Calling Hours Say Less (Grey)

Popeye was an established fixture in Southern California, both personally and creatively, as theformer frontman for melodic hardcore greats FARSIDE. There was little in his routine to suggestat that point that Popeye's life was headed for any sort of major change. It felt like an ideal life,in fact, until it didn't.'It was very solitary, and I guess I was OK with that-or at least I told myself that I was OKwith that-until I met the woman who is now my wife,' he explains. 'That absolutely changedeverything.'At the tail end of 2021, Popeye (FARSIDE) uprooted his entire life to move across the country tothe city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he would eventually come to meet the rest of his newband Calling Hours: guitarists Thomas McGrath (THE COMMERCIALS) and Tony Bavaria(THE COMMERCIALS), bassist Garrett Rothman (DON't SLEEP), and drummer Jim Bedorf(DON't SLEEP).For Brian McTernan, a celebrated producer with a nearly 30-year history of shaping some of thebiggest hardcore records of all time-including albums for HOT WATER MUSIC, TURNSTILE,CIRCA SURVIVE, and THRICE-advancing Calling Hours from the idea stage to the recordingstage was personal: 'Popeye is one of his favorite singers of all time,' Rothman explains. 'Hetold me he named one of his cats after Popeye.'The outcome of that collaboration is Say Less, a seven-song record for Revelation Recordsthat revisits the band members' melodic, post-punk sensibilities while working in a decidedlycontemporary direction. It's also a deep dive into the feelings of displacement and discomfortthat punctuated Popeye's move-a meditation on the intersection of sense of place and senseof self.TRACK LIST1. Cardboard & Aluminum2. Curtain Call3. Gin Perry4. Low End Theory5. Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?6. Heavy Future7. Alex Chilton