A record that captures not just a moment in time, but ugly, unvarnished truth, Hospitals, the 2006 debut release from punk lifers Off With Their Heads has now been re-pressed for its 20th anniversary by Anxious & Angry and Recess Records. Fans can now pick up the Pirates Press Records-exclusive 12" Crimson Moon Marble Vinyl variant.

 

Off With Their Heads formed in Minneapolis in 2002, anchored by the songwriting & vocals of Ryan Young, whose brutal honesty hangs on every lyric. The band that coalesced around him came from the same MPLS punk scene that produced Twin Cities DIY heroes like Dillinger Four - whose members were early champions of OWTH - and shared that scene's penchant for songs that were simultaneously raw & melodically irresistible. This was melodic punk with grit & grime. It was music that came from a hard place and didn't pretend otherwise, delivered with hooks sharp enough to draw blood.

 

Hospitals announced all of that in eight songs and under sixteen minutes. Those songs, with decidedly unsubtle titles like "Die Today", "Your Child Is Dead", and "Heroin in NYC", have now become familiar singalongs to dedicated fans across the globe. These are anthems for people who have lived, or may still be living, in dark places. Songs about dead-end jobs, substance abuse, mental health, and survival that you cannot help but sing along to at the top of your voice. The catharsis is how you survive.

 

Make no mistake, this is not cheap music, calculated algorithmically to be instantly relatable on a surface level to any casual listener. This is music rooted in deep pain, made by someone who needed a place to put all of that pain. Its relatability hinges on the listener's ability to understand that feeling. These songs don't demand listeners feel better about their struggles; they meet them where they're at and in that way, can help them keep going. Over years of relentless, nonstop touring all over the world, Off With Their Heads have found legions with whom that philosophy resonates.

 

Record after record, as the labels, production budgets, and audiences got bigger & bigger, the core of what the band is all about has never wavered. And it was all already present, splattered across the 8 tracks of Hospitals, from the very start.