Hardcore and punk aren’t genres that necessarily celebrate change. It’s not like the music is stagnant; it’s more that the tried and true is rewarded while anything new, anything different, is greeted with a quizzical eyebrow and the spoken or unspoken question of: “Is this good? Can you mosh to it?”
If there was anyone in Philadelphia who could answer those queries with expert authority, it’s George Hirsch and Dave Walling. Though really, you don’t even need to ask them. Put on the crushing debut album by Staticlone, the band they started at the tail end of their previous outfit Blacklisted, and you’ll find all the answers you need.
On Better Living Through Static Vision you can hear Hirsch, bassist Walling, and drummer Jeff Ziga channel everything from crust to metal, and the hardcore punk they’ve all been steeped in for decades. In the sum of those parts Staticlone follows the path of Disfear, Wolfbrigade, Inepsy, and other groups that combine d-beat ferocity with rock n’ roll riffs.
Hirsch says, “Staticlone is a band that makes music: Hardcore punk for hardcore punks, it’s that simple.”
The lyrics on Better Living Through Static Vision, all written by Hirsch, focus on themes of alienation and loss. That poetry is paired beautifully with some of the most unrelenting, snarly, and heavy hardcore and punk from the East Coast. Which brings us back to those two very important questions: Is it good? Unquestionably. Can you mosh to it? Just try and stand still.
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