Welcome to “Ska, Punk, and Other Junk!”
With this monthly column, I’ll highlight all of the cool things I discovered in the ska and punk scenes. Since I listen to more than just those two genres, I also highlight some other junk I discovered along the way too! (NOTE: Not actually junk. I just wanted to go with the rhyme). There’s so much cool music out there these days. This is my attempt to cover as much of it as possible.
Hopefully, you find your new favorite band – or at least some cool new tunes to enjoy.
We’re really starting to hit our stride with new music in 2025. April was an embarrassment of riches that I would need to write full time to cover everything I wanted to feature this month. What made the cut? The bands I returned back to multiple times.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the great albums that came out this month. For instance, I didn’t put Smoking Popes in the column, but their new album is great in its own right. However, I hope it’s a great place to start your new music journey.
Ska
Abraskadabra – Pack Your Bags
Recorded and produced by Roger Lima from Less Than Jake, Pack Your Bags is the next evolution from Brazil’s Abraskadabra. It’s high-energy ska punk that isn’t afraid to be vulnerable, even at its most aggressive. The album sounds bigger than past efforts with a much fuller sound that immediately hooks you. I love how Abraskadabra composed catchy-as-hell songs that immediately attack the stereotype that ska music is silly and not serious. Even on a song like “Here and Now” where Abraskadabra uses a more traditional Orange County Third Wave sound, they talk about mental health and how the outside world affects it.
Fall Back Down – Tomorrow, It’ll Make Sense
This one is an absolute ripper. Fall Back Down is a Danish ska punk band that can belt out an aggressive punk rock anthem just as effortlessly as they can offer up organ-driven ska. Tomorrow, It’ll Make Sense feels like The Interrupters meets Bite Me Bambi and Bad Cop/Bad Cop. Lyrically, the band focuses mainly on mental health, relationships, and social injustices, topics that are extremely important these days. Surrounding the themes with catchy and melodic ska punk tunes is a recipe for success. Fall Back Down might just be my favorite “new-to-me” band this month.
Goblin City Rat Boys – Return to Goblin City
Return to Goblin City features four uptempo ska songs filled with high energy and political themes. Even with some punk blended into the songs, Goblin City Rat Boys are firmly in the skank vs. mosh camp. There’s a big horn sound that takes the EP to the next level. If you dig bands like Brunt of It, Stacked Like Pancakes, The Abruptors, and Sgt. Scag, you’ll love Goblin City Rat Boys.
Hans Gruber and the Die Hards / Sgt. Scag – Reboot
Reboot takes a Hans Gruber classic, “We’re All Gonna Die,” and gives the fans a new recording of the song with the band’s current line-up. The new version is faster, cleaner, and made more robust with the addition of organ swells. I like the original recording of the song, but the “Reboot” is more dynamic and captures the band’s current energy wonderfully.
Joining Hans Gruber and the Die Hards on the split is Sgt. Scag. They contribute two live tracks from their performance at Supernova Ska Festival. It’s a great showcase of the band’s current lineup and the energy they bring to the stage.
Keith & Tex – Gun Life
Keith & Tex don’t get as much attention as their contemporaries in the trad ska, reggae, and rocksteady world. That’s a bummer because this soulful, talented duo makes amazing music. Some of the strongest songs on Gun Life focus on societal issues like gun violence in the inner cities (“Gun Life”) and the plight of the refugee (“For a Better Life”). The album deserves your full attention because Keith & Tex’s vocal harmonies are second to none.
Steppin’ Razor Blades – “Friend to a Memory”
Steppin’ Razor Blades will soon be a band worthy of your ears. This New England ska band just released their first single, and I’m already hooked. “Friend to a Memory” immediately reminds me of two-tone, Madness, and a dash of Hellcat Records. The sax and keys on the song really stand out and fill it with life. Paired with the guitar work, you’ve got one killer track that will make you want to get on the dance floor immediately.
The Georgetown Orbits – Constellations
If you’re a fan of modern ska bands that have embraced the sound and passion of a more traditional ska sound and you haven’t heard The Georgetown Orbits yet, it’s time to change that. They’re on equal footing with bands like The Prizefighters and The Abruptors. The group also shows off a bit of soul, funk, and Latin flair throughout Constellations. Lots of really good morsels to dig into here, especially if you appreciate modern takes on vintage ska rhythms.
The Kilograms – Beliefs & Thieves
When I heard the first collaboration between Sammy Kay and Joe Gittleman, I knew they would create something special. Sure enough, now that Beliefs & Thieves exists, I was right. The Kilograms creates music that is sincere, poetic, and timeless. Kay and Gittleman are storytellers at heart, and their songs showcase the entire gamut of emotions one feels while navigating life. These gravel-voiced bards use ska, reggae, and melodic punk to pass on life’s lessons. Beliefs & Thieves is essential listening.
The Slackers – “My Last Star”
A fitting tribute to an artist gone too soon. In the week before his death last year, Hepcat’s Greg Lee woke up in the middle of the night. In his dream, he was driving in a car with a friend, and The Slackers were on the radio. It was a song he’d never heard before, so when he woke up, Lee hastily wrote down the lyrics so he wouldn’t forget them. After Lee’s passing, his partner found the lyrics and passed them to The Slackers to make the song a reality. The music they built around Greg Lee’s words is the soulful exploration between the balance between light and dark.
Punk
Another Damn Disappointment – Bedlam
It’s been almost 17 years since Another Damn Disappointment (A.D.D.) put out a full-length studio album. After listening to Bedlam the first time through, it’s clear there’s no rust. Everything about it is so tight – from the machine gun drums to the shredding metal punk guitars to the anthemic choruses. The songs have that distinctive California melodic skate punk sound to them. Musically, they fall somewhere between Pennywise, Guttermouth, and the more metal side of Strung Out. Sadly, this is the final album to feature founding member and bass player Casey Marsullo, but it’s a fitting tribute to his legacy.
