GAD! Zine

    This is what I loooove about the digital age: THE IMMEDIACY. Just last month, Metayouth released their debut self-titled full-length on Bandcamp, and now they're already back with an E.P.! Dakota Gilliland hasn't lost his chops when it comes to creating catchy poppy kinda emo-y punk rock. I should hope not; like I said, it's only been a month! But that's not to say that there hasn't been some growth. Everything seems more effortless (in the good way) this time around. The distorted overblown instrumentation is a potent tool for this artist and he's become more adept at it. I've always said that I've rarely heard a pop-punk band sound bad live, but that something is often lost in the translation to tape (or digital computer pixie dust or whatever). Metayouth agilely avoids this by (1) writing lyrics that are interesting regardless of the vessel, and (2) Co-opting the raw intensity of a rough demo while having the skill to build upon it and manipulat...

    Rapid Randy Hughes (Nic-O-Teens/NcSeventeen/Model Citizen/Parasites/Backseat Virgins/too damn many more to name) is back after close to a five year hiatus. And his return is nothing less than an extraordinary experiment. Gentle, but brash by virtue of its very existence, Widow Maker is a delicate, personal, and strange return for the one-time (and hopefully once-again) prolific musician. For this 4-song EP, Randy has traded in his bass for an other-worldly autoharp and subtle electronics. Using these devices, and a little help from his equally creative family, a soft, spectral soundscape is crafted. A skilled pop and punk and pop-punk singer, his voice is now distant and low in the mix. Spoken poetry and observations. He shares his thoughts as spacey soundbites. A salesman of the soul. Melancholic. Cathartic. Magical. This is the fragile sound of a brilliant artist freed. I can't wait to hear what else he has in store for us. Glad to have you back, Rapid, hope you stick ar...

    Before Alabama was treated to the often political themed punk metal hybrid of The Crashing Falcon, there was Postal. Active from 1998 to 2004, the band was very much a proto version of TCF. Recorded over ten years ago, the album was never given a proper release due to incomplete vocals. Recently, however, TCF decided to throw it up on their Bandcamp as a "name your price" purchase, and it's well worth a download. Featuring members of other Huntsville AL acts such as Radiotron Barricade At Night, the release is a nice little time capsule of early 2000s metalcore and certainly better than many of the local releases this writer picked up from around the same time. Of the thirteen tracks, roughly half feature no vocals, which may be a strength of the release rather than a detriment. After a brief intro track, " Sober Sunday " gives you a good taste of what you're in for. The deathcore vocals are mostly inaudible , and one may say subpar , but for a demo ...

    I'm kinda a sucker for lo-fi singer songwriter stuff. But I can't stand Dylan. And I'm not even normally a fan of acoustic guitar. (The dude who brings an unrequested acoustic guitar to a party is only marginally less a pile of scum than the dude who brings an harmonica. And at least that fits in your pocket, so you can pretend that you just happened to have it with you. The jerk with the guitar clearly has plans...) I do, however, find that I am drawn to music that is unusual, fragile, broken, noisy, and.... honest. In my book, basement tapes of a kid strumming his cheap hand-me-down while his voice cracks will always kick Eric Clapton off his lame-ass stool. Folk duos can be particularly treacherous, often little more than pretentious sleepy jammers feeding each other's most boring inclinations. But Owls And Other Animals are unique in that they seem to recognize the aural charms of budget recording, but have strong writing and performing chops, plus they seem t...

I don't like genres, or adjectives for that matter. But we have to use them to describe music, which often doesn't do the bands justice. The Moose are like that. Southern as fuck. A kind of fuzzed hard rock stew; thick, fat grooves that you can cook a pound of bacon in; and vocals that flow so soulfully and naturally that if you hadn't seen The Moose, you'd think it was created with studio gadgetry (it isn't). This is the kind of music that can only be created and done to this level of perfection in the South. You need to check this out. -Alabama Sharp The Moose on Spotify The Moose on Facebook

    Memphis, TN's Party Gator is an artist/band that I otherwise would have never heard of if it wasn't for a close friend posting about this release on social media. Listen, I rarely feel the urge to write a review, but holy wow this is sick! Fuzzy guitar, vocals that sound like they're recorded underwater through a vienna sausage can, and overall just a super fun selection of songs covered here. The production is also beautiful here. How can something so RAW be so CLEAN? They even cover Madonna here! You'll have to just go listen for yourself. It's up now under the "pay what you want" option. Favorites: Out on the Weekend (Neil Young) Girl U Want (DEVO) Would recommend to fans of: Ty Seagall, Deftones (White Pony era), Sludge Rock/Garage Rock fans -ON signing off Party Gator on Bandcamp Party Gator on Facebook

