Editors' Picks: Five Punk and Hardcore Podcasts to Get You Through Social-Distancing

The Quarantine is in full effect now! People are crawling up their walls! To keep you somewhat sane, Punknews' Mike Musilli has rounded up a selection of choice punk and hardcore podcasts to help you bide the time. What else have you got to do? Check out his picks below.

Five Punk and Hardcore Podcasts to Get You Through Social-Distancing
Mike Musiili

Now that we’re all well-settled into the terribly weird quarantining, it’s worth talking about some of the better punk and hardcore podcasts out there. For those of us stuck working from home, or worse out of work at home, listening to a good podcast can be a great way to get our minds off the madness of the outside world. Aside from the powerhouse that is the Punknews Podcast, there are a few others out there that offer great content, post episodes consistently, and bring dimension to the punk and hardcore world. I don’t pretend to listen to these podcasts religiously, but they all offer really great episodes and are worth searching through for your listening pleasure.

Axe To Grind: This is the most complete hardcore-focused podcast of the bunch. Hosted by Tom Sheehan (Indecision/Most Precious Blood), Pat Kindlon (Drug Church/Self-Defense Family), and Bob Shedd (all-around hardcore lifer), Axe to Grind covers a lot of content. They’ve had Mindforce, Restraining Order, Anxious and more play live sets on the podcast. They take deep dives into specific hardcore scenes, band histories, decade recaps, band vs. band, and more. The breadth of content here keeps Axe to Grind consistently fresh. Their conversation are witty, funny, sarcastic, and sometimes just weird. “Goodbye Berlin Wall Hello Great Hardcore” is a standout episode for this impressive podcast.Check that out here!

That One Time on Tour: This is the most lighthearted podcast of the group. Christopher Swinney (The Ataris/Brazil) hosts, and does great interview work in drawing out funny and weird stories from his guests. Swinney draws on some of the most interesting personalities in punk rock to flesh out each episode. His interviews with Ray from Teenage Bottlerocket and Chris Hannah from Propagandhi are two of the best episodes from “That One Time on Tour.” Check that out here!

Ill Street News: What’s best about Ill Street News is that they cover the heaviest of heavy hardcore, and they’re great at covering local and lesser-known hardcore bands. Their weekly episode of “Tim’s Metal Show” even allows for band submissions, a great nod to DIY culture. They typically have an interview or two for every episode, and play a lot of songs too. That aspects gives Ill Street News a cool retro-radio vibe. Check out their interview with Joe Hardcore on episode 111. It’s great conversation about Philly and This is Hardcore Fest. Check that out here!

Brooklyn Blast Furnace: Jimmy Ferrari, the host of Brooklyn Blast Furnace, does a wonderful job allowing the podcast to weave into and out of hardcore in each episode. He interviews a ton of big personalities, but he doesn’t keep the discussion to just hardcore. He lets it go wherever it needs to, and that makes BBF a dependably good listen. He’s branched out a bit too, interviewing people from the horror movie, skateboarding, graffiti, and tattoo worlds as well. Episode 12 with Life of Agony’s Mina Caputo, and episode 110 with Underdog’s Richie Birkenhead both stand out. Check that out here!

100 Words or Less: Hosted by Taken vocalist Ray Hawkins, this podcast combines the punk and hardcore world with other inspirational artists to offer some compelling discussions. Some of the episodes here are really motivating and, dare I cringe, inspirational. But it’s true. Hawkins often puts ingenuitive and intellectual twists on typical hardcore and punk fare in the episodes. His interview with Ian McFarland on episode 381 is a great ‘deep-dive’ conversation, as is episode 342 with Dann Galluci (Murder City Devils/Modest Mouse). Check it out here!