Happy Monday! Hope you had an amazin’ weekend! Today is the 30th Anniversary of KROX (101X)/Austin. The station signed on June 8, 1995. Last Friday, 101X celebrated by having The Black Keys The Night Before Pre-Party with an exclusive warm-up show for listeners. Big congrats to Lynn Barstow and the 101X team!

We kickoff the first day of the week with Chris Booker from KYSR (ALT 98.7)/Los Angeles sharing his fun stories on #HAPPENS Famous Firsts. 

Sombr “Back To Friends” lands the #1 song this week on the Mediabase Alternative Chart. Congrats to Warner’s Rob Goldklang, David Ravikoff & the Sombr team! Great story on the New Yorker, now-based in Los Angeles, who turns 20 next month. Goldklang and Ravikoff share, “Congrats to all our friends at alternative radio. Sombr has 2 massive streaming songs both over 10 million US this week and the first to play/support was all of you. 10 weeks and the fastest a BRAND NEW artist has moved up the charts to #1.”

Yellowcard continues buzzing at Alternative. “Better Days” is the #1 Most Picked song again this week on Alternative Picks. Find the rest of the Top 5 Most Picked Songs on Alternative Picks. Yellowcard also lands the only chart debut at 27* this week.

Your Alternative New Music Discovery #HAPPENS with new music from The All-American Rejects, The Starting Line, King Falcon, The Happy Fits, Mumford & Sons, and Three Days Grace now available for you to listen, download, and get song info on the #HAPPENS Alternative Downloads page. 

Ross Mahoney is now hosting Alternative Soundcheck on WBTZ (99.9 The Buzz)/Burlington, VT, while he continues to search for his next programming opportunity. Get the full story on Alternative News.

Matt Maeson announces 42-date tour and shares a heartbreaking new song. “Everlasting” is not the first radio single from Maeson but look for a new single coming soon. Bad Religion, Pennywise, Descendents & The Interrupters will headline Punk In The Park Los Angeles on October 4-5. Get the 411 on Alternative Music Info. 

Dustin Carlson from KDKB (ALT AZ 93.3)/Phoenix shares a photo from Mystic Knights ALT Session. Check out the smiles on Alternative Photos.

ICYMI-Garbage performed “There’s No Future In Optimism” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last Wednesday from their new album, Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, released last month. Check out the performance HERE. More coolness! Did you see Shirley Manson graced the cover of the New York Times Style section last week, calling her the “Godmother Of Rock.” Read the feature HERE.

ALTERNATIVE NEW MUSIC DISCOVERY  

The All-American Rejects “Easy Come, Easy Go” (Slick Shoes) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Stillwater, Oklahoma 4-piece The All-American Rejects released “Easy Come, Easy Go” on June 5th. 

Lead singer Tyson Ritter says, “Easy Come Easy Go” was written in an air of ferocity that only certain song can fly free in. My brain was begging to purge about someone from my past who never got their proper druthers. It’s a song about a weathered love, thunder and lighting after the sunshine and rainbows.” 

In April, The All-American Rejects released a fan track “Sandbox.” The new music will be on the band’s first new album since 2012. The All-American Rejects legacy of hits includes “Swing, Swing,” “Dirty Little Secret,” “Move Along,” and “Gives You Hell.” The band played pop-up “House Party” concerts throughout the midwest in leading up to the release. 

The All-American Rejects will be playing Warped Tour Long Beach on July 26th before heading out on tour beginning August 10th at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey. They will be playing Shaky Knees Festival on September 20th and Aftershock on October 2nd. Find the tour dates HERE. 

The Starting Line “Sense Of Humor” (Lineage Recordings / SoundOn) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Philadelphia’s The Starting Line released “Sense Of Humor” on June 4th. It’s from the band’s first album in 18 years due out this fall via new TikTok label SoundOn. 

Vocalist Ken Vasoli shares, “Spending a quarter of a century with all our original members and spanning an 18 year gap between the most recent albums is not easy. There is an often unspoken trust and love for the result of us making music together all this time. We couldn’t have survived a life in the music industry without a proper sense of humor. This song reminds us what absurdities we’ve been faced with in life, and focuses on the original spirit of influences that brought us together in the first place. We are doing our best to tap into what feels timeless about music and boil our approach down to the essentials. We’re continuously honing and improving which is exhilarating when thinking of the future of this band. It feels like we make a great team.” 

In 2015, The Starting Line made their first return when they released an Anyways EP and the title track was heard in an episode of The Vampire Diaries. The Starting Line tour starts on August 22nd in New York through October 26th in San Diego. Find the tour dates HERE.

ing Falcon “Plastic Crown” (Mascot) 

Listen & Download HERE.

