Kole

Contributing Writer

Kole's latest post – March 25, 2024

Kole's most recent reviews — Browse all

The Bar Stool Preachers

Above the Static
Pure Noise (2023)

I first discovered The Bar Stool Preachers back in 2018 when they released their amazing record, Grazie Governo. The comfort and familiarity in the songs and singer TJ McFaull's voice truly released some endorphines in my soul. After some research, I figured it out. That's the son of the singer of Cock Sparrer! There are definitely some elements of Cock Sparrer here, as well … Read more

Ann Beretta

Rise
Bully Me Now (2022)

I've been sitting on this record since it came out, and I wasn't sure exactly where I was with it until now. I really wanted to love this record, but my musical taste is that of a 47 yr old guy who has listened to so much music and been in so many bands, that I was afraid the review … Read more

The Bootstrap Boys

New Beginnings
Independent (2021)

The Bootstrap Boys are a four piece outlaw country band from Grand Rapids, MI. I fucking hate country music with a passion that can't be put into words. I hate that somewhere around 2007, damn near every punk friend I had were listening to Johnny goddamn Cash and Waylon fuckhead Jennings. Jocks, preps, and rednecks were our sworn enemies and somehow … Read more

Scrunchies

Feral Coast
Dirtnap (2022)

I'm new to writing actual reviews of records. Don't get me wrong, I have opinions and I share them openly with everyone, even if they don't want to listen. Until this record, I really couldn't find much out there worth reviewing. The name of the band caught me. The fact that they have a record coming out on Dirtnap Records … Read more

Kole's most recent features — Browse all

The Greatest Take-Down in Music History

Regular Columns / Running on Nothing • March 25, 2024

I was a teenager in the early '90s when a single song from a little punk trio out of the Pacific Northwest single-handedly destroyed a whole genre of music on the radio with one song. As a pre-teen in the 1980s, my music taste was 100% based on whatever I heard on the radio. I didn't have an older sibling … Read more

The Bollweevils

Interviews • March 11, 2024

I first met Daryl from The Bollweevils during a post-Riot Fest brunch thing years ago. I was there for the weekend with the Mustard Plug guys and a few months before, Red Scare had signed The Lippies. I showed up to Cobra Lounge on a Sunday morning to hang with Toby from Red Scare and catch the show before I … Read more

Being a Dork is Cool

Regular Columns / Running on Nothing • February 12, 2024

It's ok to like ska. I'm not kidding. It is perfectly acceptable to like ska. With the current explosion of young ska bands coming up and their growing popularity, I've heard some peers kind of dragging on ska. That's ridiculous. The original ska music was VERY rebellious music. It was working class. And it was damn good. Go back and … Read more

How (not) to start a band

Regular Columns / Running on Nothing • September 25, 2023

It's Like Three Card Monte, But With Bands... There's actually no wrong answers here. I was just thinking about the process I went through with most of the bands I started. A few people in my scene know about this, but so many others don't and I thought it would be fun to share. Write a few tunes. Find people … Read more

Kole's most recent news stories — Browse all

SPB premiere: Feral Coast by Scrunchies

Posted in Records on March 31, 2022

Scene Point Blank is stoked to premier the latest album from Minneapolis-based punks, Scrunchies! Coming out on the infamous and always reliable Dirtnap Records, Scrunchies have tightened the filth and the fury that put them on the map without sacrificing that feeling of a train nearly falling off the tracks … Read more