Bridge The Gap – Gainsayer
One thing that immediately stands out while listening to Gainsayer is how the vocal melodies are layered throughout. The lead vocals, backing vocals, and “whoa-ohs” flow so well together and serve as the backbone for the entire album. Sure, there’s plenty of hooks, riffs, and brutal bass lines, but they play a complementary role. I couldn’t shake the similarities I picked up between Bridge The Gap and Bad Religion. They both take a more thoughtful, deliberate, and mature take on punk rock that’s a nice change of pace.
Heart Attack Man – Joyride the Pale Horse
I needed this album much earlier in my life, but it arrived better late than never. Thematically, Joyride the Pale Horse focuses on the one thing all of us have in common – dying. It’s not a “woe is me” album though. Instead, the folks in Heart Attack Man use the idea of death to really focus on what we do with our limited time on Earth.
Are we living life to the fullest, or are we sitting around worrying about when and how we’re going to die? Joyride the Pale Horse is a celebration of life through the lens of mortality and aging. Their sound is mainly pop-punk, but Heart Attack Man isn’t afraid to branch out into fuzz, distortion, and melodic punk, too. Don’t be afraid to go out and live your life. This album would be a great soundtrack for your efforts.
Lot Lizards – “Great Escapes”
“Great Escapes” is a song everyone needs to hear these days. It’s about losing yourself inside your own head to escape the chaos of everyday life. Musically, the song is very reminiscent of the melodic skate punk I grew up with, such as Lagwagon, Bigwig, and No Use For a Name. This catchy anthem with melody comes complete with hooks that’ll bore into your head. It’s a tune that will encourage you to excavate the memories you use to avoid the real world. Can’t wait to hear what’s next from Lot Lizards.
Rebelmatic – Black Hole Eats The Tornado
If you like old-school hardcore and bands like Fishbone, Black Flag, Bad Brains, and Living Colour, Rebelmatic will blow you away. The group’s sound is based in hardcore punk, but it can easily shift into metal, punk, funk, hip-hop, and jazz. Black Hole Eats The Tornado punches you in the face with a visceral soundscape, and then hits you with songs about the Black experience in America. “Cornbread and Collard Greens” and “Smoke Clears” are standouts.
The Slow Death – No Light To See
No Light To See is my first foray with The Slow Death, and it won’t be the last. It checks all the boxes for me when it comes to punk rock. It’s loud, melodic, and extremely catchy. At times, it feels like Social Distortion. Other times, I catch Hot Water vibes. Then, they switch it up to more of a Lucero or Red City Radio vibe. It’s orgcore punk with an organ-filled Southern rock alt-country edge. All of these elements blend together perfectly for a punk rock album for the modern working class. It’s an album for the downtrodden and forgotten that shows you that us outsiders need to stick together, especially these trying times.
Other Junk
Datura – Songs From a Dark House
Datura is synth new wave with goth undertones. Think The Smiths meet The Cure meet Depeche Mode meet AFI. The songs on Songs From a Dark House are equal parts moody, atmospheric, and driving. Listening to the album almost feels like going back in time, while still being firmly planted in 2025. Specifically, the album touches on the feelings of isolation and confusion you feel living in the modern world because of issues like burnout, addiction, and love.
GWAR – “Lot Lizard”
I’ve been a GWAR fan since 1992. As much as I love that the band has kept things going since the passing of Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus), sadly the post-Oderus era of GWAR hasn’t kept my attention as much as I’d like. And just last year, there was another band member shakeup. Pustulus Maximus hung up his ax and stepped aside for a new Maximus, Grodius Maximus.
“Lot Lizard” is the band’s first song with the new Maximus, and it absolutely rips. It reminded me of the GWAR I grew up with and filled me with so much joy. The track sounds like a cross between This Toilet Earth era GWAR with a more sped-up thrash-meets-punk-meets-metal feel. Plus, a tremendous guitar solo appears towards the end of the song, and it’s going to be amazing to see performed live. If this is the kind of energy Grodius Maximus is injecting into GWAR, then I can’t wait to hear what’s next.
Strange Neighbors – People Pleasers Pleasing People
Any of the songs on People Pleasers Pleasing People would be perfect on a ’90s teen comedy soundtrack. There is a healthy dash of sincerity, escapism, humor, and cleverness to the power-pop perfection of Strange Neighbors. Songs like “Influencer” attacks the absurdism of social media culture, while also resigning to the fact that its inescapable. “Without a Head” tackles anxiety to the beat of a pounding bass line and hook-heavy guitar work. If you enjoy the poppier side of ’90s alt rock, Strange Neighbors will be your new obsession. They have the familiar feel of that era’s aesthetic but with modern intelligence and sensibilities.
Todd Capps – Everything Must Go
Todd Capps is already an accomplished composer and member of Bad Astronaut, with Lagwagon’s Joey Cape. On Everything Must Go, Capps has struck out on his own. The songs on this album are carefully constructed power-pop gems, like Ben Folds, Dave Hause, and Frank Turner with faster tempos and synths.
Moments like “Any Time Now” give off arena rock power ballad vibes that deserve to be heard in a grandiose way. “Dare With You” is a love song that promises adventure and a determination to experience a full life with the ultimate goal to grow old, happy, and accomplished. Ultimately, the idea of giving yourself permission to live a joyful life is at the heart of these songs.
If you want me to listen to your ska, punk, or other junk, please feel free to contact me here. You might just see yourself in a future column! You can also reach out to me on Instagram, BlueSky, and Facebook.