We Speak Music

VÆB arrive with ‘Gimme More’

Published

3 months ago

May 27, 2026

VÆB arrive with ‘Gimme More’ sounding like they’ve raided a glitter-soaked time capsule and rebuilt it with modern circuitry. The Icelandic duo lean hard into their trademark chaos-pop sensibility, turning nostalgia into something hyperactive and strangely fresh. There’s an immediate sense of movement in the track, like it’s already halfway through a dance routine before you’ve even hit play. It’s playful, self-aware, and deliberately unpolished in all the right places.

What stands out most is the production’s refusal to sit still. Electro-swing textures collide with sped-up pop instincts, creating a sonic palette that feels both retro and algorithmically engineered. The track doesn’t chase subtlety; it thrives on momentum. Every bar feels like it’s trying to outdo the last, yet somehow it never tips into overload. Instead, it finds that sweet spot between chaos and control.

VÆB’s vocal chemistry remains a defining weapon. The brothers’ delivery feels conversational one moment and theatrical the next, as if they’re swapping characters mid-line. There’s a Gen Z irony running through it, but it never undermines the sincerity of the hook. Even when the track winks at its own absurdity, it still wants to be remembered as a pop song first and foremost.

Lyrically, ‘Gimme More’ plays with desire in its most exaggerated form—less emotional plea, more pop-cultural chant. It’s not trying to reinvent thematic depth, but it reframes want as performance. That self-awareness is what keeps it engaging. The repetition becomes hypnotic rather than hollow, pulling listeners deeper into its neon-lit orbit.

Ultimately, ‘Gimme More’ feels like VÆB doubling down on their identity before their debut album lands. It’s loud, slightly unhinged, and intentionally maximalist. If this is the entry point into VÆBOUT, it suggests a record that refuses restraint in favour of pure, engineered exhilaration.

We Speak Music

SCARECROW’s John Blaze Delivers a Career Milestone With “Twisted” and Earns Josie Music Awards Song of the Year Nomination

Published

4 hours ago

August 31, 2026

Jimmy Star

John Blaze has spent nearly four decades fronting SCARECROW, the New York hard-rock outfit he founded in 1989, and in 2026 he delivered one of the most ambitious releases of his career with “Twisted.” Now, the song has reached another major milestone: “Twisted” has been nominated for Song of the Year in the Metal/Alternative category at the Josie Music Awards.

The nomination places Blaze and SCARECROW among this year’s recognized independent artists and songwriters at the Josie Music Awards, with the awards ceremony set to take place at Nashville’s legendary Grand Ole Opry. For an artist whose career has been built on persistence, independence and decades of hard-rock storytelling, the recognition gives “Twisted” an entirely new chapter.

Written by John Blaze and Chaffin, “Twisted” pulls together a lineup of guest players that reads like a rock family reunion, built around Blaze’s long-standing friendship with Dee Snider and the legacy of Twisted Sister, a band woven into SCARECROW’s story from its earliest days.

That connection goes all the way back to the beginning. SCARECROW’s original lineup featured guitarist Eddie Ojeda, best known for his work in Twisted Sister, and the two camps have remained connected ever since. “Twisted” makes that history explicit: Dee Snider appears on the record with guest vocals during the track’s climactic second verse and chorus, lending the song an instantly recognizable jolt of arena-rock power.

Snider isn’t the only marquee name in the credits. Mark Wood, founding violinist of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, contributes electrifying violin work that gives “Twisted” a cinematic sweep uncommon in modern hard rock. Rounding out the track are TJ Jordan on lead guitar and Bobby Marks on drums, creating a powerful, road-tested foundation behind Blaze’s signature gritty vocal delivery.

The Josie Music Awards nomination feels particularly fitting because “Twisted” isn’t simply another SCARECROW release. It brings together different eras of Blaze’s musical life while pushing the band’s sound forward. There’s history in the recording, but there’s also urgency. It doesn’t sound like a band looking backward. It sounds like one with unfinished business.

For Blaze, the nomination also represents recognition of a career that has largely been built outside the traditional machinery of the mainstream music business. Independent rock artists rarely survive for decades without a fierce commitment to what they do, and SCARECROW’s longevity speaks for itself. From the band’s early years and its 1991 debut, through the Blood, Sweat and 20 Years retrospective and the theatrical production I Am SCARECROW, Blaze has continued developing a world around the music rather than simply releasing songs.

That makes the Song of the Year nomination especially meaningful. After nearly four decades of building SCARECROW, Blaze now heads to the Josie Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry with one of his most ambitious songs recognized in the Metal/Alternative category.

And there’s something wonderfully appropriate about the song that got him there.

“Twisted” connects SCARECROW’s beginnings to its present, reunites Blaze musically with figures tied to the band’s history, and demonstrates just how much fire remains in the project. With Snider and Wood contributing to the record and Blaze still driving the band he created from the ground up, the track feels less like a nostalgic reunion than a statement of survival.

Now it’s also an award-nominated song.

For John Blaze and SCARECROW, nearly four decades into the journey, “Twisted” has become more than another entry in the catalog. It’s a career milestone — and this September, that milestone is taking SCARECROW all the way to the Grand Ole Opry.