When I was growing up, I would wait every year for Alternative Press‘s “100 Bands You Need To Know” list to come out. I would read each page, scanning for new bands to check out. From that list, which started in 2001 and ended in 2015, I discovered artists and bands like Code Orange, letlive., PUP, Anamanaguchi, and Japandroids.
But I always wondered whatever happened to those bands on the list. Sure some like Coldplay, Simple Plan, Every Time I Die, As I Lay Dying, Panic! At The Disco, Silversun Pickups, Katy Perry, Emarosa, Never Shout Never, Black Veil Brides, AWOLNATION, twenty one pilots, Northlane, and Broadside, went on to find fame and popularity, but what about the ones everyone forgot about? Bands like The Garden, Butter The Children, A Fucking Elephant, Hotel Of The Laughing Tree, and DD/MM/YYYY, were pushed to the wayside and forgotten by AP. But here at Punk Goes Prenatt, I won’t let that happen to the bands who I put on my list from last year.
If you didn’t know, I used to work for Buffalo State’s online newspaper The Record. During my final year, I suggested to my editors if I could do my own version of Alternative Press‘s list, and they loved the idea. For five weeks, I introduced the campus to bands like Hot Mulligan, Chase Huglin, DREAMCAR, SWMRS, and Julien Baker.
A year has passed and I wanted to see what happened to some of the bands I wrote about last spring. Let’s find out.
Chapel
The indie pop band has had a busy time since I wrote about them. Made up of ex-Nightmares vocalist Carter Hardin and BFF Kortney Grinwis, the duo did a bunch of things that are impressive for a band who hasn’t released a full-length album yet. Chapel played a radio station festival in Philly with The 1975, Pale Waves, and Bastille, toured with Set It Off, Pierce The Veil, Good Charlotte, Waterparks, and Sleeping With Sirens, and released their debut EP Sunday Brunch last November via Rise Records (The Acacia Strain, Knuckle Puck, Palisades). They’ll be releasing their debut album next year.
Carousel Kings
It’s still hard to believe that these Lancaster, Pa., pop-punkers are on Victory Records (Abandoned By Bears, Dead Girls Academy, Reverend Horton Heat). Since dropping their latest album Charm City in early 2017, the band have kept themselves busy, playing Warped Tour last year, a tour with Ice Nine Kills, and a one-off show with State Champs and Victory label mates Broadside. In 2018, they played Milwaukee’s Summerfest, one day on the final Warped Tour, playing a festival with Eve 6 and Sister Hazel, and shows with I See Stars and City Lights. Their follow up to Charm City should come out next year.
Home Sweet Home
I played a show with these guys. Back in April of this year, the Indianapolis rock band announced that they were taking a break. During their downtime, vocalist Sean Potter became a bartender, trombonist Samuel Oliver got married and is working in graphic design, bassist Daniel Obermeyer started a home renovation business, guitarist Marshall Powers started making his own music, and drummer Austin Puckett, along with Sean, made a new project called brainlock. Hopefully they come back soon.
Swet Shop Boys
Made up of ex-Das Racist member Heems, actor Rizwan Ahmed (Nightcrawler, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Venom) aka Riz MC , and producer Redinho, the group have been quiet as of November 2017. Swet Shop Boys also said that they would be doing solo projects and to look out for them in the near future.
Creeper
The British horror punk group were making waves in the scene. Creeper played Slam Dunk in 2017 on the main stage with PVRIS, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, and Four Year Strong as well as Warped on the Full Sail Stage, touring in support of Eternity, In Your Arms. However, they confused their fans back in November of this year, saying that they were hanging it up after a show. Since then, they’ve remained quiet. No one knows if they broke up or just pulled a David Bowie.
