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Photo: Since We Were Kids!’s new album is called Armageddon Session. Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by Raquel Figlo PR with permission. Since We Were Kids!, the skatecore band from Southern California, recently released their new album, Armageddon Session, which is now available on vinyl courtesy of Irish Voodoo Records. The punk-rock outfit, […]

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2 weeks ago

May 20, 2025

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Photo: Since We Were Kids!’s new album is called Armageddon Session. Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by Raquel Figlo PR with permission.

Since We Were Kids!, the skatecore band from Southern California, recently released their new album, Armageddon Session, which is now available on vinyl courtesy of Irish Voodoo Records. The punk-rock outfit, featuring brothers Art Banura on drums and Danny Banura on vocals and guitar, plus bassist Frank Chavez, has been going strong for more than two decades, and they show no signs of stopping. These days they couple their aggressive songs with reflection on how the world has changed, but they still like their old antics, like skateboarding in backyard pools.

“I want to say two years ago we started writing it,” Danny said in a recent phone interview about the new album. “It probably took us a year to record it because we were tweaking shit and making it sound the way we wanted it to sound. It was definitely a long process, and finally it came out at the end of 2024. We just made a vinyl for it, and that’s pretty much why we’re trying to really hype it up now.”

One of the key songs on the new recording is called “Past Tense,” which is a nostalgic trip down memory lane, back to the day when Art and Danny would enjoy playing punk rock and skating around in pools. Oh, wait, they still do that on a regular basis, but sometimes it feels like the world has moved on from that skatecore scene. In the song, the actual pools where the brothers skate become a metaphor for how they view the world today versus yesterday.

“We’re getting old, man,” Danny said. “We thought we were rad back in the day. Modern-day fans, they don’t take it the same. … The older the swimming pool the better it is, and they try to fix it up to make it modern, I guess you could say. They have love seats. They add a lot of shit to them to make them more modern. What we’re saying is we think they’re awesome [as is], and we still love it, and it’s old. Modern-day society, they don’t like it. They want to make it better. They want to make it modern.”

Art notices how the culture has changed, too. When he and Danny started skateboarding, they were on the fringes of society, like the scenes documented in the influential documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys. Back then, skateboarding was a hobby. Today, skateboarding has become a sport.

“Skateboarding has changed to the point now where it’s in the Olympics,” Art said. “When we were doing it, it was kind of a rebel thing. It was kind of underground. You had to seek it out and find it. You weren’t bombarded with it, and now it’s a mainstream thing, kind of like music, too. Younger people and the younger generations were into different kinds of music. The punk rock music is different now than it was when we were doing it. It was a little faster then, and it was kind of like more driving. And now it’s just more about image and more about looking cool.”

Danny added: “We’re still living in the past tense. I guess we’re still living in the past. We still value the past over the present.”

The brothers still skateboard all the time. Art said he gets out there twice per week, and Danny is right there as well, maybe every three days or so. They typically skate “permission pools,” or drained concrete ovals that they have permission to skate. They crank the music and hit the backyards with friends. If there’s not a good pool in the neighborhood, they’ll stop at a skatepark — somewhere in the desert region where they live, not too far from the lonely highway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

“When we don’t have a pool in a certain area and if there’s a good park, we’ll take a few runs there,” Art said. “Our general thing is definitely the backyard pools. They’re very difficult. They’re not made to skate, and they’re never the same thing. So it’s always creative. It’s always fun.”

Danny concurred: “You could have two kidney pools … made by two different builders, and it will skate two different ways. It’s a mental and a physical challenge. That’s what I love about it. It’s still challenging and fun, I guess. We’re old, so we try to stay young doing that shit.”

Combining punk rock with skateboarding culture was a natural fit for the brothers. They remember when they were children meeting up with older skateboarders, and these cultural elders showed them the music of Agent Orange, Social Distortion and the Sex Pistols. They were hooked.

“The two went hand in hand, and then when we saw our first Thrasher magazine, that’s kind of how it was,” Art said. “It was punk rock and skateboarding. You just kind of got swept up in it. We started focusing on music once we started seeing the skate videos and hearing the soundtracks. That’s where we got to the point where we started playing music. My brother started playing guitar and playing in bands before I did, but that’s where it stemmed from.”

Danny remembers back in the day when Thrasher used to release skate rock tapes. They would pick them up and think to themselves how f—ing hard the bands sounded. The aggression of the fast-paced music appealed to Danny and Art.

“Where are these f—ing bands skating at?” Danny wondered at the time. “Skate rock is what they called it. I gravitated a lot to that. … I liked that shit. To me punk was punk, and then skate rock was next-level punk.”

