Published on January 9th, 2020 | by Denise Borders
0PEARS Release New Track, Comfortably Dumb
New Orleans based PEARS have a new album coming out via Fat Wreck Chords. The self-titled album will drop March 6th and the band just released the track, Comfortably Dumb.
photo by John Paul Allen
PEARS has only been around since 2014 but they have made quite the impact thus far. However, frontman Zach Quinn had doubts about the band’s third full-length. I’m not sure why because I definitely am liking the new track. It’s thrashy and wild and you should check it out below.
“I was perfectly prepared to have my Blue Album already,” Quinn says, laughing. “That whole fucking cliché of ‘Our best record’s behind us.’
With the imminent release of PEARS (March 6, Fat Wreck Chords), Quinn says, “Maybe not!” But there’s no maybe about it. PEARS is a significant step forward for a band that has grown by leaps and bounds on each album.
The album was recorded with Chris Fogal (The Gamits) at Black in Bluhm Studio in Denver. It’s 14 songs and 31 total minutes so sounds about right for your average punk record. However, compared to the band’s 2015 release, Go to Prison, the band is taking a different creative approach.
“The last PEARS record, almost every detail was worked out before we ever stepped foot into the studio,” Quinn explains. “This record, we went in with skeletons of songs and put things together on the fly. ”
“We never could afford the studio time to be in there 24/7,” adds guitarist/vocalist Brian Pretus. “A couple of songs ended up being stuff that we wrote on the spot.”
“I thought that I was going to continue the absurdist poetry thing that started with Go to Prison and amplified on Green Star,” he says. Describing Green Star as “The Iliad with shit and cum,” Quinn notes that this time, “The songs are about shit.”
Not shit in the “shit and cum” sense. Quinn writes directly about getting older (“Traveling Time”), moving past anger (“Nervous”), and the prospect of never having a family (“Daughter”), among other topics, all with the wit and candor PEARS fans have come to expect from the explosive frontman.
“It makes perfect sense that this is the third act, but it’s not what I would have predicted it to be,” Quinn says. “I wouldn’t have guessed that the album would end on a bittersweet note. It’s more uplifting than either record that we’ve done, but it’s not a happy record.”
PEARS will take it on the road extensively in the coming year, with tours in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Japan, and South America.
1. Killing Me
2. Zero Wheels
3. Comfortably Dumb
4. Dial Up
5. Rich to Rags
6. Nervous
7. Naptime
8. Pepaw
9. Worm
10. Funerals
11. Sympathy Cone
12. Daughter
13. Traveling Time
14. Cynical Serene