Get ready for some uncompromising hardcore punk action because COOKED just dropped two fiery singles, “Doomed” and “FTW.” These tracks are straight-up fastcore, no holding back, and they pack a serious punch. The band’s really hitting their stride with a sound that’s honet to the core.
They’re pretty stoked about where their music’s heading, and they can’t wait for you all to hear their new 5-song EP. It’s all about letting their individual influences and personalities shine through. Plus, they’ve been rubbing shoulders with some killer bands in the New England scene, and they’re hyped to hit new cities and hang with new mates.
And speaking of cool bands, COOKED’s got some recommendations for you. If you’re digging their sound, you gotta check out these acts: Gumskab, Misery Whip, Slighted, Louzy, FishFace, Torn, Jackal, Spurr, Blossom, and Clock Out.
“Doomed” and “FTW” come as personal confessions from COOKED’s heart, revealing a raw and unfiltered perspective on life’s harsh realities.Today, we’re pleased to give you an in-depth explanation of both tracks, delivered by the band themselves.
Doomed
Coming off the coat tails of our first EP “The Hanged Man”; lyrically I wanted to keep a narrative going.
When I was 22 living in San Diego I got the word DOOMED tattooed on my chest. Looking back at that now the heavy foreshadowing is almost ironic.
I wanted to paint a picture of my life at the time in this song: malnourished, strung out, and homeless.
The new record as a whole dives a little deeper and gets much darker within the topics of drug addiction, isolation, and mental health.
“Spilling blood every time that I shoot/ my veins are all gone/ fuck it I’m doomed” all of my lyrics are very on the nose, and as I looked back on those times while writing these lyrics, I wanted to paint the listener a vivid and honest picture. At the time I remember how people would look at me: with disgust. It was all a mirror to how I truly looked at myself. From walking down highways and alleyways, spilling blood all over Starbucks bathroom floors, to stealing so I could get high. “A Junkie said to me/ do better with your life/ who do you want to be?/I just want to die”.
While on the street I made a lot of acquaintances; one of them was a junkie named Hannah. Her and her girlfriend Shelby were on the run at the time, I guess Hannah skipped bail and they were living on the streets doing exactly what I was doing.
She told me how “this life” wasn’t for me, that I wasn’t the type of person who was gonna make it out there. At the time I wasn’t going to listen to anybody, but she was right. I was a self destructive and broken kid, i wasn’t some hardened criminal who was a by-product of America’s prison system, even if that’s where I was headed.
Right now in 2023 I see a lot of people-young and old-struggling the same way I was. And I think stories like this are important, not to portray them in some sort of sympathizing light or some sort of romanticized lore. But I know there are plenty of people with similar if not much worse stories than mine thinking they have no other options and that they are doomed.
As dark and bleak as it is right now, there is always hope.
FTW
Growing up I always had food on the table, a roof over my head, and good education. I have gratitude now for how my parents truly tried their best.
With that being said, Homelife was tough. Domestic violence, religion, mental health issues, and general dysfunction.
When the family falls apart there is a ripple effect that hits everyone differently. My father suffers from mental health issues and would use drugs, booze, and Catholicism to self medicate.
This lead to a lot of violence, overdoses, and eventually homelessness. My older brother was my best friend growing up, he was the only person I felt who understood me.
We would look out for each other, even through all of his faults I loved him dearly.
When he was around 19 it became evident to me that something had changed in him. He was talking to himself a lot, had a blank stare in his eyes and was a shell of who I grew up with.
Later he would be diagnosed schizophrenic and would forge the same path of my father with drugs and alcohol. He disappeared somewhere to California, and is currently a homeless person there. My mother had to deal with the tyranny of my father for years, which isolated her from her immediate family.
Once my father lost our house and spent all the money she was left with nothing and inherited plenty of debt. She was then asked to leave the country and move away from her daughter. My younger sister had to move in with her friends family at 14 because of all of this. She watched everyone in her family turn to drugs and alcohol and embark into homelessness. As a teenager I had a very difficult time facing these truths, I had no direction and a chip on my shoulder; I was angry. “This path I chose I walk alone/I trudge through life with broken bones” I didn’t know how to deal with my problems and I had no integrity, I chose self destruction.
I played myself the victim for a long time and it only made things worse. Through all the hard times, I was still very lucky to have been brought up the way I was, I had been handed opportunities many people never get, I was the one to throw it all away. My mom sister and I are very close still, we have all embarked on new paths of healing and growth. We are working on getting my older brother closer to us, he reaches out from time to time.
