My favourite aspect of Daydream, is that it simply makes me want to get on my feet and dance. And I’m not just talking about the type where you stand up against a wall and tap your toe, but the kind of carefree dancing that gets your whole body moving as your grin beams from ear to ear. That doesn’t mean that this isn’t a serious record. Contained within this album of danceable love songs are also songs that will stop you dead in your tracks and rip your heart out. The most gripping among these is “Every Word” that comes towards the end of the album. A song about a relationship that deteriorated and the healing process through that lose, the pain can be felt with each note and lyric. Truly a song that suspends the dancing, if only for a moment, to grab a tissue and swim in that pain.

What sets Empty Houses apart, besides their sunny, throwback tunes, is the voice of Ali Shea. Without any shred of doubt, she commands your attention with each song on the record and never lets it go. Whether it is an upbeat tune like “Daydream” or “Falling Apart” to more of an R & B sound of “Hold Your Hold” to a powerful ballad like “Every Word”, Shea pivots from booming, bright vocals to breathy and even seductive tones effortlessly. It is also noteworthy that Shea’s voice doesn’t overpower the record, which would take away from the musicianship that Adam Mercer and David Mackinder, both known as members of the punk band Fireworks, bring to the table. With a voice like hers and a record like this, Daydream could have easily felt like a solo record with a backing band, but it doesn’t . The perfect blend of tones through the album can be credited to producer Graham Marsh, a four-time Grammy winner who has worked with artists like CeeLo Green, Common and Bruno Mars. His efforts on this album should not be understated, as the production is flawless. With certain songs calling for keyboards, horns and various uncommon percussion instruments, finding that balance along with Shea’s voice could make a break a record like this, and Marsh does it masterfully.

With Daydream, Empty Houses have created a breath of fresh air that is the perfect package to get your heart racing, your body dancing and your face smiling. It is a record that you will want to listen to over and over and over again.

Lyrically, Reaction tackles everything from the consequences of uprooting your life and planting in a brand new location, the wars we battle every single day of our lives and the being in a crowd full of people yet feeling dreadfully alone. Instead of dancing around these issues, singer Steve Rovery puts them right in your face and dares you to look away.
“I’m generally pretty happy,” states Rovery. “I save my dark emotions for writing instead of my persona.” It’s evident that through his writing, Rovery is exorcising his demons and listening to Reaction will help you exorcise yours, too.

To match this energy throughout the EP, the band plays tunes that will make any fan of Face To Face, Epitpah Records era Hot Water Music and Millencolin grin from ear to ear. Their sound is no throwback, however. It makes perfect sense that they would share the stage with Iron Chic, because their influence can be heard throughout the EP as well. Each player on the EP is very solid, with no instrument dominating the sounds on each song and blending well with Rovery’s vocals.

With Reaction, American Television is making punk rock as it is meant to be. Abrasive, melodic and cathartic.

Stream “ Better Living Through Chemistry” below, and pick up the EP Reaction starting on 4/22 via Bandcamp.

2015 is the year of shoegaze. With legendary bands Ride and Hum playing reunion shows to seminal bands Failure and Swervedriver reuniting and releasing new albums to younger bands like Cloakroom and Creepoid releasing stellar albums, the genre known for its spacey and ambient form of rock is everywhere. And while this year that marks the triumphant return of the genre will lead to many mediocre bands releasing shoegaze records, there will certainly be talented ones who will also release music. These bands will not be doing this as a way to catch a wave on a passing trend, but rather this is their true form of expression as a unit that may have preceded this boom and will most certainly survive it. One of those bands is the Los Angeles, California quartet Sidewave, who will be releasing their first proper full-length, Glass Giant, in October.

What I love about Glass Giant is how varied of a record it is, despite all of the album’s 12 tracks squarely fitting within the shoegaze genre. Yes, their songs sound spacey and at times trippy, with a wall of sound and cascading guitar tones, but there is more to these songs that hooks you in for the entire journey of the record. This diversity is exemplified within the first five tracks of Glass Giant, which is anchored by record’s first single, “Supersonic”. Throughout these first five songs, and throughout the entirety of the album, Sidewave is able to nimbly move from songs that are light and airy, to ones that have more of a solid rock groove to them. I especially liked the one-two punch that comes from tracks four and five of Glass Giant, “Sundrop” and “Honest to God”. I still can’t get the syncopated- groove intro to “Sundrop” out of my head and I think that once you get your ears on it, you won’t either.

Sonically, Glass Giant is everything that you would want from a band like Sidewave. As they straddle between the heavy and the airy, they use dynamics artfully to build the intensity that culminates in a tidal wave of sound that crashes on the shore, not in a destructive way, but in a way that leaves you anticipating what comes next. In a way, Glass Giant is a perfect way to describe the sound of this record. It’s a massive force pushing its way towards you with each track, but there is a fragility to that isn’t intimating or abrasive.

