After four decades as the driving force behind Skid Row, bassist and songwriter Rachel Bolan steps forward with his first-ever solo album under the name BOLAN. “Gargoyle of the Garden State” is a bold, deeply personal debut rooted in the grit, attitude, and storytelling spirit of his New Jersey upbringing.
Produced by multi‑Grammy winner Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Skid Row, Rush, Evanescence, Alice In Chains)The album began as a simple conversation between friends. What started casually quickly evolved into a record that would ultimately define Bolan’s voice as both a songwriter and storyteller.
“Gargoyle of the Garden State is not a project, it is every bit of my soul,” says Bolan. “Like me, it knows when to be serious and also knows where the party is.”
Musically, the album delivers hook-driven, anthemic songs that fuse punk energy with melodic sensibility, wrapped in swagger and raw edge what early listeners have already called “quintessentially New Jersey.” Among its standout moments is a surprising cover of Oasis’ “Rock And Roll Star”, reimagined through Bolan’s distinctive lens.
Expanding beyond his role as a bassist, Bolan performs the majority of instruments, shaping the record from the ground up. Drawing on influences from Brit Pop and Glam to Punk Rock and New Wave, the album represents a lifetime in music.
“Gargoyle of the Garden State” also features an impressive lineup of guests, including Corey Taylor, Danko Jones, Nuno Bettencourt, Damon Johnson, Steve Conte, and fellow Skid Row members Scotti Hill, Dave “Snake” Sabo and Rob Hammersmith.
“It was incredible to work with so many of my talented friends an experience I wish everyone could have at least once,” Bolan adds.
The album is out on June 12th and will be available as CD digipak, LP gatefold, as well as digital and download. PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM HERE
At its core, “Gargoyle of the Garden State” is Bolan at his most honest, a record full of attitude, melody, and personality unmistakably his own.
Who’s up for a night of feminist shouty punk in a teeny, tiny venue at the arse end of Leeds then? Bristol punk n’ rollers Split Dogs certainly are. Riding high on a recent tour with Gogol Bordello, a new album to be released in September and a stonking new single in ‘Rock n’ Roll Business’ to promote. Tonight, they bring their wares to the ultra hipster Hyde Park Book Club, a prime student hangout filled with books, art, food, and a dark downstairs venue that is perfectly suited for sweaty punk rock debauchery.
Local band Helle are already halfway through their set as I arrive, and they seem to have guitar issues. It doesn’t phase singer Elsie, and she continues to smile and deliver her gothic-tinged riot grrl tunes, while the guitarist and soundman frantically try to fix the issue. The band continue to an already busy room with just bass, drums and an ethereal demeanour. Guitars reinstated, there’s a cool energy that makes me wish I’d turned up 15 minutes earlier. Imagine Siouxsie meets the Slits with a heady dose of Daisy Chainsaw for good measure. The girls look like rock stars, the boys look like…boys. Great stuff.
“Wench are not a girl band!” So states the blue-haired drummer from Hull-based shouty feminist punks Wench!, halfway through their set. I beg to differ as the 3-piece band are certainly girls. But I get it, when you’re playing to a largely male populated room, you gotta rage. And Wench certainly rage, with a raw and more visceral sound than the openers, their brand of aggro punk fits the bill nicely. The fact that the drummer and guitarist both handle lead vocals is pretty cool too, and gives some diversity. Two support bands that prove Northern grrls can riot with the best of ‘em.
Split Dogs are the rock n’ roll business from the moment they hit the stage. Dressed in a sparkly red number, singer Harry is the main focus, it’s difficult to take your eyes off her. Some singers just have a certain presence, and Harri is one of those singers who delivers. And by the time the new single “Rock n’ Roll Business” has floored us about 4 songs in, it’s clear they have the tunes to match.
Guitarist Mil Martinez wears his influences on his tattooed sleeves. The riffs sound like Sleazy Quo, the guitar tone is sublime, and the delivery is a Motörhead-style assault. Newish Bassist Suez is now broken in and holds down the low end, the new shirtless and moustachioed drummer already fits like a leather glove.
