Bay Area outfit Life Stinks‘ eponymous debut appeared in 2013, its unrelenting negativity a proper commiserating salve for a local music scene digging trenches against the influx of a young, monied elite. Taking their band name from the timeless Peter Laughner composition, Life Stinks’ frill-free wallop and caustic skronk endures on You’ll Never Make It, recently released by SS Records, though songs such as “Anchor” showcase a newfound pop-defeatist bent. “I’m a Weed”, however, typifies Life Stinks’ least rosy outlook. It’s like the inverse of The Zeros’ “Wimp”, rife with the same guttersnipe venom and quarrelsome backbeat, only the finger points inward. And as of today, there’s an accompanying visual. Directed by guitarist Troy Hewitt, the grainy, VHS-like video depicts Life Stinks’ vocalist sauntering through Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery, final resting place of other such noted locals as Mac Dre.
