Human Assholes!

So let’s consider this a brunch chit-chat instead, because “Human Assholes” is exactly what we’re covering in this issue of Punk Rock Bach. But I’m not talking about anything biological or even about jerks on the subway. “Human Assholes” is the upcoming album from Netherlands-based band Personal Trainer. This week, we’re talking with the band’s frontman—Willem Smit—about creating the record.

Plus, in this week’s Q&A, MADiSON ViOLETT is sharing her memories of Evanescence opening for Korn.

Onward!

Willem Smit plays with language in upcoming Personal Trainer album

English is the language of Hollywood and rock ‘n’ roll for Willem Smit.

“I’ve been making records and doing music for about probably like 15 years now, and it’s something that probably just started because all of my favorite bands were singing in English,” Smit said. “And also most of my favorite Dutch bands were even doing it, so I didn’t really question it.”

Smit is the frontman for Personal Trainer, a band out of The Netherlands that is releasing its latest album, “Human Assholes,” on Sept. 4 via the Bella Union label. On Wednesday, the band released its second single from the album: “Moping.”

Smit, whose mother tongue is not English, said he always feels like there’s a bit of a language barrier — but that can be helpful.

“I’ve always seen it as like a big weakness, but I’m starting to feel like there’s kind of a distance between me and the actual language, or the meaning of the language, which kind of rhymes a bit with how I look at language in general, I think, or the world,” he said.

English, he said, was always a tongue that “sounds immediately cool to me” thanks to the great bands and movies that use it.

Not quite an homage to Paul Thomas Anderson

Among the tracks on the upcoming “Human Assholes” album is the single “Punch Drunk Love.” Film buffs will recognize the title is similar to the 2002 Paul Thomas Anderson movie, starring Adam Sandler. But Smit said that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

“I think I just saw the movie while I was making that song and thought, ‘Hey, that’s a fitting title,’” he said.

He continued, “I wasn’t thinking about that movie when writing the song, but it just felt like a fitting title, and I thought it would be funny to kind of just take that or something.”

“Human Assholes” is the band’s third album, following 2024’s “Still Willing” and 2022’s “Big Love Blanket.” Smit said this one is shorter compared to the others, and is also constructed differently.

“Me and [my producer Casper van der Lans] would go around to like people’s living rooms, or like rehearsal spaces, or like actual studios, and kind of go all over the place with this little setup and record all kinds of things, kind of building using every bit we recorded as building blocks to make these gigantic projects.”

Smit said he would then take that recording back to the band so that they could practice for live performances.

“And this time around, I decided to actually do that before finishing the record,” he said, noting it was “really fun.”

Live shows ahead

Smit said Personal Trainer is planning an upcoming gig on its home turf.

“We are playing our, like, biggest headline show in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam, in our hometown, in this pretty bizarre, like, fancy theater place,” he said. “Feels very cool, but also very, very silly at the same time, because we’re kind of… I always say, we’re kind of like a band that’s duct tape together a bit.”

Smit said the band likes to do things themselves. While other bands at festivals have elaborate productions, he said Personal Trainer takes a different approach.

“Sometimes we would like bring trash bags of stuff, because we couldn’t get rid of our trash in our rehearsal space. So we would like throw it away at the fest,” he said. “We kind of feel like a stinky bunch. So it’s funny to play like this very kind of like high-end beautiful room in Amsterdam, because normally we just play like clubs. That’s really exciting.”

The band is also planning live shows in the United Kingdom in October.

“So we’re just rehearsing a lot. And we’re starting to play again, because we’ve taken a break from playing for like nine months or something, which is the longest I’ve ever not played a show,” he said. “Really looking forward to going back to touring.”

Personal Trainer’s new album “Human Assholes” is set to debut on Sept. 4 via the Bella Union label. It is available for pre-order and pre-save. You can watch the music video for the single “Punch Drunk Love” on YouTube, as well as for the single “Moping.” Visit Personal Trainer’s web page for a list of their upcoming live shows.

MADiSON ViOLETT logs thousands of minutes streaming music on the go

MADiSON ViOLETT is revisiting the 2000s.

ViOLETT released the single “Bleed for Me” and a music video for the track late last month. According to a press release, the video — which features Sleeping with Sirens’ Kellin Quinn — takes a look back at “classic 2000s emo culture.”

“I worked alongside incredible actors and an awesome production team, including Christopher Shaibi, with whom I’ve collaborated on several projects,” she said in the press release . “The vision for this video was to parody those cliché 2000s high school films and really encapsulate the nostalgia and campiness that come with the imagery.”

Recently, Punk Rock Bach caught up with ViOLETT to ask her about what she’s listening to currently. Spoiler alert: She’s a big fan of My Chemical Romance.

Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

MADiSON ViOLETT: I love physical media; I occasionally collect CDs (it’s still a tiny collection, but I’m working on it!)—I like the feeling of fully owning something instead of just streaming it digitally. However, I’m a crazy music listener and hit around 3,000 minutes a week through commutes, the gym, and doing work. Because of this, the most convenient/accessible option for me is Spotify streaming. I also like to track my stats (minutes of listening, top albums, top artists), so streaming is my go-to.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

ViOLETT: I’m on a serious metalcore/post-hardcore kick right now. Some of my current top metalcore bands include Spiritbox, Erra, Silent Planet, Dying Wish, and Thornhill. Some post-hardcore bands I’ve been obsessed with lately include The Used, Senses Fail, Sleeping With Sirens, and Evanescence (leans more nu-metalcore than post-hardcore, haha)

Additionally, I’ve been expanding my taste and getting into a lot of electronic indie pop. I’ve found myself listening to Phantogram and Grimes’ discographies while I drive or do work. I love the sampling techniques and production innovation of these artists—very inspirational to me, as I’ve been working on enhancing my production skills myself.

My top all-time artist on Spotify is My Chemical Romance. They’ve always been a go-to, no matter what generic phase I’m in! I know their entire discography like the back of my hand. If Gerard Way asked me to get up on stage with him and sing, I wouldn’t even blink before taking the mic.

PRB: What is your favorite music listening memory?

ViOLETT: Definitely when I saw Evanescence open for Korn in 2024 for their anniversary show. My friends and I got barricade—we were so close we could feel the pyro on our faces. Evanescence has always been a huge inspiration for me as a songwriter and vocalist, and frankly, Amy Lee is one of the reasons why I’m still singing today. Literally, the second their set started, I burst into tears (though I tried not to, lol). It was a huge reminder to me why I’m still pursuing my dreams and the pure power of this art form.

PRB: What do you listen on?

ViOLETT: I usually listen on my phone/laptop with my headphones or through the car speakers because I literally listen to music everywhere I go.

MADiSON ViOLETT’s music video for “Bleed for Me” is available on YouTube. It debuted May 22. ViOLETT is set to perform live at Artist in the Alley in Pomona, Calif., on June 13; DiPiazza’s in Long Beach, Calif., on June 19; and The Smell in Los Angeles, Calif., on June 27.

What I’m listening to…

Ever since the Mike D show in Brooklyn, I’ve been on a Beastie Boys kick.

I’ve been watching music videos from the band’s decades-spanning career, interviews with the guys and — naturally — their performances on the Late Show with David Letterman (particularly the “Sabotage” performance).

But while I downloaded two of their songs from iTunes years ago (“Sure Shot” and “Intergalactic”), it dawned on me that I’d never bought a full Beastie Boys album.

What the heck?!

So I purchased a digital copy of the 20th anniversary remastered edition of “Paul’s Boutique” — Beastie Boys’ 1989 album. The record includes tracks such as “Shake Your Rump” and “Egg Man.”

My first impression is you can tell the fellas are much younger than their “Hello Nasty” days, but it has a late 1980s hip-hop rawness that is a lot of fun to hear.

I enjoy it.

Thanks for reading Punk Rock Bach! Coming up next week, we’re chatting with Mike Knowlton, whose Unlettered project has a new album debuting June 26. Plus a Q&A with Family Stereo. Until then!

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Rob McLean is the founding editor, writer and publisher of Punk Rock Bach. If you have a story idea or have a musician in mind that you’d like to see featured in PRB, email him at punkrockbach@gmail.com.

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on June 11, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit final article drafts and previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality. It will also use AI to craft “call to action” language to bolster engagement, as well as use it as a sounding board to draft the site’s “About” section.

This issue, we’ve got a one-on-one conversation with a punk rock luminary — former Black Flag bassist Kira Roessler! Roessler has a solo album coming out this summer and Punk Rock Bach is there for it. Our wide-ranging interview is below!

Plus, one of my favorite things to do with this newsletter is highlight artists and bands releasing inaugural albums. We’re doing exactly that in this issue, which includes a Q&A with Julez and the Rollerz! The bands’ first album, “Dirty Little Rock ‘N’ Roller,” is out later this month, and we’re asking three of the band members what music they’re enjoying.

Onward!

Bassist Kira Roessler calls the shots for sophmore solo album ‘Enigma’

Kira Roessler is using different parts of her brain.

The punk rock legend, who played bass with Black Flag during the band’s heyday in the 1980s and was one half of the musical duo Dos, has a new album coming out on July 10 — “Enigma.”

Roessler said that despite playing the bass for as long as she has, she finds the instrument still has range.

“I feel absolutely no limit by using the bass,” she said. “I think that anybody who feels limited by the bass isn’t trying, you know. I think it’s a great lead instrument.”

But when she’s creating songs such as the album’s “Peas,” “Wild Card” or the single “How Could You,” Roessler said she’s using a different part of her brain than when she’s at her day job — editing dialog for major motion pictures, such as “Project Hail Mary” or “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

“[Dialog editing is] much more of a technical intellectual task, I think of it, whereas songwriting is just so much of a gut emotional sort of vomiting in some ways,” she said. “A lot of blank slate moments where I’m just sort of feeling what the bass is trying to tell me, or sort of imagining what a vocal line could do over that bass line, you know, very much sort of just trying by feel.”

Making the record

Roessler is in the creative driver’s seat for “Enigma,” which is a relatively new experience for the musician.

“I strongly believe that every group has basically a dictator,” she said. “You know, the songwriter, the singer-songwriter, the one who, for whatever reason, is the one calling the shots. And this is, for me, this is the first two records where I’ve gotten to do all the calling of the shots, so it’s quite different for me.”

“Enigma” is a follow-up to Roessler’s first solo album — 2021’s “Kira.”

The decisions Roessler is making for the latest album, she said, get down to the granular — including visual art, photo shoots and connecting with a record label. The album eventually landed at Org Music.

The way “Enigma” was recorded is also different from the approach used on her first solo record. For that record, Roessler said it was created with “sort of a virtual band.”

“We sent files back and forth,” she said. “We were never in the same room, and it took 13 years to develop these three songs into a record.”

The new album explores different themes than “Kira” did, she said.

“I really write songs that reflect my life,” she said. “So when something happens, or whatever I’m doing, things get triggered in me that result in songs, so it can be very sort of unexpected, what can happen that might trigger me.”

Roessler said the genesis for the first single released, “How Could You,” came from a marital dispute.

“My husband and I never fight, and it was just… he said something that really hurt my feelings,” Roessler said.

She said she walked into another room and just wrote “how could you” on a piece of paper. By the time she had some separation from the incident, she wanted to capture that idea instrumentally.

“My mode of constructing a song is very two-bass interplay with voice, everything sort of having rhythmic interplay,” she said. “So I do a lot of experimentation with rhythm, and a lot of sort of rock and roll bands don’t necessarily go there, you know.”

Revisiting Black Flag

One track on “Enigma” sees Roessler return to a Black Flag song she originally recorded decades ago — “Drinking and Driving.” She includes a cover of the song on the new album.

The track first appeared on Roessler’s favorite Black Flag album, “In My Head.” She said that album started out heavy with instrumentals.

“As we got further into doing the Black Flag thing, more and more we were doing instrumental work, and Greg [Ginn] had this whole instrumental record he wanted to put out,” she said. “And we would practice for hours and hours and hours, and Henry [Rollins] would sit on the ground after we had done the singing songs. He would sit down and kind of be, I don’t know, writing in his book or whatever.”

Roessler said Rollins was writing lyrics to the instrumental work. She said for those instrumental songs for which he wrote lyrics, Rollins “sings in a way where the emotion is more clearly felt.”

“So I love the way that he took these songs that were really sort of instrumental and turned them into something else,” Roessler said. “And you know, in that way it became a collaboration between Greg and Henry, and in that way also I then decided to do the cover song, ‘Drinking and Driving,’ which the lyrics are written by Henry, and Greg wrote the music.”

Correction - June 4, 2026, 7:04p ET: A previous version of this article included an inaccurate photo credit. The photo of Roessler was taken by Tim Nalley.

Kira Roessler’s new album “Enigma” is set to release on July 10 via Org Music. You can pre-order the album on the record label’s website, Bandcamp and other platforms.

From cassettes to streaming, Julez and the Rollerz keep on listening

“We all crave love, it’s a part of the human condition,” said musician Jules Batterman recently in a news release about her bands’ song “I Need Love.”

“When love comes with a cost though, and when you’re just the manic pixie dream girl of another person’s life, it almost makes you question if romantic love is truly attainable. Can I be neurotic and still be loved? Or do I have to be perfect all of the time? That’s what this song is about.”

That song is the fifth track on Julez and the Rollerz’s debut album, “Dirty Little Rock ‘N’ Roller.” The album is set to release on June 26 via Lolipop Records. Other tracks include “Phaser,” “Always Hard 4 U” and “I Don’t Know You.”

Punk Rock Bach recently got in touch with band members from Julez and the Rollerz to ask what music they’re currently listening to and how! The musicians’ media preferences are diverse, from cassette tapes to vinyl.

Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.

PRB: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Jules Batterman: Radio and vinyl!

Morgyn Payge: I prefer to listen to music on cassettes!

Spark Park: Streaming and vinyl.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Batterman: Haute & Freddy, Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins and Courtney Barnett’s new album.

Payge: I’ve really been into the self-titled album by The Toms. One of my favorite albums of all time is Teenage Head by the Flamin Groovies. A new band I’ve been starting to get into is The Runarounds!

Park: Currently, I can’t stop listening to Sam Fender. Top 3 albums of all time are Tumbleweed Connection - Elton John, Boston self titled and Forever Halloween - The Maine.

PRB: What do you listen on?

Batterman: Phone, Radio, and turntable!

Payge: I primarily listen to music on my phone but whenever I can, I listen to my cassettes on my boombox in my 1978 Dodge Van.

Park: My phone and turntable.

Julez and the Rollerz’s first album, “Dirty Little Rock ‘N’ Roller,” is set to debut on June 26 via Lolipop Records. It is available for pre-order on ElasticStage.com. Tickets for the band’s June 28 record release show in Los Angeles are available online.

What I’m listening to…

Ahead of my conversation with Kira Roessler, I wanted to listen to some Black Flag music from her era with the band. I wanted to infuse that punk energy in my brain to get those thinking juices flowing and come up with great questions to ask her.

So I downloaded Black Flag’s 1984 album “Slip It In,” popped on my Grado SR125x headphones and let the music wash over me.

And I haven’t stopped listening to the album — it’s fantastic! Roessler on the bass, Henry Rollins vocals, with Greg Ginn on guitar and Bill Stevenson on drums. Classic line up, classic album, classic punk rock!

My favorite track on the album is “You’re Not Evil.” I like how the guitar accelerates and then quickly pumps the brakes. Makes it memorable.

Least favorite track? “Rat’s Eyes.” Just a little too guttural for my taste.

But even with that song included, the album is entirely worth your time!

Thanks for reading Punk Rock Bach! Be sure to come back next week, when we’re talking with Personal Trainer’s Willem Smit about the band’s upcoming album “Human Assholes.” Until then!

Subscribe now

Rob McLean is the founding editor, writer and publisher of Punk Rock Bach. If you have a story idea or have a musician in mind that you’d like to see featured in PRB, email him at punkrockbach@gmail.com.

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 30, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues. It will also use AI to craft “call to action” language to bolster engagement, as well as use it as a sounding board to draft the site’s “About” section.

That being said, I’ll make an admission this week — I think Melanie Radford’s upcoming album “For the Sake of Stillness” is something special.

Radford really lets her instrument shine in her debut solo album — of which I was given early press access (though I’m buying a physical copy once it drops). I recently sat down with Radford to discuss the record. You’ll find that conversation below!

Plus, Beastie Boy Mike D in Brooklyn! Instead of the typical “What I’m listening to” album highlight this week, we’ve got fresh photos from Mike D’s May 22 concert in New York.

All that, plus a Q&A with Abi Natesh of the Philadelphia-based group KulfiGirls in this week’s Punk Rock Bach!

Melanie Radford readies for tranquil solo debut

For bassist Melanie Radford, recording her upcoming solo album was an exercise in being grounded and centered.

That’s a meaningful shift from her typical schedule.

“I’ve been playing a lot, and [playing with the band] Built to Spill, and touring a lot,” Radford, who is the bassist for the bands Built to Spill and Blood Lemon, told Punk Rock Bach. “And it’s just been really hard on the nervous system when you’re touring and traveling a lot all the time. And so it was a lot for me to handle nervous system wise, and I felt like I was constantly like up here in my mind when I wanted to be lower and more grounded.”

“So, I made this record with that intention of finding my grounded self again,” she said.

Radford is set to release her first solo album, “For the Sake of Stillness,” on June 26 via Jealous Butcher Records.

“It’s different to release something by yourself, instead of having band members to bounce things off of, you know, so it is very much me and me alone,” she said. “So there’s something about it that’s really nerve-wracking to show people.”

The album is a masterclass in tranquility, and a mixture of both instrumental songs and tracks that pair the bass and other instruments with vocals.

“Sometimes, I’m either singing with my voice or I’m singing with the bass,” she said. “So, you know, again — [with] songs like ‘Home’ or ‘Seagull,’ I didn’t want to have vocals in it. I wanted to let the bass shine; let her sing.”

Listeners looking for fast electric guitar riffs or vibrant slap-bass energy will be disappointed. Instead, they’ll find a serene calmness in each track — including “Back Again” and the single “Hangin’ On.”

“So, for this record I really wanted to focus on this being a minimalist record,” Radford said. “And I think [it] actually helped me sparsely build around the bass. Because even frequency wise the bass can get buried, you know, so I kind of had to have very sparse arrangements with the bass, given like the goal that I wanted to accomplish.”

The entire album has a melodic slowness at its core, and also uses ambient sounds — such as the noise from a cassette player in “Home” and the sound of rain in “Philadelphia.”

“I just wanted to contribute more sounds that could transport people to a comforting place,” she said. “So, sometimes those little tiny textures that can make your brain tingle. I’m really interested in stuff like that.”

That sound-induced brain tingling is ASMR — Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. Nebraska Medicine describes it as “tingling, static-like, or goosebumps sensation in response to specific triggering audio or visual stimuli.”

What’s next for Radford after the album’s release? She says she’s already starting on her next solo album. Plus, she’s continuing to tour with Built to Spill.

“We’re doing like two weeks on, two weeks off kind of touring all the way until, gosh, until like November,” she said. “We have some time off in July, which will be nice.”

She also has scheduled an album release show on June 26 at Seattle’s Good Shepherd Chapel. Tickets are available online.

Melanie Radford’s upcoming album “For the Sake of Stillness” is set to hit stores on June 26, from Jealous Butcher Records. You can pre-order and pre-save the album here. The single “Hangin’ On” is available on YouTube. Visit Radford’s website for info on her solo live shows.

For KulfiGirls’s Abi Natesh, Sunday breakfast is music time

KulfiGirls are bringing their Philadelphia rock to turntables around the country.

The group’s debut album, “Divinity,” is set to release on May 29 via the DCxPC Live label. It features tracks such as “River Crossing,” “Delta” and “Itch (melted).”

This week, we asked Abi Natesh — the band’s vocalist — what music she’s listening to and how she’s listening.

Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Abi Natesh: I love to listen on vinyl and do it whenever possible, which isn’t as often as I’d like! There’s something about not being able to skip songs as easily and being immersed in this continuous listening experience.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Natesh: I’ve been listening to Slayyyter’s new album a lot recently. Also really like Ninajirachi’s “I love my computer” and got the vinyl recently.

PRB: What do you listen on?

Natesh: On my phone mostly, turntable on Sunday mornings while making breakfast (AT-LP60X, sorry audiophiles).

KulfiGirls’s debut album “Divinity” is set to release on May 29 via DCxPC Live. You can pre-order it on the label’s website. The band’s single “Itch (melted)” is available on DistroKid.

Mike D of the Beastie Boys returns to NYC to drop a rhyme

Rolling Stone, Spin and Pitchfork are all talking about it: Mike D of the Beastie Boys is back with new music and is making live performance rounds in California, Europe and — of course — New York.

Brooklyn to be exact.

Last Friday, instead of spinning a CD or throwing a disk on the turntable, I headed to Xanadu Roller Arts to check out Mike D and his group Mike 5D’s performance. I never saw the Beastie Boys live, and this is likely the closest I will ever come — especially since MCA (Adam Yauch) died of cancer in 2012.

The concert was a lot of fun. Mike did not disappoint, with a set list that included Switch Up. Mike’s performance lasted about an hour. His sons’ band — Very Nice Person — was the warm up act.

My only complaint was all the standing! I stood in line for an hour while waiting for the doors to open; stood in my spot near the stage for an hour while folks shuffled inside; stood for an hour to watch Mike D’s sons’ band take the stage, play, get off the stage; and then another hour actually watching Mike D’s performance.

Oof — that’s a lot of standing.

Thanks for reading! We’ll be back next week with an interview with punk rock royalty — the former bassist for Black Flag, Kira Roessler! She has a new solo album coming out in July, and sat down with Punk Rock Bach to discuss it. Catch that and more in next Thursday’s issue!

Subscribe now

Rob McLean is the founding editor, writer and publisher of Punk Rock Bach. If you have a story idea or have a musician in mind that you’d like to see featured in PRB, email him at punkrockbach@gmail.com.

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 30, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues. It will also use AI to craft “call to action” language to bolster engagement, as well as use it as a sounding board to draft the site’s “About” section.

Welcome to a special Memorial Day edition of Punk Rock Bach! Today, we’ve got an interview with the founder of hardcore punk band The Dwarves — Blag Dahlia!

Blag and I had a wide-ranging discussion about the band’s new album, the state of provocative artistic expression and even his time providing vocals for the cartoon “SpongeBob Squarepants.”

Onward!

Take a look at past album art from The Dwarves and you’re likely to get an eyeful of bare breasts and spread legs.

From 1989’s “Blood, Guts and Pussy” to 1997’s “The Dwarves are Young and Good Looking” and 2025’s “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,” many of the band’s album covers feature shapely women in various stages of undress.

The band’s latest album cover, however, is more modest.

“Usually, people are used to getting the naked women on the cover and all this stuff, and we kind of went for a bootleg look on this one, you know, like an old 1970s bootleg,” said Blag Dahlia, who founded The Dwarves and serves as its frontman. “So that’s been kind of fun. People [are] like, ‘Wait a minute, what’s this?’ You know, so it kind of grabbed people with the minimalist approach.”

The Dwarves is a provocative band that’s been around since the 1980s. The musicians’ upcoming album, “JENKEM,” is set to debut on June 5. Some of the tracks include “We are the Scene,” “Here We Come Again,” and — another curve ball from the band — a song that’s less frenetic than others: “Damned if I Do.”

Dahlia said that track is “almost like mid-tempo, 80s-rock kind of number.”

“I had no idea where that one came from,” he said. “I just kind of woke up one day and wrote it, and it was like, ‘oh, this is cool.’ So, then we went and made a video for it. It’s very kind of Hollywood high production value, and so you know it’s the usual kind of mess of a Dwarves record, and people are digging it.”

The changing face of inflammatory artistic expression

What some people might consider controversial acts or provocative behavior is part of The Dwarves’ very foundation.

One example: way back in the 1980s, an “early version of the band” called Sexually Deprived Youth played at a high school pep rally, according to the band’s website. Band members were “expelled for hiring teenage art models to pose nude with bowls of fruit balanced on their heads,” the website indicates.

But Dahlia said shocking audiences was never the point.

“I wasn’t naive and ignorant to the fact that we were shocking people, but it was more like the way I always looked at it was like I don’t censor myself,” he said. “So, the thoughts that are ricocheting around my brain go into my song. So if I’m thinking about fucking, then my song is about fucking. If I’m thinking about murder, then my song is about murder. Most artists censor themselves. Whatever’s ricocheting around in their brain, they go, ‘Oh, I better not say that, because if I say that, then maybe I’ll lose my record deal. Or maybe my mommy won’t like, you know, my output, or maybe my girlfriend will get mad. Or maybe, you know, people won’t think I’m a nice guy anymore.’”

Dahlia said when people ask him why he does these shocking things, he tells them “it seems shocking to you […] because everybody else is doing these really boring things that are not really plumbing the depths of their souls or their brains.”

“They’re just giving you, you know, a safe, modified thing that they know is not going to be a problem,” he said. “And it can get played on the radio and nobody from the labels can complain. You know what I mean? So, I think, like, the biggest problem with artists is that they censor themselves before it gets out of their brain.”

The modern world is very different than the 1980s and 1990s. Today, one merely needs to turn on the news or head to social media to find shocking content. With shock being the norm in 2026, is there still room for inflammatory artistic expression?

Dahlia thinks maybe not.

“I mean, in a lot of ways, no, because the inflammatory nature itself has been commodified, right? That’s what the internet is, is conflict, and so people saying outrageously stupid things has become the essence of our politics, when that used to be the opposite of it.”

He continued, “Politics was, by its nature, like juggling different things and trying not to alienate people and bring together the largest consensus you could do. Now our politics is all conflict and we sort of have the conflictor-in-chief, and so it’s sort of the same thing with music or with art or with anything.”

Blag’s time with SpongeBob

Dahlia is the definition of a renaissance man. He founded and performs in The Dwarves, has written books, including 2006’s “Nina” and 2022’s “Highland Falls,” and hosts a podcast, among other activities.

Oh, and he also sings in an episode of Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants.

“SpongeBob has become this cultural phenomenon that billions of people know about now, and I’m very proud to have taken part in it,” Dahlia said. “But of course, like everything, it started as like a guy’s idea, and his wife worked at a catering company with my bass player.”

That bass player, Dahlia said, is Salt Peter — who also wrote the song “Last Chance Lilly” on The Dwarves’ upcoming album.

For SpongeBob, Dahlia said, one thing led to another and Salt Peter became the song writer on the first few seasons of the cartoon. The show’s unofficial fandom site indicates Salt Peter’s real name is Peter Straus and that he wrote songs for the first four seasons.

Dahlia became involved, he said, when the show was looking for a very specific type of voice.

“One of the first songs was this thing, ‘Do the Sponge,’ and they wanted it… and the guy specifically was like, ‘Hey, do you know anybody that can sing like the guy from The Cramps?’ And he [Salt Peter] goes, ‘Oh, I got the guy for you,’” Dahlia said.

Dahlia said he was “a huge Cramps fan.”

