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What’s up Sorry Staters?
Another week, another newsletter, amirite? Only this time, a few of us are certainly trying to squeeze this thing in real quick before leaving the country. By the time this newsletter is available for your viewing pleasure, I’ll be in Sweden along with Daniel and Usman. Crazy talk. I can’t wait for Scarecrow to embark on our journey along with our friends in Vidro. Seeing the beautiful Scandinavian countryside once again. I’ll also be going to Finland for the first time!! So stoked. K-Town is gonna be sick. And my homies in Invertebrates will be there too? LFG.
Speaking of Invertebrates… I know their LP was “Record of the Week” last week. I know Usman wrote about the record in his staff pick as well. But I think it would be a glaring misstep—a DAMN shame I say!—if I didn’t take the opportunity to also share some love for the new Invertebrates record. Considering my last staff pick was all about how I was feeling ill, SICK to Survive would have been a perfect theme for last week. Yet another missed opportunity. Oh well.
Let me start by saying that Invertebrates made the hardcore record that I feel like I’ve been waiting to hear, but that no other band was making. I think it’s one of the best executed hardcore punk records I’ve heard in years. 10 songs in under 14 minutes and a crushing blow. I remember hearing the Invertebrates demo tape a few years back. Particularly the first track “Down Under,” to me it sounded like the songwriting was leaning toward other contemporary bands not unlike Bootlicker: that kind of restrained, bouncy fast-paced UK82 style a la The Partisans. I think Sick To Survive is a different beast altogether. To the point where people who loved the demo might be taken aback. In a good way. Sure, I have an inherent bias because I’m also in a band with 3 out of 5 active members in Invertebrates. Call it nepotism. Whatever, sue me. I love watching my friends do cool shit. Now by comparison, Public Acid likes the heavy stuff. I feel like we incorporate some metal influences. But to me, Invertebrates is devoid of any of the trappings I find with modern hardcore, whether bands are d-beat/crust/grind… whatever. Invertebrates got no crust. They got no metal. They got no spines? Haha.
I remember Will (who plays guitar in Invertebrates) telling me that he was listening to a ton of Career Suicide when writing the songs he contributed to this record. I can totally hear that. Especially just the urgency with which a song like “Lost Illusion” starts with. Immediately ripping. I’m just like: “YES!!! HARDCORE!!!” But I think the grander idea of what I’m getting at, and what this LP really electrifies in my brain synapses is the same feeling I got when I would listen to bands that I associate with the initial 80s hardcore punk revival of the early 2000’s. A special time, if you ask me. And I gotta say, as much as I love watching my boi Chubb play that Discharge beat style, I just love his drumming on this LP. The stylistic approach just seems right up his alley. My man is on FIRE. The speed and ferocity is outta control, but dialed and focused simultaneously. In the pocket. And this record is FAST. The band is hitting some really intricate rhythms that most degenerate punks I’m sure would find difficulty playing. Just listen to the intro of the title track “Sick To Survive,” with its blistering snare rolls back to back, but then everyone drops out into this quick hiccup-like pause that makes your heart feel like it skips a beat. Clean guitars are played fast furious, no “buh-nah-nuh” bullshit. If you know what I mean, then you know. Real deal non-stop right hand exercise. But also some left field, spaced out psychedelic sounding leads on a song like “Bated Breath.” The band also launch into some unexpected, quirky chromatic parts like the intro to “Shit Pit”. Super cool. As much as this record is dead serious in its commitment to total rippage, there are moments of levity. Straight rage and super fun. What a concept.
I don’t know man, there’s something special about this record. And it seems like the punk community at large agrees with me, because it’s already selling really well. At risk of sounding cheesy, I think this record embodies a spirit. Invertebrates is the truth. From the heart, pure and genuine HARDCORE. Now, as I mentioned, I play in a band with 3 of the people in Invertebrates and consider them close friends. Merm, who absolutely tears it up on the bass, is also an old friend seeing as I’ve known him since his North Carolina days. Max the singer I’ve only gotten to know in the last several years. He’s even travelled with Public Acid overseas. Max is a talented artist, a good friend to most everyone who knows him, and a fixture of the Richmond punk scene. One of the few mofos I know who is actually FROM Richmond. The kinda dude who you think to yourself, “You know what? Max should really sing for a band.” Might as well be the best band. Man, okay, so a song like “Humid Crypt” on this record has this long, building crescendo that breaks into this crushing mid-tempo part that ends the song. Dare I say “breakdown?” It’s one of my favorite riffs and moments on the entire record. And there’s something about it where, sure, it is no doubt mosh-inducing. But the thing is, it doesn’t come across like bone-headed dumb tough guy hardcore. It really reminds me of authentic Richmond area hardcore, that blend of ripping fast with hardass dance parts that still feels totally punk. I hear a little Direct Control, even a little Wasted Time maybe? But even more than that, I hear like Unseen Force. So, watching a bunch of Richmond local punks tear it up at the gig, dancing hard as fuck when that riff in “Humid Crypt” drops, all while Max is beckoning the crowd while wearing a Direct Control shirt? That’s what I’m fucking talking ‘bout. Real HCPMF shit.
Anyway, I’ll quit gushing like a dork. Buy this record. I’m sure you probably have already.
‘Til I’m not sure when?
-Jeff