Denver, CO always had a pretty good punk rock scene, but the hardcore scene is what my hometown was known for when I was growing up. Bands like Fear Before the March of Flames and Drop Dead, Gorgeous hit it big while proto-hardcore acts like Love Me Destroyer and The Blackout Pact were kicking ass at every show I went to. I always wanted to make music like Green Day, Rancid, and Alkaline Trio - and we had PLENTY of those kinds of bands - but I went to a million hardcore shows because our scene was so saturated with great bands.

I never felt cool enough to be in a hardcore band. Even though the guys in Fear Before and The Blood Brothers made it obvious that skinny, awkward dudes (like me) could make some of the gnarliest music you’ve ever heard, I was never angry or driven enough to make that kind of music. Well, fast forward to 2020, shit went down, I got really angry and I made this record in a couple of weeks in December 2020. I wrote four of the songs on a single walk in the park while still stuck at home in quarantine. It was an incredible distraction and very rewarding and cathartic.

Here are some of the bands I was desperately trying to pay homage to/rip off throughout this record if you’re interested — Mötorhead, Leftöver Crack, The Bronx, The Death Set, Rob Zombie, F-Minus, The Nerve Agents, The Blood Brothers, The Distillers, the first few songs on that black Rancid album, and Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes-era AFI.