There's a certain kind of musician who can tell you exactly why a tube amplifier sounds the way it does. Not just in vague poetic terms, but in the specific language of circuit design and voltage. Price Harrison is that musician, and it goes a long way toward explaining why Sour Ops sounds the way it does.

Harrison, who plays guitar and handles most of the vocals for the Nashville-based collective, came into the conversation with the kind of quiet confidence that comes from doing the work for a long time. Five albums deep, with a core lineup of drummer Steve Eby and bassist Tony Frost, Sour Ops has spent the years since Covid refining what was already a strong foundation into something that rewards close listening.

Forty-plus years into one of punk's most unpredictable careers, Blag Dahlia sounds relaxed. Not retired, not nostalgic, just relaxed. The Dwarves, the band he has steered through Chicago, Seattle, Southern California, and seemingly every corner of the underground since the mid-eighties, have a new record coming out, shows booked, and a front man who has made peace with the fact that the music industry never really knew what to do with them.