Fashion Change

Fashion Change

Paranoid

Iron Lung

***The raison d’etre of Fashion Change is sonic destruction. Paranoid is a temporal mosaic of how such goal was achieved from the band’s inception up until this record was captured over 4 years later. It is presented as one complete movement that explores this punishing concept.The band started in 2020, when member Ryan Mathews was jobless and living in his mom’s basement. He lived in isolation. The only things to look forward to were walks to the beach by her house, smoking weed in the garage, and playing along to Sabbath or G.I.S.M. The idea had bounced around for years, but in this isolation Ryan reached such a moment of distress that something needed to come out. With the assistance of a Tascam 488 and the Chaos UK drum beat the first tape, Coward was created.Over a timeline that fit almost perfectly into Biden’s dismal presidency, the project became a band. Perspectives increased, shows were played, records and tapes released, members changed, people moved around and were exposed to new things. Influences and interests flowed in and out, but the main goal of sonic destruction never left.The band and this record specifically is an eclectic mix of influences channeled through a hardcore punk band. Aside from bands within their genre like their namesake Chaos UK, Gai, and Confuse (especially Stupid Life), musically there are elements of other extreme bands such as Napalm Death and Last Exit. It’s an existential record, with lyrics that range from the personal to the political,...

Fashion Change

Smoking Kills

Iron Lung

***Smoking Saves, Smoking Kills. Or in other words, what kills you is the same thing that gets you through another day. This is the thesis of “Smoking Kills”, the newest flexi disc by Seattle’s Fashion Change. Beginning as the pandemic basement project of Ryan Mathews, Fashion Change is captured here in its most realized form yet, both in terms of added members and sonic expansion. While the troglodytic rhythms and chainsaw guitars of Kyushu punk (see Confuse, Gai) are undoubtedly present, the music and message also borrows from the lighthearted nihilism of UK DIY and brutal indignation of No Trend. In the end, we have 320 seconds of psychoactive hardcore that is greater than the sum of its parts. This is New Music for a New World that none of us asked to be in. 500 black, foil-stamped 7” flexis housed in a linen weave foldover jacket. All songs written, performed, recorded and mixed by Fashion Change. Mastered by Will Killingsworth. Art by Rael Callaci.