These memories are what informed the creation of Armageddon Session. The brothers like to make their music and hope that fans dig the tunes as well. For example, Art remembers playing the song “Armageddon Session” at some of their live gigs, and the sonic onslaught went over well.

“We were playing ‘Armageddon Session’ the song before we recorded it, and people were digging it,” Art said. “It’s aggressive, but it’s not a fast aggressive. And it’s got a heavier beatdown part at the end — a breakdown, I would say. … We tried to mix it up and included as much as the aggressive stuff as we did the more melodic stuff because we like a good mix of everything. It’s got to have that energy, or else it’s just boring.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Since We Were Kids! have a new album called Armageddon Session, which is out now on vinyl from Irish Voodoo Records. Click here for more information.

Image courtesy of the band / Provided by Raquel Figlo PR with permission.

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ROAD TO A HOME WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGINS IN LA SEU FOR AUSTRALIAN CANOE SLALOM TEAM THIS WEEKEND

With 117 days to go until the ICF Slalom World Championships arrive in Sydney, the Australian Canoe Slalom team are preparing to get their 2025 international season underway in Spain, this weekend. Olympic gold medalists Jessica and Noemie Fox headline the 10-strong team that will compete at the 2025 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup 1 […]

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54 minutes ago

June 5, 2025

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With 117 days to go until the ICF Slalom World Championships arrive in Sydney, the Australian Canoe Slalom team are preparing to get their 2025 international season underway in Spain, this weekend.

Olympic gold medalists Jessica and Noemie Fox headline the 10-strong team that will compete at the 2025 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup 1 in La Seu from Friday 6 June through until Sunday 8 June.

“The main objective that I have my eyes on this year is the World Championships…a home World Championships in a career is very special,” Noemie Fox said.

“But also the World Cups this year, I’m really looking forward to challenging myself – it’s a bit of a harder schedule with just one run, straight to top 12 and into the final.

“So I think there’s a lot more challenges this year for me, but I’m excited to step up in my slalom events and to maintain my Kayak Cross world rankings and titles,” she said.

It is the first of five World Cup events, with the season set to culminate in Penrith for the 2025 ICF Slalom World Championships.

The World Cup 1 program will start with the men’s and women’s Kayak Heats and Finals on Friday, before the men’s and women’s Canoe Heats and Finals on Saturday, and wrap up with the Kayak Cross on Sunday.

Among the Australians competing this weekend is World Cup and senior national team debutant Ben Ross.

“Debuting on my first senior team is very exciting, and for me it’s all about coming into the Worlds with a performance objective, do as well as I can, but also really lapping up the experience, enjoying the opportunities that being on the senior team provides and just trying to get as much out of the experience as I can.

“I’m racing World Cups 1 and 2, in La Seu (Spain) and Pau (France), and then I’ll be taking a break for World Cup 3 for the U23 World Championships…they’re quite close to each other.

“I went to Seu and Pau for the first time last year, just for training and I was really privileged to be able to do that.

“Seu is quite unique – I’ve watched a lot of my fellow team mates race there in the past and watched a lot of races online, but never myself.

“But I feel like I’m in a good place, I’ve had a bit of training on the course but it’s a really special place in Slalom history, with the 1992 Olympics and to be able to race there will be super exciting,” Ross said.

The 2025 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup season will be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports Australia and Kayo Sports.

2025 ICF CANOE SLALOM WORLD CUP 1

Friday 6 June

7:30pm AEST | Women’s Kayak Heats
8:29pm AEST | Men’s Kayak Heats
11:05pm AEST | Women’s Kayak Final
11:47pm AEST | Men’s Kayak Final

Saturday 7 June

7pm AEST | Women’s Canoe Heats
7:50pm AEST | Men’s Canoe Heats
10:04pm AEST | Women’s Canoe Final
10:47pm AEST | Men’s Canoe Final

Sunday 8 June

6pm AEST | Kayak Cross Time Trial
10pm AEST | Kayak Cross Heats
11pm AEST | Kayak Cross Quarterfinals
11:40pm AEST | Kayak Cross Semi Finals
12am AEST | Kayak Cross Finals

AUSTRALIAN TEAM

Jessica Fox (Women’s Kayak, Canoe, Kayak Cross)

Noemie Fox (Women’s Kayak, Canoe, Kayak Cross)

Kate Eckhardt (Women’s Kayak, Canoe, Kayak Cross)

Lucien Delfour (Men’s Kayak, Kayak Cross)

