Killing California

Killing California's latest effort isn't that kind of thing that most people expect to hear from an Orange County band. They don't bother with the bullshit, retensions or pop punk bullshit that has somehow become so sickingly popular. These aren't songs of day dreams and making it big in Hollywood, surf sand and fun. Underground Girl, New Bad News and Black Collar Kids are written for Hollywood's outsiders. The kids hanging out on Sunset in front of Amoeba and the everyday hard working people that hit the dives and pound booze till they can't see straight and somehow still make it to work in the morning. Goin’ South is raw gritty dirty and brutal just like the cities that spawned Killing California. Complete with killer hooks, great grooves and intense lyrics Killing California has created an album that takes Punk Rock intensity to places not often explored by other bands who are more concerned with walking the line between Punk and staying radio friendly. This is honest album played from the heart and delivered with a fist. - Ectomag

Dirty rock’n’roll like the bars you like to drink in !!!! - Razorcake Magazine

This sounds like punk rock the way I think it should sound-Fast, aggressive, and raw, but still proficient. It’s like, they’re In a punk band because they love punk rock, not because it’s Their only option musically, you know? The song structures Are good, the pace is fierce, and the aggression and attitude Are definitely there. I like that they have a few sweet guitar
Solos, which, as a total metal guy, I fucking love. I also like That this is one of the better punk releases I’ve reviewed in a Loooong time, and the band isn’t all imaged-out with liberty Spikes, Mohawks, and studded leather jackets. They’re just Regular dudes that might live next door, or come over to fix a
Hole in your drywall, yet they’re ruling it with the heart of Black Flag and the hands of Motorhead. - Automatic Skate Magazine

Basement Records has done it again! Another new band added to their roster that, in my opinion, suits them to a tee. I give to you So-Cal's newest gang of vigilantes out to destroy the "pop world"...Killing California. It's a welcome change to the usual cookie-cutter punk rock and to music in general. Right from ye old get-go with the track, "Song In A" you're put on your ass. "Goin' South" starts off with a fast-paced guitar intro and never slows down. Gritty...hard...knuckles-up punk rock! Gruff vocals, break-neck drums and intensity all combine to provide one helluva good listen. Please do what you gotta do and check this band out. If you don't...I will fight you! - Mutiny Magazine

Holy shit, is this for real? Killing California has managed to put together a nearly perfect collection of songs on "Goin' South"! No pop punk or emo nonsense here, this is Orange County hardcore with some serious balls!! The best comparison for these guys would be Dez-era Black Flag mixed with Zeke & early Neurosis. Fast, heavy, mean, loud, in your face & fucking intense! 10 out of 10 for this one. - Amp Magazine

Killing California hands out an blend of dirty whiskey rock that burns on its way down your throat (so to speak), a dash of stoner to thicken the recipe and add some muscle, much in the way of punk punch and its in-your-face attitude and a napalm blaze of hardcore (leaving a scorched trail of listeners in its wake). This is an abrasive yet melodic sound that is dual natured. It’s a heated melding together of classic influences and rock innovation in a fast, heavy, filthy fuck-you of a mosh dance. Dig way down deep inside and you’ll find that this is essentially rough-and-tumble rock-n-roll in its heart of hearts. But isn’t that really what punk rock is, when it comes right down to it? Punk was as much lifestyle and attitude as it was specific sound, though the sound that was common among “punk” bands became inextricably entwined with the term and a genre of sound was born. But the point is that punk was simply the rock of the people (versus the rock of the corporation). And Killing California is one hairy, smelly, crunchy, saucy asshole bastard of a punk band. (And, surely, the band will take that as a compliment. Any true punk band worth its salt would. And Killing California is definitely worth its salt.) The band passionately performs gritty, grimy rock-and-roll tunes with one helluva snarl (gargle with lots of lemon juice, bro!) and some punked out playing. Like it or leave it, Killing California is bound to make an impression. They’re punk, yeah, but definitively so. Which means convention doesn’t mean jack. Even punk convention. The band incorporates whatever the hell it feels like into its sound (go back and read the first sentence for an abbreviated discussion of that). And you can like it or lump it. Or maybe get beat up if you yak too much around people who do like Killing California and its harsh but harshly accessible sound. It's convergence of styles may actually help it cast a wide net and draw in a bigger crowd of listeners than you might normally expect from a punk band, reaching, as it does, for more than a stripped down this-and-only-this sound. Yet it’s faithful enough to what makes punk punk that only narrow-minded “punk rockers” who don’t fuckin’ understand what the whole punk thing is all about ANYWAY will diss. And, they, too, have that angry contingent of Killing California fans to deal with — those guys will probably have enough energy left after beating up those other guys that lumped it instead of liking it. Look, in the end, it’s about attitude, and Killing California has it. The band does the sound that it wants to do, and it does a good job of dumping a bucket of musical grit on top of front row listeners’ heads. (And, by all means, in the context of this review, that bucket of grit is a good thing. Out in the real world, a bona fide bucket of grit might not … you get the point.) To sum up: In many ways, despite its diversion from the norm (a punk norm? hmmm ...), or perhaps because of it, Killing California finds itself closer to the truest spirit of punk rock than many who sound more like what punk is “supposed” to sound like. And yet, Killing California sounds like punk. Again, hmmmm …. - Punknews.org