“Salt Peter wrote this song that was kind of like ‘The Crusher,’ which was an old, like, wrestler song that The Cramps had covered,” Dahlia said. “And so, I went in there and knocked it out, probably took an hour, you know, or less, and it’s probably the most famous thing I’ll ever do or be involved with.”

Hitting the road

Dwarves fans in Texas, San Francisco and Europe can look forward to seeing the band live later this year. Dahlia said the band plans to perform at Hellfest, Obscene Extreme and other music festivals.

“We’re just doing what rock bands do, you know, getting out on the road and flogging our record,” he said. “Our output over the last few years has been pretty exhausting. We put out a lot of records in the last few years, so you know we’re gonna tour on in and knock it out and see where it goes.”

Separately, Dahlia said he has a solo album coming out later this year.

“Ralph Champagne, The Ralph Champagne Review is coming out around Christmas,” he said. “So, you know, that’s sort of whereas The Dwarves kind of hit all the hard genres of like thrash and punk and all that, Ralph Champagne is all the like softer Americana genres of country and lounge and novelty and humor.”

But in between working on new music and touring, Dahlia is focusing on a role he’s not had before: being a father. He recently turned 60 and became a dad for the first time.

“I never thought I’d get a chance to do it in my life, and so, you know, you always regret the things that you haven’t done,” he said. “And so, then this got thrown in my lap, and it was like, ‘wow, this is great,’ you know? I feel like I can enjoy it, and I probably have the patience and perspective to really get a kick out of it in a way that I probably wouldn’t have when I was younger, and I would have felt like it was stopping me from rocking out and doing what I wanted. And now, I feel like, ‘wow, maybe I can have a whole childhood again now through this being.’ So, that’s all so exciting.”

The Dwarves’ upcoming album “JENKEM” is set to release on June 5 via Greedy Records. You can pre-order the album on vinyl or CD on the band’s merchtable site. It is also available for pre-save digitally.

Thanks for reading this special edition of Punk Rock Bach! We’ll be back at our regular publish time on Thursday evening. Until then!

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Rob McLean is the founding editor and writer of Punk Rock Bach. If you have a story idea or have a musician in mind that you’d like to see featured in PRB, email him at punkrockbach@gmail.com.

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 30, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues. It will also use AI to craft “call to action” language to bolster engagement, as well as use it as a sounding board to draft the site’s “About” section.

I’m reworking Punk Rock Bach’s format to make it sleeker, more nimble and packed full of discussions with modern music makers.

We can say goodbye to the DIY workbench section of Punk Rock Bach. Going forward, the newsletter will stick closer to music journalism and interviews. The DIY portion started to feel like a vanity project instead of an interesting sidebar.

The general format going forward is one interview, one Q&A, and a “What I’m listening to” kicker. And this week we’re talking with two indie musicians — Taylor Bickett and Jacob Augustine!

Onward!

Correction for the May 14 issue: The emailed version of last week’s newsletter included a line that misidentified Brian Wilson’s last name. It is Wilson, not Williams. Punk Rock Bach regrets the error.

Musician Taylor Bickett explores attachment and permanence in upcoming album

For songwriter Taylor Bickett, the overachieving she sought as a child may have been a pursuit for adoration.

“I think through writing the song [“Goldstar”], and just like my own reflection, I’ve found that that thing that I was searching for is, I think, love to some extent, or like wanting to be liked,” she said. “And thinking, ‘Oh, well, if I’m the best, and if I achieve a lot, then people have no choice but to like me.’ And so it’s kind of an examination of that.”

“Goldstar” is a track on her upcoming album “Nothing I Can’t Undo,” which is set to release on July 17. In the song, Bickett says she speaks to a younger version of herself who pursued perfection.

Bickett says while she addresses self-talk and self-control in the album, its bigger themes are attachment and permanence.

“There’s a couple songs on the album where I kind of talked about this idea of, like, I just want to know what’s going to happen, and ‘Nothing I Can’t Undo,’ which is, like, the B side of ‘Goldstar’ […] and the title track, is this idea of, ‘oh, I just stop things before they get good, because I’m afraid that they’ll get bad someday,’” she said.

“And so it’s that, like, need for control or if I just, like, let things play out,” she said.

Bickett said one of those things she’s letting play out is her music career.

“I almost didn’t want to release my first single because I was afraid it wouldn’t be the perfect first single,” she said. “And so I think just like, kind of forcing myself to just dive in, and I do feel that way with this album too.”

She said she thinks other musicians wait to release their albums until they’re sure it will be a hit commercially.

“I thought about putting it off, and then I was just like, ‘What are you waiting for? You want to make a full project you’re passionate about. You love albums. You love listening to albums. Like, just make one,’” she said.

That drive for commercial success hasn’t killed artistry for music makers, Bickett said, which is “alive and well.”

“I think people are making really cool, creative, organic things, thinking outside the box, and trying to think like, ‘what could AI never possibly replicate?,’” she said. “And I think that that is really cool.”

While Bickett has released singles and EPs (extended plays) before, this is her first album, and she’s ready for fans to hear it.

“I think that there’s some nerves with it,” she said. “But I’ve also had the album done for so long that I’m so excited and, like, anxious to share it.”

Taylor Bickett’s album “Nothing I Can’t Undo” debuts on July 17 via If This Then Records. You can watch the video for “Goldstar” on YouTube.

Jacob Augustine keeps his ears on Upchuck,Greet Death and Radiohead

A huge chasm exists between the puppy love that young people think they find early in life and enduring, unconditional love.

And to admit “I Love You Forever” is on the permanent end of that spectrum.

That’s also the title of Jacob Augustine’s new album, which releases tomorrow, May 22, via Team Love Records. The tracks include “Midnight Drum” and “Halfway to Harlem.”

Of “Halfway to Harlem,” Augustine previously said in a news release that the song is “post apocalyptic survivor studies.”

“Car alarms serenading the cities of America to dead battery silence,” he said in the release. “What is it to fall in love, raise a child and save the world all at the same time? The song was inspired by the times we live in.”

As always, Punk Rock Bach is curious what this music maker is spinning on his own turntable. We caught up with Augustine recently and asked what he’s listening to.

Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Jacob Augustine: My preferred listening is vinyl on headphones or in the car turned up very loud.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Augustine: Naming three favorite albums is a very difficult task for me. I think music and favorites all depends on the day, the mood, the circumstances of your life.

Though it changes daily, I’d say my three favorites on average are Radiohead’s “OK Computer,” Marty Robbins’ “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs” and [the] Buena Vista Social Club self titled.

For newer bands, I’m very into Friendship, MJ Lenderman, Black Midi, Protomartyr, Geese and Cameron Winter’s solo stuff, Greet Death’s new record is in heavy rotation. I really love Deafheaven’s new album “Lonely People with Power.” […] Dove Ellis has [a] newer album as well that’s just downright beautiful in every way. I also have been spinning the band Upchuck a lot.

PRB: What do you listen on?

Augustine: I listen on everything, turntable, cassette, CD, phone, streaming and sometimes radio if I’m in certain cities when touring.

Most importantly, I listen to music live, which I think is the best medium.

This question brings back memories of my childhood. My earliest memories of listening to music was my dad’s 8-tracks. One year, we got a Fisher-Price tape deck for Christmas. I have fond memories of listening to Huey Lewis and the News and Michael Jackson on that thing with my older brother. We loved a good boombox.

Jacob Augustine’s new album “I Love You Forever” is set to debut on May 22 via Team Love Records. It will be available on a variety of music services.

What I’m listening to…

I have a very millennial, if somewhat embarrassing, admission about my musical tastes.

I discovered a lot of bands that I love and musicians that I follow from Cartoon Network and Adult Swim from about 1995-2003. And mostly from Space Ghost: Coast to Coast — whether we’re talking about Pavement (or as Space Ghost called them, “The Beatles”) or the band I’m listening to this week: Man or Astro-man?.

Man or Astro-man? provided music for Space Ghost: C2C way back when… some of which I can’t quite get out of my head. I can’t find any YouTube clips of it, but IMDB confirms the band performed on the show.

This week, I’m listening to the band’s 2000 album, “Spectrum of Infinate Scale.”

I hunted the CD down on eBay (always a sucker for physical media), but the band has it available on its Bandcamp site for download.

The record isn’t for everyone. There’s one song — “A Simple Text File” — that’s composed seemingly with the sounds of a dot-matrix printer. I can’t imagine that track ever had a chance of hitting the Billboard Hot 100.

Thank you for reading Punk Rock Bach! Be sure to come back Thursday for an interview with bassist Melanie Radford, whose upcoming album “For the Sake of Stillness” delivers a few ASMR tingles!

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Rob McLean is the founding editor and writer of Punk Rock Bach. If you have a story idea or have a musician in mind that you’d like to see featured in PRB, email him at punkrockbach@gmail.com.

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 30, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues. It will also use AI to craft “call to action” language to bolster engagement, as well as use it as a sounding board to draft the site’s “About” section.

The formula that feeds random digital music that it thinks you’ll enjoy into your skull can only pull from its databases. I can’t imagine it has access to analog media — from cassettes to vinyl records. And those physical media need to be created by somebody.

This week, we’re saying “F*$% You” to The Algorithm and exploring one of those facilities that makes physical music: Hellbender Vinyl’s pressing plant in Philadelphia! The firm recently granted Punk Rock Bach access to check out how it creates records.

But first, indie group The Pretty Flowers — who in March released its latest album — shares which media they’re listening to. Plus, I’ve got a full update on my C-Note DIY speaker construction.

All in this issue of Punk Rock Bach! Onward!

From radio to CDs: The Pretty Flowers’ bandmates share their listening routines

A band’s third album can be unforgettable. Nirvana had “In Utero,” Blondie had “Parallel Lines,” and Sonic Youth had “EVOL,” just to name a few.

And now Los Angeles-based The Pretty Flowers has released its own third album, “Never Felt Bitter” via Forge Again Records. Tracks include “Convent Walls” and “To Be So Cool,” among others.

This week, band members Noah Green, Sean Johnson, Sam Tiger and Jake Gideon share with Punk Rock Bach how they’re listening to the music they love — whether via the radio or the turn table.

Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Noah Green: At home, I prefer listening to vinyl records in the evening when cooking dinner. If I can, and usually listen to one or two LPs per day. Traveling or on tour, I prefer local radio stations to streaming.

Sean Johnson: I prefer sitting unencumbered with a vinyl record, but I find those times to be few and far between as I get older and busier. Since I am on the go mostly, it’s streaming or popping in one of the three CDs currently in my car: Bad Religion’s “All Ages,” Hava Narghile Vol. 1 Turkish Rock Music 1966 To 1975 and of course The Pretty Flowers’ “Never Felt Bitter”

Sam Tiger: Just like Sean and Noah, I love listening to music on vinyl, but finding the time can be difficult. I like to actively listen, and if I’m doing other things I feel like I’m distracted and missing out on the experience.

Jake Gideon: I guess I’m probably in the minority here, but for me the best thing about vinyl is the large-scale artwork and tactile experience of holding the album in your hands. The worst thing is the audio quality. For me, high quality digital audio beats vinyl because it is exactly what the music makers were hearing in the studio. As far as the listening environment goes, I love lying in the dark with headphones on and listening to an album from top to bottom, but more often it’s in the car or on my studio speakers while I’m sorting laundry or filling out questionnaires from ‘Punk Rock Bach.’

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Green: A few things I’ve been listening to a lot are that Acetone box set, “I’m Still Waiting.”, which came out a few years back; The Jesus and Mary Chain “Darklands” (I managed to score a 1st press copy autographed by the Reid brothers recently), and Fontaines D.C. “Romance,” which is turning into a forever album for me.

Johnson: Hank Mobley “Soul Station” has been my go-to vinyl pick lately. I’m buried in the Blue Note catalog because I am reading a book about its history. For rock, I’m digging Mrs. Magician new singles and diving into Sparks again.

Tiger: I work at a bar/venue so I discover a lot of cool artists there. Lately I’ve been into Mollie Jane’s “Get In To Get Out”, and Jamie Drake’s “Slow Burn.” I have a few blues records that keep finding their way onto my turntable, Magic Sam’s “West Side Soul” is a big one. “I’m Cutting Out” by Mike Bloomfield is also an all timer for me.

Gideon: Three favorite albums is a tough one. Today I’m going to go with Michael Penn’s “Resigned,” The Pernice Brothers’ “Yours, Mine & Ours,” Fiona Apple’s “When The Pawn…” and an honorable mention to Jon Brion’s “Meaningless” and every Alvvays album.

PRB: What do you listen on?

Green: Turntable for me. All of my good stereo equipment has come to me through family members over the years. My uncle Steve gave me his late-70s Technics SL-1700 turntable about ten years ago and it’s served me really well. I got my mid-70s Marantz 2245 stereo receiver from my wife’s aunt Annie, who had been storing it in her basement in Maine. I don’t think I’ll ever need another receiver as long as I live. The speakers I have are Jamo S809 towers.

Johnson: I listen a lot in the car and if I don’t want to be my own DJ, I put on KXLU, the local college station here in LA and let them do the work. More than likely I’ll enjoy something I’ve never heard.

Tiger: If it’s not my turntable (which was a very kind gift from Noah), I like to have the radio on in my house during the day. Usually it’s tuned to 97.5 KHUG, which is a little, independent station that only comes through in certain parts of the San Fernando Valley. When I want to listen to something specific while I’m on the go, I’ll use Spotify, which at this point is just a necessary evil in my life.

Gideon: I’ve still got a CD player in my car, so either that or streaming on my phone or computer. I need a new stylus for my turntable, but, as I said, I think vinyl is fun and cozy, but over-romanticized.