Another aspect of Glass Giant that appeals to me is the overall pop sensibility to the songs. While I don’t expect the record to get played on any Top 40 radio show in the near future, Sidewave clearly sought to craft shoegaze songs, they did so with accessibility to it that wouldn’t turn away someone who wasn’t serious about the genre. A part what gives Glass Giant that accessibility to me is due to the voice of Sidewave’s vocalist, Phil Golyshko, who also serves as the band’s guitarist and main songwriter. With the first several listens to the record, his voice had a familiar tone to it that I couldn’t quite place before it struck me like a bolt of lightning: imagine if Matthew Sweet sang in a shoegaze band. While their voices aren’t identical by any stretch of the imagination, there is a similarity between the two that is pleasingly striking.

In a year where shoegaze has made its comeback, a band like Sidewave should not get lost in the spacey shuffle. Glass Giant is a terrific effort and will be enjoyed by hardcore and casual fans of the genre alike.

With the punk rock party/family reunion known Fest just weeks away, the anticipation to building to insanity-like levels and we here at Punktastic simply cannot wait for Fest 14 to get underway in Gainesville, FL on October 30, 31 and November 1. Among those bands coming back to play the Fest is the genre-defying Philadelphia band, Restorations. Roughly a year after the release of their brilliant third record LP3, the quintet will return to Gainesville for what is bound to be an dynamic, emotional show. These boys didn’t know the nickname Festorations for nothing! Recently, we had the chance to exchange emails with the band’s vocalist/guitarist Jon Loudon about what Fest means to them and what he’s looking forward to about his time in Gainesville.

Hey, Jon! How have you been and what have you been up to lately?

Jeff! Hi! I’m good. I just moved to South Philly with what seems to be everyone else from the Philly music bubble. 4/5ths of our band now basically lives along the same street.
Man, I know that moving can be tough, so thank you for spending the time to talk with me. That’s really cool that most of the band is living near each other. I bet that makes getting together for practice that much easier.

So I wanted to take a walk down memory lane with you to when Restorations first played Fest, which was Fest 10 in 2011. I had the pleasure of watching that set, and frankly, it was one of the most memorable Fest sets that I have ever seen! Can you tell me what was going through your mind leading up to playing Fest for the first time and how it felt playing at Loosey’s that night? I have a feeling that it was just as unforgettable for you as it was for me.

Yeah, it’s been really helpful.

That Fest 10 set was one of the wilder things that’s happened to us. That was really our first “tour”. We did a week (5 days?) with Look Mexico and Red Collar on the way down. Hadn’t really released much or played out of town so it was crazy that we got a reaction like that. The staff at Loosey’s were wonderful and we’ve been close friends with that whole crew since. I can’t believe it’s been that long ago already. We owe so much to just that one show, I think. Unreal.

I can still remember how you guys made the floor shake that night. Seriously, the atmosphere in Loosey’s that night was electric. What do you mean being owing so much to that one show? Was that the first time you guys realized that your music had the ability to impact people beyond your hometown of Philadelphia?

We really didn’t expect much heading down. Certainly not on a closing spot at one of the smaller bars. It really blew me away to see so many people that knew the words. I blame maybe Punknews? The Menzingers? I’m not really sure how it all came about.

That is kind of the beauty of Fest. I have seen it happen to other bands where they are just completely overwhelmed by the response they get at Fest, having no idea what to expect when they get to Gainesville. Now let’s fast forward to Fest 14. Again you guys are closing down one of the venues, but this time, you are playing the last set at a much larger venue The Wooly on Friday night. It’s pretty amazing to see how far you guys have come over the years, not just in terms of Fest venues and time slots, but how you have progressed as a band. Does having a closing time slot at a big venue like The Wooly put any added pressure on you?

I guess that was the strangest part about it. I’d seen that set for so many bands over the years it was disorienting being on the other end of it.

This year though, it still feels kinda crazy to be playing to so many people. We really enjoyed the Wooly at Fest 12. Glad to be coming back there for another set. A closing set is tough just because you hope that everyone at the Fest is still awake by then and not passed out back at the hotel. We always have that “WHAT IF NOBODY SHOWS UP?” first day of school anxiety. Also, this will have been a full year since LP3 came out. Excited to come back to Fest and play a set when everyone’s more familiar with the material.

Thinking about last year, I remember that you had a huge turnout for your set at 8 Seconds (now Cowboys) and I bet you will see a similar response this year. I know that Restorations has played other music festivals over the years and I was curious. What sets Fest apart from other music festivals both positively and negatively (if there is a negative)?

Fest is special because it always happens in the same place. It’s not some temporary tent city built in the middle of nowhere. You get to come check in on a place you’re familiar with. It’s a great way of getting to see where the scene is at year after year. You get to see the past present and future of punk/diy/indie/whatever. Most festivals are so focused on landing what’s happening NOW that it’s nice to play something that feels a bit bigger-picture. It’s a bit more like real life than most festivals.

