Tag Archives: Arizona

Song Review- Authority Zero “Apocalyptic Summer”  and related community project 

Posted on by
Reply
A black and white image of four men looking out at the viewer. They are dressed mostly in black.

Band photo by Jim Louvau – Artwork by @insect_decay

I just got word about two cool things:  This new Authority Zero single and a community project they have going on around it.  Per the press release:

“Through ApocalypticSummer.com, musicians, producers and artists can download the song’s individual stems and create their own versions of “Apocalyptic Summer.” The always-open initiative is a just-for-fun, human-made community project built around independent creativity and collaboration.”

That human-made component is a nice touch and there are some rules to follow if you decide to dive in and take a shot at creating your own mix.  The short version is: “Participants are asked to build their versions using their own ideas, performances and conventional non-AI production tools.”  Everyone has their own opinions about the use of AI in our industry of course but I am all for initiatives that put things back more in the realm of us good humans 🙂 

For me, this new track hits right in my Authority Zero happy place.  This band has long been a favorite of mine due to the great rhythm foundations that they always have, the lyrics of Jason DeVore and guitars that hit at just the right moments.  “Apocalyptic Summer” has all of these as it winds through a slightly sarcastic end-of-the-world type lyrical journey.   The bass at the beginning is booming and continues to lead the way throughout.  The drums here provide a stark, bare sound that punches well against that bass line. Overall, a very good song and it has that summer vibe that makes you wish…well, that it was not September.

They already have two great dub mixes up that were created by Wayne Lothian (English Beat) and Ted Bowne (Passafire).  These are both excellent and worthy of a listen.  My favorite was Lothian’s but it was a close call – he gave the song a lighter feel which was an interesting take on it.  

Vote here to nominate this for my best of 2026 list: 

Streaming link  (including the Ted Browne and Wayne Lothian dub mixes):

If you are interested in the community project you can check here for info on the no AI rules and to get the stems: 

https://apocalypticsummer.com

Please let me know your opinion in the comment section below

Interested in more info on this Artist?

https://authorityzero.com

https://www.instagram.com/authorityzeromusic

Just a few ideas if you have the time:  purchase music when you can as streaming does not pay much even times a thousand, support and get to know your local community, live well and be a good neighbor 🙂 

Release Alert! Overstand- “Short Fuse State” from the upcoming album Take Control 

Posted on by
Reply

I know it will be awhile until you can take a listen to this (the single on 7” is set to drop September 5th, with the album to follow October 3rd), but you should definitely put this on your radar.  

Overstand formed back in 2020 and have an early eponymously titled EP that came out in 2022.  It is a really good hardcore set of 7 songs that blast away with intensity and purpose.  A great track to check out from this release is “Cracks in the Mirror.”  It has a simple message about how to live life, ripping guitar riffs and a pretty cool change of pace right after the midway point. 

Having been able to check out Take Control I can say that Overstand have only gotten better.   The guitars are still fierce, the bass is thundering, the drums have enough energy to light up the night and the vocals are edgy and powerful.  All of that is not surprising given the pedigree of the musicians involved but it is awesome to hear it all come together so well.  Check out “Short Fuse” (which also includes a guest vocal from Puerto Rican Myke of Skarhead & District 9) coming up in September and you will have a good idea of what is in store for the album.   There is an absolute ferocity in this song.  Also, according to the press release from Earshot Media, the backside of that 7” will be a cover of Bomber Zee (Agnostic Front).  You can ponder that until September 🙂

Song Review – CLASS “Behind the Ball” from the album If You’ve Got Nothing

Posted on by
Reply

There is something incredibly cool and groovy going on with this band.  They do a fantastic job of calling back to several iconic punk & rock styles wrapped within their own original creations.  As an example the opening lyrics section of this track immediately brought me back to the first Clash album (…and yes, I get it…CLASS…Clash…but still) especially some of the songs on the UK version like Deny and Protex Blue.  

“Behind the Ball” is one of those tracks that gets right to the point and has a tight arrangement that keep your attention all the way through.  Old-style punk in tone with power & rhythm to the front and a clean vocal line…a good listen and no filler.   This release has a little cleaner mastering also than their prior releases (which you should check out also…there is a great song called “Box My Own Shadow” on Epoca de los Vaqueros ).

You can check out more of the music and information on the Bandcamp page https://nowthatsclass.bandcamp.com/

Your local businesses, artists, groups…that all need you, so please get out there and support them ….community is powerful:)