NO EDITS, a newly rebranded three-piece from Seattle, occupy a space in melodic post-hardcore that feels both familiar and detached from tradition. Previously performing under the name FIXTURES, the band draws from the late-90s Dischord and Jade Tree catalogs, a lineage immediately apparent in their angular, intricate approach.
Yet, while echoes of BURNING AIRLINES and THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES resonate in their sound, NO EDITS aren’t bound by nostalgia.
Their debut LP, We All End Up The Same (BETTER DAYS WILL HAUNT YOU), takes cues from these influences but filters them through a contemporary lens. The record balances technical complexity with raw emotion, avoiding the pitfalls of self-indulgence often associated with mathy post-hardcore. Guitars weave intricate patterns around shifting time signatures, while the rhythm section locks in with precision. The result is a sound that’s not merely derivative but recontextualized—bearing the weight of the present moment’s anxieties and contradictions.
Lyrically, We All End Up The Same reflects on themes of societal stagnation beneath the facade of progress. Tracks like the title song critique the exploitative structures underpinning technological convenience, while “Push Pull” delves into the isolating effects of social media. The record captures a pervasive unease but does so with restraint, avoiding heavy-handedness in favor of reflection.
Songs such as “Torch It” offer a more personal lens, addressing the challenges of reinvention following the dissolution of their previous band. This track, along with “Congregation,” underscores NO EDITS’ determination to create work on their own terms, unbothered by external validation.
The album’s strengths lie in its ability to balance intricacy with accessibility. While the J. ROBBINS-inspired riffs and structural shifts demand attention, the band maintains a melodic sensibility that keeps the record grounded. At its best, the album evokes the exploratory spirit of JAWBOX or CHAVEZ, challenging yet rewarding with repeated listens.
NO EDITS also spotlight several local bands they respect, underscoring the depth of Seattle’s current music scene.
Their track–by–track commentary, also available below, along with their insights into the Seattle scene, offers a comprehensive look at where they’re coming from and where they might head next.
Great Falls
Probably a band that needs no introduction at this point, but it’s my firm belief that Great Falls is making some of the most boundary-pushing, inventive, vital noise in heavy music right now. Period. Objects Without Pain is a crazy record melding mathcore, hardcore, and sludge and doing so at the very highest level. It’s a record you can sit and analyze the technical aspects of, or you can just totally get lost in the chaos of it.
Fell Off
We’ve been talking about playing with these guys for a while and timing hasn’t worked out just yet, but they rip. They’re absolutely crushing the 90’s bummer rock sound. They’re catchy without being pandering, and the songwriting is really tight and obviously thoughtful. They put out a fantastic EP fairly recently, and I’m psyched to hear what’s next for them.
Yellfire
I’d been listening to Yellfire for a while after moving to Seattle about 8 years ago and I’ve always dug their stuff. But, this new batch of songs they have on their upcoming record Dear Gods is on another level, which is kind of hard to believe. From the singles off the new record, they sound like they’re leaning even more into the heavy/mathy aspects of their sound and the songs really tightly showcase what a great band they are. The mix on this newest record also absolutely slams – the drums sound absolutely perfect in my opinion and the songs in general have a very live feel to them that I appreciate.
Chrome Lakes
These guys have been buds of ours for a while now and they’ve been so supportive and kind. They’re also a killer band. They manage to find new sounds with each release while still staying true to themselves, which is no easy feat – and they do a great job of melding post-hardcore influences with more alternative rock sounds in a way that keeps things fresh. Their records really showcase the musicianship of all their members without sacrificing listenability.
Dust Moth
Dust Moth were gracious enough to play our record release show a little while back and they blew everyone in our band away. We’d been listening to them for a while, but it was my first time (maybe everyone’s) seeing them live and it’s an experience that really brings their songs to life. Expanive heavy, moody post-rock inspired songs that really bloom and come to life when you see them on stage. I believe they’re working on a new record at the moment and I’m very excited to hear new songs from them.
Now, back to “We All End Up The Same” by No Edits, we invite you to explore the track-by-track commentary, which opens up each song within a broader context.
Words by Kyle
We All End Up The Same
The title track explores a theme I tend to write about a lot – the idea that we as human beings often believe we’re making tremendous progress in areas that might make our lives more convenient or productive, but these “advances” often have consequences that we miss, or completely ignore.
Sure, I have the option of ordering takeout food from my phone, or having an AI bot write an email for me – but those technological advancements are built on top of the work of people who often are not fairly compensated for their labor. Delivery drivers can’t make a living working for the tech companies that plan and route their orders, and that’s by design.
So the idea of seeing these conveniences as “progress” has always been a little perverse to me, when I think we should view things like more equal wages, a baseline dignity in work, and transparency into how these companies actually work as markers of true progress. The phrase “We All End Up The Same” is meant to be a somewhat pessimistic message that despite this “progress” we think we’re making, in many ways we end up in the same place but we’re just fooling ourselves into thinking we’re moving ahead.
Torch It
Most of my lyrics are pretty intentionally vague – part of that is insecurity on my part, but I also like the idea of giving a listener space to interpret a song that fits their own experiences. “Torch It” is an outlier, and is fairly direct. No Edits in many ways grew out of the ashes of a previous band that imploded and I had to walk away from the other members in a way that was pretty frustrating. I was overwhelmed at having to be the engine behind the entire project and doing all of the boring administrative work that’s just necessary to make a band work (e.g. booking shows, reaching out to press, coordinating schedules, etc.). After I parted ways with the other guys in the group, I wrote this song quickly – in maybe four days.
Most of the song’s lyrics deal with my fear of starting over, my frustration at having to build something new and seemingly from scratch, and the realization that I needed to be brave and “torch” the last project to build the thing I really wanted to build. Playing this song live is so cathartic because I feel like this band has so much new life in it, and it weirdly feels like more of a celebration than when I originally wrote it.
Push Pull
I’m writing this to you one week after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, and it’s weird to reflect on this song because it’s almost five years old at this point, but it’s also weird to think that it still has something to say and seems relevant. A lot of the lyrics in this song obliquely deal with the idea of technology and social media amplifying divisions, disagreements and outrage.
We’re constantly bombarded with information via the internet and smartphones and there’s just no way to validate all of it. Social media sites in particular are designed to induce a knee-jerk reaction to a lot of this information. Sometimes people use and interpret that information to vote for a racist authoritarian who has already been impeached twice.
This song is kind of an exasperated scream in the face of living in a world that’s engineered to not allow us to fully think things through and have a rational discourse about issues that shape lots of people’s lives.
Congregation
This is another song that’s been around for a few years, but still feels exciting and fresh to play live. “Congregation” chronicles a lot of my frustration and confusion about trying to figure out where we fit as a band in the Seattle music scene.
Lyrically, the song kind of deals with this theme of having a “congregation” of taste-makers who decide what’s cool or what’s worth listening to, and how that has ramifications for artists making creative work, but how it also influences people and potentially makes their world a bit smaller and more insular.
I think the song ultimately conveys a theme of expressing those frustrations, but also staying true to yourself and having the integrity to make creative work that feels honest even if it won’t be well received.
