Warish, the punk trio led by Riley Hawk, are set to release the new album Next to Pay on April 30th. The band is premiering the LP’s latest single, “Seeing Red”, right here at Heavy Consequence.
Riley, a pro skater and son of the legendary Tony Hawk, formed Warish in 2018, but the band has undergone a lineup makeover since their first album, 2019’s Down in Flames. In addition to Riley on vocals and guitar, the trio now features bassist Alex Bassaj and drummer Justin de la Vega (although original drummer Nick “Broose” McDonnell performs on roughly half the tracks on the new album).
The band’s heavy sound ranges from Misfits-like horror punk to Bleach-era Nirvana to Black Sabbath doom, with “Seeing Red” falling more into the horror punk category. Riley delivers spooky vocals over the hard-driving track, which also calls to mind The Stooges and early Social Distortion.
Regarding the new single, Riley told us, “This song is about being stuck in a bad pattern and getting angry with yourself for turning a blind eye and just making the same mistakes all over again, in many different aspects of life.”
“Seeing Red” follows the LP’s first single, “Say to Please”, which arrived with the album’s announcement last month.
As for the entire album, Riley said, “Next to Pay is about a sense of imminent doom, everyone is going to die. It’s not the happiest record, I guess. This album is more of an evolution, it’s a little more punk-heavy. We figured out what our sound was.”
Next to Pay is available for pre-order in various vinyl formats and on CD via the Riding Easy Records store and Bandcamp, and digitally via Amazon. Take a listen to the new song “Seeing Red” below.
