Today, LiL Lotus released the deluxe version of his sophomore album nosebleeder. It features acoustic versions of standout tracks including "blame me for everything" with Mod Sun, as well as a cover of Lil Uzi Vert's "Grab the Wheel."
Since his debut EP Bodybag in 2017, LiL Lotus has gradually shifted away from the alternative hip-hop sound he started with. Signed to Epitaph Records, he now mixes elements of pop-punk, metal, and Y2K alt rock.
We met up with the Texas-born musician for a photo shoot and to talk about the album.
Tell me about this Lil Uzi Vert cover. How did you put that together? I always loved Uzi and that song, and I always felt the lyrics hella. They’re super sad when you really listen behind all the flexing, so I wanted to make a sad version of it.
You teamed up with Mod Sun for the track “blame me for everything.” What was it like to work with him and make that song? Mod’s always been the homie and super fun to hang with, so the process of the song just came naturally and we just goofed off and caught up while making it. So happy on how it came out.
You’ve shifted from an alt hip-hop sound to rock. What do you love about pop-punk? I’d say this album is less pop-punk than error boy, but as far as rock goes, it’s definitely my roots and where I feel most at home. Emotionally it’s very fulfilling, 'cause it’s powerful enough to get my point across.
Do you have a favorite tattoo? Probably the angel on my face. It’s not the craziest design, but the baby angel that cut off his own head just symbolizes me, so I’m very attached to it.
You grew up in Texas. What do you miss about living there? Well, I have my family there and I miss them, but as far as Texas itself goes, I’d say the food. No one does it like Texas. I don't care what anyone says (at least out towards the east coast).
Is there someone you listen to that might surprise people? Hmm, I listen to a lot of music. Mk.gee, Yuele, Këkht Aräkh are some of the people I’m really into right now.
What are you planning for the spring and summer? I’ve already started this new album, which I’m so stoked on. Really, just more music and getting healthy, oh, and more shows. Maybe get into this TikTok bullshit, who knows?
For more from LiL Lotus, follow him on Instagram and TikTok.
Although he found early success as a rapper, Travis Mills always liked the idea of being in a band. He grew up admiring blink-182, MxPx, and The Used. Early groups didn't work out for various reasons, and he found solo success with tracks like "Diemonds" and "Young & Stupid."
In drummer Nick Gross, Mills found a musical partner with the drive to make their band a success. Together as girlfriends, the duo has embraced the music that shaped their youth. They enlisted producer John Feldmann, the Dr. Dre of pop punk, to complete their sound. Over two albums and an EP, they've created anthems that sound like artifacts of the early 2000s, rather than recreations of TRL rock.
Released this week, "shut & kiss me" sounds like it could have been on the Road Trip soundtrack. It's the first new music for the band since the EP Over My Dead Body last May.
The partnership has not only allowed them to make music they love; it's given them an opportunity to play and record with some of their favorite artists. This summer, girlfriends will join Avril Lavigne on her North American tour.
Watch Mills and Gross talk to Jordan Edwards about their experience with girlfriends, touring with Lavigne, and making music at The Noise Nest.
Wed Aug 14 — Ottawa, ON — Canadian Tire Centre Fri Aug 16 — Toronto, ON — Budweiser Stage Tue Aug 20 — Buffalo, NY — Darien Lake Amphitheater Wed Aug 21 — Hartford, CT — The XFINITY Theatre Fri Aug 23 — Holmdel, NJ — PNC Bank Arts Center Sat Aug 24 — Mansfield, MA — Xfinity Center Tue Aug 27 — Wantagh, NY — Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater Thu Aug 29 — Camden, NJ — Freedom Mortgage Pavilion Sat Aug 31 — Bristow, VA — Jiffy Lube Live Sun Sep 01 — Charlotte, NC — PNC Music Pavilion Tue Sep 03 — Alpharetta, GA — Ameris Bank Amphitheatre Wed Sep 04 — Nashville, TN — Ascend Amphitheater Fri Sep 06 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH — Blossom Music Center Sat Sep 07 — Clarkston, MI — Pine Knob Music Theatre Mon Sep 09 — Milwaukee, WI — American Family Insurance Amphitheater Tue Sep 10 — Chicago, IL — Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island Thu Sep 12 — Minneapolis, MN — The Armory Sat Sept 14 — Winnipeg, MB — Canada Life Centre
For more from girlfriends, follow them on Instagram and TikTok.
This past summer, Yellowcard reunited and performed dozens of shows at large venues across the country. They also released their first new music since 2016.
