Happy Monday! Hope you had an amazin’ weekend!  We kickoff the first day of the week with Brady Marks from WNWV 107.3 Alternative Cleveland sharing her fun stories on #HAPPENS Famous Firsts. 

Royel Otis “moody” is the #1 Most Picked song this week on Alternative Picks. Find the rest of the Top 5 songs on Alternative Picks. 

The Head And The Heart “Arrows” shoots up to the #1 song this week on the Mediabase Alternative Chart. Congrats to Interscope’s Robbie Lloyd and The Head And The Heart team! Lloyd says, “The Head And The Heart is the #3 Most Played Song at Alternative Radio Mediabase for 2025.”

Interscope also has the only two Alternative Chart debuts this week with Royel Otis “moody” debut at 33* and yungblud “Lovesick Lullaby” debut at 38*.

Your latest Alternative New Music Discovery #HAPPENS with new music from Wolf Alice, 311, Arrows In Action, Robert DeLong, and Nation Of Language featured this week. Listen, download, and get song info on the #HAPPENS Alternative Downloads page. 

bby has released a new version of “Voices In My Head” that comes with a Royel Otis tour announcement. Queens Of The Stone Age will release Alive In The Catacombs on June 5th. Watch the trailer and find out more on Alternative Music Info.

Eddie Ybarra and Reed Petitpren from WFZZ (104.3 The Fuse)/Appleton hang with The All-American Rejects at a pop-up concert. Check out the smiles on Alternative Photos.

Randy Slack checks in from WRMR (98.7 Coastal Carolina’s Modern Rock)/Wilmington-Greenville, NC with an update on Modern Rock’s Battle Of The Bands Food Fight this past Saturday 5/17 benefitting the Sneads Ferry Community Center. Five local bands — Audiomelt, Cape Fear Rising, The Girls, Lowland Blues, and Forty-Two — were chosen out of tons of entries to battle it out for a shot at $1,000 and landing a song on Modern Rock 98.7’s New Music Underground Category for at least 2 weeks of airplay. The winner is …Cape Fear Rising.

KTBZ (94.5 The Buzz)/Houston has the return of BUZZFEST this Saturday, May 24th featuring Chevelle, Marilyn Manson, Blue October, P.O.D., Evans Blue, Stabbing Westward, and Sleep Theory at The Woodlands Pavilion. Find more info on BUZZFEST HERE.

ALTERNATIVE NEW MUSIC DISCOVERY  

Wolf Alice “Bloom Baby Bloom” (RCA)

Listen & Download HERE.

London, England 4-piece Wolf Alice released “Bloom Baby Bloom” on May 15th. It’s the lead single from their fourth album, The Clearing out August 29th. 

Written in Seven Sisters, North London, England and recorded in Los Angeles with Grammy Award® winning, master producer Greg Kurstin last year, The Clearing reveals where Wolf Alice stand sonically in 2025. 

“I wanted a rock song, to focus on the performance element of a rock song and sing like Axl Rose, but to be singing a song about being a woman,” says lead singer Ellie Rowsell. “I’ve used the guitar as a shield in the past, playing it has perhaps been some way to reject the ‘girl singer in band’ trope, but I wanted to focus on my voice as a rock instrument so it’s been freeing to put the guitar down and reach a point where I don’t feel like I need to prove that I’m a musician.”

311 “Need Somebody” (SKP) 

Listen & Download HERE.

311 released “Need Somebody” on May 16th. It’s the third single from their Full Bloom released at the end of 2024. They have released thirteen studio albums, two greatest hits albums, two live albums, three DVD’s and a boxed-set, and have sold over 9 million records in the U.S.

 Formed in Omaha, Nebraska in 1990, 311 features Nick Hexum (vocals/guitar), Chad Sexton (drums), Tim Mahoney (guitar), SA Martinez (vocals/dj), and P-Nut (bass). As veterans of over 2,000 shows across 27 countries, 311 is one of the longest running original lineups in rock.

