ifitbeyourwill Podcast #179 • Evan Redsky

Evan Redsky grew up on Mississaugi First Nation, on the north shore of Lake Huron, between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury — a small community of maybe 500 people, and a history much larger than that. Four generations of his family attended the Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School. His great-grandfather James was the last elder to hold their community's birch bark scrolls before they were dispossessed by the Glenbow Museum. Redsky carries that lineage into everything: the punk fury of Indian Giver, and the quieter, harder work of his solo music — Canadiana-rooted folk that sits closer to Neil Young than Nashville, and closer to truth than either. His 2024 album The Language of Fishermen and the recent single "Red Dress," drawn from losses he witnessed working at a Toronto First Nations youth centre, are artifacts in the fullest sense — stories left behind for the next generation to find.

https://www.evanredsky.com/

"...an unfeigned country ballad about his indigenous bloodline and life on the reserve...an allusion to the residential-school system and its effects on his kin. Warm acoustic tones are cut with Redsky’s sandy drawl...a record showcasing a rugged sound that’s interspersed with whining lap steel and palatable twang.” - The Globe & Mail

“Though the songs' content is rooted in Redsky's Indigenous heritage, the sound is pure Americana, equal parts Springsteen and Petty…” - CBC

General Chaos • Can't Please 'Em All • 2026

Montreal’s General Chaos are sixteen years old, and they’re about to release one of the most dialed-in punk records to come out of the city in years. Their second full-length album, Can’t Please ’Em All, arrives May 8 on Stomp Records, and it doesn’t sound like a stepping stone. It sounds like a band that already knows what it’s doing. The kind of band you catch after midnight off Saint-Laurent, ears ringing, snow melting into grey slush at your feet, neon buzzing overhead. Across thirteen tracks, General Chaos lock into a style that balances speed, weight, and melody without overplaying any of it. You hear it right away. Rancid’s punch, Descendents’ discipline, Social Distortion’s structure, early Green Day’s snap, and the sharper political edge of Propagandhi. The guitars stay tight and efficient. The bass sits forward and drives. The drums are steady and controlled. Songs move quick when they need to, then settle into something heavier when it counts. Lead singles “Busted” and “The Idiots Have Taken Over” map that range, while focus track “Zipco” cuts through with a rawer, street-level narrative. “He drank and drank and drank until he was passed out on the floor,” Blondy sings, sketching out a character that feels pulled straight from real life, not dressed up for effect. 

INSTAGRAM

BLACK MARKET HEART • What Happens in the Dark • 2026

 

Taking cues from the feedback haze of The Jesus and Mary Chain and the cold pulse of Joy Division, Black Market Heart thrive in that tight space between distortion and melody. Tina’s basslines grind and move with purpose, Medina’s drums hit with stripped-down force, and Robinson’s guitar cuts sharp and bright through the fog. It’s music designed for low lights, empty overpasses, and that stretch of road where the city opens up and you can almost pretend you’re alone. Recorded in just two days at Kitten Robot Studios with Los Angeles underground mainstay Paul Roessler, known for his work with The Screamers and 45 Grave, What Happens in the Dark captures the band in a live-wire state. Minimal takes. No studio gloss. Just volume, tape, and instinct. The vocals, often submerged in earlier recordings, are more exposed this time. Brugnoletti’s added harmonies bring a heavier presence, giving the songs weight without sanding down their edge.

INSTAGRAM

General Chaos • Busted • 2026

 

https://orcd.co/gcbusted

Montreal’s sixteen-year-old punk trio General Chaos come out swinging with “Busted,” the first advance single from their upcoming second LP Can’t Please ’Em All, out May 8 on Stomp Records. Fast, hook-heavy, and built on tight downstrokes and a chant-ready chorus, “Busted” lands somewhere between Rancid’s street-level punch, Descendents’ urgency, early Green Day’s snap, and the political edge of Propagandhi. It is two-to-three-minute burner territory with bass pushed forward, drums locked in, and guitars kept lean and direct. Lyrically, the track captures the tension between independence and consequence. “Don’t wanna get caught but I got busted / Speak the words on my mind not gonna get silenced.” It is about saying what you mean, taking the hit, and moving anyway. No polish. No irony layer. Just clarity and pace.

Las Nubes • Tormentas Malsanas • 2024

“Las Nubes are far and away the hottest band in Miami, and the most socially relevant. Like the children and the young at heart across North and South America, they rock from the soul, covered in tattoos and attitude. They represent an uncompromising lifestyle trend that is the future. They’re fucking loud, too.”

ifitbeyourwill Podcast S03 E30 with Las Nubes rocks!

