The members of the Philly punk band Open City have some truly jaw-dropping resumes. Collectively, the members of Open City have been — or are currently — in bands like Lifetime, Ceremony, Titus Andronicus, Bridge & Tunnel, Paint It Black, Kid Dynamite, and Ted Leo’s Pharmacists. It’s been seven years since Open City released their great self-titled debut, but they’re coming back this fall with the sophomore LP Hands In The Honey Jar. We’ve already posted the excellent, convulsive first single “Return Your Stolen Property Is Theft.” Now, Open City have followed that one with a new rager called “Blitz Kids Stay Sick.”
Guitarist Dan Yemin sings “Blitz Kid Stay Sick,” a fast and furious attack that lasts for less than a minute and a half. Over a fired-up D-beat blast, Yemin screams about a hostile world and about the bands who approach that world by attempting to look as tough as possible. Then the song lurches into a breakdown, and Yemin identifies the real enemy: “It’s always been truncheons! Tear gas! Flags flown at half-mast! Selma to the West Bank! Johannesburg to Belfast!” It’s fucking sick. Here’s what Yemin says about the song:
It started as a gut reaction to seeing bands double down on posing hard style in promotional photos, trying to look intimidating in a way that feels, to me at least, tiresome and forced. Hardcore punk as a performance of male hostility is limited, tedious, and boring. [The song is] also a response to lyrics that squander opportunities to talk about serious shit.
Listen below.
Hands In The Honey Jar is out 10/6 on Get Better Records.