Friday, September 18th will see the release of Maximum MN, a digital mixtape featuring Sub Pop artists covering Minnesota musicians, capturing a snapshot of Minnesota’s long history of life-changing music and to show solidarity with the people of Minnesota. In the wake of the ICE raids in Minneapolis this year, a lot of communities have been hit hard. Families have been disrupted, people have been displaced, and local support systems are under real strain. Proceeds from this compilation will be sent to The International Institute of Minnesota, a non-profit organization that supports refugees and immigrants through resettlement services, English and citizenship classes, job training (including nursing assistant training), immigration legal services, and direct financial support in the current environment.
The eight-song tracklist includes Downtown Boys (covering the Replacements “Can’t Hardly Wait”), Yuno (covering Hippo Campus “The Way It Goes”), Sweeping Promises (covering Hüsker Dü’s “Something I Learned Today”), Mudhoney (covering Halo of Flies’ “Rubber Room”), Shabazz Palaces (covering Prince’s “Pop Life”), Flock of Dimes (covering Low’s “Especially Me”), Weird Nightmare (covering Paul Westerberg’s “It’s a Wonderful Lie”), and Pissed Jeans (covering former Minnesota Governor and WWF wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura’s “The Body Rules”). Please find a full tracklist below.
MaximumMN will be available on all streaming services on Friday, September 18th worldwide from Sub Pop. Fans can also secure the mixtape two weeks early exclusively through today’s Bandcamp Friday on (September 4th).
Various Artists MaximumMN
Tracklisting: 1. Downtown Boys - Can’t Hardly Wait (The Replacements) 2. Yuno - The Way It Goes - Yuno (Hippo Campus) 3. Sweeping Promises - Something I Learned Today (Hüsker Dü ) 4. Mudhoney - Rubber Room (Halo of Flies) 5. Shabazz Palaces - Pop Life (Prince) 6. Flock of Dimes - Especially Me (Low) 7. Weird Nightmare - It’s a Wonderful Lie (Paul Westerberg) 8. Pissed Jeans - The Body Rules (Jesse “The Body” Ventura)
Pissed Jeans is sharing the Joe Stakun-directed official video for “Cling to a Poisoned Dream,” a bruising meditation of harsh truths, and a highlight from their excellent sixth album Half Divorced, out this Friday, March 1st, worldwide on Sub Pop.
The twelve songs on Half Divorced skewer the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood. Pissed Jeans’ – Matt Korvette (vocals), Bradley Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass), and Sean McGuinness (drums) – notorious acerbic sense of humor remains sharper than ever as they dismember some of the joys that contemporary adult life has to offer.
Half Divorced has earned praise from the likes of MOJO (★★★★), and UNCUT. In their 8/10 review, the latter says, “Almost 20 years on, this lot are still kicking against the pricks with their ferocious hybrid of (post-) punk, hardcore and sludgy grunge. Track titles here such as ‘Anti-Sapio’ and ‘Cling to a Poisoned Dream’ suggest their view of the status quo remains brutally realistic, but as always it’s leavened with tunefulness and dark humour. Matt Korvette is a misanthropic force of nature, whether ticking off the negatives of cities from Boston to Rome (‘Everywhere Is Bad’) or addressing adult responsibility (‘Helicopter Parent’). ’80s hardcore rules, as on closer ‘Moving On,’ which taps Bob Mould’s chiming intensity, but PJ throw it off course, notably on Killing Joke-esque epic ‘Junktime.’” Meanwhile, God Is In the TV says the album’s “…throttling compulsion and an undeniable lightness of being make for a winning combination,” and Record Collector succinctly adds “It’s a corker.”
Half Divorced was produced and mixed by Pissed Jeans and Don Godwin and engineered by Mike Petillo at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland, and mastered by Arthur Rizk (co-producer and mixer for Why Love Now).
Half Divorced is available to preorder from Sub Pop. Preorders in North America from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser Edition on Spotify-Colored vinyl (otherwise known as an opaque lime green…). In the UK and Europe, LP orders from independent retail stores will receive the Loser Edition on Coke Bottle Green vinyl. A UK-only Magenta vinyl edition will also be available to preorder through Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) and Rough Trade Shops. All colored vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.
Pissed Jeans’ previously announced international tour dates in support of Half Divorced span Friday, February 29th through April 4th. More live dates will be announced soon.
