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Haymarket Riot Plays it Dangerous, Keeps it Cool

Haymarket Riot rises from the ashes of punk with their latest, Endless Bummer

Haymarket Riot

Endless Bummer

Released on Apr 07, 2009

Haymarket Riot is as Chicago as a Vienna hotdog.  From their inception in 1999 the band has been host to some of Chicago’s best and brightest rock, punk, and hardcore musicians, pushing a gritty stripped-down sound of the new punk world.  Even for their latest release Endless Bummer, Haymarket Riot teamed up with local legend Steve Albini as well as Chicago’s premiere sound engineers and producers to complete their third album.  But can you still operate in a dying genre? 

True punk, that special brand that started in the 70s by destitute junkies ready for a change, may be dead but the better post punk bands of today still keep the spirit and genre alive.  Even hardcore music has been reduced to screaming front men and annoying teenagers in tight jeans and bad hair.  Haymarket Riot had decided to go the opposite way on Endless Bummer and channels many of their predecessors and contemporaries instead of playing into the norm.  It’s hard to say that Haymarket Riot sounds like another band, neither is it fair to make one concrete reference.  Tracks like “Chasing Endurance” sound like the simple yet propulsive arrangements of 70s punk.  Kevin Frank’s vocals remind me of the Dead Kennedys.  The band’s hardcore roots go back to old Thursday.  The list goes on and on.  But Endless Bummer never becomes a hodge-podge of the best of punk and hardcore.  These things are only bookmarks for what Haymarket Riot is trying to do. 

Endless Bummer is everything a good post punk album should be.  It has that fervor and energy that 70s punk had but the musical talent that 80s punk had.  The genre has definitely changed, and Haymarket Riot has changed with it for the better.  Their single “If I Were a Transformer, My Name Would be Bad Habit” explodes into Frank’s lyrics so intensely you can hear his voice shaking before ebbing into a punchy bass riff.  It’s rare to hear a bass part at the forefront of a punk or hardcore song as it’s usually used to keep beat and drives a track in the direction it should go.  So when it’s just that bass riff in your face during the verse, weaving in and out with the simple descending guitar riff, it’s like a breath of fresh air.  Haymarket Riot isn’t afraid to try enhancing the genre they’ve decide to play in, which is what makes Endless Bummer such a great listen for fans who are tired of the three-chord formula.  Punk is dead, but something new and exciting is rising from the ashes. 

Posted by Amy Dittmeier on May 12, 2009 @ 6:30 am