u/PunkRockBach

A happy coincidence hit The Cocktail Slippers hard in 2026.

Not only is the year the band’s 25th anniversary, but its sixth album was delayed enough that it was pushed to line up with the quarter-century milestone.

“We were actually planning on releasing it late ‘24, but then we did some […] work on it,” said Stine Bendiksen, aka “Rocket Queen,” the band’s guitarist. She continued, “There’s been a lot of little tweaks on it, and then that’s why it’s became…yeah, a lot later than expected, but it’s a really good album. We’re very excited about it.”

You can read the full interview at Punk Rock Bach.

Lisa Molinaro is a violist with range.

She teaches music and French. She performed on stage and in studio with Modest Mouse. She toured with The Decemberists. And she even wrote the music for a film featuring Paula Abdul.

Now she’s going solo. Molinaro is set to release her debut solo album “Blind Trust” on July 17.

She said with Modest Mouse, she had been part of some of the songwriting process when it came to strings and harmonies for vocals.

“Those are more accessorizing, and so I come in with, like, here’s something that’s already exists, right? Make yourself fit into it,” Molinaro said. “And so I have to just listen to it carefully, figure out what are the goals sonically of the song. How do I accentuate it without stepping on it?”

Check out the full interview here. Photo: Mary Luczycki

I caught up with Julez and the Rollerz ahead of their debut album release for "Dirty Little Rock 'N' Roller" to ask how they're listening to music and what albums they're listening to.

Jules Batterman said she's listening to "Haute & Freddy, Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins and Courtney Barnett’s new album."

Catch the full Q&A here. It's right after the Kira Roessler section. (Photo: Zach Adams, courtesy of Clarion Call Media)

I had a chance to chat with former Black Flag bass player Kira Roessler recently ahead of her new album, "Enigma."

One track on “Enigma” sees Roessler return to a Black Flag song she originally recorded decades ago — “Drinking and Driving.” She includes a cover of the song on the new album.

The track first appeared on Roessler’s favorite Black Flag album, “In My Head.” She said that album started out heavy with instrumentals.

“As we got further into doing the Black Flag thing, more and more we were doing instrumental work, and Greg [Ginn] had this whole instrumental record he wanted to put out,” she said. “And we would practice for hours and hours and hours, and Henry [Rollins] would sit on the ground after we had done the singing songs. He would sit down and kind of be, I don’t know, writing in his book or whatever.”

Roessler said Rollins was writing lyrics to the instrumental work. She said for those instrumental songs for which he wrote lyrics, Rollins “sings in a way where the emotion is more clearly felt.”

You can read the full article here. (Photo: Tim Nalley)

Last week, I went to Mike D's Friday night performance in Brooklyn. It was awesome! Lots of standing, but well worth it. He performed "Switch Up," which was a fun song. I wrote about the whole concert here. Photos are a bit rough, but I only had my iPhone.

Had a great conversation with The Dwarves' Blag Dahlia about the band's upcoming album "Jenkem" recently. During the conversation, I couldn't help ask about his time on SpongeBob Squarepants and how he became involved.

“SpongeBob has become this cultural phenomenon that billions of people know about now, and I’m very proud to have taken part in it,” Dahlia said. “But of course, like everything, it started as like a guy’s idea, and his wife worked at a catering company with my bass player.”

Catch the full interview here. Photo via the band's press page.

I had a chance to ask Jacob Augustine about his music listening habits ahead of his new album's debut (out today). He shared how he likes to listen to music and remembers way back when listening to Huey Lewis and the News on a Fisher-Price tape deck.

You can read the full Q&A here. Photo: Joshua Powers, courtesy of Charm School Media.

I had a chance to chat with Taylor Bickett about her upcoming album "Nothing I Can't Undo." She said the overachieving she sought as a child may have been a pursuit for adoration.

“I think through writing the song [“Goldstar”], and just like my own reflection, I’ve found that that thing that I was searching for is, I think, love to some extent, or like wanting to be liked,” she said. “And thinking, ‘Oh, well, if I’m the best, and if I achieve a lot, then people have no choice but to like me.’ And so it’s kind of an examination of that.”

“Goldstar” is a track on her upcoming album, which is set to release on July 17. In the song, Bickett says she speaks to a younger version of herself who pursued perfection.

You can check out the full interview here. (Photo: Cooper Smith, courtesy of Clarion Call Media)

Got to take a tour of the Hellbender Vinyl's Philadelphia pressing facility last week. The space is in full production, and it was neat to see how they're keeping the physical media tradition alive in the digital age. You can check out the photos here.

Romanticizing life on the road as a touring band is easy to do. Moving from city to city, and sometimes country to country, with the singular goal of rocking out with adoring fans sounds like great fun.

Reality is a bit more grounded, though. The expansive tour bus is often more of a crowded van crisscrossing the map.

I wanted to disabuse myself of an idealistic music road trip and get a real picture of what it’s like to tour as a band. Last week, I sat down with Stacey Dee of Bad Cop Bad Cop to get a sense of what that traveling life is really like. Her band is traveling throughout the year, with the next tour date on May 9.

Dee told me the reason Bad Cop Bad Cop tours is because it helps the band sustain itself. You can read the whole interview here.

 

Had a chance to ask musician Carla J. Easton about how she listens to music these days, ahead of her album release next week. During the Q&A, she gave a great quote about listening to music with loved ones.

“My mum has macular degeneration (loss of sight) and is recovering from her third stroke,” Easton said. “We were listening to 'Sugartown' by the Maguire Sisters as we used to sing it together when I was a little girl. Supporting my mum in her recovery has made me realise how music can be a great way to hang out together and trigger memories.”

Hope you'll check out the full Q&A. Photo credit: Craig McIntosh, courtesy of Clarion Call.

I think I FINALLY figured it out! I've posted a few times on how I'm building C-Note speakers, and having a tough time with learning to solder. Well, yesterday I finally soldered a joint properly. It looks much better than everything else I had done before.

I wrote about the latest in my C-Note construction here. Huge thanks to the DIYAudio community for guidance/advice as I learn the soldering skills!

Huge thanks again to everyone who gave some guidance on my earlier post re: the C-Note crossover soldering. I cut most of the excess off and went over some of the solder joints again.

Does this look any better? And more importantly, will this even WORK?

Just want to make sure I am clearer on what I'm doing before I start the second crossover, lol. Thanks, y'all!