Thu. Feb. 29 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios Fri. Mar. 01 - Seattle, WA - Madame Lou’s Sat. Mar. 02 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo Fri. Mar. 15 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Sat. Mar. 16 - Brooklyn, NY - St. Vitus Fri. Mar. 29 - Schijndel, NL - Paaspop Festival Sat. Mar. 30 - London, UK - EartH (aka Hackney Arts Centre) Sun. Mar. 31 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Punk Fest Tue. Apr. 02 - Glasgow, UK - Stereo Wed. Apr. 03 - Dublin, IE - Whelan’s Thu. Apr. 04 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
Next week, Pissed Jeans will host an hourlong takeover of NTS Radio on Friday, March 8th (noon EST). Pissed Jeans Half Divorced
Tracklisting: 1. Killing All the Wrong People 2. Anti-Sapio 3. Helicopter Parent 4. Cling to a Poisoned Dream 5. Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt 6. Everywhere Is Bad 7. Junktime 8. Alive With Hate 9. Seatbelt Alarm Silencer 10. (Stolen) Catalytic Converter 11. Monsters 12. Moving On
Today, February 6th, Pissed Jeans is sharing “Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt,” a crushing new track about the heady excitement of shrinking debt-to-credit ratios, and a highlight from their forthcoming album Half Divorced.
Last month, the band announced the release of the album with the official video for indelible lead single “Moving On” from director and frequent collaborator Joe Stakun (“The Bar Is Low,” “Bathroom Laughter,” “Romanticize Me”).
The FADER says “Moving On” is, “…a song that cuts deep to the core while brightening up the layers of distortion that have defined the sound of previous Pissed Jeans albums through perky guitar tones and anthemic vocals.” Stereogum named the song one of its “5 Best Songs of the Week,” and said, “Where Pissed Jeans’ music was once overwhelmingly mean and scuzzy, ‘Moving On’ sounds vast and anthemic, with keyboards and melodies and an actual singable hook. It might be the friendliest song that Pissed Jeans have ever recorded.”
Later this month, Pissed Jeans will also grace the cover of New Noise Magazine’s February/March issue (see January 31st news story).
Pissed Jeans’ Half Divorced is the follow-up to 2017’s Why Love Now, an album that took aim at the mundane discomforts of modern life. The twelve songs of Half Divorced skewer the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood. Pissed Jeans’ – Matt Korvette (vocals), Bradley Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass), and Sean McGuinness (drums) – notorious acerbic sense of humor remains sharper than ever as they dismember some of the joys that contemporary adult life has to offer.
Half Divorced was produced and mixed by Pissed Jeans and Don Godwin and engineered by Mike Petillo at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland, and mastered by Arthur Rizk (co-producer and mixer for Why Love Now).
Pissed Jeans’ previously announced international tour dates in support of Half Divorced span Friday, February 29th through Thursday, April 4th. Additional live dates will be announced soon.
Thu. Feb. 29 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios Fri. Mar. 01 - Seattle, WA - Madame Lou’s Sat. Mar. 02 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo Fri. Mar. 15 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts Sat. Mar. 16 - Brooklyn, NY - St. Vitus Fri. Mar. 29 - Schijndel, NL - Paaspop Festival Sat. Mar. 30 - London, UK - EartH (aka Hackney Arts Centre) Sun. Mar. 31 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Punk Fest Tue. Apr. 02 - Glasgow, UK - Stereo Wed. Apr. 03 - Dublin, IE - Whelan’s Thu. Apr. 04 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
Half Divorced is available to preorder now from Sub Pop. Preorders in North America from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser Edition on Spotify-Colored vinyl (otherwise known as an opaque lime green…). In the UK and Europe, LP orders from independent retail stores will receive the Loser Edition on Coke Bottle Green vinyl. A UK-only Magenta vinyl edition will also be available to preorder through Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) and Rough Trade Shops. All colored vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.
Pissed Jeans Half Divorced
Tracklisting: 1. Killing All the Wrong People 2. Anti-Sapio 3. Helicopter Parent 4. Cling to a Poisoned Dream 5. Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt 6. Everywhere Is Bad 7. Junktime 8. Alive With Hate 9. Seatbelt Alarm Silencer 10. (Stolen) Catalytic Converter 11. Monsters 12. Moving On
On March 1st, 2024, Pissed Jeans will release Half Divorced, their incredible 6th album, on CD/LP/DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop. The band is sharing the official video for indelible lead single “Moving On” from director and frequent collaborator Joe Stakun (“The Bar Is Low,” “Bathroom Laughter,” “Romanticize Me”).
Pissed Jeans’ Half Divorced is the follow-up to 2017’s Why Love Now, an album that took aim at the mundane discomforts of modern life. The album and its singles received praise from The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Guardian, Uncut, Stereogum, and more.
The twelve songs of Half Divorced skewer the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood. Pissed Jeans’ – Matt Korvette (vocals), Bradley Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass), and Sean McGuinness (drums) – notorious acerbic sense of humor remains sharper than ever as they dismember some of the joys that contemporary adult life has to offer.
Half Divorced includes the previously mentioned “Moving On,” the omnidirectional piss-take “Everywhere Is Bad” (Spoiler alert: “Seattle is soaking wet”), shrinking debt-to-credit ratios in the bracing “Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt,” and the harsh truth-telling in the bruising “Cling to a Poisoned Dream.”
