N E E D S

It's funny how, while the sound of an album might not seem particularly interesting upon a listener's first exposure to it, it's possible for something to spontaneously change, shift the focus of the music ever-so-slightly and suddenly make it totally captivating.Such a thing happened for me the first time I heard NEEDS' self-titled debut; when I put it on, I was less than thrilled to discover that almost none of the usual trappings which qualify an album as punk were present (distortion, speedy and forceful drumming, busy and bottom-heavy bass lines) – the only obvious cliche was the fact that singer Sean Orr was screaming his head off the whole time. “Alright fine,” I thought. “This is going to be another indie hardcore album, let's go.”

Then it happened. Right after I have decided what I thought I'd be in for with this album, I started noticing little sonic abnormalities in the mix of “Rescue Don.” The little abnormalities sounded like they may have been instances of sound reflecting off of different surfaces – walls, indiscernible objects – which were then picked up by the microphones used to record the album. Likewise, subtle imperfections in Orr's vocal delivery (little level and tone changes) became evident. All put together, the way that “Rescue Don” sounded made it seem possible that NEEDS might just have been recorded live off the floor – and that possibility seemed wildly exciting.

With the provocative question of NEEDS possibly being a live-off-the-floor affair on the tip of my mind, I began listening much, much closer. I ended up being well-rewarded for my effort – even if I still can't say whether or not the album was recorded live off the floor conclusively.

First, I discovered that NEEDS do own distortion pedals (not just raw volume which causes natural distortion) and know exactly how to use them as “Walk, Cycle, or Take Transit Like Jehu” crashes in – all teeth and anger – and begins assaulting anyone and anything that stands immediately before it. Unlike “Rescue Don,” there is precisely no delicacy about Colin Spensley and Derek Adam's guitars here – they are simply the unfiltered sound of sonic adrenaline unleashed. Likewise, Devin O'Rourke's drumming and Glenn Anderson's bass both launch and sustain a vicious and metronomic strike here, and Orr settles all the last doubts listeners may have by just coming along howling and ready to chop listeners' heads off. The sound is fantastic – both noxious and addictive – and with it locked down, NEEDS really begins pounding heads, wowing ears and making both beg for more. Songs like “Clowns to the Left of Me, Dzhokhars to the Right” – with its howling calls of action (“Run!”) and crass come-ons (“Be afraid motherfucker”) – simultaneously wins and hardens hearts, “N.E.E.D.S.” (which crassly berates society and societal ills), “Nag Champion” (with its medicated-feeling, sensory-deprived guitars) and “The Accursed Share” will drive adrenaline levels up in even the most passive of listeners and provide the perfect foil for more deceptively light fare like “We Forgot the Records to Our Record Release Show” (which begins with the words “What am I doing?! (and then spoken) No seriously – what am I doing?”) which all focus more on humor than hardcore. In that regard, NEEDS offers a great and very human mix to hardcore which hasn't really been done as well since Circle Jerks started really making heads spin in 1980.

That said, it shouldn't need stating that NEEDS' self-titled album marks the arrival of a great new band that any fan of hardcore should be paying attention to, but why leave anything to chance? When it is released on May 12, 2015, go get in line at your local record store and buy a copy of this disc. Buy the CD or buy the record, just go buy it. It's very possible that NEEDS will be the new blood which launches the next punk renaissance – it is that good and that inspiring.

Artist:
www.needsvancouver.com/
www.needsvancouver.bandcamp.com/music
www.facebook.com/NEEDSVANCOUVER
www.twitter.com/needs6
www.instagram.com/needsvancouver/

Album:
NEEDS' self-titled full-length album will be released via File Under: Music on May 12, 2015. Pre-order it here on Amazon . - Ground Control

Hardcore that takes itself seriously is the absolute worst. You’ve got a bunch of full grown men screaming the lyrics they’ve written at a fourth grade level about “serious” issues while a pit full of troglodytes runs in circles, punching one another in the face. Thank god for post-ironic bands who appreciate the absurdity of what they’re doing, bands like Vancouver's NEEDS.

As you can tell by their song title, “We Forgot the Records to Our Record Release Show,” they have a sense of humor about themselves, a fact which they drive home in the song’s defeated, self-questioning opening line, “What am I doing? (No, seriously, what am I doing?) I’m 36 years old (37 in a couple of months) in a hardcore band (although it’s probably more like punk).” The rest of the song is a blast of frenetic energy that can only come out of riding that fine line between frustration and despair.

