If the punk ethos is all about eschewing conventions and skirting expectations, Fake Names’ third full-length is true to its title. Despite the band’s impressive pedigree, its members—guitarists Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion) and Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace, The Faith), vocalist Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, INVSN), bassist Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside) and new drummer Mario Rubalcaba (Rocket From the Crypt, Off!)—created Punk Ruins in an organic manner that captured a moment instead of trying to recreate a certain era. The end result is an album that effortlessly merges D.C. post-hardcore with modern power-pop to create a collection of songs that are as catchy as they are cathartic.

Recorded at the legendary Electrical Audio studios in Chicago with producer Matthew Barnhardt (Superchunk, Bob Mould), like Fake Names’ 2020 self-titled debut, these recordings were originally planned to be demos but turned out to be so compelling that the band decided to release it as the finished product.

“We recorded twelve songs in five days and all of them are on the album,” Baker explains, adding that Lyxzén tracked his vocals in a single day.

“One of the advantages of us all working at home is there's plenty of time to figure out what you're going to do,” Baker says when asked how the band were able to create such a fully formed album in the time some of their other acts have spent solely on pre-production.

“I know what the guitar solo is going to be because I've already done it at home and sent it to Michael to tweak it,” he adds. “It's not as hard as you think.”

Modesty aside, Punk Ruins is an album that transcends genres and will likely surprise fans of its members’ individual and collective output. From the guitar-driven power of the opener “Until It’s Normal” to the hypnotic groove of “Diamond Buzz” and undeniable D.C. hardcore sound of the title track, the album is the ultimate amalgam of fury and fun.
“‘Punk Ruins’ was the last song we wrote for the album and it sounds a lot like Embrace but then Dennis starts singing and it sounds completely different,” Baker explains.

“There are no guardrails or perceived direction here and this just comes out,” he continues, citing everyone from The Cure to Chicago as influences on Punk Ruins.

“This album is a collective expression and a lot of the fun is seeing how the hell it is going to turn out,” he continues, adding that the musicianship of the other players helped elevate Baker and Hampton’s initial ideas into something far beyond what they anticipated.

That isn’t to say that the band weren’t in fighting form in the studio, something Lyxzén personally credits to being able to use the Fake Names vocals as his warm-up exercises during Refused’s victory lap.

“I think that a lot of these songs give me an opportunity to sing in a way that nowadays I usually don't sing,” he explains. “It's always cool to be able to experiment with your voice, melodic sensibility and language. What I really love about Fake Names is that it's much more akin to what Brian and Michael grew up listening to than what they grew up playing.”

Correspondingly, the album’s title track sees Lyxzén belting out his vocals in a way that elevates the song’s already razor-sharp hooks, while he is also able to capture the jangly spirit of “If You Could See Me Today” with the same sense of mastery.

This spirit of experimentation is mirrored in the artwork for Punk Ruins, which was created by New Zealand-based artist Callum Rooney at the suggestion of Rubalcaba and perfectly captures the carefully cultivated aesthetic of Fake Names.
“It's very 1980 Liverpool College of Art,” Baker says, adding that the artist insisted that the two-tone LP art be printed on raw cardboard.

“This is our third record, but I think in a sense that we are not what people expect us to be and I think that's a cool thing,” Lyxzén adds.

With this album, Fake Names have once again reinvented their sound by creating something that evokes their past without trying to recreate it. Whether you’re a fan of Minor Threat or the Marked Men (or both), prepare to get lost in the dazzling wreckage of Punk Ruins.