Half Divorced was produced and mixed by Pissed Jeans and Don Godwin and engineered by Mike Petillo at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland, and mastered by Arthur Rizk (co-producer and mixer for Why Love Now).
Pissed Jeans’ previously announced international tour dates in support of Half Divorced span Friday, February 29th through Thursday, April 4th. New shows include Friday, March 15th in Philadelphia, with a hometown release show at Underground Arts; Saturday, March 16th in Brooklyn at St. Vitus; And Friday, March 29th in Schijndel, NL at the Paaspop Festival. Additional live dates will be announced soon.
Thu. Feb. 29 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios Fri. Mar. 01 - Seattle, WA - Madame Lou’s Sat. Mar. 02 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo Fri. Mar. 15 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts Sat. Mar. 16 - Brooklyn, NY - St. Vitus Fri. Mar. 29 - Schijndel, NL - Paaspop Festival Sat. Mar. 30 - London, UK - EartH (aka Hackney Arts Centre) Sun. Mar. 31 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Punk Fest Tue. Apr. 02 - Glasgow, UK - Stereo Wed. Apr. 03 - Dublin, IE - Whelan’s Thu. Apr. 04 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
Half Divorced is available to preorder now from Sub Pop. Preorders in North America from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser Edition on Spotify-Colored vinyl (otherwise known as an opaque lime green…). In the UK and Europe, LP orders from independent retail stores will receive the Loser Edition on Coke Bottle Green vinyl. A UK-only Magenta vinyl edition will also be available to preorder through Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) and Rough Trade Shops. All colored vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.
More on Pissed Jeans Half Divorced by Chelsea Hodson: Pissed Jeans has never been a band that goes halfway—they’re known for their feral vocals, biting lyrics, buzzsaw guitars, and unhinged live shows, and their sixth album, Half Divorced is no exception. These songs skewer the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood, and when viewed through frontman Matt Korvette’s scowl, everything takes on a level of violent absurdity.
Pissed Jeans’ notorious acerbic sense of humor remains sharper than ever as they dismember some of the joys that contemporary adult life has to offer, from helicopter parents to stolen catalytic converters to being $62,000 in debt. On “Seatbelt Alarm Silencer,” Korvette growls, “Call it a death drive but that ain’t fair / Drive implies I’m headed somewhere.”
So where does a band like Pissed Jeans go after nearly twenty years of making music, after becoming fathers, after marriages, and after divorces? Existence has festered to a boiling point. Korvette said, “Half Divorced has an aggression within it, in terms of saying, I don’t want this reality. There’s a power in being able to say, I realize you want me to pay attention to these things, but I’m telling you that they don’t matter. I’m already looking elsewhere.”
Even within the brutality that Korvette conjures on songs like “Killing All the Wrong People” (“If violence is now their form of play / Let’s aim ‘em towards those who made ‘em that way”), the energy on some of these songs is inadvertently, well, fun. Listening to this album will give even the most jaded nine-to-fiver the sense that unrestrained freedom is still possible. And who else is going to rhyme “colonizer” with “moisturizer” anyway?
Korvette, Brad Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass) and Sean McGuinness (drums) weren’t in any rush to finish Half Divorced, which was recorded by Don Godwin at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland. “We’re not the kind of band that bangs out a new record every two years,” Korvette said. “Pissed Jeans is truly like an art project for us, which is what makes it so fun.” This lack of restraint rages within the songs that unexpectedly veer into classic hardcore punk territory—often coming in at under two minutes long and erupting like the “butane tank explosion” Korvette sings about in “Junktime.”
This distilled energy makes Half Divorced sound menacing and dangerous. Korvette said, “We realized we’d never really fucked with pop punk, and we thought, this is something that isn’t going to be immediately recognizable as cool. So let’s challenge ourselves to make it feel cool to us.”
There’s also a Pink Lincolns cover, “Monsters,” on which Korvette sings, “People are more hideous than monsters.” And in the last song, “Moving On,” Korvette sneers, “Cheesing into my cameraphone / Pretending that I’m not alone / Life’s the first thing that we all postpone.” One gets the sense that Pissed Jeans refuses to “postpone” life in quite the same way—life, like art, is something that happens now, not later.
The word “divorce” falls in line with the moments of humiliation and shame that are held up for all to see on this album. Korvette said, “If you say something enough or if you just allow it to exist publicly, then it loses its evil monster-in-the-closet thing.” There is clarity to be found within both the light and the dark, in both the marriage and the divorce. As the chorus of the last song calls out: “I’m moving on, I’m moving on, I’m moving on.”
