Erica Rose (Appaloosa) and Marco Palumbo (Miscalculations) step into the macabre with this new collaboration. The overall tone of this album is shadowy, sharp and striking. It's the perfect blend of desolation and ferocity riding on a stream of melodic guitars and sure fire drum beats. Self Incrimination sounds like a lost late 70's or early 80's 4AD goth/post punk record. Even right down to the minimalist production which makes the songs on Recreation of an Empty Space  drip with despair and savagery. Palumbo bellows out some great guitar riffs reminiscent of, but never poaching, Billy Duffy's in The Cult's Love or Wayne Hussey's in The Sisters of Mercy's First and Last and Always. Rose's vocals are remarkably haunting yet cut with a sense of anguish that's like an emotive mix of Nico and Siouxsie Sioux.  Recreation of an Empty Space by Self Incrimination It is my opinion that a lot of bands, especially bands that are now playing dark rock music lik...

Dirt Cult Records just released the cassette EP of this new project and it's already lodged in my brain so hard that I'm hardly able to think about anything else! When I first started listening to these songs, clouds gathered, tornado sirens began to cry out in the background, and the windows started to shake! This band has unleashed the unmerciful fists of the gods upon us and they're laying waste to the mountains and the seas. Apparently this band began as a one man project from Dave P of Night Court. But he soon realized that one man could not wield the power these songs contained so he quickly called reinforcements Emilor (also of Night Court) and Taylor of Unfun on drums.  Physicalist by Physicalist The 6 tracks on this EP are all minimalist production, fuzz coated punk rock with some movie sampling tossed in here and there and some Drive Like Jehu feedback circling around. All the unnecessary weight of these songs has been shed for maximum velocity to effectively pier...

The Gee Strings are from Cologne, Germany and formed in 1994 with Ingi Pop on vocals and Bernadette on Guitar being for the most part the only constant members through a career spanning 30 years. The band has put out 6 LP's and a fistful of 7" EP's and singles. Now they're back  pawing at those guitar strings once again, sort of. As you can guess from the title of this record, this LP is a compilation of their songs.This entire collection is made up of random tracks from their 6 previous LP's. Although this assemblage of sweaty, black leather rock n roll tunes does lean heaviest on the band's 2006 LP A Bunch of Bugs. C ollectors and record nerds will rejoice though, none of the 7" tracks or the bands killer cover songs are included on this record. This is a perfect introduction to this band which, if you have the sense of a billy goat, you're already a fan of! And besides, some of the LP's these songs are taken from are long gone. Plus this record ...

Iris Paralysis is  Marco Giacomo Palumbo-Rodrigues (vocals) & Tobias Mariano Schazmann-Zaera (Synthesizers)  Interview conducted with Marco Palumbo-Rodrigues Shock Treeatment: Let’s start things off by telling me how you guys met and decided to start this project. MPR: Tobi and I met in-person for the first time in 2018 when Miscalculations played in Aachen, Germany but we knew each other for a few years before this. I released a 7” by Tobi’s other synth band Gen Null on No Front Teeth the year before we met. Our good friend Peter Eichhorn, who ran P. Trash Records, passed away in 2018 and Tobi and I were in contact a lot that year as we were working on a tribute compilation to honour Peter that we put out with FDH Records. Tobi asked me to sing guest vocals on the Gen Null track that appeared on the compilation which was the first time we worked together musically. When we met in Aachen we spoke about starting a synth band together and Iris Paralysis was born. It started...

  From the moment this record starts you know you're in for something special. I felt the hairs on my arm start to stand straight up just from the opening track. Like Sick Shooters somehow managed to electrically charge the air itself, like when lightening is about to strike. And mother nature didn't lie to me, struck that lightening did indeed. Not only is the opening riff for the first tune on this record, "Heartbreaker Soulshaker" impossibly catchy, but the production on this album has that perfect amount of dirty fuzz rubbed all over it. The greatness of this LP doesn't stop there though, these young 20 something Nederlanders punch out 11 songs crammed into one stellar rock n' roll record and not a rotten egg in the carton. Did I mention this is their debut LP by the way! Way to knock it out of the park at first swing! Apparently these dudes come from the bands Spurn, Ultragoblin, and NO BRAINS. I don't know if that means anything to anyone, it really ...

