photo by Marcos Manrigue
The High Curbs' piledriver track Brutus is personal and not just politically tinged but drenched. I could say that it is a more feral, more angry, more potent, more far reaching (from a political aspect) than anything on Pitchfork's recent perfect 10 rated album but I wouldn't be that crass. The super charged punkery here, brazen and overstepping like a Thee Oh Sees song on copious amounts of RedBull (and I did think of Thee Oh Sees DNA within the yelps and spring reverb) stems from Eduardo Moreno's deep anger and disappointment when Trump won the election. As a DACA recipient, this twisted turn of events, a country's shifting counter culture and possibly a call to arms for the liberal and progressive among us who maybe didn't dare or care to vote (in the past), must of hit Moreno and those who love him twice, three times, ten times as hard.
From Press notes:
“There was a part I almost rewrote for Brutus,” Moreno admits when speaking about the song, and the reservations he felt about getting too personal amidst a political climate that expressed so much enmity towards immigrants and people of color. “But then I was like, fuck it, this is something that affected me, why settle? […] I talked it over with my band mates too, and they were like, it’s a part of you, so I think you should flaunt it.”
“Try to forget me / I bet that you won't HAHA,” Moreno seethes on behalf of himself and all others who share his fury, while the band rages with him, returning again and again to the bitter truth: “A lost cause for all.” - press notes
As moshworthy as Brutus is, it is protest punk at it's most virulent. When Moreno spouts, "We want you out now - And there's no regrets oh oh - Put up with your shit - And we want it gone right now" and "We want you out now - Or blood will be spilled - there's no confusion - We all want you out right now" the sentiments are real covered with regret and anger washed over by layers of heavy guitar. The rhetoric, blood red with poetic license needs to be focused from the visceral fury of raised fists to the poised power at the ballot box. That is were the revolution needs to take place.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
Biography
“It’s funny how the things just turned out to be.”
In a way, the opening line to the most recent album from garage-rock outfit, The High Curbs, is an apt summary of the band’s seven year journey. Formed in 2013, the four-piece still boasts three of its original members, who, bound by the constraints of their youth, the monotonous sprawl of the Chino suburbs, and a healthy dose of skateboarding, came together to create a searing rock-and-roll band. What began as something of a joke for Aaron Korbe, Andrew Palomino, and Eduardo Moreno, who were only 15 at the time, grew to become a powerful force within the Inland Empire music scene, which The High Curbs played a huge role in reinvigorating.
After five records and hundreds of raucous live shows, The High Curbs, joined by new guitarist Alberto Alvarenga, are releasing a Happy Daps, a work that captures the nuanced growing pains that come with today’s transition into adulthood, without sacrificing one bit of fire.
The record burns with intensity from start to finish as the band effortlessly flips the switch between brutal punk and undeniably catchy indie-rock, occasionally to deliver moments of tenderness that belong just as wholly to this joint effort: a poignant, unruly, exuberant portrait of growing up.
“I guess the process is more real than ever, if that makes sense.” Moreno says of the band’s evolving approach to making music. Indeed, Moreno’s lyricism leaves room for deep, personal struggle, as well as the fun and infectious. In one of their most powerful songs, “Brutus,” Moreno unleashes an unfettered portrait of the anger he felt following Trump’s election, an event that, as a DACA recipient, was particularly devastating for him and his family.
Opening with Moreno’s distorted, blistering scream, Brutus is a wild ride that only intensifies as it continues. “Try to forget me / I bet that you won't HAHA,” Moreno seethes on behalf of himself and all others who share his fury, while the band rages with him, returning again and again to the bitter truth: “A lost cause for all.”
“There was a part I almost rewrote for Brutus,” Moreno admits when speaking about the song, and the reservations he felt about getting too personal amidst a political climate that expressed so much enmity towards immigrants and people of color. “But then I was like, fuck it, this is something that affected me, why settle? […] I talked it over with my bandmates too, and they were like, it’s a part of you, so I think you should flaunt it.”
Happy Daps was recorded at Astro Lizard Records in Long Beach, CA with Brent Lindemeyer and Jarrett Killen. It was mixed by Jarrett Killen and features Aaron Korbe on drums, Alberto Alvarenga on guitar, Andrew Palomino on bass, and Eduardo Moreno on vocals. The High Curbs have had their music featured in Thrasher, and collaborated with Burger Records on several releases, including a single recorded at Volcom Studios as part of their Cyber Singles Club. Happy Daps will be released via Astro Lizard Records this summer.
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