WAR BABIES
When Brooklyn’s Brain Slug was in need of a fill-in guitar player for a few shows in 2017, Darren Nanos (NYC Headhunters, Born Sinner, Survivalist, Brain Slug) put in the call to the only NYHC guitar player the band knew that could make such short work of the set list, Mike DeLorenzo of Kill Your Idols, CR, Serpico, Enrage, and Celebrity Murders. After playing only a handful of shows together, the duo vowed to develop their own musical project but were met with a series of scheduling delays. When all other musical projects were halted due to Covid-19 in 2020, the two NYHC veterans realized those scheduling delays no longer existed and opted to use their quarantine experience as a way to develop something fresh, something that spoke of the current, volatile social and political climate, and something that blended their mutual love for late 80’s/early 90’s era Powerviolence and bands such as Infest, NYC Mayhem, Crossed Out, and Spazz as well as classic NYHC acts such as Sick of It All and Killing Time.
WAR BABIES was conceived.
The two-piece powerhouse, who coined the term “Quarantine Core” after their 2020 demo cassette (which sold out almost as quickly as it went on sale) share instrument duties which sees Mike D. on guitar and bass w/ Nanos holding it down on drums and vox. Recording solo in their respective, remote locations and pairing those performances together digitally, the two NYHC stalwarts have made amazing use of the global pandemic with an already near-prolific output of more than 45+ songs in under a year and includes a demo, a forth-coming split 12” w/ The Great Lie and now a 23-song debut LP entitled Shameless Imbalance, which is expected to drop early Fall 2021 on Hellminded Records.
A 23-song throwback to late 80’s/early 90’s era thrashcore and powerviolence records such as DRI’s “Dealing With It” or any Capitalist Casualties record, Shameless Imbalance is the result of the frustrations, challenges and anxieties provided by one of the worst times in American history. It's a sonic reflection of feelings of anger and resentment to a callous and unconcerned governing body, and it's pathetically cultish followers. Commentary on the blatant culture of inequality based on class, race, gender identity and social status as they relate to justice, wealth, acceptance and media representation. And with the possibility of coming together for collected experiences as a hardcore community stripped away from us, it was a chance to find some small, familiar sense of it in the collaborations with some of our longtime friends who also appear on Shameless Imbalance including DFJ/Justin DeTore (Rival Mob, Innumerable Forms), Trevor Vaughn (Rival Mob, Internal, Wound Man), Matt Brennan (Legs Up, Everything Sucks), and Bricks Avalon of Miracle Drug and C.R.
Welcome to the world, WAR BABIES. The floor is all yours.
Shameless Imbalance is expected to drop early Fall 2021 on Hellminded Records.