It’s definitely fun to get to go to the same venues and restaurants year after year and Gainesville has tons of great places to see shows and to stuff your face. In your eyes, how has the scene changed from when you first went to Fest to now?

I think I see it with rose-colored glasses, but I kinda miss when you could just walk around and get in to any venue and see random bands. I felt like I did a bit more wandering when the Fest was smaller. Now I’m camping out at venues to see groups of bands I like. Not a bad trade since the bands have grown bigger over time while Fest is attracting larger bands, but I sort of miss the adventure of it when it was a little less organized.

I can understand that. I feel like the Fest’s growth has come very naturally and organically, but it is certainly a larger event than it was five and certainly 14 years ago. Now that the schedule is out, this is the time of year when Fest-goers start plotting their course and choosing which bands they want to see. Who are the bands that you are most excited to see?

I’m actually super bummed I’m missing the Saturday run at the Wooly. Drug Church, Young Widows, Goverment Issue, and MLIW is a hell of a show. Of the things I can catch, I’m most excited to see The Progress on Friday. Otherwise, I’m gonna do some wandering and see if I can find something new this year.

That’s a bummer that you won’t be there on Saturday. But I’m sure you will do some good wandering around on Friday. There are always so many rad bands playing that you are bound to discover a great band that you had never heard before while in Gainesville. People who attend Fest always talk about the excellent food choices in Gainesville while they are there. Is there a particular food spot that you or the rest of the guys in the band always look forward to hitting up while at Fest?

Yeah that’s the deal you’ve gotta make with the devil when you accept a tour. You’re guaranteed to miss a bunch of good things while you’re out.

For food, we just head straight to Loosey’s. We try to get up early and hit El Indio for breakfast burritos, too. Coffee at Volta every few hours, haha.

I feel like I always end up hanging out with you, Dave and Ben on Loosey’s front porch every year. That really is a cool place and yes, coffee is a MUST. I’ve got one more Fest-related question for you and one more Restorations question for you before I go. Have you ever tinkered with the idea of reforming your old band, Jena Berlin, to do a Fest show?

There’s not a chance in hell of it ever happening. And look, there was more people at the first Restos Fest show than there were at all the other Fest shows JB had played combined. The people have spoken.

A boy can dream, can’t he?!? Those JB records are awesome.

Alright, Jon, last question. So what is on the horizon for Restorations? I know you guys have some shows in September and October, but what else is cooking as we close 2015 and move into 2016?

Just don’t want to do it unless its original lineup, and those guys are pretty far away from this whole thing now. I don’t even know if I have the energy for it anymore either. That was a pretty taxing experience all the way around.

But looking forward, we’re doing this unbelievably cool tour with Pianos Become The Teeth, mewithoutYou, and The Menzingers, and then we’re gonna chill out for a little bit and start thinking about LP4. We did so much work this year, we’re really looking forward to spacing out a bit at home around the holidays. All good things ahead!

That is awesome to hear. Thanks for your time and I can’t wait to see you at Fest!

Anytime a specific genre or subgenre gains mainstream popularity, the floodgates tend to open and waves upon waves of bands playing that style of music emerge. Unfortunately, many of these bands simply don’t have the talent nor the heart to be successful. There’s a few among the waters, however, that are incredible but don’t get a chance to stand out against the hundreds of wannabes. What happened in the mid-’90s with punk-tinged ska music, classified as “third wave ska,” was no exception. For every Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Less Than Jake and Save Ferris, bands who were extremely talented and successful at the right time, there were others who frankly shouldn’t have donned a checkered shirt. However, there were also many who were excellent but never reached the level of popularity and success of the other bands. One of the best among those was the Baltimore, Maryland band The Smooths.

Tom Gilhuley and Tim Doscher were freshmen at Loyola College and met at the school’s orientation for new students. The two eventually came across each other when Gilhuley, a drummer who could also sing, met Doscher, a trombone player, at the school’s jazz ensemble. That day at the ensemble’s practice, Gilhuley noticed Doscher’s Scofflaws shirt and struck up a conversation about ska. After that the two decided to start a band and worked to add more members, which eventually included Tim Hoenig (sax), Brodie Ruland (bass), Jamie Robertson (drums), James Stillwagon (vocals), Lucas Herchenroeder (guitar) and Jeb Crandall (keyboard).
Since Gilhuley and Doscher were members of the jazz ensemble, the band was given permission to practice and begin working on songs in one of the on-campus classrooms According to Gilhuley the band had humble beginnings. “We were pretty horrible,” he says with a laugh. “Our first song was called ‘Fish In My Bed’ that we wrote for the first Loyola CD. Some kids came up with the idea to put out an album of Loyola bands, so we got to record a track at a small local studio.”

