Bad Years, "Decline"

Cover image courtesy of Bad Years.

I'm breaking the silence today to make a little noise for Little Rock noise makers Bad Years who have released their first single, "Decline," today via Bandcamp. Bad Years have been gigging around town for a couple of years, which hardly seems possible since more than half the group is still in high school. But despite their age, they play a brand of punk rock that's as polished as it is ferocious. Listen to the single below and catch them Friday night at Juanita's opening for Bobby Joe Ebola & The Children MacNuggits with Glittercore (who also have a terrific new album streaming at Reverb Nation), and Crooked Roots.

Free EPK from ReverbNation.com

Red Forty, Discography

Cover image courtesy of Harlan Records.

 Nate Powell, the Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist and original member of the legendary Little Rock punk band, Soophie Nun Squad, is blogging a history of Harlan Records, one of the several DIY labels that helped make a name for Little Rock's 90's music scene. Today's "history lesson" is the Discography CD by Red Forty featuring Ben Nichols (Lucero) on bass and singing, Colin Brooks (The Big Cats, Substance, Dan Zanes & Friends) on guitar, and Steve Kooms on drums.

Red Forty's punk pop/emo owed a lot musically to Jawbreaker and Social Distortion, and the members all went on to bigger and better projects, but this record so perfectly captures what was happening in Little Rock at the time, and it still sounds fun and relevant 14 years later.

The best bit of Powell's walk down memory lane is he is digitizing all the old cassette and 7" releases and making high quality downloads available of each release. All the projects Harlan released on CD are being re-released digitally at Bandcamp with lossless CD quality download options. Red Forty's Discography had two small print runs and has been out of print for seven or eight years. It has become a much sought after collectible, so having a legal, lossless download available will make a lot of people happy. Stream or buy it below.