DARE‘s debut LP “Against All Odds”, one of the most anticipated albums in American hardcore punk this year, has finally dropped this past Friday via Revelation Records.
With a reputation established by such seminal bands as Adolescents and Uniform Choice decades ago, Orange County, CA, is known as a breeding ground for superb hardcore punk. Proving their appeal crosses over to several styles of heavy music, Dare has done treks with the likes of Terror, Creeping Death, and Culture Abuse, a band that features Dare drummer Anaiah Lei in their lineup. With “Against All Odds” finally hitting stores, there’s no question Dare are comfortable in their skin. The explosive pack delivers a fast, metallized, passionate blast of in-your-face straight edge hardcore that will keep you pumped!
You want to talk about a record that truly, fully, absolutely embodies its title? Look no further. Between signing to Revelation, the insanely awesome ’80s skate/graffiti culture-inspired cover artwork and O.G. “keeper of the faith”/Terror frontman Scott Vogel’s declaration that DARE is his “favorite band in hardcore right now,” expectations will no doubt be running extremely high for the Orange County quartet’s full-length debut. And I’m here to tell you, against all odds, this mix of old-school snarl, new-school groove (bassist Aaron McQueen is a Sergio Vega-level superstar), ultra-tight Sacred Reich-y thrash, classic-era Helmet cascades, the punk catchiness of that amazing second Kid Dynamite jam, Prong Cleansing levels of precision and tortured vokills straight outta the Mieszko Talarczyk school not only subjects every jaded sigh to death by a thousand razor-sharp riffs, but also runs circle pits around virtually all of the band’s better-established peers. / Decibel
Ultimately, that’s what Against All Odds stands for: giving voice to the voiceless, the people on the margins, the proud fringe-dwellers, the lost and the forgotten, and all of those who refuse to bend in the face of society’s bullshit. And fortunately for DARE, they just happen to make rebellion sound like one hell of a good time. / New Noise Magazine
No overview of DARE would be complete without mentioning their mutual love for skate culture. “Everyone in DARE skates, and it’s our thing on tour,” Angel says. “Every new city we are in, the first thing we always do is look up the nearest skatepark. Anaiah [Lei, drums] is sponsored by Heroin Skateboards, and I’ve been skating my whole life and got completely submerged into hardcore from working at Programme Skate & Sound in Fullerton.”
With Against All Odds finally hitting stores, there’s no question Garcia — alongside Aaron McQueen (bass) and Anaiah Lei (drums) as DARE— are comfortable in their skin. “We’re not afraid to sound a little out there and do our own thing, and we never have been. We represent the Straight Edge and all the people of color out there. Everything this band is would be nothing without our friends and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.” / Punk Rock Theory
