Tampa quartet New Bruises play an old-school take on street punk that's melodic and hooky without venturing too close to crossover pop. The band originated in the '90s pop-punk outfit Mid Carson July, who broke up following the release of 2001's well-received Wessel, after nearly a decade of scrabbling in their native Pennsylvania and adopted home of Florida. (Typical of the band's rotten luck and poor timing, Wessel was released by Fueled by Ramen Records a few years before the label's Fall Out Boy-led ascension to the top of the commercial pop-punk heap.) Three years later, the creative nucleus of Mid Carson July, guitarist Byron Lippincott and bassist Eric Lippincott (both sing), formed a new band, New Bruises, with rhythm guitarist Marcus Vaughn and drummer Eric "The Red" Turner (formerly of the Holy Mountain). With influences ranging from Jawbreaker and Fugazi to '80s college radio faves the Smiths and the Replacements, New Bruises formed their own label, Kiss of Death Records, to release their 2006 debut album, Transmit! Transmit! After the album's release, the Lippincotts' longtime friend Christopher Murray, who also leads his own band the Grey AM, joined New Bruises as a third guitarist. ~ Stewart Mason