Once again Lord Rutledge and I bring you the concept of what we like to call "tandem posts". This time, we bring you bands of the 2000's (2000 - 2009 to be exact). Again, it was not an easy task to narrow it down to only ten, but somehow I managed. Go check out Faster and Louder to see Josh's take on his favorites of the era. And like our previous tandem post about our essential 1990's punk bands, we have no idea what the other is selecting! To listen to some songs from these bands, plus more from this time period, check out my playlist at the end of this post.  10. The Busy Signals  The first thing that hits you when you drop the needle on The Busy Signal's debut LP is singer Analucia McGorty's vocals. It's the kind of voice that transports you to another world. The songs are so charismatic you forget you're basically listening to a scrappy underground punk record. Their LP came out in 2007 on Dirtnap Records and it's got this quality about i...

Shock Treatment: So Pete, you started out running 702 records back in 1994. You put out some amazing records by The Gain, The Atomiks, The Loudmouths, just to name a few! What got you started doing that? PM: As soon as I could afford to, I moved out of my mom’s house with some friends, and we made it a point to find a pad with a basement so we could have shows. The bands you mentioned all played in that house’s basement, along with 2-3 others, every month we lived there for around five years. One of the bands that came through played me their demo upstairs after their gig while we were sitting on the couch, and said they wanted to put out a 7inch but had no money, and I had $1,000 in my bank account for the first time in my life. That’s essentially how I started making records. Shock Treatment: You had 702 records, and now you run Slovenly Recordings, which I’m a huge fan of as well! What led you to decide to stop with 702 and start again with Slovenly? PM: 702 Records was the label I ...

Photo by Kevin Daniel Shock Treatment: Let’s begin with an introduction! Who is currently in Shop Talk and what does everyone do in the band? Jon: These days, Shop Talk is really just Tristan and me. I play guitar and sing lead, and Tristan plays bass and sings backing vocals. We’ve worked with a few different drummers. Alexander Perrelli plays on the LP, but left after we made the record. Angie Boylan (Sleater-Kinney, Lost Balloons, etc.) played drums with us for most of 2025, and she’s on the Museum of Sex 7-inch. Nathaniel Meek filled in on our recent tour, and he’ll be playing some local gigs as well. The Offering EP by Shop Talk Shock Treatment: What band or musician first made you want to pick up an instrument and start learning to play music or write songs? Tristan: This is going to sound manufactured, but for me it was the Beatles. My dad was a big fan and I grew up listening to them. After I had my first acoustic guitar, I went to Borders and bought a Beatles song book… ya kno...

Fear, rejection, heartbreak, loss, betrayal, these are some of the things that have started wars between nations. These are also some of the things that nations have inflicted upon its own people. Causing bodies and souls to tear apart from one another. Leaving only a husk of a person to carry on with daily routines without emotions like joy, excitement or anything that makes life worth living. We have become mechanized drones in a hive, made simply of flesh and gas. Our minds are driven into madness and we begin to drift into an alternate reality. A reality that runs parallel to ours only far more sinister. This is where Oslo's Stabber resides, a reality that gains more and more residents daily. In a world where billion dollar corporations have raped, pillaged, and commandeered every art form, every outlet of human expression, everything we have that reminds us that we actually still have souls. They have left us with their own, pre-approved versions of humanity that we are suppos...

Photo by Scott Evanskey Shock Treatment: Let’s begin with some introductions! Who’s all in The Hellflowers and what does everyone do in the band? The Hellflowers: Christina Hellflower- lead vocals/rhythm guitar, Matt Eskew -Bass, Alex Mack - Lead Guitarist, Stevyn Grey - Drums Shock Treatment: What’s the origin story of the band, how did you all meet and decide to play music together? The Hellflowers:  Christina and Matt started this band in LA in 2015. After a couple line up changes we were lucky that Matt was friends with Stevyn. When the spot became available we couldn’t wait to ask him and were super lucky he accepted! Haven’t looked back since. After our second guitarist could no longer play with us we were doing acoustic shows. One of those shows was with Billy Bones of “The Skulls”. He said he knew just the guy (after telling him we needed a new lead guitarist) and boy was he correct! He put us in touch with Alex and again we haven’t looked back. Por Vida! by The Hellflowers...

