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Mariel Loveland of Best Ex talks about leaving the world she knew with Candy Hearts, making the new album Good Girl, and what it’s actually been like being a woman inside the pop-punk scene.

Before Best Ex, Mariel fronted Candy Hearts, playing Vans Warped Tour and sharing stages with bands including New Found Glory. It was the career she'd wanted, but the reality wasn't always what she'd imagined. Mariel remembers tour after tour where being the woman in the room became part of the problem. Eventually she reached a point where she had to decide whether fitting into that world was worth it.

Her answer became Best Ex.

We get into that transition, why she was initially afraid to step out from behind the identity of a band, and the realization that much of Candy Hearts' creative vision had actually been hers all along.

Then there's Good Girl, Best Ex's 11-track album produced by Andy Tongren of Young Rising Suns. The record brings Mariel back toward guitar-driven '90s alternative rock while writing about adulthood, identity and the expectations women inherit as they get older. Iodine Recordings is releasing the album, with Mariel and Tongren credited across the record.

Mariel breaks down several songs in the interview. “Good Girl” came from questioning why women so often get defined as somebody's daughter, wife or mother instead of simply as themselves. “Sick of Myself” turns the messy, flawed male narrator of '90s rock songs around and asks why women aren't afforded the same space to be imperfect. “Papercut” deals with the smaller daily cuts of living in a culture that repeatedly rewards people and behavior she can't understand. And “Living in Hell” takes a different turn: sometimes the person who hurt you doesn't need revenge because living with themselves may already be punishment enough.

We also talk about imposter syndrome, social media, the “token girl band” problem Mariel still sees in pop punk, and why seeing dads bring their daughters to punk shows means so much to her.

There's also the story of how a DM eventually led Candy Hearts to work with Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory—because Mariel initially assumed he was just being nice and ignored his request for demos. And when we get to dream collaborations, she has one name ready: Jack Antonoff.

If you've followed Mariel since Candy Hearts, tell us what first pulled you into her music. And if you're finding Best Ex through this episode, let us know which song you're starting with.

Subscribe to The Hang! for more conversations with artists about the parts of making music that usually don't make the press release.

#MarielLoveland #bestex #goodgirl #WomenInMusic #PopPunk #AlternativeRock #musicinterview 

https://bestexnj.bandcamp.com/album/good-girl

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Austin punk band CorMae started with a social media ad and a dream. Now vocalist Amber Appleton and drummer Aaron Gilligan are talking about their album "Everything Is SO GREAT!", signing with DC-Jam Records, and what it actually costs to chase a career in punk rock.

Amber didn't start out playing punk. She grew up singing, spent years performing folk, country, and indie music, and eventually left a career as a paralegal to put everything she had into CorMae. Aaron came to Austin from New Zealand in 2021 to pursue music. They met through the local music scene, fell in love, and eventually started building a band together.

On this episode of The Hang!, we get into how CorMae developed its sound, mixing late-'90s riot grrrl, early-2000s indie rock, garage punk, and the wonderfully strange world of egg punk.

Their seven-song album "Everything Is SO GREAT!" takes the everyday frustrations of trying to survive and turns them into loud, funny, sometimes painfully relatable songs.

Amber explains how "Credit Card? You Got It!" came out of losing jobs, struggling to pay bills, and repeatedly reaching for her credit card to stay afloat. She also talks about "ADHD," the mental overload of juggling music and everyday responsibilities, and "Tired," a song about exhaustion, uncertainty, and trying to keep a dream alive.

We also talk about CorMae's signing with DC-Jam Records, their experiences touring with of Montreal, and their first independent western U.S. tour, the Sunny Side Tour, running October 21 through November 12, 2026.

One of my favorite parts of this conversation is hearing Amber explain why she wants to be right in the middle of the audience. She doesn't want people standing around watching a performance. She wants them participating, shouting, dancing, and feeling like they're part of something.

That leads us into a bigger conversation about the punk community, women in music, riot grrrl, and why independent musicians need people to show up and support them.

We also get into Karen O and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bikini Kill, Aaron's love of post-punk, and Amber's Riot Them Collective, which supports femme-fronted and queer-fronted rock bands.

