Maniac

On MANIAC's second full-length the twelve new tracks snap and bop by like any high quality-cum-octane vintage LA and Pacific Northwest punk but without any sense of nostalgia or fetish for a particular scene. The album spans the delights of the melodically layered and trade-off vocals of "Post Post World" and "Neutral Libido," the snarl-chants of "Children of the Dirt" and "Living in Stereo," and the controlled frenzy of openers "City Lights" and "Subject to Change" which start the album.

The band first came together in 2012 when Andrew Zappin and ex-Seattleite <a href="spotify:artist:7L34JvPM7tdg1tRdFEexHm" data-name="Zache Davis">Zache Davis</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:4bVj9jW8FdxEcBcnWt4lXU" data-name="The Girls">The Girls</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2etrz7PuhhaXTM5lc8mGUh" data-name="The Cute Lepers">The Cute Lepers</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5d12lGj8mKIQIxIK5Z7eqy" data-name="Weird Numbers">Weird Numbers</a>) would hit the dark night spots of El Lay together, bonding over classic power pop and a passion for creating songs about &#39;weird times going pro&#39; (as Hunter Thompson once wrote). Adding Justin Maurer (<a href="spotify:artist:2f1iakPRNGc5v470RqJfbD" data-name="Clorox Girls">Clorox Girls</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:37Lq1mXkmo0p9vT8wPTEXN" data-name="La Drugz">La Drugz</a>) on second guitar and James Carman (Images, LA Drugz) on drums, solidifying the line-up.

The band has four songwriters, Zache Davis (bass and lead vocals), Justin Maurer (vocals and guitars), Andrew Zappin (guitar), and James Carman (drums and backing vocals). Dead Dance Club was recorded at Station House Studios in Echo Park by Mark Rains.

MANIAC were finalists in LA Weekly&#39;s Best Live Band in LA awards category. There is something quintessentially LA about them, even if their punk rock would have fit perfectly with any decaying, hedonistic City of the West trying to abuse its body to believe in its soul.