As the light fades from your eyes, the world as you once knew it begins to seem like a distant memory. All the love you won,  unfulfilled  promises, and unmet achievements mean absolutely nothing anymore. Memory comes to you in quick sudden flashes, random and violent. It is at this moment that you start to realize you are passing from one realm to the next. The walls close in and a manic desperation fires through all four of your limbs like lightning strikes. It's about now that you start to realize you aren't passing into the storied empire of ivory and gold that was fed to you as a child. This place you start to behold feels cold and paralyzing. Similar are the unnerving emotions Excessive Blood extracts from within your psyche with this record. These four songs on the band's new 7" Porcelain Doll  emit intense and twisted reverberations of panic, loss, and regret.  EXCESS BLOOD - PORCELAIN DOLL by Excess Blood EXCESS BLOOD - PORCELAIN DOLL by Excess Blood Ex...

Automatic Lovers are a four piece punk rock n' roll band out of Madrid, emphasis and underline the "punk" in that. These guys reach back into the musical ethos and grab their influences from only the meanest bands and the most venomous songs. This is Automatic Lover's debut LP after releasing an explosive 7" last year on Wap Shoo Wap Records, same label that's putting out this equally as searing LP. It's records like this one and the Sick Shooter's LP that came out earlier this year, that prove Wap Shoo Wap are a label to watch closely.  Automatic Lovers by Automatic Lovers Automatic Lovers by Automatic Lovers Now close your eyes, plant both feet on the ground and ball your fists up as tight as you can. Because this record emits a blast capable of leaving an impact crater of extinction level size right under your feet. If you want to get a taste, think Dead Boys, Slaughter and The Dogs, with a little Hanoi Rocks prowl and you've got an alternate r...

Interview conducted with singer/songwriter Andrew Cline Shock Treatment: Let's start off by telling me who all are in Astrologer at this very moment as we speak? Andrew: Starting with the tough questions! This one is always hard to answer… people pretty much view Astrologer as my project because I’m the songwriter, or Candy and I, since we are sort of a duo! That said, at any given time, we have several other people I would consider members of the group in some fashion. Wyatt Blair, Don Bolles, Joel Tyler Wall, Blake Garmon, and Nick Florence have all been involved with us both live and in our recorded output intermittently since we began. Shock Treatment: What is the Astrologer conception story? How did you guys meet and decide to play music together? Andrew: I started Astrologer after my last band broke up. I played one show under that name in 2020 with two of my friends in Phoenix, Andrew Jemsek and Eddie Horn. Then, the pandemic happened, and it changed the trajectory of the en...

Collaps are a German melodic street punk/oi! band formed in 2022. This here is their second album that came out in late April. Their first record, Executor came out in 2023 on Mendeku Diskak. Musically it falls close to fellow German punk band Oxymoron. Both bands play melodic, hard hitting punk anthems with some mean, rousing hooks. But Collaps throw in a pinch of Motorhead and a dash of Cocksparrer in the mix to make sure the roof of your house gets thoroughly blown off!   Getting Used To The Dirt by Collaps Getting Used To The Dirt houses 11 stellar street anthems about living in a world that is quickly being shrouded in darkness. The first song "Cokehead Politics" paints the picture of a society in chaos and our hypocritical leaders seem to either do nothing or turn their backs completely on their people, further driving the nails into the coffin of society. Some of the other songs like "You Don't Get Shit", "Grinding", and "I Think We're ...

Shock Treatment: Lets start things off by telling me who’s all currently in the Imploders demolition unit: Mike: Lineup has always been the same since we formed in 2020. We got Joey on guitar, Todd on vocals, Curt on drums, and myself (Mike) on bass. Shock Treatment: What is the IMPLODERS origin story? How do you guys all know each other and how did you decide to come together and start the band? Mike: Joey and I had played in two bands together prior. Pink Wine and Teen Archer. He was one of the first homies I made when I started training into the city from Ajax to play in bands in Toronto. So we were well acquainted many years prior to starting IMPLODERS. Todd I had met through his previous band - Average Times. A garage punk band based out of Ottawa. I used to co-run a record label called Hosehead Records with my best friend Patrick (drummer of Chain Whip, another band I’m currently playing bass with) and we released Average Times first LP. So I slowly developed a friendship wit...