Cincinnati, Ohio punk outfit, Boys, respond to interviews just like they play their music: short, sweet, and pointed. Their brand of bratty pop-punk is as infectious as it is angsty. Now, there is no denying that they are not for everyone. But for what they do, Boys does damn well. Give them a chance and get septic. 

For Fans Of: Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, Mixtapes, Green Day
Social Sites: Facebook, Bandcamp

Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Megan Schroer – vocals/guitar
John Hoffman – vocals/guitar
Maura Weaver – bass
Zach Colina – drums

What’s your hometown (or what are your hometowns)?
Cincinnati, Ohio

How did the band come together? How long has it been?
I had some songs that I’d been working on. We were all friends. It’s been, uh, maybe eight months?

Why should people listen to your band?
We are better than some bands, but not better than most, so some people might like that.

How have you grown since you started?
At least a half an inch.

What sets you apart from other bands?
We have fewer songs than other bands. Also different songs. 

What’s the best part about being in your band?
Doing interviews!

More times than not, influences tend to bleed through. What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
John really loves the Sex Pistols.

What would you say the band has already accomplished and what do you have your eyes set on next?
We’ve accomplished very little. We’ve played one show. It went alright. We have our eyes set on playing other shows, I guess. 

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Mixtapes have released a new song called “C.C.S.” Stream it here via AbsolutePunk and listen to another new song called “Everything’s Eventual” below after the jump.

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Mixtapes ‘Ordinary Silence’ Artwork, Track Listing 

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Editor in Chief Erik van Rheenen had the chance to catch up with our friends in Mixtapes at Skate And Surf a few weeks ago for an in-depth interview. Erik, Ryan, Maura, Boone, and Paul discussed the band’s new album, Ordinary Silence, the band’s evolution, Warped Tour, other touring, and much more. Check it all out below!

So, Mixtapes. Can you say your name and what you do in the band?
Ryan: I’m Ryan, I play guitar and sing.
Maura: I’m Maura, I play guitar and sing.
Boone: I’m Boone, I play drums.
Paul: I’m Paul, I play bass.

How was your set, and being at the first Skate & Surf in eight years?
Maura: It was really good, actually. Better than we expected. We had no idea what it was going to be like just because it’s a huge festival and we’re not a huge band.
Ryan: Yeah, we really thought like, “No one’s going to know who we are, so let’s just have fun,” and then we realized people were singing along and crowd surfing. It was like,  “Oh! People know who we are.”
Maura: It was awesome, there was a ton of people singing along and crowd surfing and all that stuff and…yeah. It was really cool.

Did you play a good mix of Even on the Worst Nights and the older stuff?
Paul: We try to pretty much throw everything we have in our sets.
Ryan: We were going to play a new song off the album coming out, but my voice is just really shot right now and I wouldn’t be able to nail it. I didn’t think I was going to be able to sing at all, actually. 
Maura: Yeah, we don’t really have a normal setlist every night either, so I guess it’s just whatever, like, because some people in some places know Even on the Worst Nights better and some people know older stuff better, so we just feel out what they want to hear.

It’s got to be fun too, mixing it up.
Maura: Yeah, totally. It’s really fun.
Paul: And we’ll play any song that someone wants to hear.
Ryan: That’s the rule.
Maura: Even if we don’t play it well. (Laughs)
Boone: Last night we played a song we haven’t played in, what, two years? And it was…it was okay. It was okay at best.
Maura: I think they were just happy that we tried it.
Boone: I’d give it a seven out of ten.
Ryan: I couldn’t imagine being in a band that plays the same set verbatim every single night on tour. It would be really boring. It’s very not us at all.
Maura: It’s really fun to just do whatever, you know?

Ryan, you mentioned the new album. It’s only been about a year since Even on the Worst Nights Came Out. Was it a quick turnaround?
Ryan: We didn’t really plan it. We just wanted something to release for Warped Tour and then we’re doing a full U.S. tour we’re going to be doing before that. We were going to record an EP, and we were just kind of writing and were like, “We have enough for a full-length.” I like it way better than Even on the Worst Nights, so…
Maura: It was like, “Let’s just make an album.” It was kind of rushed, but not any more than anything else we’ve ever done.
Ryan: We like being rushed. We work well under pressure.
Maura: Except for Even on the Worst Nights, we were really prepared more than anything else, but I kind of like that we weren’t for this new album, just because I think it gave it more of, like, spontaneity. 
Ryan: It was just a lot of fun to be less prepared and I think it’s the best record we’ve ever made. Everyone who’s heard it agrees. 

