Smells Like Alt Rock

2025 was the year of the concert for our family, and yes - we are those people there with their kids. And we get one of two reactions, those who question our parenting, and those who are like "Good job!" And we got pretty lucky with how many great acts played nearby in 2025. And I was pretty happy with how many venues allowed cameras. Between my phone and camera, I had plenty to reflect on, and I thought I'd share my fifteen favorites below.  But first a big thank you to the bands, their crews, their families, and the venues who hosted these shows. We had a great time getting out to shows, and we are looking forward to whatever shows 2026 brings - see you out there! 15. Matt Scannell (Vertical Horizon) - Alpine Valley 14. Chris Daughtry joins Ed Kowalczyk (+Live+) for Lakini's Juice - Alpine Valley 13. Brian Marshall (Creed) - Summer of 99 Cruise 12. Ajay and Jeremy Popoff (Lit) - Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino (Maricopa, AZ) 11. Brad and Brian Vander Ark (The Verve Pipe...

We've been taking some time to reflect on what was a crazy, good year for concerts. Our family made it out to our first show in February and last show in December. We visited big venues like Alpine Valley, small venues like The X-Ray Arcade, and even a cruise ship. We saw up-and-coming artists like Senses and Lakeview and established acts like Creed, Garbage, and Fuel.  Despite all of the great shows we rocked out at this year, there are bands we failed to see. So we've been thinking about who all we want to make sure we see in 2026.  I'll start with bands we've seen before and are absolutely looking forward to seeing again: Fuel - Yes, my favorite. Yes, I'm biased. But the live energy of the show is not to be missed, and I'm not about to miss a chance to sing-a-long with Shimmer or Won't Back Down or Last Time, etc. They're touring with Lit again and they've added Switchfoot to the bill.  Senses - Love the energy, love the vocals. Love the emo f...

That's it! Dropping the final monthly playlist of the year. December 2025 turned out to be a strong month for new music, the playlist peaked at 55 songs.  Like other months, it has been trimmed back to our favorites of the month. At the end of each month, I often sit back and wonder: "What made these my favorites?". And like many months before I don't have a unifying trend to point to.  Some of the bands included are repeats from other playlists this year including: Shinedown, Dorothy, Yungblud, Voila, Flash Forward, and Deer Fang. Others are net new to the playlists like Oh The Larceny, Volumes, AMH, and Rosecoloredworld.  As always, many thanks to all of the bands for all of the great music, and a special thanks to bands who dropped new music in 2025 that landed on the Alt Rock: 2020-2025 playlist .  Without further ado, here are top tracks for December 2025: Loveless (pictures above) - The Cure Youthyear and Letdown. - Nightmare Shinedown - Searchlight Aerosmith, ...

2025 is officially in the books, and while we dropped our year‑end playlist the other week, let’s be honest — the songs that hit earlier in the year always have a bit of an advantage. More months, more spins. But Q4 came in swinging. Many of our favorite bands dropped absolute bangers this fall: Smash Into Pieces (pictured above) , Mayday Parade, Mammoth, Senses, Armor for Sleep, Yungblud, and plenty more. With so much great new music landing late in the year, we held off until now to share our top picks from Q4 2025. After listening to hundreds of tracks, we cut it down to 31: a mix of uptempo punk, emotional ballads, anthemic rock, and everything in between. Whether you’re here for the slow‑burn heartbreakers or the songs that make you want to jump around your living room, this quarter delivered. Without further ado, here are our top picks from Q4: ( Click here to play on Spotify. ) Smash Into Pieces - Villains Mayday Parade - Promises Mammoth - Same Old Song Anberlin - Ready Fuels S...

Despite there being less new music dropping this past week, I still managed to fall behind on updating the December playlist . I blame my musical priorities — I flew down to Arizona to catch the last Lit and Fuel show of 2025, this time with Quiet Riot and Saliva in the mix. Zero regrets. There’s just no substitute for live music. December’s been a surprisingly strong month for new releases, and we’ve got a few more tracks to share. These fresh tunes have now been added to both the December playlist and the 2020–2025 playlist . Check out the music videos below, and I’ll get to work trimming December down to just the essentials before the year wraps up. Volumes - Bad Habit Rosecoloredworld - Rock Bottom Has a Basement No Money Kids - Let It Drop Worry Club - Fade Away    

It’s been a minute since we’ve done a band spotlight, so picking up with a group we stumbled into in 2025 feels like the right move. BRKN LOVE first hit my Release Radar when “Pulling Leeches” dropped back in February, and it immediately grabbed me. The track sits comfortably alongside the grunge and post‑grunge bands I grew up on: mid‑tempo, loud, gritty, driven by that steady, pounding rhythm — and yes, it even throws in a Machu Picchu reference. It landed on my Favorites of Feb ’25 playlist , represented the band on our New To Us 2025 mix , and ultimately came in at #32 on our favorite new songs of the year. The Canadian rockers made our April playlist twice with “Cruel” and “Rearview Mirror.” “Cruel” hits especially close to home thanks to the line: “And now I’m having dreams that all my teeth are falling out.” That’s been one of my recurring nightmares since junior high, so going on three decades now, so hearing it pop up in a song was… something. These three tracks are a sharp ...

