The Pitch of Discontent

Known for their incendiary live shows, Going Off continue to push the envelope of sonic extremity on their latest LP, the breakneck ‘Die Fast’ (out now). Frontman Jake Huxley joins the show to chat with Owen about capturing the visceral feel of the record through insane artwork (courtesy of Jeremy Townsend), his trademark on-stage intensity, the strength of the UK hardcore scene, and their diverse pool of aggressive influences. Manchester hardcore is back!

Featuring Calva Louise, Existence, Modern Color, and more.

Owen & Paige push through another session of midnight delirium to deliver a stacked alternative roster for this week’s roundup. We’ve got Aussie gutter folk and metalcore sitting with Irish alt-rock and Swedish crossover, along with a narrative-driven, smoke-filled jazz lounge MySpace dance party as the feature album. Folks, it’s a gooden’. LFG.

---

Jason Black, bassist for Gainesville punk rock institution Hot Water Music, drops by the pod to give Owen the low-down on the group’s tenth full-length, ‘VOWS’. We chat about the idea of being in a “legacy” band, teaming up with producer and collaborator Brian McTernan, how to make guest features feel seamless, and their stacked thirtieth-anniversary tour runs through North America, Europe and the UK.

Featuring Thursday, Make Them Suffer, Sonja, and more.

Owen & Paige recap their recent death metal gig experience before commenting on an article lamenting metal’s poptimist inclinations and declining stadium future. As always, we’ve got new tracks aplenty, and it’s another banger episode filled with slick hooks, thick riffs, and "gluggy" bass lines. Let’s get it.

---

With the quartet set to make their Australian live debut alongside tourmates The Ocean and LLNN in June, Owen wrangles Cave In vocalist and axeman Stephen Brodsky onto the pod for a friendly Down Under debrief. We chat about the creative alchemy behind 2022’s phenomenal ‘Heavy Pendulum’ LP, the group’s upcoming thirty-year anniversary, Stephen’s work in projects like Mutoid Man and Old Man Gloom, and his craziest-ever live show.

Featuring Persecutor, Better Lovers, Zetra, and more.

It’s the start of another week, so it’s the perfect time for Owen and Paige to run through another collection of new alternative tunes. This episode is crammed with full-length album announcements, while-you-wait teasers, EP drops, and exciting new finds from across the globe. Grab a coffee, get comfortable, and tune in.

---

“Show me who you are.” This is the driving ethos behind Norman Brannon and Anti-Matter: a music publication that has existed in various mediums over three decades–typeset fanzine, compilation album, magazine column, anthology book–before eventually finding new life as an online hub for thoughtful contemplation and hardcore conversation. In our latest Wordsmiths episode, Norman discusses his connection to music and community through time spent in groups like Shelter, Texas Is The Reason, New End Original, and now Thursday. Our conversation seeks answers to longevity in creative pursuits, dealing with failure and resetting one’s identity, the importance of subjectivity, our desire for intimacy, and the unrealised potential of a hardcore future.

Featuring The Hope Conspiracy, Webbed Wing, Foreign Hands, and more. Owen & Paige run through a stacked Mosh Pithy selection for the week, chock full of frigid post-punk bangers, throwback metalcore cuts, grungey earworms, and more. We’ve also got a modern hardcore record that takes centre stage in Heavy Mettle as a powerful statement of intent for our current moment. Get your new music fix and dive in now.

Owen hits the ground once again for an in-person chat with J.T. Cavey from progressive metalcore titans ERRA during their Melbourne show on Northlane’s recent Australian tour. We talk about drawing creative influence from hip-hop flow and menacing film soundtracks, working with producer Dan Braunstein (Spiritbox, Dayseeker), the surprise success of their explosive Muse cover, and the lessons learned during the recording of their forthcoming sixth LP.

Featuring The Story So Far, Necrot, King Stingray, and more. After a week of battling the dreaded influenza (and no, not the “other one”), Owen & Paige recap gigs and missed opportunities before jumping into a slew of new tunes. From North East Arnhem Land to (R)Adelaide, Ontario to Oakland, it’s nothing but hits and the lowest possible threshold of skips. (Close to zero, we swear.) Dive in, have fun, and get stoked. Let’s go.

---

Danny and Xavier from Play Drive drop into TPD HQ for this week’s guest episode, and the boys throw down a banger Hit List of Naarm/Melbourne’s heaviest hitters to celebrate. With the trio’s debut EP, ‘Desire Path,’ out now and their first show already locked in, we chat about band break-up grievance periods, overcoming imposter syndrome, finding inner strength through your mates, and how to make something familiar feel new again.

