Stress is a killer. In small amounts, stress can be a motivator, but prolonged, chronic stress wears on the body and mind. I do my best to keep levelheaded and calm about things that I have no control over, but empathy gets the best of me. Every day I open the news or social media or walk around town and see the stress of a world that has chosen to worship monetary gain and individualism over caring for our communities. It is in Gaza, as thousands of children and adults are being starved to death as we speak, and if malnutrition doesn’t kill them, the bullets and bombs do. It is everywhere increasing natural disasters are met with underfunded aid. It is in every unhoused person sleeping outside through heatwaves and polar vortexes. It is in every good and service, continuing to creep up in prices while wages remain stagnant. It is in every credit card purchase where people desperate for comfort or novelty put themselves further in debt to find brief moments of joy when they aren’t selling their bodies and personalities for labor. It is in the Congo, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Iran, India, and countless other places where colonialism, oligarchy, and theocracy are waging acts of physical and economic violence against people deemed by commercial agreement to be less valuable than the wealth of a small percentage of the global population.
It is hard to remain unstressed if you have empathy and compassion for others. That stress is only compounded with my own struggles to keep a roof over my head and food in my kitchen. These things that I cannot control (and the things I can) weigh on my soul, and remind me of my favorite James Baldwin quote:
‘Love has never been a popular movement, and no one’s ever wanted, really, to be free. The world is held together, really it is held together by the love and passion of a very few people. Otherwise, of course you can despair. Walk down any street of any city, any afternoon, and look around you. What you’ve got to remember is what you’re looking at is also you. Everyone you’re looking at is also you. You could be that person. You could be that monster. You could be that cop, and you have to decide in yourself, not to be.’
Baldwin’s spirit of reformative love echoes in many places, if you look. You can find those few people holding the world together. They are in volunteer groups, protests, mutual aid networks, Food Not Bombs groups, Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, and of course there are artists advocating for a better world. One of those artists is Chicago hardcore punk outfit, Stress Positions, whose music sounds like controlled detonation of a forgotten minefield, each song an explosion that is intended to make the world a better, safer place for everyone. Their name seems to be a double entendre of the various torture methods known as stress positions as well as the way worldly stresses impact us every day.
‘We started this band in 2021. After a previous band broke up,‘ Stress Positions says of their history, ‘Ben, Jono and Russell looked to continue along the same lines with a new singer. Steph was a good friend before jamming with the group and was an instant perfect fit. We’ve since toured a fair bit and put out two EPs and an LP. ‘ The band’s first EP, Walang Hiya, was released on Iron Lung Records in 2022 and showed a band ripping through six blazing fast hardcore punk tracks that felt both old school and sharply modern. Stress Positions have done their homework for their genre. ‘We love music of all kinds and try and draw from anything that feels inspiring. Direct influences would probably be Rudimentary Peni, Dead Kennedys, Crass, Infest, Gauze, etc.’ Stress Positions says, to give you an idea of the kind of hardcore-meets-skate-meets-crust-punk sound they play.
2023’s full length, Harsh Reality, on Three One G Records is only slightly longer than Walang Hiya, 17 minutes in length compared to the previous 13, and was my introduction to the band. Harsh Reality has been one of my favorite recent hardcore records, however, adding heavier bass and faster intensity to their sound coupled with their ferocious hardcore punk ethos against oppression of all kinds. ‘Same thing, day in day out/under the thumb and under the gun/damned if you do, dead if you don’t/ A waking hell ceases to release,’ Steph screams at the end of the opening, title track, a condemnation of living under the ‘invisible hand‘ of capitalism, speaking to the illusion of choice and the way that words like ‘liberty‘ and ‘freedom‘ don’t apply to the working class. These are concepts propagandized by the owning class to make you feel better about making more money for them than you do for yourself.
This sentiment is echoed on the following track, “Hand To Mouth” which musically transitions perfectly from “Harsh Reality,” for a one-two punch of anti-capitalist fury. The rest of the album tackles this theme as well as performative politics from ‘white male mediocrity‘ and keyboard warriors who spout more theory than actually participating in leftist organizing, police and prison abolition (the refrain of ‘No justice, no peace, no sympathy for the police‘ on “No Sympathy” goes so fucking hard), but also weaves some personal moments into the mix the slow-burn closing track “Ode To Aphrodite”.
