#AlternativeFacts

New York City rock icon Albert Hammond, Jr. swung by Billboard's office last Thursday morning, just hours after playing the biggest solo headlining show of his life. Of course he'd played to massive crowds around the world with the Strokes, but this one was special -- a sold-out gig on his home turf playing only tracks from his decade-plus solo career. We talked about the killer new LP 'Francis Trouble,' his role in the popular book 'Meet Me in the Bathroom,' why he's always kind of wanted to change his name, and a whole lot more.

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The new LP from Calgary-bred post-punks Preoccupations is one of the best alternative albums we've heard so far this year. They also have a great story about playing Third Man Records while Jack White attempted one of his patented vinyl experiments. Join Matt Flegel and Scott Munro as the band formerly known as Viet Cong recounts how it got fans to start looking past their controversial old moniker.

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Alternative pop troubadour BØRNS has stories for days. This includes: trekking from his native Michigan to play ukulele songs for Max Martin in L.A., hanging with Halsey at a Playboy Mansion party, serenading Taylor Swift's #squad with "Electric Love" at Coachella, collaborating with his pal Lana Del Rey on his new album "Blue Madonna." He also plays us a voice memo off his phone which may or may not make it onto his third LP.

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We heard about the up-and-coming indie musical Pop Punk High and had to get them on the show. The New York City-based show combines all the touchstones of early 2000s pop-punk culture -- suburban high schools, Avril Lavigne, skateboarding, dick jokes -- into an awesomely original production that we think "has legs" (that's what they say in theater right?) They're going places! Here's our chat with three of its stars.

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Here's the legend himself chatting about many, many things: getting his start in the Florida punk scene, the labels that shaped him, what went on in the 2000s emo boom, and new album 'Crooked Shadows,' the first Dashboard Confessional album in 9 years.

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Jenna and Jake from Syndey, Australia's Tonight Alive discuss coming of age on their brand new fourth album, "Underworld." This line from Jenna sums it up: "The more polished our sound became, the less polished my image became.”

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First episode of the new year! Our weekly podcast (new one every Thursday!) kicks off with a chat with punk cult hero Jeff Rosenstock. We discuss how he's been using all resources available to him -- online and off -- to release music on his own terms for almost two decades. This includes his new LP 'POST-', released on New Year's Day and the tunes he's been working on for a new Cartoon Network series. We also talk about Alkaline Trio and ska a lot.

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For our last episode of the year, we go deep on all things emo, welcoming Tom Mullen, who has ran the blog/podcast/DJ night Washed Up Emo since 2007. We chat about interviewing the likes of Dashboard Confessional and the Get Up Kids for his just-released book 'Anthology of Emo, Vol. 1' along with plenty of other tales from defining and defending the genre the past 10 years.

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Weaves are an awesome Toronto punk band who like their guitar riffs weird and their mosh pits friendly. Frontwoman Jasmyn Burke and guitarist Morgan Waters chat about their killer 2017 LP 'Wide Open' -- "a classic rock road record, but filtered through a female point of view," as Burke puts it.

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Front Bottoms singer-guitarist Brian Sella chats about his band's decade-long DIY success story, and all the friends he's made along the way. We'll talk about new album 'Going Grey,' keeping the old fans happy, going to a barbecue at Mark Hoppus' place (!!!), and plans for a new addition to the band's "Grandma Series." We swear the state of New Jersey did not sponsor this episode.

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