The first time I heard WARKRIME I thought, “What the fuck is this bullshit?” Then I read their lyrics and thought, “ These guys are fucking morons .” At the insistence of a friend I gave them another shot and actually heard myself thinking “I get it!” On the third listen, I thought “never mind, there’s nothing to get. These guys really are fucking morons.”
I went back and forth between hating and loving WARKRIME for a while until I realized that’s why I liked them so much. These guys are young, loud, and snotty. They offend almost everyone in and outside of the punk community. They combine an almost surreal sense of close-mindedness with an incidental grasp of the big picture. It’s hard to tell when WARKRIME wants you to take them seriously, and because of that they’ve become one of the most polarizing punk bands around. I’m sure they would make much more sense to me if I knew them and lived in the Bay Area, but I don’t and I like it that way.
For example: do they recognize the irony in playing re-hashed 80s hardcore while singing “You’re too old / stop going to shows / you’re too old / you’re boring…don’t wanna listen to you all day old man / you’re fucking lame / you’re too old / go home?” I don’t know if I’d like them more if they did or did not. The reality is probably that they are not as witty as they think they are and they are not as retarded as their detractors think they are. I’d like to think that they are just young and pissed off and Brace Belden is yelling the first shit that comes to his head, without the filter that older punks would put their thoughts through. You never really know what the hell he is going to say next and it’s honestly refreshing.
Oh yeah…they have this new album out…
Get Loose combines 15 brand new songs, their first EP Give War a Chance and their song “Everybody Hates Me” from the No Bullshit comp. (all fine No Way releases). The production on the new material is a bit weird. The vocals are mixed low and distorted and, like all things WARKRIME, it’s hard to tell if this is intentional or not. I think it works. The songs are almost all raging, more pissed off than ever and now tighter and more unique. The guitar work is fucking awesome! This feels like an album that a good hardcore band could have made in 1985 but didn’t. There are some times when things get a little generic with pretty heavy Damaged era BLACK FLAG, ARTICLES OF FAITH and BAD BRAINS influences, but it usually works well. Whether or not WARKRIME intended it this way, they have a strange air about them that will likely make them one of the few bands in this 80s hardcore resurgence scene whose impact is lasting. Get Loose puts that nicely into perspective.
I went back and forth between hating and loving WARKRIME for a while until I realized that’s why I liked them so much. These guys are young, loud, and snotty. They offend almost everyone in and outside of the punk community. They combine an almost surreal sense of close-mindedness with an incidental grasp of the big picture. It’s hard to tell when WARKRIME wants you to take them seriously, and because of that they’ve become one of the most polarizing punk bands around. I’m sure they would make much more sense to me if I knew them and lived in the Bay Area, but I don’t and I like it that way.
For example: do they recognize the irony in playing re-hashed 80s hardcore while singing “You’re too old / stop going to shows / you’re too old / you’re boring…don’t wanna listen to you all day old man / you’re fucking lame / you’re too old / go home?” I don’t know if I’d like them more if they did or did not. The reality is probably that they are not as witty as they think they are and they are not as retarded as their detractors think they are. I’d like to think that they are just young and pissed off and Brace Belden is yelling the first shit that comes to his head, without the filter that older punks would put their thoughts through. You never really know what the hell he is going to say next and it’s honestly refreshing.
Oh yeah…they have this new album out…
Get Loose combines 15 brand new songs, their first EP Give War a Chance and their song “Everybody Hates Me” from the No Bullshit comp. (all fine No Way releases). The production on the new material is a bit weird. The vocals are mixed low and distorted and, like all things WARKRIME, it’s hard to tell if this is intentional or not. I think it works. The songs are almost all raging, more pissed off than ever and now tighter and more unique. The guitar work is fucking awesome! This feels like an album that a good hardcore band could have made in 1985 but didn’t. There are some times when things get a little generic with pretty heavy Damaged era BLACK FLAG, ARTICLES OF FAITH and BAD BRAINS influences, but it usually works well. Whether or not WARKRIME intended it this way, they have a strange air about them that will likely make them one of the few bands in this 80s hardcore resurgence scene whose impact is lasting. Get Loose puts that nicely into perspective.
1 comment:
Yeah, they're a pretty interesting band. I remember the first time i saw them perform, Brace was trying to spit on everybody. Also, at one of their Gilman performances, he threw a cinder block into the audience and tried to make out with the singer of Skull Stomp. fun, fun, fun.
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