Ontario punk trio Among Legends come out swinging on Lose My Grip. The band’s second full-length album, out July 10, 2026, moves fast, hits hard, and rarely lets up, pulling from the melodic urgency of Bad Religion, the road-tested punch of The Flatliners, and the hook-heavy energy that defined southern Ontario punk through the 2000s. Produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Matt Gauthier at ARC Recording Studio and This Place Needs A Name, the record leans further into speed, tension, and sharper edges without losing the melodies that got the band here in the first place. That balance sho
Last Second Dropout (Canadian led band, formed at Berklee and based in Brooklyn) returns with a reimagined version of their song “Aspartame,” available on all streaming platforms June 12. Last Second Dropout – “Aspartame” – Digital Assets Originally released earlier in the band’s career, the new version, produced by Garth Richardson, captures both the evolution of the band’s sound and the perspective that comes with revisiting a song years later. Blending pop-punk, alternative rock, emo, and hip-hop influences, “Aspartame” pairs explosive guitars and emotionally charged vocals with modern prod
Born out of a long-distance correspondence, Sweden/New York-based transatlantic duo Fuses craft songs that feel like signals sent across oceans. Their debut album ,Sawdust in the Transmission out June 26 via Having Fun Records, the rock imprint of Toronto’s We Are Busy Bodies, bridges geography and emotion with a sound steeped in 60s folk rock and classic country. Echoing the timeless jangle of The Byrds, the pastoral storytelling of Fairport Convention, and the bittersweet warmth of artists like Gram Parsons and Jason Molina, the record connects the Swedish urskog with the Canadian muskeg. Lu
Founded in 1992 by the larger than life, Scottish punk-rock poet laureate, Mr Paul McKenzie, this merry band of miscreants has spent more than three decades circumnavigating the globe to bring the McKenzies gospel to an ever-expanding throng of rebels, scallywags and ne’er do wells. There’s not many bands that can boast of a 30+ year career as staggeringly adventurous, wildly tempestuous and utterly death-defying as The Real McKenzies. It would be a serious mistake to write them off as just another Celtic punk band (they’ve been around longer than the Dropkick Murphys after all). They are an u
“Jennifer Foster’s new album Powerline is a wonderful collection of songs. No shortage of sweet melodies or intimate lyrics, and all sung in a voice that is lovely and unpretentious” – Ron Sexsmith Jennifer Foster is a Canadian singer-songwriter whose music blends classic pop-folk songwriting with warmth, curiosity, and emotional honesty. Her songs are hooky and heartfelt, inviting listeners in with melody and drawing them closer through her vivid storytelling. Her new album, Powerline, out in April, is an acoustic-driven collection that offers Foster’s most personal songwriting to date. Part
Los Angeles, California’s J MAU & THE KISS OFF emerge from what they lovingly call their “beloved hellhole” with their debut single “Poison,” out March 25. Founded in 2025 by Justin “J Mau” Maurer, longtime punk lifer and founder of Clorox Girls, Suspect Parts, L.A. Drugz, and Maniac, the project finds Maurer turning toward something darker and dustier without losing the bite that’s always defined him. “Poison” is a cinematic honky tonk murder ballad filtered through decades of West Coast punk history. It’s the first glimpse of a songwriter who’s always followed the feeling, even when it led s
Oakland, California’s Lethal Limits is the solo project of Jeff Corso, a Bay Area punk lifer raised on coastal fog, cracked sidewalks, and the kind of East Bay shows that smelled like dust, sweat, and wet concrete. Based in Oakland and hailing from Half Moon Bay, Corso has spent decades inside the region’s punk and hardcore underground. Elevate, his new EP out March 13, 2026, lands like a familiar jolt. Four songs. No filler. Loud, melodic, and wired with the same nervous energy that once spilled out of basements, skate ramps, and all-ages rooms up and down the 510. Lethal Limits lives where p
What do you get when you combine two Canadian music lifers into one guitar-heavy power-pop unit that still believes in volume, melody, and sweat? You get SLIP~ons. Fronted by Brock Pytel of Montreal pop-punk staples Doughboys and anchored by Brian Minato, longtime bassist for Sarah McLachlan, the Vancouver four-piece make rock music the honest way. Plug in. Turn it up. Let it rip. Their sophomore EP Overtime arrives February 20, 2026 via Scamindy. SLIP~ons aim straight for the sweet spot where 90s alternative heft meets power-pop immediacy. Think Sugar-era Bob Mould muscle, Hüsker Dü urgency,
