Thursday, October 27, 2016

Band Review: Pears


Pears is a punk band from New Orleans. I put them on the review list after they were recommended by Dave Hause.

When I started listening, the first thing I noticed was how fast they were. Songs are short, quick punches, in glorious punk tradition.

As I read their biography, "fast" became a theme. They released a demo within days of forming, wrote an album in 14 hours, and recorded the album within five weeks of their formation. Even for punk, that's pretty fast. After that, learning that their version of "Judy Is A Punk" is one second shorter than the Ramones' is not surprising, though still pretty impressive.

Must-hear songs include "Snowflake" and "Green Star", but it is interesting to hear a track like "Dizzy Is Drunk" with its delicate piano and know that they can do other things. That impression is less drastic but still there on tracks like "Doorbell", where the intro could easily go with a less hardcore song, but doesn't need to. "Cloverleaf" has traces of a suburban sitcom -- it at least knows the territory -- but then it isn't.

Although Pears has their own Youtube channel, videos are also available through the channel for their label, Fat Wreck Chords.

The band is currently touring with NOFX. There are stops in the Pacific Northwest, but they are selling out fast, with Portland tickets already gone.




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