“There’s room here at the front!” sneers Harry, beckoning those holding back to come forward and sweat. ‘Lafayette’ sounds killer, ‘Monster Truck’ is a beast and set closer ‘And What’ is as good as it gets.
The relentless touring has paid off, it seems, as Split Dogs are a bit of a damn good live proposition. In a world where Amyl & The Sniffers are playing Enormodomes, it’s a travesty that a band as good as this are still playing small clubs. But hey, let’s keep it our little secret for now, ok. It’s 2026, and I watched 3 great bands for £12, now that’s a bargain night out in anyone’s book.
Some people just have a way with a tune, don’t they? You know that, when it’s time to release an album, it’ll be chock full of earworms. Step forward, Marc Valentine, former Last Great Dreamer, with his third long player, the second on Little Steven’s Wicked Cool label. After 2024’s ‘Basement Sparks’, it should be clear that he knows his stuff.
With ‘Uncommon Side Effects’, you get ten quality tunes, the kind you used to hear on the radio. From ‘NY UAP’, with its simple keyboard melody, we’re straight into territory from the notebook of The Boys. An understandable influence, given Marc’s recent tour dates with the band. ‘High On The Underground’ shamelessly nicks from ‘Sweet Jane’, and reminds these ears of ex-Boy, Duncan Reid.
Marc knows the power of the key change outro, as ‘The Other Side’ shows. Simple, effective and very catchy. In fact, that is the thread throughout the album. Writing simple, memorable songs is anything but easy. Another top songwriter, Chris Catalyst, would, I suspect, enjoy these tunes. ‘Loneliest Part’ and ‘Tiger On Glass’ have echoes of his work and Eureka Machines. They’re responsible for some of my favourite songs ever, so this is no random comparison.
‘Half Moon Pendant’ is a lovely, brief acoustic interlude, before ‘Temporary Buzz’ clouts you round the head like it’s shouting “potential hit single!”. ‘When The Light Has Gone’ ends on a glimmer of hope and a minimal, Buzzcocks-style melody; another EM motif, and a great song. Marc should be proud of this collection of songs. In troubled times, we need a little spark of optimism and joy. Preorder, and catch him on tour in April and May.
New DWARVES LP drops JUNE 5! Hello, are you paying attention? ‘The JENKEM’ album harkens back to the hard, fast sound of the ‘Blood, Guts & Pussy’ era DWARVES! Thirteen short, sharp bursts of madness, and one mid-tempo classic to rope in the masses. Look for an avalanche of cool live and animated videos and a slew of cool 7″s! Get them all signed at thedwarves.com
Well, we’re a few months into a new year, and there’s already been plenty of quality new music, but I think there’s a big contender for album of the year already, up step Isle Of Wight finest the brilliant Grade 2 with the excellent ‘Talk About It’
This 3 piece are going from strength to strength and just keep getting better with every album. Being well into over a decade of making music from the earlier Oi! And Street Punk influence Grade 2 are now fully cementing themselves as one of the UK’s finest melodic high-energy punk rockers.
Sid (Vocals/Bass), Jack (Guitar/Vocals) and Jacob (Drums) are certainly honing their craft, and since singing to legendary Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong label Hellcat Records a few albums ago, they just keep stepping it up a notch. I could give lots more superlatives, but let’s get down to it, the new album.
First up we get one of the singles ahead of the release and it’s a banger ‘Cut Throat’ starts with guitar feedback and you immediately sense this is going to be aggressive and in your face and that it is, a opening guitar lick that will be stuck in your head and a brilliant and prominent bass line throughout that Matt Freeman would be proud of. This sounds huge and brilliantly produced, these boys aren’t messing about here with the message being even in this Cut Throat world, Grade 2 are here to stay.
Next up, we have the insanely catchy ‘Hanging On To You’ which showcases both Jack and Sid exchanging vocals on the verses, and with a chorus, I dare you to try not to sing along to.
‘Standing In The Downpour’ will surely have audiences bouncing up and down on the band’s current UK and European tour. I’ve had a smile on my face every time I’ve heard it, it took a few listens to notice, but when the chorus kicks in, I’m sure fans of The Clash will also have that same grin as well.
