By Colin malone | April 9, 2025
When Eugene Hutz, lead singer of the internationally famous punk band Gogol Bordello, created his record label Casa Gogol Records in 2023 he sought to showcase the underground punk and hardcore scene in New York City. This goal culminated in the release of the new compilation album “NYContinuity Vol. 1: New New York Does Old New York”, an album consisting of new songs from on the rise NYC artists as well as covers from their favorite artists, such as Sonic Youth and Talking Heads. April 5, 2025, the day after the album’s release, Hutz brought the release party to The Bowery Ballroom with most of the featured artists.
First band to the stage was TwoWayRadio. A more recent hardcore band from NYC consisting of Dylan Schreifels, Ezio Friedman, and Stanley Gettens, they took the stage early and got the night started off strong getting the audience ready for a night of rock, moshing, and good times. Pons was next to grace the stage, made up of Jack Parker, Andzia Brzozowska, Kaitlin Pelkey, and Ozzie Silva. Based out of North Carolina, the glam inspired, noise rock band took one day off their tour currently rolling through the west coast, to join in on the fun.
Up next was a big draw of the evening, the NYC live debut of the new band The Yagas, fronted by Vera Farmiga, known for her acting roles in films such as The Departed and The Conjuring series. Joined by Renn Hawkey, Jason Bowman, Mark Visconti, and Mike Davis, this dark moody, atmospheric rock is one not to be missed as their first album comes out on April 25th. Vera brought out friend Liev Schrieber, who told the audience his story of meeting Eugene Hutz while directing the film Everything is Illuminated and doing research to understand the Ukrainian setting of the story. Hutz then joined The Yagas on stage for an incredibly powerful performance.
Puzzled Panther, the 2024 NYC punk band, followed and kept the high energy up. The main forces of Puzzled Panther are Victoria Espinoza and Kay Bontempo, joined by Hutz and Yeah Yeah Yeah’s drummer Brian Chase. Espinoza and Bontempo’s powerful voices accompanied with the loud fuzz of the punk rock made an excellent addition to the night. Puzzled Panther had their own surprise of the night as well in bringing out Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley for a few songs. Grace Bergere took things down for a moment when she took the stage, having a more ethereal atmospheric quality. Her set was one that felt very personal and from a place deep down. Finally closing out the venue was Mary Shelley, made up of Jackson Dockery, Charlie Hull, Sam Pinson, and Taylor Yancey. A band that takes the all encompassing genre of “post punk” while being hard to pin down sonically. They rocked the stage and ended the long night bringing out all of the night’s performers still remaining by the time the venue was getting ready to end the show.
Colin Malone is a freelance photographer for Majestic Music Magazine. See more of his work here
