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For Simple Plan, the multimillion-selling pop-punk band from Montreal, “The End” was also a new beginning. After a year writing material for the follow-up to 2004’s “Still Not Getting Any…,” the band was struggling to find a way forward, drummer Chuck Comeau says. But last spring in Miami — where Simple Plan had gone to test-drive some songs in the studio with producer Danja (Nelly Furtafo, Justin Timberlake) — it became clear the group could forge a bold new sound. “It really clicked for the first time in Miami when we came up with ‘The End,”‘ Comeau says, referring to… Read more »

Green Day, Bad Religion, and Blink 182 are among the bands that will appear in a forthcoming documentary about the punk rock music scene in the 1990s. Australian independent production company Robot Academy Films is producing the film, One Nine Nine Four, which is slated for a 2008 release. The two filmmakers have been residing in Los Angeles conducting interviews and collecting archival footage of the bands before heading back to Australia next month to complete the editing process, according to PunkNews.org. The film will be narrated by skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, and will also feature bands including Rancid, the… Read more »

Around the time Brett Gurewitz was launching Epitaph Records in 1981, his father was lecturing him to take guitar lessons. The Bad Religion guitarist and punk-rock entrepreneur never sat down for courses with a guitar instructor, although he did go to school to learn to be a recording engineer. However, no amount of schooling could have prepared Gurewitz for the next 25 years of his life. Epitaph Records brought a new era of punk rock to the masses in 1994 when the Offspring’s “Smash” turned into one of the biggest rock records of the decade. The success of the label’s… Read more »

While Floridian metalcore sextet Underoath were recording 2006’s Define the Great Line a little more than a year ago, the band’s drummer, Aaron Gillespie, found himself writing straight-up rock tunes, material that he realized wouldn’t fit with Underoath’s vicious style. If these songs were to be heard someday, he knew he’d have to release them himself. So before Define ’s June release, Gillespie hit the studio alone to track the songs, playing all of the instruments himself and even tackling vocalist duties, like how Trent Reznor records Nine Inch Nails albums. This spring, Gillespie’s as-yet-untitled solo debut, which he’ll release… Read more »

Anyone who thought that Epitaph Records passed their heyday when Rancid and NOFX split for new pastures would have been wide-eyed surprised on this evening. Kudos to the keepers of the punk rock flag for progressing with the times and developing – yet again – into a leader of the pack. They used to lead the way in the likes of skate-punk and crust, but as the plethora of pre-teens proved, punk rock still hasn’t kicked the bucket. It’s just changed boots. Kicking off the show, new label additions Scatter The Ashes dealt a relatively heavy blow with their brand… Read more »

Washington, D.C., probably hadn’t seen anything like it since 1985, when Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider and punk provocateur Jello Biafra testified before Congress during the height of the obscene lyrics witch-hunt: Tatted and pierced pop-punkers holding court on Capitol Hill. Members of Sugarcult and Hawthorne Heights took part in a press conference held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Wednesday to announce the kickoff of the fifth annual Take Action Tour, and to raise awareness – and federal funding levels – for teen-suicide prevention programs across the country. “It’s one thing when you’re promoting your band, because you feel… Read more »

The Take Action Tour (www.takeactiontour.com) kicked off in DC with an evening of hard-hitting music from Sugarcult, The Early November, Hawthorne Heights, Hopesfall and Gym Class Heros. The event is the brainchild of Louis Posen, president and founder of punk/hard-core label Hopeless Records. In 1998, five years after forming Hopeless, Posen formed Sub City Records, an offshoot label that donates 5 percent of its prof- its to charity, according to the Web site. In 1999, Sub City took its socially conscious act on the road. The idea of the Take Action Tour is to connect Sub City bands – and… Read more »

Last winter, Vans Warped tour founder Kevin Lyman attended the Consumer Electronics Show to learn more about setting up backstage wireless Internet connections. The connections he made, however, were of a different type. Technology companies, eager to tap into the Warped tour’s young, tech-savvy fan base, have jumped on board as tour partners or sponsors. The 10th annual roadshow kicked off June 25 in Houston with a lineup including such bands as Bad Religion, Good Charlotte, NOFX, Thursday, New Found Glory, Simple Plan, The Vandals and Taking Back Sunday. The tour’s extensive sponsor list includes Memorex, Samsung, Cingular Wireless, Apple… Read more »