Pissed Jeans / King of Jeans - SP818

If 2005’s Shallow was Pissed Jeans coping with moving out of their parents’ homes, and 2007’s Hope for Men their initial reaction to the mechanical lifestyle of a wage-earner, King of Jeans is their formal and uneasy acceptance of adulthood, by way of one hell of a rock record. Working with renowned producer Alex Newport (who holds a Fudge Tunnel pedigree and has worked with such luminaries as At the Drive-In, The Locust and Sepultura), Pissed Jeans have pushed further into the raw, minimal core of heavy rock music with King of Jeans. Masters of the mundane, beasts of the banal, high priests of the humdrum: these four, white, male high school graduates hardly look further than their own appendages for artistic inspiration, content to execute their own brand of brash and heavy punk music in the Joe Carducci-approved standard rock formation of guitar, bass, drums and vocals. From simple minds and simple fabrics comes this King of Jeans. And there can be only one.

Released: August 18, 2009

Pissed Jeans / Hope for Men - SP730

Following on the heels of their monumental Don’t Need Smoke to Make Myself Disappear 7”, Pissed Jeans drop album number 2 and their Sub Pop debut: Hope for Men (we like to think of it in the “mankind” sense). For those who found a glimmer of the stuff on the aforementioned single (two pressings of which have sold out), the album delivers more, and in abundance. That is to say, if classic, thick-as-glue punk bombast and Aussie sludge stoke the coals of your existence, you have found, not only your new favorite band, but a reason to get up in the morning.

Since 2004 the Jeans have spent many a night playing in their hometown, no-rules hellhole, Allentown’s legendary Jeff the Pigeon (RIP). Their first single, “Throbbing Organ” and album, Shallow (both on Parts Unknown) set many self-styled punk scholars’ hearts a-flutter. Songs like “Ugly Twin” sent jaws floor-ward by including a plaintive piano part in a bruiser of a song. Such touches abound on Hope for Men. The album is diverse, but the Jeans ain’t no dilettantes. Mixing volatility with humor is a damned hard thing to master in music. Pissed Jeans do it with smarts and poignancy. Consider the bar raised.

Pissed Jeans are:
Bradley Fry—guitar
Dave Rosenstraus—bass
Matt Korvette—vocals
Sean McGuinness—drums

The NY Times covers a Pissed Jeans show, reflects on bad vibes

Released: June 5, 2007

Pissed Jeans / Shallow - PUR106

Power-dirge from Pennsylvania. Pissed Jeans are noisy as a motherfucker and proud of it on this, their first full length, which sounds like a big pile of mud and broken glass ripping through your stereo speakers in the most killer way imaginable.

Released: January 20, 2007