The Stitches
8x12

Review of Garagisti zozzoni!

I'm continuing my series of reviews on '90s punk (which the good Pinhead is also doing excellently) a golden era for the genre with an endless series of excellent bands that brought back the most authentic spirit of '77 punk; this time I'm talking about the Stiches, a little-known group that has nothing to envy to more renowned bands like New Bomb Turks, Teengenerate, or Rip Offs (not that the latter are that famous either, unfortunately).

The Stitches are four roughnecks from Orange County, California, formed in the first half of the '90s, playing a raw and wild '77 punk rock, in addition to a series of excellent singles (especially, I mention “Sixteen” and “Talk Sick” which seem to have come out of a collection style Killed By Death) they also released this 12” 45 RPM in 1995 with eight explosive tracks (hence the title 12x8, but originality is certainly not one of their peculiarities).

Compared to the singles, the sound is more polished and refined, but that doesn't take away from it being a devastating album with clear references to the early Californian punk and bands of the caliber of Germs, Adolescents, or Angry Samoans.

Right from the first track Nowhere, you can understand what the Stitches are made of: fast-paced punk rock but not overly so, tempo changes, rough guitars, booming bass in the foreground, voice like an addict in withdrawal (which I have no clue what it actually sounds like, but I'd bet it's like that of Michael Lohrman, the singer) and shouted choruses at the top of their lungs.

From there on, the Stitches keep their foot on the gas, firing a series of tracks one better than the other like: I Can’t Do Anything, Throw It Away, My Baby Hates Me, or the cover of the Popes That Woman's Got Me Drinking.

After this album and a long series of singles and EPs, the Stitches continue to play even now, although their last released album - 12 Imaginary Inches, good but inferior to this one - is from 2002, but there's hope that they have new material in the pipeline as a new single was released in October.

In any case, no nonsense, with 8x12 the Stitches rightfully position themselves among the best punk rock bands of the '90s and beyond!