35
votes
Looking for new punk rock or ska bands
Tired of the same old geriatric punkers, need some fresh sounds from bands I’ve never heard of. What are you moshing/skanking to these days?
Tired of the same old geriatric punkers, need some fresh sounds from bands I’ve never heard of. What are you moshing/skanking to these days?
I saw the Interrupters live and they were an absolute blast.
I'm genuinely curious, is this all meant to be pop-punk adjacent? The OP doesn't request that specifically, but the consensus skews that way with no resistance. Is this what is generally accepted as punk online?
I am not trying to debate/judge/stereotype!
Thanks for the discussion!
I think it probably depends on how you define "punk" as a music genre, as a movement, or as an interaction between the two.
A lot of pop-punk is still very much punk, Green Day's Bang Bang, is a very overt commentary on the US military as an example. Other pop-punk (like the [scr]emo side), appeals to the most punk thing of all (IMO), having empathy for other humans.
I would even go so far as to say that traditional hip hop is punk, just wearing a breakbeat skin instead of a shock rocker one. It's actually how i started down the path for hip hop was this association.
I'm 42, and only learned of Streetlight Manifesto in the last 5 years or so.
Will second the Interrupters mentioned above.
A vibe I never thought I'd be into I call pirate rock - Paddy and the Rats showed up in a Spotify Playlist and I've followed them ever since.
A friend of mine in High School 2009 started me with Streetlight Manifesto.
If you enjoyed SLM, i highly suggest looking forward to see Tom's Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution and look back to Catch-22. as well.
This concert is in my rotation of "listen to occupy my brain while I write at work" music.
100 gecs
Calls themselves a ska band. But I think that's kind of a joke. They are really more hyper pop or experimental electronic. But there are ska/pop punk vibes throughout their music though, as well as metal, dubstep, and all kinds of other weird stuff.
Might not be in your wheel house. But if you want some truly "fresh sounds" from young people check them out and keep an open mind! I was skeptical at first but ended up having their album "1000 gecs" heavily in my rotation the last few years.
Their most "ska" song is "stupid horse" so maybe start there.
Can really hear the ska influence in 10000 gecs. Somehow also a lot of nu-metal, and it really shouldn’t work, but yet it does.
“I got my tooth removed” might just be straight up ska
Agreed!
After making that post I read my own wiki link and saw that album finally came out.
As I listened to it today I was like 'wow, they are a ska band!'
My wife listens to a lot of punk. Here are a few of her favorites:
Bad Cop Bad Cop
The Chats
The Distillers
Amyl and the Sniffers
Against Me
A friend of mine turned me onto The Chats. What a ride their music is.
"I was a teenage anarchist" from Against Me! was a little too real, but that makes it good.
Going to second Bad Cop Bad Cop and Against Me in particular here. Laura Jane Grace is absolute icon.
Have you heard the Axis of Awesome cover of Transgender Dysphoria Blues? I don't usually like covers, but this one is almost haunting.
I have now! Mucho appreciado, my friend.
Wow, these are all really solid recommendations. Thanks!
Catbite
They def have a lot of 90s pop ska no doubt vibes.
But they have a nice bit of range.
https://catbite.bandcamp.com/track/stay
Creepin is probably my fav of theirs.
https://catbite.bandcamp.com/track/creepin
I'm a big fan of JER (sometimes goes by Skatune Network). They have a lot of Spotify playlists that are great for finding new songs. Here's a playlist just called "New Ska Music By New Ska Artists" but there are dozens of playlists on their page. I tend to like individual songs more than artists, so this works well for me.
Jeff Rosenstock
Itchy Kitty
+1 to Jeff Rosenstock’s SKA DREAM
I wish more artists would take an album they’ve done and record it from a different angle.
You need to check out Jeff Rosenstocks music, if you haven't. He has a pretty bulky catalog at this point, which includes two of his previous bands Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, which are more ska oriented, especially ASOB. His newer solo music is more pop-punk/indie sounding but he did completely rework his latest album "No Dream" into a full ska album "Ska Dream." I try not to fan-boy but his music is amazing if you like any combination of punk, ska, hardcore, and indie, you'll like his stuff.
Funnily enough, if you watch videos on Colin Furze's Youtube channel, he plays lots of punk and ska bands in his videos. He links the music in the descriptions of all his videos. I've found some cool bands that way.
I found PUP that way and absolutely love them, so I can second this.
I'm really enjoying PUP this morning. Thanks for the rec!
I've been a fan of Pup for years after randomly hearing them on Audiotree Live. They've got a really good sound and seem to just keep getting better with time. I also highly recommend you check out their videos, as they're really well done considering we live in a time when music videos really don't matter as much as they once did.
I'm gonna plug my band, we're named 'gleaming streets', this is probs our most punk song: https://youtu.be/5jilux55-wE
Kill Lincoln, We are the Union, and Millington (they call themselves brass emo, not ska, but they're "not ska" like how Streetlight Manifesto is also technically not ska) are my newer ska(-adjacent) loves lately.
For an older one, Five Iron Frenzy has put out a couple albums in the past decade (including a fantastic one two years ago), I'd say their new stuff is worth visiting, if you haven't thought about them since the late 90s.
Not ska, but if you want some funky horn beats you can check out Lucky Chops or Too Many Zooz.
Edit: a letter
Check out Lifeguard, these kids from Chicago. Better than any high school band I've heard!
Some recent punk rock would be Anti-Flag's entire catalogue. Rise Against has some good modern applicable topics too. Spotify's Punk mix for me has a lot of what I would look for. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.