New York City 4-piece King Falcon released “Plastic Crown” on June 4th. It’s from the band’s forthcoming second album. 

Lead singer/guitarist Michael Rubin says, “‘Plastic Crown’ is about a close relationship that falls apart and you realize how toxic of a situation it was. You don’t realize how much better life is until they are out of it. The song came together quick in the studio when the band added their personal touches to the original idea, and you can hear the final result. It is the first song we are releasing with this lineup, and we couldn’t be more excited for people to check it out.” 

Michael is a Queens native, who grew up obsessed over classic rock band like Steely Dan and Led Zeppelin, but admits they don’t sound like either of these bands. The band has been compared to The Black Keys and The White Stripes. Blown away by demos, Mascot Label Group signed the King Falcon in the middle of the Global Pandemic without even meeting them in-person or seeing them live. 

King Falcon played at #HAPPENS Las Vegas 2025 and have tour dates throughout the summer. Find the tour dates HERE. 

The Happy Fits “Everything You Do” (Diamond City)

Listen & Download HERE.

New Jersey 4-piece The Happy Fits released “Everything You Do” on June 4th. The new single will be on the band’s fourth album, Lovesick, due out September 19th. It’s the first new music since 2022 and features a lineup change. 

Lead singer Calvin Langman says, “I read somewhere that the amount of married US adults dropped from 67% in 1990 to 53% today. At the same time, over 50% of millennials are taking on multiple jobs and ‘polyworking’. I’m no data scientist, but why is it so damn expensive to be in a relationship these days? Maybe it’s just my social circles and algorithm, but there’s a shared feeling amongst the hoi polloi of being overworked, underpaid, and underloved. It’s not that we don’t want to be in relationships, it’s just that we simply can not afford to love. ‘Everything You Do’ is my own internal battle of fighting for my heart vs. my (metaphorical) 401k. Knowing me, the heart always finds a way to win…” 

Happy Fits have UK dates in the fall and will return to US for tour dates in November. Find the tour dates HERE. 

Mumford & Sons “Caroline” (Glassnote) 

Listen & Download HERE.

London trio Mumford & Sons released their second single “Caroline” on June 4th. 

On the chorus, Marcus Mumford sings: Caroline, you can go your own way. But my face will follow you down and fill your dreams. The stars can keep your secrets. I don’t wanna owe them anything. So I will draw the line. Draw the line. Oh, Caroline.

It’s the follow up single to their #1 Alternative Single “Rushmere,” the title track from their fifth album, released on March 28th. Rushmere is the spot where Mumford & Sons first met in Wimbledon. 

Mumford & Sons has US tour dates from June 5th through October 26th. Find the tour dates HERE. 

Three Days Grace “Apologies” (RCA) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Canadian quintet Three Days Grace released “Apologies” on June 4th. It’s from the band’s eighth album, Alienation, due out on August 22nd. 

Three Days Grace drummer/keyboard/backing vocals Neil Sanderson says, “This song’s a mirror for anyone who feels like they’re too far gone to be loved. How it hurts more knowing someone did love you—just not enough to save you from yourself.  Apologies don’t rewind time.”

Last fall, Three Days Grace announced the return of original singer Adam Gontier to the band’s lineup, joining lead vocalist Mike Walst. Three Days Grace has several chart topping songs at Alternative including “Pain,” “(I Hate) Everything About You” “Animal I Have Become”, and “Never Too Late.” 

Three Days Grace has a co-headline tour with Breaking Benjamin from August 29th through October 12th with appearances at Louder Than Life and Aftershock festivals. Find the tour dates HERE. 

Dropkick Murphys “Who’ll Stand With Us?” (Dummy Luck / Play It Again Sam)

 

Listen & Download HERE.

Boston’s Dropkick Murphys released “Who’ll Stand With Us” on June 3rd. The single is a call for unity and is from the band’s 13th album, For The People, out July 4th. 

Lead singer Ken Casey says, “We’ve always had the same message and haven’t been afraid to speak out about what’s important to us. But for me now, I think about my kids’ future, and the next generation. That could be anything from speaking out against injustices, or just simply making sure you take the time to tell the people close to you how important they are to you.” 

The Dropkick Murphys will be on tour this summer with Bad Religion. Find the tour dates HERE.

ALTERNATIVE IMPACTING SONGS

Impacting June 10, 2025

Arrows In Action “Cheekbones” (Nettwerk)

Balu Brigada “Backseat” (Atlantic)

The Lumineers “A**hole (First We Ever Met)” (Dualtone)

Malcolm Todd “Bleed f/OMAR APOLLO” (Columbia)