If credibility were currency, Fake Names’ wealth would be off the charts. Composed of Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Dag Nasty), Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace), Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, INVSN, The [International] Noise Conspiracy), Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside) and the newest member Brendan Canty (Fugazi, Rites of Spring), the band is a veritable post-hardcore dream team. However instead of rehashing the past, Expendables is a reinvention that sees the band dialing back the distortion and leaning into the melodies. The result pairs their unparalleled pedigree with a pop sensibility that’s slightly unexpected and wholly satisfying. “On our last record [2019’s Fake Names] the general influences were 70’s U.K. punk and power-pop; but it wound up with a little classic rock vibe as well, like the Vibrators meets Aerosmith. We never saw that coming!” Baker explains. “The pop influences are a little more out front on this one and the production really helps it shine. It sounds more direct, more urgent.”
Cutting their teeth in the Brooklyn DIY scene since 2014, THICK has solidified itself as a punk powerhouse. Despite playing in fewer basements, the band maintains the vibrant sense of community that sparked its formation, inviting friends-to-be into their world through honest and introspective lyrics. Release after release, THICK fearlessly presents its members’ most intimate thoughts, experiences, and self-explorations in layered melodies and big hooks. Almost a year after releasing their second LP Happy Now (2022, Epitaph Records) and a national headline tour, the band returned to writing with new perspectives and an altered configuration with their drummer Shari Page taking a step back.