An iconic skateboarding legacy, tons of sick bands, and saxed-up vampires! Santa Cruz, man, where do I start?
The beachside NorCal city is a personal favorite of mine, and a few of the most prolific musicans its punk community can be found in Seized Up. The quartet of vocalist Clifford Dinsmore, guitarist Danny B, drummer Andy Granelli, and bassist Chuck Platt are best known for their work in such bands as BL’AST!, Good Riddance, and The Distillers.
The last time I covered them on No Echo was in 2021 around the time of their Marching Down the Spiral EP, the follow-up to their 2020 debut album, Brace Yourself. Their sound is rooted in the hardcore punk you would expect from their pedigree, but there's a dark undercurrent running through their songwriting that gives everything its own mystique.
For their forthcoming second LP, Modify the Sacred, frontman Dinsmore had somewhere painful to mine inspiration from. “In the time period I was fighting cancer, I was shacked up, feeling like a prisoner in my own house," the singer says. "Living in a semi-purgatory state, it felt like I was looking at the world from an outside view.”
Modify the Sacred is a powerful and punchy album, wasting no time to get to the heart of the matter at hand. It's a statement of purpose delivered by a band firing on all cylinders, both from a songwriting and performance point of view.
No Echo is honored to present the premiere of Modify the Sacred a day before its official release:
Seized Up are wrapping up their first European tour, which kicked off August 2nd and included appearances at Belgium's Brakrock, Slovenia's Punk Rock Holiday, and Poland's Zdynia DIY Fest, as well as a show supporting Descendents in Germany. See dates below.
Modify the Sacred comes out August 9th via Pirates Press Records. The label is offering the album in some unique vinyl variants and packages, so hit their store now!
Seized Up on social media: Facebook | Instagram
European tour dates:
08/09/2024 - Zdynia, Poland - Zdynia DIY Fest
08/10/2024 - Leipzig, Germany - Naumanns
08/11/2024 - Hanover, Germany - Mephisto
Tagged: seized up
