50 years after the genre turned the music world upside-down, Grade 2 bring the raw power of old school punk to a new generation. Their second release on Tim Armstrong's legendary Hellcat Records is a thumping 15 track tour de force melding the uncompromising ethos of punk with the howl of contemporary injustice, personal identity and frustrations of Gen-Z youth, authentically told by three lads with punk coursing through their veins. Formed on their native Isle of Wight when they were just 14 years old, Jack Chatfield (guitar & vocals), Jacob Hull (drums) and Sid Ryan (bass & vocals) honed their craft covering punk pioneers before creating a sound uniquely theirs: ten years on, the eponymous ‘Grade 2’ is their magnus opus. From the complex rhythms and brutal two-note guitar of opening track ‘Judgement Day’, the record grabs by the scruff of the neck and never lets up. With a commitment to the cause, lead single ‘Doing Time’ is a thunderous hardcore punk track screaming “Spoon feed me corporate lies; I left that place with a noose to my neck.” Intertwined are upbeat bangers (‘Under the Streetlight’, ‘Celine’), classic pop-punk (‘Don’t Stand Alone’, ‘Fast Pace’), and savage old-school grit (‘Parasite’, ‘Gaslight’). The result is a bone-crunching 35-minutes that agitates, intoxicates and liberates in equal measure.
Royale Lynn brings a signature blend of hard rock and country to life with fearless ambition. A small-town girl turned Nashville singer/songwriter, Lynn grew up with Avril Lavigne and Breaking Benjamin in her CD Walkman and makes music with gutsy abandon and charm. Lynn’s songs resonate with folks equally cozy at Stagecoach Festival or Sonic Temple. Heralded by Billboard as “a ferocious newcomer with ceiling-scraping vocals,” Royale Lynn’s boundary-smashing amalgamation of hard rock and country demonstrates the growing appetite for her brand of genre-bending. “I know there are a lot of people who grew up in the country that love rock, and vice versa,” Lynn reasons. “I want to bring together a community of people who embrace being different and who are open to talking about mental health in small towns.” That coming together is already well underway, as evidenced by the success of self-released singles like “Six Feet Deep” (which blew up on TikTok and Instagram) and “Redneck Rockstar.” Over one million people around the world listened to Royale Lynn on Spotify alone in 2023. “Six Feet Deep” acquired over 20 million social media views between Facebook reels, Instagram and Tik Tok. It shot to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Digital Sales chart. The earnest resolve, huge hooks, and catchy melodies of songs like “Rocket Man,” and “Runs in the Water” are undeniable. She played dozens of shows in 2023, including support slots with Luke Combs, Eli Young Band, and Jarrod Niemann, as well as a slew of headlining gigs across the country. In November 2023, she signed a worldwide deal with Epitaph Records. The sky’s the limit as Royale Lynn shares more of her music and herself with the world. “I just want to create,” she says. “If I sound more rock on some days and more country on others? Who cares? Why stay in a box? I won’t stay in a box. It’s just not something I can do and remain authentically myself.”