Pissed Jeans at Mercury Lounge

Matt Korvette & Brad Fry

In the early 2000s, several high school friends formed a ripping fastcore band called the Gate Crashers in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. By 2003, the Gate Crashers evolved into the Unrequited Hard-On, now based out of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and in short time, the Unrequited Hard-On changed its name to Pissed Jeans. The band members maintained their day jobs and performed live only occasionally, invisibly building an under-the-radar reputation and a rabid hunger among hardcore enthusiasts. Pissed Jeans presently consists of vocalist Matt Korvette, guitarist Brad Fry, bassist Randy Huth, and drummer Sean McGuinness. Pissed Jeans' fifth album, Why Love Now, was released on February 24, 2017.

In a rare live appearance tonight at Mercury Lounge, Pissed Jeans played an uncompromising set that sounded like it could have been the flag waver for a return to the loud, noisy hardcore of the 1980s and a revolt against the pop punk of the 1990s and the Warped festival bands. The rhythm section anchored a rampaging energy as Fry fiercely played atonal guitar licks and riffs and Korvette thrashed his body left and right while shouting incomprehensible lyrics. Most songs were fast and searing, others were plodding and droning, but all were aggressive, messy and bludgeoning. Between songs, Korvette occasionally simmered the ferocious rage with absurd commentary, indicating that the songs were rooted in acerbic sarcasm rather than in ripping apart structural systems. Hence, the world can relax; the band may not be as dangerous as it sounds.

Visit Pissed Jeans at www.whitedenim.com/pissedjeans.