Pop punk scene darlings Hostage Calm announced this fall that they would be disbanding, much to the dismay of many. Since their formation in 2007, HC have taken their fans on a journey that has been one part sonic and one part intellectual, stretching the limits of what we as listeners define as punk. From their beginnings in East Coast Hardcore to their maturation as glimmering, poppy Americana, HC have boldly gone where few other bands dare to go, owned the shit out of that, and gained a bunch of respect in the process. It only seemed appropriate to pay my proper respects and go see them one last time.

I was pleasantly surprised, on arriving at Schubas, that Chicago’s own prehistoric emo powerhouse Into It. Over It. had jumped on the bill last minute. IIOI are definitely at the top of my list of bands working right now, and seeing them is always a treat. They’re super consistent, always play the goddamn hits, and Evan Weiss is always as humble and appreciative as to make it seem as though it were his first show ever. Between songs, he bantered nostalgically about IIOI’s past (mis)adventures with Hostage Calm on tour, sang HC’s praises as true trailblazers, and may or may not have gotten a little misty-eyed. He also announced that he would be “coming out of mosh retirement” for HC’s set (Weiss turned 30 last year, so I guess this is a pretty big deal).

Hostage Calm took the stage and immediately started cranking through hit after hit. One thing you can always count on with a band as scene-revered as HC is an enthusiastic crowd, and people were going nuts. Admittedly, there’s something pretty funny (but also heartwarming) about watching people mosh to stuff that sounds like the Beach Boys. HC sounded as polished as they ever have, and there was a real sense of celebration in the air as the monolithic CMar (short for Chris Martin, not to be confused with the fucker from Coldplay) crooned out songs equally picked from their self-titled album, Please Remain Calm, and their most recent Die On Stage (they even played one of their old hardcore anthems from their demo). Singalongs and stage dives were the order of the day (more like Dive Off Stage, amirite?), and CMar even got in the pit a couple times. In the end, when the crowd pled for an encore, the band agreed with very little fight, and everyone left their last Hostage Calm show (at least for the time being) feeling sentimental but happy.

Yes, Hostage Calm did indeed Die On Stage, and with that, ended an era. And maybe that’s okay. I’m not really sure where they could have gone with their sound after going as far as they had already. Sometimes calling it when you’re ahead is the right thing to do, and for Hostage Calm, it appears to just be the next in a line of very respectable decisions.

About three years ago exactly, I discovered a band called The Wonder Years by way of their third album, ‘Suburbia I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing.’ I was floored. It was unlike any album I had ever heard and I couldn’t put it down. And I know that it sounds really stupid and cliché and all of the above, but Suburbia changed my life and inspired me to set into action the chain of events that led me to where I am today.

Needless to say, when I heard that The Wonder Years were playing their 3 latest albums in full in their hometown of Philadelphia, PA to celebrate their 10th anniversary as a band, I had to get a ticket. I had to get a ticket for Suburbia day. No, I wanted to go see them play ‘The Upsides’ all the way through. Or, why not ‘The Greatest Generation’? No; in the end, it had to be Suburbia.

This was my first Union Transfer experience, and I’ve gotta say it’s one of the best venues I’ve ever been to: An ornate, spacious, old building, well maintained, with plenty of floor and balcony space. Reasonable drink prices and friendly staff. There was little external chatter about who the opening bands would be, so I was delighted to find out, when I arrived, that the openers were Koji, THE PROGRESS, and fucking FIREWORKS! I seriously about lost it when I found out about Fireworks.

Koji is known for being one of the nicest dudes in punk, and he graciously bantered through his acoustic crooning and put everyone in a great mood. I don’t often opt for much of the acoustic stuff in my own time, but I’m definitely gonna be giving Koji more of my time now.

Next up was The Progress. Originating from Cherry Hill, NJ (right near Philly), The Progress met some pretty serious cult appreciation and were the first band of Evan Weiss (Into It. Over it., etc.). This was apparently the first show they had played since Evan moved to Chicago in 2006, and they sounded fucking awesome. Classic turn-of-the-millennium emo with a little math thrown in. Not unlike IIOI, frankly: I think Evan has a pretty indelible brand that he takes with him wherever he goes. Great, clean, upbeat set that got me really stoked and allowed me to increase my alcohol.