‘Better Today’ is up next and has a great message for anyone who’s struggling in this world, be it with mental health or loneliness. Speak to people, you are not alone, this is euphoric stuff.
Title track ‘Talk About It’ comes in close to the halfway mark and is my personal highlight, with a brilliant opening riff that bursts into a “Nah Nah Nah” right out of the Lars Frederiksen playbook, with the surprise of piano playing throughout, this 2:37 song will have everyone pogoing around the room, no doubt about it.
‘Don’t Worry About Me’ lyrically is brilliant and is a middle finger to the naysayers and people who try to push in certain directions. “I mean everything I say, I’m doing it my way, I never need anyone to validate me, so don’t worry about me”.
We’re getting deep into the album now and the next three songs “Crash And Burn”, “Smugglers Haven” and “Rotten” show off how tight this band have become, Jacob the man with the sticks keeps the pace up throughout and Sid’s bass-lines are right up front in the mix and of course there’s some monster riffs in here from Jack and some great vocal exchanges, this is like going back to the Rancid classic 2000 album and that’s a big compliment.
And to finish this superb album, we get a double salvo of the dark, brooding atmosphere of ‘Wasteland’, which tackles the dying towns and cities of the UK, whether it’s the Isle of Wight or the country in general, it’s very apt. The writing is on the wall indeed. This is followed by the light at the end of the tunnel, the excellent ‘Otherside’, which is a song full of hope and looking forward, not backwards, overcoming difficulties. Grade 2 have made it through to the other side and is exactly where they should be!!!!
There we have it, ladies and Gentlemen, 11 songs, 25 minutes, and we have one of the albums of the year with Grade2 and ‘Talk About It’. Once this album is in your head, it will be on repeat. Catch them on their current tour and buy yourself a copy, it’s an absolute banger.
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 somewhere uncomfortable.
Maurer’s story isn’t mythology. It’s messy and real. A CODA raised between Los Angeles and Bainbridge Island by a single Deaf mother, American Sign Language was his first language. Punk became his second. After surviving a turbulent childhood and helping put his abusive father in jail as a teenager, Maurer found autonomy in the underground. By fifteen he was booking shows and touring. By twenty he was releasing records and circling the globe with Clorox Girls. Along the way he built a parallel career as one of the country’s most respected ASL interpreters, working alongside prominent political figures like Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden, stage interpreting for punk legends like Alice Bag and The Avengers, interpreting Deaf actor Troy Kotsur’s historic 2022 Academy Award acceptance speech, and appearing with Kotsur on Curb Your Enthusiasm. His life has always moved between worlds.
After stints living in Madrid, London, and Baja California, and in the wake of a divorce that leveled him, Maurer found himself flat on his back in an East Hollywood apartment, cowboy boots still on, old country records spinning. Hank Williams. Buck Owens. Merle Haggard. Gram Parsons. Kris Kristofferson. Townes Van Zandt. He finally understood it. “Real country music is poetry,” Maurer says. “It’s about failure, heartbreak, and the tragic human condition. Music to laugh and cry and live and die by.” That rock-bottom clarity led him to write “Poison.”
Recorded at Savannah Studios in Boyle Heights with Ignacio “Iggy” Gonzalez and backed by Patrick “Butterworth” Vasquez and Kevin “Quake” Milner, the track moves like a slow-burning reckoning. Acoustic strum, restrained rhythm, and a haunted vocal that feels equal parts confession and warning. From his window in Pico Union, Maurer could hear children playing at the elementary school across the street. Listening to old country compilations full of doomed protagonists, he imagined himself as a man on the run whose days were numbered, watching that schoolyard and knowing he might never see it again. That’s where the line came from: “When will you see the children play / You never will again.” The refrain doesn’t comfort you. It circles back like a hard truth you can’t shake: “It’s got a way / That poison’s got a way / It’s got a say / It’s got the final say.”