Around the time that The Smooths were improving as a band, Baltimore didn’t have a ska scene into which the band could fit neatly. They would work to get shows with local rock bands and the occasional a reggae show. Fortunately for the band, there were thriving ska scenes to the south in the Washington, DC/Northern Virginia area and to the north in cities like Philadelphia and New York. With these flourishing scenes just a van trip away, The Smooths would often play shows with bands like The Skunks, Checkered Cabs, The Toasters, Scofflaws, Ruder Than You, The Slackers, Spring Heeled Jack and Pilfers, a virtual who’s who of the great ska bands of the region at the time. However, it was their meeting with one band from Washington, DC that had the biggest impact on them.

The Smooths first met the DC legends The Pietasters when they played a show together at the Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia. As Gilhuley recalls, “it was a show with them, The Slackers and Ruder Than You. We got a little crazy backstage before our set and well, we didn’t play our best set, but we had a hell of a time.”

While being an incredible band that would go on to release six albums for the likes of Moon Ska Records, Hellcat Records and Fueled By Ramen, The Pietasters, led by vocalist Steve Jackson are also the ultimate party band. That rubs off on everyone around them, the crowd as well as the other bands. And while they may have showed The Smooths how to have fun, Jackson and the band were critical about their progress. “Without Steve Jackson and those guys becoming sort of our mentors early on, we wouldn’t have played a lot of the shows we did and definitely wouldn’t have wound up signing with Side One/Dummy Records.”

In the months that led up to this point, the band had survived several lineup changes, with new members being Ben Treat (guitar), Jeff Brigman (bass), Curtis Reeves (drums) and Jenny Stillwaggon (younger sister to James, baritone sax). The most notable of these changes was the emergence of Gilhuley from behind the drum kit to behind the microphone as the band’s singer, as Stillwagon left the band to further his studies abroad.

Prior to Jackson’s introduction to Joe Sib and Bill Armstrong of Side One/Dummy Records (which predates the label’s merger into SideOneDummy Records, as it’s known today), The Smooths had self-recorded and released their first full-length, Very Own Vegas in 1996 (Side One/Dummy would later purchase the rights to the record and re-release it in 1997). With many bands playing ska during this time, The Smooths accomplished something with Very Own Vegas that few could: craft a blend of ska that was uniquely their own to form one of the best debut ska albums ever recorded.

What makes Very Own Vegas and The Smooths’ sound unique is how they brush up against genres like jazz, punk, pop and ska without getting pulled too far into any of them. It’s that perfect balance of all of them that can’t be replicated. The album was recorded in Philly and Gilhuley admits, the band had no idea what they were doing, how much it would cost and how long it would take to record. Ultimately, Very Own Vegas took three or four recording session to complete, with the band going home to Baltimore after each session to play shows and ask friends and family for more money to complete the album. While the band was not completely satisfied with the recording process or the sound of the songs, Very Own Vegas stands the test of time. With their new album in tow, the band toured regionally as well as the east coast, travelling to Florida and back.

In 1997, momentum began to build for The Smooths and the turning point was the signing with Side One/Dummy. While other labels had expressed interest in the band, they went with Side One/Dummy partly because of Jackson’s help, but also because the label wasn’t solely focused on ska music like the other suitors were. “We wanted to play more punk shows, and Side One/Dummy were tight with all kinds of punk bands, other label people and tour promoters, so it just made sense to go with them,” Gilhuley recalls. “Not to mention they treated us great and were rad dudes.”

The move to go with Side One/Dummy proved to be beneficial for The Smooths. With the label’s help, they were able to play the Locals Only Stage at the 1997 Washington, DC date of the Warped Tour at RFK Stadium. The band had never played a show that large before, and they also had the special and memorable occurrence of playing right before Descendents played on the stage immediately next to them. A high honor indeed. The label also connected The Smooths with Mike Leonard, who would become their tour manager, trusted confidant and solid friend.
Later that year, the band embarked on two tours with very influential and important bands. The first found them teaming up with The Pietasters again along with New Jersey stalwarts Bouncing Souls and the second was a tour with No Use For a Name (RIP Tony Sly) and Anti-Flag. Momentum continued to build as they opened for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones at their famed Hometown Throwdown 4 in Boston. It was then that they met Joe Gittleman (the bass fiddleman) of the Bosstones, who would later work with The Smooths to produce their second album and their first proper release for Side One/Dummy, No Brakes.

No Brakes was recorded in early 1998, with Gittleman having spent some time with The Smooths in Baltimore prior to help them with some of the details of the songs and prepare them for the studio. In two separate recording sessions, one for rhythm tracks up in Boston and the other for the rest of the record in Providence, the band completed the album and were happy with the results. Working with someone of Gittleman’s talents alongside access to great gear courtesy of the studio and the Bosstones meant that the songs came out as the band had envisioned them and a great time was had by all during the process.

