April has just started and Punk Rock Tacos has already put together three shows as part of their relentless campaign to spread punk rock all over the Chicagoland area. This time the show takes place at the legendary South Irving Park venue, Livewire Lounge. The atmosphere was great even before the first band got up on stage; beer in hand, most of the crowd was eager to see some great bands while jamming to the music playing in the bar. A quick shout out to the bartender playing Eskorbuto, one of my favorite bands, which made getting there early truly worth it.  One of the aspects of the w ..read more

We’re just three weeks out from the release of Detroit punks Middle-Out‘s highly anticipated self-titled debut album, due out May 24th on Punkerton Records. The band just released the last in a line of banger singles and today we’re exclusively premiering the music video for “Silhouettes”. Go ahead and check that mother fucker out below. Middle-Out’s self-titled LP is being released on a bunch of bitchin’ color variants, all five of which you can pre-order right here. Or hey, if you prefer your plastic music discs smaller and digitized, they’ve got CDs available, too. Whatever suits your fancy ..read more

Chicago got a double-dose of New York bands Jigsaw Youth and Des Rocs who teamed up for a spring North American tour after the release of Des Rocs’ Dream Machine in August 2023 with Sumerian Records. Jigsaw Youth are no strangers to Dying Scene (check out the photos from when they played with Destroy Boys and Pinkshift!) and manage to kick-ass every time they play in Chicago. After the release of The War Inside Me EP last year, Jigsaw Youth bestowed upon us two new singles: Sit On It and Love Sick. As of this writing, Jigsaw Youth is currently scheduled for Elsewhere Fest in Wichita ..read more

The Wonder Years frontman Dan Campbell, has been hard at work; in 2014, he created a well-thought-out alter ego known as Aaron West, best defined as “a character study conducted through music” – basically a fictitious telling about his alter ego’s life. The first album, We Don’t Have Each Other, told the story about Aaron West’s worst year; in 2019, Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties released the follow-up, Routine Maintenance, which according to Campbell, gave the fictitious alter ego a redemption arc and focused on him learning to deal with tragedy instead of going down the self-destructive ..read more

Summer is rapidly approaching and that can only mean one thing: Pool Party! That also happens to be the title of the debut album from Philadelphia’s Bacarrudas, a brand new band fronted by Dirt Bike Annie‘s Adam Rabuck. The album delivers 13 power pop / surf / garage rock / just straight up fun songs and it’s due out this Friday on the almighty Mom’s Basement Records. Of course, you can always rely on your friends at Dying Scene to get you the hookup, and today we’re hooking you up with an early full album stream! That’s right, scroll a lil further down this very page and you’ll be greeted by ..read more

John Reis, best known as the guitarist for Rocket From The Crypt, brought his brand new band Swami and the Bed of Nails to Chicago’s Subterranean. In support was Meat Wave, the Chicago group riding a massive wave of acclaim. It was a night of double delight. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Meredith Goldberg (@mmariegoldberg) Swami and the Bed of Nails, is making its new band debut with a series of shows. Though John Reis is mostly known for being a member of Rocket From the Crypt, he has also been a part of Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, The Sultans, and Me First and the Gim ..read more

Chicago’s own Meth headlined a wild night of noisy hardcore punk metal madness “in the round,” where they set up on the floor of Thalia Hall and were surrounded by the crowd for the night. Meth delivered an incredible set and the crowd went wild. Opening bands See You Next Tuesday, Deaf Club, Usurp Synapse, and DJ Speedsick brought the magic and didn’t disappoint and Dying Scene was there to witness this show. Meth is a noisy metal band hailing right here from Chicago. Find them here. See You Next Tuesday is a death core band from Bay City, Michigan. Find them here ..read more

Greetings, and welcome to the Dying Scene Record Radar. If it’s your first time here, thank you for joining us! This is the weekly* column where we cover all things punk rock vinyl; new releases, reissues… you name it, we’ve probably got it. Kick off your shoes, pull up a chair, crack open a cold one, and break out those wallets, because it’s go time. Let’s get into it! Check out the video edition of this week’s Record Radar, presented by our friends at Punk Rock Radar: Continuing the Record Radar’s recent trend of diversifying into other formats, this week’s first featured release i ..read more

Premiering at First Congregational in Stoneham, Massachusettes on Saturday, April 27, Don’t Forget to Leave gives a first-hand look into the inspiring, yet tragic life and death of Tim Landers. Formerly of pop-punk/hardcore heavy-weights Transit and Cold Collective, Landers’ story was one that began with true love found in music and a road-dog mentality, but was tragically cut short due to addiction and mental health struggles. Director Bill Fulkerson described this documentary as being unlike any he’d made previously, not because of underground, DIY subject matter, but because of his extre ..read more

Here’s something fun to get your weekend kicked off a little early. World, meet The Calamatix. The Calamatix, meet the world! The aforementioned four-piece are a new-on-the-scene “reggae-rooted, punk-flavored quartet” featuring the dynamic Raylin Joy on lead vocals, Adam Porris (Lost City Angels, Far From Finished) on guitar, Clarence “Pocket” Kidd III on drums and William “Matty” Taylor on bass. The project started as a writing project between Joy and – you guessed it, the inimitable Tim Armstrong – before turning into the full-fledged band that’s just about to burst onto the scene. Armstrong ..read more