“The idea behind ‘Wheelchair'” says Josh Hagerman of Seattle/Reno punks VHS of their newly released track “is kind of uncomfortable territory for me, but it’s my very uninformed take on living in a sick culture, brought on by my fears of sickness, old age, and hospitals. ‘Wheelchair’ is a ‘what’s worse: the drugs or the pain?’ kind of thing. People are born in hospitals and then people die in hospitals and everything in between is pain and escape.” That nihilistic outlook on life pretty much sums up VHS, or Violent Human System. They’ve recently signed to Suicide Squeeze, who are set to release the bands debut album Gift of Life, which is due out on July 29th.
WHeelchair has all the hallmarks of a punk classic, being short(ish) and having these razor sharp guitar explode into riffs in the chorus, while chugging away menacingly in the verse. It’s that chorus where everything explodes into life, with cymbals splashing away while the vocals shout and barks its orders out over the top, with singer Hageman’s harrowing description of a life lived in chronic pain with drugs serving as the only escape. Had me at once misty eyed and eager for more. And that’s got to be a good thing, right?
Pogo away