Around this time, Gilhuley got a call from Side One/Dummy boss Joe Sib telling him that The Smooths were going to be playing not just one Warped Tour date during the 1998 tour, but all of them in North America and Europe, truly an amazing opportunity for a band that started at a college jazz ensemble practice and one that they were beyond eager to take. That year, some of the bands that played Warped Tour were NOFX, No Use For a Name, Lagwagon, Bad Religion, The Specials, Rancid and ALL, all of which were extremely crucial to the shaping of punk rock in the ‘80s, ‘90s and beyond. The Smooths even got the opportunity to participate in the press conference announcing the tour, which was held in California. The band was there alongside representatives of Vans, Warped organizer Kevin Lyman and a lot of others involved with the tour. It was in the middle of Warped in July of 1998 that No Brakes was released.

The 12 songs in No Brakes pick up where The Smooths’debut Very Own Vegas left off but also marks progress in the band’s sound as one would expect from playing many shows together at this point, along with working with someone like Gittleman. No Brakes starts with the ultra-catchy “Commander 7 To Spaceboy” and doesn’t quit with its upbeat and danceable rhythms through the end of the record. The sound throughout the album is cleaner, fuller and bolder than Very Own Vegas, an evident result of the improved recording process.

In addition to the band’s ability to masterfully mesh several genres of music in their songs, another standout characteristic is Gilhuley’s crooning voice. Think about it: by naming themselves The Smooths, there is already an expectation of what they will sound like.

Fortunately for the listener, the name suits Gilhuley’s voice and the instrumentation of the rest of the unit perfectly. Whether it is a faster-paced song like “History’s Burning” or a slower tune like the intro to “One More,” Gilhuley effortlessly alters his voice and tone to match the nature of the song while remaining consistently smooth throughout. One of my other favorite aspects of his voice is that as a singer, he is an excellent annunciator, allowing the listener to hear and understand each syllable that is coming out of his mouth without over-emphasizing them. It sure does make singing along that much easier.

As The Smooths began to hit the road throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, another aspect of the band started to shine through and get them known within the Warped Tour circuit was their unmatched love of wrestling. In fact, the band took their fandom of the sport to a whole other epic level Like their mentors in The Pietasters, the band were known to be able to kick back and party while on the road. However, they were able to add their love of wrestling by creating their own internal league called the Drunk Wrestling Federation (DWF). Yes, you read that correctly, the band started their own, small wrestling league for their friends and called it the Drunk Wrestling Federation.

DWF all started as the band, along with their friend and super wrestling fan Andy Gilmartin, would watch old World Wrestling Federation (WWF) matches on video cassettes while drinking and would talk about the sport and come up with their own funny wrestler names. As you can imagine, one thing led to another and the gang started conducting their own made up matches.

“Now, mind you, this wasn’t a big organized thing,” recalls Gilhuley. It was a bunch of drunk fools doing a handful of poorly executed moves at parties.”

DWF had two main characters, Lord Benjamin, played by guitarist Ben Treat and Stu Blood played by trombonist Tim Doscher. Gilhuley would handle the dramatic pre-match interviews, introductions of the wrestlers and refereeing the matches. The band even made a DWF championship belt.

While on Warped Tour, DWF grew in its popularity, with many of the bands watching or participating in the matches including the boys of Lagwagon as spectators and Chris Shiflett, then of No Use for a Name and now of Foo Fighters, as a wrestler. On one date of the tour, several of the bus drivers turned the buses around and put their headlights on to illuminate the makeshift ring, which had been constructed with extra crowd barricades. Gilhuley had use of a megaphone to introduce the matches, adding an extra element of awesome to the events. Some footage of the DWF even snuck its way onto the Warped Tour 1998 DVD.

Getting the opportunity to play Warped Tour in 1998 was huge for The Smooths, but it was the long and grueling nature of the tour that ultimately became the beginning of the end. Before embarking on Warped, the Side One/Dummy folks had asked the band if they would all wear black onstage in an effort to give them a consistent look. Many ska bands at the time were wearing suits while performing, but The Smooths, although when they began as a band would wear suits on stage, where not into doing that anymore. For most of the band members, it wasn’t much of a problem or something to think twice about, since they mostly wore black shirts and stuff anyway.

However, one night while on the tour bus in Europe, bassist Jeff Brigman and drummer Curtis Reeves got to arguing about the idea of it while having a bit too much to drink. The two got into a heated argument about the topic, with Reeves being against being told what to do. The argument then bubbled over into fisticuffs, and not the DWF-sanctioned kind.

While The Smooths continued with the tour, things felt awkward from that point on with Reeves as a part of the band and he later left the band. As the Warped Tour was coming to an end, the band received an offer for a two month tour with the successful swing band Royal Crown Revue that would start almost immediately after they returned home. As Gilhuley put it, about half of the band was excited about the opportunity and ready to go, while the other half were growing tired of touring and of the ill feelings after the fight in Europe. The band turned down the tour, which came as a disappointment to Side One/Dummy, as they were trying to keep the momentum from that Warped Tour summer going for the band.