Protest music has no shortage of subjects these days, ‘Topics are unfortunately endless,’ the band says. ‘We try and take in as much from the outside world as possible and advocate for anyone who is living under oppression of any kind. There are some songs that deal with more personal things as well. Musically we are generally just trying to keep things interesting and push our selves to create things that sound different. Abrasive and weird while being as catchy as possible is usually the vibe.’ On this year’s Human Zoo EP (ironically their longest album) song topics include the ongoing genocide and erasure of Palestine (“Nakba” and “Kaddish”), bodily autonomy and abortion rights (“Sadistic”), colonialism and racist militarism (“Human Zoo” and “Blood Money”), and personally overcoming white-male hegemony (“Fragile” and “Salbehe Ako”). The length of the EP is expanded by three remixes, two from Planet B (One of Justin Pearson‘s many projects) and one from Made By Human Hands, adding an interesting electronic and industrial flavor to Stress Positions‘s sound. ‘It was great to hear how other artists interpreted those tunes,‘ the band added about the remixes.
There is contradiction in hardcore, however. Hardcore punk isn’t a genre known for ‘industry plants’ or artists looking to get into it to earn vast amounts of wealth, but it has and does happen. Generally, hardcore is vehemently DIY, but commercialization and commodification of anything is inevitable (remember that water isn’t fucking free, camping costs are rising, and HOA’s detest biodiversity). ‘It’s definitely a two sided coin,‘ Stress Positions says on this. ‘On one hand there is so much great punk out there right now. It’s more accessible than ever all over the world and that has made the community stronger than it’s been in the past. On the other side its accessibility has lead to more commercial viability. We’re not interested In that part. To us the music should speak for itself. Punk is for the people, man.’ So, don’t expect any Stress Positions songs in fast food advertisements or video games any time soon.
This is the kind of hardcore that resonates with me the most, not that I can really blame young and struggling artists for taking monetary opportunities. We all have to hustle to stay afloat these days, but there is a purity to punk and hardcore bands that stay the course that hits harder and negates any doubt of sacrificing creative visions for commercial appeal. It also allows Stress Positions to say whatever the fuck they want and play how they want. Speaking to the Chicago hardcore scene, the band says, ‘It’s great and very vibrant. There are ton of great bands, older and new. Covid hurt the numbers of our DIY venues, but it seems folks are popping up new spots consistently, again. There are always benefit shows happening, which is wonderful. Those are also good opportunities for musically different bands to play with each other.’
Making protest music means having to be conscious of the world around you, and like I mentioned earlier, that is a stressful and disheartening thing. When faced with the fascism of the United States Stress Positions says,
‘We try and stay positive, surround ourselves with people we love, and be involved within our communities. Action, mutual aid and spreading love is important. You have to be willing to fight for that at all costs. You have to [remain hopeful]. We can’t let the fatigue of it all break us down. That’s what *they* want. Eventually, something has to give. That’s never happened without people’s perseverance and steadfastness.’
I think this is what hardcore is for, and why I have been a lifelong fan of the genre. It is essential to let the heavy, fast, angry music be a surrogate for stress, for hopelessness, and for the rage that a world built on injustice produces, and from that, recognizing that there is a community of people who share your values and fight for what is right. Though they are early in their career, Stress Positions are one of the most compelling bands in modern hardcore, fusing harsh and abrasive textures with guitar tones that Minor Threat and Black Flag pioneered 40 years ago makes them the perfect crossover band for old heads and contemporary hardcore fans. Their work is not to be slept on, and hopefully more music will be on the way.
For now, Stress Positions are playing shows to close out the year. ‘This summer, we are playing Skull Fest in Pittsburgh on 8/16 followed by Dark Days, Bright Nights Fest on 9/28 (Richmond, VA), along with an east coast tour this winter. Look out for all dates surrounding these fests in the coming weeks,‘ the band said in our interview. This was followed up by the announcement that they are playing Saddest Day 2025 in Boston on December 13th, a new event curated by and featuring hardcore legends, Converge, which also includes Touche Amoré, The Hope Conspiracy, and SOUL GLO amongst others. The comrades in Stress Positions add, ‘Fuck fascists. Free Palestine. Love is all.‘ I wholeheartedly agree.
Stress Positions is:
Ben – guitar
Jono – drums
Steph – vocals
Russell – bass
