Pick Your Side

Most of the time, when people talk about Pick Your Side, they mention the connection to the band's other projects. Jeff Beckman was previously a member of Haymaker and Left For Dead, while Johnny Ibay plays with Canadian grind royalty Fuck The Facts. These connections are enough to get anyone seriously amped about Pick Your Side, but the really significant fact for this band are their hometown of Hamilton, ON. For years, Hamilton has been exploding with the kind of lethal hardcore energy only a "steel" city can produce. Let Me Show You How Democracy Works is an album searing with rage – from beginning to end, the band's debut release is a meltdown of nuclear proportions. It's also a record with an agenda, indicting political apathy and what just might be a precarious future. From "Dark Future" to "Plug-In Generation" to "Looking Back," Let Me Show You How Democracy Works looks toward a grim horizon for what lies ahead while pondering what went wrong. The band haven't written a manifesto (yet), but this album is a cleansing of the present and past, preparing a way to move forward. New directions are always on the horizon, as the album ends on "Right Turn," suggesting there are possibilities beyond the present political and musical status quo. Hopefully more bands like Pick Your Side will start to get some recognition outside of the 905 and bring Hamilton's crushingly proletarian heavy music scene to new listeners.