As 1999 approached, The Smooths gathered themselves up again and hit the road with Spring Heeled Jack and Pilfers. Realizing that Reeves was an essential part of the band and their rhythm section, they welcomed him back for the tour. Unfortunately the bickering and bad feelings continued and Reeves left the band again for good when the tour completed.
During this time and even towards the tail end of the Warped Tour run, the band had started writing songs for a third full-length, and as Gilhuley put it, they were some of the band’s best work to date. Sadly, these songs would never go beyond the rehearsal space.

In the spring of that year, the band decided to find another drummer and continue on, touring with their long-time friends The Mad Caddies. The Smooths found a guy named Karras to fill in behind the drum kit, but he never quite meshed with the band musically or personally, making that tour with The Mad Caddies a difficult one. Adding to the band’s struggles, just one year removed from playing Warped Tour and playing packed shows across the country, venues weren’t booking ska shows anymore. The fad was over for many promoters and they were on to the next opportunity to fill the seats.

“That tour pretty much crushed the soul of the band,” Gilhuley remembers. “We had a band meeting and decided to call it quits. It was heartbreaking.”

After The Smooths called it a day, Gilhuley, Brigman and Treat started a UK punk/mod inspired band called The Set Up, with Gilhuley moving back to drums. Looking for a change in scenery, Gilhuley eventually moved across the country to Oakland, California.

Upon arrival to the Golden State, Gilhuley put up an ad on Craigslist looking for a band. He would eventually hook up with David Castellanos and Brendan Vandermei to form Team Mascot, a power-pop/rock band. They would later go on to release two full-lengths, It’s a Sweater! in 2004 and Prost! in 2008 with various lineup changes.

With moves to several other locations such as Long Island, NY and Gainesville FL, Gilhuley found himself moving back to Baltimore, where he currently resides. He has reunited with the boys in The Set Up and they have released an EP called The Bellend. When they aren’t writing and playing their own tunes, they are the house punk band for the well-known Baltimore venue Ottobar when they have their quarterly Punk Rock Karaoke night. With a set list of about 30-40 punk tunes from the ‘70s to the ‘90s, the boys play before a packed house singing their favorite punk songs of yesteryear.

Looking back to The Smooths, as they departed, they left two excellent albums that stand out as unique and excellent pieces of work during an era where every kid with a saxophone was in a ska band, whether they could play or not. While some bands were able to last beyond the ska craze in the mid to late ‘90s, most could not survive, but bands like The Smooths should never be forgotten.

One of the great things about music is that there is a song and an album for every mood in the emotional spectrum. Do you want to stay inside on a rainy day and be introspective? There is a record for that. Are the highs and lows of being in love causing you to be a wreck? There is a record for that. Wanna rage against the machine? Well, you get it.

And then there are those records that you reach for when you want to get in your car on a sunny day, surge down the motorway with your windows down, and blare those tunes as loudly as your eardrums can stand. ‘Raise High Your Bright Halo of Stars’, the fourth studio album from the Bridgend, UK band Peachfuzz is a record that appears to exist just for this purpose.

The album kicks off with a blend of guitar tones and feedback for the song ‘Something’s Wrong’, that leads to the exuberant chant of “woo hoo hoo” from a gang of vocalists. It is at this moment, just seconds into the album, which you would want to be accelerating onto the motorway, as the bright light from the sun hits your face. From there, ‘Raise High Your Bright Halo of Stars’ never lets up.

Trying to place a band like Peachfuzz into a specific musical category is rather difficult. Simply put, they are a rock band, a rock band influenced by the likes of Big Star, Teenage Fanclub and Sugar who write bright, bold songs that sound crisp throughout an album like ‘Raise High…’ However, Peachfuzz has something that other bands that play this same style of music don’t have, the vocals of Adam Jones. His voice is like gravel soaked in honey: rough but sweet, painful, yet melodic, and captivating with every lyric that comes from his mouth.

In addition to the album’s opener, standout tracks are ‘Nobody Else’, which has an intro that has shades of Dire Straits, ‘Over Me’, which has a beat that will force your head to bob and forget about speed limits as you continue to forge down the sun-soaked highway and ‘Highest Window’, which churns throughout its three minutes as Jones’ guitar soars.

Frankly, this whole album is very strong and is one that has been in constant rotation from the moment it sped its way through my ears. With the resurgence of this 90s-inspired college rock, there are many bands who are writing great music in the vein. However, Peachfuzz is the best-kept secret among them, and that secret is demanding to be heard. Hopefully, ‘Raise High Your Bright Halo of Stars’ will be booming in more cars down the motorway went it’s released this Summer.

JEFF

Perhaps it was foreshadowing when the Miami, FL punk band Quit got started because of a rainy day in 1988. Over the course of the next several years, this foursome of friends would have to weather many storms together that would ultimately leave them with only one tremendous full-length to their name. With that one record, Quit and bands like them helped blaze the trail that led to the rise of pop-style punk in the ‘90s.

