The punk community around the world is mourning the loss of Steve Albini, one of its iconic figures. This is especially true for Chicago, where he helped shape the punk scene, and where his Electrical Audio recording studio is located. Staff members at Albini’s Electrical Audio confirmed to Pitchfork that Steve Albini suffered a fatal heart late Tuesday night, May 7, 2024 Albini’s death also comes on the heels of the announcement that Shellac, one of Albini’s band would be opening for OFF! at that band’s farewell shows in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago in July. Shellac is also schedul ..read more

One of my favorite things that happens periodically here at DSHQ is getting a “hey, would you be interested in premiering this track?” request from a band that you’re already stoked on. It is even cooler when the music they want you to debut for them is not only great, but is also genre-bending. The kind of song that makes you want to listen two or three or twelve times to make sure you’re catching all that’s going on. And on that note, we present to you “So Desperate,” the latest single from Salem Wolves! For the uninitiated, Salem Wolves are a four-piece outfit from straight outta Providence ..read more

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