If you've ever wondered how independent punk bands survive financially, what goes into booking a DIY tour, or why punk music still brings people together, there's plenty here to talk about.

SUPPORT CORMAE

🎵 Music, vinyl, CDs, cassettes and merch: https://cormae.bandcamp.com/

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4D5AqxIGoCoCHMB0IfAkWx

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cormae_band/

🏷️ DC-Jam Records: https://app.dcjamrecords.com/

📩 Band inquiries: [email protected]

Check out CorMae's music, catch them on tour, and tell us which song you connected with.

Riot theme playlist 

Subscribe to The Hang! from Almost Famous Magazine for more conversations with the musicians making the music worth showing up for.

#CorMae #RiotGrrrl #EggPunk #AustinPunk #DCJamRecords #PunkRock #IndependentMusic #TheHangPodcast

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Cocktail Slippers guitarist Stine “Rocket Queen” Bendiksen and bassist Astrid “Sugar Cane” Waller join The Hang! to talk about 25 years of the Oslo rock band and their new album, Joyride.

Rocket and Sugar go back to the beginning, when a previous garage rock band called The Barbarellas lost its singer and drummer. Instead of calling it quits, the remaining members started writing their own songs, changed the name and eventually became Cocktail Slippers.

The band's sound pulls from very different places. Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, punk, progressive rock, jazz, ’80s and ’90s hard rock and Scandinavian rock all come up in the conversation. Those differences also shape how Cocktail Slippers write. Rocket says songwriting means rehearsing, jamming and rewriting until the song works. Their other rule is pretty simple: if somebody in the band really hates something, they don't use it.

That brings us to Joyride. Rocket and Sugar talk about the title track, “Don't Know Why,” “This Town” and why some songs can take years to finally reach their finished form. “This Town” started with a bass idea from Sugar and became a song about Oslo that they believe could really be about anyone's hometown. Rocket has also described the track as intentionally more pop-leaning than much of Joyride.

There's also a great story about Stevie Van Zandt. Rocket and Sugar remember getting a call from his office in 2004 after he had been playing their music on his radio show. That relationship eventually led to Wicked Cool Records and roughly two decades of working together. They respect Stevie's musical instincts, but they don't automatically agree with him. Sometimes they push back. Sometimes they stop talking for an hour. Then they get back to work.

The conversation also gets into women in rock, mansplaining and the meaning behind “She Devil,” plus Joan Jett's influence on Rocket and some advice Joan gave her about taking time for fans.

Rocket and Sugar also talk touring, the Underground Garage Cruise, the pressure musicians now feel to constantly create social media content, why selling merch at shows still matters, and the simple combination that's kept Cocktail Slippers alive for 25 years: stubbornness and loving the music.

Watch the full conversation, tell us your favorite Cocktail Slippers song below, and subscribe to The Hang! for more conversations with the people making the music.

#CocktailSlippers #joyride #StevieVanZandt #LittleSteven #norwegian #womeninrock #RockAndRoll #musicinterview 

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Alex Windsor plays guitar in Bad Cop/Bad Cop, but "Superego" is something different. It’s her first solo EP, six songs that let her step outside the band and finally find out what happens when the songs, lyrics and decisions are hers.

Alex joins The Hang! to talk about making "Superego", the self-doubt that almost kept her from doing it, and the long road that took her from a small Illinois town to international punk stages.

Her connection to music started young, but Green Day’s "American Idiot" changed the direction of her life. She remembers being 13, realizing she could actually play those songs and thinking, “If they can do this, I can do this.” She went on to study music and jazz, worked as a teacher and session player, moved to Los Angeles through Guitar Center and eventually joined a band she had already become a fan of: Bad Cop Bad Cop.

We get into how that background followed her into Bad Cop/Bad Cop and the making of the band’s 2025 album "Lighten Up". Alex talks about bringing jazz harmony, music theory and a different guitar vocabulary into punk without losing what makes punk work. Bad Cop Bad Cop currently features Stacey Dee, Linh Le, Myra Gallarza and Windsor, with "Lighten Up" released through Fat Wreck Chords.

Then we get into "Superego".