The Pretty Flowers released its album ‘Never Felt Bitter’ on March 27 via Forge Again Records. It is available on Bandcamp, Apple and other music platforms. You can see the band next at Hotel Cafe’s “Battle of the Bartenders: Hembree vs. The Pretty Flowers” in Hollywood, Calif.,on May 21.

Photos: Hellbender Vinyl stamps songs onto wax in Philly

Vinyl records aren’t manifested into existence; they have to be created.

The music has to be recorded and then pressed into a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) disc before it’s thrown onto a turntable. Record pressing companies, like Hellbender Vinyl, are the industrial component of the music production chain.

Hellbender, a relatively young company based out of Pittsburgh (its first order shipped in 2023, per a press release), recently acquired Philadelphia’s Softwax Record Pressing. The former Softwax pressing space in Philly, which was part of the purchase, is in full production for its new owner.

Recently, I caught up with Nick Landstrom — the Philadelphia facility’s general manager — and Ben Schurr — a project manager and graphic designer for Hellbender — to take a look around the workspace.

Hellbender’s Philadelphia space has no upper limit to how many records it will produce in a run, but Landstrom said the largest order they’ve fulfilled so far is around 7,000 copies. Generally, the minimum number they’ll produce for an order is 100.

Landstrom and Schurr said the facility has pressed records for musicians such as Michael Bivins and the band Castle Rat. It also pressed the Record Store Day exclusive “Brian Wilson: On Tour 1999-2007.”

Musicians hoping to work with Hellbender Vinyl can visit the firm’s website for details on record pressings.

Correction (May 14, 2026, 6:07p ET): A previous version of this article misidentified Brian Wilson’s last name. It is Wilson, not Williams.

Shellacking complete! Building the C-Note speakers, Part 3…

Shellacking one MDF stereo cabinet completely turned out to be a weeks-long process. Each coat takes only 48 hours to cure — so with two coats on 5/6 of the cabinet, and then two coats on the cabinets’ bottom, the fastest it would have taken was eight days.

Add on top of that other errands, priorities, and last week’s travel to Philadelphia, and it stretched the process out to about two weeks. But finally, shellacking is complete and I’m ready to start applying two coats of polyurethane.

As for the speaker’s electrical side, I’ve also completed soldering the first crossover. As you might recall, my first soldering effort was…well…crap. Cold solder joints nearly ruined the effort (and still might!), but I’m much more confident in the board’s current state.

Next week, I’ll have an update on applying the polyurethane to the cabinet and wiring the crossover board.

What I’m listening to…

The last week has been a bit hectic and I haven’t had much time to listen to anything new. I traveled to Philadelphia for a few days — in part for the photo essay above, but also for a business journalism conference.

While traveling, I had my digital albums — either purchased from Apple or ripped from CDs — loaded on my phone. I re-listened to Flea’s “Honora” album a few times (I really love this record), plus a few random tracks here and there from other musicians.

So it’s been a piecemeal week when it comes to my own listening — which was pretty fun in its own way.

Thanks for reading! Next week, we’ll have an interview with indie musician Taylor Bickett and a Q&A with Jacob Augustine ahead of his May 22 album release. See you then!

Subscribe now

Rob McLean is the founding editor and writer of Punk Rock Bach. If you have a story idea or have a musician in mind that you’d like to see featured in PRB, email him at punkrockbach@gmail.com.

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 30, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues. It will also use AI to craft “call to action” language to bolster engagement, as well as use it as a sounding board to draft the site’s “About” section.

Plus, Dylan Mandel of The Lives of Famous Men shares the albums he’s listening to.

All this and more in this week’s issue! Onward!

The Lives of Famous Men’s Dylan Mandel goes camping with jazz on the speakers

When the name “End Times Elevator Music” came across my radar, an image of a glass elevator descending into a volcanic pit with urban ruins surrounding it — music playing in the background — popped in my head.

If The Lives of Famous Men have anything to say about it, that music will be from their new album, titled exactly that — “End Times Elevator Music.” The album, which is available for purchase on Bandcamp, debuted late last month and includes the tracks “Wish I Were Here” and “Parallel Lives.”

But the end times haven’t arrived yet, and album collectors can keep the music playing. Dylan Mandel, a member of The Lives of Famous Men, said he’s always listening to music — and in different ways. This week, he shares with Punk Rock Bach how he’s listening and to what.

Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Dylan Mandel: I listen to music constantly, so it depends on the situation. I tend to stream while walking the dog and exercising because of the convenience, and that is usually my opportunity to discover new artists. I love listening to the radio in the car though. I drive an old Pathfinder that doesn’t have Bluetooth or even a functional cassette/CD player, so the experience is real analog.

Philly, where I live, has an awesome local station (WXPN) with an incredible curation of classic and contemporary music, so I’ll bounce from that to the local jazz/classical station (WRTI) on road/camping trips. I do also love vinyl as a preferred physical media. My youth was before the streaming era, so I still enjoy the committed experience of whole-album listening. The arduousness of picking out the record, placing the needle, smell of the wax, all of it. I love the sound of vinyl too, with all the thick low-end, reduced top-end, artifacts in the lathing that come through the speakers. It’s a special thing.

I believe the general experience of music listening has become too passive with the takeover of the streaming medium. It’s turning the whole art form into a product that’s simply filling airwaves in the background. While there’s definitely a function for that, save it for AI.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Mandel: Well, obviously the new The Lives of Famous Men album, End Times Elevator Music, that drops on 4/24, is getting some heavy play. There’s also been a ton of great indie music coming out of Alaska right now that deserves attention (Glaves, Fairdays, Evan Phillips, Paul Jacks, Joshua Labuda, Colette Auburn). Aside from that, Jeff Tweedy’s triple release Twilight Override is a journey. Medium Build’s latest takeaways is simply incredible. And Donald Byrd’s Blackbyrd and Slum Village’s Fan-Tas-Tic, Vol 2 are also throwbacks worthy of everyone’s revisiting.

PRB: What do you listen on?

Mandel: As mentioned, I’m listening through a variety of mediums depending on the situation. Pretty much everything. I have a huge CD collection and have been thinking about adding an old portable CD player to the inventory, too.

The Lives of Famous Men’s new album “End Times Elevator Music” released on April 24. It is available both on vinyl and digitally via Bandcamp.

A taste of Bad Cop Bad Cop’s life on the road

Romanticizing life on the road as a touring band is easy to do. Moving from city to city, and sometimes country to country, with the singular goal of rocking out with adoring fans sounds like great fun.

Reality is a bit more grounded, though. The expansive tour bus is often more of a crowded van crisscrossing the map.

I wanted to disabuse myself of an idealistic music road trip and get a real picture of what it’s like to tour as a band. Last week, I sat down with Stacey Dee of the punk band Bad Cop Bad Cop to get a sense of what that traveling life is really like. Her band is traveling throughout the year, with the next tour date on May 9 in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

Dee told me the reason Bad Cop Bad Cop tours is because it helps the band sustain itself.

“It helps us grow our band, and we like to travel and rock in new cities,” she said. “Well, they’re all cities we’ve been to now, but we just, you know, we like to go back. We like to keep building our audiences.”

But it’s not an easy way of life.

“It’s incredibly hard to, you know, throw six to eight people in a van and not have any private space, and be in there for hours and hours,” she said. “It’s a lot harder than the glamor of it all.”

Dee said Bad Cop Bad Cop usually goes to Europe every year. For instance, Dee said the band did a European support run last March, and followed that with a headline run. The band also did a second support run in the United Kingdom, and plans to go back to the U.K. to perform at some of its festivals this year.

The band is still in the touring cycle for its latest album, “Lighten Up,” which debuted in 2025.

“The record’s only been out since September, so, you know, it’s only eight months old, or something. It’s not that old. So, we’ve got a couple years to tour on it, and so we want to get out and get in front of as many people as possible trying to sell the record,” she said.

It’s an album Dee said she loves “as one piece of music more than any one song on it. And every song is good.”

“We’ve made records in the past that were unapologetically strong,” she said. “Now we’ve made a record showing you why and why we’ve had to overcome those things. And to say, ‘lighten up’ in the grand scheme of things, and through all of the hardship on the record, just really is… It’s, it’s activism.”

Prepping for the live show

Bad Cop Bad Cop has a flow to its live performance set-up. Dee said once the band arrives at the venue, they will check in with the promoter and start unloading their gear.

Band members and a tech or two will start putting everything together, Dee said. Crew members will set up the stage.

“Then we go out and we check that, and we do our sound check, come back, and then we’ll probably have dinner before doors,” she said. Though she notes some band members wait until after the performance to eat.

Before the show starts, Dee said she meditates and preps her voice.

“I do my vocal warm ups, and then I’ll put headphones on, and I will listen to the set to make sure that I’ve got all my lyrics in place,” she said. “As I get older, I’m having a harder time remembering all the words all the time, so I’m trying my best to alleviate that from happening.”

Dee said the meditation helps her get in the right frame of mind.

“Well, that headspace for me needs to be cool, calm and collected, because my energy can get real jittery and weird, and if I feel like if my energy is out of control, I’m going to go up there, and for the first couple songs, I’m going to be spastic and unsure of myself and weird,” she said. “So, I need to go up there feeling calm, feeling, you know… I’ve done everything I can do to get ready and prepare myself for what I’m about to go give, you know, emotionally and energetically and all that.”

Before the performance, members of Bad Cop Bad Cop will come together for “Hands.”

“We hold hands with everybody in our crew, and then whoever might else be in the room, so if anybody crosses our paths, like, you can’t walk past hands without being asked to get into the hands,” Dee said. “And then we talk about being grateful, and we talk about how the day’s been going, and how either we’re feeling great or we’re going to shake that shit off. We’re fine. We just kind of come together and relax and have a little bit of a grounding meeting of the minds, so we all know what we’re going out there to do and to stay connected.”

Dee said Bad Cop Bad Cop does about an hour-and-15-minute show, and includes a handful of songs from “Lighten Up” in the latest set.

She said while on tour, the band is “always trying to just survive out there.”

“We’re constantly learning, constantly learning where we could do it better, easier, less stressful,” she said.

Bad Cop Bad Cop will perform next in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on May 9. In June, the band will make stops in Nashville, Atlanta and Richmond, among other U.S. cities. Visit the band’s website for a full tour schedule. Their album “Lighten Up” is out now.

Building the C-Notes, Part 2.5

Procrastination hit me hard this week when it came to my C-Note DIY speakers, but I was able to complete a few minor tasks. The most important, I think, is applying the first coat of shellac primer to the first cabinet’s bottom. It needs one more coat, which I’m aiming to apply this weekend.

Once that’s applied and has cured for 48 hours, I’ll add the two coats of polyurethane to the cabinet’s top and sides. And after all of that, I’ll finally be ready to start installing electrical components, and the tweeter and woofer.

It’s a shorter update than typical this week. I fear time somehow got away from me. I’ll have a more robust update next week!

What I’m listening to…

The album that cemented me as a David Bowie fan was, unfortunately, his farewell: Blackstar. I remember ordering it online after hearing he died in 2016, putting it on my turntable and absorbing the final Bowie masterpiece — as dark and mournful as it is.

This week, that record returned to my turntable — and I still find it an emotionally charged. Bowie likely knew this would be his final work. The first track, also titled “Blackstar,” is very reminiscent of a funeral. But the final track, “I Can’t Give Everything Away,” plays more hopeful. Not quite happier, but the song has a glimmer of optimism in the face of death.

I strongly recommend this record, especially on vinyl if you can find it.

Thanks for reading! We’ll be back next Thursday with more music journalism and DIY energy!

Subscribe now

Rob McLean is the founding editor and writer of Punk Rock Bach. If you have a story idea, have a musician in mind you’d like to see featured in PRB or just want to say hi, email him at punkrockbach@gmail.com.

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 30, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues. It will also use AI to craft “call to action” language to bolster engagement, as well as use it as a sounding board to draft the site’s “About” section.

We’ve also got a Q&A with Carla J. Easton about her music-listening habits ahead of her May 8 album release.

Plus, an update on my C-Note speaker construction (soldering is tough!) and what I’m listening to currently. All in this week’s edition of Punk Rock Bach!

Onward!

Ekko Astral’s latest album aims to raise money for trans support groups

A former reality TV personality may sit in the Oval Office currently, but one Washington D.C.-based punk band is thinking about another celebrity for president: Adam Sandler.

“It started out being inspired by, actually, a YouTube review of an Adam Sandler film called ‘Jack and Jill,’” said Jael Holzman, the lead singer for Ekko Astral. “Came out long time ago, but the film itself is terrible.”

Holzman said that YouTube review was from Red Letter Media—which is a Wisconsin-based team of filmmakers who often mock the current state of Hollywood and celebrate poorly made films.

“Over the years, the song has just evolved and developed, where this like tune that began pre-Trump entirely over the years became a perfect receptacle for both [bandmate] Liam [Hughes] and I’s cynical and, you know, surrealist sense of humor,” she said.

“Sandler ‘36” is the first track on Ekko Astral’s new album “fuck this band: live at the chapel.” It was released exclusively to Bandcamp on April 22. The album was recorded during a San Francisco concert at, Holzman said, a former mortuary-turned-music venue.

The album’s release comes after Topshelf Records said in February that it could “no longer support” Ekko Astral. The label said on Instagram that it would also not release the band’s album “the beltway is burning” and would issue refunds for pre-orders. Pitchfork’s Nina Corcoran reported further on the label’s announcement, and circumstances that happened before hand, here.

When asked about the label’s decision, Holzman pointed Punk Rock Bach to public statements the band has made previously—including the description of “fuck this band” on the Bandcamp page. She declined to comment further.

