Episode 118: Year-End Punk Rock Favorites

It’s our annual year-end blowout episode! Mike breaks down some of his favorite punk rock, emo, pop punk, hardcore, Midwest emo, melodic punk albums from the past year. This one’s a doozy — packed with guest picks, special guest appearances, and a ton of music for you to listen to, discover, and hopefully fall in love with. Featuring discussions and music from bands like: Brutalligators, Deforesters,Casper Fight Scene, Dave Hause And The Mermaid,Teen Mortgage – Ultra sonic Dream,Sex Faces – Bad Vibes OST,The Vicious Cycles – Get Wrecked, Spiritual Cramp,The Hives, Ghost Factory – Socialist Trash, Night Committee – Your Plans Mean Nothing, Final Boss Fight, Coheed and Cambria, Creeper, Doug McLean , Arms Length ,Home Front, Tired Radio,Hot Mulligan,Elway ,Ravagers,AFI,School Drugs,Propagandhi ,Hazzerd,The Names of Our Friends,Seth Anderson,Unseemlier,Oh The Humanity,Sam Russo,Little Low, Mike Koop, JSM, Chixdiggit, Sketchy Records, Ways Away,

We love year-end lists, so if you want to send yours in, please do. Half the fun is checking out bands we might’ve overlooked or totally missed, and your list might turn us on to our next favorite records of 2025

If your band is mentioned on the show and you’d prefer it removed, just let us know — no hard feelings. Everything we feature is purely to promote the bands and music we love and want others to check out.

You can find High Fives Punk Rock Podcast on most streaming platforms. Please subscribe, like, leave a comment, or whatever you’re feeling. Honestly though, the best thing you can do is tell a friend to check us out — that helps us way more than anything else.

Find us online:

Instagram: @highfivespodcast

Upscrolled: @highfivespunkrock

Substack: @highfivespunkrockpodcast

High fives,
Mike & Justin ✋

Whether you're into punk, emo, Ska, shreddy metal, or DIY hardcore, one of the best ways to discover new bands is checking them out live. There is something special about a band that can make you fall in love with them without ever hearing them before and its one of those things that is centric to the music we love.

In Episode 117 of the High Fives Punk Rock Podcast, Mike and Justin break down the bands they truly fell in love with only after seeing them live. Have a listen to the episode and hear what bands did this for us and why?

Featuring music and discussions about bands like Larry and His Flask, Kvelertak, Brand New Unit, Automatic 7, The Vandals, Protest the Hero, 3 Inches of Blood, Riot City, Gumm, The Mendozaz, Jimmy Eat World, Ben Quad, Ghost Factory, Mean Jeans, The Weakerthans, School Drugs, Elway, and Coup D'état. Check out the episode and get your lists in too

Special thanks goes out to Daniel for the list suggestion!

Welcome to our Halloween Episode. Who doesn't love a great song to spook up your night? In episode 116 Justin and Mike go through their collections and pick a handful of punk rock songs to get your ready for Halloween. Featuring discussions and music from Alkaline Trio, The Specials, American Television, TBD, AFI, The Dahmers, Messer Chups, Touche Amore, Chixdiggit, The Browns, Night Court!, Pale Lips, Half Dizzy, Vic Ruggerio, Seth Anderson, Structure Sounds, The Caroyln Unicorn Dogs, and more...

Make sure to check out this episode and send your list in too. You can find us @highfivespodcast

We would love to hear your favorite punk and punk adjacent songs get your ready for Halloween and if you are feeling up to it your favorite Halloween Costume or memory.

High Fives Punk Rock podcast is a punk rock podcast featuring music and discussions about bands that we think you should check out so make sure if you find something you like you add the band to your collection however you consume music these days. Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts