New York’s Point Blank are a hard-working blue collar hardcore band who have been at it now for 11 years. Their new full-length album “Back To Square One” is out now on WTF Records (NL) on vinyl as well as CD. We caught up with their guitarist Danny Derella and vocalist Ken “KWE” Wagner to talk about the new album, Danny’s days in NYHC legends Underdog as well as other aspects of this duos decades long involvement within the NYHC scene. The current Point Blank lineup also consists of bassist Chris Cappello and drummer Gary Martinez. Interview conducted in early December, 2025. Lead photo by: Put.Over.Photo. Graphics by: Welly Artcore.
IE: What’s up guys. Where exactly are you right now and what would you usually be doing at this time of the day if you weren’t answering these questions?
Dan: Today’s Sunday, so basically trying to chill, but family/house chores always get in the way. I did get in a little guitar practice this morning. Last night Chris (our bass player) and I went to Jesse Malin’s Silver Manhattan show. Wow, seriously… great band, great songs. Jesse basically tells the story of life through anecdotes and music. It’s very emotional, but inspiring. I’ve always loved that guy, from Heart Attack, Hope, D-Generation (which I was able to see all of them back in the day), to his solo work.
Ken: I am currently at work, I am the Licensed Master Plumber for NYC Public Schools. I am keeping the kids safe… I mean after all “The Plumber Protects the Health of the Nation”… its slogan from the 1920’s still remains relevant today. Plumbers work to ensure safe drinking water and waste disposal and are considered “first preventers” of health issues.
CLICK BELOW TO STREAM ‘BACK TO SQUARE ONE” BY POINT BLANK
IE: As we do this interview, we are just a few weeks away from your new album coming out. What can you tell everyone about “Back To Square One”?
Dan: Yeah, this is our 4th release, and 2nd full length LP. It’s 12-songs and is on WTF Records out of the Netherlands. This record has a bit more of a punk feel to it, though there are a bunch of hardcore breakdowns, sing-alongs and chugs. When putting the tracks together for this release we blended a few songs together, so one track goes into another track, to give it the feeling of a live set. That’s why we redid “Point Blank X” (X=10 years anniversary). That song has morphed over the years live, and we felt we wanted to give it special treatment with some added layers of guitars.
The new record will be available in 180gm… 100 black and 200 yellow-flame vinyl. They’ll have a poly/paper sleeve, 2-sided 4-color lyric insert, and a heavy weight plastic jacket for protection. We expect to have the LP’s in mid-December to ship out for Christmas. There’s also 200 CD’s, in a 6-panel digipack that includes an 8-page lyric/picture booklet. We’ll have half (150 records, 100 CD’s) for USA shipping and shows, and Tim at WTF Records the other half to Europe/rest of the world.
IE: Point Blank’s history seems to have been slowed down by having to replace departing members with drums being the position that has maybe slowed things the most. Can you give us a little background to the adversity this band has endured over the last couple of years?
Dan: The band has been together for about 11 years now. The first 5 years we had the same lineup, me/bass, Ken/vocals, Matt/guitar, and Shuffles/drums. Matt and Shuffles moved and I moved back to guitar. About that time Frank Avila joined on bass, and shortly after Keith Malonis on drums. We wrote a bunch of new songs and played a bunch shows, and then COVID shut things down. When things re-opened, we rehearsed and played a few shows and then recorded “We Will Rise Again”. Just before Christmas 2021, as we were releasing that record, Frank said he’d was leaving. That’s when Chris Cappello joined the band on bass. He started to learn the songs, and then we lost Keith to an overdose just after the New Year in early 2022. That hit both Ken and I hard. But after some discussion, between us and Chris, we decided we had more to say. That summer we found Nate, he played with us for about 2 years, but he always seemed to have 1-foot out the door. We had to kick him out because he didn’t show up for a gig. When looking for new members we always post on social media, but we also drop an add on Craigslist. That’s how we found Keith and Chris. On Craigslist 3/4 of the ads are bands looking for drummers. You’ll get a few responses, but hardly a follow-up. Plenty of flaky musicians out there. As we approached year 10 of the band, drummer-less, we found Dom (or Dom found us). We had a great run of shows with Dom and recorded the new LP. I think we played twice as many shows with Dom in one year, then the 2 years previous. In August, Dom decided to move on.
Once again, the band’s releasing a new record and drummer-less. We put out feelers on social media and Craigslist. We found our new drummer via social media. He’s this cool-cat Gary Martinez (Heartbeatstill, Knuckle Up and We’re My Main Bitches), from Maspeth, Queens. He’s a beatmaker, producer, who works for NYC transit. Very creative dude and hits the drums hard. We’ve had a handful of practices with him and put together a new setlist and a new song. Things are moving smoothly, and if we get a few more songs together, I think we’ll demo them somewhere in the late spring. Despite these setbacks of members leaving, the band just keeps moving forward, working on new songs, new shows, new recordings. We used “Back To Square One” as a mantra, but these days it’s “All Gas! No Breaks!” We’ve got an upcoming show to close out the year, Friday December 19, at Bridge And Tunnel Brewery in Ridgewood, Queens.