Donating proceeds

The album’s Bandcamp page indicates proceeds from “fuck this band” will go to two groups: Gender Liberation Movement and No More Dysphoria.

Gender Liberation Movement is a group that is “fighting to free all people from harmful and limiting gendered expectations,” according to its website.

No More Dysphoria, according to its website, is a non-profit that has “the goal of helping transgender individuals pay for major aspects of their transition.”

“These organizations do really vital work, so we’re happy to raise money for them,” Holzman, who is trans, said.

Nicolle Maroulis, founder of No More Dysphoria, said in an emailed statement that, “In today’s economic age, it is damn near impossible to be a musician (or any kind of artist), and do it sustainably. The costs of recording music alone are not cheap, and then add the cost of DIY touring on top of that.”

“The fact that Ekko Astral chose to donate proceeds from their latest album is great, and we really appreciate it,” Maroulis said.

Gender Liberation Movement did not respond to a request for comment.

For now, no streaming

While Ekko Astral hasn’t ruled out releasing “fuck this band” to streaming in the future, they’re not discussing it currently. Holzman said part of the appeal of Bandcamp is that fans are buying the music files.

“For various reasons, you know, we wanted this to be a benefit record,” Holzman said. “And we wanted it to be something that people kind of held close to their chest as fans.”

She said in the past the band has released music in tandem with streaming.

“We’ve never had, like, a buy it, and then that’s the only way you can get it, and it’s only available as a file,” she said. “And, like, I personally really like that idea that even though it’s not a physical media, this music is worth something […] you’re buying it. There’s also, I mean, the fact that it’s a benefit record. I wanted people to actually give, like, I wanted people to actually donate, to raise money.”

Holzman performed bass on the album, while Liam Hughes was on guitar and Jeremy Snyder played drums. All three provided vocals. Other tracks include “head empty blues,” “uwu type beat” and “horseglue/beltway”—a favorite of Holzman’s.

“Beltway is this column of fire that I still am perplexed by, rhythmically,” she said. “And the way that we end it too, there’s like this kind of falling of ash feeling that live is very cathartic for me.”

When asked what’s next for the band, Holzman was reticent, and offered a simple “stay tuned.”

Ekko Astral’s album “fuck this band: live at the chapel” was released exclusively to Bandcamp on April 22.

Records from Flaming Lips to Kirsty MacColl — Carla J. Easton shares what she spins ahead of her album release

A week from tomorrow, musician Carla J. Easton is set to release her new album, “I Think That I Might Love You.”

Indie music fans don’t have to wait to check out one of the tracks on that album. Easton released the single “Let’s Make Plans for the Weekend” and its music video earlier this month.

And when it comes to listening to music, Easton is a vinyl fan—and will sometimes listen with family.

“My mum has macular degeneration (loss of sight) and is recovering from her third stroke,” Easton said. “We were listening to 'Sugartown' by the Maguire Sisters as we used to sing it together when I was a little girl. Supporting my mum in her recovery has made me realise how music can be a great way to hang out together and trigger memories.”

Easton shares with Punk Rock Bach this week how she appreciates the records from a sonic standpoint and an aesthetic one.

Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Carla J. Easton: I love listening to records. I like the physical aspect of it as well as the sound. You have to engage with it more and I think that promotes better listening and appreciation for music.

I really love listening to music in the car, too! I always listen back to my own mixes in the car before signing off on them. And I just think songs sound great when you listen to them on the radio in the car.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Easton: On my record player, I’ve been listening to Wendy Carlos’ ‘Switched-On Bach II,” CLAIR’s ‘Earth Mother,’ Flaming Lips ‘Oczy Mlody,’ Dory Previn’s ‘We’re Children of Coincidence and Harpo Marx,’ and Kirsty MacColl’s ‘Desperate Character.’

PRB: What do you listen on?

Easton: I’ve got a turntable and some monitor speakers. The turntable is basically a Rega 1 but branded as VinylPlay (same parts, same factory).

Next week: Dylan Mandel from The Lives of Famous Men shares his appreciation for Philadelphia radio. Be sure to subscribe to get next week’s issue in your inbox!

Carla J. Easton’s new record “I Think That I Might Love You” is set to release on May 8 via Ernest Jenning Record Co. It is available for pre-order on Bandcamp.

Woodworking, soldering and listening, Oh My! Building the C-Note speakers, Part 2

As I explained last week, I’ve hit the pause button on my offline music server build so that I can focus on building “C-Note” speakers from Parts Express. And this new project is coming along…though in fits and starts.

On Sunday, I applied the second coat of shellac primer to the constructed speaker cabinet.

After curing (letting the shellac primer dry and harden) for 48 hours, I’m going to give two coats to the underside of the cabinet to protect the bottom from moisture. Once that’s completed, I’ll apply two thin coats of oil-based polyurethane to the cabinet. But more on that next week.

The curve ball I faced this weekend? Soldering.

I’ve never soldered before. I’ve watched YouTube videos on how to do it, but I guess those lessons didn’t stick—because, according to the DIY Audio reddit community, my iron was not nearly hot enough and this soldering job simply won’t do. Here’s a photo of my initial solder work:

Please note: I needed to cut the excess ledes from the components, as well as heat the joint and feed the solder into it so that both front and back are connected.

But it’s not a lost cause! On Wednesday, after earlier conferring with my uncle—who is an engineer—I finally got a joint hot enough for the solder to flow into it, making a strong connection. I trimmed the excess and now look forward to making the rest of the joints look this clean.

I’m going back into the circuit board this week to try to fix what I fouled up. With any luck, next week I’ll have a properly soldered crossover and a near finished speaker cabinet.

Be sure to check back next week for an update on the C-Notes!

What I’m listening to…

Have you ever had an album that puts you to sleep in the best way possible? A modern lullaby that will sway a dude in his 40s to a nap?

Kimbra’s 2023 album “A Reckoning” has that effect on me. The album is solid; it’s not a boring record by any means! But I think I’ve only heard it a few times in its entirety without falling asleep.

Maybe it’s the time of day I’m playing it—right as I head to bed. I find the music oddly comforting.

But be assured—the album is good stuff!

Thanks for reading Punk Rock Bach! Until next Thursday!

Rob McLean is the founding editor and writer of Punk Rock Bach. If you have a story idea, have a musician in mind you’d like to see featured in PRB or just want to say hi, email him at punkrockbach@gmail.com.

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 30, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues. It will also use AI to craft “call to action” language to bolster engagement, as well as use it as a sounding board to draft the site’s “About” section.

This week, we sit down with Sean Solomon, whose new album “The World is Not Good Enough” just dropped. He’s a musician with a fun background: he animates cartoons!

We’ve also got a Q&A with an opera singer from Germany who keeps her phone handy to keep the music playing.

Onward!

Animator Sean Solomon’s new album blends his music with his artwork

Any similarity between the title of Sean Solomon’s new album “The World is Not Good Enough” and the James Bond movie “The World is Not Enough” is purely coincidental.

“I made movie posters for my release show, because we did a release at Brain Dead, the movie theater. So, I made these, like, parody movie posters. And while I was, like, trying to figure out what parody posters to make, I realized that there was a James Bond movie that had a similar title,” Solomon told Punk Rock Bach. “But I think it’s different enough, you know?”

Solomon’s album released last week via Anti- Records. Not only did he record the music, but he also drew the album cover and self-directed/self-animated the music video for the track “Car Crash.” That music video came out last year, according to a news release.

“Car Crash” is one of three songs from the album that Solomon said he especially enjoys playing live. The other two are “Finish Line” (“I think it has the most dynamics for me,” he said.) and “Remember.”

Solomon’s background is in animation. He initially went to Cal Arts for its experimental animation program, but he said he dropped out after two years to work for a company that Fox had hired to build its own version of Cartoon Network’s mature programming block, Adult Swim.

“It was called ‘ADHD,’ ‘Animation Domination High-Def,’” Solomon said. “And I got that job when I was 20, and I ended up, like, designing the logo and making a bunch of GIFs and shorts and kind of learning really quickly there.”

He would go on to be art director for the show “The Lucas Bros. Moving Co.,” before ADHD ended.

By then, he said, he was freelancing — making music videos for bands. One video he created was “Necessary Evil” for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, a group with which Solomon is set to tour beginning this spring.

“So, it like, kind of came full circle recently,” he said.

Solomon said he thinks about the way he creates visual art and music “like changing the channel on a TV.”

“Sometimes I’m in the headspace of making the animations, and sometimes I’m in the headspace of writing songs,” he said. “And I think if I didn’t have both that, I would get kind of bored and antsy. And, so, when I start to feel like my songwriting is getting stale or boring, I switch to animation, and they’re kind of like different parts of my brain.”

However, he said music is the most immediate of the two.

“Because you can sit down, pick up a guitar and write a song in one session, whereas with animation, it’s a little bit more…there’s a little bit more pre -planning involved,” he said.

Sean Solomon’s new album “The World is Not Good Enough” was released on April 17 via Anti-Records. It is available to order on his website and digitally on Bandcamp, Apple Music and other services. His first tour date is April 30 in Portland, Oregon, according to his website.

Soprano Katharina Konradi keeps her phone tuned in on Birdy’s ‘Fire Within’

German opera singer Katharina Konradi’s year seems to have started with a bang and is continuing on that trajectory. CAvi-music released her album “Un Cycle Imaginaire,” in which she sings with Daniel Heide accompanying her on the piano.

Last week, she was set to perform an evening of songs in German, Russian and French in West Yorkshire, U.K. And on Sunday, April 26, Konradi is set to sing at the Sala Principal in Valencia, Spain, with Julius Drake accompanying her on piano.

As always, Punk Rock Bach is curious how Konradi listens to music. And with such a mobile career, it may come as no surprise that she streams her tracks…

Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Katharina Konradi: I stream the music. I have a lot of CDs at home and I record CDs myself but I don’t have any CD player at home.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Konradi: I feel a bit nostalgic so I listen to my old preferred albums: Patricia Kaas, Birdy and her album “Fire within” from 2011 and DOTA — the German song singer and writer Dota Kehrer.

PRB: What do you listen on?

Konradi: As I’m always on the road, a mobile phone is the most practical option to listen to the music for me. And for sure, I listen to the music live from orchestra and my colleagues while singing on the stage.

Katharina Konradi’s latest album “Un Cycle Imaginaire,” via the CAvi-music label, is available to order via various classical music shops — including PrestoMusic and Arkiv Music. Tickets for Konradi’s April 26 performance in Valencia, Spain, are available online.

Hitting pause on a music server and green-lighting DIY speakers

A few weeks ago, when I chatted with Bottlehead Co. Partner Jameson O’Guinn, he mentioned during our conversation he started down the DIY audio road with a speaker kit from Parts Express. For whatever reason, that part of his story really got my attention.

So much so, that I went ahead and purchased a pair of C-Note DIY speakers from Parts Express. I’ve hit the pause button on my “Lois X-1000” music server I started earlier, and focusing my attention on the C-Notes.

And I have a reason for taking a break from the Lois: soldering. The way I’m starting to envision the music server’s final construction, I’m fairly sure I’ll need to do some sort of soldering before it’s finished. Just one problem: I don’t have any soldering experience under my belt!

But the C-Notes can change that. Each of the two speakers has a cross over component — the electrical build that powers the tweeter and woofer drivers. From what I can tell, the soldering for each board is fairly straight forward and will serve as great practice for the Lois.

But before I begin with the electrical, I need to construct the cabinets. Fortunately, the C-Notes come with pre-cut medium-density fiber (MDF) boards that you glue together. Once constructed, the builder can finish the cabinets in a way that’s prettier than raw MDF board.

I’m going with two coats of shellac primer and then two light coats of wipe-on polyurethane. So far, I’ve applied the first coat of primer and have let that cured. I’ll apply the second coat this weekend, and coat the underside after the rest of the cabinet is complete.

Be sure to check back next week to see how the speaker project is going.

What I’m listening to

Katharina Konradi’s Q&A made me curious about her performances and what her voice sounds like — so I decided to hunt down her recent recordings: “Un Cycle Imaginaire” and a recording of some Mozart masses.

My first stop was the Metropolitan Opera gift shop at Lincoln Center — which has a wall of opera recordings and albums. But unfortunately, they did not have either Konradi albums for which I was looking.

So I just bought them online — NOT from Amazon, but rather one of the classical music stores. I’ve been listening to the albums since they arrived and they’re wonderful.

Konradi’s voice is resonate with beauty and grace. Pairing her voice with Daniel Heide’s piano work really highlights her abilities. Meanwhile, on the Mozart masses, Konradi sings with a group on several of the piece.

Strongly recommend both albums, especially if you need a break from modern pop music.

Thank you for reading Punk Rock Bach! We’ll be back next week with more interviews, features and our brand of DIY attitude!

Rob McLean is the founding editor and writer of Punk Rock Bach. If you have a story idea, have a musician in mind you’d like to see featured in PRB or just want to say hi, email him at punkrockbach@gmail.com.

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 22, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues. It will also use AI to craft “call to action” language to bolster engagement.

I’m doing something a little different with this week’s newsletter. Not only did I speak with RSD coordinator Rick Johnson about the day’s history and long-time Homer’s Records and Gifts manager MarQ Manner about what he’s seen in the RSD trenches, but I’m also giving a look at what Record Store Day releases I think are worth waking up for at the crack of dawn.

Onward!

From Taylor Swift to David Bowie: Vinyl lovers have a ton of limited edition and exclusive records coming on Record Store Day 2026

Expect plenty of Swifties to rush to Homer’s Music and Gifts shop in Omaha, Nebraska, as soon as the record store, which is credited by Visit Nebraska as having one of the best collections of vinyls in the state, opens its doors on Saturday.