Addison Burns, Andre Serafini and Russell Mofsky were friends who had similar tastes in music and all enjoyed skating together. The boys would often combine the two by listening to their favorite bands while working on tricks on the vert ramp. From Slayer to Descendents, Bad Brains and Dag Nasty to classic rock, the boys had a wide range of bands they listened to and loved. It seemed only natural that one day when they couldn’t skate because of that rainstorm, they went over to Burns’ house and started a band, with each member bringing their own unique tastes to what they created.

Quit, with Burns on rhythm guitar and vocals, Serafini on drums and Mofsky on lead guitar, started playing shows within weeks of that first practice. At the time, Miami had a thriving punk scene with bands such as Load, The Holy Terrors, F Boyz and FWA leading the way and venues like Washington Square and Churchill’s welcoming them with open arms. Once they got started, Quit fit right into this scene, with their songs showed equal parts aggression and pop accessibility, something that a lot of bands weren’t doing in 1988.

The band would often cover the Descendents during their shows, with “Clean Sheets” being a favorite for Quit to play. It was during one of their early shows when they met Tony Rocha, a kid literally wearing a Descendents shirt at the show. After Quit finished, Rocha immediately approached them and a quick friendship ensued. It just so happened that he played bass, so they boys brought him in to round out the lineup as a foursome.

It was after another Quit show when the next piece of the puzzle fell into the place for the band. They were approached by Ralph Cavallero, a student at the University of Miami studying the music business. Cavallero was a go-getter who liked Quit and wanted to help the band get their music heard. “Ralph just told us we need a manager and just kind of took over,” reflects Burns. “He did a lot for the band and I’m very grateful.”

At this point, the band had a handful of songs written and were ready to begin recording their first full-length. Cavallero was a partner in Sync Studios, where Quit began working on their album, Earlier Thoughts.

While the amount of time it took the band to record the album may be a little foggy to Burns now, one detail stands out in his memory 25 years later. Recording late into the night and going until sunrise, the boys would then sleep at the studio. During the recording process, they stayed there so much it felt like their new home.

The result of those long recording sessions and sleeping on the floor at Sync was a full and completed album of twelve songs that were ready to be pressed onto vinyl or CDs and released. There was one big problem standing in the way of that dream becoming a reality: the band had no money or other financial backing to release Earlier Thoughts.

To raise the $2,000 (which is roughly $3,700 by today’s standards), the band did something that is almost unthinkable now. In addition to the proceeds they would get from their shows, they held a series of car washes to bring in the cash they needed. It’s almost unimaginable in the world we live in now with Kickstarter, PledgeMusic, Indiegogo and other fundraising sites, but soaping up some cars in the hot Miami sun was the best Quit could do. Sure enough, over the course of several months, they had the money needed to press and release the album in 1990, with Cavallero getting the album credit as Earlier Thoughts’ producer.

While many albums recorded in the early 90s now sound dated both musically and sonically, Earlier Thoughts escapes those traps and stands out as a truly timeless punk rock record. Looking at bands that came before them such as the Descendents, and the bands that came after them like MxPx, Face To Face and Blink-182, Quit perfectly bridges the gap between these two eras on the full-length. With the perfect blend of melody, energy and precision, Earlier Thoughts is the sound of a band that could have easily fit on the rosters of Dr. Strange Records, Epitaph Records or Fat Wreck Chords. In fact, some believe that was the direction the band was headed in.

Touring and playing shows in support of their new record was something that Quit did as much as they possibly could. They played lots of mini-tours and weekend gigs all over Florida and got to play shows with some of their punk rock heroes. Two stories that immediately come to Burns’ mind involve ALL and Social Distortion.

“We did a show once with ALL and as a joke started the song (‘Clean Sheets’) off and by the first verse, Bill Stevenson was standing next to me singing along,” Burns recalls. “I think he wanted to see if we could pull it off, but he was up there the whole time. I’m very honored and humbled to say that we’ve been friends ever since and our paths still cross to this day.”

Getting the opportunity to open for Social Distortion just so happened to be on a day that Quit had a show earlier in the same day, at a yacht club of all places. With no cell phones or internet to help guide the way, the band played their early show at the yacht club, packed up all their gear and made it to the venue in time to open for the Southern California legends.

While the band was busy playing shows and also playing festivals like SXSW and the New Music Seminar, Cavallero was lighting up the phone lines with every college radio station in America convincing them to play tracks from Earlier Thoughts. His hard work paid off, as Quit found themselves on the College Music Journal (CMJ) music charts, reaching as high as #30.

As Quit started to gain momentum, they maintained their approach to their music, to keep it fun. “Back then we played to be better musicians and players that we were the last show, always for fun and never took it seriously,” Burns said. “Having a career in punk rock wasn’t around our vocabulary. People liked us because we were good at what we did and wanted to always do it better. New shows meant new songs so it never got stale.”

