Tag: punk rock
Janky Fresh Friday: New Albums From AFI and Snõõper
Danny Ryan
October 3, 2025
Welcome to Janky Fresh Friday- the busiest day of the week for artists and labels to drop newly released music. Check in every Friday for a fresh squeeze. AFI: Silver Bleeds The Black Sun… (released October 3, 2025): Run For Cover Records AFI has recently been in music news more than they have been in decades. A major aspect of this is frontman Davey Havok drastically changing his physical appearance recently, looking like he’d be more likely to front an indie folk group than a goth or hardcore or alternative band. Are those AFI‘s genres? It’s hard to pin them down to a specific sound, as they are constantly evolving and reinventing themselves throughout their career. related: Cruel World 2024 – A Legacy Forms at The Rose Bowl Today’s release of “Silver Bleeds The Black Sun…” marks the beginning of a new era for them, shifting much more into synthesizer based goth music and darkwave rather than their roots as a rock band. This shouldn’t be a surprise considering Havok’s side-projects Blaqk Audio and Dreamcar were hinting that he’s wanted to head in this direction for a long time. Even AFI’s last couple of albums were heavily incorporating goth and
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Music Video Premiere: Human Issue-INSIDE ft. Crow Jane (Director’s Cut)
Janky Smooth Central Command
October 3, 2025
We are proud to premier the new music video for “Inside featuring Crow Jane” from California peace punk band, Human Issue. Human Issue is a politically charged punk band that formed in 2021, uniting musicians from across California and Texas. Fronted by drummer and songwriter Hunter Martinez from the San Francisco Bay Area, the group also features members hailing from San Antonio, Orange County, and the Inland Empire. Their diverse backgrounds and shared ethos give Human Issue a raw, urgent sound rooted in the tradition of peace punk while pushing forward with modern urgency. related: Circle Jerks Throw Party For Keith’s Birthday at Hollywood Palladium Though relatively new, Human Issue has quickly gained attention in underground circles for their uncompromising message and relentless live performances. Embracing the DIY ethic, they’ve carved out their place as a vital voice in modern punk, proudly accepting the label of “peace punks” as both identity and mission. Human Issue – Q&A with Hunter Martinez Q: Where do Human Issue originate from, both geographically and culturally? Hunter Martinez: I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area. One member’s from San Antonio, Texas, and the others are from Orange County and the Inland Empire. Some people call
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Midnight And Ghoul at The Poor Kids Mansion
Janky Smooth Central Command
August 22, 2025
If you’ve never been to a sanctioned or unsanctioned show or event at The Poor Kids Mansion in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of L.A., can you even consider yourself a part of the punk and metal scenes of Los Angeles? Of course you can. But if music scenes were like levels on a video game, this would be one of the challenges along the way to some abstract street cred needed to complete the level. On top of a dead end, hilltop street just off Broadway, is an address that has been made public over the years but I still hesitate to mention. In a somewhat dilapidated 120 year old, 4 story estate whose windows have one of the best views of downtown in the city, is a residence and clubhouse called the Poor Kids Mansion. In the backyard you can see punk rock, thrash and sometimes, backyard wrestling- complete with a pro wrestling ring. There is also a ring inside the house- three of them, in fact. And the ring master of this circus is Russ. He and his brother Dougie are the Poor Kids. There are more Poor Kids but if you say that name, Russ and Dougie
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The Adicts- One of Punk’s Most Enduring Acts In Midst of Legendary Tour
Jessica Moncrief
June 9, 2025
Fresh off a mind-blowing set at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas, The Adicts hit the West Coast running—selling out every Southern California date, including San Diego, Los Angeles, and Pomona. Demand was so overwhelming that they added a last-minute extra night in Pomona to accommodate the flood of fans. Over the course of four unforgettable consecutive nights, they delivered their signature blend of theatrical punk and unshakable optimism to rooms packed with loyal fans, first-timers, and multiple generations of droogs—all coming together to celebrate the simple miracle of being alive in the moment. Even though The Adicts have been spreading joy for nearly five decades, punk isn’t just nostalgia with this band, it’s present-tense, kinetic, and thriving. Since the late ’70s, The Adicts have been singing songs of praise for the weird, the wild, and the joyfully defiant—reminding the world to stay playful, live loud, embrace autonomy, and not take life so fucking seriously. related: Hat Trickers And Lower Class Brats at Bootleg Theater- A Real Horror Show The Drowns opened each evening on a high note with a fun, energetic set of melodic punk. Their stage presence was undeniable, each member brought their own charisma, and together they