Live at Sidetracks     Swiss Army Brat has been playing a TON of shows in and around the Huntsville area lately, and I can see why they keep so busy…. it’s because THEY FUCKIN' KICK ASS! The region is known for having bands that push the limits of power, of taste. Let’s just say Hville and their regularly visiting neighbors have a reputation. But what is often left out of that narrative are all the women that rock just as hard as, or even harder than the boys. S.A.B. is a prime example. Snotty, angry, funny, take-no-shit, LOUD. I first saw them playing GAD! Fest 2 at Sidetracks Music Hall late last year. They were the one band on the bill with which I was kinda unfamiliar, but Salina Brilla knows how to book a brilliant show. Who was I to question it? Glad I didn't, because Swiss Army Brat KILLED. Since then, my own band was asked to share a bill with them, and we jumped at the chance. And again they did not disappoint. In fact, I think they were even better than at GAD!...

    LiL Shiro is a fairly prolific rap artist who effortlessly blends nightlife partying with kinda-geek culture. He finds angles that will take what might at first seem to be a trope and turn it into something fresh. Makes sense. The Rap/Hip-Hop community  has come a long way in this state over the last few years, with many more musicians opting to delve deeper and look beyond just copying what they find in the "Rap" section of FYE. LiL $hiro and several of his cohorts are prime examples of this movement. So what about the EP? The music that serves as $hiro's backdrop is just about always pretty as hell. It works in excellent contrast with his vocal delivery one moment and in melodious  unison the next. He also gets the most out of everyone with which he collaborates. Every song on this EP stands on its own as a killer single and at the same time belongs with the other tunes. That's an artist at work. -Harmless LiL $hiro on SoundCloud

    I’ve been waiting forever to finally hear this comp! At last, there is a collection that gives Alabama Punk Rock the history it deserves. Pioneers like the Knockabouts, Grossest National Product, and Dead Pigeons are all represented. Other must-haves like Random Conflict are also here. Where the hell was this comp when I was a kid?? Oh yeah, and we get to hear that Skeptic? 14 years ago sounds a lot like Skeptic? today. Wouldn’t want it any other way! Some production is a little rough in places (a lot of old friends will vouch for how hard it was to get a decent-sounding punk record made in ‘bama even by the late 90’s) but overall the sound is pretty damn solid. The great mastering further shows what a labor of love this project has been for Ian Wise. I'm sure some locals will find holes where their fave band is unaccounted for, but that's the nature of the beast. Make your own gap-fill comp with this much enthusiasm and I'll buy it too! This is essential listening t...

FNM comic book autographed by Chuck!     “I knew Chuck Mosley.” “Chuck Mosley was a friend of mine.” “You, sir, are no Chuck Mosley.” Ok, so I’ve used that particular set of quotes before, in a previous review of IZZY MILLER (now known as IZZY MILLER AND THE BLACK MARKET SALESMEN). Which is paraphrasing a purloined phrase from a prized political parlance of that magical decade that was invented strictly for the satirical cannon fodder of millennial (and The South Park guys) humor-huckers worldwide: THE 1980S. (So if I am plagiarizing myself, from a time I parodied a quote, that was also plagiarized, what exactly does that make me? A “plag” on society, that’s what!) And ok, maybe Chuck Mosley wasn’t an *actual* friend of mine. But after talking with him for a few minutes, I felt as though he was. He was one of the most disarmingly humble and gentle souls it’s ever been my pleasure to meet. The fact that he parlayed that lovable  psychedelic weirdness into some sort o...

Here’s a good dose of fast moving aggression from a local supergroup collaboration aberration, the Friendly Fingermen. Their debut EP has 4 smashing tunes, just enough to hold your face underwater until you have to come up for air only to get smacked again, and again with each track. Then you wonder what the hell just happened, and when you can get more. Embrace the chaos brothers and sisters, as this put a smile on my face…. I can’t wait to see them throw down live. - Alabama Sharp Friendly Fingermen on Bandcamp Friendly Fingermen on Facebook

      As a longstanding fan of EVIL EYE (Jasper/Birmingham, I dunno… it’s in the directory for chrissake) I felt that proverbial Christly compulsion power to buy this recording sound unseen, attributable in no short order as well to my personal-yet-intermittent (meaning I don’t run into him much) friendship with frontman Joseph Higgins (journalistic bias? What’s that? Who you callin’ a journalist anyway? Oh. Nobody did. I see. Well, this certainly is awkward.) My initial mule-kick reflexive analysis of the EP is just what I told editor-in-queef Adam Harmless: It’s as if Rik Ocasek ditched The Cars and went for something “country”, something more jangly, or if Peter Murphy decided he would rather relocate to Hidden Valley Ranch or some other first-world village that wants to parade as a diorama for  Charlotte’s Web but, in reality, is more akin to the town from What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?. (There never is a Burger Barn though, and if there is it’s always closed whe...