Featuring La Dispute, Stateside, Going Off, and more. Pushing through weekend delirium with bleary eyes and strained vocal raspiness, Owen & Paige manage to get it together and run through another weekly crop of new alternative tracks. Tune in to hear such tangents as which Pokemon most resembles the sound of sludge metal, the crucial distinction between snotty versus bratty, and forty-year-old spoilers for Frank Herbert’s Dune series. Bless the Maker and his podcasting.

---

After blowing the lid off their sold-out Melbourne headline show, Movements frontman Patrick Miranda joins the show to chat about all things New Bloom festival. We chat about their love for coming Down Under, the whirlwind success of their acclaimed third LP, ‘RUCKUS!,’ drawing creative inspiration from Bring Me The Horizon, and their bond with Canadian world-tourmates Softcult.

Featuring Extortion, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Excide, and more. This week’s roundup finds Owen & Paige crisscrossing the Pacific in search of the alternative holy grail. Alt-rock and melodic hardcore veterans from the Carolinas. Powerviolence outbursts and soulful rock’n’roll from Down Under. Fizzy dream-pop from Michigan and skull-cracking Oi! from the concrete heart of Illinois. Texan desert riffs and San Diego Myspace cabaret. Strap in, and let’s rack up some sonic frequent flyer miles.

---

Mercedes Arn-Horn, one-half of Canadian riotgaze sensation Softcult, returns to the show in preparation for the band's Australian debut as part of the inaugural New Bloom festival (March 15-17). We talk about Softcult's whirlwind career rise, creative expression as both desire and catharsis, and the empowerment that comes from harnessing vulnerability.

Featuring Knocked Loose, Thornhill, One Step Closer, and more. This week is all about the big themes, folks, so Owen & Paige have put in the work and completed the assigned reading. We’re talking Brexit; we’re talking epic fantasy. We’re talking religious hypocrisy; we’re talking rampant consumerism but also 'The Land Before Time' for some reason. Look, it doesn’t have to make sense, but we’ve got tracks from across the alternative spectrum, and rest assured: they all bang. Let’s get to it.

---

Owen teams up with vocalist Nazareth Tharratt from Naarm/Melbourne outfit Heavensgate to break in the new studio at TPD HQ for our first in-person guest episode! With a Hit List that spans 90s hip-hop deep cuts, visceral metalcore ragers and ambient mood pieces, Naz chats about forming the band during the pandemic, finding both love and aggression in unexpected places, and what fans can expect from new music in 2024.

Featuring Roman Candle, Gatecreeper, Stand Still, and more.

It's another stacked roundup this week, and Owen and Paige are all too keen to get stuck right in. We've got screamo ragers from opposite ends of the Earth. We've got hardcore ass-beaters and high-energy sing-a-longs. We've got buzzsaw metal barn burners and slick progressive mood setters. It's all new, all fresh, and ready to roll right now. Get amongst it.

---

Hey kids, do you wanna join a cvlt? It’s officially CVLTFEST season, and Scottie Simpson, axe-man for Aussie heavy hitters Alpha Wolf, joins the show to get punters prepped and ready to rage. We run through select cuts from the festival line-up, along with some chit-chat about the band’s upcoming third album, how sick Japanese bands can be, and what it was like to spend a day with Detective Sergeant Tutuola (aka MF’ing Ice T). Run it up. LFG!

Featuring High On Fire, Wristmeetrazor, L.S. Dunes, and more.

Is it nothing but T-Swift this and Blink 182 that? Sure. Maybe. (Probably.) But it’s also Weekly Roundup time, baby! Owen & Paige put their need for discourse considerations aside and instead focus on what they know: handling the best crop of alternative tracks this side of last Sunday. So, if you’re looking for new tunes, then please, by all means, enquire within. We got you.

---

For Justin Fornof, vocalist for Wristmeetrazor, art is suffering. On their forthcoming third LP, ‘Degeneration,’ creative intensity and concentrated seclusion were the crucible required for the metal quintet to produce their heaviest and most confronting album to date. As we smash through Justin’s abrasive, groove-laden Hit List, we chat about crafting misanthropic anthems, the intrigue of maximal production choices, underrated metalcore acts lost to time, and the versatility of heavy textures.

Featuring Restorations, Higher Power, Boundaries, and more.

It's mid-February, and Owen and Paige have been busy crushing the month and powering their pleasure (more on that later). It's yet another stacked roundup episode, chock full of new alternative sounds to wrap your ears around. Go on. Indulge yourself. We won't tell anyone.

---

With the build-up to their seventh studio album well and truly underway, Jonathan Higgs, frontman for Manchester art-rockers Everything Everything, reflects on the band's back catalogue and his creative journey as a lyricist and performer. We chat about the farcical state of UK politics, drawing influence from late philosopher Mark Fisher, and how the freedom of creating alternate realities can bring the idiosyncrasies of our present moment into stark relief.