“Fix Me (Tear Me Apart)” grew out of Alex’s experience with people trying to make her fit their idea of who she was supposed to be. “Goddess Complex” takes on imposter syndrome and the uncomfortable gap between how other people see you and how you see yourself: “I wish I could love myself the way you love me.” And “Light” closes the EP with a different idea of love—standing beside someone and fighting for their rights, happiness and existence.

Alex also talks about Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy helping her see that even accomplished songwriters wrestle with fear, why taking care of yourself on tour matters more than living out some outdated rock-and-roll fantasy, and what it means to look into a Bad Cop Bad Cop audience and see young girls watching women own the stage.

One of Alex’s favorite things to do after a solo is find a young girl near the front and hand her the guitar pick. For Alex, it means: your turn.

We also talk Green Day and Billie Joe Armstrong, Prince, Paul McCartney, The Baboon Show, Honey Revenge, Winona Fighter, touring Europe and the moment at Punk Rock Holiday in Slovenia when Alex realized the kid with the big dream had actually gotten there.

What part of Alex’s story connected with you most? Let us know below, and subscribe to The Hang! for more conversations with the people making the music.

https://www.instagram.com/alexnicolewindsor/

www.youtube.com/@alexnicolewindsor

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https://music.apple.com/us/album/superego-ep/6817935522

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Lia Braswell spent years behind the drum kit for artists including A Place to Bury Strangers, Le Butcherettes, Sextile and She Wants Revenge. On The Hang!, she talks about why making her solo album Rising meant finally creating something that was completely hers.

Her relationship with music started before she really understood what music was. As a five-year-old in Van Nuys, Lia remembers feeling the vibrations of her older brother playing music in the family garage. After he died from cancer, drums became part of how she processed the loss. By seven she was taking lessons, eventually moving through jazz, alternative rock and the Southern California DIY scene before touring internationally.

That career took Lia to Coachella and stages around the world, but there was another side to it. She tells Scott that after years of putting her own ideas on the back burner to play for other artists, she began feeling isolated and inauthentic. The pandemic stopped the touring cycle. Getting sober pushed things further. Instead of immediately going back on the road, she sat down and finished the record she had kept putting off.

That record became Rising, released by Waxwork Records.

Lia gets into several songs during the conversation. “Romantic Comedy” came from the fantasies and emotional rush that can follow an unexpected connection. “Entitlement” grew out of the uncertainty of 2020, a band breakup and her tendency to turn blame back on herself. “Carve My Name” is tied directly to her late brother and an old family video she didn't see until decades after it was recorded.

Then there’s “Gloomy Gazebo,” the song Lia calls her favorite on the album. Its roots go back to a lonely night on tour in Brighton when she found herself dancing alone by the water and confronted a surprisingly difficult idea: what would it actually mean to fall in love with herself?

We also get into her new single “If Not for the Chaos,” her work with Derek Coburn, life after getting sober, and the challenge of supporting independent musicians in a world where creating the music is only part of the job.

Watch the episode, tell us which part of Lia’s story connected with you, and subscribe to The Hang! for more conversations with artists about how the music actually gets made.

#LiaBraswell #rising #womeninmusic #femaledrummer #dreampop #musicinterview #TheHangPodcast

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Lia Braswell: Drummer, Songwriter and Solo Artist

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In this episode of 'The Hang!', Tipa Tipo take us inside a musical and romantic partnership built across Peru, New York and beyond. Adele and Felipe explain how they learned to create together without letting perfectionism, disagreement or artistic insecurity derail the relationship.

This interview explores the making of Arquetipas, arriving October 2, 2026 via Bit Rosie, and the deeply personal story behind “No Me Fui” — a song Felipe wrote about getting lost inside a relationship without wanting to leave.

They also break down “My Country Se Come Vivo,” “Solo Mover Mi Cuerpo,” “Peter Pan” and “Boyfriend Island,” while exploring how Spanish, English, politics, movement, color and cultural identity shape their music.

What You’ll Learn from Tipa Tipo:

* How Tipa Tipo blends cumbia, salsa, disco and yacht rock

Why vulnerability and imperfection became part of their process

Subscribe to The Hang! from Almost Famous Magazine for more artist interviews, new music discoveries and conversations about the stories behind the songs.