Listen to the song below and question what you’ve been doing with your life and all the time and money you’ve wasted collecting records. Their self-titled debut will be out on May 12. - Noisey

It is not hard to imagine, and not without reason to assume, that for a very large portion of the late teens-through mid-twenties population there is ever increasing anxiety about the mythical “growing up”—forever and pre-maturely alluded to throughout ones youth. There is widespread disillusionment about expectations of success both financially and emotionally that were borne out of the pseudo-existence of the (entitled and privileged) American dream, and subsequently filtered through the malaise of the post-Boomer generation. A subset of this anxious unease is condensed and refracted on “The Only Good Condo is a Dead Condo”, the first song off of the upcoming album from Vancouver, BC’s NEEDS. A frenetic four minutes, NEEDS cycle from post punk, to garage rock, to math rock elements and back, seamlessly blending and never settling into one particular mode of existence. While there are moments that reflect DC-hardcore, and there are moments that seem like (recently disbanded; RIP) Glocca Morra; “Dead Condo” is not easy to mistake for another band’s work.

NEEDS’ musical brand of hard-soul is perfect accompaniment for singer Sean Orr’s discontent; there are anxious builds and drowned furies and unhinged eruptions—all of which contextualize the path Orr is taking. The opening line of the song, “It costs so much, just to live in this town,” is slurringly laid out with a backdrop of feedback that leads to the realization: “And from where I’m from, it’s like they don’t want me around.” “Dead Condo” is reminiscent of another group of punks’ discontent with finding decent living space, and follows in a tradition of making really loud music that gets its point across without wavering. This is something to celebrate, and is vital to keeping rock and its many offshoots alive; NEEDS have done their part.

You can stream “The Only Good Condo is a Dead Condo” below. NEEDS will be releasing their eponymous first LP on May 12 via File Under: Music. - Impose

Vancouver is a city that boasts one of the highest costs of living in Canada and has more musicians trying to make things work within its boundaries than there is room for. NEEDS is a five-piece hardcore band facing the seemingly impossible task of carving out their own space within the city’s disparate music scene, writing songs that reflect on the issues of economic and social justice that plague their daily lives. But judging by the band’s acronym (Never Ever Ending Destruction of Society) and song titles like “We Forgot The Records To Our Record Release Show” and “The Only Good Condo Is A Dead Condo,” it’s safe to say that NEEDS knows how to tease their audience. They’re another politically conscious hardcore band, sure, but they’re not spewing bile and ideology. Instead, NEEDS are just trying to point out how endless the downward spiral of injustice and subsequent hypocrisy really is. I spoke with frontman Sean Orr, bassist Glenn Alderson, and guitarist Colin Spensley about their forthcoming debut album and the many intricacies of the Vancouver music scene. Listen to NEEDS’ latest single “Rescue Don” and read the Q&A below.

STEREOGUM: What bands were you all in before, and how did NEEDS get started?

SEAN ORR: Glenn asked me to join NEEDS after he saw me play in my old band Taxes. We had met before. He was in a Calgary band called Corta Vita, and I was in a band with three 18 year old girls called GoGoStop.

GLENN ALDERSON: I just remembered watching Taxes play their last show and it was so amazing. I knew I had to play in a band with Sean. Sean is an exceptional frontman.

STEREOGUM: What year was this?

COLIN SPENSLEY: 2011.

STEREOGUM: Why did it take so long to release a full-length?

SPENSLEY: The other two current members were in a band called Eek (Devin and Colin), and we lost two original members of NEEDS, so we asked them and they said yes right away.

ALDERSON: We have been writing and releasing music the whole time, but never a proper full-length.

STEREOGUM: Where did you record NEEDS?

ALDERSON: We recorded the album at The Noise Floor on Gabriola Island. Our producer, Jordan Koop, just got back from some sound camp thing with Steve Albini.

STEREOGUM: When you write songs, do you work it all out in studio or ahead of time? Is it typically music before lyrics, vice versa, or simultaneous?

SPENSLEY: Simultaneous! I have some stuff written down — notes, poems, rants, etc.

ALDERSON:: A lot of our songs start as riffs and then are shaped by Sean’s lyrics.