The single arrives with an 8mm-shot video co-directed by Maurer’s former MANIAC bandmate Zache Davis and Marta Ribate Gracia-Davis. Grainy, sun-bleached, and edited with a careful hand, it plays like a spaghetti western fever dream, a corrido where the protagonist must confront how he’ll be remembered before the end comes calling. The artwork, designed by longtime collaborator Matthew “Snake” Davis, leans into vintage flash tattoo skulls and silent-film menace.
NOW CONFIRMED TO PLAY THEIR FIRST UK FESTIVAL APPEARANCE AT 2000 TREES IN JULY
“No kings, No masters / Kick against fascist bastards”
Following their packed-out first EU and UK headline tour last month, Dead Pioneers, the Indigenous fronted band from Denver, are now preparing to unleash their third album ‘Wagon Burner’, set for release June 26th via Hassle Records.
Succeeding the album’s first statement with the initial single ‘Nazi Teeth’, a powerful attack on the upsurge of the far right and white supremacists, Dead Pioneers are back with a second single ‘No Kings’, which delivers an equally powerful punch to right-wing politics.
“Last summer, there were protests all over the United States called ‘No Kings’, in opposition of the current administration, the policies they’ve been implementing, and the rights they’ve been taking away from citizens,” explains frontman Gregg Deal. “While the issues are obvious, it’s important that we all say it out loud. It’s important that we show up and make our opinions known, that we won’t allow our inherent rights to be trampled upon for the benefit of the Epstein Class.
“Not unlike ‘Nazi Teeth’, ‘No Kings’ is meant to bring the points home,” he continues. “ICE, rights being taken away, mass shootings, greed over life, demonising immigrants, black, brown and queer people, widened economic gaps by the Epstein class, and the sincere frustration Americans feel over this. While this is happening, we realise that the right-wing politics coming out of the United States is emboldening conservative right-wing politics all over the world. We are against dictators, authoritarian regimes, Nazis, fascism or any other power structure, political, social or otherwise that seeks to take away the rights, freedoms or lives of human beings trying to live their lives. To that, we keep it simple: NO KINGS.”
Dead Pioneers is rooted in a 2020 piece called The Punk Pan-Indian Romantic Comedy, a deeply personal work that dealt with Deal’s upbringing. Following an embryonic performance of the piece, Deal secured a grant to expand it to include music created especially for the work. “The idea was to mix spoken word with punk music,” explains Deal, who hooked up with drummer Shane Zweygardt and guitarist Joshua Rivers during lockdown and began kicking the concept around.
A miraculous, natural chemistry made this supposed one-off project an actual band almost as soon as they cut what became their 2023 eponymous debut album (“We approached it like I approach my visual art: execute quickly, first thought is best thought,” Deal says), but they didn’t necessarily take it seriously until, unexpectedly, the outside world did. “I was like, we’ve made this record – what should I do with it? Put it online?” Deal remembers. The response was vigorously positive, and soon came demands to commit this noise to vinyl. A first thousand-copy pressing sold out in minutes. “So, then we pressed another thousand,” he adds, still marvelling at it all. “And then they were gone, too.”
What followed was “a series of strange accidents” that led to the group signing to Hassle, befriending Jello Biafra and touring with kindred spirits like Pennywise, Propaghandi, and even Pearl Jam. “Punk-rock had made everything seem so accessible when I was a kid,” says Deal. “Like, simply having the balls to get up on stage and stage dive and then be carried off by people that become your best friends once they get your feet back on the ground.” Now, punk-rock was reaching out its hands to Dead Pioneers and pulling them onto larger and larger stages. The group returned that favour by simply getting better and better: their second album, 2025’s PO$T AMERICAN, was sharper, angrier, funnier than the debut, a riot riveted with punch-a-Nazi thrills.
And now, Wagon Burner, their fearsome third album. Described by Deal as “more collaborative”, it’s a heavier, harder but also more accessible set, vicious hooks scattered among the punk-rock melee and guest appearances by kindred spirits Cheap Perfume (on the righteous ‘Nazi Teeth’), The Interrupters (on the shout-a-long anthem ‘Never Alone’) and, bringing it back to the group’s beginnings, Sleaford Mods (on the searing slow-burn of ‘The Worst Among Us’). The world might be darkening by the day, but Dead Pioneers are rising to that miserable occasion, casting their empowering light into the gloom.
