The more I listen to them, the more I think Best Practices are a hardcore band playing garage rock. A lot of it has to do with the drumming, which has that energetic backbeat, steady as a goddamn metronome.
On Sore Subjects, said drumming (courtesy Paul Denichio, whose Tor Johnson Records teamed up with Willow Tree Records to put this EP out) has a looser feel than most hardcore drumming. It doesn’t sound like Denichio is going to put his sticks through the skins.
The picked notes during the middle bridge of “Home For Halloween” or at the intro for “Never 100%” just reinforce the garage elements. Honestly, it’s not so much that they’re a garage band, just that they seem like they’d be able to play with any band on Slovenly or In the Red without any problem.
All in all, it’s like this: for as screamy and angry as Byers and King’s vocals get, their guitars belie that angry. This is music for driving in the summer after a bad day. They’re singing “Raise a glass to trading whiskey for wine & toast all the kiss off you’ve collected” and it’s blowing your hair back, and you’ve calmed way the hell down.
They’re a hardcore punk band playing garage — or, basically, a rock ‘n’ roll band. And a good one. Honestly, I listen to a lot of music for specific reasons, be it movie soundtracks to calm down and focus, hardcore to pump me up, or whatever. But with Best Practices, I listen to them because I like them. They’re just good fucking music.
You can get the EP in a limited edition of 30 on green marble from the Best Practices Bandcamp, or in standard black or brown marble from the Tor Johnson store.