Recent features

Our most recent and most popular feature-length articles.

Fest 24: Artist Interviews

Interviews / Fest 24 • October 16, 2026

It's almost FEST time, and you know what that means: SPB has dived in to speak to a bunch of bands and artists playing this year's event. Some are FEST veterans with tips and highlights for newcomers, and others are FEST newbies with their own plans for the week. Read on to hear from a bunch of our favorite musicians about how they manage FEST, and anything else going on with them.The Bouncing SoulsThe BollweevilsThe CopyrightsChristy CostelloTired RadioTidesThe Bouncing SoulsPhoto: Josh CasinoOn tour this year to celebrate the new Born To Be, The Bouncing Souls has also been playing songs off three of their classics, which are celebrating milestone anniversaries Maniacal Laughter (30), How I Spent My Summer Vacation (25), and The Gold Record (20) in 2026.We caught up with vocalist Greg Attonito to discuss how making records has changed for the band over their 30+ year career.Scene Point Blank: How did Bouncing Souls approach songwriting and recording when the anniversary albums were made vs the new Born To Be?Greg Attonito: For roughly the first 20 years we wrote songs in the jam room together...usually rocking out at full volume. Later we realized it was sometimes good to hash out ideas on an acoustic before getting loud. It could go either way.The biggest difference between that time and writing/recording Born To Be was having Will Yip, our producer, involved in the process. For Born To Be we came into the studio with a few lyric ideas and some verses/choruses. Will … Read more

FEST LIBS 24 & Fest Survey Findings

Music / Fest 24 • October 16, 2026

Are you ready for The Fest!? While we’re pretty sure you’re already counting down days until your trek to Gainesville, FL, we’ve got some Fest games for you to play, … Read more

Demos You Want To Check #5

Music / New Kids On The Block • October 13, 2026

The musical landscape is ever changing. New genres are popping up, new hypes burst out of nowhere and die out and new bands present themselves to the world. How on … Read more

Red Rockers

Interviews • September 20, 2026

By 1981, the Red Rockers were famously branded "The American Clash" by Lester Bangs -- a tag that carried both the weight of massive expectations and the raw power of … Read more

Shrapnel Pop #1

Regular Columns / Shrapnel Pop • September 19, 2026

I was about 4 years old and in preschool. It was a “meet and greet” day and my dad took me. This was exciting, because I adored him and thought … Read more

Feature sections

Interviews

An in-depth discussion with a band or artist, generally in the form of a straight Q&A – no editorializing.

Music

Album streams, our Set List "top five..." features, our year-end "best of" lists and other music-related miscellany.

One Question Interviews

Quite literally, a one question interview. Also known as 1QIs, we post these first to our social media on a near-daily basis, with the archival piece here. Check 'em out.

Other Reviews

A melting pot of mixed content: movie, book and even video game reviews. Updated sporadically, but eclectically.

Regular Columns

Contributions on a range of topics from a range of industry figures: musicians, filmmakers, editors and more.

Upcoming Talent

A semi-regular column exploring new and rising local bands and artists deserving of attention.

One from the archives

Commerce or Amusement? #2

Green Noise Records

Regular Columns / Commerce or Amusement? • August 22, 2026

Are You In The Music Business? Or Just Involved In Music? Interview Series #2. Featuring Martin Winch of Green Noise Records CC: Howdy Winch! Could you start off by telling the readers a little bit about yourself and Green Noise Records? How did you come to acquire it and what connected us? MW: Hey thanks, glad for the invite. You … Read more

Our series

We post a variety of features in recurring series – click below to browse them.

  • Against Orthodoxy

    A regular series by Robert F.

  • Beyond Casual Observation

    A wide-ranging guest column written by BJ from Ancient Shores, mainly covering film but extending into philosophy and aesthetics too. Check out BJ's work on the A389 podcast.

  • Commerce or Amusement?

    Commerce or Amusement? is an interview series conducted by Chuck Coffey (aka Charlie Continental of Snappy Little Numbers, SPELLS, Chap, and more). Chuck seeks opinions to the eternal question: Where is the line between hobby and work?

  • Don't Quit Your Day Job

    How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene Point Blank looks at how musicians split their time, and how their careers influence their music.

  • era vulgaris

    Guest column by T of Vegas

  • Feast with the Famine

    A cookery column by Nick, vocalist with metal band The Famine. Veggie/vegan friendly!

