Smells Like Alt Rock

Move over February - March is roaring in like a lion. We're kicking off the new March playlist this weekend with new rock from Social Distortion, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Vertical Horizon, Lansdowne, New Found Glory and so many more. We're also excited to welcome The Menzingers, Des Rocs, Towa Bird, and Brigitte Calls Me Baby to our playlists. Thank you bands for all great new drops!  Check out the music videos below: (Or checkout the March playlist on Spotify) The Menzingers - Nobody's Heroes Social Distortion - Born to Kill Thirty Seconds to Mars - Over My Head Highly Suspect - Yellow Roses The Maine - Quiet Part Loud Towa Bird - Gentleman Des Rocs - When the Love is Gone Pacific Avenue - Tell Me It Ain't Over L0L0 - The Punisher Footballhead - Fall Away Lansdowne - Rescue New Found Glory - Boom Roasted MAY-A - Confessions Brigitte Call Me Baby - I Danced With Another Love In My Dream Worry Club - DRNKNG PRBLM Daydreamers - She Is A Time I'm Living In Vertical Hor...

Summerfest - 3 weeks of big time music shows in Milwaukee this summer. Whole lot of great alt rock coming your way, but in case you are feeling overwhelmed trying to parse the massive line up - we've got you covered - so make sure you catch what you're looking for.  Check out this sample on Spotify filled with the bands listed below.  At first glance June 25-26 and July 2 look like the big alt rock winners - but let's a closer look because there's some must see talent almost everyday.  June 18 Third Eye Blind - live your best semi-charmed kind of life with these guys Taylor Acorn - get your modern day pop-punk fix  June 19 Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - 2025's album X's for Eyes was so good, you'll want to hear it live State Champs - can you have too much pop-punk in a weekend? (Nope!) June 20 Dexter and The Moonrocks - Space grunge cowboys, do dad a favor, take him to see Dexter June 25 - might be just about the best night of music at Summerfest Kaleo Halestorm ...

Two months in, ten months to go. 2026 is flying by. February was a ridiculous strong month for new release and we made some painful cuts including cutting new songs by Foo Fighters and U2. We successfully cutdown a list that was over 50 songs to a top 15 with 10 honorable mentions. As always a huge thank you to all the bands for dropping such fantastic music and making so tough to choose. Here's a look at our favorite new songs from February : Papa Roach claims this month's #1 spot with Wake Up Calling. Papa Roach - Wake Up Calling Sevendust - Is This The Real You? Goldfinger - The Punisher Dermot Kennedy - Funeral Noah Kahan - The Great Divide Eva Under Fire - Murder Scene Dexter and The Moonrocks - Flavorless The Warning - Love to be Loved Bilmuri - Twice Embrace - Road to Nowhere Story of the Year - See Through YUNGBLUD - Suburban Requeim Out In Front - In Another Life The Cab - Locked and Loaded The Maine - Die to Fall Our Unusually Long Honorable Mention List: Sly Withers ...

Just when you thought February couldn't get any better - a bunch of bands on our Alt Rock Rewind and Alt Rock Refresh dropped new music this week. Big names like U2, Foo Fighters, Shinedown and New Found Glory dropped new tracks that we're loving - and Hands Like Houses, Yungblud, As December Falls, and Smash Into Pieces are keeping the seen fresh with new music of their own. Don't worry, that's not all - check out of the new music below or on the February playlist.   Foo Fighters - Your Favorite Toy U2 - Song of the Future  New Found Glory - A Love Song Smash Into Pieces - Hollow Shinedown - Safe and Sound As December Falls - Anymore Hands Like Houses - Flowers Yungblud - Suburban Requiem  Saliva, Veda / Judge and Jury - Running Up That Hill May-A - Am I There The Cab - Locked and Loaded INOHA - Downpour Puddle of Mudd - Rain