Interview conducted with bassist/vocalist Lorca Wood and guitarist/lead vocalist CJ Stritzel Shock Treatment: Can we start out by telling me who’s currently in the band and what you all do in the group? CJ: Sure, it’s me (CJ Stritzel) singing n’ playing guitar, Scott Derr playing guitar n’ making weird noises with a variety of machines, Lorca Wood playing bass n’ doing some singing and Ron Skrasek on drums and doing a bit of singing as well. LW: Lorca here, as CJ said….  Shock Treatment: How did rock n roll find you guys out there in the majestic high deserts of ABQ? What bands inspired you to want to pick up an instrument and learn to play? CJ: Well, I grew up in Tucson, so different desert but same vibe, I guess. I picked up a guitar when I was about 13 or so… I just was a suburban kid into all the really cool heavy metal and stadium rock that was on offer at the time. I just loves me some Rush, Van Halen, Priest, The Scorps, G n’ F’n R, all of it… LW: I had always been really i...

Interview conducted with lead singer and guitarist Joe Maddox Shock Treatment: Who’s currently in Continental Lovers and what does everyone do in the band to earn  their keep? JM: Hey! Continental Lovers are: Joe Maddox- Lead vocals and guitars Ben Webster- Lead guitar Kerri Kaysen- Bass guitar We are currently between drummers, however our fantastic original drummer, Rokket Rik is behind the kit at the moment. Previously we had Ace Carlton, who is still part of the gang, but doing his own thing for a bit. Earning our keep?! We do a lot of things, really. Helping others out, making things, playing music….  Connection/Wedding Song (Single) by Continental Lovers Shock Treatment:  How did you guys all meet and decide to play music together? JM: The band was originally a bit of a solo project for me. I wrote a bunch of power pop songs with no real intention of putting a band together, but there was a lot of interest in them and, after a few early line up changes, Kerri, Ben a...

The year was 2005, and I just got this comp on CD called Let's Have Goddamn Fun! New York City 2005 . It was a FANTASTIC comp mind you, but one of the bands that really stood out to me was The Little Killers. With a name like that, you really have no idea what the hell you're getting, right? But what I did get was this hot shit rock n' roll that shot fire like a blowtorch out of my speakers! This three piece band was formed in 2001, in New York City by former Sea Monkeys singer/guitarist Andy Maltz, ex-Kings of The Fucking Sea bass player Sara Nelson and drummer Kari Boden. To an outsider, someone that's never set foot in New York City mind you, The Little Killers seemed to capture all my wildest dreams of that town. They somehow sonically conveyed all the excitement, sleaze and swagger I always projected on to "the city that never sleeps." Musically, The Little Killers fit well right between contemporaries like The Humpers and The New Bomb Turks. As far as in...

Pura Mania is from Vancouver, British Columbia and features Cabeza from the band Fracaso on vocals, former Spectres' Zach Batalden on Guitar, Jason Renix on the bass as well as former Sore Points Mitch Allen on drums. This band has been around for a while now, releasing a couple of 7"'s and a cassette back in 2014. La Banda Es La Ley is the band's second long player, following 2017's Cerebros Punk. All of the songs are sung in Spanish but don't worry, Spanish was the first language I spoke as a kid and even I can't make out some of the lyrics. When you consume yourself in this record, you'll find that the universal language of punk rock translates just fine in your mind.  With this new album, Pura Mania's songs seem more focused, razor sharp and going straight for the throat. Theses guys blast out a unique, punchy, and very charismatic brand of punk rock. It's loud, it's catchy and sung by a dude with very throaty vocals. Like he's hoars...

So Marcus, tell me about how you came to discover punk rock? Hi Jay, thank you so much for the invitation to participate in your zine. Punk rock came into my life when I was 14 years old, in 1985. I was already a fan of heavy metal because that style was much more accessible at the time. The first punk record I bought was a compilation of Brazilian punk called "Ataque Sonoro" with bands like Ratos de Porão, Lobotomia, etc. That changed my life forever. The punk ethos has always guided me through life to this day. I've lived in London since 2006, and it was here that I had the opportunity to see more bands and make friends who share the same mindset, and it was also where I had the idea to start my label, Nausea Records. It's Marcus! And more of those killer Nausea Records shirts are coming soon, I already asked!   What led you to decide to start the label? And more specifically, a reissue label? The idea of ​​starting the label came from boredom. I was tired of just w...

Let's start off by telling me who’s all in Bloodstains and what does everyone do in the band? The band is Nick Espinoza on bass, David Espinoza on guitar, Miles Gretsky on drums, and myself on vocals. Nick and David also do backup vocals on some songs. How did you guys all meet and decide to play together? I have known David and Nick for like 15 years now, I believe we met at some backyard kickback and just had like similar taste in music and got along good. We decided to jam with each other almost immediately. We’ve been in and out of bands for a while but Bloodstains started in 2019. Bloodstains by Bloodstains Did you guys grow up listening to punk music? Being from Southern California I imagine it wasn’t all that hard to access. How did you get into it? Yeah of course. Since a very young age, being in Southern California it is pretty common to find out about punk stuff. And I'm pretty sure through skateboarding. I would watch skate VHS that had a ton of sick ass bands lik...