Happy Monday! Hope you had an amazin’ weekend! We kickoff the first day of the week with Forrest Griffen from KROX (101X)/Austin sharing his fun stories on #HAPPENS Famous Firsts. 

Yellowcard made a big return last Wednesday with their new single “Better Days” and it’s the #1 Most Picked song this week on Alternative Picks. Find the rest of the Top 5 Most Picked Songs on Alternative Picks. 

Shinedown “Three Six Five” is the #1 song this week on the Mediabase Alternative Chart. Congrats to Atlantic’s Greg Dorfman & the Shinedown team! 

The Hives “Enough Is Enough” is the only new song on the Mediabase Alternative Chart, debuting at 40* this week.

Your Alternative New Music Discovery #HAPPENS with new music from Yellowcard, Rise Against, Balu Brigada, and Sports Team now available for you to listen, download, and get song info on the #HAPPENS Alternative Downloads page. 

Justin Schaflander rises to VP/Market Manager at Cumulus Atlanta. Get the full story on Alternative News.

Young The Giant just announced “In The Open 2025 Acoustic Tour,” an intimate concert experience performed in beautiful spaces and venues around the country. It kicks off in Honolulu on August 15th. Find more info on Alternative Music Info. 

KFRR (New Rock 104.1/Fresno’s Soundhouse returned last Thursday night with Phantogram. Jason “Hammer” Squires” shares an industry snap. Dave Barbis from Big Loud Rock checks in from the road with HARDY. Check out the smiles on Alternative Photos.

#HAPPENS Las Vegas 2026 is set for February 25-27. Lock in these dates on your calendar now. Early registration is opening soon. Look for the early bird discount registration link to arrive in your inbox.

ALTERNATIVE NEW MUSIC DISCOVERY  

Yellowcard “Better Days” (Better Noise Music)

Listen & Download HERE.

Jacksonville’s Yellowcard released “Better Days” on May 28th. 

It’s the title track from the band’s first new album in 9 years, set to drop on October 10th via Better Noise Music. The new collection was produced by blink-182’s Travis Barker, who plays drums on every song on the new record. The single is an unflinching reflection on gratitude, forgiveness, perspective, and purpose. 

“I started the record as one version of myself and came out the other side changed, says front man Ryan Key who credits Barker with a significant impact on his personal and creative studio breakthroughs. “I went in knowing I needed help. I came out of it writing songs like I was 19 again.” 

Yellowcard became one of the most influential pop punk bands in the 2000’s. The band’s 2003 breakthrough Ocean Avenue album is certified Platinum with the title track hit single now certified 2 times platinum. After disbanding in 2017, Yellowcard reunited in 2022 entering into a new creative era and released the title track from their Childhood Eyes EP in 2023 and have been riding a resurgence from the Ocean Avenue 20th Anniversary Global Tour. Yellowcard will be playing both nights of When We Were Young Festival in October.

Rise Against “I Want It All” (Loma Vista/Concord) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Chicago’s Rise Against released “I Want It All” on May 28th. It’s from the band’s 10th album, Ricochet, out August 15th. 

The new single follows a fan track “Nod” that was released in January. It’s the first new music since the band’s last album, Nowhere Generation, in 2021.

“I Want It All is about being unapologetic about your goals and embracing the work that it takes to get there,” says Rise Against. Lead singer Tim McIlrath adds, “The algorithm wants our attention so it is designed to make us laugh or cry, but mostly, it wants us to be angry, because that is how it spreads the furthest. Like a pile of marbles, hit hard. Who benefits from our anger? Questions we don’t ask, as we fire away.” 

Rise Against will play Warped Tour Long Beach in July and Rise Of The Roach Tour runs September 10th through October 5th. Find the tour dates HERE.  

Balu Brigada “Backseat” (Atlantic) 

Listen & Download HERE.

New Zealand duo Balu Brigada released “Backseat” on May 29th. 

It’s the follow up to Balu Brigada’s #1 Alternative single “So Cold.” The new single arrived with the New York-based brothers announcing their debut album, Portal, will be released on August 29th. 

Balu Brigada said, “The album was written & produced by the two of us and is a reflection of our commitment to experimentation in the studio. Finishing this album on the road has been a beautiful slog, and we’re proud of every rough edge and obsessive detail.” 

They have released two EPs and their first world tour was opening for twenty one pilots. Balu Brigada played their first headline tour at the beginning of 2025 and head out on The Portal North America Tour in October and November. Find the tour dates HERE. 

Sports Team “Moving Together” (Bright Antenna) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Cambridge, UK 6-piece Sports Team released their new single “Moving Together” on May 23rd. The newest single is from the London-based Sports Team’s third album, Boys These Days, also now available. 

“Looking back at the finished record, if there is a thread to the album, it is that dissonance of modern life,” explains guitarist and lyricist Robert Knaggs. “You wake up in the morning, and by the time you have your breakfast, you’ve scrolled through 8000 different narratives that have no cohesive thread. As you go through Instagram Stories, Twitter, or whatever, you get an insane combination of things like porn, tragedy, war, violence, sex, money, inspirational quotes… there’s no narrative anymore, no unifying myth. You’re in the churn and there is no thread guiding you back through the labyrinth.”

The new single “Moving Together” explores obsessions of a different kind. Not only does it start by musically quoting the national fixation that is the Coronation Street theme, (“ITV have a percentage on the song now!”) the track raises that shared concern of whether it is true love or proximity that is keeping couples together – and whether one is truly better than the other.