The EP Childhood Eyes returns to the sound that made them popular, but the songwriting reflects their maturity and sense of nostalgia. It includes collaborations with Dashboard Confessional and Pierce The Veil, as well as the lead single "Childhood Eyes."
The reunion coincides with the recent pop punk renaissance as younger bands reach back for those Y2K power chords and hooks. Yellowcard is enjoying the ride. An appearance at When We Were Young on Oct. 21 is the only thing currently on the band's calendar, but fans should feel optimistic about future shows.
Will there be any more new music? Although there are no plans for a new album, a statement on the band's Instagram says, "The future is bright. We clearly have so much more to do."
Watch frontman Ryan Key talk to Jordan Edwards and Demi Ramos about the reunion, making the EP, and the story behind "Ocean Avenue."
Yellowcard's Ryan Key | It's Real with Jordan and Demi
For more from Yellowcard, follow them on Instagram and TikTok.
After 30 years together, MxPx remains one of the best and hardest working bands out there. They recently released their 11th studio album Find A Way Home. Anchored by "Not Today," and "Stay Up All Night," it's full of the catchy rock songs that fans love.
From a sound that defined pop-punk to their iconic album art and merch, MxPx has influenced countless acts including Simple Plan, Fallout Boy, Sum 41, and Good Charlotte. They've laid out the blueprint for many of this century's biggest bands.
Watch lead vocalist/bassist Mike Herrera and lead guitarist Tom Wisniewski talk about how they make music now, their favorite Warped Tour memories, and the story behind the "Pokinatcha Punk."
Whether we want to admit it or not, this summer is going to be different than any summer that's come before. With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic near, people are heading outside, plans are being made, and trips are being taken. It will no doubt be busy and all consuming. Chances are last summer was not like this for you, and instead of listening to the albums below, you were stuck listening to yearning music about how you felt trapped or caged in.
Well, if you're going to get busy this summer, you'll need the perfect soundtrack. Here are the best summertime rock albums to help you snap into action.
Blink-182 – "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket"
No one quite captured the carefree angst of teenagehood quite like Blink. Pretty much any of their early works would be a perfect summertime collection, but 2001's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is nothing but a rip-roaring good time.
"First Date" and "The Rock Show" capture the youthful exuberance and nostalgia of summertime romance, and "Stay Together for the Kids" touches on the anxiety of watching your struggling parents find love. The anxieties of being young are sprinkled throughout the album's fun moments, but that's what makes it so relatable to the childhood experience.
Deftones – "Around The Fur"
Deftones Around the Fur, despite its unforgiving grind, feels as toasty as a hot August day. "My Own Summer (Shove It)" is especially steamy, with its merciless guitars and gurgling vocals courtesy of Chino Moreno. The track remains a great nu-metal ode to those loner kids that forever loathe the heat.
"There's no crowd in the streets and no sun in my own summer," Moreno murmurs. "The shade is a tool, a device, a savior / See, I try and look up to the sky / But my eyes burn."
Green Day – "Dookie"
To be fair, Dookie's youthful adrenaline rush works for any occasion, but it especially works in the summertime heat. The album sounds the way Berkeley, California feels and kicked off the pop-punk movement that has since been synonymous with summertime mischief. "Burnout" and "Basket Case's" sticky guitars sound carefree, like they're being performed by the neighborhood band right in your backyard.
Billie Joe Armstrong's voice also radiates with surprising warmth. On "Having a Blast" he sounds like a kid determined to be a kid at all costs, even when dreary reality tries to sink in. "Nothing's gonna change my mind, I won't listen to anyone's last words / There's nothing left for you to say / Soon you'll be dead anyway." It's an album rank with nostalgia, dedicated to a time when the biggest question of the day was: "Am I just paranoid, or am I just stoned?"
Queens of the Stone Age – "Rated R"
Queen of the Stone Age's desert rock grime is perfect for some balmy day-drinking and Rated R captures this feeling the best. "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" is saturated in bristling guitars and lo-fi vocals perfect for a top-down drive through the city with a cigarette dangling out of your mouth.
"Monsters in the Parasol" is just pure pulsating adrenaline that sounds as loaded as a daytime blackout, and "I Think I Lost My Headache" is as pulverizing and corrosive as that hangover you get when the party ends. Needless to say, Rated R is a perfect album for those looking to get into some trouble.
Sum 41 – "All Killer, No Filler"
Those that remember this album remember how special those early aught summers were. Summertime in the time of All Killer, No Filler was full of bullshit shenanigans, with teens cruising around on their bikes trying desperately to score a gram of weed.
