Lucy Fitzgerald 
Some bands sound like they’ve been waiting their whole lives to make this record, and that’s exactly the vibe on “Rotten In The Brain”, the debut EP from Astoria, Oregon’s The Something Ain’t Rights. Out July 22 via Hovercraft Records, this nine-song collection plays like the work of people who’ve paid every due there is to pay and finally decided to put it all on tape. Frontman Mike Vasquez isn’t new to any of this. As the longtime owner and engineer behind Austin’s Sweatbox Studio, he’s spent years recording artists like Mark Arm, Paul Leary, Alejandro Escovedo, and Lungfish. That studio background shows up all over this EP, not in a polished way, but in the way every track sounds honest and unforced. Drummer Carrie Beveridge, bassist Alpha Rasmussen, and guitarist Dan McClure round out the lineup, each bringing their own scattered history from New York, DC, Austin, New Orleans, Eugene, and Portland into one room.
Songs like “Rotten In The Brain” and “Plymouths of Fury” hit fast and loose, packed with dark jokes and nervous energy, while “Gas Station Angel” and “Rainbow Alley” slow things down to tell stories about backroads and the people who live along them. If you grew up on X, The Minutemen, Pere Ubu, or The Gun Club, this record will feel like coming home, but it never sounds like it’s copying its heroes. What I appreciate most about this EP is how unfinished and real it sounds, like these songs got made because they had to be, not because anyone was trying to impress a label. That kind of honesty is rare these days, and it’s the reason this record sticks with you.
The backstory behind the record makes it hit even harder. Vasquez and the band originally set out to record a 29 song album at Cannon Deck Recording over the winter of 2025-26, but those plans fell apart after Vasquez got seriously hurt in a highway accident. Rather than wait, the band took the nine songs they already had and shaped them into this EP instead, and the record is better for it, tighter, sharper, and more focused than a double album probably would have been. Even the cover art has a story behind it. It’s a photo Vasquez took across the street from CBGB back in 1983, during the first hardcore show he ever attended. If punk rock with real history and real scars is your thing, go find The Something Ain’t Rights on Instagram and Bandcamp and give them a follow. Get “Rotten In The Brain” onto your playlist, whether that’s your morning commute or your next road trip, because bands like this rely on people passing the word along. Tell a friend who still cares about punk. This one deserves to be heard.
Listening to songs so you don’t have to! Just kidding :D, you totally should. Music blogger by day, nurse by night
