Hardcore punks share a new single Heavy Conversation, from the upcoming thrasher debut album Rat Beat.
Epitomising the high-energy, raucous nature of the project, guitarist Brian Baker shares: “It’s loose, it’s imperfect, don’t overthink it. It’s the experience of doing it. The time travel, that’s what it’s about.”
Comprised of vocalist Ari Katz (Lifetime), guitarist Pete Steinkopf (Bouncing Souls,) bassist Bryan Kienlen (Bouncing Souls,) guitarist Brian Baker (Bad Religion, Minor Threat) & Danny Windas on drums, the gang of seasoned musicians are here to transport youå back to the essence of 80’s hardcore punk.
The band came to be as each member found themselves settled in the beach community of Asbury Park, New Jersey. After releasing an EP in 2018 and performing a slew of high-energy shows, the global pandemic gave the band a reason to get back to recording. The majority of the songs on Rat Beat were conceptualised and rehearsed in the basement of Brian Baker’s home and then tracked by Eric Bennett at Lakehouse Studios in only one day.
Baker recalls, “We’d go down in the basement, put on masks, open the windows, and we could play – within CDC guidelines! We couldn’t go to dinner at each other’s houses, but we could practice.”
The DIY spirit of punk music is very much alive in Beach Rats. With the hunger to create something new yet nostalgic, the band intentionally wrote the 12 tracks on Rat Beat how they used to back when they were teenagers. Or, as Baker puts it, “like we did before we knew how to write songs.”
Not wanting to take themselves too seriously, the band formed merely over a love of the genre. These are punk rock veterans just having fun and trying to replicate that feeling and sound of what it was like to make punk music in the ’80s.
“You’re gonna get authentic punk and hardcore from BEACH RATS because we are all from the ’80s,” Bryan Kienlen comments. “It’s literally taking it back to some of our biggest influences like Negative Approach and Poison Idea, and Minor Threat.”
Pre-order Rat Beat out on July 29th via Epitaph Records.
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