Featuring Softcult, ERRA, Midnight, and more. Another week, another roundup. Spacey shoegaze and grungey anti-capitalist jams. Proggy groove metalcore and unruly black'n'roll firestarters. Dive bar rockers, ecstatic blackgaze divination, and much more. Owen & Paige crack on and serve up a new slew of alternative heaters, piping hot, fit for aural consumption.

---

Owen hits the ground for an in-person chat with Connie Sgarbossa from San Diego chaos merchants SeeYouSpaceCowboy during the Melbourne show of their debut Australian tour supporting labelmates Stick To Your Guns. We talk about finally getting the chance to play Down Under, opening for seminal acts like Poison The Well and Hopesfall, working with super-producer Matt Squire, Connie’s love for 2000s indie sleaze, and the eclectic thematic vision behind the band’s forthcoming third album.

Featuring SPACED, Alpha Wolf, Bilmuri, and more. With their new studio space finally (!) up and running, Owen and Paige are eager to kick things off with a stacked roundup episode. We’ve got new cuts from Aussie metalcore heavyweights with insane features. We’ve got crusty punk shredders and ambient alt-punk collaborators. We’ve got a gothic noise trio and whatever the hell a “twanger banger” is. (Trust us, it rules.) Tune in, and let’s rip it up.

---

Peter Rono, frontman for emo mathcore purveyors Kaonashi, jumps on the show to run through a Hit List of sonic and thematic inspirations for the band’s new EP, 'The 3 Faces Of Beauty: A Violent Misinterpretation of Morgan Montgomery' (out now through Equal Vision Records). We talk about bringing real-world issues to life through fiction, the cautionary narrative of Lemon House High, dummy hard breakdowns, and Peter’s undying love for the riotous pit calls of one Mr Vincent Bennett.

Featuring Heavy Temple, RUN, Many Eyes, and more. Taking a break from their vigilant shifts of puppy-watching, Owen & Paige come through with another stacked line-up of alternative hits for the week. Walls of post-rock noise meet glue-sniffing post-punk. Noodley sad-boi emo jams rub shoulders with Jimmy Eat World-worship. Hardcore all-stars with alt-rock hooks collide with blackened post-metalcore ragers. It’s loud, it’s fun, and you’d be barking mad to miss it.

---

Thomas O’Malley from Crush++ joins the show for our first real-deal guest episode of 2024. Tom’s Hit List encompasses the full dynamic range of his self-confessed “weird” musical tastes. Myspace post-hardcore, glitchy hyper-pop, mid-2000s emo staples, and a smattering of “objectively” questionable deep cuts showcase the depth of influence at play on the group’s debut full-length, ‘Power Pleasure’ (due out on February 9th).

Featuring Pissed Jeans, King Yosef, Gouge Away, and more. Things are well and truly up and running for new releases, which means that Owen & Paige have an ample supply of bangers for the show. Doomgaze crushers, rowdy Oi rippers, disco rock crooners, post-punk aggravators, glitchy industrial meets metallic hardcore ragers—we've got it all, folks. LFG!

---

In the name of shameless nostalgia, Owen & Paige run through a bonus episode special composed of All-Aussie hits from the long, long ago of 2004: a distant and whimsical era of physical music magazines, merch table CD samplers, Myspace Top 8’s, bootleg Kazaa downloads, and Channel V’s Heavy Shi[f]t programming–all ripe entry points for teenage musical discovery. Come ride down Memory Lane!

---

Featuring Crush++, nightlife, Rejoice, and more. And... we're back! After an extended break and some much-needed R&R, Owen & Paige dive into their first episode of 2024 with a fresh batch of rollicking new tunes. It's all killer, no filler. LFG!

---

Owen & Paige wrap up End-of-Year list season with a solid slew of honourable mentions before diving right into their Top 10 Albums of 2023. Oh, and it's the last episode of the year before a (much-needed and/or deserved) break. See you all in 2024!

It's End-of-Year list season once again! Owen & Paige kick off the show with a brief recap of Good Things in Melbourne before running through their choice selections for the Top 10 EPs of 2023.

As a musical force unto himself, Greg Puciato cannot be confined. In our final guest episode for the year, Greg walks us through his Hero’s Journey of authentic self-discovery, detailing how learning to let go, steering into inspiration and passion, and embracing the freedom of limitation ultimately led him to the joy of deeply cathartic artistic expression. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Featuring The Hope Conspiracy, Northlane, Iron Chic, and more. It’s our final roundup episode for the year, and we’re determined to finish strong. We’ve got two kinds of Aussie metalcore, some feral hardcore punk ragers and a few catchy singalongs. Dive in now for all that and more, plus an exclusive track premiere from bedroom synth lords New Miserable Experience–and it’s a shiny 90s cover to boot!

