Tag: California

In the mid- to late-90s when all of the other Christian hardcore bands were doing new school/chugga chugga style hardcore with increasingly metallic influences, Bakersfield’s Chasm were drawing on earlier inspiration. These influences came mostly from the 80s British hardcore punk/d-beat sound (Discharge, Conflict, etc.), although somewhat ironically this track has elements of early black metal in the guitar riffs (a la Venom or Bathory).… Continued →

There are so many songs I could have chosen from this Californian band that are top notch such as Struck By The Chord, Step Away, Who Loves You More, The Meaning Of It All, etc… I remember being at Central Bible College) in Springfield, MO during a college days back circa 1995 when I first heard the Spill album.… Continued →

4•4•1 burst onto the SoCal new wave scene in 1984, releasing their debut album on Royal Commandment Records (soon to be re-named Blue Collar Records). The band formed in 1983 in Los Angeles County, diligently rehearsing in the garage of bassist/keyboardist Glenn Holland’s parents. They recorded a 4-song demo and subsequently sent out copies to area youth pastors.… Continued →

Does anyone remember the swing revival back in the early 2000s? Bands such as The Deluxtone Rockets, The Dingees & Denver & the Mile High Orchestra were very common on alternative/rock Christian radio stations. Flight 180 was one such band who went by a couple name derivatives including several lineup changes over the years they were in existence.… Continued →

Children of the Consuming Fire appear to have risen from the southern California Vineyard ministry with their record label housing alt-rock bands such as Asight Unseen & The Violet Burning. This SOTD has a live video you can find on Youtube as well, but was hard to catch the music atmosphere.… Continued →

Choo Choo Pye (a la The Wait) may have a funny sounding band & album name, but their music reminisces this reviewer of greats such as Midnight Oil, The Call, or Cloud Merchants. Composed of 3 members, the band seems to have hailed from California. The early 90s vibes are definitely there & they achieved Christian radio history by having the highest debut entry by an unsigned artist on the most awesome Pure Rock Report Multi-Format chart.… Continued →

I’m really hesitant to do this, but I’m gonna lay it on you. I’ve been a fan of music for well over 40 years. Narrowing down a favorite anything is really difficult. My list of favorite songs probably numbers near 1,000, and that’s just favorites, not all the songs I ‘just like.’… Continued →

Blacklight Records Californian Temple of the Times was a 2 man fare that released an EP & several remixes of the song featured here. Anthony Roberts & Bikos have created an industrial EBM laden hybrid which will surely be enjoyed by those into the softer industrial/darkwave genre.  I actually played a track of their EP on my latest Ripper Radio show.… Continued →

California’s The Beautiful Mistake is one of my faves from The Militia Group label which sports greats such as The Rocket Summer (whom I’ve seen live!), Copeland, Brandtson (whom I’ve also seen live!) & Acceptance, just to name a few. Their most recent 2020 release, EP You’re Not Broken, I Am, continued the post hardcore/emo trend they became known for.… Continued →

Power pop was (is?) a strange phenomenon. Despite the big hooks, melodic overtones and just enough of a punk edge to keep things interesting, it never really caught on in a huge way. Although it’s made inroads into new wave and, more recently, indie pop, the leaders of the subgenre still remain fairly underground, with a few notable exceptions (Cheap Trick and The Romantics are among the few artists with major radio hits).… Continued →

Mad at the World went through at least three distinct phases throughout their history, which impressively spans across 4 decades: synth-pop/new wave, hard alternative rock/metal, and retro rock/alternative. We’ve already featured a song from their synth-pop era, and here’s one from their hard alternative phase, but one that interestingly enough hints at their retro phase that would be unleashed in 2 more albums’ time.… Continued →

Fresno, Cali nu-metal band Gryp (fronted by educator Curtis Shamlin) is epic imho. First heard this band’s firt release Indecision while checking out demos at a defunct Christian bookstore in Bloomington, IL & I was immediately hooked. It was different than what was out in 1997 in the Christian realm with staples Ungrateful, Heal Me Back & You Were There.… Continued →