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Mixtapes have released a new song called “Everything’s Eventual.” Stream it below after the jump.

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Mixtapes ‘Ordinary Silence’ Artwork, Track Listing 

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*This review was composed by Sydney Gore and edited by Erik van Rheenen

Contrary to popular belief, there was no skating or surfing at Skate And Surf Festival on May 18. For the first time in8 years, the music festival was brought back in place of the failure that was last year’s Bamboozle Festival. In fact, Skate And Surf Festival pre-dates Bamboozle Festival, originating in 2002 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. 

Originally, the festival was supposed to go on at Plaza Green at iPlay America in Freehold, New Jersey but was moved to Six Flags Great Adventure for the weekend by popular demand, although most attendees will agree that Six Flags is one of the worst venues for concerts.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature was not on Jersey’s side, casting the entire day with grey skies and light showers. Aside from the bad weather, Skate & Surf Festival was somewhat of an actual disaster for its first round. The setup alone for the event was an absolute mess. On one side, three stages are directly next to each other while the main stage — almost the same size as the others — stands a few feet away from another hidden stage.

Even though it seemed like everyone was here to defend pop punk, there were so many different types of music featured at the festival, including hip-hop/rap, alternative, ska, electro, indie rock and screamo. With the stages being so close to each other, there were a lot of mixed signals throughout the day: in between sets, it was almost impossible not to hear the next band over. 

At the Aquarian Better stage, pop-punk bands like Mixtapes put on energized 30-minute sets before spectators got too soggy from the rain. (The bassist even performed without an actual bass for most of the gig, which was impressive.) The Ohio natives were the most interactive band by far, engaging the crowd in witty dialogue in-between all of Maura Weaver and Ryan Rockwell’s lighthearted male-female call and response sing-alongs. 

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Skate And Surf Festival is just a few days away now, and we hope you’re all as excited as we are for an incredible weekend at Six Flags in Jackson, NJ. We thought it’d be a great idea to put together a list of POZ’s Must See Bands And Acts for the first day of the lineup today, with a day two feature coming tomorrow. Check out ticket/lineup information for the festival here, our list below, and reblog to let us know who we need to see while we’re at Skate this weekend!

Streetlight Manifesto, by Erik van Rheenen
Ska fans can wipe that tear from their eyes and pull on their skanking shoes: the beginning of the end may be here, but not before Streetlight plays a homecoming show in Jersey under the bright lights at Skate And Surf. With label woes plaguing the release of The Hands That Thieve, the band will probably blow off some steam at their set and show off some of the new material, which is, in fact, killer. From old fan-favorites to new sing-along anthems, fans will make Streetlight Manifesto feel right back at home. Mostly because they will be.

Balance & Composure, by Adrienne Fisher
Balance & Composure has been fairly quiet ever since wrapping up a pretty hefty winter headliner earlier this year with The Jealous Sound and Daylight, only to reveal just a week or so ago that that time’s been leveraged into finishing up their second full-length record, slated for release sometime this fall. I know I’m not the only one busting out party hats to celebrate that fact, and being that their set at Skate and Surf is the only one publicly on the books for the foreseeable future, we the people should probably resolve to make sure we’re there for it. While we can always cross our fingers for a preview of a new song, the truth is that we’re definitely not over 2011’s Separation and will still eagerly lend ourselves to become soul-crushed by that opening rhythm section in “Burden.” If you’re a Balance fan, make it a point to catch this set – you never know, those songs from Only Boundaries might drop out of rotation once the new record comes out and you wouldn’t want to be that guy whining about how you missed out on hearing the old stuff, right?

Transit, by Jesse Richman
It’s hard to remember the last time anyone in the scene released an album as divisive as Transit’sYoung New England— whether they loved it or hated it, everyone seemed to have a strong opinion. As they bring that album to the biggest stage yet, will the crowd be with them or against them? Has the criticism beaten Transit down or made them stronger? And has Joe Boynton’s voicereally changed? We’re looking forward to finding out the answers.

Andrew WK, by Erik van Rheenen
When it’s time to party we will party hard.

