Hit the Lights

The Lima, Ohio-based emocore band Hit the Lights formed in the summer of 2003. Vocalist Colin Ross and guitarist Omar Zehery had previously teamed together in the little-known group Goodbye Session, while guitarist Nick Thompson tenured with the Summer Departure. Bassist David Bermosk and drummer Nate Van Dame (a former roadie for emo favorites Hawthorne Heights) completed the lineup, and after taking their name from a track on Metallica's influential debut LP Kill 'Em All, Hit the Lights earned a fervent cult following on the basis of their feverish live shows. Studio time followed, and the group recorded a split EP with A Day in the Life and Red Affair, 2004's From Ohio with Love. After self-releasing the Until We Get Caught EP in 2005, Hit the Lights signed to the Triple Crown label, which reissued the disc in advance of the band's first full-length effort, 2006's This Is a Stick Up...Don't Make It a Murder. In 2007, Ross parted ways with the band, and Nick Thompson took over as the vocalist for 2008's Skip School, Start Fights. Guitarist Kevin Mahoney joined the lineup for the following year's Coast to Coast EP, and in 2012 the quintet released Invicta on the Sony subsidiary Razor & Tie. In 2014 the band inked a deal with Pure Noise Records and began work on their fourth studio long-player. The resulting Summer Bones dropped in March of the following year.

Action/Adventure (A/A) is a pop-punk band hailing from Chicago ready to shatter decades-long stereotypes of the scene. Comprised solely of BIPOC, their mission is to create #PopPunkInColor and ensure pop punk is a genre where everyone is represented on and off stage. Playing collectively together since 2014, the group has gotten attention from alt scene tastemakers like Alt. Press and Kerrang!, garnered nearly 20k monthly listeners on Spotify, over one million plays on TikTok, and even secured a slot at the final Vans Warped Tour in 2018.<br><br> The band consists of Adrian Brown (drums), Blake Evaristo (lead vocals), Manny Avila (bass), Oren Trace (guitar), and Brompton Jackson (vocals/guitar). They’ve released multiple singles along with three EPs, Rumble Pak (2015), Last Minute Stuntman (2016), &amp; Going Heel (2018), and are set to release their fourth EP, Pulling Focus, in April 2021.<br><br> Typically landing somewhere near melodic hardcore, the dynamic five-piece collectively write music that slides along the vast spectrum of pop punk. Poppy lyrics and melodies bring an air of familiarity that are simultaneously bringing a fresh perspective through a new lens, and gripping riffs and thrashing breakdowns that you can nod your head to, they draw inspirations ranging from Fall Out Boy to Senses Fail and Four Year Strong.<br><br> A/A has now successfully planted their flag into the national landscape of the pop-punk scene following the release of their powerful 60-second single, “Barricades,” which details discrimination each band member has faced while gigging at pop-punk shows across the country. On a whim at the suggestion of a friend, guitarist and vocalist Brompton Jackson posted the impactful music video for “Barricades” onto TikTok one afternoon with their hashtag #PopPunkInColor, and uninstalled the app shortly after. By the end of the day, they had over 60k plays. Within three weeks, the guys had over one million plays and an email from their dream label in their inbox.<br><br> Now poised to release their first EP as a signed Pure Noise Records act, Pulling Focus, is releasing on April 30, 2021. Now labelmates with the same acts they grew up listening to, (Senses Fail, Four Year Strong, &amp; The Story So Far), the band is set to make even bigger waves in the scene. Come catch the A/A wave.