M545 “Seven” and “I’ll Kill For Yesterday” two 45″ singles, 2021 & 2022. Yesterday we went to our first ever Packers Halftime Show at Cactus Club to see M545 play a short and sharp 15 minute set (note the Packers helmet on the wall behind the band, they were finishing their set as the 3rd quarter was starting). M545 are a local (Bay View, Milwaukee) punk band, one of neighborhood favorites. They play great classic-style hardcore punk: fast, tight with neither whining nor growling vocals (I can’t stand either end of that spectrum in the punk canon). We picked up both of these singles at the show and both are great! Each has 3 tracks and my top is “Displaced” (from 2020): it has a very 80’s punk vibe with a menacing bass line. Also great is “Let Go” from the same disc with its barely controlled chaos and pogo-friendly beat. Members Juan (guitar/vocals) and Ted (bass/vocals) traded off singing during yesterday’s set while drummer Scottie (also backup vocals) kept things tight and on track.

Fun fact: when googling M545 is you’ll get a hit for jazz musician Pat Metheny as M545 is the catalog matrix for specific localized printing of  the 1993 Turkish cassette edition of the Pat Metheny Group’s The Road To You. I’ve never listened to that album but I’m very confident it has nothing in common with Milwaukee’s M545.