TAKE OFFENSE "T.O.tality" LP

Unlike the legions who attempt to reinvent crossover for modern times, Take Offense to looks toward the tone and attitude of their California counterparts– bands like Cryptic Slaughter, EXCEL, and Suicidal Tendencies, who also leaned heavily into skate aesthetics but worshipped Sunset Strip-and-adjacent guitar deities like George Lynch, Warren Di Martini, and Eddie Van Halen. T.O.tality is a love letter to that scene and those times, delivered in the form of an armada of fourteen nitro-equipped armored vehicles, exploding through barricades of genre convention and emptying the clip with fresh ideas. It’s a tribute to local heroes with familiar approaches that are wholly and undoubtedly Take Offense. “There are sounds and tones that have influenced me heavily, and part of that came out of 1980s California,” says Greg Cerwonka emphatically. “The guitar sound, especially for bands coming out of Venice Beach where some of that great crossover came from, has roots in hair metal– they were surrounded by it. So while crossover is definitely a different style and sound, what some of those hair metal guitarists did is undeniable– we try and incorporate that in a way that makes sense for us.”

Take Offense are ready to invade your city with their most compelling record to date. But no matter how far T.O.tality takes them, in their hearts they’ll always still be that band plugging into the generator at the loading dock.