POINT BLANK @ THE SHILL TAVERN, QUEENS, NY 2024. PHOTO BY: MIGUEL VAZQUEZ
IE: In 2025, in addition to probably playing your most shows in a year you have also done well in finding some off the beaten path types of towns and venues… Can you recap the band’s 2025 and sort of highlight some of the places that might have been a little out of the way for a band coming from Long Island and NYC?
Dan: We celebrated the band’s 10th year when Dom joined up, and we played so many shows (between Summer 2024 and Summer 2025.) It was our most productive run of live shows since the band started. During that time some of the best shows/times were: opening for Agnostic Front at Amityville Music Hall, Punkstock 2024 in Brandon, Vt… Mother Pugs on Staten Island with Ancient Domains and Non-Residents… St. Paddy’s Day with Murphy’s Law (Bowery Electric) and Waste Fest V (Urban Waste/Major Conflict), St. Paddy’s in Kingston, N.Y. But to me, the most memorable, was playing my hometown of Nyack, NY. I had a ton of family and old friends come and see the band. We were hot that night… the band was fired up and played superfast and tight.
IE: I would assume many of these shows were playing to brand new audiences… new faces, just new potential fans. How would you sum up Point Blank’s travels this year in regards to out of town/state shows?
Dan: One thing is… people outside of NYC are way nicer and polite. Many of our out-of-town shows are first time shows for us, but attendees are all music enthusiasts, no matter the age, and want to see/hear live original music. Vermont, West Virginia, Maryland, Montreal, South NJ… it doesn’t matter to us, whether one, 100, or 1,000 people show up. We show up to give it our all when we play. Meeting new bands, young kids, older aficionados, is the best part. We spread the gospel of NYHC wherever we go.
POINT BLANK @AMH, AMITYVILLE, NY APRIL 6, 2025. PHOTO BY: STEVEN J. MESSINA
IE: What makes a show a “good” or even “great show” for you?
Ken: When the audience sings along, when the peeps ask for an encore, that is very satisfying, or when we are finished and someone comes up to me and says how tight we sounded.
IE: Hardcore is often looked at as a young person’s type of activity. When I see bands like the Rolling Stones or numerous other aging rock bands playing live gigs at their ages it doesn’t really phase me because they are not necessarily being asked to be overly aggressive like a hardcore band might be. With hardcore the music is louder, the audiences in many cases might be slam dancing… it’s different than if you go to an arena show where things are more controlled. Being two guys in their late 50’s what is your take on this and what are your expectations out of yourselves for putting on a good live experience for fans of Point Blank?
Ken: Listen, we all give it 110% at our shows… age means nothing, it’s all passion and heart.
Dan: Age is just a number. If someone has the passion and energy to keep going, even better. That’s us, for sure. Live music has been an important part of our lives, and if we can still do it, hell yeah! We’ll keep going.
IE: The earliest videos I remember of Point Blank often had Ken singing far away from the stage and in some cases he left the club and was outside the venue with some of the crowd following him outside. This past summer at an outdoor event I saw Ken on top of picnic tables singing as well. When you first started singing for this band who were I guess “inspirations” as far as what you do live and your overall outgoing nature?
Ken: I got lucky to see a lot of crucial bands in the 1st and 2nd waves of hardcore… many of them (too many to mention) that influenced me. I am naturally just an enthusiastic energetic person so I just do what feels right.
IE: Danny, you were an original member of NYHC greats Underdog. What do you recall about joining that band?
Dan: In high school around 1983 my friends and I started a band called Geek Attack, named after the skate ’zine from Rockland County. We played a few house parties, and the original Anthrax Gallery in CT. In the Fall of ’84, many of us went off to college, but we kept the band together. During that time, our high school friend George started a band with his college friends called The Numbskulls. We were like brother bands, playing shows together, skating together, and up to no good. In the Spring of ’85 several members of The Numbskulls moved on, and Richie asked me to play in the band. At that time, the band was Greg, drums, Maggie, bass, Richie, vox, and me on guitar. We played several shows with a mix of Numbskulls songs, a couple of new songs by Richie, one or two Geek Attack songs, and one or two covers (usually “Nothing” by Negative Approach and “Glue” by SSD). In November of ’85, Richie asked Russ Iglay to join up with us on bass. In December of 1985, after Russ quickly learned the songs we recorded 8 tracks. We made a few demo tapes of the session with the band named True Blue that has all the songs. But shortly after finishing recording, we changed the band’s name to Underdog. In the late Winter of ’86 New Beginning released the EP but only 4 songs. But all the 8 songs are on Underdog’s “Matchless” record. There’s also “Frontside Grind” and “Reach Out” that came out on Thrasher’s Skate Rock Vol. 7.
