Worst Ways is a brand-new band from California’s capital city, Sacramento.
Formed by musicians who have also played in such groups as Time For Living (Rivalry Records), U.S. Roughnecks (Hellcat/Epitaph Records), Five Victims Four Graves (New Age Records), Original State, and Cold Trap, the quintet is putting their stamp on the melodic hardcore scene.
Worst Ways bassist Phil took the time to answer some questions about the band for No Echo.
How did the band get started?
Worst Ways was a few years in the making. Grant, Trevor, and I started things up, just trying to put some songs together and stay sane around fall of 2016. We had played together in other projects before, and I knew they’d be down, and knew that we would have a good time. We started as just the three of us, and wrote a bunch of songs, some loose ideas of vocals but just focused on writing fun fast stuff.
We connected with our longtime friend Dan Vanderpool to join up on vocals. To no one’s surprise, he was bringing great energy, letting it feel raw and sincere right from the rip. We put out a self-released EP with Dan under the name Original State, and right as things were starting to pick up, life put things on hold and we had to step back and Dan had to step away, but we never stopped loving those tracks or what we created together.
Post-COVID we got back into gear, we added Ryan to the mix on guitar and started writing some newer material, and things really clicked when we added Jonnie. He had been singing for Cold Trap here in Sacramento, we felt like he had the right urgency and vibe, just letting it blast on vocals and he was into what we were doing so we invited him to join us.
Poor guy had like a month to get ready for a few shows and learn the older songs and write lyrics for 5+ songs before heading to record this record. Seeing as we had made substantial line up changes and sound (adding second guitar, and some different influences), Worst Ways was too fitting a name for the new content/band–couldn’t pass it up. It got us motivated to really push things further and get things going in earnest.
How would you describe your sound?
It’s always a weird thing to describe your sound to me, because things sound different to each of us in the same band. We were writing the song “Fade," and when Ryan threw the first riff out there, I thought, "Oh shit, ok, that’s very Bad Brains. I’m into where that's going" and in his mind, it had some more metal feel to it. Throw vocals on it and it’s something totally different, again. That’s probably how the whole record goes. If you ask each of us what each song sounds like, you’ll get a different answer, and I’m not mad at it one bit. It’s great having such diverse influences in writing.
There is a lot of inspiration in our writing from the music we grew up on, a lot from stuff we still love today, and then just the diverse stuff we all like and get to bring to the table. From our collective backgrounds in punk and hardcore, we all have some pretty different experiences to pull from. I think you can hear some of the East Bay in our faster tracks, some Redemption 87/Nerve Agents always seem to come out when writing without even thinking about it.
We are touching on fastcore, we are writing melodic hardcore parts, there’s some heavy breakdowns that find their way in there, some thrashy borderline metal licks, but the underlying thing driving a lot of the time is Trevor’s drumming. His snare work is super tight, and he makes going lightspeed look easy. We are really out here trying to just write things that make us stoked, we are pretty regularly walking out of practice or writing with a part stuck in our heads. There are a million other influences within the group, this is just some stuff we hear ourselves when we listen back.
We are writing music that we would want to listen to and that is fun for us to play, not setting out to stay or be one defined thing. We are a hardcore band with heavy punk and melodic hardcore tendencies. The lyrics are emotionally charged, music is fast and heavy but what matters is how it connects to everyone individually.
.jpeg)
How did you link up with New Age?
We are stoked to be working with Mike at New Age Records on this release. Some of us have been with New Age before, and it’s absolutely an honor to be on a label that puts out consistently great bands. Not only the alumni/classic New Age bands, but the current roster is awesome too. Sharp Tongues new record is awesome, Mean Jesus is great, Divine Right, Spark of Life, all good stuff.
Working with our longtime friend Paul Miner at Buzzbomb was awesome. We recorded this in two halves–9 months apart. He really worked with us to nail the sound we wanted for this and had some great ideas in the studio that helped us make a record we are all proud of. Paul has worked with so many artists, and is such a talented producer and musician, it was great to have him helping us shape this thing.
“Never Know” and “Shattered” are out right now as singles before the full release. Having Marshall from The Warriors hop on “Shattered” for a guest spot was awesome, and really added to the track.
What is Worst Ways up to in the immediate future?
We are playing some upcoming shows to support our record being released on November 1st:
11/08 - Reno w/ Spark of Life
11/09 - Tehachapi w/ Spark of Life, In Balance, Step By Step
11/10 - Fullerton w/ Spark of Life, In Balance, Mad Peaceful
We will be getting out for a lot in the new year, planning some runs, and working on a few more tracks for a follow up record.
READ MORE: A Guide to Current Bands Inspired by 2000s Hardcore
What other bands from the Northern California region should we check out?
Sacramento is loaded right now, bands that span the spectrums of punk and hardcore and post hardcore and more, with some absolute real ones putting down for the local community with house shows, backyard bangers, and great shows at our local clubs. Ingrata, Crowd Control, Arüspex, Renewer, Wet The Rope, Divided Youth, DREAM 99, OXY, Anxious Arms, and a ton more.
Throw a few from the Bay in too, Discourage, Caged View, No Lights, Malinformants, M.U.T.T., Angel, Stand Tall, and Bite The Hand. Too much good stuff.
***
Pre-order the self-titled Worst Ways LP here:
New Age Records (US)
CoreTex Records (EU)
Ice Grills / Nerds Records/ Retribution Network (JP) – coming soon
Worst Ways on social media: Facebook | Instagram
Tagged: worst ways