Seattle’s all-women garage-rock wrecking crew The Darts kick off their new album cycle with “Midnight Creep,” the first advance single from their upcoming LP Halloween Love Songs, out March 3 on Adrenalin Fix Music. The single drops Tuesday, January 13 and finds the band slipping deeper into the spooky, swagger-heavy garage-trash universe they’ve been flirting with since day one. If you’ve ever wished the Back From the Grave comps came with a dance craze, you’re already in the right neighborhood. The Darts have spent the last decade carving their name into the global underground with Farfisa-f
After the success of his version of the Ohio Express “Yummy Yummy Yummy” last year Champagne decided to to revisit “I Can’t Pretend” as song he was familiar with as the drummer for Canada’s Teenage Head who recorded their version of the punk/surf classic on their 1985 album “Trouble In The Jungle”. “This is a song that I have loved for a very long time and I have always thought of recording it” says Champagne. “It fits really well with the new material I am currently writing. The vibe of the song is perfect and it seemed like a great opportunity to give the song some attention and put a bit of
Bombastic and intimate, sarcastic but vulnerable; Montreal’s Fake Friends lives on the edge of duality. Fuelled by the manic charisma of frontman Matthew Savage, the six-piece post-punk outfit is an engine that runs on making tunes and ripping gigs with a sincere bravado that is downright infectious to witness. The many lives of the band are hard to track; starting out as a reason to hang out throughout 2020, the band has since rotated through enough members to roster an NHL team. Through it all, the band’s founding fathers Matthew Savage (vocals/cult leader) and Luca Santilli (guitar/rock god
Tacoma, Washington songwriter Kye Alfred Hillig returns with “Ezekiel Bobbing For Apples,” the new single arriving January 7, 2026, and the first release from his upcoming album The All-Night Costume Company, due March 4. Built around haunting guitar leads and striking male-female harmonies that nod to the emotional gravity of classic country duets like Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, the track introduces Hillig at his most direct and melodic. It sits between alternative-country and indie rock, carrying the tension and plainspoken urgency of a songwriter raised on punk rooms rather than polis
Blending indie with equal parts folk-rock and traditional singer-songwriter, Holtby crafts songs that lyrically deal with everyday life; love, loss, the passage of time and reflection. "Pretending" covers all of these bases. "This is a song about giving yourself the advice you'd want to give others" says Holtby. "There are certain inevitabilities in life that we all must face in one form or another. I'd found myself asking the same questions for a long time, and realizing nobody was going to save me unless I faced the facts and made these choices for myself. It's about getting over it... whate
Vancouver soul and blues heavyweight Mike Van Eyes returns with his second single, “Ain’t That Loving You, Baby”, landing January 14, 2026. Smooth, swinging and soaked in classic R&B, the track shows another side of his signature sound, less sprint, more slow-burning glide, with a groove that leans into feel, finesse and pure musical chemistry. It’s already timeless, the kind of song that feels pulled from a golden era but played with modern fire. Long considered one of the city’s most electric piano forces, Van Eyes has spent decades deep in the roots of rock ’n’ roll and R&B, building a lega
Toronto’s melodic punk lifers Wasting Time are back with their new single “Ripped Blue Jeans”, out December 12 via People of Punk Rock Records. It’s a nostalgic rush of anthemic hooks and heart-on-sleeve energy that could’ve soundtracked any MTV’s 120 Minutes marathon. The track captures that feeling of late 90s freedom, cracked sidewalks, stickered guitars, the smell of sweat and stale beer in community-hall venues, and long summer nights when the world still felt small enough to dream your way out of it. Formed in 2017, Wasting Time has steadily built a catalog rooted in melody and sincerity
Alex Little steps forward with “Sounds Like A Deal,” the first single from her forthcoming EP Spider in the Sink. A Vancouver-born songwriter with roots in both punk clubs and family record collections, Little distills years of playing, listening, and living into a song that refuses to look away from exploitation and spectacle. The track arrives with all the grit, energy, and sharp-eyed honesty that have made her one of the most compelling voices to emerge from the city’s rock underground. Raised between False Creek and Commercial Drive, Little grew up absorbing a wide spectrum of sounds. Her
Mason Lowe, drummer of Seattle’s feel-good classic rock outfit Bread & Butter, returns with his second solo release, ,Crashes Your Party out October 10, 2025, on Bubblebutt Records. The two-song 7” single explores the highs and lows of a self-destructive flameout, pairing swaggering fuzz and reckless charm with tender introspection. Together, the songs tell the story of a character who burns bright and fast, and the quieter aftermath that follows. “I’m drawn to people who are kinda outlaws,” Lowe explains. “They’re bold, they’re surprisingly smart. They can be troubled, they do things on their
