Named as one of Spotify’s 2024 New Noise Artists To Watch, Destroy Boys have no intention of slowing down. Punk rock might have been the force that brought Destroy Boys together, but it’s far from the only touchstone for their music. From their first record through their fourth, they have continued to write and sing about what they know and drive fans to notice them. School drama and elitist cliques encountered in their teens have given way to the pain of relationships and the inherent feelings of misunderstanding and isolation that is all too common for young people navigating a hybrid of physical and digital worlds. The band has recently toured with some of the most legendary groups in pop-punk, from Blink-182 to Pierce The Veil.

Started in Sacramento in 2015 by Alexia Roditis and Violet Mayugba while they were still in high school, initially the band released acoustic demos on Bandcamp. Destroy Boys’ first proper record, Sorry, Mom remains a classic for the band’s fans, having spawned the underground hit I Threw Glass At My Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m On Probation. The follow up record, Make Room, recorded by Martin Cooke (Death Cab for Cutie, Of Monsters and Men) was tracked in just 4 days and yielded favorites such as Crybaby and Duck Eat Duck World (later featured on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtrack.)

Adding drummer Narsai Malik to the fold in 2018, Destroy Boys began to tour in earnest, venturing as far as the UK, opening for numerous up-and-coming indie bands. As their own songs took off on Spotify and TikTok they signed with Los Angeles label Hopeless Records in 2020. Working with Philadelphia producer Will Yip (Turnstile, Circa Survive) their first Hopeless release was the snarling, one minute ripper, Muzzle. The eventual LP Open Mouth, Open Heart, released in late 2021 chronicled a band dealing with familiar pandemic-frustration and the rise of online gossip and bullying – and they dealt with these head on with songs ranging from Escape to Locker Room Bully. 

Rolling into 2022, the band toured the UK with Alkaline Trio and Taking Back Sunday before crisscrossing the US several times as they continued to support the LP. With lauded performances at Riot Fest, Lollapalooza Chicago, Dia De Los Deftones, and more, they have since released their fourth album, Funeral Soundtrack #4. Working with Carlos De La Garza (Bad Religion, Paramore, The Linda Lindas), the recordings dig further back to embrace everything from garage punk to 90’s college indie rock.

Through 2023, 2024, and early 2025, the band picked up numerous tours in the US – including support for Blink-182 for a summer tour, Pierce the Veil on a fall tour, and headline dates in both the US, UK and EU. With lauded performances at Coachella, they returned to the UK and Ireland for Slam Dunk Fest, several headline shows, and then multiple runs in Europe, taking in notable festivals including Roskilde, SBAM! and Sziget. Along the way fans experienced newer singles Beg For The Torture and Shadow (I’m Breaking Down) – which charted on Alt Rock Radio for over 11+ weeks. In addition, Spotify named Destroy Boys one of 2024’s New Noise Artists To Watch, listing Shadow (I’m Breaking Down) as an essential track.

Each year just gets bigger and bigger for Destroy Boys. In 2024 they headlined Peachy Fest in San Diego, hosted their very own 3^rd annual DestroyFest in Los Angeles, and hit Redding and Leeds on their European summer tour. Their long awaited fourth record, Funeral Soundtrack #4, was released on August 9 with a killer track called You Hear Yes featuring Mannequin Pussy and Scowl.

2025 started with a bang as the band played multiple sold-out headline shows in the UK and Europe. Touring plans for the year include a spring west coast headline tour, as well as performances at Warped Tour Long Beach, When We Were Young, Rock Am Ring, Rock Im Park, Outside Lands, and more. The best of Destroy Boys is yet to come.

“‘Funeral Soundtrack #4’ is the culmination of all their hardwork, resulting in an album that’s as expansive as it is forceful, as honest as it is cutthroat. Destroy Boys are reaching their peak, and there’s nothing that’ll slow them down.” – Punktastic

Mannequin Pussy’s music feels like a resilient and galvanizing shout that demands to be heard. Across four albums, the Philadelphia rock band that consists of Colins “Bear” Regisford (bass, vocals), Kaleen Reading (drums, percussion), Maxine Steen (guitar, synths), and Marisa Dabice (guitar, vocals) has made cathartic tunes about despairing times. “There’s just so much constantly going on that feels intentionally evil that trying to make something beautiful feels like a radical act ,” says Dabice. “The ethos of this band has always been to bring people together.” Their latest I Got Heaven, which is out March 1 via Epitaph Records, is the band’s most fully realized LP yet. Over 10 ambitious tracks which abruptly turn from searing punk to inviting pop, the album is deeply concerned with desire, the power in being alone, and how to live in an unfeeling and unkind world. It’s a document of a band doubling down on their unshakable bond to make something furious, thrilling, and wholly alive.

