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Frontiers Music [Release date : 15.05.26] There can be few more explosive opening tracks than Von Groove’s ‘Once Is Not Enough’ from their self titled debut, 1992. 30 years later : they’ve got the band back together – Michael Shotton, … Continue reading →

The post Album review : VON GROOVE – Born To Rock appeared first on Get Ready to ROCK!.

Posted on May 6th 2026, 1:33p.m.

Recently, it seems you can throw a rock and hit a book about an overlooked punk rock scene. While punk rock has affected a good portion of the planet, each scene has its traits. While a lot of these traits can be traced back to either the New York or London scene, what’s evident is that a lot of the sentiments from the regionally cultivated scenes are universal. Thomas Michael Swenson’s book, Where’s Next, Columbus?: A Native Punk Mixtape, explores punk rock through a Native American lens. Pulling its title from not only a Crass song but also a Smithsonian Museum Exhibit that celebrated the incorrectly praised explorer, “Where’s Next, Columbus?” questions common assumptions about Native Americans, but it is not the focus. It doesn’t just re-contextualize punk as a whole as it relates to Native Americans, but also how it relates to sub-genres like hardcore, Oi!, and pop punk. 

Born into Alutiiq culture in Kodiak, Alaska, Thomas Michael Swenson gives us his bona fides on how he got into punk rock, starting with a box of records procured by his mom in exchange for controlled substances. In this collection of records, he found the Ramones’ album Rocket to Russia, along with a George Carlin record and lots of rock from the ’60s and ’70s. This, combined with repeated viewings of the punk rock film Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, a film that featured members of the Clash and the Sex Pistols would provide Swenson’s punk rock foundation. While his mom was working, He would make mixtapes with tracks off these records. Something he continues to do at the beginning of each chapter, resulting in a playlist that makes reference to punk bands like The Germs and OFF!, but also makes room for Native American punk bands and their relation to punk rock as a whole whether they sound traditionally punk or not.

Swenson goes over what sets his region’s punk rock scene apart from others, such as James Cook’s monument, the colonial history, and their looming presence over the Native Americans who live in Alaska.  A show from Canadian Hardcore band DOA kind of set the scene on its path. It’s relatable as each region has that show or band that lit the powder keg, whether it be the Ramones first playing England or the Stooges playing for the first wave of punks. His arguments for punk rock are simple: punk is definitely political, and being born native is to be born into politics given the government’s treatment of Native Americans and the shrinking sovereignty they are experiencing.

Each chapter’s connective tissue is a little too transparent, but serves as a decent preview for what’s to come and even if each section’s thesis is stated too bluntly. Whether this is on purpose or not, it feels a little clunky mechanically, but works as a bit of a highlighter rather than a deterrent. While the text may be dense, as is par for the course on a lot of academic books, this keeps a reader from getting overloaded. In general, the actual mixtapes from each chapter are pretty cool. A good portion of these chapters center around a non-native setup, then provide their arguments using examples from Native American punk scenes across the country. Swenson shouts out a good number of bands, from old-school hardcore punks Skate Death, who played with DOA at that fateful show in Alaska, to Sub Pop artist Ya Tseen, and pop-punkers Friends of Cesar Romero.

While there have been a few academic books that seem to stretch their material, Where’s Next, Columbus?: A Native Punk Mixtape is not one of them. Each point is argued thoroughly without overdoing or repeating itself too much. Swenson’s experience and assertions regarding punk rock are more than valid and should translate well into other aspects of life and art, much like punk rock in general. If you are one of those people who feel like punk doesn’t have much to say, then you’re looking in the wrong places. Swenson’s book is a good place to start. Where’s Next, Columbus?: A Native Punk Mixtape by Thomas Michael Swenson is available through The University of Oklahoma Press.

Don Broco are hitting the road across the UK & EU this year, and they have announced the bands that are going to be joining them.

Kicking off in Antwerp on June 04, their European dates will see them team up with Snayx and Slay Squad.

After a well-deserved break, they’ll be back for those UK shows in September, where they’ll be joined by Unpeople and Ando San.

SEPTEMBER

28 – LINCOLN Engine Shed
29 – SHEFFIELD Octagon

OCTOBER

01 – EDINBURGH Corn Exchange, Edinburgh
02 – MANCHESTER Academy, Manchester
03 – LIVERPOOL Guild of Students
04 – NEWCASTLE City Hall
07 – BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy
10 – NORWICH UEA, Norwich
14 – BRISTOL The Prospect Building

These shows will be the first chance to see some of the songs from Broco’s latest album ‘Nightmare Tripping’ live.

If you still need to brush up on the lyrics, Rock Sound have an exclusive transparent green cassette edition of the album for you. Limited to just 300 units worldwide, you can pick yours up now – here.

The post Unpeople, Ando San & More To Support Don Broco On UK/EU Tour appeared first on Rock Sound.

The trick to aging gracefully is to stay pissed off. It’s not an easy task, yet Gadget make it look effortless. The Swedish grindcore unit are long in the tooth, initially forming in 1999, though with that age comes expertise and efficiency. For the most part, their new EP Coerced scans as you’d expect grindcore to–abrasive, explosive, and economic–though it runs smoother because Gadget are veterans. Intensity is in abundance here, with the troupe only pumping the breaks on the five-minute noise track “False Pulse.” Even it, however, is the product of a learned hand. It utilizes dynamics and a slowly-unfolding structure to invert Coerced’s mode of operation rather than pad its runtime. The rest of the EP is a blistering appraisal through demonstration of new vocalist Emilia Henriksson’s cutting shrieks and how seamlessly Kristofer Jankarls fits into Gadget as the second guitarist and vocalist. These two aren’t necessarily new to the group, since they joined in 2023, but new is relative when you’re talking about a band that hasn’t released music since 2016 and spent four years writing their comeback EP. Stream all of Coerced below before it releases this Friday.

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The band comments:

This is Coerced – eight tracks that we finally recorded last year. Originally it was intended as a 7″ EP but it grew out of that fast. Mainly written during the pandemic it pretty much shares the style of the last EP, but it also delves deeper in other noisier and weirder territories. It’s massive and harsh, and most importantly: it’s our first proper with the new lineup. With Emilia and Kristofer joining the band it made it what it is. Without them it probably wouldn’t have been possible. It’s been fun, difficult, and challenging. Actually, two out of five had to wear long-term ECG monitors during this process. Coerced is probably the most focused and best output since the Funeral March LP and we’re really excited that it’s finally finished.

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Coerced releases this Friday via De Nihil Records.