Sidebar: I didn’t know Fireworks were playing, so I wore my Fireworks shirt and summarily looked and felt like a fucking idiot. It’s okay, though. The surprise was worth it.

Fireworks took the stage and an audible collective scoff resounded from every bespectacled, gracelessly aging neckbeard in the place that was disappointed he wasn’t watching Black Flag (why do people like this come to shows like this anyway?). Fireworks have really, REALLY nice gear, and at one point I heard the phrase “87 grade in a 66 Cadillac.” Look, Fireworks can have nice gear because they’re probably the biggest fucking band in pop punk right now, and they’ve worked their asses off to get there. Just because their music doesn’t sound the one-dimensional way you want it to doesn’t mean it’s bad.

Anyway, Fireworks killed it. About half of the stuff came from their new (fucking barn burner of an) album and the other half came from earlier releases. Everybody went nuts because Fireworks are great at music and are also really gracious. There’s something really goddamn special about this band. Can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it’s because they’re from Detroit. Yeah, we’ll go with that. By this point, my voice was half shot, my legs were half worn-out from jumping around like an imbecile, and I was ready for Suburbia.

Everyone went to piss, smoke, and refill their beers, and then The Wonder Years–the men of the hour–took the stage. I don’t know what the hell they put in the water in eastern Pennsylvania, but that area is just churning out amazing band after amazing pop punk band. The Wonder Years are, arguably, the crown princes of this phenomenon, and Suburbia may just be their masterpiece. Seeing them Ramones through the fucking thing like they did only made me think higher of the album and appreciate it more, which I really didn’t think was possible.

When they got done playing through Suburbia, they played like 30 fucking encores, including “Washington Square Park” (Upsides), “Devil In My Bloodstream” (Greatest Generation), and a bunch of stuff off their garbage first album that had breakdowns and songs about the Kool-Aid Man. Soupy waxed sentimental about how great it was to be in The Wonder Years and how great their fans were, pizza and black and white Vans rained down like Mana from Heaven, and I achieved next levels of obnoxious show bro as I crushed Yuenglings, pogo’d around incessantly, scissor-kicked, and bro-hugged my bro-friends. Even ran into some old friends from home who had also ventured to Philly for this massive pop punk bro-down. Bruh.

*insert 100 heart-eye emojis here*

This show was everything a pop punk show should be, and was probably the best live music experience I’ve had over the 14 years I’ve been going to shows. I’ll save you the bromides and just say that I really hope I get to go to and experience more shows like this in my lifetime. If I don’t, though, that’s okay too; this was enough.

Strap yourself in tight to your bucket seat in your goddamn Dodge Challenger or whatever the fuck you’re driving, because you’re going to riff city. A wiser man than myself once coined the term “a kick of rock ‘n’ roll to the nuts,” and this album appears to be just that. If this is indeed what some of the dudes from Iron Chic are doing in their spare time, I’m thrilled.

There’s little to be known or found out about this album, but it’s fantastic. Dirty, filthy, greasy, beer-soaked riff rock is a timeless art, and these guys are doing it. There’s definitely a lot of Hot Snakes and The Bronx in this, with just enough tough guy beatdown piss and vinegar in the vocals. This band needs to tour with Single Mothers so Single Mothers actually have someone appropriate to play with and stop having to play the cobbled-together bills they’ve been touring with for the past few years. Throw a Louisville band (Black God or Whips/Chains) on there for good measure and you’ve got yourself a hell of a rock tour.

Highlights of ‘Fortune Teller’ include the first track, ‘Sick and Tired’, which seriously will make you feel like a posthumous James Dean scooped you up, yelled “LET’S GO, FUCKER,” and floored it off into the sunset. ‘Headed for the Big Sleep’ is also a ripper song, and is a good callback to older Louisville stuff (Black Cross, etc.). “I’m going home in a fucking body bag.”

In an age where a lot of bands are busy trying to reboot and revive the pop-punk and emo anthems of their teen years (which is great, mind you), it is refreshing to see a band come out (out of that scene, no less), that just concerns itself with making you feel like you just took a bath in motor oil after drinking way too much Dickel. Here’s to hoping there’s more where this came from.

