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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Los Angeles’ hardest working independent band LEFT ALONE featuring Elivs (guitar/vocals), Rick (bass/vocals), Ramrod (drums), and Noe (saxophone) has just signed with Hellcat records; home of punk heavyweights Dropkick Murphys, Rancid, Lars Frederiksen, Roger Miret, and Tiger Army.

LEFT ALONE’s Hellcat debut, LONELY STARTS AND BROKEN HEARTS combines a mixture of musical influences from Rancid and the Clash to Operation Ivy, Swingin Utters, and Elvis Costello. From the punk driven title track “Lonely Starts and Broken Hearts,” to the heavily ska-inspired “Another Feeling,” to the homage track to Elvis’ car in “My 62,” LEFT ALONE pours every ounce of creative energy and emotion into this album.

LEFT ALONE brings DIY ethics to everything they do. Starting off on Smelvis Records (Elvis’ label), the band booked their own tours, made their own merchandise, and even tuned their own equipment. Through the punk quartet’s hard work and energy, they developed a solid following of fans nationwide.

Established as the 2004 Vans Warped Tour BBQ band, LEFT ALONE brings DIY to a new level. While on Warped, the band worked extremely hard throughout the duration of the tour – performing during the day, and cooking a feast for an entire army every night. Look for LEFT ALONE on this Summer’s 2005 Warped Tour as the official BBQ band for the second year in a row.

Check out LEFT ALONE at one of their California or Arizona shows before they travel across the country on the 2005 Warped Tour. LONELY STARTS AND BROKEN HEARTS is due out in June.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.