Last year, because of the pandemic, it became possible for new punk bands to make a name for themselves without ever once playing a show. This would’ve been unthinkable at any other point in history, but it’s what happened with the Bay Area hardcore punk band Spy. In July of 2020, Spy released Service Weapon, a debut EP that blasted through four songs in seven minutes. On that EP, Spy sounded raw and scuzzy and beautifully ugly, and the world took notice. At this point, Spy have played a few shows, and they’ve got more coming up with bands like Municipal Waste and Ingrown. And now they’ve got another EP on the way.
In a few weeks, Spy will release the new EP Habitual Offender, which has six songs in 10 minutes. Lead single “Exceptional American” lurches from blood-gargle stomp to battlefield sprint and back again. Singer Peter Pawlak bellows out a bunch of utterly inscrutable words. The band recorded the EP with Gulch/Sunami/World Peace collaborator Charles Toshio, who has done nothing to clean up their sound. Listen to “Exceptional American” and check out the Habitual Offender tracklist below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Afraid Of Everything”
02 “Obtained Under Duress”
03 “Exceptional American”
04 “Habitual Offender”
05 “Labor Dispute”
06 “Negative Mind Power”
The Habitual Offender EP is out 10/1 on To Live A Lie.
