Self Defense Family
Your favorite band’s favorite band, Cohoes New York’s End of a Year Self Defense Family enjoys a distinct renown within the punk community. Well-respected and critically lauded but difficult and idiosyncratic, the band has done things their way almost to a fault. Eschewing sing-alongs and easy anthems in favor of personal lyrics, End of a Year Self Defense Family stands apart from their contemporaries in punk and hardcore. Their strangely tense guitar-work framed within otherwise hook laden songs lends the band an unmistakable sound. Opting to be heavy in emotional rather than heavy in sound.
After first gaining attention through a full-length on seminal hardcore label Revelation Records, End of a Year Self Defense Family took to the 7”EP format with a rare zeal. The result was EP’s and splits from a dozen labels in half-a-dozen countries. Genuinely uninterested in genres and expectations, End of a Year Self Defense Family released these records on a wide variety of labels while touring the world over.
Building on the post everything sound they’ve continued to pioneer, End of a Year Self Defense Family returns to the full-length format with boundless creative energy. “You Are Beneath Me” is the band’s most focused work to date. Expanding greatly on the recent 7″EP material they’ve built their name on. Dense and anxiety-ridden, “You Are Beneath Me” approaches punk in a hyper-personal and singularly artistic manner. Not afraid to be confrontational, honest, and pure in every way. Proving that End of a Year Self Defense Family continue to be a true breath of fresh air in today’s independent music world.