I mean, seriously. What will be more fun than catching a set from the King of Positive Partying himself at an amusement park? Since the eruption of his smash hit “Party Hard” in 2001, Andrew WK’s become a jack-of-all-trades: motivational speaker, TV show host, producer, and of course, sticking to his singing/songwriting guns. Dust off your copy of I Get Wet, reacquaint yourself with some of WK’s early 2000s party rock anthems, and let’s get a party going on Saturday afternoon.

LIGHTS, by Sydney Gore
The 24-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter has a way of enchanting anyone who listens to her synth-pop tunes. With a traveling background as a missionary child, Lights takes the crowd on an adventure of their own to a digital dimension where music is the only savior. Her most recent album, Siberia was nominated for “Pop Album of the Year” at the Juno Awards last year. Don’t let Lights’ “manic pixie dream girl” physique fool you—she goes hard at live shows, especially when the heavy electronic beat start pulsing. Lights is always a delight to watch, so definitely don’t miss out on her set—it’s bound to be electrifying.

Mixtapes, by Erik van Rheenen
Ordinary Silence doesn’t hit shelves until the end of June, but fingers crossed these Ohioans share a few new tunes with us come this weekend. The uber-productive pop-punkers (this marks their second full-length in as many years) keep the bouncy tunes coming, and the dual vocal attack of Maura Weaver and Ryan Rockwell (and their kinda-sorta ridiculous stage banter) is always a blast to sing along with. There aren’t many bands to usher in summer with, and Mixtapes sets are pretty much always guaranteed to be a good time. 

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Mixtapes have released a new song called “Bad Parts.” Stream it via AltPress here or below!

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Mixtapes ‘Ordinary Silence’ Artwork, Track Listing 

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It’s time for The Weekly Tour Round-Up! There are a ton of great tours going on this winter and more are getting announced each week! Below you’ll find all the tours going on over the next few months, with newly announced tours listed above previously announced tours. So check out all the tours if you’ve missed any of them and make sure to mark them down on your calendars!

New Tours:

POZ Sponsored Shows 
Forever Came Calling, Heart To Heart, Last Call [Now-04/21] 
BoySetsFire, No Trigger, Pentimento, Light Years, Maker [05/24-05/26]

North America  
John Nolan, Geoff Rickly [05/10-05/18] 
You, Me & Everyone We Know, Squid The Whale [05/10-06/06]
Cartel, State Champs [05/11-05/16] 
Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Miss May I [05/30-07/08]
Cute Is What We Aim For, The Dangerous Summer [06/06-06/20]
Cursive [06/20-06/24] 
Mixtapes, You Blew It!, Light Years [06/27-07/21] 
City And Colour [09/14-11/08] 

UK|Mainland Europe  
All Time Low, Green Day [05/29-07/04]

Australia
Jonny Craig [07/11-07/31]

South America  
Story Of The Year, The Swellers [08/16-08/17] 

Previously Announced Tours:

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Mixtapes are releasing Ordinary Silence via No Sleep Records this summer. Check out the artwork and track listing below by clicking “Read More.”

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Mixtapes have released a new song called “Elevator Days.” Pre-order the band’s new record here, and stream the new song and check out the band’s tour with You Blew It!, Light Years, Modern Baseball (6/27-7/2), and Last Call (7/16-7/21) below by clicking “Read More.”

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Mixtapes Announce New Album ‘Ordinary Silence’ 

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Mixtapes will be releasing Ordinary Silence on June 25th via No Sleep Records. Check out their tour dates with You Blew It!, Light Years, Modern Baseball (6/27-7/2), and Last Call (7/16-7/21) below by clicking “Read More.”

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Mixtapes, You Blew It!, Light Years, Modern Baseball Summer Tour 

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Mixtapes, You Blew It!, Light Years, Modern Baseball (6/27-7/2), and Last Call (7/16-7/21) will be hitting the road this summer. Check out the dates below by clicking “Read More!”

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Light Years Release “Parking Lots” Music Video, EP 

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Mixtapes, Daylight, Dads, and a slew of other bands, will be playing a pre-Bled Fest show in Ohio on May 24th. Check out details below by clicking “Read More.”

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Ryan Rockwell of Mixtapes’ new hip-hop project, Castles, have released a new EP called Jellybeans. Stream it below by clicking “Read More.”

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Warped Tour has announced the next nine bands playing its festival this summer. Check out the additions and full Warped lineup below by clicking “Read More.” 

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