Nrvs • Scum • 2022

“Nrvs have an innate punk swagger” Hard of Hearing 

“Perhaps the anarchic drive behind Nrvs and other bands in the agitprop arena is a necessary cultural response” Subba-Cultcha

“…off-kilter post-punk bangers” Louder Than War

With its abrasive minimalist post-punk feel along with Velvets inspired grunge guitar, this latest song (& the first they ever wrote) sees band member Ten Pence proclaiming deeply about his place in the world and the seeming futility behind trying to make a difference. “So what about Scum? We’re all scum” say Nrvs, “we’re the future of the human race and we’re fucked, as Extinction Rebellion used to say when they were cool - and we love it, or at least we seem to! Us lot just happen to be feeling it at the moment cos we happen to be alive now, so we’re the toppest layer of the pond… scum, get it?”

Worriers • The Old Friends EP • 2021

worriersmusic.com

Over the past year, Worriers was asked to participate in a number of benefit livestreams, comps, and other projects that wouldn't normally be possible for us to do when we were on tour all the time. Living in different cities during quarantine, we took these opportunities to keep making music together - from home. Over the past few years, various arrangements of Worriers have played cover sets of bands like Fleetwood Mac, Minor Threat, Green Day, and The Lemonheads, so covers have always been a fun extra-curricular activity for us. This collection brings together songs from some of our favorite and most influential bands.

Late Homework • The Songs of David Berman • 2019

There is an idea that poetry is not the poem itself, but rather the small tidbit here and there that you are able to find, make meaningful connections with. and carry with you in your heart. This is certainly true of what it’s like exploring the absurd yet strangely dignified world of David Berman. In every piece of his writing at any point you might stumble upon the most stunning view of the miraculous beauty of decaying American life. Every line had the same opportunity to blow your mind with it’s brutal and transformative honesty, achingly encompassing a landscape of tragedy-turned-comedy and vice-versa. 

THE RUN UP • in motion • 2019

“I love punk rock bands like this. Bands that manage to do it right, providing just the right amount of passion and energy to their music to create a spectacle of raw, unbridled emotion. High octane in all the right places, while never unnecessarily overcomplicating proceedings. ”

— music-news.com

Specialist Subject Records All Dayer • 2019

shop.specialistsubjectrecords.co.uk

Reflective Tapes #100 • 2019

REF-100 is a milestone I didn't think we'd ever reach with this little label. When I started "Reflective Tapes" I figured I'd just create an identity for all of my little one-offs and bands and stuff. Didn't expect to release a substantial amount of music, especially not bands I'm not in, but here we are! It's been a wonderful experience interacting with some of my best friends and favorite DIY bands/musicians in this context

Jeff Rosenstock - POST- 2018

reallyrecords.bigcartel.com

Odd Box 2016

oddboxrecords.com

Our annual round-up of the year. One song from each of 2016 releases.

The Dance Asthmatics - Lifetime Of Secretion - 2016

meltedicecream.co.nz

Hailing from Christchurch, New Zealand, The Dance 

Asthmatics emerged from the womb a few years ago as 

a PiL-worshipping dub-punk aggregate unlike anything 

else on their native isle. In fact, New Zealand hasn’t 

seen this much menace and casual aggression in a band 

since The Gordons stalked the earth. Comparisons can 

also be drawn to such demented precursors as Killing 

Joke, Butthole Surfers, and Terminal Cheesecake. But 

ultimately, The Dance Asthmatics have carved a unique 

identity out of their country’s bedrock. And they’ve 

fashioned a fortress from which they can let loose 

volleys of devastating power.

The Afterglows - 2016

buy here

diy lo-fi punk outfit creating a pretty massive record with songs bordering on complete collapse…

johnny foreigner - Mono No Aware - 2016

ilovealcopop.co.uk

In a period where what was to become terme landfill indie was riding high in the charts and regularly graced the covers of music magazines, what Johnny Foreigner offered with their angsty and punk spirited guitar pop was some respite from turgid indie rock made by men with little imagination. Yet ten years on from their debut, their fifth album Mono No Aware shows no signs of a band wanting to move on. tlobf

Ancient Shapes - 2016

youvechangedrecords.com

lo-fi punk music pounding out of TO

Arrotzak - 2016

Dark alt-punk rock out of Spain… Pretty raw.

SPORT - Slow - 2016

A little bit of indie, a little bit of punk merge together on this solid release.

Nervous Twitch - Don't Take My TV - 2016

Nervous Twitch

Paying homage to the Ramones and their favourite 60s girl-groups via the medium of punky pop songs. And, make no mistake, that’s a perfectly fine thing to be. There’s actually a bit more to the Twitch than that might suggest, though – that extra bit of proficiency and imagination a band needs to make them stand out.

(Louder Than War)