: We love Jimmy Eat World because they are so diverse and you never know whats coming next , they are probably the biggest influence on us as a band because that’s something we aspire to do… we all grew up listening to Clarity and Bleed American.
2. Blink 182: I think i can safely say that Enema Of The State and TOYPAJ were the soundtrack to all of our teenage years , we have all been in a band at some point that tried to covered a Blink song.. and listening back to those albums now is the most nostalgic thing ever. Good times.
3. The Get Up Kids: As far as 90’s emo bands go , one of our favorite albums is definitely The Get Up Kids “Something To Write Home About” its one of those few albums where you don’t feel the need to skip a track and is full of relatable lyrics.
4. Nirvana: I love Nirvana because Nevermind basically taught me how to play the drums , i remember my Dad playing it all the time when I was 6 or 7 years old, and trying to learn the songs on my first drum kit.. nobody plays as hard as Dave.
5. The Foo Fighters: A few of us recently saw them at the Milton Keynes bowl , they played for 2 hours plus an encore and every song was a hit..covering all grounds with songs like Monkey Wrench then Everlong their live show is an emotional roller coaster! Probably the best live band in the world right now.
This week’s debut feature; “Albums That Influenced Me” contributor is vocalist Ben Barlow of Neck Deep!
Blink 182 - Blink are my all time favorite band, they’re the band that as a kid defined music for me, ever since I heard blink all I wanted to do was be in a band, so that’s a pretty obvious one.
New Found Glory - My second favorite band, same as above. For me Blink and New Found Glory go hand in hand.
Dallas Green (City and Colour) - I’ve always been into folk music, I did a little acoustic thing a few years back and Dallas was always my idol. His style of writing songs and his lyrics were what I loved. That acoustic project was the building blocks to where I am now, so to City and Colour, I owe that.
Eminem/ Notorious BIG - I know this is technically two artists, but its so hard to chose between the two and they inspire me for the same reasons. I’ve always been big on hip hop, and still listen to a lot of hip hop today, biggie and Eminem were always my favorites. Where I took inspiration lyrically from new found, blink and Dallas green, biggie and Eminem’s flow was always something I loved and it kind of just sank in after a while and I think that shows in some neck deep songs.
Bring Me The Horizon - I know some people might be a bit surprised by this one, but there on here with good reason. I was always a big fan of bring me when I was younger and there new stuff is sounding amazing again which is good to see. However, they inspire me because of what they achieved and where they came from, they did it properly and deserve to be where they are now. I could only ever dream of neck deep doing something on a similar scale.
Pop punk seems to be one of the newer genre bandwagons that bands tend to jump on nowadays. But now you can start your own pop punk band with these easy tips!
1. Write about how bad it sucks to be in the friend zone
As one of the comments said, “they should’ve recorded this in a key a half step down from this. he’d have hit the notes much better. he just yelling most of the time now to hit his notes and it doesn’t fit this song too well.”
2. Take your band name from a better and bigger pop punk band
Clearly, they borrowed their name from the New Found Glory song of the same name. Which brings me to my next point..
Man Overboard; the only studio track on blink-182’s live album, The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show.Obviously, other bands have taken their names from songs titles/lyrics of popular bands, but it seems to be more prevalent in the tr00 pop punk scene.
3. Describe your personal life in a song; where you live, what you eat, etc.
The Wonder Years do a damn good job at it as evident in the above song. The lyrics speak for themselves:
The casino seemed like a bad idea but Denny’s seemed like a worse one and I don’t think that we’d ever let that stop us. We ended up busted, broken and choking down a Grand Slam. I can’t think of a better way for the night to end cause we’re this generation’s Outsiders but we’ve got worse intentions and they’ve got better haircuts
4. If you love your friends, by all means, tell the world
Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! (who got their name from The Goonies) REALLY love their bro’s. So much, that they wrote a song about it. They also have a songs about MILF’s, but we’ll save that for another time. Did I mention they’re French?!
5. Plaid shirts and V-Necks are a necessity!
You wanna be dressed your Sunday best when your friend borrows his dad’s expensive camera to film your band’s first music video. It also helps if you can find some nice shirts at the thrift store or borrow some from a friend.