Ten albums have reached the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top 200 Sales Chart – and nine of their singles have reached the Top 10 on Billboard’s Alternative Radio Chart – including three #1 singles: “Down,” “Love Song,” and “Don’t Tread On Me” – along with “Amber,” “All Mixed Up,” “Come Original,” “Creatures For Awhile,” “Hey You,” and “Sunset In July.”

311 Unity Tour 2025 with Badflower and Sitting On Saturn begins June 20th and ends August 29th. Find the tour dates HERE. 

Arrows In Action “Cheekbones” (Nettwerk) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Gainesville, Florida trio Arrows In Action released “Cheekbones” on May 14th. The lead radio single about situationships is from the now-Nashville based band’s third album, I Think I’ve Been Here Before (Side A) out May 16th. The album was produced by longtime collaborator Dan Swank (All Time Low, Charlotte Sands, Pale Waves).

“I Think I’ve Been Here Before explores themes of nostalgia, breaking out of old habits, and trying to see your past and present in a new light,” reflects Arrows In Action on the new collection. “Side A focuses on the positives of these themes, with a brighter sound, upbeat lyrics, and a catchy blend of pop and rock that anyone can fall in love with.” 

Arrows In Action will be playing on the Summer School Tour from July 11th in Detroit through August 10th in Philadelphia. They will also play on the 2025 Vans Warped Tour in Orlando on November 15th. Find the tour dates HERE.

Robert DeLong “SWITCHBLADE (Feat. Luna Aura)” (Round Hill)

Listen & Download HERE.

Los Angeles-based Robert DeLong has released “SWITCHBLADE (Feat. Luna Aura)” on May 14th. It’s from his deluxe edition of PLAYLIST of DOOM: After DARK coming out on June 20th. Written by DeLong, McKenzie Ellis (Mothica), and Maize Olinger, “SWITCHBLADE” reflects on personal alienation, obsession, and one’s hidden dark side. 

DeLong says, “Sonically and lyrically it is somewhat untrodden territory for me, but diving into that dark, gothy character in my vocal performance and during production was a fun ride. The sort of high speed intensity of the song feels almost reminiscent of drum and bass, yet is offset by the dark wave synths, lyrics, and the sort of surfy lead guitar line which recalls Joy Division or Depeche Mode. After recording the demo, I began to see that maybe the song made a lot of sense as a duet. I then sent it to Luna Aura (who I had intended to work with for a number of years), and she quickly returned with an amazing performance that perfectly matched the tone of the song. Hervoice rides that line of pop directness but rock intensity and aggression that I felt fully captured the sentiment in the lyrics, and brought the song to a new level.” 

DeLong grew up in the suburbs of Seattle in Bothell, Washington. His breakout single “Long Way Down” was in 2015. 

Nation Of Language “Inept Apollo” (Sub Pop)

Listen & Download HERE.

Brooklyn, NY-based trio Nation Of Language has signed to Sub Pop and released their new single “Inept Apollo” on May 15th. 

Lead singer Ian Richard Devaney had this to say about the new song: “Work is a respite from pain. Whether it’s a paying job or just the thing you pour yourself into, having a direction to move in, finding a flow state, it can move focus away from the heaviness of the heart. So after life’s losses, in moments of despair, we resolve time and time again to dive headfirst into the work as best we can. But the artistic process also tends to be when imposter syndrome rears its ugly head – when I find my inner monologue spiraling: ‘this is the best coping mechanism I have at my disposal and I’m not even qualified to be doing it.'”

The single arrived ahead of Nation Of Language performing at the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena, CA, on Saturday, May 17th and at Kilby Block Party in Salt Lake City on Sunday, May 18th. They will support Death Cab For Cutie on its Plans: 20th Anniversary Tour in Seattle on July 31st and August 2nd and in Chicago on August 5-6. Nation Of Language head out on tour beginning August 21st in Hamden, CT through October 30th in Washington, DC. Find the tour dates HERE.