Huge Rise Against guy here. While a lot of people have heard Savior or Prayer of the Refugee, they have a lot of fantastic songs about some very important issues.
Endgame and Wolves were both solid albums that I enjoyed. "Satellite" and "Help is on the way" were songs i abosutely loved.
Have you listened to Nowhere Generation yet? I really enjoyed "Monarch". But I've mostly been listening to Siren Songs or the Counter Culture and Sufferer and the Witness lately, I've been hiking and need the angry tones for hill climbing
I haven't listened to anything since Wolves. Sounds like I got some catch-up work!
Well the other two albums I mentioned are old old. But they also did an acoustic album called Ghost Note Symphonies which a lot of people not into their heavy stuff love.
Millie Manders
Call Me Malcolm
3dBs Down
Some smaller bands from the Uk. All play a mix of punk/rock/ska. Millie Manders has an amazing voice. Call Me Malcolm are probably the most punk ska but also do a fair bit of rock with horns. 3dBs Down don’t have brass but do have 3 lead singers and some incredible vocal arrangements (see Everyone Here Is Better Than You).
Absolutely loving Call Me Malcolm, thanks for the recommendation!
Do The Dog Music has a lot of ska playlists on Spotify
Some newer things I've been digging lately:
The Bombpops - Radio Silence YouTube
Half Past Two - Three Small Words YouTube
Craig's Brother - All The Way YouTube
The Abruptors - Waiting Forever YouTube
The Dollyrots - Twist Me to the Left YouTube
Five Iron Frenzy - While Supplies Last YouTube but this whole album is great
And some older stuff:
Ninety Pound Wuss - Something Must Break YouTube
Crux - Paint YouTube
Crashdog - Violence of Love YouTube
Slick Shoes - Last YouTube
Anyone use Tidal?
I dumped (most) of the discography of (most) of the artists mentioned in this thread into a giant playlist. It's not curated at all, and the albums are in no particular order, but I've been really enjoying listening to it on shuffle. (Of course, with
95108 hours of music (and counting) on there I've only listened to a tiny fraction of it!)https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/c170d722-b8e3-4f97-94cb-02c5d37e3d30
Hepcat
The Aggrolites
Derrick Morgan
Desmond Dekker
RX Bandits (their old stuff is ska, but they defo progressed as they got older. So good)
MU330
The Hippos
The Dendrites
Rx Bandits are unbelievable. The Resignation front to back is such a delight
Pushin 40 myself I appreciate the new stuff Goldfinger has been putting out these days. It really provides a nice Yin to the Yang of their early stuff.
But I'm also loving these other suggestions, keep them coming!
Here's a pop punk song by a band I bet you've never heard of. Their other stuff is a bit more metal/emo but with punk elements throughout. If you like that song, you might also like this one.
The past couple years I've gotten into Sumo Cyco (https://www.youtube.com/@SUMOCYCO). They sound (to me) like someone mixed No Doubt with System of a Down.
Callery Pears are one of my favorite recent bands that mix pop-punk/punk/Midwest Emo and have a horn section very reminiscent of Streetlight Manifesto Apple Music
Spotify
There's a few mentions of the interrupters already, I only learned of them in the last year would also recommend them (Though I'd have to say their cover of Metro is not that great, but probably no band could do as good a job as System of a Down).
For something that you probably haven't listened to try Mojiganga, they recently opened up a Bandcamp page. My favourite song of their is Vos sos todo lo que quiero.
Brother's a fan of "reel big fish"
Codename Colin is a group I’ve come to enjoy over the last couple years.
Glad to see all the other recommendations! I’m happy there’s a fair share of ska fans here.
Codename Colin is great! Thanks for the recommendation.
I honestly don’t know if this is entirely the correct category, but I’d like to mention the band of a friend of mine, Turdus Musicus. They are not very active currently but still play at some festivals. Very high energy and with good humor. These two music videos are a good introduction:
https://youtu.be/jk8XU0erLcI
https://youtu.be/mDpjEhTFtws
Mustard Plug is a MI-native Ska Punk band worth looking up.
Operation Ivy is another one I haven't seen mentioned yet.
Highly recommend Blowfuse, a young punk band from Spain, in the process of recording a new album.
Although the singers voice might turn some folks off, I've been loving Prince Daddy and the Hyenas(I know, bad name.) I would suggest starting with their album Cosmic Thrill Seekers, as it's a musical journey with no skippers, but do check out the rest of their stuff as well. They really picked me up during the pandemic, and I've been a fan ever since.
Several excellent recommendations have already been mentioned, but I'd like to add one more to the mix, which is actually a festival: Punk Rock Raduno. It's a no-ticket, free entry to all attendees that happens every year. Although I have no personal affiliation with the festival, I feel compelled to share its significance as it consistently introduces a wealth of fresh talent, underground, and contemporary hits. It's through events like this that I continually discover exciting new bands. One such discovery from the festival that has captured my attention lately is Proton Packs.
Going to plug a few I haven't already seen mentioned that I also don't see all over the place anyway. I'm gonna throw in another vote for The Interrupters while I'm here though - I've had them on repeat the past two weeks.
The Falcon (and for that matter, The Lawrence Arms - I just like Chicago bands)
LeKTron (a new Matt Skiba side project)
Days and Daze (folk-punk flavored)
Dead to Me (very fun with a dash of emo)
I'll pop back in if I think of anyone else
Punk rock from 2023.
On the punk tip, check out Die Spitz. They're a newer band, super fun songs, great energy.
I'm a big fan of Meat Wave out of Chicago.
They make a lot of noise for a three piece.