3 Feet High & Rising: Funnymen, Podcasters, Punk Writer, and Musicians Mad Peaceful Self-release New Untitled EP
Mad Peaceful (CREDIT: Van Corona / SOURCE: Instagram, @madpeacefulband)
Mad Peaceful (@madpeacefulband on Instagram) has been one of my personal favorite “new” Punk/Hardcore bands I’ve discovered thanks to “The Algorithm” in the past few years. I would put Mad Peaceful in the same breed of younger/newer Punk & Hardcore bands as PURE HEEl, SUNSTROKE, Human Animal, END IT, GOOD TEAL, and AMORA. While I’ve been a fan of their limited output, I don’t think they’ve ever dropped a proper release since I’ve known of them that I could write about… well, that has now all changed! Back on November 21, 2025, Mad Peaceful (otherwise know as M.P. and/or MADxLOVE) surprise released their third(?) EP, Untitled. Now, that we’ve gotten that introductory bit out of the way… let’s walk it back a bit: M.P. consists of frontman Shapel Lacey, guitarists Chris Dillion & Chase Christy, bassist Ryan Clark, and drummer Joel Jimenez. Collectively and ethnically, Mad Peaceful can either be counted as either Black, Brown, and/or White Punk band. Lacey is a stand-up comic and podcaster, who also run a T-shirt company called Love Is Tight/L.I.T. and often hangs out with Toby Morse (H2O,) Jiminez moonlights as a stand-up comic and podcaster, Chris Dillon additionally plays with spooky “monster band” Drac & The Swamp Rats, Clark is self-described as a “better comic than most bassists” and “better bassist than most comics” and also writes for The HARD Times News, and Christy does not have an Instagram profile and it largely a mystery. Lacey recently explained on his Instagram page: “I’ve been playing in a band called @madpeacefulband since 2020 and we just dropped a new single called “Losing Myself.” Hope you all enjoy it ✊🏿💙.” Both the single and EP, complete with three additional tracks and accompanied by a 44-second long music video, were mixed and mastered by Paul Miner (Extra Arms/Ryan Allen/BIG LIFE, FEAR, zebrahead, H2O, TERROR, Touché Amoré) at his BuzzBomb Sound Labs facility.
M.P.’s entire Untitled EP clocks in at a whopping six minutes total and there whole discography as of today—even counting their Mad Peaceful - Jam In The Van (Live Session, LOs Angeles, CA) release—is a staggering… 24 minutes all together. So, while it’s fantastic musical output that often reminds me of Henry Rollins’ run with Black Flag (specifically, their infamous 1984 three-album marathon output,) H2O, Bad Brains, The Circle Jerks, FEAR, and Minor Threat/Fugazi, there really isn’t a whole Hell of a lot here to review. Now, don’t get me wrong, Mad Peaceful is, again one of my personal favorite newer Punk/Hardcore bands and I would strongly recommend checking out their Untitled EP, 2023 Vibrant EP, 2022 fittingly-titled Mad Peaceful Single Release, and 2022 three-track Mad Peaceful single featuring Toby Morse on closing track, “Only Way.” I really wish they would tour across the country and get out here to the Eastern Coast of the United States, more specifically, Philly or South Jersey, so I could finally get myself out to a Mad Peaceful show! In addition to their feverish musical output(s), I would strongly recommend watching Shapel Lacey’s 30-minute Three Dads, Two Moms comedy special that’s available to stream on YouTube through Don’t Tell Comedy. Shapel & Joel’s Lesser Known Characters podcast/YouTube series is fantastically funny and super-relevant; I recently watched their episode discussing and meticulously outlining the Best Punk/Hardcore Performances available on the platform and it feels like a suitable place to start for a new viewer and/or listener. I feel like in the coming months and for very good reason, Mad Peaceful will soon be one of those “your favorite band (or artist)’s favorite bands” type of acts, so get on the bandwagon now exhale there's still ample room! Mad Peaceful’s Untitled EP, along with their aforementioned back catalog, is now available on steaming platforms.