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Erect Tricks and Loose Rails: The Erections and Hat Trickers at Moroccan Lounge
Rob Shepyer
October 5, 2023
From either end of the Pacific Ocean, Nacho Corrupted is known as a punk icon, flying the flag of East Los all the way to the far east by bringing Japan’s wildest punk bands to Los Angeles for this year’s C.Y. Fest. Catching The Erections and Hat Trickers at the Moroccan Lounge is a rare treat, so street punk faithful dug through their crates to excavate that precious punk rock imported vinyl to offer up to the bands like sacrifices to be signed for the 2nd to last C.Y. Fest side show of 2023 related: Manic Japan: Death Side At The Regent The last time Hat Trickers came to Los Angeles was for a one-off side show after Manic Relapse 2019. A whole pandemic later and that band returned to even more fanfare and excitement than the previous show. The air was buzzing with punks awaiting this set, making everyone anticipate a show that would imprint itself on your memory, for better or for worse, but unquestionably for good. It was a night jam packed with punk rock and mine began seeing local punks, The Rails, wreck the stage with blasting, unhinged guitars and true to street percussive rhythms, boots
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LA Still Believes In Anarchy: The Exploited at The Regent
Danny Ryan
July 7, 2023
While many foundational classic punk bands still tour regularly, the reckless soul that the genre is known for can often be missing with how much older the artists have become. Rather than the stagedives, partying, and rowdy moshpits that you’d expect at a punk show, many landmark bands unfortunately feel more like seeing a nostalgic cover band that you’d find at a local bar. While age has affected the energy of many artists, that has only made it more special when you experience the rare event of seeing an early punk band wreak the havoc that they would have in the prime of their career. The Exploited are one of the few examples of a classic punk band that’s able to bring this anarchy to modern audiences, transforming The Regent into the environment of a rowdy 1980’s club with their recent show hosted by Concrete Jungle Entertainment and Nothing Less Booking. With a perfectly crafted lineup of chaos including Conflict, Total Chaos, and Section H8, the spiritual essence of punk rock could have not been more prevalent in the venue that evening. The Exploited proved to us that punk’s not dead, you just have to know where to look for
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The De-Evolution of Burger Boogaloo
Rob Shepyer
July 5, 2018
Just like in my last Boogaloo review, Janky Smooth apologizes for the opinions herein and advise that anyone below the age of 18 or with an aversion to graphic language, obscenity, or humor, should not continue reading. related content: Burger Boogaloo 2017: The Ballad of John and Iggy Burger Boogaloo 2017 was so good that when we left Mosswood Park last July, we didn’t think 2018’s festival could possibly be better. After all, what band could out-punk Iggy Pop? What sort of headliner could possibly drive the festival further in its evolution? Were they going to bring David Buoy back from the dead? Total Trash productions was clever though, they knew they had to think outside the box if they wanted to make Burger Boogaloo California’s undisputed champion of festivals. So what did they do? They realized that progress doesn’t necessarily have to move forward like we’d expect. No, the answer was De-Evolution. And in the spirit of this movement backward, to the primordial swamp we once infested and called home, what was once the Gone Shrimpin’ stage in 2017, an ode to foot fetishes, was now Toxic Paradise. A mutant stage with tentacles and eyeballs sticking out of the
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Crusty Anthems and Salty Sing-alongs: The Distillers Return to Orange County
Rob Shepyer
May 1, 2018
I remember The Distillers as a band on the periphery of my hesher upbringing in the early 2000’s. They were on MTV back when pop-punk was still sweeping the airwaves and amassed a large following even though their music wasn’t your run-of-the-mall, American Pie movie soundtrack drek. The Distillers were dirtier, more raw, in both sound and image. Like if Hole was supped up with a hotrod engine and covered in prison tatts. And Brody Homme, then and still Brody Dalle, was a role-model for punks and normies, men and women, simply based on the merits of her talent. That was then. And close to 10 years later, seemingly everything, sans the band, has changed. MTV is long-past relevant, pop punk is almost shameful to enjoy, and nostalgia for what came out of that decade is often laughed at. And yet, after only seeing them once, I know that The Distillers are not part of that bygone decade. It became quite obvious to me and virtually everyone in attendance at this particular show, that the band and music were timeless. Distillers songs still sound fresh, with songwriting so good, that it could only come from a time before we all
