The actual anniversary of this album was back in July. But when Indecision Records announced a 20th anniversary pressing, with preorders launching next week, TGEFM thought it would still be relevant to go back and revisit this album.Through the benefit of hindsight we will be viewing the album not just as it was released, but how it stands the test of time, as well as its place in the band’s discography and the genre in general.
Indecision Records – 23 Jul 2022
Revisiting a forgotten gem of early aughts hardcore. (FFO: Turning Point, Good Riddance, Comeback Kid)
It’s rare that I put on a record that manages to sound fresh and urgent as Pills & Advice. It’s even rarer that I’ve managed to sleep on such a record for two decades.
Earlier this year, I read a No Echo article that Indecision Records was reissuing the back catalog of Seattle hardcore band Stay Gold. I fancy myself both familiar with the label’s output and references to The Outsiders, I was caught by surprise and immediately sought to listen to these records.
Pills & Advice catches lightning in a bottle — a young hardcore band at the height of their youthful powers. While other hardcore classics released in 2002 (like Hatebreed’s Perseverance and Between the Buried and Me’s self-titled effort) ride the straight edge metalcore wave of the late Nineties, Stay Gold put a dozen straight-ahead yet emotional hardcore tracks on wax (or whatever they make CDs from).
Highlights include opening track “Best Kept Secret” revisits the author’s troubled childhood — something perhaps unsurprising for a record with this title. “Bottom Floor” discusses the author’s regrets about a long distance relationship. The title track reviews the author’s dark thoughts before resolving to choose life.
The standout track is “40 Smith and Wesson”. The song title is misleading, as it’s not about a pistol but the negative elements that had begun infesting the hardcore scene at this time. The lyrics in its breakdown summarize my feelings about hardcore that are as eloquent as Gorilla Biscuit’s classic “New Direction”:
There is nothing cool here / there is nothing smooth about the things we do. Just a mass of blood, dirt and sweat / and that’s what I find beautiful.
Despite their brief tenure, I feel that you can find the melodies, octave chords and breakdowns found in this record’s DNA informing everything from Another Breath’s Mill City to Have Heart’s The Things We Carry and Comeback Kid’s impeccable sophomore effort Wake the Dead. If you like these classics of aughts hardcore, check out this forgotten gem. It is currently on the major streaming sites, and Bandcamp, too. But those who like vinyl and anniversary editions might just want to point their attention at Indecision Records for that preorder coming up soon.
Once hailing from the salty tundra of Syracuse, NY, Ben now calls the DC suburbs his home. He fell in love with punk after listening to Punk-O-Rama 3, Less Than Jake and MXPX in middle school. He loves to slam dance but is too large to stage dive.
When he’s not pretending to have exquisite musical taste, he’s raising two children, designing RPG products and practicing law. (Who knows if he’ll ever get the hang of it.)