If I had to pick my favorite bands from high school, the list probably looks something like this: Fuel, Live, Bush, Pearl Jam, and Collective Soul. Of that group, Pearl Jam has had the fewest lineup changes since I started listening — at least until Matt Cameron’s recent departure. Collective Soul has swapped out drummers and lead guitarists since I became a fan. Bush went on hiatus from about 2003 to 2010, with Gavin and Robin being the only returning members, and today Gavin is the lone original member still in the band. Live is its own interesting case: you can catch them touring — and it’s a fun show — but it’s essentially Ed plus touring musicians. Fuel might have the most complicated member timeline on Wikipedia. For a lot of Fuelies, the “original” band was Brett, Carl, Jeff, and Kevin — but there was a version of the band before that, and the Sunburn album was recorded with a session drummer. The 2007 Angels & Devils album featured only Carl and Jeff from that “original” ...

I thought as the 2025 closes out, the fire hose of new music would slow. And while the All New Rock playlist on Spotify had fewer new songs this week than last, my Release Radar was full and there were plenty of new songs when looking across list like The New Alt and All New Punk.  Let's jump into the new songs added to the December Playlist this week.  (Note: These tunes have all been added to the 2020-2025 playlist as well, enjoy!) Health - Antidote Softcult - Queen of Nothing The Format - Boycott Heaven Zero 9:36 with No Love For the Middle Child - Make A Mess Volumes - Adrenaline Ally Evenson - AFO Flash Forward, Coast Down, Wait of the World - FYU Mumford & Sons - Prizefighter Dorothy - Prey On Me Silversun Pickups - New Wave AMH - Don't Believe In Love The Raven Age - Visions Royal Bliss - By My Side Glass Tides - Pieces of Me Lola Young - Post Sex Clarity Yungblud - Zombie (Acoustic) 

If your Facebook feed looks anything like mine, you’re probably seeing a flood of 2026 concert and tour announcements this week. If not, here are some of our favorite Alt Rock updates that just dropped: Our Lady Peace + The Verve Pipe Our Lady Peace is touring with The Verve Pipe in 2026, with plenty of dates across the U.S.—especially in the Midwest. You’ll be able to catch them in IA, IL, IN, MI, MO, and OH. The closest stop to Madison, WI is Chicago, IL at the Vic on March 5. Rise Against + Destroy Boys Rise Against is hitting the road with Destroy Boys in 2026, including a heavy run of Canada dates. Good news for Wisconsin fans: they’re coming to The Sylvee in Madison on March 15. Mammoth WVH + 10 Years Mammoth announced new dates for the continuing The End tour with 10 Years. They’ll swing through the Midwest toward the end of the run, with shows in IL, IN, MI, MN, and OH. The closest stop to Madison, WI appears to be Bloomington, IL at The Castle on April 3. Goo Goo Dol...

We know great music is still dropping in December, but we have to call it at some point. So we'll keep the December and Q4 playlists going until the end of the month, but we're calling it for the year end of playlist.  We tried hard to cut it down to 40 songs, but there were some songs we just couldn't cut and after reviewing our Spotify Wrapped there were some songs we needed to add, so we landed on 55 songs for 2025. Given that Wrapped says we listened to over 3700 songs this year, narrowing down to 55 is pretty good. In other words, here's the Something Like Alt Rock: Top 55 New Songs of 2025 :  Those Damn Crows (pictured above) - No Surrender Smash Into Pieces - Heroes The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Slipping Through Dorothy - Tombstone Town All Time Low - The Weather Senses - Stabilizer Bush - 60 Ways to Forget People Poesy - Home Royale Lynn - Greed Our Last Night - Version of Me Stereo Club - Familiar Faces Sawyer Hill - Masochistic Lover Knox - Pick Your Poison Sen...

 December is a tricky month because great new music is still dropping and at the same time, we're trying to wrap up our Q4 playlist and year end playlist. It's looking like the year end playlist will be closer to 55 songs than 40 songs, but that's okay -  2025 has been a great year for new music!  We'll probably drop the year end list before December is out - and drop the finalized / cutback December list and Q4 list at the end of the month.  Speaking of great new music, here are this week's new additions to the December playlist, they've also been added to the 2020-2025 playlist .  Deer Fang w/ Seventh Dose - Broken Tigers Jaw - Head is Like a Sinking Stone Charlotte Sands - One Eye Open Alter Bridge - Playing Aces Dorothy - Elevate Huddy - Burn the Ballroom Down Sam Fender - The Treadmill Youthyear w/ Letdown - Nightmare Grayscale w/ Cassadee Pope - Painting Over You Bermuda Search Party - Cookies n Cream Kensington - How It Goes The Band CAMINO - Afterthought...

Music lovers, your Spotify Wrapped dropped today - hopefully you took a few minutes to reflect on how much music you enjoyed this year, who your top artists were, and what songs you couldn't get enough of.  I ended my year on over 61,000 minutes listened and over 3,700 songs played. And that's the goal. Each week, I try to listen to ~50 or so new songs, so that alone gets one to 2,500 song pretty fast.  My wrapped looks a little different this year. Last year's 5 was full of my 90's favorites: Fuel, Bush, Creed, Pearl Jam, Live. Top songs were: Shimmer, Innocent, Falls On Me, Won't Back Down, Don't Say I - all by Fuel.  This year's wrapped still started with Fuel leading the way, my favorite band since 1998, 27 years and still going strong. Can't wait for their new album to drop in 2026. The punk friendly, emo curious duo, Senses made #2. Strongly recommend checking out their two EP's from 2025: I'm Still Breathing and Onto Something .  Bush ...