Lil Peep
If you weren’t paying attention to Lil Peep in 2017, you missed your chance. The rapper died from a Xanax overdose in his tour bus while in Tuscon, Ariz., after a show. His popularity has since skyrocketed since his passing, having his mom sign away his posthumous material to Columbia Records (Bob Dylan, Hozier, Rag’n’Bone Man). The label released his sophomore album Come Over When You’re Sober, Pt. 2 back in November, as well as a collaboration with fellow deceased rapper XXXTENTACION. Rest easy, Gus.
PWR BTTM
I’m sure you’ve all heard about PWR BTTM’s issue. Last May, one half of PWR BTTM, guitarist/vocalist Ben Hopkins was called out for apparently being a sexual predator. To read all the information about the controversy, look here. They were dropped by their label Polyvinyl (Antarctigo Vespucci, Deerhoof, Post Animal) and told anyone who bought their at-the-time new album Pageant would get refunded. They’ve been quiet ever since.
Judah & The Lion
After making it big with their hit “Take It All Back”, the hip-hop/folk trio have been pretty busy. The Nashville group dropped three songs in 2018, hyping up fans for their sophomore record. Due to the success with their breakout single, the band toured with twenty one pilots, Jimmy Eat World, and Colony House, appeared on late night TV shows like CONAN and The Late Late Show With James Corden, and played festivals like Voodoo 2018(21 Savage, Lettuce, Modest Mouse), Z 104.5 The Edge’s Birthday Bash with AWOLNATION and AJR, and Moon River Music Festival with The Avett Brothers, Trampled By Turtles, and Mavis Staples. Expect new music soon.
Grayscale
The Fearless Records (August Burns Red, The Plot In You, Varials) pop-punk group got busy in 2017 and 2018 due to their debut record Adornment. They appeared on the newest Punk Goes album Punk Goes Pop Vol. 7 covering Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself”, toured with Real Friends, As It Is, and will be heading out next March with State Champs, and finally played Warped the whole summer. No word yet if they’re recording their follow up to Adornment.
Younger Then
Of course I had to put a local band on the list. Since their appearance on my list last year, the group released their debut record Bad Life on StandBy Records (Chin Up, Kid, Hang Tight, Waco) and have done shows with Brick + Mortar, Wild Rivers, and Broken Social Scene. The band will be hitting the road next year in support of Bad Life.
Stacked Like Pancakes
Look at this picture above. Since early October, the band have lost everyone except vocalist Kellen McKay (the guy in the polka dot button up). However, that didn’t stop McKay from releasing their new EP Strange Creatures in October, as well as hiring more members. SLP have also changed their style from their signature ska punk tone to a mixture of twenty one pilots and Foo Fighters. Their Kickstarter funded new record will apparently come out in the spring.
Trash Boat
Yes, they’re named after an episode of Regular Show. The British pop-punk group dropped their second record Crown Shyness back in July on Hopeless Records (Between You & Me, Neck Deep, Vanish) and played all of Warped. They toured with As It Is back in November in their home country and will be touring with While She Sleeps in February. Trash Boat also played the main stage this year at Reading and Leeds with Kendrick Lamar, Sum 41, and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.
Colours
The indie pop duo have been extremely quiet since I wrote about them last year. In October of 2017, they said they were working on a follow up to their debut Ivory, but no more news has been made by the group. Victory Records still says they’re active though.
AJR
New York City’s favorite sibling trio were busy in 2017 and 2018. Just this month, their album The Click was certified gold in the U.S., and they played with Robert DeLong on a somewhat sold out tour. The brothers even played numerous festivals throughout the summer, playing with bands like Vance Joy, Spoon, Death Cab For Cutie, Lil Wayne, and Foster The People. Their profile pictures and banners on their social medias have gone black, teasing for a new album that might come out in the new year.
blackbear
How cool is this? blackbear signed a $10 million deal with Interscope Records (6lack, DJ Snake, Juice Wld) back in June, thus giving the label the rights to not only his third album Digital Druglord but the upcoming follow up in 2019. To tide fans over, he released another album back in November of 2017 called Cybersex which has collaborations with people like Machine Gun Kelly, lil aaron, and RiFF RAFF. He then toured with Fall Out Boy last November with Jaden Smith. The new album ANONYMOUS comes out sometime next year.
