blog

Longtime friend and Effectsbay/Rattlesnake Cables/Pedal Labels mastermind Hank Donovan recently reached out to me about a band he’s been working with for the past few years, Missoula Montana’s Magpies. This raucous indie-rock quartet has just released their newest effort, Tornado, and it’s a doozy. While Donovan handles guitar, the band is filled out by singing guitarist […]

Pacific Northwest musicians have been telling me for ages to listen to Lo’ There Do I See My Brother, but it wasn’t until a copy of the much-anticipated Northern Shore dropped into my inbox that I had a chance to actually listen. In regards to waiting this long to listen to them, mistakes were made. From the instrumental […]

To celebrate 10 years as a band, Seattle’s The Classic Crime is releasing the highly anticipated What Was Done: Volume 1 on October 27th (today!) through BadChristian music. The album is a collection of fan favorites through the years, rearranged as acoustic songs or reinterpreted with the band’s added years of experience. The first and most notable aspect of this project […]

We’re just over two weeks out from the official drop date of Seattle pop rock band Verlaine‘s full length debut ‘The Open Sea’, and a few days past the band’s successful album release party. Verlaine has been getting plenty of love for their new album, and are kicking into high gear with a few Spring and Summer shows already lined […]

Eyes and ears all over have rightfully been on Sideonedummy‘s recent signee, Toronto quartet Pup. Poised for a 4/8 release of their debut self-titled, this young band expertly mixes the fun of sunny pop with claws-out punk riffage in the vein of Californians Joyce Manor or New Jersey genre landmark Dads. The band made a big splash […]

The first I heard of Seattle’s Moneta was six years ago. I fought a crazy cold to see Sherwood at Chop Suey, and one of the opening acts was Moneta (and maybe Madison Drive?). I remember liking the poppy rock I heard, but I was too busy meeting my San Luis Obispo heroes to stop […]

Over the last few weeks, eclectic Seattle collective Kings Kaleidoscope has generated a ton of buzz over their next release, the ‘Live In Color’ EP. Under a new deal with BadChristian Music, the 10-piece Mars Hill alum has been hard at work preparing for the 3/18 drop date. The free six-song EP was recorded live at Chief Kanim […]

You don’t just name your band Andrew Jackson Jihad and then decide to play boring music. The Phoenix, AZ veterans are celebrating ten years of bandship with a rocking folk-punk fifth album, SideOneDummy debut Christmas Island. Wacky, satirical, and delightfully demented, the gang has a dozen new songs whose long arms take root in folk-rock but tickle genres of […]

Ten years, almost to the day. 9 years, 353 days. Last Friday night, Emery kicked off the West Coast side of their ‘The Weak’s End’ 10th Anniversary tour at El Corazon. With Peace Mercutio and The Classic Crime representing Seattle and Long Beach’s This Wild Life in tow, the second half of the tour was […]

I don’t dance. Not even in the “sway with the music” sense. When I made it to Seattle’s hallowed Neptune Theater for Peace, St. Lucia, and Two Door Cinema Club, I had less than no idea what I was getting into. This was my first time at the Neptune, though I’d heard about it and […]