Every once in a while when doing an interview, our head honcho Thorsten notices a special connection to people, mostly because for these people music is not a part of their life, it is their life. Maybe not even the main focus, but they express themselves through, via and with music. And then he asks if they might consider writing for VoS. Most of them cordially decline, but some pick it up. One of these people is Brian Burdzy from Hundreds of AU - who after our interview with him said he’d love to join our ranks. Here is his first review and we hope you love the honesty as much as we do!
I’m drinking a beer. It’s important that you know that. That beer has 0.0 percent alcohol in it. That’s important too. It’s Wednesday. I’m at home. I’m wearing sweatpants. I have to change when I come home from work. My job requires that I get dirty. Not as dirty as other people, but dirty nonetheless. My job is stressful. At work it’s important that I maintain a balanced attitude. I can’t get too angry. I can’t get too excited. I work with people I like. I have to suffer through people I don’t like. I have to do this every day. I wanna come home and unwind. I am your average working class American and all of this is important because Violent Way has made themselves important to me by perfectly aiming their battle cries to summon schleps like me to their cause.
Don’t you think it’s the worst when people say how they hate a cliche and then say “but…” and give you an example of how they also do that thing they hate…I’m about to do one. I’m sorry. It’s a learned trait. Too many TV dramas, I guess. Here goes; I always say that I hate those people who just seem to latch onto a band’s first release, and I think to be fair in a lot of ways I’ve done that with Violent Way, probably to my own detriment. I love the first 7”, I think it’s fantastic. And the split they did with Béton Armé was superb as well. I’m not sure what it is about Bow To None, but it just didn’t grab me, not that it was devoid of high marks (“Our Stand”, “Bleed”, the title track). The couple EPs that have followed have also been good, but this new stuff feels and sounds amazing.
The track order of the tape version (Battle Scarred Records) is a little bit different than it appears on the streaming service that some of us still haven’t cancelled our accounts for yet even though we should. It was cool to get the tape in the mail right after Thanksgiving. I ran it a couple times over the long weekend and it gave a warmth and different atmosphere so completely opposite to what I felt like I listened to in my car.
This promo tape has me really excited. The songs are just as catchy the first 7” with the crisp production that was found on This Is For Us. It’s no surprise that the vocals are angrily spewed over the top of these songs and feels like the glue holding everything together. I wouldn’t call any particular song better of the three, I think they are all pretty strong. Pure speculation but I feel like they had Wattie in mind when they wrote that part in “They Said” for him to sing , and it was a really nice touch. The song kinda forms around him perfectly and gives him a spot to stand out while also maintaining restraint enough for a strong build up that explodes into a final chorus that you’ve basically already learned and are singing along.
“They Said” sits between “I’ll Ask You” and “My Dearest Friend”, both stompy mid-tempo danceable sing alongs in the vein of early Cockney Rejects which obviously rules. I’m fully on board for the upcoming Violent Way album if this promo is an indication of what I’m getting, because each one of them screams working class energy and common plight with no sign of pretentious bullshit. It’s honest in a post-truth era. I like that.
(Note of the editor: the embed above is for “I’ll Ask You” and “They Said” the one below is for “My Dearest Friend”):
