Five Hundred Bucks is a filthy, beautiful punk rock fever dream clawing its way out of Philadelphia, featuring members of The Holy Mess, Captain, We’re Sinking, Teen Agers, and Seagulls—stitched together by Jeff Riddle: songwriter, guitarist, accidental philosopher. The bastard child of burned-out idealism and a four-month songwriting bender in a garage, their latest record Pest Sounds sounds like someone set their old dreams on fire and recorded the screams. These songs are full of ghosts: generational addiction, dead friends, southern doom, and the kind of youthful rot you can only write about once it’s already eaten half your soul. It’s punk rock with a bleeding heart and a busted compass, stumbling toward meaning in the wreckage.
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