Sum 41's debut carries a perfect mix of pop punk, heavy metal, and even hip-hop, as the Canadian boys, much like the teen boys they were singing to, aimlessly try on different outfits in the hopes of figuring out who they are. "Attention that we crave, don't tell us to behave, I'm sick of always hearing 'act your age,'" Whibley belts out on "Fat Lip" as if it's a warcry. All Killer, No Filler is at times messy and barely holds together, but remains incredibly charming along the way, much like being a kid.
Weezer – "Blue Album"
If you're in your early 30s and want to spend your days relaxing by the pool sipping on a Rolling Rock, there is no better soundtrack for that experience than Weezer's Blue Album. "The sea is foamin' like a bottle of beer / The wave is comin but I ain't gonna fear / I'm waxin down because it's really a blast…' Cuomo calls out of "Surf Wax America."
The album sparkles like a freshly opened can of beer, and iconic tracks like "Buddy Holly" and "Say It Ain't So" are just as smooth and refreshing as taking a sip. A perfect album for both the social butterfly or the tanning loner, Weezer's Blue Album is a lighthearted affair, perfect for those just needing to catch a vibe.
Angels & Airwaves – "I-Empire"
A perfect summer can sometimes feel intergalactic and out of this world, especially when you're young. So much so that when it ends, it feels like you're exiting a fever dream. But Angels & Airwaves' I-Empire is the perfect album to remind you that those experiences were real and that the heightened emotions you felt were genuine, even if they were corny.
'Over the bands cascading guitars and spaced-out interludes, Tom DeLonge's boyish whines are comforting even if they generate an eyeroll or two. "Did you know that I love you?" he calls out on "Breathe." "Come and lay with me." On "Secret Crowds," he testifies that he will build his lover her own world, devoid of war and filled with "voices of kids out walking dogs, birds, planes, cleanest cars." It's all so heightened, but when you're locked in a summertime trance, it hits the spot like a splash in cool water.
My Chemical Romance – "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys"
Ditching the emo theatrics for moments of power pop and pop rock, My Chem's final record before their break up is as animated and opulent as the world it takes place in. "The Kids from Yesterday" is a sticky power-pop track that glides like a sunny afternoon drive, and "Summertime" is actually the saddest track on the album, as it taps into a fleeting romance that ends when the sun goes down. "You can run away with me, anytime you want," Gerard Way calls out defeated, knowing that she's already made her mind up.
Yellowcard – "Ocean Avenue"
There is no other album that captures those summertime yearnings quite like Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue. From the album's epochal title track to its humid album cover, the Jacksonville collective's fourth record beams like a ray of sunshine in the Florida heat.
The album basks in innocuous summertime romance and remains a perfect record for those yearning boys and girls who were convinced their infatuations could outlast the balmy weather. "I'm falling into memories of you and things we used to do," singer Ryan Key calls out. "Follow me there." From breaking away from our parents ("Way Away") to begrudgingly returning home at summer's end ("Back Home"), Ocean Avenue is saturated in teenage melodrama.
"Transparent Soul" is a full teen-angst banger, the stuff of our adolescent dreams. With the new single, Willow Smith joins the ranks of Black pop punk/alternative artists changing the genre for the better.
Willow Smith just released her new single, "Transparent Soul," and it's an alt-rock, pop-punk influenced banger.
The song, stylized as "t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l," is a departure from her previous, more psychedelic and soul influenced sound, which has garnered comparison to artists such as Erykah Badu and featured other artists like SZA. She has also leant her dreamy vocals to her brother's more pared down tracks, bringing her floaty melodies and neo-soul vibes to their collaborations.
Her most recent track, however, is undeniably influenced by rock, pop-punk, and alternative music. It's a bold, energetic sound led by electric guitars and Travis Barker — former drummer of Blink-182 and recent collaborator for musicians such as Machine Gun Kelly, Demi Lovato, and now Willow — on the drums.
WILLOW - t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l feat. Travis Barker (Performance Visual)www.youtube.com
"Transparent Soul" is a full teen-angst banger, the stuff of our adolescent dreams. As always, Willow delivered. With lyrics about "fake friends'' and vanity, the track is the perfect balance of personal and social commentary without feeling preachy or overdone.
It's the perfect pop-punk track that is part of the reemergence of the genre, which is being led by people who were young fans of the big names in the early 2010s and are now old enough to put their spin on it. While Pop-punk and alt-rock in its heyday was predominantly white and male, that is not the case in this iteration of the genre.
While there were some major female-led bands like Paramore and Black-led bands like Bad Brains, the new generation is full of diverse talent from marginalized backgrounds. As a genre that is known for expressing discontent and frustration with social norms, it's fitting that marginalized communities are drawn to pop-punk — and now they're leading its revival.
