New Album“Crime, Hysteria & Useless Information.” Sold out in Canada
Punk rock band from Montreal, Canada “Hood Rats” deliver a wide net of heavy rock and roll electricity that captures the attention of people and doesn’t let go. If you're a head banger that's had to live in the struggle, this music was made for you. For fans of “Bad Brains”, “Motorhead” & “Circle Jerks”
Live in Montreal at the Olympic Stadium
Pic by Sean Morrison
Maximum RnR: Album review
- June 2024
(Sold out in Canada)
Dying Scene: Live show review -
May 4th 2024
The first opener for the evening was Hood Rats. The rock n roll and punk rock trio made their way from Montreal to Chicago and put on an incredible performance despite having probably the toughest responsibility – to get the crowd started and excited. They played an energetic set that got everyone at Livewire interested and engaged.
At the risk of sounding reductive, Hood Rat’s set could be described as electric. Their music ticks all the boxes needed to have a great time –it is loud, fast, and straightforward. A great balance between street punk, leaning towards hardcore punk, but with a prevalent underlying rock n roll sound ever-present in their catchy riffs.
Overall, Hood Rats are a great band to see live. Hopefully, they will come back to Chicago soon, and if they do I would suggest any enjoyer of hardcore punk and street punk to see them live. The band describes their music as “in your face, raw music” and that description fits them perfectly.
- Ed Kost
New Noise Magazine:
Track Premiere - March 15th 2024
Montreal punk vermin Hood Rats have been around since 2017 and have become known for their own brand of punk that blends garage punk and French Oi. After a long string of strong singles and demos, the band are finally putting out their debut LP Crime, Hysteria & Useless Information on April 5 through Dirt Cult Records in North America and Bachelor Records in Europe.
Today, they’re debuting their latest track “Occupied Territory” off of the upcoming album. “I wrote the music for ‘Occupied Territory’ before I wrote the lyrics,” says the track’s songwriter, Tony. “It sounded like an anthem, but I had nothing to be patriotic about. They recently discovered mass graves in Canada at a residential school run by the Catholic Church. Our history is steeped in Colonialism and it’s alive and well today. To sum it up, this song is an anti-colonial anthem.”
Characterized by a classic, ’70s punk beat and a thumping bass line, “Occupied Territory” rings out musically with all of the anti-colonial fury of its lyrics.
- Julie River
Punk World Views:
Album review Sept 30th 2024
For their debut release on Dirt Cult Records, Montreal’s Hood Rats have come out swinging — and swinging hard. Their 2024 full-length, ‘Crime, Hysteria, And Useless Information’ is packed with aggressive yet very catchy tunes that will have punk fans feeling hyped and rage-filled all at once.
Throughout the album Hood Rats walk a very fine sonic line between hardcore and melodic punk. “Deception” is great example of the band’s swift and rowdy sound. The intensity from the choppy guitar chords and wailing bends along with the blasting drums fit perfectly with the savage-sounding vocals. The track is a perfect microcosm of what Hood Rats and the album are about. “Hate The Radio” contains a lot of similar musical aspects that “Deception” has, but this time includes some impressive rolling bass lines. However, it is the vocals that really take center stage. They are much more intense. They’re throaty, confrontational, and raised to a crazy-high level of intensity to where they personify the frustration in the lyrics like, “They’re putting subliminal messages/They’re putting them into my brain/Everybody can dress the same/Everyone’s thinking the same thing,” just as close to perfectly as you can imagine.
While there are more negative tunes on ‘Crime, Hysteria, And Useless Information’ such as “Fuck The Police” and “We Can Be Zeros,” Hood Rats conclude the album on a more positive note with “Won’t Be Victim.” It’s a song that points out many of society’s flaws, but still managing to resist being affected by them as much as possible. “Won’t Be A Victim” is a more “relaxed” tune on the musical side. It contains some light piano work to accent the choruses as well as a hypnotic guitar riff that accompanies the vocals throughout the verses. It was a great choice to be the closer for it’s different messaging and musicianship compared to the rest of the tracks on the record.
Overall, the kick-ass ‘Crime, Hysteria, And Useless Information’ can be best described with one word: ferocious.
- Ricky Frankel