New LP The Bridges That We Burn Arrives May 1, 2026 via DC-Jam Records / Virgin Music Group
Band Consists of Greg Norton (Hüsker Dü), Derek O’Brien (Social Distortion, Agent Orange, Adolescents) and Ryan Smith (Soul Asylum)
Ultrabomb have unveiled the music video for their latest single “no cap,” a melodic, driving anthem that balances urgency with hook-heavy punch. The track is the latest preview from their forthcoming full-length album The Bridges That We Burn, due May 1, 2026 via DC-Jam Records / Virgin Music Group.
Built on soaring guitar lines, driving rhythms, and a chorus that hits with clarity and conviction, “no cap” showcases Ultrabomb’s ability to fuse melody with muscle. The song channels frustration with the modern noise cycle into something focused and forward-looking — less about shouting over the chaos and more about cutting through it.
“There is a lot of noise to keep us distracted. Everyone has an opinion, informed, and not informed. I’m at capacity with all the bs, let’s start real conversations.” — Greg Norton
Ultrabomb brings together underground legends and alternative stalwarts:
Together, the trio channel decades of punk and alternative rock history into music that feels immediate and relevant rather than retrospective. Melody and momentum move in lockstep — sharp, anthemic, and emotionally direct.
As Magnet observed, Ultrabomb delivers “a swift blow to the sternum that harnesses both the speedy energy of Norton’s early Minneapolis days and the ragged hard-rock sensibility of Twin Tone-era Soul Asylum.”
The Bridges That We Burn was recorded at Creation Audio in Minneapolis and produced, engineered, and mixed by John Fields, with mastering by Justin Perkins (Mystery Room Mastering). The album broadens the band’s dynamic range while maintaining the tight, high-impact songwriting that defines Ultrabomb.
With “no cap,” Ultrabomb prove that conviction doesn’t require chaos — just clarity, melody, and the willingness to say what matters.
Where exactly do I start to review an album where I’m hearing something new whenever I play it, something that spikes my interest repeatedly, yet it’s difficult (yet hopefully not impossible) to put my finger on exactly what that something is with each new play.
So, what about I start with a quick back story whilst I try to collect my thoughts?
Evil Blizzard are a six piece from Preston, who not only have multiple bass players within their ranks but also wear masks in all their publicity shots and when they play live. Their fourth studio record ‘Death Songs & Lullabies’ is being released via Crackedankles Records on March 27th 2026 and it’s this record that has me (almost) lost for words.
Why? Well where better to start than with album opener ‘Off With Their Heads’, it’s a track that opens (and closes) with a simple beat box rhythm that wouldn’t be out of place on a Sleaford Mods record that segues into a mystical PIL meets Hawkwind riff before finally erupting into a furious onslaught that is equal parts Rammstein and Killing Joke, and that’s all within the first four minutes and thirty six seconds of the LP.
Citing influences as diverse as Krautrock and Discharge listening to ‘Death Songs & Lullabies’ reminds me of the first time I heard legendary UK band Cardiacs or US art rockers Jane’s Addiction. It’s a demanding listen because it’s not a typical rock record, but in an age where rock is overrun with generic shite tailor made to fit into a particular audience demographic, this can only be a good thing, right?
The punk rock influence is more than obvious during the just past one minute almost metal gallop that is ‘Four Letter Words’ and the head fuck that goes by the title of ‘Wake The Dead In Bedlam’ where Discharge’s current singer Jeff (JJ) Janiak pops up to hammer home the song’s hypnotic chorus. Meanwhile for those who maybe like things a little mellower, I’m sure the trance-like eight minute plus ‘Black Square’ would have most fans of progressive music stroking their goatees in appreciation.
