Jeremy Hernandez and Max Bechard moved to Austin, Texas in fall 2001 to create a new musical outlet for Jeremy's songwriting and Max’s passion for music. They teamed up with Myke Bingham and Sean Cockrell to form NearMiss in the winter of 2002.

The band’s sophmore album was released through Takeover Records and produced by Steve Kravac (MXPX, Tsunami Bomb, Less than Jake). The twelve track album is titled “Testing The Ends Of What They’ll Put Up With”.

Inspired by Fugazi, Minor Threat, Quicksand, and Faith No More, NearMiss carefully crafts their punk melodic hard-core sound by filling it out with vocal harmonies, crunchy guitar riffs and amazing punk rock drumming. When listening, I draw similarities to the classic punk bands like NOFX and Bad Religion. NearMiss thankfully doesn’t fit the pop-punk mold that has been producing many of the new bands of today. They have taken the best from those elements and crafted their own unique sound. The album has its share of different sounding punk songs. The straight to the point, fast paced, heart pounding tracks, such as ‘Call For Help’, ‘Feel When You Find’ and ‘We All Bleed’. Upbeat and harmonic tracks like ‘At One Place’ and ‘Rectify’ will keep you singing all day. It’s the hits like ‘Serious Mess’ and ‘Take It Back’ that will help the band gain the exposure they deserve and ensure the unremitting growth of their fan base.

Now a part of Takeover Records Family the band's potential is limitless and holds a promising future. I’m certain that whatever the band wanted to achieve with this album, they did so with flying colors. Hitting the nail right on the head, which we all know is far from a near miss.

Rating: 3.5/5