With Earlier Thoughts and many shows now under their belt, the band decided to take the next steps to record their follow up album. In 1992, they recorded Grazing Day at Morrisound studios in Tampa, FL. Morrisound has seen the likes of Sepultura, Incubus and Third Eye Blind record at their facilities and was a big get for a band like Quit. However, cash problems confronted the band yet again. Not having enough money to both record and mix Grazing Day at Morrisound, the band decided to record at the studio and have the tracks mixed to tape. This decision, while may have seen small or necessary at the time, actually led to the album never seeing the light of day.

Quit were unhappy with the results of the recording, as they felt the songs sounded thin and lifeless, misrepresented in the recordings. The tapes sat in a warehouse in Kendall, a suburb of Miami, a storm was brewing. A big storm.

On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew made landfall on Elliott Key and later in Homestead, FL as a Category 5 storm. With winds as high as 175 miles per hour, Andrew devastated south Florida and at the time was the costliest hurricane in United States history, causing $26.5 billion worth of damage. Included amongst the damage was the warehouse in Kendall.
When the boys got to the warehouse, two of the three tapes on which they had recorded Grazing Day were floating in water. The third tape was gone altogether. The band was a bit directionless for about a year when their next setback was to occur.

One night in the summer of 1993, Burns was climbing through the attic of his house to a platform that they had built on the roof. The platform was constructed so that ten or so people could sit among the oak trees and overlook the Orange Bowl and downtown Miami. As Burns was climbing up, he missed the platform and slid off of the three-story house. While falling in the air, his wrist broke a tree limb. Thankfully he landed fine to the ground, but his wrist was severely damaged. In severe pain, he drove himself to the hospital in his roommate’s manual shift Volkswagen Bug and when he arrived, the news on his wrist was not good.

During the fall, Burns essentially crushed his wrist on the tree limb and was told that he wouldn’t be able to pick up anything in that hand for at least a year, let alone pick up and play a guitar. As Burns’ wrist shattered, so did the future of Quit. As Burns began to heal, real life took over and the rest of the band went their separate ways and got day jobs.
Over the years, there were a few attempts to revive Quit, with attempts to record new songs and even the lost Grazing Day tape being located, but they never took off. Burns had moved to Boston for a time and while there was no animosity between band members, the guys just started living their own lives.

As for Burns, he would later move to Gainesville, Florida, after leaving Boston and open his own studio where he recorded many local punk bands. When he wasn’t doing that, he was also a stage manager and guitar tech for bands like Less Than Jake, Lagwagon and Streetlight Manifesto.

Burns was later approached by The Draft, the post Hot Water Music project of the band’s bassist, Jason Black, drummer George Rebelo and guitarist Chris Wollard to record their demo. After recording with The Draft, Burns hit the road with them for about year, as the band worked really hard in support of their amazing debut In A Million Pieces.

After that intense year, The Draft took a break and Burns started hanging out in Gainesville. The two had been acquaintances years ago when Quit played with Wollard’s first band, Last To Go. Now, the two were friends and decided to work on some songs Wollard had recorded back in the Hot Water Music days but never finished. From this work, the two started Chris Wollard and The Ship Thieves who released their self-titled debut in 2009 and the follow up Canyons in 2012. The band recently finished recording their third full-length and is anticipated to release it soon.

For all intents and purposes, this should be where the story of Quit ends. However, the band announced in April that they would be playing a series of three reunion shows in July in Gainesville, Tampa and of course, Miami. The reason for this reunion is a bit more than meeting up with old bandmates and having fun onstage again before a crowd of nostalgic fans. In recent years, some of the south Florida bands who played with Quit in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s have had members pass away far too soon. Burns realized that these bands like Load and The Holy Terrors would never be able to play together again and that Quit is one of the last bands from that great early Miami punk scene that had the chance to play shows. So in honor of their fallen friends, Quit will get back together to help themselves and their friends over the years get through these tough times of loss. As for the future of Quit? Burns put it best as he commented on the upcoming reunion shows.

“It’s going to be a very special weekend and we’re just gonna have fun like we used to and we’ll see where it takes us from there. After these shows, the story could be continued!”

For me, one of the best feelings on this planet is the excitement that comes with hearing a debut album that blows me away. It was that feeling that I experienced recently when I first heard My Minor Arcana by the Orlando, FL punk band Jernigan. With a mix of songs that remind me of Face To Face and early Jawbreaker and vocals that sound like Billie Joe Armstrong in his younger days, Jernigan has a style of punk rock that gives me goosebumps.

The band, which features members of How Dare You and As Friends Rust, have posted My Minor Arcana on their bandcamp page as a pay-what-you-want download. Check out the full album stream below to hear the tunes right here.

Back to the Buzzbin is a quasi-monthly column featuring forgotten bands of the 90s. In an era where every band that could somewhat carry a tune got a major-label record deal, there were many bands who were blazing new trails and performing amazing songs.