  • Fest 11

    A roundup of coverage of the annual punk rock festival held in Gainesville, Florida

  • Fest 12

    Our annual roundup from Gainesville, FL's famous Fest.

  • Fest 13

    SPB's coverage of the annual festival in Gainesville, Florida.

  • Fest 16

    Our coverage of the annual Fest extravaganza.

  • Fest 19

    Our coverage of the 19th edition of the Fest – an independent multi-day, multiple-venue music festival held annually in Gainesville, Florida.

  • Fest 20

    All our coverage from the long-running music festival

  • Fest 21

    Articles about the Fest 21

  • Fest 22

    Our coverage of the 22nd edition of the FEST.

  • Fest 23

    Our coverage of the 23rd edition of the FEST.

  • Fest 24

    All our coverage of Fest 24.

  • History 101

    We dive into the back catalog of a record label and ask them to nominate their most memorable releases from their label's history–with a few suggestions of our own.

  • Jukebox Jury

    An interview format where we ask a band to rate and review a bunch of music

  • New Kids On The Block

    A feature where we highlight 5 to 10 recent demos.

  • On The Air

    A radio DJ profile series created by Christopher D & Matt Hutchison.

  • Only Death Is Real

    There’s so much music released, whether physically or digitally, that keeping up with what’s going on becomes almost like a full time job. With Only Death Is Real, the aim is to bring you something new.

  • Remember that one time...?

    A life lived and lessons learned by Eddie Spaghetti of Supersuckers.

  • Running on Nothing

    Welcome to Running on Nothing, the latest addition to our stable of columns at Scene Point Blank. Running on Nothing offers a look at the world through the eyes of Kole, bassist of The Lippies, guitarist of The Bloody Lips, and gigposter artist.

  • Scatenato Ma Non Troppo

    We survey some of the other music releases out there.  Results may vary...may get weird, but hopefully something covered here piques your interest.

  • Scene Point Local

    A semi-regular column where we choose a specific area and give a local scene report.

  • Shrapnel Pop

    I'm Amy 80 of the band TA-80 or Amy Heronemus of the band the 66ers. I'll respond to either. I've been playing and performing music since the dawn of time, and now I'm all settled into punk rock.

  • Table Talk

    Discussing the state of the music business at the kitchen table

  • The Greatest Story Ever Told

    A brief but englightening chat with an artist who reveals an interesting or unexpected story from their career

  • The Set List

    A collection of items grouped by topic, eg. "Top 5 Worst Beatles Songs" or "Top 10 best '77 punk releases".

  • What's That Noise?

    One-question interviews with artists where we find out about the gear and equipment they use to achieve their sound.

  • Year End 2012

    A collection of coverage rounding up the year 2012, covering our favorite albums, shows, bands, and more, as well as asking record labels and bands about their past twelve months in music

  • Year End 2013

    It's the end of 2013, so here's our best-of roundup for the last twelve months.

  • Year End 2014

    Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2014.

  • Year End 2015

    Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2015.

  • Year End 2016

    Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2016.

  • Year End 2017

    Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2017.  

  • Year End 2018

    Our summary of the best music (and more) of 2018.

  • Year End 2019

    Our wrap-up of the best music and more from 2019

  • Year End 2020

    Our wrap-up of the best music and more for the year we'll all want to otherwise forget, 2020.

  • Year End 2021

    Our roundup of the best music from the worst year (since the previous one, anyway).

  • Year End 2022

    Our favorite music and more from the year 2022

  • Year End 2023

    Our roundup of the best music of the year 2023

  • Year End 2024

    Our roundup of the best music—and more—of 2024.

  • Year End 2025

    Our favorite music and more from 2025.

More recent features

Vivabeat

Interviews • September 6, 2026

LA’s Art-Punk Pioneers Who Bridged Continents and Genres In 1978, Vivabeat emerged from Los Angeles with a sound that defied easy categorization. As I spoke with Marina and Mick years later, it became clear that this was a band always slightly out of step with the local scene -- East Coast transplants mixing with an Angeleno native, chasing a vision … Read more

Lethal Limits

Music Therapy

Interviews / Don't Quit Your Day Job • September 5, 2026

There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not just to pay the bills. Jobs provide new challenges, personal fulfillment and, yes, some rent or gas money. How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene … Read more

UK Subs

Interviews • August 23, 2026

50 Years of Chaos: Charlie Harper and the U.K. Subs More than five decades after the first sparks of punk lit up the U.K., Charlie Harper remains one of its most enduring figures. As the driving force behind U.K. Subs, Harper has seen entire scenes rise, fracture, and reinvent themselves while continuing to tour, write, and perform with undiminished spirit. … Read more