JIM HOWES

Toronto’s PUP dropped their self-titled debut album in the U.S. last spring and met with a whole shit ton of enthusiasm, lining many people’s end-of-year lists. I’ve had a really good time listening to the album, and I think PUP has a cool thing going on. So, when I found out they were playing Schubas as a part of Tomorrow Never Knows Fest, I figured I would kick off my birthday weekend by slathering on a belligerent, empty-stomached Friday buzz and yelling along incoherently to their songs.

And so I did.

A couple old friends came in from Ohio for the Watain and Mayhem show, and showed up at my place and assaulted me with beers before they went. I then hopped a cab up to my buddy Tim’s place in Avondale and yelled about the new Fireworks album while drinking Mount Gay and strawberry Arnold Palmer.

I was now in condition.

We got to Schubas right as Meat Wave were going on, and the place was nuts to butts packed. Everyone was having a blast, though. Chicago’s own Meat Wave are probably the perfect billfellows (that’s a word now) for PUP: Fun, fast, mid-fi pop punk in the vein of Cloud Nothings/No Age/Wavves/etc. Really fun set that people were really into.

Schubas is a really great space, IMO, and they don’t bill the kinds of bands I’m into that often, so it’s always a treat when they do.

Did I mention I made the brilliant decision to start drinking on an empty stomach? Yeah, because I did. Because I make great decisions.

Brooklyn’s Team Spirit took the stage and I did my best to watch as I babbled to Tim’s wife about God-knows-what. In retrospect, and after consulting their studio material, I really dig what Team Spirit are doing. Absurdly catchy power-pop with a healthy dose of synth and octave pedal. Pretty well-billed with PUP if you as me, and they’re touring with Motion City Soundtrack soon if that gives you any indication of how they sound. Gonna probably listen to these guys a lot now.

Team Spirit’s set blurred into Ne-Hi’s set. Ne-Hi are from Chicago, and are huge into the Byrds and Brian Jonestown Massacre if I had to guess. I may have enjoyed Ne-Hi in isolation or on a bill with a band like the Allah-Las or Darker My Love (are they still a thing? Gosh, I hope they are), but in this context they didn’t seem like a good fit, and I didn’t get it. And I got kind of indignant and said a bunch of stuff about Trey Anastasio. A set of songs where the average length surpasses 3 minutes just doesn’t really have a home on a bill this full of fast stuff, I think.

All’s well that ends well, though: PUP took the stage and burned the fucking house down. There’s something magical about seeing a band that only has one album worth of material: There’s a good chance that most people at the show are going to know most of the songs and be obnoxiously psyched to hear them and sing along and jump around. The pit was as fun and friendly as frontman Stefan Babcock’s between-songs banter (how conspicuously Canadian the whole situation was!), and the band ripped through most of their album to the crowd’s shitty-drunk delight. I feel like there are very few sets I watch that feel as explosively fun as this one did. Everyone involved was just so happy to be there, and I’m going to keep that feeling in my heart and mind every time I listen to the PUP S/T album now. To top it all off, they ended their set by covering the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.” That’s fucking amazing. I love that song.

I said “fun” in this review about as many times as Carl Sagan says “billion” in an episode of Cosmos, and I’m okay with that, because that’s really just how fun this show was. Until next time, you fun Canadian bastards.

It’s 2015 now, and a lot of people are saying a lot of things about the way the landscape of punk music looks. It’s easy to make value judgments about what social media and streaming services have done to the genre and how its fans consume its music. Debates around these judgments are what they are, but one thing is certain: opportunities abound, now more than ever, for people who love punk music to innovate and create new channels for listening to and watching the bands and artists we love.

Enter Little Elephant. Located in the rusty recesses of Northwest Ohio, Little Elephant is three dudes, a living room, some gear, and a lot of heart. In the past two years, Little Elephant has seen some of the biggest names in punk, hardcore and emo swing through to crank out amazing live sessions for all the world to see on the YouTubes. In defiance of the pessimism of the Rust Belt, Little Elephant has made the most of Toledo as a crossroads for artists travelling the country, and in the process, has become a phenomenon.

