The 2020 pandemic lockdowns sprouted countless musical projects across the world, including St. Louis band Worn Down. "I started writing short fast songs as an outlet, I approached Brandon Hoffman to see if he would be interested in working on the project with me," explains guitarist John Gierse. "We had been in a hardcore punk band together back in the early 2000s called Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.
"We remotely collaborated and released a demo in September of 2020, a short run of cassettes, on a label based out of Saint Louis called The Record Label, which is ran by Don Brazel (also the owner of The Record Space in Saint Louis)."
While the Worn Down story could have ended there, John was inspired to move forward. "I wasn't expecting to go beyond that, but we talked about playing a show or two eventually based off of the reaction from the demo, so I approached some more old friends and bandmates to form a proper lineup.
"Enter Chris Denton on second guitar, Kevin Carter on bass, and Mitch Morris on drums. We managed to get together and play our first show with legends Slapshot and Sheer Terror. Having a singer in Las Vegas, a drummer in Chicago, the rest of the band in St. Louis provides a unique challenge."
Despite the geographical challenges, Worn Down will be releasing their debut EP soon, and just a few days ago, they dropped a track from it called "Hold My Breath" across streaming outlets:
John talks about the stylistic approach of the new material: "I wanted a more stripped-down sound, mainly leaning towards early NYHC and Boston hardcore, with a sprinkling of Ill Repute and maybe a dash of Japanese hardcore. Basically short, fast songs.
"The EP will include some demo songs re-recorded as a full band with live drums. I used a drum machine for the demo. Brandon recorded and mixed it, then we sent it off to Brad Boatright at Audiosiege to handle the mastering."
The conversation moved to the subject of the hardcore community in the Gateway to the West. "Probably like most local scenes, the potential is always there. St. Louis has always suffered from having multiple small scenes within a larger scene, and there really isn't much crossover," John says. "I'm not trying to sound negative, part of the issue is the volume of shows since everything started opening back up, some nights there are upwards of three or four shows to choose from so it can be a bit overwhelming.
"There are a ton of bands here, short list including Kato, Mindclot, Bastard Squad, Blight Future, The Uppers, Stay Sane, The Disappeared, Fortunate Son, T.U.F.T., there’s a lot to name. Saint Louis is underrated and overlooked. Of course, I have to shamelessly plug my other bands, Man with Rope and Better Days."
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Worn Down on social media: Instagram
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