Pop Punk’s Still Not Dead Yet tour hits New York City!

October 29, 2021 Leave a comment

Let’s go back to 2002 – you wake up for school, turn on MTV (back when they actually played music) and see the video for New Found Glory’s “My Friends Over You.” This was how I first came across the band. At the time, I had no idea what the song was and had never heard of them up until that point, but my twelve-year-old self was blown away and I instantly became hooked on their music. Fast forward over twenty years later, and New Found Glory is still at it and going stronger than ever. They have done many Warped Tour runs alongside different genres of bands, and in early 2019, they released a trailer with fellow pop-punk band Simple Plan announcing a tour called “Pop Punk’s Still Not Dead Yet.” I was super excited and bought tickets right away.

A few months later, a huge pandemic hit us and stopped bands from touring at all. The tour was cancelled and rebooked a few times over the next year or so, but even with line up changes it was set to continue no matter what. Finally the day came. It was a nice, breezy, and cool day in New York City, and the fact that the venue was up on top of a building overlooking Brooklyn made the show that much more special. The tour now consisted of LOLO (a pop/pop punk artist based out of Toronto), as well as Hot Mulligan and the infamous Less Than Jake.

The show started out a little lighter with LOLO, who has a poppy sound, but mixes some pop punk in there as well.

Then Hot Mulligan came on, with a very intense punk sound that punches you right in the face.

After Hot Mulligan was the infamous Less Than Jake, who is known for playing the style of punk music called Ska and were famous on the Vans Warped Tour route. Less Than Jake hit the stage hard with their strong ska sound.

Finally, it was time for the legendary New Found Glory. The mood was set by using a Backstreet Boys song “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back). They kicked into their set with the song “Understatement” and continued to kick ass all night long playing classics like “All Downhill From Here,” “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Vicious Love,” “Dressed to Kill,” and the song I fell in love with them through, “My Friends Over You”. It’s not often that you come across a band that has been going strong for over twenty years, but it has been an amazing experience so far.

Photos & review by Anthony Petrizzo

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Ice Nine Kills – The Silver Scream | album review

October 11, 2018 Leave a comment

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Ice Nine Kills is a band that has flown under many people’s radar for over a decade now. A band known by name, but never receiving recognition they really deserves. They’ve always been doing things their own way, putting  themselves on the map with their last release, Every Trick In The Book, which was a huge hit in the scene of heavy music.

October 5th, 2018, marked a new era for the band. The latest album from the band, The Silver Scream, is something unlike many people have heard. Every song is based off a popular horror film, everything from Halloween to The Crow. Ice Nine Kills didn’t hold anything back on this album.

The first two singles, The American Nightmare (A Nightmare On Elm Street) and Thank God It’s Friday (Friday The 13th) let fans know that they weren’t going soft anytime soon. A catchy chorus mixed with heavier verses, and a breakdown everyone could love, people knew to catch Ice Nine Kills on Warped Tour 2018, and to keep an eye on the band until October.

I’ve listened to the entire album, and now I can’t stop myself from listening. Lighter tracks, like Love Bites (An American Werewolf In London) and A Grave Mistake (The Crow) offer incredible songwriting and gorgeous singing. On the opposite end of that spectrum, songs like Stabbing In The Dark (Halloween), Merry Axe-Mas (Silent Night, Deadly Night) and Rocking The Boat (Jaws) hit hard with fun guitar riffs, energetic drumming, and some unclean vocals we’ve rarely seen from Charnas. The references to classic lines from the movies give every song its own little flare of nostalgia.  Many songs come completely out of left field, It Is The End (It) sticking out to me the most. Creepy voice acting, leading into chaotic and heavy verses, the song features ska punk band, Less Than Jake, offering some backing tracks to elevate the heavy guitars to a new level. The song makes you wanna move in any way you can.

The album shows tons of growth from the small metal band. Their ability to create and not take themselves 100% serious is obvious. The use voice acting, other genres, wordplay, and fun movie references, The Silver Scream gives you the creeps in the best way. Nostalgia and love for horror films makes my love for this album so much more personal. Ice Nine Kills has come a very long way, I have a feeling they can only go up from here.

Review & Photography courtesy of Emily Sulkowski

** click through to the link above to view photos of Ice Nine Kills **

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