Goodbye June
I honestly thought Goodbye June were going to blow up in 2017. I was wrong. And they didn’t blow up in 2018 either. But instead in 2018, they gave us a new EP called Secrets In The Sunset and toured with Greta Van Fleet, which is a pretty big deal itself. Maybe next year will be the year people know about Goodbye June.
Mascots
Fun fact: when I was working on my list back in 2017, I asked some people in the Defend Pop Punk Group on Facebook if they could give me some bands. Of course people were plugging their own groups so I took in two bands. One was Canada’s New Design, and the other was Mascots. Since the last time I looked at Mascots, the band had some member changes and dropped a new EP titled Butterfly Effect in November.
Lil Yatchy
I’ve since outgrew my appreciation of Lil Yatchy’s music, but damn isn’t he having so much fun. The young rapper dropped two albums this year with the second one just coming out in mid October, seven months after releasing Lil Boat 2. He’s done collaborations with artists like Quavo of Migos, Ugly God, Lil Pump, Cardi B, and pop group Ocean Park Standoff. And not only is he a rapper, he’s begun acting, appearing in the film Teen Titans Go! To The Movies as Green Lantern and making a cameo as a beatboxer in Life-Size 2: A Christmas Eve.
Sorority Noise
They were riding high off of the success of 2017’s You’re Not As _____ As You Think. But that came to a screeching halt after vocalist Cameron Boucher was accused of sexual assault, causing Sorority Noise to cancel their tour with The Wonder Years and go on break. But just recently, the band seemed to have broken their silence with Boucher making a statement on Facebook. They might make a comeback, but will people quickly forgive him before it happens?
Dangerkids
Due to their popularity in Japan, rapper Tyler Smyth and vocalist Andy Bane of the Ohio rap rock band Dangerkids got to have a song appear in the video game Sonic Forces, writing the song “Infinite”. That’s pretty damn cool. Maybe that will give people a reason to like Dangerkids more.
Milestones
Just as soon as they were getting off the ground and some recognition in the music scene, England’s Milestones announced in 2018 that they would be calling it a day. During their short time as a band, the group released only one album and an EP, both released on Fearless Records.
Pinegrove
What do Pinegrove and Sorority Noise have in common? They both have members accused of sexual assault or coercion. Vocalist Evan Hall was accused and that put the band on hold in 2017. A year later, the band decided to start again, releasing a new album called Skylight in October which they dropped independently since leaving Run For Cover Records (Camp Cope, mewithoutYou, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal).
Boston Manor
When we last left off on Boston Manor, the group had only one album out. Fast forward to now and they dropped a second one called Welcome To The Neighbourhood in September. They ended up touring with Real Friends, Drug Church, and Lower Than Atlantis. Boston Manor will be busy next year, opening up for Good Charlotte in Europe and playing numerous American metal and rock festivals in the spring like Welcome To Rockville, Sonic Temple, and Download with acts like Tool, Bring Me The Horizon, and Slayer.
Knocked Loose
I know you’re antsy for new music from these guys, but you won’t have to wait for long soon. The band played some new songs on their tour with Every Time I Die a few weeks ago, so a new album should be out sometime in the not so distant future. Also since I last talked about them, Knocked Loose have become one of the biggest names in hardcore. Sick.
Made Violent
Buffalo’s Made Violent have been taking their sweet time throughout 2018, keeping somewhat of a low profile. They’ve done some one-off gigs with The Menzingers, Ugly Sun, and Bully, as well as touring with HUNNY. Back in November, the band posted a message saying, “I wonder what Made Violent has been up to…” Maybe we’re getting new music from them in the new year. Only one way to find out.
Punk Goes Prenatt 