I had this song on my mind the other day as I was thinking about what song I was going to choose for this week. The modus operandi: Ruminate on a song and make a choice. Find it on YouTube. Listen while I’m writing. Dang. I’ve loved this song for years, but was still surprised at how good it sounded more than 2 decades after it was recorded.… Continued →

Ted Bond (Lead Vocalist/Guitarist/songwriter for the band Craig’s Brother), his wife, and their children, have been displaced by the recent wildfires in Northern California and are unable to return home. They’ve had to evacuate and will not be allowed to return for some time. Basically they are homeless and just living day by day.… Continued →

Mad at the World has had a very interesting and diverse career as a band. They started out doing somewhat dark synth-pop on their self-titled debut (in the vein of Depeche Mode, New Order, Clan of Xymox), then added guitars to their new wave sound for Flowers in the Rain.… Continued →

Public Unrest was a Christian punk band from Vallejo, CA. FFO: UntilWeDie!, Officer Negative, and Every Man's Hero.

SoCal hardcore band Point of Recognition (or Point of Wreckinthangs as they were affectionately known by fans) released 3 full-lengths, an EP and a pair of split releases before disbanding in the mid-2000s. Members popped up elsewhere in the scene, but the band’s existence was sadly short. Nonetheless, their impact was felt strongly in both the Christian and secular hardcore scenes.… Continued →

Loose End were a Christian skate punk band from Chula Vista, CA. FFO: Slick Shoes, Sick of Change, Broken Cedars, Average Joe Aspiring, and MxPx.

Along with L.S.U. and the Altar Boys, another band that was really influential in getting me into alternative music (as opposed to straight metal and thrash of my teenage years) was Breakfast with Amy. Their debut album had enough punk rock influence to appeal to that side of me that wanted noise and aggression, but there was more to their sound than just loud, fast, and angry.… Continued →

In the late 80s/early 90s I was a straight-up metalhead. Thrash was my favorite variety, but I dipped into other stuff as well. But I had started developing a taste for punk too. The pace and beat of hardcore punk was actually very similar to thrash, but with different guitar tones.… Continued →

I’m a sucker for this style of hardcore–really fast, short songs, with equal parts melody and anger thrown in for good measure. For some reason, this subgenre didn’t have nearly as much of a following in Christian circles as their secular counterparts, making Hit the Deck stand out even more. They released one full-length on Facedown imprint Strike First Records, and had a couple of demos as well, all of which can be found as digital downloads if you know where to look.… Continued →

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this is one of the greatest songs our scene has ever produced! It gets straight to the heart of what it’s all about: “Hey I’m talkin’ to you/Yeah, I’m trying to get through/God cares about you more than think . . .… Continued →

  Amazingly, this song is now 23 years old, and I still feel the same way about it as I did back then.  It’s a fantastic song, and one of the highlights of the Christian alternative rock scene!  Plankeye’s first album (“Spill”) was raw and unrefined, showing hints of Orange County punk. … Continued →

Starflyer 59 are back. But, what does even mean when they never went away? Christian indie rock’s most prolific band have just released their 15th full-length album (not counting their 9 EPs, 4 live releases, 3 box sets/collections, numerous vinyl singles and LP variants or compilation appearances—I didn’t even mention the side projects: Pony Express, Bon Voyage, Dance House Children, The Brothers Martin, White Lighter, Neon Horse and Lo-Tom) making them probably the second most prolific band in all of indie rock (second only to Guided by Voices, who are at something like 100 releases).… Continued →

Well, not really, but this late 90's Ska/Melodic/Skate/Punk band have just made their entire catalog available for a name your price on bandcamp. These gents will appeal to fans of Must Build Jacuzzi, Five Iron Frenzy, May Weather, Face Value, Shop 11 Phoenix, and MxPx.

As you might have heard California has been struck by a series of destructive fires that have torn through towns with such force that people are left feeling broken. It’s terrible and unfortunately someone we have talked quite a bit about here on IVM, has lost his home and belongings as a result of these fires.… Continued →

Pax217 have announced that they will be playing one more show in California. More details to come.  … Continued →