GAD! Zine

    Hard to believe that it's been well over a year since the passing of Faith No More's former singer Chuck Mosley. The wounds are still fresh, due in no small part to that fact that he was in the midst of a really successful grassroots comeback.     Chuck had always shown a love of acoustic performance, dating back to his days with FNM. In fact, his desire to include more acoustic work with the band reportedly was a subject of some consternation. And, of course, there are acoustic-y songs on 2009's solo album Will Rap Over Hard Rock for Food (and its rawer, better , brother, 2016's Demos For Sale). While those songs are much loved by many fans, I've always felt like they were somehow lacking. I'm usually more of a "plugged-in" full-band kinda guy, so no surprise or need for introspection there. It wasn't until I heard Chuck performing with Douglas Esper's Indoria, that I started to get what the fuss was about. Then I saw videos of t...

    While pop punk isn’t exactly a genre one associates with Alabama , the state actually had a pretty good roaster of bands back during the pop - punk - with - breakdowns wave from around 2008-2012. The state boasted Carridale who had a bit of success nationwide and virtually every scene in the state had a talented pop punk act or two , with even Gadsden boasting solid ones like Apollo 11 and Off By A Long Shot. Unfortunately , since about 2014 though we’ve ha ve been in a bit of a rut when it comes to the genre. While the state has enjoyed a bit of an uptick in more traditional punk bands American Secrets seems poised to break the states pop punk dry spell. The four piece 's first release Wasn’t Our Season boasts six tracks of solid songs falling on the very poppy spectrum of pop punk that may remind devoted southern pop punk fans of TN’s On My Honor. The EP opens with the title track Wasn’t Our Season which gives listeners a good introduction of what they’re in for...

    I promised a bazillion folks a while back that we'd be updating this site on a more consistent basis. Turns out I was mistaken. Until NOW! Well, this is the first post in almost a month, but after " NOW!", we'll be posting articles of various lengths, subject matters, and uh... quality far more often. My relatively meager dream is for us to post new content every day. Probably be closer to 5 days a week, but we'll see what happens.       Like everyone who is reading this, we have lives outside of this creative little box. As I've said many times, life interrupts art. Sometimes things take longer than initially planned. Disappointment and rigidity of concept are two killers of the any process. The creator will become disappointed that things are not working out according to the original plan or not meeting the original deadline. Especially if the deadline is self-imposed, it would be better for that creator to adjust their expectations. You don't have...

    This one's been out for a while. I hope it doesn't look like I'm reviewing it now because of all the damn moth memes on social media! Because this really is a fuckin' great album. The dudes know their doom and they know their hard rock, and they know how pump fuckin' energy into it. What I mean is there is more than just sluggish riffage and lazy haze. There are real actual SONGS happening. They understand that playing slow isn't enough. Opener "Tell Them That I'm Not Home" is about as perfect of a start as one could imagine. And a perfect illustration of my point. The song starts metally but gets catchy and kinda deep, then wraps in way that reminds me of the softer moments from Sabbath's Paranoid album. Kinda hate that I've mentioned Sabbath, because honestly what I love is how this is a real modern band that isn't some by-the-numbers throw-back. Investigate for yourself. -Harmless Moth Face on Bandcamp

    The Friendly Fingermen are one those bands that can crank out effortless hardcore one minute and a heavy groove the next. Intensity is a non-negotiable with these Huntsville area musicians. A treat to just about any lover of heavy music. I got in touch with Fingerman(?) Anson Helton to find out more. GAD!: Who are you and how did this happen? Anson: B and members are me, Frank Cole, Jason Generic, and Jarrod Carmack. I think we've been doing this close to a year or so. Jason and I have been wanting to do a project together for a long time so we said fuck it, let's do it. Obviously, Frank and I have worked together a lot in the past, plus he's fucking a talented, so he was an obvious choice. Jarrod and I have also worked together and have been talking about doing something heavy and groovy for years now. I wasn't sure if he'd have the time but he answered the call annnnnnnd so we had our kickass lineup. I love playing with these guys, they make it soo...

    Owls And Other Animals are a fairly stripped-down acoustic-y unit, but they have a firm understanding of how to make the most of their self-imposed boundaries. The songs are so whittled-down to their utter essence that even the tiniest variance hits like a blast. Opener "Crouchin' In The Corner" is business as usual until the cool keyboard kicks in. Tunes like the urgent single "Viola" and later album track "Big Lakes And Skies" are firmly grounded by the understated bass of Deondre (a member of the Trash Cats, with whom OAOA shared a Christmas album last year). Outside of a well-worn guitar, the bread and butter of any OAOA tune is the breathily soft and almost-singular voice of Colin and Dana. When they sing together, the room mellows into a candlelit basement. We're but the silent apparitions surrounding them, whirling in their bluesy choruses. The dreamy tunes of Owls And Other Animals are smart, well-written, and even-better-performed. T...

    I love the Abusements!! Fast and funny punk rock for those of us blessed (cursed?) with the keen observation skills to notice how everything around us is at least a bit off, if not outrightly fucked. “Troll Farm”, one the album’s many standouts, is very contemporary in its subject matter (Russians attacking us through social media), but it’s so fun and sing-a-long-able, that we’ll still be blasting it in ten years. Let’s hope it won’t still be topical… Another hit is the single “Space Nazis”. It’s a humorous look at the U.S. government’s past association with former Nazis to meet our Cold War space race needs. Really, just about every tune on IRRITAINMENT!, from “Sex Cult” to “Mall” to “Florida Man”, picks at the way-too-mundane ridiculousness of everyday American life. This is what punk rock is all about: Recognizing that the “normal” people are the crazy ones. Verdict: Snotty and exciting. Loud and fast. Catchy as hell. I want more, please.  -Harmless Buy Th...