Violent Affair reportedly came together to fill a local Street Punk niche no one else was filling — “We felt like if you wanted to hear a certain type of music, go and play it,” lead vocalist Dave Williams wisely said in a 2012 interview.   

Like former bandmate Alejandro Escovedo, Jon Dee Graham has also developed another side, another strength, in the eight solo albums he’s been releasing since 1997’s Escape From Monster Island. He’s a forcefully evocative singer/songwriter whose deeply gruff, soulful voice is reminiscent of Tom Waits.   

If brevity is a virtue, Warm Soda should be up for some sort of musical sainthood. The Oakland, Calif., quartet’s debut album, the recently released Someone Like You, clocks in at just more than 27 minutes but its 12 tracks quiver with unbridled Pop/Punk intensity.    

The Punknecks’ bio doesn’t mince words. Calling themselves “Punky Tonkers,” Jason Punkneck is from Nashville while Polly Punkneck is from Kansas. The duo, along with their drummer Nick Punkneck, are apparently known for “a rowdy show of drinking, drugging, Jesus, smokin’ pot and living between heaven and hell.”   

You don’t often hear the terms “Crunk” and “Christian” in the same paragraph let alone the same band description, but Family Force 5 has accomplished the rare feat of combining Rap, Punk, Hardcore, Funk, Metal and Dance beats with a Christian perspective.   

These days, it’s hard enough for a Punk band to remain a cohesive unit for 26 months, let alone 26 years. But guitarist Chris Hannah and drummer Jord Samolesky have managed to keep Propagandhi active and relevant since launching the band in 1986.   

Joey Cape might be among Punk’s busiest purveyors, but his longest standing and best-known band is obviously Lagwagon, one of the original Punk/Pop groups that emerged from the early ’90s California scene.   

Are you a fan of Ramones-indebted Pop Punk that worships Top Gun and Evil Dead, cracks wise-ass observations about Metal show mosh pits and likes to creep out the womenfolk when out in an automobile? If so, congratulations — Teenage Bottlerocket's Freak Out is now your favorite record ever.   

If there’s a recurring theme that seems to sum up the events of the past few years for Texas trio Girl In A Coma (including the trio’s latest album, Exits & And All The Rest) it boils down to one word — growth.   

If we were to define Punk Rock acts in terms of food, Bad Religion would be a complex salad, Black Flag a slab of lean steak, Ramones a rich all-toppings-in sundae and The Casualties a box of Twinkies with a side of barbecue-flavored Ruffles chips.