Two years on from their self-titled debut for Bridge Nine, NYHC’s Incendiary Device are back with eight new tracks under the title “New York City,” out May 1st on Germany’s Demons Run Amok Entertainment.
The lineup is the same one that put out the first record — Drew Stone on vocals, Tristan D’Graves on bass, Shaun Brennan on guitar, Mike Flaherty on drums — and once again the band produced the record themselves alongside Neal “Zum” Ostberg.
The album covers a lot of ground for a half-hour run. There’s a hometown song about post-pandemic NYC and its rising crime, gentrification, and open-air drug use. There’s a hardcore lifer’s tribute to skateboarding and not letting your age decide how loud you live. There’s a reworking of a song Drew Stone first wrote in the early ’80s with The High & The Mighty. And there are a few broadsides — at social media, at hero worship, at the way politics has turned friends and family members into enemies.
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Guests on the record include Bobby Hambel of Biohazard (guitar solo on “Young At Heart”), Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello (vocals on “Politics”), and Will Romeo with the closing solo on “Politics.”
Pressing-wise, “New York City” is out on aquablue with white splatter (100 copies), clear vinyl (200 copies), standard black, plus CD.
Below, Incendiary Device walk through every track on the record.
New York City
“For outsiders and tourists, thinking of ‘New York City’ typically elicits images of its iconic architecture and landmarks… the skyline, the Empire State Building, the Word Trade Center, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge. As natives, we live in the shadows of these iconic landmarks, with our fingers on the pulse of the grit, grime, and heartbeat of New York City’s streets. While based on an older riff, the lyrics to New York City were birthed as the lockdown era of the Covid-19 pandemic ended. In a post-Mayor Guiliani world, natives often waxed nostalgia, missing the city’s edge, chaos, and danger. This song alludes to many of the hotbed issues the city faced in the months following the pandemic, rising crime rates, police brutality, gentrification, open drug use on the streets, and the housing crisis to name a few. Despite its problems, we will never give up on the city we love.”
Aggression
A skatepark-and-show love letter:
“As a lifelong skateboarder and fan of punk/hardcore music, this is a love song to letting off steam to cope with the realities of life’s challenges. For me, skateboarding and music have been lifelong obsessions and serve a therapeutic purpose. This song is for anyone who can relate to lacing up their sneakers and heading to the skatepark or lacing up their boots and heading to a show.”
If The Time Is Right
“Time is Right was originally a The High & The Mighty song written by Drew in the early 80s. The song has remained a staple in the sets of Antidote, The High & The Mighty, and Incendiary Device for the past 15 years. It is one of my favorite songs to play in our live set, so we figured we’d give it the ID treatment for this record.”
Young At Heart
Built around a Jay Adams quote — “You don’t stop skateboarding because you get old, you get old because you stop skateboarding” — and extended into a piece about hardcore as a lifelong constant:
“Young at Heart extrapolates that mentality to music. The body ages, the lines on our faces grow deeper, the responsibilities of adulthood try to knock us off center, but the awe of hearing Bad Brains or Black Flag for the first time leaves an eternal imprint. Our physical body is subjected to the ravages of time, but music is in the soul… ageless. This song is not only a nod to our individual journeys in music but also a song of inspiration to the youth who are taking up the mantle and continuing hardcore’s legacy. We were honored to have Bobby Hambel of Biohazard join us on this one providing a blistering guitar solo. Channel that youthful rage. Get in the pit.”
Thrown to the Wolves
The first song the band released from “New York City,” and also the first new track presented to the band during writing:
“It incorporates many of the musical elements of a classic hardcore song… a menacing intro, lightning-fast verses, a big chorus, and a drum/bass breakdown. Lyrically the song addresses the naivety of holding false admiration and idealized images of ‘famous’ people. It can be a cutthroat world, and you can’t always trust who you choose to ally yourself with. Thematically it’s driven by the adage ‘don’t meet your heroes,’ which can often lead to disappointment and disillusionment.”
Reprisal
The most ambitious thing on the record, by the band’s own admission:
“This is probably the most ambitious song we have recorded to this point, pushing the boundaries of what we typically do on an ID song. Musically I wanted to try something with more dynamics, a slower tempo, and bigger choruses. Most of our songs are unrelenting high tempo sonic blasts. Reprisal plays more with texture, breath and silence. I really wanted the drums to be the backbone of this song, focusing on the groove and space with sparse instrumentation. Lyrically the song addresses the pitfalls of social media and the modern digital age.”
Violent Majority
A 30-second blast that came out of a Drew Stone suggestion to balance the longer arrangements on the record:
“I had been toying with the title as a play on ‘the silent majority’ and the music was worked out from there. Whether it’s media hysteria or statistical reality, perception is that it’s a more violent world. For the hook I thought of Mike Tyson’s quote ‘everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.’ It made me think, maybe society just needs a reset, a good punch in the face. It’s an old school sonic blast.”
Politics
The closer is built on a riff that’s been sitting around for years:
“The music for Politics is based on a riff I wrote for a song many years ago that was recorded but never released. I loved the riff and am glad that it will finally see the light of day. Drew wrote the lyrics for this one which highlights our disdain for how politics have become the great divider amongst friends, families, and society at large. We’ve seemingly lost touch with seeing the good in all people rather defining them as friend or foe based on their political leanings. We were honored to have our friend Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello join us on vocals for this one. He has been a big proponent and supporter of Incendiary Device over the years, and it was a pleasure to work with him on this song. Will Romeo (guitar) really elevated this song with a smoking outro solo, which is one of my favorites on this release.”
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