VHS (Violent Human System) signs with Suicide Squeeze for the June 17th release of their debut album, Gift Of Life! The FADER premiered the album’s lead single, “Wheelchair,” saying “It’s heavy stuff with a dose of self-deprecating humor, in the time honored tradition of vintage Black Flag and Descendants.”

“The idea behind ‘Wheelchair’ is kind of uncomfortable territory for me, but it’s my very uninformed take on living in a sick culture, brought on by my fears of sickness, old age, and hospitals,” VHS’ Josh Hageman told The FADER in an email. “’Wheelchair’ is a ‘what’s worse: the drugs or the pain?’ kind of thing. People are born in hospitals and then people die in hospitals and everything in between is pain and escape.”

Tour dates:
THU FEB 18 – Seattle WA, Highline
FRI FEB 19 – Portland OR, The Know
SAT FEB 20 – Santa Rosa CA, Atlas Coffee w/ Teal
SUN FEB 21 – San Francisco CA, Thrill House Records w/ Teal
MON FEB 22 – Oakland CA, 1-2-3-4-Go! Records w/ Teal
TUE FEB 23 – Los Angeles CA, All Star Lanes
WED FEB 24 – Costa Mesa CA, Wayfarer
THU FEB 25 – San Diego CA, Tower Bar
FRI FEB 26 – Los Angeles CA, The Redwood
SAT FEB 27 – Merced CA, Tigers and Daggers
SUN FEB 28 – Reno NV, Spectre Records

The first LP pressing is limited to 1000 (500 clear vinyl, 500 black vinyl) copies. Digital download card included.
The first 75 customers that order color vinyl will receive the VHS “Needles For Pricks b/w Distortion” 7″
The frst 150 pre-order customers (regardless of format) will receive a folded 11×17 poster

Gift of Life, the first proper full-length by VHS, follows in the footsteps of their previous EPs, with the band self-recording their amalgam of Lost Sounds’ trashy discontent, early Big Black’s trebly guitar stabs, and Only Theatre of Pain-era Christian Death’s black reverberations. These are brash and bitter territories to occupy, but the band sees no other choice for their musical direction, citing the daily grind as the impetus behind their music. The harsh reality of frontman Josh Hageman’s day-to-day existence
working on the periphery of the medical field played a direct role in the overall theme of the album. Those fatalistic views and
medical themes are on full display on “Wheelchair,” where a punk pulse underscores Hageman’s harrowing description of a life lived in chronic pain with drugs serving as the only escape. The album continues on to “Hospital Room,” where wiry guitar leads and ominous chords provide the soundtrack to a scene of misery and tragedy within the sanitized walls of Western medicine. Elsewhere, the themes of addiction and exposure take on more universal themes, such as on the culture-gorging lament of “Binge Everything” or the panopticon-paranoia of “Public Act.” If you’ve ever worried that punk has gotten too antiseptic, Gift of Life is here to deliver the grime.