Store manager and fellow Substacker MarQ Manner anticipates Taylor Swift fans coming out in droves on April 18 for “Record Store Day,” a bi-annual celebration of all things vinyl (there’s also an RSD event on Black Friday). It’s a day when major labels and musicians release exclusive record pressings of albums, new recordings and other related accoutrements that music lovers can only find that day in brick-and-mortar, independent record stores and not in chain stores such as Target and Walmart.

Among participating musicians is Swift, who is releasing her single “Elizabeth Taylor” on 7” vinyl on Saturday. Homer’s, located in Omaha’s historic Old Market District downtown area, has ordered more copies of the “Elizabeth Taylor” recording than any other exclusive record release slated for RSD, Manner told Punk Rock Bach.

Universal Music Group, which owns Republic Records — Swift’s U.S. label partner — did not respond to requests for comment about how many copies would be available of the single or the level of demand it expects to see for the RSD exclusive.

Other musicians and bands with records available Saturday include David Bowie, Wire, Ethel Cain and many others.

Manner said Homer’s has long been involved in Record Store Day, and was one of the first 300 stores nationwide to participate in the event.

“It is extremely successful for us,” he said.

Amoeba Records in Hollywood, California, said on Instagram that it will also have exclusive releases, limited edition t-shirts and goodie bags to mark RSD. Brooklyn-based For the Record, meanwhile, will start selling records at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Elsewhere in New York, Rough Trade Below at Rockefeller Center plans to have live acts during the day, including Superchunk, Incendiary and Friko, as part of iNDIEPLAZA 2026 — a performance on Rockefeller Center’s plaza.

Vinyl makes a comeback

Rick Johnson, Record Store Day’s coordinator, said the event dates back to around 2007 or 2008, and was started as a way to support independent record stores by incentivizing more people to visit them amid the dominance of digital music.

The founders, Michael Kurtz and Carrie Colliton, along with a few other record store owners, approached music labels and artists to ask if they would release a special pressing or recording on the third Saturday in April, according to Johnson, and make it available exclusively for sale in physical shops.

Fast-forward nearly 20 years and the third Saturday in April has become a regular celebration for music lovers around the world. Johnson said the event takes place in the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, France, among other countries.

Top bands and musicians also show up to support the day. For instance, Lenny Kaye of The Patti Smith Group made an appearance at the RSD 2024 event at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Despite streaming services like Spotify and Tidal making music available at any time, vinyl records are still widely popular. The Hollywood Reporter reported that vinyl revenue exceeded $1 billion in 2025 and sales grew more than 9% year over year.

“The vinyl boom started in the late 2000s as a more niche trend among audiofiles and indieheads, with alt-rock figures like Jack White serving as early trailblazers evangelizing the format,” the entertainment news publication reported.

While record lovers this Saturday will have a big list of albums and other exclusives to choose from, Manner said he has his eye on something with which many people may not be familiar.

“So there’s an artist named ‘MC 900 Ft. Jesus,’ a kind of obscure Hip Hop Jazz artist from the 90s,” he said. “I never thought I’d see this reissued on vinyl. I’m very excited for that.”

This article is also published on Bagable.com, which covers the latest news in retailing , consumer behavior and product innovation. It’s helmed by journalist and chief storyteller Parija Kavilanz. You can follow and subscribe to her newsletter here.

Lust over these 10 ear-worthy Record Store Day 2026 releases

Typically I’d be bellyaching about waking up early on a Saturday, but if it means adding an exclusive Pavement record or a Peaches picture disk to my collection — that’s 1,000% worth the effort!

I’ve curated a list of some choice albums available on Record Store Day. The full list is here, but here are 10 highlights I’m keeping an eye out for…

• Alice Cooper has a picture disk edition of his 2025 album “The Revenge of Alice Cooper,” via earMUSIC.

• Tony Bennett’s “MTV Unplugged” album will be released on vinyl for the first time for Record Store Day, via Legacy Recordings.

• Bad Brains’ “Live” album is getting a release via Org Music.

  

• The legendary David Bowie is getting not one but TWO releases from Rhino: “Hallo Spaceboy,” which is a Pet Shop Boys remix of Bowie’s single and will be on neon pink vinyl, and “Excerpts from Outside,” which will come in clear vinyl.

• Dr. Demento will release a “Get Demented!” single via Demented Punk.

• Elemental Music Records is releasing Bill Evans’ “At the BBC: The Complete 1965 London Sets” as an RSD exclusive.

• Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are releasing their album “Live At The Ritz NYC 1981” first on Record Store Day via Blackheart Records. Not an RSD exclusive, but available for the first time on that day.

• Pavement’s 1991 album “Perfect Sound Forever” will receive a repress for Record Store Day this year on white 10” vinyl, via the Matador label.

• Peaches’ latest album “No Lube So Rude” will be released on picture disk via the Kill Rock Stars label. This release is an RSD Limited Run/Regional Focus.

• Sonic Youth will see its record “Diamond Seas” — which includes live performances from 1995 and 1996, according to the RSD site — released first on Record Store Day, via Geffen.

Record Store Day 2026 is set for April 18, 2026. You can see the entire list of releases, as well as additional information, on the event’s website.

Like what you see and want more? Subscribe for free to Punk Rock Bach today!

Devlin and the Harm’s D. McCluskey puts his phone in a musical mode while listening on the go

In the run-up to Devlin and the Harm’s May 22 debut album, on Wednesday the band released its single “Kingdom Comes,” along with the song’s music video. Devlin McCluskey, who formed the band with Michael Nussbaum, according to a press release, called the song a “turning point.”

“My last band faded away, I'd lost touch with my friends, we were in this new dark era of American Society, and I just felt like if I didn't squeeze with all my might I'd float off into the abyss,” McCluskey said in the release. “I'd tried to write songs in the past that explore themes of sobriety, white knuckling, shame, failed relationships, and sort of battling personal demons while society crumbles in the background, but I never quite found the sound that makes me feel the depth of all those things. I wasn't looking to start a band, but 'Kingdom Comes' became a guiding light for the kind of music I wanted to make.”

This week, we take a look at what McCluskey listens to when he’s not making music of his own.

Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Devlin McCluskey: I’m embarrassed to say that I’m almost exclusively listening to streaming. I carve out my mornings for listening to music and try to go for a walk every day. And it’s insane and sometimes daunting to realize that the vast majority of recorded music is accessible one way or another through the phone.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

McCluskey: For the last year or so I’ve been listening to a ton of zamrock, Amanaz absolutely blows me away, and so does the Nigerian band Ofege. I don’t know if there’s something in the water, but my producer Alex Newport was independently getting into zamrock at the same time and we both sent each other playlists with a lot of the same artists, and it’s just got everything you want from 60s/70s psych or garage rock without the familiarity or cliche. In the last few years I came across Karen Dalton and was knocked out by “Something On Your Mind,” that whole album is such a great way to start out the day. Ted Lucas is another one that’s amazing.

One of the advantages of streaming (apart from getting discoveries like those) is you can deep dive into artists’ catalogues without too much thought or investment. I moved out to the desert last winter, and realized apart from my old drummer playing some songs, I’d never listened to much Nick Cave. So I spent a couple weeks listening to the entire Bad Seeds catalogue. Next up is Van Morrison’s catalogue.

As for newer artists, I love this band Kit that my friend Claire McKeown worked with who just released an amazing classic country track - the whole album that preceded it was great. And I’ve been listening to some Cotton Jones and the Mellows. Also a friend’s band Dmytryk released a cool EP.

PRB: What do you listen on?

McCluskey: Mainly the phone, it’s all about accessibility and mobility from the bedroom to the kitchen, to the garden, to the walk, and entering another world for a while.

When my dad was diagnosed with kidney failure he was put on dialysis and had to go for three hours, 3X a week. And when he started he absolutely hated it because he’d just sit there raw dogging the entire time. I asked if he wanted headphones to listen to music, but he kept refusing because he’d only worn airplane headphones. So we got a pair of over-ear Airpod Max for him, and he absolutely loved them and got to listen to classical music on his Chicago station WFMT every day for three hours. He still hated dialysis, but the headphones and the music made it slightly more tolerable. He passed away last year, and I’ve been using those headphones everyday. I love them.

Devlin and the Harms’ self-titled album is set to debut on May 22. It is available digitally for pre-order on Bandcamp. You can watch the “Kingdom Comes” music video on YouTube.

What I’m listening to…

With Saturday being Record Store Day, I’d be remiss if I didn’t listen to an actual vinyl record this week. It’s a short, but thrilling, pressing I only recently added to my collection — though a classic in long-time punk libraries: the Circle Jerks’ 1980 album “Group Sex.”

This is the 40th anniversary edition of the classic album and has some rehearsal tracks. The record brings more energy than eight cups of coffee! Great way to keep the afternoon lively.

Thanks for reading Punk Rock Bach! Want to read more? Be sure to subscribe for future issues, published every Thursday. You can read previously published issues here.

Until next time!

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 2, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Finally, Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues.

Plus — Bottlehead Co., the company behind popular audio amplifier DIY kits like the Crack headphone amp and the Kaiju 300B, just announced a brand-new addition to its lineup. The company is also coming up on one year of new ownership. This week, I chatted with Jameson O’Guinn — one of the company’s partners — about what’s changed at Bottlehead since the purchase.

Onward!

Bratmobile’s Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman spin vinyl, stream and keep the radio star kicking

Bratmobile is on the loose! The punk band, a major player in the 90s Riot Grrrl scene, is having a renaissance — having just re-released its album “The Real Janelle + The Peel Session” via the Kill Rock Stars label and prepping to tour the West Coast.

At Punk Rock Bach, we’re curious what they’re listening to during their down time and commute time. This week, band members Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman share how they’re listening…

Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Allison Wolfe: These days, I usually listen to playlists I’ve meticulously made on Tidal/streaming. I also listen to music shows on terrestrial radio—mostly KXLU, and KCRW (especially the Henry Rollins show).

Molly Neuman: While I prefer to listen on the turntable, my reality is that I mostly listen to the radio. I live in LA and have a tween and am driving a lot between school drop off, going to work, dance class and home. We listen to two main stations on SiriusXM: Hits 1 for her and 1st Wave for me.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Wolfe: I’ve been making politicized playlists to channel collective rage, so lots of The Coup, Downtown Boys, Public Enemy, Amyl & the Sniffers, Sistah Souljah, Babes in Toyland, Rebel Diaz, DAM. Some current bands I love are Death Valley Girls, Amyl & the Sniffers, Trap Girl, Snooper, Linda Lindas, Roselit Bone, The Okmoniks, Downtown Boys, Morgan & the Organ Donors.

Neuman: My favorite new album is Morgan Nagler’s “I’ve Got Nothing to Lose, and I’m Losing It.” It came out last week and it’s gorgeous and sincere and fun and captivating.

I can always listen to The Pretenders, Oasis, Pet Shop Boys, Raincoats, Prince and Rites of Spring.

PRB: What do you listen on?

Wolfe: At home, I usually listen to music streaming on a cheap disco-lit Bluetooth speaker. I also listen to music on the radio and vinyl on my Technics turntable. In the car, I usually listen to CDs ‘cause that’s all my old car does, which, I guess, is more than my old, old car did that only played 8-tracks.

Neuman: If I'm not listening to the car radio, realistically, it's going to be on Spotify or Apple Music.

Bratmobile re-released its album “The Real Janelle + The Peel Session” on March 20 via the Kill Rock Stars label. The album is available on vinyl and CD on the Kill Rock Stars website. Tickets for Bratmobile’s West Coast tour are on sale now. You can hear the band’s song “Brat Girl” here.

Music news from around the Internet…

• Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize’s Alexander Ridha are set to release a collaborative album, Pitchfork’s Walden Green reports. (Pitchfork)

• CNN’s Jack Guy and Amarachi Orie reported that London’s Wireless Festival was canceled after its headliner, Kanye “Ye” West, was prevented from coming to the United Kingdom. (CNN)

• Sabrina Carpenter has released a new music video, according to Pitchfork’s Alex Suskind and Walden Green. (Pitchfork)

• Rolling Stone’s Kory Grow says Jack White will perform at Coachella. (Rolling Stone)

• Billboard’s Lars Brandle reports that Russia has indicted Nadya Tolokonnikova, a co-founder of Pussy Riot, and added her to its federal wanted list. (Billboard)

Bottlehead Co. nears one year of new ownership as it launches ‘Paradyne’ amp

DIY audiophiles can dust off their soldering irons and tool belts. Bottlehead Co. is bringing a new DIY stereo amp kit to the community.

On Tuesday, the popular do-it-yourself stereo-kit maker announced the Paradyne 805A Monoblock Amplifier Kit, a 35-watts-per-channel amplifier that the company says, “delivers headroom, control, and scale that redefine what a single-ended amplifier can do with a wide range of loudspeakers.”

“This is a big step forward for our kits,” Bottlehead said in its product listing.

Jameson O’Guinn, a partner with Bottlehead, teased a new amp was in the works when I chatted with him last Saturday, before the Paradyne announcement.

O’Guinn is part of Middle-Age Kids Engineering, which bought the company almost a year ago. He said the company was formed for the purpose of buying Bottlehead.

“I had been a Bottlehead customer for years and years,” O’Guinn said, having earlier started his DIY audio journey with a speaker kit from Parts Express.

He said his first Bottlehead amp was a SEX 3 — that’s “Single Ended eXperimentation,” to be clear. The company currently sells the updated SEX 4 on its website.

