South Florida Straightedge Band Put It Aside Announces Record-Release Show

After an almost year-and-a-half hiatus, South Florida hardcore group Put It Aside has returned to the internet with a new seven-inch, titled How Soon You Forget..., along with a record-release show announcement.

The four-piece emerged in 2014 as a South Florida straightedge band with a four-track demo, available for free. Guitarist Jared Hutcherson describes the band as a straightforward, hardcore straightedge band with '90s youth crew influence.

"I think for the most part, we're pretty true to our sound," says Hutcherson, who counts Ten Yard Fight, Floorpunch, Confront, Infest, and Youth of Today as influences.

As for the gap between releases, Hutcherson says it wasn't supposed to take this long. "The seven-inch has been basically finished for at least half a year at this point." Three of the record's seven songs are revamped, rerecorded versions of tracks from the group's demo.

But when Put It Aside went to record in Venice, Florida, the group's vocalist, Elliot Flignor, put a pause in production. "Flig was actually just coming down with bronchitis or some bullshit,"Hutcherson says, "and he ended up having to do vocals a while later."
Once the tracks were together, pressing the record took three to four months, according to Hutcherson. "Getting everything put together after that point was a nightmare," he says. "Christ, what a headache."

Despite the time lapse in between, Hutcherson says that not much has changed and that anything that has was for the better. "Our mindset hadn't really changed too much from the time we finished the demo till when we started writing for the seven-inch, but I think that if anything, we were all more in tune with each other and we had a better idea of the sound, style, and energy we wanted for the songs."

The band is also trying to play a lot more often. "Now that the record is out, we just wanna play as much as possible," Hutcherson says. "We've talked about touring and all that before, so it's definitely possible, but it's just a lot to organize being that we're all either in school or working full-time."

Since How Soon You Forget... hit the group's Bandcamp page with a "name your price" option for download on January 31, reactions have been positive. Within the first three days, the seven-inch received more than 1,800 listens and more than 100 downloads, according to Hutcherson.

"As with anything and everything you can ever do, there are people who don't wanna do anything besides weigh you down with shitty, negative opinions, but we couldn't care less about any of that," he says. "This band and this record are things we wanted to do because we all love hardcore and being straightedge, and nothing anyone could say could make us feel otherwise."


Put It Aside Record Release Show
With Day by Day, Drawing Last Breath, Earthmother, Dome of Obedience, and one more TBA. 6 p.m. Friday, February 26, at Jump the Shark, 810 NE Fourth Ave. Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $12 and include a complimentary copy of Put It Aside's How Soon You Forget... on vinyl. All ages.