by Kurt Orzeck
In case you haven’t noticed, we’re now living in a critical juncture in human history with a clear delineation between the cowardly and the brave, between those turning a blind eye to atrocities and those who are standing up to be counted, and those who lack moral character and those who don’t. That includes Stress Positions, a hardcore-punk band from Chicago that refuses to deviate from fighting the good fight five years into their dizzying blur of a career.
“Unfortunately, the state of the world makes it pretty easy to make correlations and bring people's attention to things that have already happened — because they're happening all over again, right?” guitarist Benyamin Rudolph opined. “As the saying goes, ’History doesn't repeat itself, but it echoes the same events of the past,’ or something like that.” (To give credit where credit is due, Rudolph is referring to Mark Twain’s relevant-as-ever axiom "History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.”)
Rudolph added: “The first records [we made,] even though they are so pissed, they now sound tame against what I did on Human Zoo,” the band’s new EP.
Stress Positions arrived on Earth like Genera Zod and his sidekicks after they broke out of that space mirror thing that the nerds call “The Phantom Zone.” Rudolph, bassist Russell Harrison and drummer Jonathan Giralt had previously played in C.H.E.W., a band that played a quintessential role in reigniting hardcore in Chicago as the trend spruced up nationwide. Vocalist Stephanie Brooks entered the fold shortly after his three bandmates established their new moniker, Stress Positions.
As angst- and anxiety-riddled as Stress Positions may seem, the reality is the self-described “lighthearted” group never lets an opportunity to have fun go to waste. Their shows have the same reckless abandon but ultimately amusing atmosphere that accompanies a cafeteria food fight. The only material difference is that Stress Positions hurl hardcore punk and jungle D-Beats instead of handfuls of mashed potatoes and those small, cardboard boxes of milk that are often harder to open than solving a Rubik’s Cube.
Stress Positions’ simmering stew of speedy guitars, barreling rhythms, rugged production and Brooks’ shrieking vocals — not as high-pitched as Cam Pipes from 3 Inches of Blood or Justin Hawkins from the Darkness, but effectively piercing nonetheless — quickly caught on and attracted fans both in Chicago and in places that a 16-hour fight would reach. In addition to their fresh post-rock and post-metal sound, Stress Positions scored more achievements in five years than it took their friends to graduate from college (if they took a gap year, at least). Stress Positions’ debut EP, Walang Hiya, was so well-received upon its May 2021 release that Lung Records released a vinyl edition of it in September 2023.
With more and more music fans wanting to jump onto the Stress Positions bandwagon, their new home became Three One G, an even better-known and arguably better-regarded label compared to the aforementioned others. The label demonstrated its unshakable faith in Stress Positions by guiding the band through the making of their first LP, Harsh Reality, which landed in December 2023.
That the young Stress Positions had a clear message they wanted to convey with their band was a massive plus for labels concerned that young bands often come and go in a stereotypically immature fashion.
Brooks noted that his strongest motivating factor in joining Stress Positions was to create music that not only slayed but also conveyed the history of activism to young people if they want to exercise, maintain, and even defend their Constitutional rights, a horrifying thought that’s happening by the US government “disappearing” activists, scheming to rig future elections, and dismantling the administrative state.
“I wanted to make music that I could use as an avenue for education for history for activism for things that are really important to me and my ethos as a person,” Brooks explained. “I've done musical projects before this, but this is my first punk band in which I felt I could voice my thoughts fully and without fear. “It’s cathartic to have a platform where I can do that.”
Brooks further noted that he and Jono initially intended for Stress Positions to meld Crass Records releases with Dead Kennedys power violence — bands that continue to be reference points for hardcore bands young and old.
Guitarist Rudolph agreed with Brooks’ assessment, stipulating that they ”Wanted to tighten things up, not necessarily in a more metallic way, but a heavier, jangly sound at times. I think we wore the Dead Kennedys thing a little too hard.”
For good measure, Stress Positions’ Human Zoo EP ends with remixes of three of their songs by Planet B (a project featuring Three One G founder Justin Pearson) and Made by Human Hands. And, at the end of the interview, he almost spilled a secret.
“We already have plans for 2026, because there's definitely places we haven’t visited,” he confessed. “We haven't even been all over the United States yet.”