The surprise release of the No Pressure EP in 2020 brought a lot of excitement to the world of pop punk, hardcore, and punk. Parker Cannon of The Story So Far, Pat Kennedy of Light Years, and Harry Corrigan of Regulate created this group as a way to take him back to his early days of playing shows. Low stages, no barrier, or security to catch crowd surfers. He said in a recent interview with Mark Hoppus that playing these No Pressure shows, “makes me feel like I’m 19 again”. Up until now, not many of us knew what the plan was for No Pressure. Was it going to be a one time release with the EP? Are they going to legitimately go out on the road? Recent events have told us what is going on with this band. Just off the release of their debut full length LP, No Pressure took part in their own UK headlining tour with support from the newest Bay Area heater Sunami. This debut LP is a sign that No Pressure is here to hang, you can just hear it in the music.
This album is chalk full of early 2000’s pop-punk sounds. Along with that, they have old school hardcore breakdowns that give them a unique edge that a lot of other bands in both genres do not have today. An interesting thing about them that has been noticed is their overwhelming applaud and acceptance from the hardcore scene. Though they are essentially an easy-core band (pop punk with breakdowns), they are at all hardcore festivals and play with almost exclusively hardcore bands. I do not think pop-punk as a genre is ready for this sound to come back. but by all means, the hardcore scene is happy to embrace this band.
This album is 10 songs long and a whopping 23 minutes in length. Personal favorites on this record are “Too Far”, “One Way Trip”. and “Sour”. If your are looking for fast songs with great hooks, then here you have it. There is at least one part in every song that feels like you should be watching a movie where the kid is getting ready for his first day of high school, brushing his teeth, spiking his hair up, taking a bite of toast and chugging some orange juice straight out of the carton. You can try your hardest but your head is going to start nodding and you’ll feel like bouncy along to the beats.
Overall, it is a great record, not as much like their first EP as some of us would have liked, but still this is a no skip album. I mean if you really dislike a song, they’re all basically under three minutes in length.
Rating: 8/10
Live From The Pit 