Buzzwords
Buzzwords Credit: Courtesy

Yes, of course there are the Boomers, who were actually there. But, really, the ones who do early rock & roll the best are always the punks. Those dinosaur rockers may have that old sound down, but punks have always been far more kindred to the raw animalism at the very heart of rock & roll. While everyone else is copying Elvis, the punks are channeling the original wildfire that Elvis himself was trying to copy.

The latest Orlando case of this is new supergroup The Buzzwords. As evidenced by the following interminable sentence, the quintet of drummer Jordan Duttinger (Godless America Records, Fatties, Radicalized Youth), guitarist James Moudy (Vicious Dreams), guitarist Nathan LaChance (The Carpetbaggers, The Rats of New York, Sister Ray Gun, The Dirty Shames), singer Luis Ramos-Concepcion (Mom and Dan) and bassist Noah LaChance (Tight Genes, Lazy Boyzzz) are overflowing with Orlando and New York punk cred. 

Now about that rock & roll. Punks do it best because they take it back down the seedy alley that it would’ve traversed had it not caught the attention and adoration of Main Street. The Buzzwords rewind back to rock & roll’s primal garage roots, and their recent two-song debut release is a quick but telltale introduction.

Both songs — “Give It a Rest” and “Pay Day” — are prime cases of 1950s style infected with 1970s sleaze. They’re powered by the kind of hot scuzzy licks that sound like Chuck Berry dragged through the NYC gutters that spawned the New York Dolls and Johnny Thunders. With strutting guitars and wildman soul wailing, this two-song escapade is a deliciously shambolic joyride of pure rock & roll hedonism. It’s homage that ditches the charade of trying to couch its influences in arty nuance. Instead, The Buzzwords just tap that keg of inspiration, drink it all in and see what kind of savage it stokes in them. The result is the kind of rough and virile rock & roll revisionism that can only come from true punks.

The double-single is digitally available only on Bandcamp and Subvert. But you can score it on limited-release cassettes and CDs at their shows, the next one being this weekend when The Buzzwords perform with The Hamiltons, Hutch and TV Generation. (8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, Will’s Pub, 1042 N. Mills Ave., willspub.org, $10) 

Also, perhaps most notable about this concert is that it’s the farewell show for Orlando punk veterans The Hamiltons. Only last summer, I glowed about their against-all-odds debut album that took 27 years to materialize. Despite the hope of that milestone, however, the esteemed Hamiltons are being decommissioned. 

Thanks for the great shows and songs, boys.

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This article appears in Sept. 23-29, 2026.

Music columnist.