STEREOGUM: There’s an obvious political edge to this album that, after reading a VICE post of your second single, made me unsure whether or not the songs were a critique or just a joking prod at a common hardcore aesthetic.

ORR: It’s a bit of both.

ORR: I write a column that critiques the news called Tea & Two Slices, so I read the local news every day, and I make jokes about it. It’s all so overwhelming, and NEEDS is a good outlet.

ALDERSON:: We aren’t an obnoxious political punk band that takes themselves too seriously though. I think that NEEDS as an acronym for NEVER EVER ENDING DESTRUCTION OF SOCIETY was actually an afterthought.

ORR: It’s like, at this point, [the news] is all just so absurd.

ALDERSON:: Exactly. We just have fun taking the piss out of a lot of different things.

STEREOGUM: So these are issues that matter, but the dialogue surrounding them is getting ridiculous?

ORR: For me, absolutely.

STEREOGUM: How do the rest of you feel about the lyrics, the attitude behind the project?

SPENSLEY: Derek loves it, he told me once.

ALDERSON:: I believe in everything that we stand for as a band. Sean is a very socially and politically aware person. And we all live in Vancouver, a city that is being very gentrified, so we are all sort of reacting to that on a daily basis.

SPENSLEY: Vancouver is a very difficult city to a band in, yet everyone does it, and that challenge — cost of living, struggling venues, etc. — makes us all better. Vancouver bands are good, in spite of and because of Vancouver.

STEREOGUM: Are there a lot of hardcore bands there? How is the scene you’re a part of threatened by gentrification, cost of living, venue closure, etc.?

ORR: We’re not really in the hardcore scene.

ALDERSON:: Illegal underground venues are few and far between and threatened with a very limited life span. I feel like the cops try to turn their heads on underground venues but eventually they get shut down, just like every city.

ORR: There is a very small independent music scene in Vancouver. We’re a small town, so we play with everyone!

ALDERSON:: Gabriela, when you think of Vancouver, what comes to mind?

STEREOGUM: Honestly, I think about White Lung. But I also think about how Vancouver doesn’t seen to have a particular genre stamp on it.

ORR: Good answer, haha.

STEREOGUM: Now you are interviewing me!

ALDERSON: I’m just interested how our city is perceived by people in the U.S.

STEREOGUM: I do think that in terms of how people in the U.S. perceive Canadian cities as they relate to music, Calgary and Montreal come up in conversation far more often. We’re premiering “Rescue Don.” Of all the songs on the album, this one seems to be the least tied to a specific question, issue, conversation starter. It doesn’t even directly reference your community. What’s the song about?

ORR: It’s about mortality, aging, resurrection, with a Joy Division reference thrown in for good measure.

STEREOGUM: That seems like an appropriate entry point for this record: start broad and whittle things down.

ORR: Absolutely!

//

NEEDS is out 5/12 via File Under: Music. - Stereogum

Vancouver punk act NEEDS offers up a modern dose of old school punk in the vein of Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Minor Threat. Like contemporary Keith Morris reboot OFF!, the ragged five-piece runs the gauntlet of gut busting, scraggly punk while always keeping a good humour about themselves. NEEDS quickly diverges from their influences as their songs’ lengthy run times afford the space to flesh out and develop a cohesive brand of constructive chaos. Right from the start, NEEDS’ self-titled debut keeps its eyes on the prize by maintaining a tight, frenetic focus.

Opener “Rescue Don” lays down an addictive, undulating bassline that marches forth with the cocky confidence of a champion boxer strutting down the catwalk. Vocalist Sean Orr shows preliminary control as he openly openly throws the punches circa his pseudo spoken word technique, before unleashing his flailing fury a track later in “Walk, Cycle, or Take Transit Like Jehu.” Reports from those having seen NEEDS on stage make Orr out as an absolute madman, and track after track, it shows. The explosive, angular rager, “The Only Good Condo Is A Dead Condo,” captures the humoured frustration of Vancouverites furious at a million dollar housing market serving up life sentences of living in a 500 square foot studio apartment. The band’s anger typically wells from the usual social injustice topics without getting too dark or burdensome.