Tim Anderson (Men’s Kayak, Kayak Cross)

Ben Pope (Men’s Kayak, Kayak Cross)

Tristan Carter (Men’s Canoe)

Kaylen Bassett (Men’s Canoe)

Ben Ross (Men’s Canoe)

Georgie O’Callaghan (Women’s Kayak Cross)

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Mater Dei, Sage Hill win CIF State boys volleyball championships – Orange County Register

The Mater Dei and Sage Hill boys volleyball teams won CIF State championships over the weekend. This is the first season that CIF State championships have been held for boys volleyball. Previously, the volleyball season ended with regional playoffs. All of the state finals were played at Fresno City College. In the Division II final […]

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2 hours ago

June 5, 2025

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The Mater Dei and Sage Hill boys volleyball teams won CIF State championships over the weekend.

This is the first season that CIF State championships have been held for boys volleyball. Previously, the volleyball season ended with regional playoffs.

All of the state finals were played at Fresno City College.

In the Division II final on Friday, Mater Dei defeated Clovis Buchannan in four sets, 17-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-20.

Monarchs sophomore Jeremiah Postasi had a team-high 16 kills in the match.

Sage Hill won the Division III championship Saturday by defeating San Francisco International, 25-19, 25-16, 25-23.

Mira Costa continued its season-long dominance by winning the Division I title by defeating San Jose Archbishop Mitty, 25-14, 15-15, 25-21.

The Mustangs defeated Huntington Beach 3-0 in the CIF Southern California Regional final and defeated Huntington Beach in five sets in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 final.

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Sports

Long Beach To Host 7 Paralympic Sports In 2028

LONG BEACH, CA — Long Beach has been selected to host seven sporting events for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games, city officials said in a statement Tuesday. Long Beach’s waterfront will serve as the backdrop for para climbing, para swimming, shooting para sport, sitting volleyball, blind football (soccer), para rowing and para canoe-sprint, according […]

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2 hours ago

June 5, 2025

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LONG BEACH, CA — Long Beach has been selected to host seven sporting events for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games, city officials said in a statement Tuesday.

Long Beach’s waterfront will serve as the backdrop for para climbing, para swimming, shooting para sport, sitting volleyball, blind football (soccer), para rowing and para canoe-sprint, according to city officials.

“We are incredibly proud and honored that Long Beach will host seven Paralympic sporting events for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement Tuesday. “This milestone truly showcases our commitment to inclusion, athletic excellence and community spirit.”

SEE ALSO: Flying Taxis May Help Ease LA Traffic During 2028 Olympics

The 2028 games mark the debut of para climbing, which, along with para swimming, will take place in the convention center lot, Long Beach city officials said. Shooting para sport will take place at a temporary indoor range, sitting volleyball at the Long Beach Arena, blind football (soccer) at Alamitos Beach, and para rowing and para canoe-spring at Marine Stadium, city officials said.

Earlier this year, Long Beach was selected to host 11 Olympic games in 20028, including beach volleyball, handball, water polo, sailing and target shooting.

City officials said Tuesday that Long Beach’s involvement in the Olympic and Paralympic games will raise its international profile as a “world-renowned destination for business, tourism and special events.”

“It will also generate significant economic activity for the city and enhance the livability of Long Beach residents and visitors for generations to come,” city officials said in a statement.

The Olympic Games are set to take place from July 14 to 30, while the Paralympic Games will be hosted from Aug. 15 to 27.

To ease travel in and around game venues, Los Angeles County officials are considering implementing a water taxi and a flying taxi.

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MiLB FastCast

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2 hours ago

June 5, 2025

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Sports

Moody Center match highlights 2025 schedule

Thomas Jones, Austin American-Statesman | Hearst – Austin Transition Texas volleyball announced its complete 2025 schedule Tuesday, which will feature 10 home matches at Gregory Gymnasium as well as a historic contest at Moody Center. The schedule also features a 15-match SEC regular-season slate, the renewed SEC volleyball tournament and 14 total matches against teams […]

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2 hours ago

June 5, 2025

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Thomas Jones, Austin American-Statesman
| Hearst – Austin Transition

Texas volleyball announced its complete 2025 schedule Tuesday, which will feature 10 home matches at Gregory Gymnasium as well as a historic contest at Moody Center.

The schedule also features a 15-match SEC regular-season slate, the renewed SEC volleyball tournament and 14 total matches against teams that reached last season’s NCAA Tournament.

The home matches will start Sept. 7 against national power Stanford at Moody Center, which will mark the first time Texas has played in the three-year-old home of the Longhorns basketball programs. Expanding his program’s footprint has long been a goal for Texas coach Jerritt Elliott, and he has said that he expects 10,000 fans to pack into Moody Center for the match.