“Essentially, I made just about everything in the lineup,” he said. “And then, I guess kind of June… or September of 2024 I reached out to [Bottlehead founders] Dan and Eileen [Schmalle] and asked whether a kit that I had found on eBay still was viable, and if it was, you know, good to build, and whether there were any things I needed to be concerned about.”

When Dan Schmalle replied, O’Guinn said, he told him that the kit was fine, but they were getting ready to sell the company and retire, and asked if O’Guinn would be interested in purchasing.

O’Guinn said he spoke with his family, conducted due-diligence and conferred with advisors. But he said it was after his mother took a listen via a Bottlehead amp that everything came together.

“She had heard music before through speakers, but she never heard anything quite like that. So from that moment, it was pretty much a done deal,” he said.

Since MAKE bought the company, O’Guinn said one of the biggest changes is something the customer might not immediately recognize: updating Bottlehead’s supply chain. He said the company previously ordered what it needed as purchases came in. O’Guinn said the company is now working to ensure a well-stocked inventory.

“And so a lot of the legacy Bottlehead website, information and newsletters and stuff all kind of pointed to the fact that when you ordered a kit from Bottlehead, it would take anywhere between two to eight weeks or more to ship,” he said.

The company’s turn-around is a lot shorter these days.

“Our approach has really been trying to get order fulfillment down from kind of six weeks to two days,” he said. “And we’ve done that for the most part.”

While the new owners have made some tweaks to Bottlehead’s website and forum infrastructure, O’Guinn said the company isn’t changing much at the core level.

“We’re really trying to kind of keep the recipe for what made Bottlehead successful in the first place, which was, you know, bringing really high quality audio equipment to the DIY builder so they can make their own sounds,” he said. “We’re trying to keep that in place as much as possible, and every decision we’re making is largely around, ‘how can we put out the best possible product at an approachable price that somebody can reasonably put together on their own?’”

For those audiophiles out there who love the idea of building your own Bottlehead — whether a new “Paradyne” or a “Crack” headphone amplifier — O’Guinn said he understands first-time builders might be nervous. With that in mind, the company is considering releasing a practice kit.

“We know that people are intimidated by this, and I think it’s always good to kind of cut your teeth on something a little basic, just to kind of understand what you’re getting yourself into before you blow 375 bucks and feel regret,” he said.

That being said, O’Guinn highlighted the detailed Bottlehead construction manuals and resources available online, such as the company’s forums and a list of tools a builder will need.

“You need patience more than anything, and then good lighting, and really beyond that, I think anybody can put these together,” he said.

Bottlehead’s new Paradyne 805A Monoblock Amplifier Kit and its other amp kits are available for purchase on the company’s website.

LAPÊCHE’s latest album shares an upbeat song that stems from a private struggle

A deeply personal song about fertility difficulties on LAPÊCHE’s recent album, “Autotelic,” is also one that’s fun to perform, Krista Holly Diem told me.

Diem is the frontwoman of LAPÊCHE, and the song is “Happy 4U.” Recently, we had a conversation about the band’s new album, “Autotelic,” which debuted on February 6.

“Happy 4U” is a song written during “years-long fertility struggles,” according to a summary from the band’s press reps.

Diem said she wasn’t nervous about putting her experience in the song, saying she always writes music from a personal place.

She said while writing it was cathartic, she also had in mind, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if I had heard a song about fertility issues and miscarriages while I was going through it?”

“That would have been really incredible to experience,” Diem said.

While the subject matter comes from a place of disappointment, Diem describes the song’s rhythm as “dancey.”

“I almost kind of have to put myself in another headspace to do it,” Diem said, explaining that while playing it she doesn’t let herself “think about or feel what I’m thinking.”

The album came together when the band members — who include Diem’s husband David Diem, as well as Drew DeMaio and Colin Brooks — started writing songs remotely.

“It just seemed like we were writing so much more and faster than we had before because we were all writing at the same time, basically, on different things” Diem said.

Diem said LAPÊCHE had “a handful of songs quickly” and would eventually narrow the play list to 10 songs, with the help of the musicians’ producer, Alex Newport.

Other tracks on the album include “Parallel Park” (which Diem notes is also fun to perform), “First Time Caller” and “When R U From.”

LAPÊCHE’s album “Autotelic” is available for order on both vinyl and digital via Bandcamp and other stores and is also streaming. It’s published via the Tiny Engines label. You can hear LAPÊCHE’s song “Happy 4U” on YouTube.

What I’m listening to…

Flea’s new album “Honora” is incredible — full stop. And that’s exactly what I’m listening to this week.

Admittedly, I may be biased. I think Red Hot Chili Peppers is among the greatest bands of the 20th century and I’ve recognized Flea since his modest-but-memorable part in the “Back to the Future” trilogy. His latest work — his first solo album — is solid!

My favorite track on the album is “Wichita Lineman,” with vocals performed by Nick Cave. Flea plays the flumpet on that one, and it’s a great version of the classic Jimmy Webb song.

Best pre-order I’ve made in a long time. Highly recommend.

Hope you enjoyed this issue of Punk Rock Bach. Missed a past issue? Check out our archive here. Be sure to subscribe to get next week’s edition sent straight to your inbox. See you next Thursday!

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 2, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Finally, Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues.

Luckily, I still managed to make it to a record store to fill some holes in my music library — and one of my pick-ups is especially timely for NEXT week’s issue!

More on that toward the end of today’s newsletter. In the meantime, onward to this week’s Punk Rock Bach!

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Bach Disruption: A new album aims to shakeup classical music sensibilities

Curt Sydnor and Greg Saunier are re-thinking one of classical music’s celebrated composers.

Sydnor and Saunier — the later of whom is also a member of the band Deerhoof — are releasing a new album based on the work of Johan Sebastian Bach called “Bach Artillerie.” The album, which is set debut later this month, takes Bach’s work and infuses it with something more modern.

I sat down with Sydnor to discuss the album. He said the album’s concept started coming together after he and Saunier performed in a band playing music from another classical composer, Antonin Dvořák.

“Greg and I were part of a band eight or nine years ago that recorded a Dvořák string quartet for guitar, bass, drum and compact organ,” Sydnor said. “And ever since that experience, I’ve been interested in a way of approaching classical music with rock instruments, but not in a way that is reminiscent of earlier attempts to bring, like, a progressive rock approach to classical masterpieces.”

Sydnor, who studied music at schools such as Vanderbilt University and the Russian Academy of Music in Moscow, said he has always been interested in Bach’s Goldberg Variations and set out to learn that “foundational, monumental work of keyboard literature.”

“And I felt that the baselines were so hip and the approach so ingenious that, you know, Bach’s approach to layering the lines of the cannons and propelling them with these very catchy bass lines. I thought, ‘Oh, this would be great,’” he said.

That line of thinking, however, could irk some traditional classical musicians.

“[The music is] kneecapped when you take it as a text that must be recited in a certain way,” Sydnor said. “So with this project, we were essentially in rebellion…traditional notions of how the music should be played, while feeling very strongly about Bach’s ideas towards it or what is actually on the page, knowing that Bach himself was constantly re-orchestrating his music, constantly repurposing it for different instruments.”

Bach Artillerie is set to debut on April 24 via Ernest Jenning Record Co. You can hear the single “Canon à la neuvième des Variations Goldberg” here.

Music News from Around the Internet

• The Los Angeles Times’ Vanessa Franko has a preview of music festival Coachella 2026. Quick heads-up: the article is paywalled. (The Los Angeles Times)

• Taylor Swift released a new “Elizabeth Taylor” music video, according to Variety’s Chris Willman. (Variety)

• NBC News’ Andrew Jones reports the Eurovision Song Contest will have an Asia version in November. (NBC News)

• In “what the heck?” news, Pitchfork’s Nina Cocoran reports that Bob Dylan — who, you’ll remember, is a Nobel laureate — has launched a Patreon. (Pitchfork)

The Weekly Stereo…

About two decades have past since the band White Denim first started serenading audiences — and the members aren’t done yet. They’ve got a new album coming out later this month titled simply “13” and prepping a tour to begin this May.

But when they’re not jamming, at least one member is enjoying songs with the rest of us music fans.

This week, Punk Rock Bach asks the band’s leader, James Petralli, about his listening habits.

Editor’s note: Q&A has been edited for style, syntax and typos.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

James Petralli: I listen to records at home with my family and mostly to public radio when I’m on the road. I stream as well but that is sort of a necessary evil for me. There isn’t much romance in that space — I prefer to own physical recordings and enjoy the process of discovery that the radio provides.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Petralli: I bought Hungry Animal by Luke Temple and the cascading moms at a gig the other day and have been enjoying that very much. I like everything Luke does and this band is stellar. I like the most recent Dijon record. I feel like he and that crew are doing something very cool with the music. Speaking of that crew, the guitarist Ryan Richter has a great new album out. The concept and the playing are super sound. He kinda beat me to market with part of what he’s done conceptually. It’s a continuous long composition — fully out of step with modern media consumption. Truly brilliant music and tasteful tones and playing.

PRB: What do you listen on?

Petralli: I listen on a solid turntable connected to 70’s pioneer kit that is still in fairly good shape. I listen to the radio in a Toyota Tacoma. I am accustomed to beyer headphones in studio.

White Denim’s album “13” is set to release on April 24 via the Bella Union label. It is available for preorder on the band’s website. You can hear the band’s single “(God Created) Lock and Key” here. The band is set to begin touring in May.

The DIY Workbench…

USB input management is much more complicated than I expected in 2026.

As you’ll recall, I’m working to construct a no-internet digital music server for my digital albums and CD rips. Last week, I landed on where those music files will live: a Samsung 870 EVO Internal Solid State Drive, with 1 terabyte’s worth of space.

This week, the ripping begins! I have an LG Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer hooked up to my MacBook Air and started ripping CDs with Apple Music to MPEG-4 files.

I had planned to rip to the higher-quality FLAC files, but I had some software issues with the freeware available. The way I figure, MPEG-4 is fine for now since I can upgrade the files later. Plus, it gives me reason to listen to the physical CD — which should sound better than the MPEG-4s.

You would think a DVD writer would be an easy plug-and-rip device. And it is…once you get past the USB chord! It comes with a Micro-B USB connector — a Micro-B plugs into the DVD writer and on the other end is a regular USB connector.

Of course, my MacBook Air only has USB-C inputs.

It took me two failed attempts at buying the correct adaptor, but I finally ordered the correct USB-to-USB-C plug-in.

Frustrating as hell, but I’ve finally started ripping my CD collection — starting with Flea’s new album, “Honora.”

An album, by the way, that is fantastic!

Hoping to have the device’s brain totally put together in the next week or two. Fingers crossed!

What I’m listening to…

Remember in the intro when I said one of my record store pick-ups was especially timely for NEXT week’s issue?

Well, this week’s “What I’m listening to…” gives a preview for next issue. Last Friday, I picked up Bratmobile’s “The Real Janelle b/w The Peel Session,” which has this incredible 90s verve that makes me forget I’m in my 40s.

My copy is a Record Store Day release in a purplish, deep magenta wax from last year, but the band just re-released the record on black vinyl on March 20 — through the Kill Rock Stars label.

Next week, Bratmobile’s Molly Neuman and Allison Wolfe are sharing with Punk Rock Bach what they’re using to listen to music these days.

Stay tuned…

That’s all for this week, but we’ll be back next Thursday!

Artificial intelligence use statement (Last updated on April 2, 2026): No editorial content on Punk Rock Bach — written or visual — is created by AI. However, PRB does use Otter.AI, an AI transcription service, for interviews. Quotes are reviewed by a human for accuracy and context before being incorporated into coverage.

Additionally, the Punk Rock Bach avatar was generated by ChatGPT with prompts from PRB editor Rob McLean.

Finally, Punk Rock Bach will use artificial intelligence to audit previously published newsletters in an effort to improve quality of future issues.

In this week’s Punk Rock Bach, we’re talking with Kris Kukul, music supervisor for Broadway’s new “Rocky Horror Show” production and opera singer Alasdair Kent about his headphones of choice. We’ve also landed on a Solid State Drive for the DIY music server I’m building and digesting music news from around the internet.

Onward!

‘Rocky Horror’ music supervisor calls Studio 54 venue ‘like kismet beyond’

The Studio 54 theater has something of a time warp on its hands.

The theater, once a space known for 1970s disco, celebrity sightings and night-time dancing, will be the home for Broadway’s production of the 1970s classic “The Rocky Horror Show.” The new show — which features Juliette Lewis, Rachel Dratch and Harvey Guillén, among others, and is directed by Sam Pinkleton — begins previews on March 26.

Kris Kukul, music supervisor for the production, said the Studio 54 venue was “like kismet beyond.”

“It’s like special sauce to it,” Kukul said. “I don’t think it made us go […] in any direction while we were making the show that we wouldn’t have gone in, but it’s like a little…it’s a really special thing that happened.”

Kukul is a New York theater veteran and previously served as music supervisor on the recent Beetlejuice musical and conductor for “Gutenberg! The Musical.”

Now, I know what you’re asking — “what the heck is a music supervisor?”

That’s the person who, behind the scenes, oversees every musical aspect of the production. And in the case of “Rocky Horror,” Kukul said that means making sure the songs fit the singers, molding the score for this particular production and even putting the band together.

“And this is a small band, you know, just a rock band, a rock band with a saxophone,” he said. “So, we had to find people who really are amazing rock players.”

The name “Rocky Horror” conjures images of midnight movie showings with the “Time Warp” song blasting and lots of baked-in audience participation. According to Playbill’s Kieron Cindric, who has a run-down of the film audience interactions here, viewers will shout phrases like “How’s your sex life, Brad?” and “Not the night, but the day…” at the screen as “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” film plays.

