The Scenic Vermont Worse Further South EP
San Francisco underground ’90s band The Scenic Vermont’s Worse Further South EP has been largely lost to obscurity. This 2025 remaster brings the release into the digital light for the first time, exactly as it should be heard: bruised, brash, and still flickering with life. Worse Further South finally stands restored, a small but vital piece of ‘90s indie rock.
Out November 7 via Suicide Squeeze Records
Listen to two tracks “Instant Martyr” and “Elementary” here
Photo by Ben Clark
The Scenic Vermont burned fast and bright. Active from 1995 to 1998 and based out of San Francisco, the band carved out a small but memorable space in the fertile West Coast indie rock underground, playing alongside peers like Modest Mouse, Red Stars Theory, 764-Hero, Nuzzle, and Track Star. Worse Further South, their lone EP, was recorded in the late summer of 1996 by Steve Wold (known as Seasick Steve) at Moon Music in Olympia, Washington, and released the following year on a single pressing of just 500 black vinyl copies.
Spanning six tracks of wiry, emotionally jagged post-emo indie rock, Worse Further South captures a moment when vulnerability and volume went hand in hand. The songs channel the crooked momentum of a band alive with urgency. The members constantly rotate instruments and vocal duties, but the core lineup included Aron Ward (guitar), Yoshi Nakamoto (guitar), Brooks Bonstin (bass), and Jules Konig (drums). Each track feels like its own detour: guitars chime and scrape, riffs tumble forward as if they might trip over themselves, and rhythms shift underfoot without warning. Vocals sway between half-sung admissions to ragged bursts that fray at the edges, bristling with a scrappy, uncontainable tension.
Bandmember Yoshi Nakamoto explains, “We’re thankful to Suicide Squeeze for giving us the chance to hear these six songs retouched and refreshed by Chris Common after almost three decades. While our lives have led the four of us to different corners of the world, being able to feel these songs in a new way connects us and restores color to miles of old memories, bringing back the people and bands who breathed life into our music. The Scenic Vermont gave us the opportunity to root ourselves with many people, and while anchors uproot with time, hearing these songs alive again brings us back in tune with each other and bridges us to entirely new moments.”
After the band’s dissolution, their paths spread outward to continue to foster the Bay Area scene and beyond. Yoshi joined The Aislers Set as their drummer. Brooks played bass in The Rapture from 1998 to 2000. Aron, son of Black Sabbath founding drummer Bill Ward, continues to perform with Bryn Wyrd and Harpoon.
The Scenic Vermont’s Worse Further South has been largely lost to time, with only “Elementary” appearing on streaming services via Suicide Squeeze’s 10th anniversary label compilation. This 2025 remaster was done by Chris Common at Twin Hills Mastering.
Tracklist
1. Instant Martyr
2. First Thought
3. World’s Smallest Heart
4. By Your Door
5. Forty Years
6. Elementary
