Tag Archives: Hey!Fever Records

Song Review- Stoke Signals- “rockville winters build character” off the upcoming EP Making Enemies

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Four men, sitting at a bar and looking toward the camera.

My first exposure to this band was earlier this year when they released a split with Heartwells containing “The Squid” and “Killin’ Me Now.”   I read about it and then never had a chance to give it a listen.  The fact that they were working with Heartwells though was interesting as I am already a fan.  I later went back and checked out Stoke Signals 2024 album Make Dying Fun and was impressed.  My favorite track there is “Burning Daylight” with “Nothing to Worry About” a close second.  

There is something delightfully chaotic about this new single which starts on plenty of volume and energy.  In addition to a drum line that sets a feisty tone this song also features some nice pace changes. Melodic guitar riffs and bass grooves fill space between the vocal sections which, other than the bridge, are delivered at a fast clip.  This is a good song and a bit more aggressive and edgy than their previous work.  The album comes out October 31st on Hey! Fever Records.

Musicians on this are: Jordan Calhoun (bass), Giuliano Messina (vocals, guitar), Chris Perez (guitar, vocals) and Michael Nusbaum (drums).  

You can check out the video for this track here: 

Also available to pre-save and pre-order:

https://show.co/vscbbKg

https://www.heyfeverrecords.com/product-page/stoke-signals-making-enemies-ep-pre-order-10-3

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Song Review- Empired- “Blood on the Ceiling”

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5 male musicians

There was a band from way back in the day (mid 00’s in this case) called The Twilight Transmission that was pretty good.  They fit somewhere in the alt-punk space with a bit of hard core mixed in.  It was only one album that I ever heard back then (and checking Discogs and others sources it still is the only one I find listed) but they did not have a “one-off sound.”  The members of that band (Colin Buis, Brendan Murphy, Jae Hansel, Brian Balchack and Brian Manry) played well and wrote songs with interesting arrangements.  If you get a chance check out their Bandcamp page here and give The Dance of Destruction a listen – well worth it.

https://thetwilighttransmission.bandcamp.com/album/the-dance-of-destruction

Interest in that band led me to Outspoken, Hansel’s former endeavor that released music mostly in the 1990’s and I became a late-comer fan of that band also.  And then I promptly lost track of him until Empired released Finding Calm in the Chaos back in 2024.  So, now that we are all up to date…

It was great to be able to get a chance to listen to this track and it is indeed a good one!  There is much good melodic punk energy and strong vocals running throughout with screaming guitars, a bit of a groovy bass, and a steady, clean drum sound.  I also found the keyboard action intriguing as it punched through the guitar sound at various times to add a nice layer to the overall composition of this track.

Empired has a new album coming out (Strikes Back!) and you can pre-order today from Hey!Fever Records right here:

https://www.heyfeverrecords.com/

The vinyl is set to come out August 29th with streaming on September 5th. 

Musicians on this track are: Jai Hansel (bass, vocals), Ben Harrison (keyboards), Bruce Zebal (guitar, vocals) and Danny Baeza (drums). 

And support your locals – community is powerful!

Song Review- Hoist the Colors- “Documentation” from the upcoming album Dear Wanderlust

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Hoist the Colors band members in front of a white warehouse

Well, sometimes you get a press release about a band and suddenly realize you managed to forget about a pretty darn good band somewhere along the way.  This particular moment was inspired by an email from Earshot Media with news about this single being dropped a few weeks ago.  The band name caught me as familiar so I dug into the collection and found a digital song called “Second City” and pressed play.  A boisterous and well-played Irish punk song was the result, good enough that I figured it could not possibly be the only track from Hoist the Colors that I had laying around…but in the end, it was all by its lonesome self.   After checking into it they have a few others out there that are worth your time including Miles To Go Before We Sleep, Mourners and When Daylight Breaks. 

You can tell right from the start of “Documentation” that this group of musicians has grown and expanded their influences since the sound of “Second City.”  A pretty cool guitar riff starts this one off with a melodic bass line joining, slowly building up a little tension before a lively mandolin kicks in.  The fiddle provides just enough bluegrass flavor to set the mood and the vocals are strong (and tell a pretty human and relatable story).  The blending of genres here is sophisticated and very successful.   

You can catch the video for this here: 

Also, their album will drop in October and can be pre-ordered from Hey!Fever Records starting August 30th! 

And if you have the inclination …think about purchasing it if you can as steaming music does not pay well even times a thousand. 

And support your locals – community is powerful!