New directions. New identities. New songs. Restless musicians pursue fresh sounds and new names to brand those sonic explorations. Out of the ashes of Seattle’s Fixtures, No Edits have created an intense, angular batch of songs. Their new album, We All End Up The Same, is a testament to the band’s growth and expanding horizons.

This Washington three-piece is no stranger to angular, tension-building guitar music. With their previous work, the band showed affection for Fugazi, Jawbox, and other emotionally resonant bands. Album opener “Faulty Intuition” showcases how a tight, quick-thinking rhythm section can lead a song to new heights. As tempos change and guitars fly, there’s a resounding churn to the song. Title track “We All End Up The Same” is idiosyncratic in its movement, resulting in an off-center groove that keeps the song engaging from start to finish. This is a band that knows how to use rhythm to tug at heartstrings. As guitar harmonics ring out and vocals thrash and dance around the beats, there’s an urgency and a vulnerability to these songs that feels rare to find in a rock group. The final minute of album closer “Congregation” brings the record to its giant, pounding climax. The lines “Pick it up / Yeah, put it down / Same old song / Yeah, same old sound” will no doubt be sung by the entire crowd at shows. This is a record that could draw a tear from a calloused old stone. And I think we all need that kind of release these days.

Though the band wears their East Coast influences on their sleeve, the Pacific coast still acts as a powerful force on this record. When listening to We All End Up The Same, you can almost see those pounding waves crashing into the evergreens. If movement is what you crave, this record will have you up and dancing. No Edits have crafted a piece of art that is as sonically interesting as it is emotionally radiant. You’ll live your listen better off than you were before. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what making music is all about?

Q&A

What keeps guitar-driven music fresh for y’all?

There’s probably a lot of things we all look for since we can be somewhat picky about what really gets us excited about music. We all listen to fairly different stuff, but I think some sense of raw energy and authenticity is a throughline for music that all three of us listen to consistently. We recently all went as a band to see Blind Girls, who were on tour from Australia, and they just blew us away. They played for maybe 25 minutes, and were such a whirlwind of energy, precision, and power and every single member was just so present in the moment and giving it everything they had. There were a good amount of kids there, but I remember looking around the room and people were just standing, kind of dazed and trying to soak it in for the first two songs. I honestly read it as people trying to process and “catch up” with the band, and then of course everyone in the audience went nuts shortly thereafter. I think a band like that is so exciting, because they’re hearkening back to older bands like Jerome’s Dream and Orchid, but they’re doing something fresh with it and they’re playing it live at such a high level that it takes people who are new to their sound a second to “get it”. That might not sound exciting to a lot of people, but I’ve been at a few shows like that and I just think it’s the coolest thing ever. You’re literally watching an audience trying to wrap their heads around something new. How often do you get to see that?

So I think in short, we all look for authenticity, playing with energy and from the gut, and pushing the music into interesting and unexpected new territory. I don’t think it’s a secret that No Edits is kind of a “band’s band”, and when we catch a whiff of someone trying new things or taking an older sound at putting a spin on it, that’s something that perks our ears up.

How does the Seattle scene feel currently? Is there still room for this type of brash music?

To be honest, Seattle can be a tough place to make music. It’s punishingly expensive, which affects everyone including venues, practice spaces, and obviously the people creating music. So, the effects of rising costs really ripple through that entire ecosystem in a direct way which people feel. We’ve seen a number of great venues close which is sad, but we’ve also seen places hang on and new places pop up. So, it’s honestly a mixed bag right now in my opinion. I’m originally from the Midwest and in my experience Seattle feels a lot more competitive and less collaborative than I would like to see. I think part of that comes from differences in culture – Seattleites are much more reserved and Midwesterners are almost annoyingly friendly, but I think the other part is that there are a lot of bands trying to carve space for themselves here. That means there’s lots of music being made, which is great, but there are other side effects of that.

As far as having room for this kind of music, I think regardless of location, with this type of music you just have to make your own space. That being said, we’re a weird fit for Seattle – to the point where people have told me they’re very surprised to hear we’re from this city. I’m not sure how much of this is nationwide or how much is specific to this city, but what I see getting booked a lot at clubs here is a ton of psych and garage, which we are obviously not. There are also some punk bands and a pretty healthy scene for heavy music, but it’s always been a bit of a mystery how to “sell” us to bookers. We’re not quite a punk band, we’re not a metal band, we’re definitely not an indie band. I’m happy to occupy that weird space, and I don’t think I could write more accessible music if I tried honestly, but it does make it kind of confusing when I think about where we fit. I’ve played enough shows in Seattle with this project and its previous iteration to know that it’s not going to be most people’s cup of tea and that’s totally cool.

That being said, there are a few bands here that are really making inspiring, boundary-pushing music that I think deserve mention. Reader is a band that I’ve been following since I moved to Seattle, and I love their stuff – big, ambitious, angular proggy tunes that are executed really well. I love watching them play. Great Falls is probably a band that needs no introduction at this point. Objects Without Pain was one of my favorite releases of 2023, and has unbelievably chaotic, crazy, heavy songs that are deceptively technical. So, there are definitely bands here making interesting, ambitious, rad music. It’s not quite like the glory days of the early to mid aughts with bands like These Arms Are Snakes, Harkonen, and Minus the Bear, but there are folks still pushing the envelope.

Collectively, does the band have a favorite Fugazi album?

I’m a bit older than the other two guys in the band, so I think I might be the only one who worships Fugazi at a delusional level. I constantly bounce around in their discography, but the record I always find myself coming back to is Repeater. I think there are so many cool moments on that record where you hear them experimenting with all these disparate styles ranging from art punk to dub, and there’s so much killer guitar interplay that has really stuck with me that’s obviously present throughout all their records. I think seeing footage of them playing “Shut The Door” on the Instrument DVD was what really got me into that band and made everything click for me. It’s so raw and real, and it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen at that time, and that performance still resonates with me. But there’s no wrong answer here – all the records are fantastic and important.

What do you hope listeners feel from these songs?

I don’t know if I have a great answer for this one. I’m someone who really tries to make peace with the idea that once you put out creative work of any kind, it’s out of your control how people interpret it or feel about it. I guess I would hope people feel a sense of excitement and energy from the record. Most of the lyrics on the record are pretty cryptic, and I don’t think I’m a very strong lyricist, but there are some themes and reflections on “bigger picture” aspects of modern life, many of which are not so pleasant or hopeful. I never want to deliberately bum anyone out, but I’d be over the moon of any of that gets across to people. This band is also obviously nodding to several groups from the Virginia/DC scene, so if I ever hear a comparisons to those bands I’m always very humbled and flattered.

What are your plans for performing these songs live?

I guess the short answer is we’d like to do a lot more of it! We’ve been busy with non-band activities for the past couple months, and so we haven’t really been able to ramp up shows prior to releasing the record in the way I would’ve liked to, but I’m really looking forward to playing more in Seattle and around the region. We have our release show at the end of August at a venue we’ve been wanting to play in town here called Tractor Tavern that we’re very psyched on. We’ll be sharing the stage with two excellent bands – High Priors and Dust Moth, and we couldn’t have asked for a better bill to celebrate the release of the record.

In September we’re going to do a quick back-to-back run playing Portland and Seattle with our buddies in a band called Spares, whose record I’m really looking forward to coming out. After that we don’t have any imminent plans, but I think we’re all excited about playing more shows in town and getting outside the city limits a bit. I think beyond shows, we’re all really excited about working on new material and we’re already in the process of demoing out some new stuff, which feels great. So, definitely more stuff on the horizon.

LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/noeditsband/
https://betterdayswillhauntyou.com