Toronto, ON - Canadian singer and guitarist C.ROSS (Chad Ross) has announced his new solo record Future Site of C.ROSS, out October 22nd, 2025 on Atlanta’s Echodelick Records. Ross has long been a fixture in Canada’s psych and indie-rock underground. Known as the singer/guitarist for heavy psych rockers Quest for Fire (Tee Pee Records), space rock explorers Comet Control (Tee Pee), and as a member of the legendary garage rock band The Deadly Snakes (In The Red), Ross has also toured internationally with Vancouver’s Pink Mountaintops and released acoustic-driven solo work as Nordic Nomadic (Blu
Oakland power pop band The Goods return with Don’t Spoil the Fun, their first full-length album, arriving October 24th, 2025 via Dandy Boy Records. Written and produced by frontman Rob Good (Ryli) in his Oakland studio, the record captures the band’s signature mix of jangling guitars, big melodic hooks, and heartfelt songwriting. Joined by bassist Cherron Arens and guitarist Gabriel Monnot, Good channels the classic shimmer of The Byrds and Big Star with the energy of Teenage Fanclub and Matthew Sweet - crafting songs that feel both familiar and fresh. The album’s focus track and accompanying
Ugly Stick’s Absinthe returns in 2025 with a long overdue vinyl reissue, more than thirty years after its first appearance on CD in 1993. Formed in Delaware, Ohio in 1989, the four-piece carved out a sound that was equal parts Los Angeles punk and Midwestern heartland rock, drawing on the grit of X and the melodic punch of Tom Petty to create what critics would later hail as “genre-crossing” and “seminal.” Hovercraft Records has remastered the album and added bonus material from contemporaneous live shows and unreleased studio sessions, marking the record’s first-ever release on LP and digital
Toronto’s pop-punk powerhouse The Mendozaz are set to unleash their most ambitious and hilarious work to date, the eight-song concept EP The Completely Fictional History of This Great Nation of Canada, out November 3 on Cartridge Heart. Fronted by guitarist-vocalist Jonny alongside Michael on vocals and bass and Dic on drums, The Mendozaz have carved their name into Toronto’s punk scene with relentless touring, wild live shows, and anthems built for gang shouts, beer spills, and grinning through the chaos. They’ve long been known for wrapping sharp hooks in self-aware humor, but on this record
Today the Band Pretty joins me on the show. Pretty is “psychedelic without all the flower-sniffing.” They combine fuzz, clang, synthesizers,heavy grooves and lots of glitter to create a sound that is equal parts danceable, whimsical andbrutal. Fresh off a tour of the United Kingdom, Pretty is making their return to Canada yourproblem as well as theirs. In Toronto, Pretty has opened for the Brian Jonestown Massacre, theBudos Band, Ghost Funk Orchestra and Improvement Movement, among others. Photo credit: Max Chu Checkout my YouTube Channel with long form interviews from the Subversives | the Hi
Welcome to Episode 400!! Dave Hill is a comedian, writer, musician, actor, radio host, and man-about-town originally from Cleveland, Ohio but now living in New York City in a totally sweet apartment with a party deck and everything. Hot chicks come over to hang out and eat cheese plates and stuff with him all the time and it’s awesome. Anyway, on the show business front, Dave has appeared on Netflix’s The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Adult Swim's Joe Pera Talks with You Amazon’s The Tick, Peacock TV's Girls5Eva, Comedy Central’s @midnight and Inside Amy Schumer programs, TBS' Full Frontal with S
Seattle four-piece APPALOOSA return September 4 with “Get It Together, Kid,” a bouncy, bittersweet blast of femme-led power pop. Rooted in punk grit and dressed in glam shimmer, the track showcases the band’s knack for tight arrangements, melodic punch, and emotional clarity. Their past releases have drawn praise from underground staples like Maximum Rocknroll and Razorcake, and “Get It Together, Kid” captures the same raw charm with a sharper melodic edge. APPALOOSA began when singer and guitarist Erica Rose moved back to Seattle after six years in NYC’s punk and indie scenes. Just as she was
Friendly Rich is a composer from Brampton, Canada. Mr. Rich has composed background music for 3 seasons of MTV's The Tom Green Show. Since 1994, he has recorded exclusively for his own eclectic record label, The Pumpkin Pie Corporation, and in Europe more recently by Hazelwood Records. Rich just completed his PhD in Music Education from the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr. Lee Bartel. His doctoral research was on musical playgrounds as a vehicle for community development. Friendly Rich’s music has brought his toured to New York, Montreal, Vienna, Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, a
