There are plenty of cheesy, feel-good pop punk bands out there, but only a few that have that unique something that sets them apart from the pack. Culture Abuse is one such band that breaks the mold without destroying the foundation. You can hear and feel that in the band’s new single, “So Busted,” which is rich like honey in its lo-fi (but well-mixed) distortion and all-around organic sound. Not only that, it’s a sweet love note for anyone suffering with unrequited love.

Frontman David Kelling explains the song as being about:

all the stuff you are told you need in life, but when it all boils down all you really want is to feel loved and cared for.

Epitaph Records has recently, and smartly, signed the Bay Area’s Culture Abuse. And celebrating the news is the release of “So Busted.”

About Culture Abuse:

Formed in 2013, Culture Abuse released their debut album, Peach, in late 2016, on 6131 Records. Recorded with Scott Goodrich at Nu-Tone Studios, Peach is an eclectic album that sees the band lean full tilt into garage punk, throwing keyboards and even the occasional string arrangement on top of their distorted attack. This refreshingly try-anything approach to songwriting makes for an unpredictable listen that is simultaneously cohesive, a testament to Culture Abuse’s ability to wrestle disparate styles into something all their own. With their music and fun-first approach, Culture Abuse just wants to spread their message of being free, enjoying life, and sharing love.

Culture Abuse will tour the UK and EU this summer, in addition to performing at Hyde Park on July 1st, with Green Day and Rancid. See all dates listed below.

Culture Abuse UK/EU Tour Dates:

Jun 29 Southhampton, UK – Joiners
Jun 30 London, UK – Old Blue Last
Jul 01 Hyde Park – UK (with Green Day, Rancid, Hives)
Aug 18 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Lowlands Festival
Aug 19 Hasselt, Belgium – Pukklepopp Festival
Aug 20 London, UK – Garage
Aug 22 Glassgow, Scotland – Stereo
Aug 24 Cardiff, Wales – The Globe
Aug 25 Leeds, UK – Leeds Festival
Aug 26 Brighton, UK – 234 Festival
Aug 27 Reading, UK – Reading Festival
Sep 17 Chicago, IL – Riot Fest
Aug 20-Aug 24 with Tigers Jaw

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The band has an exciting summer ahead with Vans Warped Tour 2017, playing the entire tour on the Skullcandy Stage from June 16 through August 6. Dates listed below at TheWhiteNoiseBand.com.

Digital and physical pre-orders for AM/PM are available now at TheWhiteNoiseBand.com, with each order including instant downloads of “The Best Songs Are Dead” and “Bite Marks.”

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Written in the aftermath of the presidential election, “Who We Are” is a powerful protest song that lashes out against racist, sexist, and anti-immigrant attitudes. With its hopeful message of resistance, the track ultimately calls on listeners to fight fascism and “defend the rights of every woman and man.”

Descendents Tour Dates:

5/3 – Edmonton, AB – Union Hall
5/6 – Calgary, AB – MacEwan Hall
7/21 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
7/22 – Denver, CO – Fillmore Auditorium
8/4 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore
8/5 – Norfolk, VA – The NorVa
8/24 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
8/27 – Garden City, ID – Revolution Center
9/7 – Montreal, QC – Metropolis
9/8 – Toronto, ON – Rebel
9/10 – Providence, RI – Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
9/22 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
9/23 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
10/6 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
10/7 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
10/20 – Lake Buena Vista, FL – House of Blues
10/21 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
11/3 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater
11/4 – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Live!
11/17 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
11/18 – Grand Rapids, MI – 20 Monroe Live
12/1 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live!
12/2 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
12/15 – Tempe, AZ – The Marquee
12/16 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl

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Philadelphia-based Fire in the Radio will release their sophomore album, New Air, on May 5th, via Wednesday Records. The album is the follow-up to 2015’s Telemetry and can be pre-ordered now at Bandcamp.

The two tracks that have thus far been released might or might not have heavy subject matters (I guess it depends on the listener), have a positive, inspirational quality to them, which makes these punk rock tracks instantly likeable and catchy.

Listen to the newly released track, “Drug Life,” below, and the previously released “New Air” after that.

Fire in the Radio have announced the initial tour dates in support of the release, including performances at Montreal’s Pouzza Fest.

