Kevin Bronson on November 16th, 2018

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Seems like Criminal Hygiene have been paying their dues for so long that they know every band from every sticker plastered on the interior of every men’s room in every club in Los Angeles. They were a Band to Watch by 2013, savvy miscreants who worked at the local pizza joint, led the league in beer-swilling and packed no small amount of brashness into their live shows. The Replacements often came to mind.

The future has arrived for the band founded by singer-guitarist Michael Fiore, singer-bassist Michael Hiller and drummer Sean “Birdman” Erickson. Today, Criminal Hygiene released “Hardly News,” the lead track from their album “Run It Again.” The album, produced by Alex Newport (Death Cab For Cutie, Frank Turner, Bloc Party), will be released March 1 via local label Dangerbird Records.

The single finds Criminal Hygiene exactly where longtime followers hoped they might be, doing high-end garage rock with guitars blazing and drums pummeling — confessing things you might already know, like “It’s not easy to be an ass.”

Oh, and there’s a video for the song directed by Ryan Baxley (FIDLAR, Culture Abuse, The Front Bottoms) in which Matt Pinfield has a cameo — and the quartet may or may not suffer the fate they deserve.

||| Stream: “Hardly News”

||| Watch: The video for “Hardly News”