In particular, Black women are at the forefront and, just like Willow, blending personal experience, angst, and social commentary into provocative pop punk bangers. Here are some Black, female-led alternative bands you should have on your radar.
Meet Me @ the Altar
Meet Me @ the Altar got a lot of attention after the release of their single "Garden" in late 2020, but they've been around for a while. The three-piece WOC pop punk band formed in 2015 and dropped their debut EP, Bigger Than Me, in 2019. "Garden" gained attention for its vibrancy and positive lyrics, which can be a rarity in the pop-punk genre.
You can hear their inspiration from bands like Paramore, The Story So Far, and Belmont in their music, but their youthful sound comes in the form of their shameless optimism. Other bands make their name by being edgy, but Meet Me @ the Altar is more in the business of inspiration than misery.
Upon the release of Willow's "Transparent Soul," their fans immediately demanded a collab — which they sent out a plea for on their Twitter account.
Their newest track, "Hit Like a Girl," was released in March 2021 as part of their prep for an album release that fans are eagerly awaiting.
Big Joanie
Big Joanie is a London-based trio of Black Women who write about Black female friendships and sisterhood, the theme of their debut album, Sistahs. The celebration of Black joy we all need, they refer to themselves as "Black Feminist Sistah Punk," and their sound has been described as a mix of "The Ronettes filtered through 80s DIY and 90s riot grrrl, with a sprinkling of dashikis."
They are embedded in the London DIY music scene, which produces bands with unique sounds like their experimental mix of synths, heavy basslines, and vocals inspired by grunge, punk, and alt rock. They are influential to a lot of upcoming artists and have also gained online attention for their incredible, inventive cover of Solange's "Cranes in the Sky."
The Txlips
The Txlips are an Atlanta-based Black rock band who are enviably adept at spinning the sounds of jazz, classical music, calypso, neo-soul, R&B, and more into their token rock sound. Led by Guitar Gabby, the collective is changing the way game for Black femmes in music. They recognize the industry pressures for Black women to conform to "rap, hip-hop and hypersexualization," but they resist the stereotypes and create music which is unapologetically complex and creative.
They also focus on advocating for Black and queer lives, donating proceeds from their music to causes they are passionate about.
Pleasure Venom
Pleasure Venom are heavily inspired by early 2000s punk, self described as "explosive experimental garage punk outfit Pleasure Venom of Austin, TX, explores topics of love, sex, resentment, racial injustice, and the general 'absurdity of it all.'"
Their most recent release, "We Get What You Deserve," explores the political and personal, confronting white supremacy head-on and accompanied by a must-see provocative video. According to the band, "In 'We Get What You Deserve,' Pleasure Venom visually and sonically illustrates this eruption in a fast-paced montage of incendiary imagery overlaid by lead singer Audrey Campbell's imploring shrieks to her congregation from her stage, her podium, her throne."
The song starts with the proclamation, "Getting tired of living this sh*t," and we agree.
Squid Ink!
The California-based band Squid Ink! are actively challenging anti-Blackness in punk-rock. Described as " Black women and women of color, whose songs reflect the politicized nature of their marginalized identities," for Squid Ink!, the personal is political, and it's great fodder for great art.
The band mates all have diverse backgrounds and complex personal identities, which they bring to their music to address structural inequality in a way that is nuanced but direct. Songs like "Sundown" reference the sundown towns of the past in connection to gentrification now, and "Poetic Justice" is a self-aware track which contemplates their place in the world with existential urgency — both of which, and more, are available to support on Bandcamp.
Mint Green
Mint Green is a Boston-based band whose music is less rock-based and more indie-inspired. The perfect cross section of pop-punk and sad indie alternative music, they have been compared to artists from Paramore to Soccer Mommy. The sound that emerges is contemplative, provocative, and gorgeous.
Their most recent track, following their 2016 and 2018 EPs, was released in late 2020 and is called "Changing." Like all of us, Mint Green are Phoebe Bridgers stans, so they released a two-song EP of Phoebe covers.
Aficionado
Proper.'s Twitter bio is: "Just 3 n***as playing emo music, don't overthink it," and we love it.
Proper. are tuned into the essential parts of all good pop punk and alternative music: writing songs about feeling sad and feeling excluded. Their two albums, 2017's The Suburbs Have Ruined My Life and 2019's I Spent The Winter Writing Songs About Getting Better, speak directly to the anxieties and loneliness of exclusion, especially as Black punk fans,
The Brooklyn-based trio blend their evocative instrumentation with their honest lyrics, which unravel their emotions to create music that is both artful and anti-racist. Their newest single is called "Aficionado" and is available on all streaming platforms
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