Following the 2019 release of their critically acclaimed third album Patience, Mannequin Pussy returned in 2021 for their EP Perfect. They toured that release relentlessly and added guitarist Maxine Steen to the band’s official lineup. Where the band members’ personal lives were in transition with breakups, changing living situations, and periods of self-reevaluation, their time together on the road was a grounding and clarifying force. “There was so much going on in our lives that it was the perfect opportunity to recalibrate who we were as people and musicians,” says Regisford. The band changed their entire formula, choosing to write together in Los Angeles with producer John Congleton over slowly crafting tracks at home. “When I’ve written songs, it’s usually a very solitary process,” says Dabice. “So this was shedding a lot of those hermit-like qualities to do something intensively collaborative. Your best work comes when you allow other people into it.”

By December 2022, the band had 17 new songs written with Congleton in Los Angeles. “Everyone felt empowered to speak up about their own ideas to make this thing the best it could possibly be,” says Regisford. New member Maxine Steen, who has made music with Dabice for years including their side project Rosie Thorne, was especially essential to the writing sessions. The album opener “I Got Heaven” initially started as one of Steen’s demos. “When she showed it to me I knew it was going to be fun because the verses have this hard-hitting and aggressive approach but the chorus allows for a really soaring melody,” says Dabice. The result is electric. Over walloping guitar riffs, Dabice defiantly yells, “And what if I’m an angel? Oh what if I’m a bore? And what if I was confident would you just hate me more?

I Got Heaven is a visceral and stunning album for people who aren’t content with the status quo, made by people who challenged themselves and got out of their comfort zone. ”We’re supposed to be living in the freest era ever so what it means to be a young person in this society is the freedom to challenge these systems that have been put on to us,” says Dabice. “It makes sense to ask, what ultimately am I living for? What is it that makes me want to live?”

Life is all about balance, and for every dream experience that shakes up your world, there’s often a sacrifice to be made. NewDad have had plenty of the former since releasing their debut single ‘How’ in 2020 and steadily building an ever-burgeoning fanbase around their spellbinding dream-pop. They’ve released a critically-acclaimed debut album in 2024’s ‘Madra’, gained a fan in their ultimate hero, The Cure’s Robert Smith, and toured parts of the world they never thought they’d get to visit. But for all that to be possible, the Galway three-piece have had to give up some things, too.

Around four years ago, the band – singer/guitarist Julie Dawson, guitarist Sean O’Dowd, drummer Fiachra Parslow – left their home behind and moved to London. It’s a relocation that’s helped them thrive as a group, but is also something that Dawson still has mixed feelings about. “Most days I wake up and I’m like, ‘Yes, let’s fucking do this’, but I do still miss home,” she explains.

That tension between knowing you’re where you need to be right now and longing to be somewhere else colours ‘Altar’, NewDad’s highly anticipated second album. Started shortly before the release of ‘Madra’, it’s deeply informed by Dawson’s yearning for home, for family and the place that she truly belongs. In some ways, the record is a tribute to Galway, the singer in reverence of her hometown

Fittingly, given the love for home on ‘Altar’, the continued ascent of the three-piece on this record will also continue to further Ireland’s current standing as a hotbed of world-beating creative talent. NewDad are bringing something fresh to the new wave of original, formidable young acts from the country, distinctive from their peers as they join them in making waves around the world.

Whether live or on record and regardless of where listeners are tuning in from, Dawson hopes ‘Altar’ helps people gain the courage to stand up for themselves and be proud of themselves, and gain the strength that this confident new album has given her. “Nothing’s perfect,” she reflects, “but if you just work hard and are true to yourself, it’ll be alright.” Sacrifices might still have to be made in the balancing act of life, but ‘Altar’ at least has helped Dawson accept that and is about to take NewDad to even greater heights.