Curious what notable personalities in the scene think was great this year? So is TGEFM! So we reached out to some of our favorite luminaries ranging from musicians, label personnel, and more for their “Best of 2024” lists. Now, listen: TGEFM is not a taskmistress. Contributors can write these out however they want. So if it doesn’t actually look or read like a list… and sometimes it really is just a list with no other observations! Who cares?
Pennsylvania punks The Karens have been gracing and stages and terrorizing managers for a few years. After the recent release of the three song EP I Hate Horror Punk the band’s Swam shared their 2024 favorites with That’s Good Enough For Me. So here it is, Swam of The Karens’s top 10 list of live performances, promoters, venues, and sound people.
10. No Consent
When we went through Big Bear, California this year, we played the super snowed in Big Bear Bar And Grill (now closed unfortunately). And No Consent played with us and they were so awesome and sweet. They gave us a bunch of free merch. A 12 inch record, some cassettes, a CD, shirts, bandanas. They splurged on us. Great band. Amazing group of guys. Very anti fascist hardcore. Cant wait to go back and play with them or for them to come here and play with us. Either way, we love those guys.
9. Suburban Downgrade
This is collectively our favorite band. We’ve played with them like 11 or 12 times now. Zach and Craig are very cool people. I dont know about that Andrew though. (He’s the literal sweetest guy Ive ever met.) They make great skacore/crossover/street punk/crust stuff. All the kinds of hard hitting punk I love to death, they make the best of those styles.
8. SOJI
SOJI had the best crowd engagement Ive ever seen when we played with them at NEPA Horror Fest. They had the whole crowd chanting “FUCK LANDLORDS AND FUCK 12!” It was so awesome. Gary helped get us our show with Urban Waste. No one wanted to book that show. It took like three weeks to book. But he spent the time doing that for us. They did a tour with MDC and Urban Waste and honestly they’re gonna be huge.
7. Middle Finger Drive
We played with them at Central Saloon in Seattle. Just a super solid punk band. They had a cover of “Bloodstains” by Agent Orange and they nailed every note.
6. The Disorderlies
Similar to Middle Finger Drive who they play with a lot, The Disorderlies are just super fucking solid. Like wow, very professional sounding. I thought when I heard them that they would fit so nicely with the Camp Punks crowd. Like Laura and Terry should totally check them out.
5. Melody Inn (Indianapolis, IN)
Rich does a punk rock night in Indy and he treats all the bands so nicely. The sound guy was great. So many awesome bands have played the Melody Inn. Its a legendary venue.
4. Punk Rock Tacos (Villa Park, IL)
Noah puts a lot of emphasis on the current bands and he doesnt do any dicksucking of the old guard. He also helps with Skatopia and we stayed with him for several days on tour. I shit in his toilet a lot hahahahaha. Might have pissed in his sink a few times too
3. JB Lovedrafts Micropub (Harrisburg, PA)
We’ve played there twice now and it was the first venue when I moved to PA where I was like “WOAAAAH WHAT IF I GOT TO PLAY HERE?!?!” And now we have a couple times and Victoria is amazing. One of the sweetest humans ever. We love her. The building itself is three floors and its soooo cool. And the food is great. They have a bunch of retro video game consoles there too.
2. Knee Toe Shows (Sheboygan, WI)
We played there early on on our tour at a labor temple. We thought no one would come out and our tour would crash and burn right then and there but literally every kid in the area came out in force. We signed a bunch of stuff. That was our first experience of “wow, people outside of our little friend group actually like us.)
1. Rocky Presents (Coos Bay, OR) Playing in Coos Bay was a life changing experience. Rocky, Crystal, Brent, and the gang showed us all the local sights, and we stayed with them for a few days. Loved every moment of it. We miss Coos Bay every day. Bean and I talk about it all the time.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