#TipaTipo #Arquetipas #TropicalYachtRock #LatinMusic #TheHang #yachtrock 

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CHAPTERS:

00:00 – Meet Tipa Tipo & Arquetipas

The Hang! Podcast – Presented by Almost Famous Magazine

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Alex Band, founder and lead singer of The Calling, talks about his Parkinson’s diagnosis, the band’s 22-year wait for a new album, and why he refused to change The Calling’s sound just to follow whatever was popular.

The Calling return with Before The World Turns To Dust, their first full-length album since 2004’s Two. Alex tells me he had been trying to make another Calling record for roughly 15 years, but label problems, his solo career and a serious health crisis kept getting in the way. The new 15-track album was produced by John Fields and features Alex alongside Daniel Damico and Dom Liberati. It arrives digitally September 25, 2026.

We get into the new single “Dust” and why Alex sees it as the natural song for somebody who knows The Calling through “Wherever You Will Go.” He also talks about resisting years of pressure to make music that sounded like whatever happened to be current. Some of those songs, he says, simply didn’t sound like him.

There’s a lot more behind this record than a comeback.

Alex talks about being diagnosed with Parkinson’s at 30 and reaching a point where he says he couldn’t walk and spent roughly six months using a wheelchair. Years later, after treatment and significant improvement, new scans no longer showed the disease. Alex is careful about what that means: he says his doctors couldn’t tell him for certain whether the disease had gone dormant or whether the original diagnosis may instead have been Parkinson’s syndrome.

One of the hardest parts of the conversation is “The Fool That You Are.” Alex wrote the song for his younger brother while his brother was struggling with drug use. His brother later died from an overdose during COVID, and Alex says the lyrics now line up with what eventually happened in a way he never could have expected.

We also go back to “Wherever You Will Go,” which Alex wrote as a teenager. The song eventually spent 23 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Airplay chart and has passed one billion Spotify streams. Alex remembers nearly emptying his bank account when the label was ready to stop pushing the single.

Then we get into how much the music business has changed: streaming economics, buying physical music, touring, merchandise and what Alex thinks AI could mean for musicians over the next five years.

Watch the episode and tell me what part of Alex Band’s story surprised you most. Subscribe to The Hang! for more conversations with the people behind the music.

#AlexBand #thecalling #whereveryouwillgo #rockmusic #musicinterview #TheHang 

https://www.thecallingmusic.com

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Erik “Smelly” Sandin, longtime drummer of NOFX, sits down with The Hang! to talk about addiction, 34 years of sobriety, the end of NOFX’s live run, 40 Years of Fuckin’ Up, and why punk rock gave him a purpose.

Sandin’s relationship with music started long before NOFX. Growing up in Southern California, he remembers hearing Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Miles Davis around the house. By his teens, he just wanted to play. It didn’t really matter what instrument. Drums happened to be the open spot in a punk band, and he took it.

That eventually led to NOFX and a completely different life.

Erik talks about developing his approach behind the kit and why “less is more” became central to the way he plays. For him, drums aren’t there to fill every available space. They’re there to support the song. That leads into a great conversation about young musicians, social media, technical ability, AI-generated music and the difference between copying something well and actually creating something of your own.

The conversation gets much more personal when Sandin talks about heroin addiction. Fat Mike eventually told him that unless he went to rehab and got sober, he was out of NOFX. Erik describes that moment as realizing he was about to lose the last thing in his life that still meant something to him. He went into a 60-day program determined to give it everything he had. More than three decades later, he says one of the biggest changes wasn’t simply stopping drugs. It was acceptance.

Erik also looks back at his relationship with Fat Mike, the intervention NOFX later held for him, the band’s final shows and what it was like realizing just how far this group of teenage punks had traveled. NOFX concluded its farewell tour with three San Pedro shows in October 2024 after more than four decades together.

There’s also 40 Years of Fuckin’ Up, the 2026 James Buddy Day documentary about NOFX’s history and farewell run, and a conversation about why the Punk Rock Museum matters as a place where the punk community can actually see its history under one roof.

And before Erik has to run, we talk about something else changing punk: more women finding their place in the scene and more parents bringing their daughters to shows.

We didn’t get to everything. Pickle Stix, Erik’s custom surfboard company, is waiting for Part 2. Sandin turned his longtime surfboard-shaping hobby into a business during the pandemic.

