Watch: Vancouver pop punks Chief State share new video for ‘April Showers’

At the end of 2025, the release of the ‘No Brakes’ single found Vancouver’s Chief State in great form. Sounding like a tribute to the melodic punk sounds of the late 90s, the track fused the thunderous rhythmic qualities of peak No Use For A Name with the poppier edges of Sum 41, utilising strong harmony vocals throughout. Although a really melodic chorus should’ve been the track’s best feature, the already impressive performance boasted an even better middle eight where the pop punk riffs gave way to something a little sharper, showing how tight the band’s rhythm section could be.

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #136

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the more interesting individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the past few weeks. Following the festive selection, this collection of tracks returns to “regular programming”, with a slab of garage rock, a pleasingly subtle work from an Irish singer songwriter, a previous release given a huge remix, a perfect pop punk track, and more besides. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!

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Real Gone Presents: A Boston Round-Up, December 2025

It’s been a couple of months since Real Gone last visited Boston, but the city has continued to deliver more than its fair share of underground sounds. In this round up, we bring you ten of the more interesting cuts that have landed in our inbox, ranging from blue collar rock, to cinematic pop rock, and even a dash of punk. Those of you who have followed us for some time will certainly recognise a couple of these names by now, but we hope you find something new to enjoy!

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Listen: King Of Cups are on the ‘Naughty List All Year’

Throughout the second half of 2025, US punkers King of Cups have been teasing a forthcoming album. Each of the singles have shown the band in a position of musical strength: ‘Let The World Burn’ introduced elements of emo and power pop into their pop punk core; ‘Waited’ leaned further towards a world of emo/alternative rock with the help of a few heavier riffs and some Linkin Park-esque keys, and ‘Lighthouse’ – arguably the best of the record’s three pre-release tracks – augmented a stronger emo influence with some great harmonies, but without losing the King of Cups crunch.

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Bad Mary revisit ‘Last Christmas’ with new cover tune

Ever since its original release in 1984, Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ has been beloved many. Only reaching #2 on the UK singles chart the first time around, it became the second most celebrated track to fall just shy of the top spot. Ultravox’s ‘Vienna’, arguably, takes the crown there, losing out to a terrible novelty record – ‘Shaddap You Face’ by The Joe Dolce Music Theatre; at least Wham! had the dignity of knowing they were beaten to the top by a charity record, and one that George Michael was also on!

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