Deviates Release First New Music In Twenty Years

Twenty years ago, Deviates were considered “the future of punk rock.” The South Bay band encapsulated everything that was right about Southern California’s late ’90s/early 2000s punk scene, and they seemed poised to explode after consecutive summers on the Warped Tour and the success of Time Is The Distance, their sophomore effort. A year later, they weren’t even a band anymore.

“At the time, it seemed like being a part of the future of punk rock required devotion to being in a touring band for life, which wasn’t really what I think we had intended or what we thought it was gonna be. When we started the band in 1994, we didn’t think that it would be anything. We were just kids playing the music we listened to, and punk rock was the soundtrack to our lives. By the time it evolved and grew to where we were putting out records, life had changed and we were ready to lay it down, and we didn’t know if that would be forever or when we’d pick it back up again.” (lead singer Brian Barbara)

As it turns out, 2021 would be the year Deviates picked up their instruments again, and now they’re back with a renewed fire inside of them with their new single, Wasted. The band’s upcoming third album, Holding Out, is a seven-song blast of SoCal punk rock new and old. A combination of recently written tunes alongside tracks created in the early 2000s for Deviates‘ ill-fated original attempt at a third album, the South Bay punks’ latest work fuses every bit of melodic aggression that put the band on the cusp of stardom their first go-around with the more intelligent and mature approach that only decades of life experience can provide.

You can get Wasted here and pre-order Holding Out here