Hate Your Friends are a band from North Texas who’ve just released an EP entitled ‘Keep Me At Home’. The EP flies relentlessly into ‘Bring Down The Center House (ft. Queen Latifah)’ with catchy yet repetitive riffs reminiscent of Joyce Manor’s finer work. The choruses throughout are catchy and even after only the second listen it’s easy to catch yourself singing along.
Whilst Hate Your Friends label themselves pop-punk (and there are definitely elements of pop-punk in the EP), there’s plenty of other punk sub-genres on display. The aptly named ‘It’s “Punk Rock” Punk Rock’ is in-your-face, brash and honest indie influences punk (“I’ve been stupid and unconscious most of my life”). The romanticism juxtaposes well with the rough and ready feel, and the end product is unique, attention grabbing and oozing with talent.
At seven tracks long, ‘Keep Me At Home’ is more of a mini-album by definition, but Hate Your Friends provide track after track of standout material here, and there’s plenty to enjoy. The parting line of ‘At a 7-11 Somewhere’ seems to be Hate Your Friends’ mission statement (“I need something to believe in”), and though of course similar things have been heard from The Ramones, Aqualung and Jack’s Mannequin before, it’s apt that Hate Your Friends have drawn influence from these artists musically as well as borrowing the sentiment.
Hate Your Friends have made quite the first impression with ‘Keep Me At Home’ – it’s a listenable yet powerful seven tracker of diverse, emotional and passionate indie-punk. It’s more than fair to say that they have surpassed even their own expectations here, and we can’t wait to hear more.
CHERI FAULKNER