As ‘Death Songs & Lullabies’ passes it’s midpoint ‘Questions//Answers’ rears its many heads like some majestic hydra, and whilst the teenage Sham 69 fan in me so wanted this to be more than just some grammatical reworking of their classic late ‘70s terrace anthem it is instead a track that wouldn’t be out of place on side two of ‘Ritual De Lo Habitual’ and my mind is once again well and truly blown when the songs hit’s it’s volatile mid-section. Boomshanka!!!!!
There’s not going to be many records like ‘Death Songs & Lullabies’ released in 2026 that’s for sure. It’s epic, it’s ferocious, it’s exhilarating, and above all, it’s fantastic.
This month sees the return of melodic rockers Tyketto with their 6th studio album, Closer to the Sun, their first in a decade. The Danny Vaughn-fronted band soar higher than they have gone before.
With 11 rip-roaring tracks, the album highlights everything fans have loved about the band ever since we first heard them back in 1991 with their classic debut ‘Don’t Come Easy’. Bearing in mind that a mind-blowing 35 years have passed since then. The fact that Danny and his merry band are still rockin’ and rollin’ is something that can not be taken away.
First up is the single ‘Higher Than High’, which, please forgive me, left this reviewer a little cold when it was released last November. Having said that, I can thankfully say that, over time, it has grown on me, and I bet it is a crowd pleaser when played live.
Then we get ‘Starts with a Feeling’, which, to these ears, reminds me more of Danny Vaughn’s solo output, but come the chorus, it instantly becomes a future Tyketto classic. One thing that is ever-present in anything featuring the dulcet tones of Mr Vaughn is the storytelling that takes you out of the misery of everyday life and transports you to a better place.
Up next is ‘Bad For Good’, which sees the new guitarist, Harry Scott Elliott, with a riff worthy of anything the band did in the ‘90s. The groove is still unmistakably Tyketto. That is one thing this album showcases: which is clearly a band honouring their past while looking to the future.
The acoustic opening ‘We Rise’ again takes me on a whirlwind journey, which is always a trademark of the band, and when Danny Vaughn starts singing, the chest-thumping chorus is sublime. This is what the fans want from the band, and they deliver in bucketloads. Another hero of this song is Ged Rylands with his exquisite keyboard work.
The honkytonk swagger of ‘Donnowhuddidis’ is for me the only down note on the album, nothing to take away from the musicality on it. But it just doesn’t do anything for me. Compared that to the next track, the amazing title track ‘Closer to the Sun’, and it’s almost like a different band, but that is what I really love about this band, is that even though they might not hit the mark every time, it’s close enough.
‘Harleys & Indians (Riders in the Sky)’ is up next, but be aware that this song is not on the vinyl version, which is a shame. This song is another example of a mid-paced rocker that rolls along nicely and with some great shoutouts to the greats.
The upbeat rocker that is ‘Hit Me Where It Hurts’ highlights the grooviness that this new line-up of the band are masters of. Harking back to some ‘Strength In Numbers’ era songs. One thing I’ve got to mention is the rhythm section of Chris Childs on Bass and Johnny Dee on Drums, which is tight and perfect. While also letting the songs breathe.
Now the next song up is for me one of the best that this band has ever released, and that is a high claim, considering the impressive back catalogue that Tyketto has released. ‘The Picture’ is just incendiary. Danny Vaughn has rarely sounded this good. You can tell that the band are firing on all cylinders, no more than on this beautiful song.
‘Far and Away’ is another classic example of the acoustic/ based jam before the band kicks in, which is their bread and butter, reminiscent of ‘Sail Away’ from the classic debut. But, hey, if it works, why mess with it? I do like the strings section, which adds some depth to the song.
The final track is rabblerousing ‘The Brave’, which is a fantastic way to end a great album and the musical equivalent of a cliffhanger, to the next album of the great line-up of the band. The decision to record the album at Flip Flop Studios and the legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales proves that the band are thinking ahead and, as always, thinking of the fans who deserve nothing short of perfection.
Tyketto, with the release of ‘Closer to the Sun’, have achieved what many of their peers strive to: an album that boldly goes above and beyond in the name of musical evolution, all the while remembering where they came from.
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