IE: What releases did you play on and where did you play shows with them?
Dan: Besides the first Underdog s/t EP/demo. We also did a demo in 1987 when Carl Mosher stepped in on vocals, and there’s the WNYU radio set with Carl from that time. During my time in the Numbskulls and Underdog I must have played around 60 shows. We played with so many bads back then. Early Dag Nasty, the Descendents, Circle Jerks, Adolescents, 7 Seconds, Verbal Assault, The Dickies. The NYHC bands, Agnostic Front, Murphy’s Law, Token Entry (Ernie Parada had a short stint on drums for a few shows), Youth Of Today, before Richie left the band to join them. Early or first shows by Sick Of It All, Gorilla Biscuits and Breakdown. I loved going and playing shows at CBGB’s, but the Anthrax in CT and Albany, N.Y are a close second. We played all over the Northeast, and did a US tour in ’87. During the tour we played at Fender’s Ballroom (Long Beach, CA) with The Vandals, Dag Nasty and AOD. That was the biggest show. It was packed and hot as hell. We played legendary spots like The Outhouse in Kansas, First Ave. in Minneapolis (with 7-Seconds), but also many VFW type places. Around that time scenes across the U.S. were exploding. At The Outhouse people drove from 4-5 different states just to hangout and listen to music. Those shows are the foundation that makes me what I am today. I’m humbled that people still dig Underdog after all these years and have reached out to me to chat about those days. But I’ve always been moving forward on my musical journey, and that time is a small though important part of who I am today as a musician.
IE: What were the circumstances with you leaving and are you cool with the people that have primarily been in that band since your departure?
Dan: In November of ’87, Richie and Russ kicked me out of the band. At the time we just started as a 5-peice with Arthur Smilios on 2nd guitar (be weary when the band wants to bring in another guitar player). We played a couple of shows, and the band sounded so big with the added guitar. Getting kicked out of a band that you helped start from the beginning was a gut-punch. One day you’re talking about new songs and booking shows, and the next you’re no longer wanted. It’s like getting a divorce, or a girlfriend leaving you for your best friend. It was devastating, but I didn’t look back. I took that anger and formed a new band called Agony Flower (kind of a grunge-heavy punk band a bit like Blue Cheer before grunge was a thing), went back and finished college, then started a career as a journalist. But I never stopped playing music. I didn’t talk to either of them for years, but over time the pain heals. I’ve chatted with Russ more than Richie over the years. Point Blank has played with Underdog and a couple of shows with Russ’s side project Huge. I recently ran into Richie on the street in NYC and had a good chat. I wish them nothing but the best.
IE: Getting back to the new album you got Bobby Draw Skulls to do the artwork… He has become I guess the official art guy for Point Blank with covers and merch designs. Is it a thing where you call him and give him ideas or do you just call him and say hey Bobby draw us something?
Ken: We hooked up with Bobby through Mike at Not Like You Records. He had done some work for Mike, and we really liked his art so we asked if he could draw the shooting target guy off our 7” EP in skull version, which he did and then our relationship was born. For our 1st album “We Will Rise Again” we gave him some ideas of what we were looking for (it happened during Covid and the riots and all the chaos going on). Bobby knocked it out of the park. We did it again with the new album trading ideas back and forth and Bobby crushed it again. Bobby is da man!!
IE: To you what songs are the real “keepers” or songs that excite you the most in regards to unleashing these new songs to the public?
Dan: For me, it’s the entire project that gets me going. This recording is a culmination of hard work put in by the band members and represents a section/time in the band’s life. I think this record sounds bigger/fuller. Some of my favorites are “Back To Square One,” “Me”, “Living In The Past,” “Sheep,” and a cover of “Stand By Your Guns,” by Major Conflict. But the most meaningful song to me is “Wonder” which we wrote the music/lyrics for not long after Keith died. It’s a song that just reminds me about how short life can be, and it’s always the good ones that leave us too soon.
IE: Anything else to add before we wrap this up?
Ken: Remember… One Person Can Make A Difference!
POINT BLANK @ RUSHING DUCK BREWERY, CHESTER, NY JULY 19, 2025. PHOTO BY: FACE PHOTO 
POINT BLANK CRUCIAL LINKS:
POINT BLANK INSTAGRAM
POINT BLANK FACEBOOK
POINT BLANK BANDCAMP/MERCH