Sometimes you just need to break something, whether it be a window, bones, hearts, promises, or a stereotype. There is no other style of music that matches expression like good old fashioned, thrash punk and Epic Ditch is just the band to deliver such an EP to act as the soundtrack for you to express yourself while breaking something. The no-nonsense, devil may care attitude from bands such as Black Flag, Minor Threat and Discharge has been all but gone in the sense of popularity within the punk scene thanks to bands like Green Day and Blink 182 bringing their brand of ‘pop punk’ into the mainstream in the 90s but gone doesn’t mean dead. Just like during the scene’s infancy, it’s been dwelling underground where it’s more than a backdrop for the post-90s MTV generation, it’s still a way of life.
Enter Epic Ditch. Made up of John Davis (Superdrag, The Lees Of Memory), Stewart Pack (Pegclimber, The One-Nine Hundreds), Nick Slack (The Pink Spiders, The Lees Of Memory) and Nick Raskulinecz (producers of such acts as Rush, The Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver) while they may not be from the same generation of OGs like Henry Rollins or Keith Morris but they are most certainly doing their part in keeping the scene more than alive with their 2012 debut, 36 Hour EP.
The title refers to the fact the entire EP was recorded and mixed within 36 hours (like all decent thrash punk) at the famous Blackbird Studio in Nashville TN. and even though it’s an EP with only five songs total, there is more attitude and angst than every Blink 182 and Green Day record combined. Not to say those guys haven’t released good music or authentic art, but there is a certain honesty and passion that has been lost in translation once punk was brought into the mainstream. Listening to Resistance Is Victory or More Juice will make you scratch your head and wonder how anyone could call any mainstream punk band punk at all.
If you are into legitimate punk, thrash, or anything you would consider hardcore, and looking for something off the beaten path, look no further than Epic Ditch’s 36 Hour EP. While I wish it was an entire album’s worth of songs but they make up for it more than enough with the mere five songs that make up the EP. After all, when it comes to hardcore music, if you can’t say it under 2 minutes, you are talking too much. Everyone involved has since moved on to other projects, leaving the legacy of Epic Ditch to be just as short and to the point as any good thrash song, but this collection proves that regardless what’s popular in the Hot Topic generation’s scene, authentic skater punk is still alive and well.
