Features

After more than a decade away from the full-length game, Horace Pinker is back and still firing on all cylinders. The veteran melodic punk outfit has returned with their first new album since Local State Inertia (2011), recorded at Chicago’s Bombshelter Recording Studio with Dan Precision (Rise Against, 88 Fingers Louie) at the helm. True to form, Now And The Future delivers everything fans have come to love: mid-paced, melody-driven punk rock packed with punchy rhythms, heartfelt hooks, and that unmistakable Horace Pinker grit.

To celebrate the release and to take stock of more than three decades of punk persistence, Scott Eastman, Bryan Jones and Greg Mytych sat down to rank their own releases, reflecting on the highs, the deep cuts, and the songs that still hit hardest. And yes, they’ll tell you exactly where the new album fits in.

 

10th Place

Scott. Horace Pinker / Face to Face split (1993):

This is a solid 4-song EP, let’s be honest. But the HP songs didn’t get the recordings they deserved, and we redid “Letter Never Sent” as an acoustic song for a later album, which came out really well.

Bryan: Burn Tempe to the Ground (1996)

Recorded in the porn capital of the world (Van Nuys, California) in a studio run by the guy from the rock band Saga and engineered by Ryan Greene (NOFX, Fat Wreck) in a multi-day marathon session, this album should have been destined for greatness. Unfortunately, I think it captured what the band was trying to be at the time and sounds nothing like our other releases. 

Greg: PowerTools (1994)

I wasn’t playing bass with HP when they released Power Tools. In fact, I didn't even know of them yet. Unfortunately, like a lot of other people, my introduction to the band came with Pop Can Park circa 1996. I think it’s a solid record though.

 

9th Place

Scott: PowerTools (1994)

There are so many songs I love on this, but the sound quality suffered because we put together tracks from different recording sessions. We also had to work with a tight budget because we weren’t rich rock stars. I still love it a lot—it’s our first album with the original line-up. “67 Cents” and the underappreciated “Punker Than GBH” are HP essentials.

Bryan: Horace Pinker / Face to Face split (1993)

Like most of our early recordings, this one was done during a quick break on our endless tour. We worked the songs out in a basement in Vancouver, Canada for a few days, then recorded them quickly on a stop over in Phoenix, AZ. Another example of rushing into the studio, but F2F had already done their recordings and we had to get this sucker out. I guess it is what it is…

Greg: Burn Tempe to the Ground (1996)

This record was my introduction to HP. The production is better than their previous record and I was playing in my first band so I could relate to it as a bass player as well as a fan.

 

 

 

 

8th Place

Scott: House of Cards (2022)

Awesome songs taking us in a new direction, but it was meant to be part of a full-length that had to be put on indefinite hiatus because of the pandemic. Glad we released it and love Derek Hess’s cover art!

Bryan: PowerTools (1994)

It is true that we rehashed many of our older songs from various seven-inch releases for this record. We recorded most of the songs at the Groove Factory in Phoenix, AZ in between tour stops via all night recording sessions and drinking too many Zimas. I think alcohol and lack of a click track contributed to the final product not being up to par. 

Greg: Copper Regret (2000)

This is another record I did not play on, but I am a big fan of the songs. I think it's a little darker than PCF, but still saturated with hooks & harmonies. Most of the songs have fallen out of the setlist rotation but not due to anything other than increasing our catalog.

 

7th Place

Scott: Texas One Ten (2005)

We hit our stride with some of the tracks (check out “More at Home”), but it didn’t get reviewed as favorably as some of our other stuff. Why didn’t you like this, German fanzines??

Greg: Red-Eyed Regular (2003)

RER is the first bunch of songs that I wrote and recorded with HP. It’s a solid effort. Some of the tracks made it onto Texas 110, but there are a couple of deep cuts. And, a live version of Bryan’s Song recorded at Groezrock music festival in 2002.

Bryan: Texas One Ten (2005)

I love this record as it pays tribute to my mother who lost her battle with colon cancer in May of 2002. It took us over two years and multiple recording sessions to get it done and was our first record with the current line up that we have today. 15 songs recorded and 12 of them turned into this record.

 

6th Place

Scott: Burn Tempe to the Ground (1996)

It was so much fun to play these songs live even faster than on the recordings. Pure 90s pop and punk. There was even a limited-edition Australian tour version of the CD.

Greg: Texas One Ten (2005)

This is the first full-length record I helped write. I love all of the songs, but in the way that a mother loves all of her children.

Bryan: Carnival Nostalgia: 2000 - 2006 (2007)

Alright, I know it’s a compilation of songs taken from our releases Pop Culture Failure, Copper Regret, Red-Eyed Regular, and Texas One Ten, but it's a nice little retrospective that covers 6 years of the band and was a good way to introduce new folks to the band, especially in Brazil for our Vans Zona Punk Tour. The artwork and layout is incredible (done by a Brazilian artist) and we also made this an enhanced CD with videos for "More at Home" and "South Stanley Place"... plus we threw in a few live videos as well. If you can find it, it’s pretty cool.