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Janky Smooth Sessions Interview w/ The Side Eyes
Danny Baraz
July 12, 2017
When you see The Side Eyes live or just sit down and talk to them for a spell, it becomes clear pretty quickly that their genealogy and punk rock pedigree have little to do with the rate in which their star is rising- but it certainly doesn’t hurt them, either. related content: Beach Goth Blackout- Janky Smooth Sessions We caught up w/ the band after they opened for Redd Kross at The Echo in our latest Janky Smooth Sessions Interview w/ The Side Eyes. Astrid McDonald, Kevin & Chris Devine and newest addition, drummer Sam Mankinen (Melted) seem to be quite loving- a supportive band of punks in a genre built on cynicism and frustration. Punk rock being just like any other microcosm, we explore the ways in which the world has changed by noting the ways punk rock and it’s faithful approach “the scene” and subsequently, the world. related content: Steve McDonald Assembles All of His Family and Paid Gigs to Commemorate Teen Babes from Monsanto We discuss what having Charlotte Caffey as your mom, Jeff McDonald as your dad and Steve McDonald playing in Melvins, OFF! and Redd Kross as your uncle does to a kid’s sense
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Punk Rock Bowling 2017: You Can’t Be What You Were…
Danny Baraz
June 9, 2017
Looking out into the sea of people in the expanses that sprawl out from the upgraded festival stage at Punk Rock Bowling’s virgin location in the booming district of Downtown Las Vegas was a seismic life experience. Not just because of how fucking rad Punk Rock Bowling was this year but because all the events of the weekend set to the music of the festival served as a soundtrack to life’s highlight reel in my head. A series of events culminated into the bitter-sweetest regression of lonerism one could ever celebrate, as I stood alone, backstage, watching The Adicts play the best set I’d ever seen from them. Being 2 months out of knee surgery, that familiar human turbine engine of 7,k people dancing and swirling in front of the stage like a pack of bats taking flight at sun down or a school of fish changing direction in unison was unfamiliar from this vantage point- I’ve always preferred being IN the engine instead of being a spectator. Because when you’re in the pit, you’re dealing directly with any physical manifestation of frustration or anger that might have built up through the grind of life and you aren’t really thinking
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Coachella to The Smell: Are Downtown Boys The Voice We’ve Been Waiting For?
Rob Shepyer
April 25, 2017
My love for punk saxophone brought me to downtown Los Angeles on April 18th to see the mighty Downtown Boys pack The Smell. I had heard about the band from the same Rolling Stone article so many seem to have read that claimed this band was something special in a sudden sea of punk and having experienced their show, I find myself agreeing. Coming from the East Coast, Downtown Boys are a rarity to catch on this side of the country but as fate would have it, Coachella brought them out to punk-up that bland-ass lineup and pop the brand-new Sonora tent’s cherry. Downtown Boys are a political punk band of twenty somethings that embody all the good and bad things about the millennial generation. Hailing from Providence Rhode Island, the band started out of the collaboration between Victoria Ruiz and Joey La Neve DeFrancesco from What Cheer? Brigade. Downtown Boys signify something far greater than the new face of punk- I see their political beliefs becoming the core ideology of the “new left”, making the Smell the perfect venue to host the band. Downtown Boys’ LP is named Full Communism, as if Slavoj Zizek himself had a writing credit.
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When We Were Young Festival’s Most Dominant Demographic: Mine
Janky Smooth Central Command
April 19, 2017
When We Were Young- We Became Experts at Sneaking In & Cutting Lines I was still hungover from Choking Victim’s secret set in Long Beach at Freebirds Salon twelve hours before, and already running forty minutes late to the festival, when I remembered that I needed to stop at Target and pick up sunscreen and vitamin C. These are the indicators I observe as I age year to year. Chalk it up to experience but the last thing I wanted was to be sun burned and hungover for day two of a very long weekend. My urgency for arrival was based solely on watching The Getup Kids play the soundtrack to my early adolescence and I was not going to let the naivety of Orange County’s ‘Surf Goth’ youth hold me up. I waited in the main entrance line for the When We Were Young festival and watched cigarette packs get emptied out onto the wooden tables, and a barrage of drug paraphernalia get confiscated and disposed of while the newly minted team of hired security guards emptied pockets. It became apparent within minutes that I was going to have to find an alternative entry if I wanted to get in
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