First off, what is Little Elephant, how long has Little Elephant been around, and how did Little Elephant get started?

Little Elephant is a live audio and video studio located in Toledo, Ohio. It’s comprised of Rob Courtney, Brian Gross-Bias and Mark Metzger. We record live sessions of bands performing in our living room. The audio and video is all shot 100% live, so what you see and hear is what you get.

Little Elephant started as a recording studio back in June of 2011. At the time, we were solely focused on recording bands in Toledo. We did this for about two years before we started doing any video work. Then, during an off week due to cancellations, we decided to try something new and shot a couple live sessions of local Toledo bands. After we had some local success from those videos, we decided to take it one step further. We bought new microphones and cameras and started approaching bands outside of Toledo for sessions.

Little Elephant has grown and evolved over time to be the unique, awesome thing that it is now. What ultimately made you decide to make the changes you did, and what were some of the sources of inspiration that steered you guys in the direction you’ve gone?

Right after we started doing live videos exclusively, we got really lucky by getting Weatherbox in the studio. At the time, our roster was super thin, mostly comprised of local Toledo bands. But Mark happened to know Brian of Weatherbox and they agreed to come in. Having them in the studio opened a lot of doors for us. Suddenly more and more bands started responding to our emails. From there, our roster continued to grow and grow. Since then, our success has basically been from hustling and building relationships within the music community.

What’s been your favourite moment at Little Elephant so far?

It’s hard to pick just one, so we’ll give you three!

Certainly, one of the best moments was when Fat Wreck Chords decided to release a 7-inch using the audio from our session with Sundowner. Personally, we were thrilled to even have Chris in the studio, let alone record tracks for one of his releases. That was a dream come true.

Another awesome moment didn’t happen AT Little Elephant, but it was such a great moment because of the studio. This past October, the three of us took a road trip down to FEST. We got to see and hang out with so many of the bands that we had worked with, which was AWESOME!!

Also, even though we enjoy all of the bands that come through, we particularly love it when they play in Toledo after we do the session with them. It’s just great to be able to hang out with the bands, and especially great to see them play without having to worry about running our cameras.

2014 saw some of the biggest names in punk stop through Little Elephant. Any hints on what may be in store for 2015?

Our main plan is just to keep the momentum going and push ourselves. We want to get as many bands as we can in here.

The Midwest has always been a force to be reckoned with in punk music, and you guys are doing your part in putting Ohio back on the map. What does being based in Ohio/the Midwest mean for you guys?

Honestly, we owe everything to living in the Midwest, and especially Toledo. Even if bands don’t play in our town, they are constantly passing through. We are lucky to be surrounded by so many great cities and music markets. We wouldn’t be anywhere close to where we are now if it weren’t for our location.

In addition to being an opportunity for heavy hitter bands to make awesome live videos, do you see Little Elephant also becoming a springboard for smaller-time bands to gain recognition?

Absolutely! We are constantly trying to find new and exciting bands to have in the studio. Some of our favourite sessions have been with smaller, DIY bands. Plus, all of us play in bands ourselves, so we definitely have a soft spot for bands that are trying to break through.

How do you guys feel about chicken wings?

We have been a fan of chicken wings their whole career. We really wish we could get them in for a session, but we’re not real sure who to contact. Until then, we’re just gonna continue seeing them live as often as possible. They’re just the best.

Part of the beauty of Little Elephant is that it is driven almost entirely by social media. To what extent have you guys thought about the merch market (video compilations, audio compilations, etc)? Is that in the future? And what does the future of Little Elephant look like anyway?

We haven’t thought too hard about doing any compilations, but it is definitely not out of the question. We are currently in the process of setting up an entire merch store that will feature some awesome Little Elephant items.

Last but not least, what’s one album people might not know about that you think people should check out?

We are each going to list our own for this…

Rob: Sinai Vessel – ‘Profanity’
Brian: Sport – ‘Colors’
Mark: RVIVR – ‘The Beauty Between’

Rob and Mark also play in a band called Shitty Neighbors. Check them out here: shittyneighbors.bandcamp.com