Loren

There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not just to pay the bills. Jobs provide new challenges, personal fulfillment and, yes, some rent or gas money. How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene … Read more

How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene Point Blank looks at how musicians split their time, and how their careers influence their music (or how their music provides escape). In this edition, we caught up with Chuck Ragan, known as the gruffest voice of Hot … Read more

How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene Point Blank looks at how musicians split their time, and how their careers influence their music (or how their music provides escape). In this edition, we chat with Kevin Purcell (guitar/vocals) of Retirement about running Portland bike shop … Read more

There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not just to pay the bills. Jobs provide new challenges, personal fulfillment and, yes, some rent or gas money. How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene … Read more

Visual Learner, BlackDots, City Mouse, Couch Potato Massacre Cloudland Theater Minneapolis, MN May 7, 2025 I’m embarrassed that I haven’t covered any shows at Cloudland for SPB previously. It’s a relatively new addition to the Minneapolis scene and a welcome addition that feels as much like a community space as … Read more

Sometimes I get all introspective and ask myself why I do this. Not very often, but the answer is always because I like music. It's that simple. I like to discover new stuff and I like to share it. Every year, the staff at Scene Point Blank sink a ton … Read more

Vices, outlets, escapes... I'm not sure where things are at here in November of 2024. But as we battle our demons and look for meaning, or escape, music is a blessing. Here's a new playlist. Many of these artists have been covered at Scene Point Blank, mixed in with tracks … Read more

I think I've lamented on this in the past, but one thing I really miss about the tape/cdr era is mixtapes. Playlists offer something similar, fortunately, so I can keep it going when I want to mix things up from writing reviews. This list collects a bunch of stuff I've … Read more

Our featured stream of the month comes from Tonguecutter, whose debut full-length Minnow releases on May 2 on Learning Curve Records. The band is a trio from Muskegon, MI, with a sound that is heavy and aggressive, which contrarily both sharp and blunt. It’s no accident that the first song … Read more

Kepi Ghoulie just released a new limited 12" maxi EP, a 4-track reggae record dubbed Start Me Up, a collaboration with Agent Jay (The Slackers), with covers of songs originally the The Rolling Stones and Prince, respectively. It's available now from Eccentric Pop Records. Read more Tracklist: A1. Start Me … Read more

Indie-punk band Fortitude Valley is back, sharing the single "Sunshine State" now, which will appear on the band's second album -- scheduled to release on August 1 via Specialist Subject Records and titled Part Of The Problem, Baby. “Lyrically, the song is about moving away from Australia and dealing with … Read more

Stomach will release their second album this summer, a record titled Low Demon, set for a release date of July 18 via Hibernation record label. The band, formed as a duo of John Hoffman (Weekend Nachos, Ledge) on drums/vocals and Adam Tomlinson (Sick/Tired, Sea Of Shit) on guitar (both of … Read more