Band: Impermanence
From: Portland, Oregon
Their formation story:
(Brandon, bass/vocals): "Impermanence was formed after the dissolution of Nick (drums/vocals) and my previous band, which was a more straight-ahead hardcore 4-piece here in Portland. Nick and I actually used to work together, which is how we got connected and started playing in the first place. During those few months of letting the dust settle, he and I had been independently scheming on the idea of doing something leaner with just bass and drums, so everything clicked into place pretty quick once we got to chatting.
"My favorite part of our budding Impermanence lore is that we had each thought of the band name on our own. Quite a sick surprise to drop the same name on each other in convo #1 [laughs]. From there, we headed back into the practice space and started writing songs. Anyway, shoutout Northwest DIY."
(Nick, drums/vocals): "Brandon covered most of it, but I had a concept/idea in mind that I was really into and wanted to get going in summer/fall 2023. We have a lot of similarities when it comes to writing and style so things were able to get going and start falling into place pretty quickly. The fall and winter was spent writing and recording, then we released our first EP in December 2023 and played our first show in February 2024 (206 Blast Fest in Seattle)."
Their sound in their own words:
(Brandon, bass/vocals): It’s a 2-piece bass and drum hardcore band. The songs are fast, short, and full of feedback. I run two different amps with their own effects to round out the sound, and we both do vocals. We get labeled 'power violence' a lot because we’re two people rolling up to the gig in a hatchback with no guitars, but neither of us are completely convinced of that label.
"I can see the ease of it, for sure, especially with the juxtaposition of speed and groove that we try to incorporate. But admittedly, I get tired of in-depth genre-parsing pretty quick. Who are those conversations for? And I’ve never been all one thing anyway. When we were writing our first EP (9-Song Offering), I was listening to a lot of Corrupt Bastards and Water Torture, with plenty of Crawl Space mixed in.
"There are so many sick bands that lots of folks, us included, are chasing in some way... Brain Tourniquet, Wound Man, Mind Eraser, World Peace, Sex Prisoner, Noose Sweat . . . I don’t know how many of those are influencing us directly, but they sure do pop up in the rotation a lot.
(Nick, drums/vocals): "I grew up listening to a lot of different types of punk (hardcore, d-beat, power violence, crust, etc) which I think comes through in the sound for this project. There’s a lot of fast beats in these songs, but also plenty of grooviness and straight-up punk drum parts. Bands like Discharge, Capitalist Casualties, and Tear it Up are what I continue to go back to for inspiration."
Latest release info:
(Brandon, bass/vocals): "Our latest release (8-Song Eulogy) is a new EP recorded this past summer with Joe Anderson at Page St. Sound Lab here in Portland, Oregon. I was actually just talking about this with Joe when we bumped into each other at the Regional Justice Center show the other night.
"Sonically, we were able to capture a lot of the same tones we were after on EP1 (also recorded with Joe at Hallowed Halls, another cool spot in PDX). But the songs are tighter, more intense, and (I think) stronger overall. We make sure the lyrics are easy to find and available with every release, so anyone can read those to get a good sense of the project’s (and band’s) major areas of emotional focus."
(Nick, drums/vocals): "Yeah, I think these songs take what we did on 9-Song Offering and bump it up a notch. To me they feel a bit meaner and faster while staying true to the sound we had on the first EP. 8-Song Eulogy is out on Bandcamp now and we’ll have a physical release coming soon."
Future plans:
(Brandon, bass/vocals): "We’ve got some shows around the state coming up here at the top of 2025 and have plans to get back out on the road this year, for sure. Last fall, we were able to do runs through Washington and the Bay Area, and we’re hoping to push further in every direction. Currently we’re talking with some homies about tour plans for late spring/early summer and penciling in some dates for runs later on in the year.
"Besides that, we’ve already recorded four more songs (two originals and two covers) with Matt Taylor at Falcon Recording Studios in town, and we’re figuring out how we wanna put those out. Really, we’re just trying to stay as active as possible in a way that works for us."
(Nick, drums/vocals): "We’ve got a new song on a compilation that’s coming out pretty soon with a really sick lineup of bands, very excited about that one. We’re planning to do some shows again in California and hopefully get to some other areas that we haven't been to before. New songs are being worked on as well, so we’ll see where some of this new material ends up."
What other bands from their region should we check out?
(Brandon, bass/vocals): "There are so many bands from this part of the US doing cool shit. Badfast, Unspeakable Carnage, Shanked, Prager Youth, Tolls, Tongue Bath, Violent Abuse, every Ambush Records release, Mind Palace, Hybrid Forms... there are seriously too many to name. Shoutout NW DIY."
(Nick, drums/vocals): "We’re lucky to have so many bands doing cool things in Oregon and Washington right now. Brandon mentioned some of my favorites already but I’ll add Disease, Lazer Bullet, Lab Rat, Simian, Mem//brane, Weapon World, Bohemian, Retirement, Bleach, Jade Dust, Impulse Noise, Kill Cam, Massgrief, Arsenal Mall, Rank & Vile, Crawl Space…I could go on and on."
Impermanence on social media: Instagram
Tagged: impermanence
