Band : Off With Their Hands
Album title : In Desolation
Label : Epitaph
Distributor : PIAS
Release date : 07/06/2010
Release : CD

Well, this certainly is an unusual band on Epitaph’s roster. In later years the label hàs been geared towards Screamo and what is generally named “Mall Core” when signing bands, but with OWTH we go back to besics, to a time when Punk Rock was straight-forward and in-your-face rawness which has seen OWTH compared to fellow Minnesota act Dillinger Four on many occasions. If I ain’t mistaken, it’s been since Deviates was signed to the label in 2001 that a such musically “simple” band was added to the roster.

Founded in 2002, Minneapolis based OWTH has toured constantly through the years with a rotating set of live musicians centered arounnd singer/ guitarist Ryan Young, due to members’ commitments to other bands. Somewhere along the line, the band found out how to release 7-inch (vinyl) singles and EPs, and from then on, a steady flood of vinyl was sent out into the world, starting with three 7-inches before the band issued its first 12-inch EP Hospitals in 2006. then came a series of split 7-inches (with J. Church, Blotto, Practice, Four Letter Word, Dukes Of Hillsborough, The Message, and Tiltwheel), a selection of OWTH tracks off which were compiled on the 2007 LP-length 12-inch vinyl release All Things Move Toward Their End. One year later, the band self-released its regular debut album From The Bottom on their own effort…again on vinyl, of course! In September of that year the band self-released a video for the track “Fuck This, I’m Out”. Still followed a split 7-inch with Lemuria, and the Live At The Atlantic Series: Vol. Two 7-inch…both issued in 2009. Towards the end of 2009, OWTH was chosen as one of Beyond Race Magazine’s “50 Emerging Bands”, and given a spot in the magazine’s #11 issue. In spite of touring non-stop (which has not only brought the band all over the North-American continent, but also to Europe and Japan…supporting the likes of Youth Brigade, Bouncing Souls and Municipal Waste to name but a few) the band eventually found a steady line-up with Young empowered by guitarist Zach Gontard (whom nevertheless still sings and plays guitar in Dear Landlord), bassist Robbie Swartwood, and drummer Justin Francis (also active in Apocalypse Meow, where he sings and plays guitar).

It was while touring with Against Me that OWTH got a phone call from Epitaph,owner Brett Gurewitz stating he was a fan of the band and wanted to sign ‘em. The deal was confirmed in February of this year, and the band went off to Minneapolis’ Terrarium studio to record 12 songs with (co-)producer Jacques Wait. As a result, we now have the band’s label debut, a near 34-minute platter of nice raw Working Class Punk Rock anthems, the kind of which we don’t find much anymore in this crazy world. Lyrics talking about life’s misadventures, stress, drugs, love, death and everything in between will definitely give the music fans coming in contact with the band’s music a familiar feeling, and in fact it’s but an understatement that this band is well on its way to a better position on the corporate music ladder. But even if the album fails to sell well (what with the world’s current economical crisis still lingering on, and today’s youth vision towards illegal downloads, there’s always that possibility) the band wíll prevail, as this is a troupe of musicians bent on touring and gigging without end! This summer, they hop onto a series of live shows in the States (first with Dear Landlord, then with The Fake Boys, followed by a stint of shows with In Defence in July, with White Night in the first part of August, with the Arrivals the majority of the rest of that month), and at the end of August they hop on a plane this side of the Atlantic to play a select amount of shows in the UK and mainland Europe before well  into mid September.

If you’re lucky, you’ll indeed get to see the band! Hey, I almomst didn’t say anything about the music itself, now did I? Well, expect a well-performed Punk Rock with an almost constant drive and a raw vocal delivery. When the pace is somewhat slower (check “I Need You” and “I Just Want You To Know”, but even more so the album closer “Clear The Air”), some remeniscences of Hüsker Dü come floating into my mind. Check out some of the band’s songs at myspace.com/ offwiththeirhands. I like this very much, really!

85/100

Tony.