When considering Los Angeles outfit The Interrupters, take a moment to kindly forget jargon like “SoCal punk rock” or “next wave ska” or whatever perimeter you want to secure around them. A typical Interrupters gig feels like going to church where all the religious iconography is taken out and replaced with mirrors so the band and audience become one. Ignited by frontwoman Aimee Interrupter and the Bivona brothers’ indefatigable enthusiasm, attendees can see joy in action; discover strength in numbers; and feel bulletproof when facing the forces that haunt them. There are no victims or outcasts in attendance when the quartet are onstage: Transfixed by the legendary ‘80s 2 Tone ska movement and fueled with a contemporary energy that makes 180-bpm thrash-metallers seem positively slack, Aimee Interrupter and the Bivona brothers Kevin, Justin and Jesse blur the enthusiasm between band and audience in a way that’s equal parts dance party, cardio workout and personal therapy.
Nascar Aloe’s HEY ASSHOLE! EP is brash and in-your-face, just as the name suggests—and it’s also exactly what music needs right now. The Los Angeles-based musician has spent the last several years building a devoted fanbase for his audacious and genre-bending musical approach, embracing a gleefully caustic and immediately appealing perspective to the many lanes of overlap when it comes to rap and punk. With HEY ASSHOLE!, Nascar Aloe brings his most impactful and immediate music to date, combining his abrasive hip-hop style with new, rock-situated elements that continue to push his music forward. Defining himself as “a little fucking twerp that came out of my dad’s nutsack,” the North Carolina-born artist formally known as Colby Suoy was invested in music from an early age, as being exposed to his father’s jazz and R&B-leaning taste led to regular viewings of 106 and Park and exploring the expansive sounds of rock, pop, and country. “In North Carolina, the radio bounces all over the place,” he explains, and after acquiring some basic recording equipment he was following suit with his own self-produced music. “I self-taught myself how to record and produce,” Nascar recalls. “I was trying to figure out ways to make serious music.”