Junior Bruce Self-Titled EP (Self-released) juniorbruce.com The newest breed of Floridian metalhead is a bunch of savvy mothers! These are the righteous bearers of the torch ignited in the ’80s and then kept lit by the awesome sludge and power violence scenes of the ’90s. Now meet Junior Bruce, a…
The Can’t Stand Ya’s are not exactly new to our scene. These guys have a pretty hefty punk rock rep that most of y’all will recognize if you’ve ever trolled the scene between Cheers and Churchill’s. Crew members Nick Pfrenger (bass), Todd Slimak (drums) and Adam Gloveless (guitar) used to…
The McRackins Oddities & Eggcentricities Vol. 1 (Stiff Pole Records) www.stiffpolerecords.com In honor of Richard “Big Stiff” Konwinski, who passed away this July in Tampa, I’ll be bouncing between the County Grind and Crossfade blogs doing my “Blast From the Past” thing on the record label that he founded, Stiff…
I don’t entirely understand what the whole “flinging” aspect is that these four sweaty and most certainly not “boy band” material dudes are aiming for, but I’m hip and I’m kinda with it so I think I have an inkling of intention here. This is technically proficient metal with nuances…
With all the years that I have spent disseminating the myth of myself as some staunch, drunken rock and roller, I have never forgotten my roots under warm Venezuelan skies, swagging and jiving my wares to the syncopated rhythms of Latin music. That’s right, I, Abel Folgar, rock and roller…
Young Livers Of Misery and Toil (No Idea Records) www.noidearecords.com I believe that the great and sorely missed Thomas “Pig Champion” Roberts was the butt of the Poison Idea joke of record collectors being pretentious assholes. That much is true dear readers, but I’m not as much a pretentious asshole…
The Jackie Papers Uckfay Ooyay (Stiff Pole Records) www.stiffpolerecords.com In honor of Richard “Big Stiff” Konwinski, who passed this past July in Tampa, I’ll be juggling between the County Grind and Crossfade blogs doing my Blast From the Past thing on the record label that he founded, Stiff Pole Records,…
I don’t usually go around spouting the hip-hop Gospel, but I’ll be damned if I don’t happen to cross paths with some hot shit. Here’s a home-made video by my holmes Orion for Thousand’s track “Acid Trips” and in true form, it is found footage from some arcane Japanese arcade…
For many years I delighted in tormenting Lori Garrote with random assertions that her brother Joe (of The Basicks and The Can’t Stand Ya’s fame) owed me twenty bucks, and that he had reported her as the current holder of that lien. Needless to say, the familial confusion that must’ve…
Beings Self-titled (Amnesian Records) www.amnesianrecords.com Beings is Miami’s newest power trio and in its short span of time it has been creating some serious waves across the land with this nifty eight-track album and their recent high profile touring with hometown darlings Torche. But it should come as no surprise,…
For many years I’ve regressed into the darkness of my home armed solely with the music these fuckers make. Why? Because it is good. It is ambient, it is paranoid, it comes from left-field, and it is made by some of the most unsung of unsung heroes we have here…
Baccone Dolce Barbecued Cats (Moon Ska Records) www.moonskaworld.com Aspeta un minuti … or don’t. It isn’t so much as the delicious Italian treat as it is a bygone era where the Floridian peninsula ruled the ska-airwaves. And (apparently re-emergent ska label) Moon Ska took note. The mid-90’s were a good…
Furious Dudes Florida Sucks (Livid Records) www.lividrecords.com There’s a special place in punk rock hell reserved for these motherfuckers. It’s somewhere between Miami and Chattanooga, but it certainly is within the swampy wastelands of Florida because contrary to their furiously incorrigible beliefs, Florida does not suck. And these “dudes” make…
The Crumbs Gator Kicks (Livid Records) www.lividrecords.com The Crumbs have been one of my favorite local outfits since the early ’90s. The amount of stories, beers and down-right bizarre situations that I have shared with these guys over the years are too many to fit into these digital pages, but…
The President LeBron (Roofless Records) www.rooflessrex.com I blame my suspicions on authoritative persons based on my pseudo-socialist Latin American upbringing. Did I believe those bozos (namely Hugo “Monkey-Ass-for-Brains” Chavez) when they said they were in charge? No! Do I believe in Junior’s second term? No! Do I believe in The…
Newer-ish outfit Plains is poised to release a brand new 7″ single this Friday at Bar and here at Crossfade we’re pleased to share with you the B-side to that effort, “Stuck in the Night.” This band comes with a pretty good pedigree. Technically the brainchild of Honor Roll’s Michael…
The Pink Lincolns Suck & Bloat (Stiff Pole Records) www.stiffpolerecords.com In honor of Richard “Big Stiff” Konwinski, who passed this past July in Tampa, I’ll be juggling between the County Grind and Crossfade blogs doing my Blast From the Past thing on the record label that he founded, Stiff Pole…
Regardless of which, these guys brought something to our little scene that bordered on the weird and we were so thankful for it. Before skinny jeans and plaid hoodies, before our local hipster glitterati found its inherent genre-blending, Pool Party concocted a seamless transition between punk rock pop, electro, techno,…
Homestretch’s Purgatory, a DIY album
Subliminal Criminal S/T (Space Cadette Records) If we lived in different times, Ed Matus would be the type of gent who holds doors open for ladies, organizes fox hunts, gardens organically and holds the secrets of the glue that has for some bizarre reason made South Florida a hub of…
Purgatory(Self-released)www.homestretch305.com I would like to open this review by going on record and stating that bass player Jonathan Suarez has been threatening my livelihood for many years now concerning his bizarre belief that I OWE him my “vintage” Cavity t-shirt. This is a lie. But I must also be a…
Gotohells Six Packs & Race Tracks (Stiff Pole Records) In honor of Richard “Big Stiff” Konwinski, who passed this past July in Tampa, I’ll be juggling between the County Grind and Crossfade blogs doing my Blast From the Past thing on the record label that he founded, Stiff Pole Records,…