What part of Erik’s story hit you the hardest? Drop it in the comments, and subscribe to The Hang! for more conversations with the people making music and the people who helped shape it.

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In this episode of 'The Hang!', Wonderland Rejects make their second appearance on The Hang! following a huge few months that included performing at Doll Fest and completing their sophomore album, Hello Rejects, arriving August 29.

This interview explores a band refusing to stay inside punk rock’s traditional boundaries.

Where Goodbye Wonderland embraced a raw, old-school punk sound, Hello Rejects goes deeper—mixing punk with blues, hip-hop, EDM, dance music, Tejano and grunge. The band even describes the evolving sound as “New Grunge.”

Alice, Dolly and Kitty break down the creative evolution behind the record, from more ambitious guitar work and unusual drum patterns to “Thank You Billie Holiday,” which recognizes the Black blues musicians whose influence runs through rock, punk, metal, rap and popular music.

They also discuss “El Rey Rojo,” bringing Spanish and Tejano influences into their music, and “Cardboard Me,” a slower and surprisingly complex song that pushed Kitty into new rhythmic territory.

But Hello Rejects goes beyond musical experimentation.

The band explains why their songwriting has shifted from primarily exploring their own experiences as queer and trans women toward confronting larger issues including racism, white supremacy, representation and supporting marginalized communities.

What You’ll Learn From The Band:

• Why Wonderland Rejects call their evolving sound “New Grunge”

The conversation also introduces Artisan Octopus, the band's new live-events and media collective built around a simple idea: different artists, communities, generations and musical styles can remain completely themselves while still working together.

As the band puts it:

Support your artists. Buy the record. Buy the merch. Go to the show. Support your local music community.

And subscribe to The Hang! from Almost Famous Magazine for more conversations with independent artists pushing music forward.

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#WonderlandRejects #HelloRejects #punk #punkrock #grunge #newgrunge #thehang #podcast 

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Wonderland Rejects discuss the evolution of their sound from the punk roots of Goodbye Wonderland to their latest release, Hello Rejects.

This conversation features the band members breaking down the creative shift between their earlier work and their current musical direction. If you follow indie punk music, this discussion provides insight into how the group approached their songwriting process and artistic growth.

Beyond the interview, you get a look at the energy behind their live performance style. We examine the contrast between their raw, old-school punk influences and the new textures present in Hello Rejects. Fans of the band can hear firsthand what inspired this transition and how they view their evolution as musicians.

Catch more artist interviews and band spotlights by subscribing to the channel. Which track from Hello Rejects do you connect with the most? Let us know in the comments.

00:00 Wonderland Rejects Return

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In this episode of The Hang!, Elliot Lozier takes us from discovering The Offspring as a kid and teaching himself drums, guitar, bass and mandolin to the formation of Doom Scroll and the creation of Exhausted Dialogue.

This interview explores Doom Scroll’s unusual combination of punk aggression, folk instrumentation, metal influences and layered harmonies—as well as the almost unbelievable string of disasters that inspired “The Ravine.” Dead vans, flooded gear, shattered windows and an actual ravine rescue eventually became fuel for the music.

Lozier also explains the video-game concept behind Exhausted Dialogue, the surveillance themes of “Panopticon,” the endless grind behind “Sisyphus,” and the existential dread driving “Horsemen,” featuring Ian Cook.

What You’ll Learn:

* How Doom Scroll created its aggressive acoustic folk-punk sound

Here’s what you’ll learn about the DIY philosophy behind Doom Scroll, the musicians who bring the songs alive onstage, and why Elliot dreams of one day recording with Rick Rubin.

🎸 Support independent music: stream or buy Exhausted Dialogue, see Doom Scroll live, grab merch, and subscribe to The Hang! for more artist interviews.

#DoomScroll #ElliotLozier #FolkPunk #PunkRock #punk 

https://www.doomscrollband.com/

https://doomscrollband.bandcamp.com/album/immoral-compass

https://www.instagram.com/doomscrollband

DOOM SCROLL TOUR DATES

August 20 — Sioux Falls, SD — The Den

*Doom Scroll only; no Hans Gruber and the Die Hards.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Meet Elliot Lozier & Doom Scroll

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