All this coexists alongside mid-album, mostly-silent interlude “Nag Champion (Smoke Break),” which serves up an opportunity to catch your breath – a courtesy that many hardcore bands seem to overlook. Entering the final half, the breather is a must as the album takes its gloves off and readies its fists for a bloody pummeling. “We Forgot The Records To Our Record Release” and “We Don’t Know Why We Are Protesting Is Why We Are Protesting” get real visceral with sloppy, clamouring drums and the type of throaty calls that made for the best Outbreak tracks. In many ways it’s a homecoming for the genre.

NEEDS debut with a full length that should be quick to find an audience in old-school punks, the hardcore crowd, and just about anyone else looking to have their eardrums burst from a direct injection of audio abrasion. NEEDS is a much needed, well executed counter to the more popular breeds of melodic punk that typically garner the most press even in today’s underground. Rough, purposeful hardcore-punk the way it was meant to be played. - The Punk Site

NEEDS' self-title album is officially out May 12 (via File Under: Music), but the Vancouver-based punk band has opted to bless listeners with early access to the record here on The FADER first. Their first proper full-length, it is a raucous blend of self-deprecating humor and politic—as is made evident even with just a scan at the tracklist, which features songs with titles like "Clowns to the Left Of Me, Dzhokhars to the Right" and "We Don't Know Why We Are Protesting is Why We Are Protesting."

As the band tells it, NEEDS is a "well-crafted, rollicking blast" that is "a hard pill for a soft life." "It's both personal and political at the same time—macro and micro," the group told FADER over email. "With a modest amount of self-awareness, the record is a punk rock journey exploring fear, hopelessness, humor and the hardcore genre we grew up on." - The Fader

Is it possible to grow out of punk? I know plenty of people who were once active in the scene that are no longer in it for one reason or another, but did they really grow out of it? Or did their evolving musical tastes just bring them to new things? Whether they intend to or not, Canadian hardcore punk act NEEDS sets forth and answers this question with their self-titled debut record. The answer? No, you don’t grow out of punk. It may grow up with you, sounding completely different than what it originally was when you first heard it in your room as a kid, but if it was ever really a part of you, you’ll never be rid of it.

NEEDS brings this up in the song “We Forgot the Records to Our Record Release Show,” as lead singer Sean Orr screams out, “What am I doing?” before answering himself in a somewhat silly voice that’s found throughout the whole album, “No seriously, what am I doing?” The song continues, “I’m 36 years old! 37 in a couple of months. In a hardcore band! Although it’s probably more like punk.” The bands self-reflecting humor is found throughout the album, but is especially present here. And while the question of staying punk as you grow up is explored in the lyrics, the real answer is in the music: because it kicks ass.

The band combines 80s style hardcore with noise rock and post-hardcore elements to create something truly refreshing. You don’t know what you’re getting with each song, and by the end of it, you’ll probably be left wondering just what that was you heard. Opening track “Rescue Don” gets into a nice groove with its bouncing bass line and post-punk style guitar before the band blows it’s top and goes all out. “The Only Good Condo is a Dead Condo” alternates between psychedelic sections and dissonant whirlwinds of fury that is reminiscent of Reagan Youth’s “It’s A Beautiful Day.” I even heard a little grunge influence in “Walk, Cycle or Take Transit Like Jehu.” This band also likes long and funny song titles, if you couldn’t tell.

NEEDS is filled with well-crafted songs that aren’t afraid to push the envelope in terms of how much the band can pack in sound-wise. Yet, while every song is a new adventure, by the end it still manages to feel a little repetitive. The last 2 or 3 songs never really stuck out to me because I feel like I had already heard everything the album had to offer by then.

NEEDS have come out strong with their debut effort. They’re not afraid to mix up their influences in a way that showcases their talent as musicians and songwriters, and the songs are still teeming with the youthful rage that makes any good punk band great. So instead of growing out of punk, they are growing up with it, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still keep one foot in punk rock neverland.

4/5 Stars - Dying Scene

Taking the stage with a coiled snake rainbow flag that read "Don't Tread on Me," the spirit of Vancouver post-hardcore quintet NEEDS showed they were not WANTS. The whole group had intense energy, from cool-drunk bassist Glenn Alderson (also a member of Too High Crew and editor of BeatRoute) and impertinent drummer Devin O'Rourke (Eeek!) to bearded guitarist Derek Adam (of You Say Party fame). However, any band with Sean Orr is a Sean Orr band, first and foremost, and he was on top form on this evening. Orr incoherently screamed his vocals as if they were the last thing he'd ever do, while shimmying, strip-teasing, spazzing and tangling himself in his mic stand and cable. Anything can happen when that guy is in his happy place. Like Orr said in the outro of their last song, "Be afraid, motherfucker… Be afraid!" - Exclaim!

