Hailing from Sacramento, CA, Worst Ways is made up of musicians who have spent their lives playing hardcore & punk in bands like US Roughnecks, Five Victims Four Graves, Cold Trap and more. Today the band announce their signing to New Age Records and debut self-titled album, Worst Ways, set for release on November 1st. The ten songs on the record are fast, intense, and direct, pushing forward an anxious, nervous, keep you off guard energy. The album was recorded with Paul Miner at Buzzbomb Studios (Trapped Under Ice, Death By Stereo, New Found Glory) and can be preordered HERE.
On signing with New Age, the band states: “We are excited to be working with Mike and New Age Records on this release. Their roster, past and present, has always been influential to us in previous projects and can’t wait to play alongside some of these great bands. We will be linking up for a few select California dates with Spark of Life in early November and looking forward to more!”
First single “Shattered,” out now, is a dynamic introduction with fast paced drums, groove-driven riffs, and attitude-filled vocals. Marshall Lichtenwaldt of The Warriors joins in on guest vocals, adding rigid dimension to the track. You can listen to “Shattered” now on Bandcamp, Spotify, and other streaming services.
On what listeners can expect from their debut, the band shares:
“From the opener, ‘Never Know,’ dealing with topics like rejection and regret, to track 9, ‘Fragile & Frail,’ with it’s kind of neurotic feeling opening riff, that opens up midway just to double down on the frantic energy; telling yourself, that inner monologue that keeps you from finishing anything to shut the fuck up. There are certainly topics explored like loss, not just of loved ones, but of loss of self, loss of direction, and that those things aren’t always the negative they might seem in the moment.
While this is our debut album with this project, we feel like it’s definitely the culmination of our time in other bands that make it special, we are just getting started and seeing what we can push, where we can go together with this line up. We really want people to find their own meaning in these tracks as much as possible, and not tell them what or how to feel about it.”
Worst Ways is Jonnie D – Vocals, Phil Mengell – Bass, Backup Vocals, Grant Hodgdon – Guitar, Ryan Saunders – Guitar, and Trevor Baxter – Drums.