I had always hoped to write one of the famed Maximum Rocknroll Scene Reports about my town. But every time I sat down to type out a scene report back in the day, I found myself with little to say about Music City. Local bands like From Ashes Rise, Life Trap or Teen Idols received praise from elsewhere but were often all but ignored at home. Few bands released recorded material. And most ironically in this recording-industry hub, we never had the infrastructure of DIY record labels and promoters that other cities had.
In 2023, things are much different. The groundswell of hardcore in Nashville this year has been undeniable. On Jan. 1, Great Minds rang in the New Year with their Livin’ N Color EP, five slammers recalling some of the baddest moments of ’90s NYHC. In February, Barricaded Suspects (including members of Thetan and Lady Cop) put down 21 saw-toothed anthems of maniac thrash aggression on Terminal Growth.
In the summer, G.U.N. released their bombastic self-titled debut on Sorry State Records. Their ultra-fast nihilistic noise is a reckless reimagining of early ’80s USHC rippers. Right after hyperactive egg punx Snooper returned from touring the east coast of Australia, Third Man Records released Super Snooper, the band’s top-notch LP. Nashville label Pure Noise Records released the best Pink Spiders album yet, the 10-track power-pop hook collection Freakazoid. While Spiders-man Matt Friction’s pop-punk formula — something like The Cars teaming up with The Sweet — is at its sharpest here, no artist has yet begged more desperately to be the Predators victory song than he did with the opening track “Gold Confetti.”
In August, Be Your Own Pet returned to record-store racks, also via Third Man. Their new album Mommy picks up where the foursome of now-30-somethings left off when they disbanded in 2008 — with ferocity and catchiness to spare — but brings a newfound perspective of adulthood. Sweet Time Records put out two of the best 7-inch slabs Middle Tennessee has seen in years: rowdy garage smash “Switchblade Twist” by Wesley & The Boys and The Sleeveens’ “Give My Regards to the Dancing Girls.”
It was a big debut year for The Sleeveens, who signed to Dirtnap Records for their forthcoming LP just weeks after frontman Stef Murphy released his solo album Hospital Verses, also via Sweet Time. Sweet Time was just one of the promoters who helped fuel live punk in Nashville, joined by To-Go Records, the crew at Drkmttr and Jukebox Booking — plus No Rest Booking, who finally brought back the annual Paranoid Mess Fest in October. There’s no excuse: Get out there and pogo!
Talking with Bully’s rock ’n’ roll polymath Alicia Bognanno, counting down the year’s top local albums and more