Kukul said the minds behind this Broadway production both expect those call-outs will happen, but also that audiences might be a bit more reserved.

“You know, they’re like the traditional things that people call out. I’m sure it’s gonna happen,” Kukul said. “We don’t really know what to expect, which is kind of exciting.”

As for the musical numbers in the latest production, Kukul said he has a few favorites.

“There’s a song called ‘Over at the Frankenstein Place,’ which is the third song in,” he said. “Which is not one of the more-known songs, but it is just one of those songs that, every time it starts, I just absolutely love it.”

He also highlighted an eight-minute sequence toward the end of Act Two that shifts around in styles.

“It’s a thrilling piece of music,” Kukul said.

“The Rocky Horror Show” starts on March 26 and is set to run until June 21 at the Studio 54 Theater (254 West 54th Street) in Manhattan.

Music News from Around the Internet

• Rolling Stone’s Nathan Brackett takes a look at the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Era of AI in Music.” (Rolling Stone)

• The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” album is getting an “audiophile pressings” for its 60th anniversary, NME’s Liberty Dunworth reports. (NME)

• FKA twigs has sued 90s band the Twigs, Pitchfork’s Nina Corcoran reports. At issue, Corcoran says, is a trademark. (Pitchfork)

• ICYMI: Flea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’s base player, spoke with The New York Times about his first solo album, “Honora.” The album is set to release March 27. (The New York Times)

The Weekly Stereo…

This week, opera singer Alasdair Kent — who performs on Aparté Music’s new recording “Traetta: Ifigenia in Tauride” — shares how he fills his listening time with song both at home in Switzerland and on the road.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and precision. It was conducted with the assistance of Otter.AI transcription, an artificial intelligence service, but reviewed by Punk Rock Bach for accuracy before publication.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Alasdair Kent: So a lot of this comes down to my style of living. So I'm on the road for 10,11, or something, 12 months of the year, so it's impractical for me to carry around CDs or vinyls or these kind of things, unfortunately. So any of the music I listen to is used digital in some way. And usually I would be listening to things… I have a kind of, sort of a database of CDs of operas and recital discs in some cases, you know, I think I have 25 or 30 different recordings of, say, for instance, some really popular operas like “Lucia di Lammermoor.”

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Kent: It's pretty common that I will be listening to if I'm learning a new role, I might listen to that. So at the moment, I'm in the middle of some concert performances and also a recording of a Mozart opera called “Ascanio in Alba” and so I listened to a couple of weeks ago, I was listening to a few different the recordings that already existed [of] this opera, just to get an idea of what people kind of expect from this opera and how that happens. At the same time, I've also been listening to some Tchaikovsky orchestral music.

PRB: What do you listen on?

Kent: Well, usually I use my phone, I would have to say. I have an iPhone, and I listen to that. If I'm at my computer, then I will listen with Media Monkey, and then my beautiful Bose. What are they? Quiet Comfort. I want to say 45, QC 45’s, I think they are.

Aparté Music released “Traetta: Ifigenia in Tauride,” directed by Christophe Rousset, on March 20. Kent’s performance includes an aria on track 47 of the album, which is available on Bandcamp.

The DIY corner…

As you’ll recall, this is the part of the newsletter in which Punk Rock Bach logs the construction of the Lois X-1000: a no-internet music server I’m planning to connect straight into my hi-fi stereo system.

I explained the basic brain of the device last week. This week, construction has stalled for a few reasons — but I have made some progress on selecting an internal Solid State Drive, the server component on which my music files will live.

I’m going with a Samsung 870 EVO Internal SSD, with 1 terabyte’s worth of space — which will connect to the Raspberry Pi via a SATA-to-USB 3.0 chord. It’s enough space to hold many (!!!) digital albums, whether they’re saved as FLAC files, MP3s or other formats.

Once I purchase the SSD, I’ll start loading my CDs — mostly collected during the 1990s, but I have a few more recent recordings also that I’ll be adding to the archive.

More on that front next week.

Punk Rock Bach joins Instagram

Social media is unavoidable. And while I’m still trying to stay away from TikTok, Instagram feels like a natural fit for Punk Rock Bach.

And so I’m pleased to present Punk Rock Bach on Instagram. I’ll be posting short previews of the Thursday newsletter there, along with re-posts from other music news sites and musicians.

Follow PRB at instagram.com/punkrockbach.

Here’s what I’m listening to…

Covering “The Rocky Horror Show” got me into a 1970s kind of mood this week. And no group shouts out loud “1970s rock” more than KISS.

I’ve been listening to my re-issue copy of the 1975 “KISS Alive!” album on vinyl. It’s a favorite I enjoy coming back to periodically, and this week seemed like an appropriate time.

For the record: No — per Snopes, the band’s name does NOT stand for “Knights in Satan’s Service.”

That’s all for this week. Until next Thursday!

Have a suggestion on music news to cover or album releases to note? Email me at punkrockbach@gmail.com!

The Weekly Stereo…

In every issue of Punk Rock Bach, we’re aiming to bring you musician listening habits and the tech they use to play a tune.

This week, Ben Easton of the band deary shares with Punk Rock Bach his recent exploration into film soundtracks and kitchen habits.

Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?

Ben Easton: Vinyl is the ultimate listening experience, it’s magical, so I’m a firm advocate for that. However, for my sins, I mostly stream music.

PRB: What are you listening to now?

Easton: It’s always a bunch of different things. Right now, I’m trying to listen to more film soundtracks. There’s a beautiful track called ‘Personal Contact’ by Michel Colobier from a 1970 film called “Colossus: The Forbin Project”. The strings are just gorgeous. I’ve also been listening to ‘Slint - Spiderland’ a lot lately. It’s such a pure record.

PRB: What do you listen on?

Easton: I’ve got a Pioneer PLX 500 in my kitchen, so end up sticking records on when I’m making dinner etc. Otherwise, it’s a phone!

deary’s debut full-length album, Birding, is set to release on April 3 from Bella Union. You can listen to their single “Seabird” here.

Music News from Around the Internet…

• Spice Girls singer Mel C told an Australian radio program that there will be no 30th anniversary reunion tour for the group, but said the members “want to do something,” NME’s Alex Rigotti reports. (NME)

• The Hollywood Reporter’s Ethan Millman reports singer Lorde has confirmed she is now an independent artist. (The Hollywood Reporter)

• Rainelle Krause, who recently performed as Queen of the Night in the Metropolitan Opera’s “The Magic Flute,” has died at age 37, according to The Los Angeles Times’ Christie D’Zurilla. (The Los Angeles Times)

• Peter Frampton is set to release his first album in 16 years this May, according to Pitchfork’s Jazz Monroe. Frampton, Monroe reports, had previously been diagnosed with a degenerative muscle disease. (Pitchfork)

• Rolling Stone’s Daniel Kreps reports that guitarist Phil Campbell of Motorhead has died. He was 64. (Rolling Stone)

The DIY corner…

As I continue to fine-tune this newsletter, I’ll be adding sections periodically. This week, I’m adding “The DIY corner,” where I’ll be discussing do-it-yourself hi-fi stereo builds I’m planning and constructing.

Streaming music…

I don’t know about you, but I get that giggling-in-church sense of guilt when I access songs from the cloud rather than listen with intention to an album I purchased.

Digital music has become so communal that we’ve lost that special connection with our favorite albums. Or at least it did for me.

And that’s why I’m ditching streaming music altogether. I long ago abandoned Spotify for data collection reasons, but I kept Amazon Music around. Now I’ve ended my use of that streamer, too, and sticking with the music I’ve collected over the years — including all the digital albums I’ve purchased.

No offense to the world’s music streaming audience, it’s just not for me.

But how does one keep those digital albums purchased in rotation in a world where digital hi-fi stereo components are almost exclusively streamers?

Behold! The Lois X-1000 local music server!

First, some basics. A music server is a computer that sits in your stereo system with saved digital music files. It is your digital music library saved locally — no need for the device to be internet-connected.

Dedicated music servers are obsolete by about a decade. Sony made some — such as the HAP-S1 and its more impressive sibling, the HAP-Z1ES. But in 2026, internet-connected devices that play music from the cloud are all the rage. Search audio stores like Crutchfield and you’ll find lots of ways to stream, but very little in the way of a dedicated music server.

Very few items are available commercially that meet my need, so I’m going to build one.

It may sound daunting, but I suspect it will be an easier lift than expected — especially since I’ll be using a Raspberry Pi running the Volumio operating system.

The Raspberry Pi is a small computer, about the size of a credit card. Tech enthusiasts use it for all sorts of engineering projects. Volumio — an open-source, music-focused operating system — is saved or “flashed” to a micro SD card, which inserts into the Pi.

That’s about where I stand with the server’s construction at the moment. In the next few weeks, I’ll show my progress on the server’s construction — from connecting a solid-state drive that has my music files saved to adding a digital-analog converter so I can actually hear those files.

Stay tuned…

Here’s what I’m listening to…

Going forward, I’ll end each newsletter with a quick note of what I’m listening to this week. Think of it as a weekly suggestion of an album to check out, past and present.

This week, I’m listening to former Sonic Youth member Kim Gordon’s new album “Play Me” (Matador Records). It has a 90s grunge vibe that I really quite like.

That’s all for this week. Until next Thursday!

Join me — journalist Rob McLean — as I explore all things modern music with an eye for the analog. In this weekly newsletter, we’ll be exploring everything from live performances to instrument craftsmanship, from album sales to opera singers, and with a “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” attitude.

Granted, the drugs are lisinopril and hydrochlorothiazide, but no matter!

The failed high school trombonist…

I’m Rob McLean, your tour guide on this sound adventure. I’ve worked for some of the best journalism organizations over the years — including CNN and most recently NBC News.

While I’ve covered Washington political developments, tech news out of Silicon Valley and the roller coaster of stock market movements in New York City, music has always been my favorite reporting subject.

In the past, I’ve covered London Goth metal, “Hardcore” showcases, local St. Louis rock bands and developments in the opera world. And while other music news outlets are doing amazing work, I want to do my part to contribute to this moment of music journalism.

Maybe it’s teenage regrets that attract me to music.

I was never in a cool punk band or rocked out on a guitar back in high school. I was a BAD high school trombonist — playing in marching band, orchestra and jazz band. I was usually last chair, and could never learn to read music — I just can’t hear it in my head when I look at the page!

But I’ve always enjoyed listening to songs and symphonies. I’ve had season tickets to The Metropolitan Opera in New York. I remember the first punk band concert I went to as an Omaha teen — seeing “The Fonzies” (or something like that).

So, while I can’t play anything well, this is a way I can celebrate music — and I hope you’ll join me.

The Weekly…

Each week, I’ll bring you coverage on all things music. We’ll dive into the world of rock, classical, punk, opera, choral, R&B, jazz and every other genre under the sun. Yes, even country.

Have something in mind you’d like me to cover? Send me a note at punkrockbach@gmail.com.

I’ll be honest: You probably won’t see a lot of marching band coverage, but you never know!

Music News from Around the Internet

This is our weekly curated list of music news. I’ll be combing the likes of Pitchfork, Spin, Rolling Stone and other legacy music news sources (RIP Mtv News), and share links to their coverage.

This week…

• Pitchfork’s Kiana Mickles reports singer Dionne Warwick filed a countersuit against Artist Rights Enforcement Corp. — which sued Warwick in December. (Pitchfork)

• Rolling Stone’s Daniel Kreps reports Country Joe McDonald has died at age 84. (Rolling Stone)

• Modest Mouse has its first new song out after a five-year stretch, per Pitchfork’s Walden Green. (Pitchfork)

• The New York Times’ Joshua Barone reports the Washington National Opera — which exited the Kennedy Center earlier this year — has restarted performances. (The New York Times)

• The Hollywood Reporter’s Ryan Gajewski has a story on comedian Patton Oswald cracking on Timothée Chalamet’s comments about opera and ballet. ICYMI, NBC News has a write-up of what Chalamet said. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Show me yours, I’ll show you mine…

The days of every household having hi-fi stereo equipment may have come and gone, but if you’re anything like me you still want an amazing way to listen to your music. Today’s musicians and industry professionals do, too!

Every week, we’re aiming to show off the listening space of music professionals who are releasing albums, on tour, have an upcoming show, etc. Maybe the musician is streaming Spotify on her phone or is pulling out a CD for his home system — however they listen to music, we want to see it!

For this inaugural issue, I’m showing off my modest (and frankly in need of an upgrade) listening station.

Behold! My Jensen 3-speed stereo turntable. The front control panel has become unglued, but it still spins a record.

I’m eager to upgrade — and I have a project in mind on that front. More on that later…

Transparency

As a journalist, transparency is wildly important to me. I want to be honest in my coverage and sincere in everything I publish on this platform.

I will make mistakes in my coverage, whether that’s a name typo or describing poorly an upcoming performance or album.

What I can promise, though, is that if I make a mistake, I will be honest about that error and work to fix it.

Use of A.I.

No editorial copy or photographs published on Punk Rock Bach will be created by artificial intelligence. Period.

I have a difficult relationship with the idea of artificial intelligence. On the one hand, it’s the technology that will change the world (for better or worse). On the other hand, it torpedoes critical thinking, human ingenuity and creativity.

But what about Punk Rock Bach’s avatar? Yes – that was created with A.I., and ChatGPT specifically.

I used ChatGPT to create an image I think is eye-catching and gets across what I’m trying to do editorially with this publication. I may replace it down the road. But for now, it’s the one A.I. exception that proves the rule.

I’m admittedly hypocritical.

Happy Trails

I hope you’ll join me on this sonic expedition. Until next Thursday!