Happy Saturday all - another new week, another 11 songs added to our February list - feeling pretty psyched about the Story of Year's latest high-energy track "See Through" and we've got the drop from a brand new band, "Tightrope" by Bedelia.  And we're pretty excited to welcome some bands back to the list with their latest tracks: Yonaka, Knox, Weathers, Thrice, and Cold War Kids.  Check out music videos from this week's additions below: Story of the Year - See Through YONAKA - Eat You Alive Cold War Kids - Push My Luck Knox - Go For Broke Weathers - Waste Me Bedelia - Tightrope Thrice, Audtiotree - Vesper Light Dead Pony - Eat My Dust! American Vanity - Lifeline Geena Fontanella - One Trick Pony A Thousand Horses, Aaron Gillespie - Shadows

Thought we'd throw together a couple of special playlists for this Valentine's Day.  And we've got two options for you - the first one is for all the lovers out there, we threw together some emotional ballads like Falls On Me by Fuel, Just Breath by Pearl Jam, Turn My Head by Live, and The Knight Train by Those Damn Crows.  We also grabbed some songs that are, well, forward about their passions like I Really Wanna by Mammoth, Shake Me Like Monkey by Dave Matthews Band, Take Me To Church by Hozier and Masochistic Lover by Sawyer Hill.  So all you lovers out there - click here .  And if that's the wrong vibe - we've got the opposite playlist for you too. So you if you're ready to say "Screw it! Love sucks!" - we've got that playlist too -  we've got bangers like Love is a Bitch! by The Rasmus, Tombstone Town by Dorothy, The End by Bilmuri, and Wrong Side of the Track by Lakeview. Or if it's time for some pining and reflection - we've got ...

Earlier this year, we posted some of the albums to look forward to in January and February , as winter hopefully releases its icy grip on Wisconsin this.month - and as we're all looking forward to a little more sunshine, we wanted to highlight some new albums dropping this spring.   Take each album for a test drive with the videos posted below. Whether you are looking for something a little lighters like Bermuda Search Party or you are looking for some new bangers from Lansdowne and Sevendust - the albums coming have you covered.   Bermuda Search Party - SIDETRACK'D - March 6 (Better Love featured below) The Fray - A Light That Waits - March 13 (Songs I'd Rather Not Sing featured below) Snail Mail - Ricochet - March 27 (Dead End featured below) Lansdowne - Wish You Well - March 27 (Release Me featured below) Metric - Romanticize the Dive - April 24 (Victim of Luck featured below) Noah Kahan - The Great Divide - April 24 (The Great Divide featured below) The Black Ke...

 Yo! Hope your ears are ready because February is shaping up to be a great month for new alt rock. Pretty excited to share the new tracks with you because these bands are killing it. Check the music videos for the week below and the full February Playlist here .  Dexter and The Moonrocks - Flavorless Embrace - The Road to Nowhere Deer Fang - The Letter Eva Under Fire - Murder Scene The Warning and Carin Leon - Love To Be Loved The Black Keys - You Got To Lose Silversun Pickups - Au Revoir Reservoir Metric - Victim of Luck Bilmuri - Twice Enfants - Good News Ist Ist - The Echo Lost In Hollywood - In Pieces Shoreline - Youthfully Naive 

Something Like Alt Rock was inspired by the great alt‑rock bands of the ’90s and early 2000s — with the intention of reflecting on and celebrating their music while also spotlighting new artists who carry that spirit forward. Today, we lost one of the greats. Brad Arnold, the unmistakable voice of 3 Doors Down, passed away after a battle with cancer. The band had canceled their 2025 tour as Brad fought stage 4 renal carcinoma, following a massive year of touring in 2024 that kicked off with Creed on the Summer of ’99 cruise. It’s hard to overstate the importance of 3 Doors Down to the late‑’90s and early‑2000s rock landscape. They were a major part of the crossover from alternative radio to the mainstream, standing shoulder‑to‑shoulder with contemporaries like Creed, Fuel, and Nickelback. The last couple of summers have been a celebration of that era, which made it especially exciting to see 3 Doors Down team up with Creed in 2024 and all the more heartbreaking when they had to step aw...