---

It's déjà vu time, folks! Owen & Paige team up for yet another guest-less episode to run through a playlist primer for the 2023 edition of Good Things, including some catalogue deep cuts, headliner anthems, and old favourites.

Featuring Dear Seattle, Heriot, Better Lovers, and more. Despite the intense background noise conjured up by various neighbours, Owen & Paige soldier on like the consummate professionals they are and dive right into another weekly slew of new alternative tunes. We've got the heavies, some chill ones, random finds, and old staples. Let's go!

---

This week's guest episode features Garrett Russell, vocalist for Cali metalcore purveyors Silent Planet. Following a horrific road accident last year, the group have opened up sonically and creatively on their stunning fifth full-length, ‘SUPERBLOOM’: a sci-fi concept album about a teenager who happens upon an extra-terrestrial encounter and goes missing. It's a dense record overflowing with heady ideas, and our chat with Garrett covers spiritual awakenings, remote viewing, theoretical physics and perceptions of time, UFO sightings, and the artistic dialogue between reality and fiction.

Featuring Infant Island, Softcult, Upon Stone, and more. Owen & Paige decide to give the drummer some and run through a selection of tracks with exceptional rhythmic pedigree. Frosty melodeath, sweaty indie punk, and swirling shoegaze. Campy heavy metal, heartfelt emo, and galactic death-doom. Alternative bangers from home and abroad. It’s another jam-packed weekly roundup!

---

With Gold Coast metallers Sunk Loto bursting back on stage after a long hiatus, frontman Jason Brown joins the show to run through his sprawling Hit List of eclectic heavy sounds. We chat about their current national tour run for the 20th anniversary of ‘Between Birth & Death’, show highlights from the 90s and 00s, the creative energy behind their comeback, and the bold potential of making new music.

Featuring Foreign Hands, Codeseven, Mother Mother, and more. It’s been another monster week for new releases. We’ve got Texan hardcore and Canadian alt-pop, Aussie black metal and Brooklyn emo. Metalcore ragers and comeback singles. It’s all here, it’s all happening, and Owen & Paige chat through it all. Are you ready?

---

Well, we did it, folks. We hit the century and put 100 of these bad boys in the can. Turns out this podcasting thing’s got legs, huh? It’s a guest-less bonus episode this week, as Owen & Paige stroll down memory lane and recap the Top 10 Most Listened episodes of the show’s first-year run. Don’t call it nostalgia; it’s pure, uncut reverence.

Featuring Slim Krusty, Everything Everything, Home Front, and more. In our last episode in the double-digit realm, Owen & Paige dive into conceptual indie rock and glossy alt-pop bangers, cheeky Aussie "gutter folk" meets Russian blackened doom sludge, and various interpretations of post-punk/new wave revivalism.

---

This week's guest episode features Rou Reynolds, vocalist, lyricist, and clinch-fisted comrade for rave-punk powerhouse Enter Shikari. With their seventh full-length, ‘A Kiss for the Whole World,’ netting them their first #1 record in the UK, the St Albans quartet are set to bring their unifying message to the sweaty masses. We chat with Rou about getting politically motivated through music, the pernicious dangers of tribalism and big tech, festival crowd-pleasers, and the delights of the cactus quesadilla.

Featuring Alkaline Trio, IDLES, Middle Kids, and more.

Do weeks of the year have themes? If so, this one is all about those bittersweet shades of blue. Euphoric highs, cosmic lows, and every danceable hue in between. Grab a drink, folks, and strap in for another alternative roundup. Let’s get it.

---

Featuring Spiritbox, Many Eyes, Thornhill, and more.

Well, we’re back again. New week, new roundup. We’ve got sexed-up rockers, metalcore ragers, and dance-ready indie-rock numbers in the pipe, along with a bunch of split EPs, collab album projects, and a shiny death metal debut. So, if you need new tunes, why not dive in?

---

This week's guest episode features John Nolan, guitarist/vocalist for Taking Back Sunday and Straylight Run. With seven years between studio albums, Taking Back Sunday are primed for a spiritual rebirth and '152' (out October 27th through Fantasy Records) finds the group retooling the hooky, heart-on-sleeve songwriting that has defined their career for over two decades. John chats with us about weathering pandemic anxiety, jamming on cover songs, and unlikely collaborators in the form of Steve Aoki and producer Tushar Apte.

Featuring Press Club, SLIFT, Sunk Loto, and more.

After some heated fast-lane, shitty driver discourse, Owen & Paige dig into a new slew of alternative tracks for the week. We’ve got Aussie alt-metal and Aussie power-pop, Aussie metalcore and Aussie indie-punk. Are you noticing a theme here? (Don’t worry: there are other non-Aussie hits in the mix there, too.)

---