Pissed Jeans Half Divorced
Tracklisting: 1. Killing All the Wrong People 2. Anti-Sapio 3. Helicopter Parent 4. Cling to a Poisoned Dream 5. Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt 6. Everywhere Is Bad 7. Junktime 8. Alive With Hate 9. Seatbelt Alarm Silencer 10. (Stolen) Catalytic Converter 11. Monsters 12. Moving On
The gutter-scraped amalgamation of sludge, punk, noise, and bracing wit of Pissed Jeans is back on full display in “No Convenient Apocalypse,” a new single release and first material since Why Love Now, the group’s acclaimed album of 2017.
“No Convenient Apocalypse,” which was originally recorded for the Cyberpunk 2077 video game soundtrack, is available today on all DSPs and will be followed by a 7” single on May 19th. The b-side to the physical single is “Bathroom Laughter (Live in Allentown),” and that song will be available in all DSPs on May 19th, as well. Preorder here.
Pissed Jeans have also announced new US midwest and east coast headlining tour dates for 2023. The dates span Thursday, June 1st in Cambridge at Sonia and run through Sunday, June 18th, in Cleveland at Grog Shop. Tickets for these shows are on sale Wednesday, April 19th (@10 am ET).
Thu. Jun. 01 - Cambridge, MA - Sonia * Fri. Jun. 02 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom * Sat. Jun. 03 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge (In The Round) * Thu. Jun. 15 - Pittsburgh, PA - Thunderbird Cafe & Music Hall ^ Fri. Jun. 16 - Chicago, IL - Subterranean ^ Sat. Jun. 17 - Detroit, MI - El Club ^ Sun. Jun. 18 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop ^
* w/ Carnivorous Bells ^ w/ Kilynn Lunsford
Pissed Jeans is currently at work on the follow-up to Why Love Now, an album that took aim at the mundane discomforts of modern life—from fetish webcams to office-supply deliveries, and won raves from the likes of The New Yorker, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Guardian, Uncut, Stereogum, and more.
What people have said about Pissed Jeans: “…Pissed Jeans has done well to land its aggression closer to home. “Why Love Now” is still rich in sludge—just not the toxic kind.” [Why Love Now] - The New Yorker
“Their most unsparing work of self-flagellation yet, a generous grope through their own dirty laundry that begs both a smirk and a wince.” [Why Love Now] - Rolling Stone
“… One of our era’s best punk bands.” [Why Love Now] - SPIN
“It isn’t for the faint-hearted, but is a lot of fun and delivers some uncomfortable home truths.” [Why Love Now] ★★★★ The Guardian
“Another blast of full-fury guitar rock.” [“The Bar Is Low”] - Billboard
“Matt Korvette, the skeptical frontman of a terrific, coarsely named post-hardcore band from Allentown, Pa., doesn’t want to hear your compliments. As a dude, he knows he’s being graded on a curve…The track feels partly inspired by a recent series of unmaskings in the public sphere. “It just seems to be quite an easy bet,” Mr. Korvette sputters. “Those we adore just haven’t spilled their secrets yet.” But the excoriation is all-inclusive: By the end, he floats a claim about our rate of evolution as a species. (Spoiler alert: It’s not hopeful.)” [“The Bar Is Low”] - New York Times
For the first time in years, it’s that time of year again…We are, of course, referring to the 2022 SxSW Music Festival in Austin, TX. And this year, Sub Pop artists Aeon Station, Naima Bock, Cartel Madras, CHAI, Hannah Jadagu, Kiwi Jr., Pissed Jeans, and Weyes Blood will all appear at the once-again-annual music festival and BBQ buffet. Please find a complete schedule for each artist below.
Aeon Station
THURSDAY, MARCH 17th
5:25 PM / Hipster Robot Showcase @ Side Bar
602 E 7th St., Austin, TX 78701
1:00 AM / SXSW Showcase @ Elysium
705 Red River St., Austin, TX 78701
FRIDAY, MARCH 18th
1:30 PM / Brooklyn Vegan Showcase @ TBD
6:15 PM / Midgetmen’s Jumpstart 14
602 E 7th St., Austin, TX 78701
10:00 PM / Pellicular Works @ Soundspace Captain Quackenbush’s Coffeehouse
5326 Menchaca Rd., Austin, TX 78745
Naima Bock
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16th
1:00 PM / IFPA (Global Street Farm) @ Idle Hands
Address: 85 Rainey St
THURSDAY, MARCH 17th
8:00 PM / St. David’s Bethell Hall @ St. David’s Episcolpal Church
301 E 8th St., Austin, TX 78701
FRIDAY, MARCH 18th
11:00 PM / British Underground Happening @ Seller’s Underground
Panel Topic: Three LGBTQ+ acts with experience exploring their musicianship at a young age speak about the evolution of their craft and how that impacted the ways in which they came to celebrate their sexual identities.