Needs is a band that’s grown a lot on me. Their 2012 EP, The Accursed Share didn’t initially impress me much, but the band—especially perennially on-the-brink-of-sanity singer Sean Orr—have won me over with their noisy approach to post-hardcore; their Rare Earths 7-inch is a sonic step forward. They call Big Black and the Jesus Lizard sonic touchpoints, and if those noisy behemoths float your boat, there are few bands doing the style better. - Aux

Performing the visceral soundtrack to your next panic attack, NEEDS are a highly destructive and intense five-piece hardcore band from Vancouver, BC. Their reputation precludes insane, festival-busting performances like 2012′s Rifflandia and quite possibly again at this year’s Ghost Throats Festival, which is set to pummel Edmonton and Calgary May 31 to June 2.

Just in time for their brief prairie jaunt, the band has released a four-song EP called Rare Earths, recorded at the Noise Floor in Ladysmith, BC earlier this year. Each punishing track is packed with face melting riffs, high octane vocal delivery and an enthusiasm that seemed to be much more prevalent in early-’90s DC era punk rock.

BeatRoute caught up with the band’s highly unpredictable frontman/lyricist Sean Orr about their creation, career and what NEEDS really means.
“Glenn (Alderson) approached me and wanted to do a project,” recalls Orr about forming this local super group. “Glenn played in the Corta Vita when he was living in Calgary and Derek (Adam) was in this little band from Abbotsford called You Say Party! We Say Die!”

Together they would record five songs and take their set on tour through Canada’s West Coast. Their first album was co-written by prolific guitarist/songwriter Al Boyle, who has since left the group. Orr jokes, “We recruited one half of the band Eeek!, Colin (Spensley) and Devin (O’Rourke), and now the band is called KNEEDS. All our songs are about bread and/or pastries.”

Alderson, Adam, and Orr have been together and inspired live insanity for almost two years, creating a reputation for delivering throat-punching jams and not taking grief from anyone, even in Victoria’s biker bar Sopranos during last year’s Rifflandia Music Festival.

“They were dicks to us from the start,” Orr recalls. “Nobody was there and it was one of my most anticipated shows. We were opening for Fucked Up. My arms fling around a lot and I punched one of the ceiling tiles during our set. I pulled the rest of it out and got jumped and dragged out of the venue by three massive security guards.”

Despite being choked unconscious in front of their audience, Orr managed to finish the last song, but their relationship with Rifflandia is still unclear.
Keeping the momentum going, NEEDS continue to play, write and record on the West Coast, most recently polishing off Rare Earths at the Noise Floor in Ladysmith, BC with producer Jordan Koop.

“The Noise Floor is an absolute treat if you can afford the outrageous ferry ride,” says Orr.

The 12 minutes on record are nail biting and jarring compositions fuelled with a nostalgic enthusiasm steeped in the ethics of the punk and hardcore scene that raised them. When pressed for details, Orr is a little vague but promises some great thematic subjects. “One song is about coming home from tour and one is about Israel and one is about the economy, so I dunno.”
Ghost Throats marks NEEDS’ third time in Alberta in just under a year. Last year they played with bands like Cousins, Korean Gut, Ketamines, and B.A. Johnston at Sled Island. But no matter how well these shows go and regardless of their infamy on Vancouver island, Orr could never see himself or his act leaving Lotus Land, despite his ability to see some of the good.

“Personally I couldn’t see myself living in Calgary because I would probably get in tons of fights with all the Snakeheads,” Orr says. “But Edmonton seems cool and gritty and it’s a really great town to take photographs in.” - Beatroute

"We’re huge fans of Sean Orr, especially his past antics in Taxes. Stick that dude in front of a mic and good things are going to happen. NEEDS are a veritable super crew of Vancouver’s finest, dishing up some Fucked Up-ish jammers." - Kevin Stebner - Kevin Stebner - Bart Records

"NEEDS broke my husband" - girl on Facebook - girl

"I'd say you guys are like... metal punk?" - citr radio idiot - CITR