Fire in the Radio Live Dates:

5.18 Burlington, VT – Jim’s
5.19 Montreal, QB – Pouzza Fest
5.20 Montreal, QB – Pouzza Fest
5.21 Quebec City, QB – L’Anti
5.22 Boston, MA – O’Brien’s
5.23 Providence, RI – Dusk
5.24 Brooklyn, NY – Alphaville
5.25 Allentown, PA – The Alternative Gallery
5.26 Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle

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For now, you can stream the five splendid tracks here:

Pre-orders are available via the label’s Bandcamp page.

The EP was recorded and mixed by Andrew Grosse and mastered by Jose DeLara at Caravan Studios on their home turf in Oregon.

Vocalist Ami Lawless commented about the band:

Cliterati is a band who believe in equality through inclusion. We are queer, straight, people of color, and white. Our influences include the bands Doom, L7, and Bolt Thrower, with a healthy dose of Pacific Northwest D-punk. This band was brought together by Amelia Collins and we continue in loving memory of her vision to bring a breath of fresh air to Portland punk. These five rippers are the result of spending many hours in a dark dank Portland basement while smoking copious amounts of weed. Hopefully these songs will make you wanna get your clit in the pit. The positive responses at our live shows has been off the hook. We’re looking forward to taking Cliterati on the road in 2017.

Cliterati will play a special record release show this Saturday with Ghoul and Hellshock as well as a New Year’s Day show with Fang and Stuntman and an appearance at the Out Of the Closet Into The Pit Fest in March with additional live abrasions in the plotting stages.

Cliterati Show Dates:

12/03/2016 The Raven – Portland, OR *Record Release Show w/ Ghoul, Hellshock
1/01/2017 The Raven – Portland OR w/ Fang, The Stuntmen
3/25/2017 Out Of The Closet Into The Pit Fest – Los Angeles, CA

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Along with the news of the album’s release date, The Menzingers have also released the new mid-tempo “Bad Catholics,” which you can listen to on this page. The track is pretty catchy and has a feel-good quality about it… plus it has a story!

Produced by Will Yip (Title Fight, Balance & Composure, Pianos Become the Teeth), After the Party taps into The Menzingers’ everyman romanticism to reflect on getting older but not quite growing up. Throughout the album, singer/guitarists Greg Barnett and Tom May, bassist Eric Keen, and drummer Joe Godino offset that deeply nuanced songwriting with anthemic harmonies, furious power chords, and larger-than-life melodies.

May commented on the inspiration behind After the Party:

We spent our 20s living in a rowdy kind of way, and now we’re at a point where it seems like everyone in our lives is moving in different directions.

Adds Barnett:

We’re turning 30 now, and there’s this idea that that’s when real life comes on. In a way this album is us saying, ‘We don’t have to grow up or get boring -— we can keep on having a good time doing what we love.’

In Store Performances and Signings:

The band has also confirmed three in-store acoustic performances and signing events during the week of record release. February 1st at Vintage Vinyl in Fords, NJ, February 2nd at Looney Tunes in West Babylon, NY, and February 4th at Gallery of Sound in Wilkes Barre, PA. On October 29th, The Menzingers will perform at The Fest in Gainesville, Florida.

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Musically it hits on a number of genres, but mostly a post-hardcore sound dominates the blend.

“Lunatic Slick” will be available on Voltang’s upcoming sophomore album, Bad Sounds. Album pre-orders can be made here.

The first edition will be available only at live shows, starting October 21st, in Hamilton (tour dates listed below). This will include a limited run (100 units), which will include a six page booklet of art by temper temper released only on these 100 copies.

On October 31, 2016, the album will drop on Spotify, iTunes, and other streaming/download services. Physical copies beyond the first-edition run will include a 12-page booklet of all the lyrics.

More About Voltang:

In 2014, Voltang burst onto the scene playing over 40 shows in their first 12 months, earning a reputation with fans as an artist with an extremely high-energy, unpredictable live experience. Their unique self-created genre of “Raunch & Roll” combines influences of rock, blues, hardcore, metal, and more. This atypical sound lands Voltang on stages with artists of just about every genre that makes a crowd want to move. The band released it’s debut album, Hermaphroditē in June 2015, and have been steadily touring Canada since. The band is set to release their second album, Bad Sounds on Halloween.

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Descendents’ first Epitaph release since Everything Sucks in 1996, Hypercaffium Spazzinate, began taking shape after the band ended an extended hiatus to play live in 2010.

Descendents have also announced a fall tour, kicking off September 25th, in Minneapolis at First Avenue before capping off November 12th, in Portland at Roseland Theater. Additionally, the band will perform at the Riot Fest Denver, Riot Fest Chicago, and Picnic in Pozo. See below for dates.

