Punk Rock Saturday
Check it out, folks! It’s our first French punk band! Bonjour et bienvenue, Topsy Turvy’s! This quartet is a melodic punk rock band, with both female and male vocals, who got their start in 2008. Their new record, It Can't Be Easy, is due out in January, via Thousand Islands Records, but they have just released its first single, “No Surrender.” This track is a just a touch slower than what we’re used to covering on Punk Rock Saturday, but it is just as powerful and melodious as the best of them, plus it’s got those “whoa-oh’s” that we’re always going nuts over. The band’s influences range from the melodic hardcore of the ‘90s to the modern flavor that we all know and love, and it’s all served up with a plethora of melodies and a hefty dose of energy. Topsy Turvy’s have played over 300 shows around the world (in 26 countries) and have released three albums and an EP called I Expect Nothing and I’m Still Let Down (if that title doesn’t resonate, please exit our blog forever). Since their inception, they have not stopped touring, “still questioning their music practice in a world collapsing.” Give “No Surrender” a spin and mark the calendar for their LP on January 13.
Now that you’ve got that punk rock taste back in your mouth, it’s time to raise a little hell. Meet M.U.T.T., comprised of three former members of Culture Abuse. They’ve just released a new record, Bad to the Bone, which, upon first glance at the email, we assumed was a remake of George Thorogood’s 1982 blues jam. After seeing that these dudes were a punk rock outfit from San Francisco, we removed our finger from hovering over the delete button and pressed play instead. And, lucky for all of us, these guys kick some ass… Like, so much ass that we could not decide which track to share with you today. Instead, what we’re going to do is recommend that you start with “I Don’t Wanna,” the first cut from the record. From there, the great gods of punk will likely have you play the rest, which is how it was designed to be heard in the first place:
A few months back, we featured Darko and their potent track, “Cruel To Be.” In the meantime, they have released “The Ladder,” which made headlines for calling for a cull of misogynists within the punk rock community, and a misanthropic attack on selfishness in COVID-era Britain via “AUX.” Today, we are very pleased to tell you about Darko’s upcoming EP, Sparkle, as well as present you with their latest single, “Quite.” On the surface, this tune maintains all the aspects of skate-punk and melodic hardcore for which we have come to know and love the band, but they also have a reputation for their lack of sugarcoating the truth: “There is nothing hidden here, nothing soaked in distracted metaphor or softened non-confrontational rhetoric, Darko are making full use of their scene privilege and challenging people who look akin to them to unleash their own salvos.” We hope that you take a moment to hear their truth:
And don’t you dare miss out on the official video!
Wanna listen to Punk Rock Saturday all week? Follow the playlist:
And if you want your band to be featured on Punk Rock Saturday, all you have to do is stop being so uptight and send us some music.