Commerce or Amusement? #2

Green Noise Records

Regular Columns / Commerce or Amusement? • August 22, 2026

Are You In The Music Business? Or Just Involved In Music? Interview Series #2. Featuring Martin Winch of Green Noise Records CC: Howdy Winch! Could you start off by telling the readers a little bit about yourself and Green Noise Records? How did you come to acquire it and what connected us? MW: Hey thanks, glad for the invite. You … Read more

Anathema Editions

Music / History 101 • August 11, 2026

Did you know it’s been 10 years since Anathema Editions put out its first release? To make the moment, we reached out to founder Terence Hannum to share some label history. In keeping with our “History 101” concept, SPB asked for anecdotes about 4 of the label’s releases and then Hannum picked out 4 more. As he tells it: Ten … Read more

Stormtrooper

Interviews • August 10, 2026

Still a Dirty Mess: The Stormtrooper Oral History Before the Sex Pistols swore on television -- or tried to brush it off as "nothing, a rude word" -- and corporate labels commodified safety pins, there was a bar at The Marquee and a damp basement on King's Road. In 1975, Stormtrooper were already cranking the volume and playing rock music … Read more

The Undead

Interviews • August 9, 2026

From shaping the early guitar drive of The Misfits to heading up The Undead, slinging bass for Times Square, and running Post Mortem Records out of a New Jersey bedroom, Bobby Steele’s footprint on tri-state punk is as real as it gets. He’s dodged precinct venue shutdowns, survived botched UK tours, and even stripped his sound down to a solo … Read more

Deniz Tek

Interviews • July 25, 2026

There is a specific kind of velocity associated with the name Deniz Tek. To the aviation world, he was a flight surgeon and a pilot in the cockpit of an F-4 Phantom. To the medical world, he was the calm in the center of the ER trauma ward. But to the global underground of high-energy rock 'n' roll, he is … Read more

Scene Point Blank's Favorites: The Year So Far (July 2026)

Music • July 13, 2026

That's right: we're halfway through 2026 already, although whether that means this year is a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full kind of year... well, the jury's out. But we'll let you know in December. Despite another six months of chaos, war, conflict and uncertainty, one thing in life remains static and reliable: SPB's mid-year list. Join our writers as we share the … Read more

Demos You Want To Check #4

Music / New Kids On The Block • July 7, 2026

The musical landscape is ever changing. New genres are popping up, new hypes burst out of nowhere and die out and new bands present themselves to the world. How on earth are you expected to keep up, right? Well, it never hurts to help! So here we are, your humble servants, ready to sift through those filters for you, presenting … Read more

The Bellrays

Interviews • July 6, 2026

A Conversation with Lisa Kekaula (Vocals) and Bob Vennum (Guitar) of The Bellrays For over three decades, The Bellrays -- Riverside, California’s powerhouse duo of Lisa Kekaula and Bob Vennum -- have blurred the lines between punk, soul, garage rock, and rock ’n’ roll fury. Their music has always been raw, electrifying, and cleansing. I sat down with them both … Read more

Golden Shitters

Music Education

Interviews / Don't Quit Your Day Job • June 23, 2026

There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not just to pay the bills. Jobs provide new challenges, personal fulfillment and, yes, some rent or gas money. How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene … Read more

Punk Under The Sun

Interviews • June 22, 2026

Punk Under the Sun – Interview with Joey Seeman and Chris Potash Some music scenes become legendary — New York, London, Los Angeles — but others almost vanish without a trace. South Florida’s early punk underground is one of those nearly forgotten worlds: sweaty, chaotic clubs that appeared and disappeared in months, flyers taped to telephone poles, demo tapes with … Read more

Commerce or Amusement? #1

Regular Columns / Commerce or Amusement? • June 9, 2026

Are You In The Music Business? Or Just Involved In Music? Interview Series #1 Featuring Jordan Stamm of Drunk Dial Records CC: Hello Jordan! Could you start off by telling the readers a little bit about yourself and Drunk Dial Records? Do you recall how you and I met? JS: Hey! The long story short is that I’m a music … Read more

J Mau & The Kiss Off

ASL interpreter

Interviews / Don't Quit Your Day Job • June 8, 2026

There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not just to pay the bills. Jobs provide new challenges, personal fulfillment and, yes, some rent or gas money. How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene … Read more