Pre-orders for Hypercaffium Spazzinate are available here.

Descendents Tour Dates:

Sept 2-5 Denver, CO – Riot Fest
Sept 15 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
Sept 16-18 Chicago, IL – Riot Fest
Sept 22 San Diego, CA – SOMA
Sept 24 Pozo, CA – Pozo Saloon
Sept 29 San Francisco, CA – Warfield Theatre
Oct 01 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
Oct 06 Boston, MA – The Royale
Oct 08 New York, NY – PlayStation Theater
Oct 13 Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
Oct 15 Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
Nov 09 Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre
Nov 10 Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre
Nov 12 Portland, OR – Roseland Theater

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Signed to Motörhead Music — and, yes, spotted by Lemmy Kilmister himself on the Sunset Strip — Barb Wire Dolls will release their label debut, Desperate, this July 29th. Look for pre-order information to be available soon.

The album is actually the band’s third full-length, but it continues to build on the reputation that they’ve established as a fierce combination of punk, grunge, and heavy metal. Take a quick listen and you’ll find that the band has a rawness about them that is very appealing, if not absolutely revivalist about their obvious influences. But, a lot of Barb Wire Dolls is is pissed off, and considering the economy of their home country, they have a right to be attacking the one percent.

The 10-song album was recorded at Sonic Ranch (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ministry, Gogol Bordello) and NRG (Motörhead, Foo Fighters, No Doubt) studios, produced and mixed by Grammy award-winning producer Jay Baumgardner (Bush, Evanescence, Lacuna Coil), and mastered by Grammy award-winning mastering engineer Howie Weinberg (Nirvana’s Nevermind, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik, U2’s Pop).

Fronted by the whip-smart vocal and fashion icon Isis Queen (named after the Greek Goddess herself), Barb Wire Dolls’ dynamic musicianship is blasted forth by former pro surfer and skateboarder Pyn Doll on lead guitar, Krash Doll on drums, Iriel Blaque on bass, and Remmington on rhythm guitar.

Since forming, the band has gone on to melt ears and hearts on 700 stages across 22 countries in just under five years — consistently selling out club dates in America, the UK and Europe. *Desperate is being released in conjunction with the band’s debut performance at Germany’s Wacken Open Air, the largest metal festival in the world.

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The tour follows the release of their Warm Places LP via Paper + Plastick earlier this year. Grab your copy (digital/vinyl/CD) here.

As you may know, the Warm Places album was Dickie Hammond’s final work. As such, Medictation are delighted to confirm that Greg Robson (Bear Trade) shall assume guitar duties and join the band on the tour.

Medictation Biography:

In 2008, Leatherface, landed on the shores of Canada to begin their Stormy Petrel World Tour. In support of this leg of the journey was Yesterday’s Ring, a rag tag of Montreal mongrel punks headed by the charismatic lead singer Hugo Mudie who, also happened to be the frontman for The Sainte Catherines.

The tour was both planned and executed by Leatherface’s bass beast Graeme Philliskirk, and Yesterday’s Rings’ lead vocalist Hugo Mudie, whose extensive knowledge of the Canadian punk rock circuit helped both bands step up for memorable tour for all involved.

The mutual affection and appreciation for each other’s music and DIY approach led to both parties, continuing together for the final leg of the American tour! This in turn led to the pair becoming firm friends and in one well-oiled, inebriated night led to each other promising that both should one day work together again.

Following the fallout from the demise of both Leatherface and The Sainte Catherines in 2012, it wasn’t until the summer of 2013 that the pair re-established contact.

Meanwhile, Graeme also crossed paths with ex-Leatherface guitarist Dickie Hammond and within minutes of catch-up banter, both expressed an interest in playing music again. Somehow, some way, no matter what.

Hugo, also included his old friend Fred Jaques, guitarist and drummer Julien Blais of The Sainte Catherines to complete the lineup.

Two generations of punk rockers from both sides of the Atlantic come together for a monster and unique collaboration in the name of Medictation, to offer their first recording, Warm Places…. Their crazy idea becomes a reality!

Medicatation Tour dates:

July 29 – Rouyn-Noranda @ Cabaret de la Derniere Chance
July 30 – Toronto @ Smiling Bhudda
July 31 – Montreal @ L’Eso
August 1 – Ottawa @ House Of Targ
August 2 – Quebec @ L’Anti

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