Gregory Gymnasium, which has an official capacity of 4,000, can cram in a little more than 5,000 fans and regularly sells out for volleyball matches.

Texas, which went 20-7 and reached a regional semifinal in 2024, will open its season Aug. 29 at the inaugural Opening Spike Classic in Madison, Wisc. against Creighton and plays Aug. 31 against Wisconsin. Creighton ended the Longhorns’ hopes of three consecutive national titles.

Texas Longhorns volleyball 2025 schedule

Aug. 29: vs. Creighton, Kohl Center, Madison, Wisc

Aug. 31: at Wisconsin, Kohl Center, Madison, Wisc.

Sept. 3: at Rice

Sept. 7: vs. Stanford, Moody Center

Sept. 10: vs. Louisville, Dickies Arena, Fort Worth

Sept. 14: vs Arizona State

Sept. 17: vs. TCU

Sept. 19: vs. Baylor

Sept. 24: vs Vanderbilt*

Sept. 26: vs. Missouri*

Oct. 1: at Georgia*

Oct. 5: at Mississippi State*

Oct. 8: vs. Tennessee*

Oct. 12: at Alabama*

Oct. 17: vs. Arkansas*

Oct. 19: vs. Oklahoma*

Oct. 24: at Ole Miss*

Oct. 26: at LSU*

Oct. 31: at Texas A&M*

Nov. 2: vs. Kentucky*

Nov. 7: at Florida*

Nov. 12: at Auburn*

Nov. 16: vs. South Carolina*

– Times and television broadcast information for all Texas volleyball matches will be released at a later date.

– All vs. games at Gregory Gymnasium unless otherwise noted

– All SEC games denoted with *

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Ecore Athletic Partners with Professional Baseball

Ecore Athletic, provider of high-performance athletic flooring solutions, announced a new strategic partnership with the Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society (PBSCCS). Through this collaboration, Ecore is the official flooring provider of the PBSCCS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the profession of strength and conditioning in professional baseball. The PBSCCS is composed of […]

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3 hours ago

June 5, 2025

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Ecore Athletic Partners with Professional Baseball

Indoor Batting Cages For Baseball Softball 3d rendering illustration

This partnership comes at an important time in the evolution of player performance and facility design. The ratification of the first Collective Bargaining Agreement between MLB and Minor League Baseball players in March 2023 includes provisions requiring every minor league team to maintain a professional strength coach and a fully outfitted weight room. This underscores the growing emphasis on facility quality and safety standards across MLB, Minor League Baseball and international baseball operations.

Ecore’s advanced flooring solutions are engineered to support the demands of elite athletes and the professionals who train them. With a full collection of surfaces that support multiple applications – from weight rooms and walkways to wet areas, dugouts, recovery spaces and meeting rooms – Ecore Athletic provides performance, safety and ergonomic solutions across entire athletic facilities.

“This partnership with PBSCCS is about more than flooring – it’s about making an impact on the daily performance and long-term well-being of baseball athletes and coaches,” said David Sides, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Ecore. “We’re proud to be aligned with an organization that shares our commitment to health, safety and human performance. Ecore’s solutions are designed to meet the real-world challenges of professional training environments – from energy restitution to sound management to enhanced traction and force reduction.”

Ecore Athletic already has a proven track record with some of baseball’s most respected organizations, including the Los Angeles Dodgers. Brandon McDaniel, Director of Human Performance for the Dodgers, is a longtime advocate for prioritizing flooring in training design.

“In a high-performance environment like ours, every detail matters – including the flooring,” McDaniel said. “Ecore Athletic products bring the kind of durability, safety and support we look for to help our athletes and staff perform at their best.”

McDaniel added, “It’s not just about the players. Coaches, trainers and staff spend hours a day on their feet. The right flooring impacts everyone’s health, focus and endurance, and Ecore understands that.”

Matthew Krause, Administrative Director of PBSCCS and former Director of Strength and Conditioning for the New York Yankees, emphasized the value of the new relationship.

“We are excited to welcome Ecore as the official flooring provider of the PBSCCS,” said Krause. “Their innovative flooring technologies and commitment to athlete wellness align with the goals of our members and the evolving needs of today’s training environments. This partnership supports our mission to elevate standards across the professional baseball community.”

Ecore Athletic offers a diverse range of advanced flooring solutions designed to improve ergonomics, acoustics and athlete safety, tailored to meet the specific needs of various athletic and fitness environments.