Benard / Worn In Red Split 7″ (Alaska Records / No Breaks)
Release Date: July 2008
SIDE A – BENARD
———————————————————
1. Midievel Knievel
2. A Prostitute that Caters Exclusively To Clowns
SIDE B – WORN IN RED
———————————————————
1. Vital Joys
Two bands – BENARD and WORN IN RED – and one very intense, foreboding post-hardcore, 90’s-emo influenced groove tears through the middle and divides this tasty piece of plastic. This three song split 7-inch is certainly not for the faint of heart, nor is it suitable for anyone who turns to Hot Topic / MTV for emotional release. Rather, it’s all very raw and real, completely embodying the DIY spirit and punk ethos by which both bands live and die.
Atlanta’s Benard starts the proceedings with two blistering, spastic bursts of strung-out post-whatever-core. It’s the sound of wire-y tension colliding with razor-sharp angles and tangible desperation, all wrapped up in a sinuous web of discordant noise. The Georgia five-piece is perhaps the more immediate of the two bands; these barnstorms are chaotic and furious, but the thundering bass lines, tumbling drums, writhing guitars and frantic vocals do a workman-like job in terms of pounding their way through your skull and infecting your brain with the undeniable rhythms.
Worn In Red are no less explosive, but theirs is a more epic brand of emo devastation as the Charlottesville, V.A. quartet opts for churning, brooding approach on their side of the split. If Benard was a bullet train careening into total oblivion, Worn In Red is a powerful, slow-burning locomotive steadily climbing a range of ominous peaks and barreling down the other side into the dark valley with reckless aplomb. On “Vital Joys,” throat-shredding vocals steamroll over repeating, menacing guitar lines, a pulsing beat and subtle tempo changes. No doubt, there’s loads of friction and anxiety to get your blood boiling. With this type of music, that’s a very good thing.
Maybe the best way to describe this split 7-inch is this: Benard and Worn In Red exist in the same turbulent ocean, but the while the latter prefers to navigate the ebb and flow of the cresting waves, the former simply crashes through, happy to be tossed around in the surf. Either way, both bands end up in the same place: strewn upon the shore, with empty lungs and utterly exhausted.
Benard is Marc, James, Nathan, Alan and Zac. Both songs were recorded and mixed by Andrew Wiggins (The Black Lips, Mastodon) at the Living Room Studios in Atlanta, G.A. in November of 2007. Benard’s Self-Titled full-length was released in 2006 and their debut EP, Has A Posse, came out in 2005, both on Alaska Records. For more info, go to www.myspace.com/benardmusic or www.alaskarecords.net.
Worn In Red is Joe Lusk (guitar), Brendan Murphy (guitar, vocals), Matt Neagle (bass, vocals) and Brad Perry (drums). Eric Farr played bass on the record. “Vital Joys” was recorded by Eric Friar at Downtown Athens Recording Company in Athens, G.A. in August of 2007. The band’s debut EP, Autumnus Ortus, was released in 2006 by Rosewater Records. For more info go to www.myspace.com/worninred.
500 copies of this 7-inch split were pressed (150 clear red, 350 black) by Alaska Records and No Breaks (www.myspace.com/nobreaksdistro) in July of 2008.
Press Contact: Chuck Daley / Beartrap PR / chuck@beartrappr.com / (704) 649-7128
