Punch
Blistering, high-velocity hardcore with piercing vocals and stop-on-a-dime precision. Intense, unapologetic, and perfect for total sonic catharsis.
Blistering, high-velocity hardcore with piercing vocals and stop-on-a-dime precision. Intense, unapologetic, and perfect for total sonic catharsis.
Punch sounds like a controlled explosion. It is the sound of a band operating at the absolute limit of human speed, where every instrument is pushed into a red-lined frenzy. The guitars are jagged and sharp, the drums are a relentless barrage of blast beats, and the vocals are a high-pitched, desperate shriek that cuts through the noise like a serrated blade. It is music that refuses to waste a single second of your time.
What makes them distinctive is the marriage of extreme powerviolence aggression with a very specific, articulate intelligence. While many bands in this space lean into murky, lo-fi chaos, Punch maintains a level of rhythmic tightness that feels almost mechanical. Their songs are often under a minute long, yet they manage to cram complex structural shifts and deeply personal, political lyricism into those brief windows of time.
Start with 'They Don't Have to Believe'. It is their most polished and powerful statement, capturing the band at their technical peak while retaining the raw, confrontational energy that defined their earlier DIY releases. It is an essential document of modern California hardcore.
Punch is an American punk rock band that formed in 2006. The San Francisco-based band's lyrics discuss topics such as veganism, feminism and addiction, and also shares members with the bands Loma Prieta and Living Eyes. Punch co-released several EPs and LPs through local indie labels 625 Thrashcore and Discos Huelga before signing to Jacob Bannon's (Converge, Supermachiner) label Deathwish Inc. in 2011. Punch guitarist Keeth began writing for the band's third studio album in late 2013, and the full group came together in early 2014. Punch entered the studio with Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Joyce Manor) and recorded a new album in three days in March/April 2014. Vocalist Meghan O'Neil described the band's mindset while writing the album: "This may sound weird, but we came into this one differently by saying to ourselves 'this is going to be our best record.' Just believing that and putting the extra time in to practice and tweak the songs. I also slightly changed my vocal approach and was happy with the results." The album, titled They Don't Have to Believe, was released on August 19, 2014, through Deathwish. O'Neil said the title was derived from Kathleen Hanna's (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre) speech at the end of the 2013 documentary film The Punk Singer. She said the title is "an ode to being unapologetically yourself," and in the film's speech, Hanna said: "she doesn't expect everyone to understand or believe in feminism or her personal battle with illness, but they should have to stay out of her way." They Don't Have to Believe was well received by music critics, and peaked at number 50 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart. Only a couple of weeks after the release of They Don't Have to Believe, O'Neil left the band in September 2014. After Punch, O'Neil joined a new band called Super Unison (named after a Drive Like Jehu song) in late 2014, and released a self-titled EP in May 2015.
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