EP 287: May 2026
Killer episode this week on the pod. Check it out here, here, or here.
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Next month we will talk all our favorite music from the first half of 2026. Has it been a pretty light year so far? Maybe….but here are a couple of releases from the last month or so that Kev, me, or both of us enjoyed and you should check out:
American hero, Bob Wilson, brought back the Rebirth Records Showcase for its second edition. Kev was in attendance and gave us his breakdown of the festivities from when he wasn’t making gear runs or nursing pit injuries. For all fest culture gets wrong, this one seems to always get it right—a plethora of young bands playing roots hardcore with a legendary band or two tucked in for good measure. Righteous.
On May 14th, my band Subversive Intent did the record release show for our new LP at Red Brontosaurus Records in San Diego, which is owned by Davey from the band Tiltwheel. You might remember them as one of the best bands on the Cinema Beer Goggles VHS tape that Hopeless put out in the ‘90s. It was a killer night, every band brought the heat, and it was over by 9PM for the olds (represent).
By the way, if you haven’t bought the LP yet, you can get it HERE or HERE.
One of the most fun parts of doing a record release show is the limited cover, right? So for this one we wanted to do a tribute to the one So Cal album cover where it’s impossible to tell what the weather like was on that day:
You know what time it is…Nemesis Records #1: “Badge Happy Cop,” “Those Drugs,” “Theft of the Age”…you’re slamming. Our bud Ben Nahoum took the shot and Pappalardo helped us with the text. The end result?
Sick, eh? So there we were…content with our record release covers, ready for the gig, when a friend shoots me a screen shot.
Let’s take a step back here. Last year me (Camel Clutch Records) and the dudes from Human Future Records put together a local San Diego hardcore compilation and pressed 50 copies on cassette. As a tribute to an old school tape comp from SD, we updated the old Our Blowout comp from 1983 to Our Blowout 2025. Normal punk shit, right?
Shit, let’s take another step back cuz this all goes to a bigger point about the local punk scene in general and is probably relatable to many of you across the globe. Diehard fans of this blog will remember one of my early posts from December of 2023 titled Old Dogs, New Rules where a local newjack tried to gatekeep me from making flyers for local gigs.
Yes, seriously.
Now with this old school barnacle getting butthurt over Our Blowout 2025, I’m getting shit from both sides of the age spectrum. DA FUQ? When these nuisances happen, it makes me step back and think that if dudes are getting super outta pocket with me, how are they treating actual new kids who are thinking about making their first flyer, booking their first show, taking their first live band photo, etc? How many kids are actually gatekept from doing creative things in the underground because they’re scared of the reactions from other kids who have either been around for like two years, or bisabuelos getting crabby on the internet? It’s a bummer to think about.
Back to the barnacle. He singled out Human Future Records, but really it was my idea so I reached out to him on the app where boomers dwell, Facebook.
This was all kind of a bummer. Cliff is a legit SD legend, putting out a comp in ‘83 with Battalion of Saints, The Injections, Personal Conflict and 5051 solidified that. He also played in that band Social Spit on Mystic Records and even played on the Struggle 7”s in the early ‘90s. Nice run, so why not have some self confidence and just be cool? The Human Future dudes put on multiple gigs monthly and have put out a whole slew of releases for bands who may not have put out a physical release otherwise.
Anyway, let’s get on some yin yang shit, maaan. If one side is gonna blow their top and start yelling out “cocksucker” on the internet, we’ll hit ‘em with more kindness. So as tribute to our new Facebook friend we made a 2nd limited cover, available only to punks over 50 with valid ID.
Shoutout to one of the worst punk LPs on Mystic (quite a feat).
By the way, you want to know how Visual Discrimination reacted to their tribute cover?
Respect.
A couple days later, we went up to my hometown of Oxnard to play a gig. Was it worth spending eight hours on Southern California freeways? Hell yeah.
The time has come. We busted out the final three rounds and crowned a winner in the best USHC 1981-1983 7” tournament. No spoilers—tune into the pod to find out who won.
Filler vs. Pick Your King in the quarters was some shit!
Jackal from YDI joined me for the interview. We sang the praises of YDI big time on episode 281 so check that out. Thanks for Jason from Parts Unknown Records for his help setting this up.
Do you know some OLD SCHOOL folks who we should get documented on the pod? Get in touch with me and let’s make it happen: 185MILESSOUTH@GMAIL.COM
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I play in a band called SUBVERSIVE INTENT. Listen to our record here or wherever you stream music and buy the LP here.
Thanks for the support!
- ZN
Tournament was super fun. I had not heard a few of the bands before, so it was cool to discover them throughout this.