The past decade has been an odd one for Alkaline Trio. Following the release of the Chicago punk band’s eighth studio album, 2013’s My Shame Is True, all three members took time off to focus on solo material and side projects. But when vocalist and guitarist Matt Skiba joined Blink-182 in 2015, the band he’d […]
Tag: pop punk
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Three albums in, Chicago underground supergroup Rlyr are still having fun
I heard a lot about the glory days of the Fireside Bowl even before I moved to Chicago, and I loved the way the venue brought together bands from disparate subscenes with almost every show. Chicago instrumental trio Rlyr exemplify that freewheeling spirit: in their wondrous thrashing, I can hear the residual effects of growing […]
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New west-coast punk supergroup Plosivs includes members of Rocket From the Crypt, Pinback, and more
The pandemic has shattered so many bands that any project that’s come together since March 2020 represents a small victory. And when the project in question is as much fun as Plosivs—a new four-piece consisting of vocalist and guitarist Rob Crow, vocalist and guitarist John Reis, bassist Jordan Clark, and drummer Atom Willard—the victory isn’t […]
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Young Guv’s Guv III threatens to give you the warm fuzzies
In all my years contributing to the Reader, the artist I’ve written about the most is probably Toronto’s Ben Cook—partly because he’s been so incredibly prolific for the past two decades, but also because his widely varying output is so consistently solid and great. He cut his teeth in the hardcore world while fronting No […]
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Radkey explore the personal and political with their new single and video
When teenage brothers Isaiah, Dee, and Solomon Radke emerged as Radkey in the early 2010s, their hook-driven garage punk made an immediate impression. The Missouri band probably weren’t trying to split the difference between the over-the-top spookiness of the Misfits (guitarist Dee sang a little like Danzig did in his devilock days) and the unabashed […]
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The Bombpops keep the spirit of classic Fat Wreck Chords alive and kicking
Update: This show has been canceled to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase. When I was in middle school in the mid-90s, I cut my teeth on the hyperslick skate-punk records churned out by California label Fat Wreck Chords. But when I got to high school and […]
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Beach Bunny jump straight to the championship round
Lili Trifilio and her indie-punk band have climbed from Chicago’s DIY scene to stages most musicians never reach, and their first studio album, Honeymoon, comes out just this week.
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Windy City Sound Clash
Subterranean hosts the punk fest’s second edition over Memorial Day weekend.