 

5th Place

Scott: Recover (2015)

This EP is really good—start with the title track. Enjoy. Thanks for putting this out Dead Broke!

Greg: Local State Inertia (2011)

The second full length I played on, and something we worked on in starts and stops for a few years. I like it because I was more comfortable writing with the other guys, and, although nothing was “new,” nothing was stale either. We had a temporary second guitar player for this record, and he also contributed to a lot of the writing. An interesting fact about this record is that it’s the only time we did demos of some of the songs before recording for the full length. I’m not sure why we don’t do that more often.

Bryan: House of Cards (2022)

I like this EP and am bummed it did not turn into a full length record due to the pandemic. We actually released this on accident as I uploaded the songs for digital distro but totally forgot I had put a release date on it. We didn’t know it was out until people started pinging us about the new record. Anyway, I'm very thankful that our new label People of Punk Rock Records has given it a proper release on vinyl and CD.

 

 

 

 

4th Place

Bryan: Local State Inertia (2011)

We demoed and road tested a bunch of these songs on our tours of Brazil in 2007 and Asia/Australia/New Zealand in 2010, then went into the studio ready to rock. Probably the first and last time we’ve ever done that. It's a damn fine record and has gotten some release love from three different labels now.

Scott: Copper Regret (2000)

I treasure the memories of writing these songs with Chris Bauermeister and Matt Arluck (RIP) in a filthy, dungeon-like concrete rehearsal space in Humboldt Park (Chicago). 

Greg: Pop Culture Failure (2000)

Although I did not play on this record, it is what I was given to learn for an audition. It is everything I love about music. The bass lines are awesome, and there are vocal harmonies aplenty. I didn’t care who the band was or what they were known for; I wanted to play these songs. And write more in this style.

 

3rd Place

Bryan: Copper Regret (2000)

Written and recorded in about 2 weeks, I think this record built on Pop Culture Failure and took it to the next level. It was our first recording with new bass player Chris Bauermeister (Jawbreaker), and I think it turned out to be a solid release. Just a shame it was only 5 songs.

Scott: Local State Inertia (2011)

Got released by an American and European label, and came from jams on our Brazil tour with Jeff Dean and from working with the amazing Karl Eifrig. My favorite song is probably “Placebo Effect.”

Greg: Recover (2015)

Scott and I wrote these songs in our practice space. The ideas for drums were only in our heads. The original thought was that Bryan—who relocated to Sydney, Australia, for work—would either come in to record, or we would send files back and forth to complete things. That didn’t happen. So we tracked rough takes of guitar and bass and relied on studio magic to sync things up. It worked. The drums were played by Dan Lumley and recorded at Sonic Iguana Studio in Lafayette, IN, with Mass Giorgini. The drums were pretty much done and waiting for us to go in and lay down the guitars.

My favorite HP song, “Oil and Water,” is on this 7".

 

2nd Place 

Scott: Pop Culture Failure (2000)

I think most people would say this is our best album. I highly recommend checking out the first three songs, at the very least.

Greg: House of Cards (2022)

This EP was supposed to be a full length, but a global pandemic got in the way. I will sometimes think about the songs we left unfinished from the working sessions, but I like how it stands on its own as an EP. Five songs that are so different from each other, but fit together so nicely. Right now, only one song is in our live set, but I hope to add one or two more soon. They are fun songs to play and sing. Maybe playing them live will give the record a second chance to shine.

Bryan: Pop Culture Failure (2000)

This was the record that course corrected the band after Burn Tempe and laid the foundation that we’ve attempted to build upon to this day. The songs were truly a collaborative effort and it was the band’s first time working with what would become our long time producer, Mass Giorgini. Unfortunately, we had stopped the endless touring by the time it was released so it didn’t get the push like our previous record.

 

1st Place

Scott: Now and the Future (2025)

I’ve been paid by People of Punk Rock Records to say this is our best stuff to date. We re-recorded an older song that never got the love it deserved (“Just Around the Corner”) and even did a Doughboys cover. But the first three songs, again, stand out to me. And my daughter did some of the back-up vocals!

Greg: Now and the Future (2025)

It should come as no surprise that the newest record gets the #1 spot. If the other guys don’t rank this number one, I will be shocked and bummed. We started from scratch with eight of the 10 songs. We were all living in Chicago, had a dedicated practice space, and were ready to write new songs. One song was revived from practice space recordings, and one song is a cover of Doughboys Fix Me, but everything else is new. We also used a new studio and producer for this record. That definitely helped when it came to adding the finishing touches.

I loved writing this record. It was a blast to record. And now I can’t wait to get out and play these songs live.

Bryan: Now and the Future (2025)

Got to agree with my band mates on this one. I think everything came together for this sucker and we’re all playing at the top of our game. I can honestly say if this ends up being the last Horace Pinker record, then I can live with that.  It’s a great representation of the progression of the band over all these years, plus our former guitarist Don Meehleis (2001 - 2007) has rejoined the band for this release, so it feels like we’ve come full circle.