The best new punk band on Earth — or, at least, recently voted best new band in Portland, Oregon — is made up of three veterans of Portland’s well-known indie-pop/rock scene. They’re called Help, and when they tear into one of their throat-shredding, veins-bulging, shirt-soaking hardcore songs, they tend to elicit widened eyes from even their closest friends. “I’ve gotten a very positive response from people and a lot of just like, ‘Welp, I didn’t see this one coming. This is cool. Nice work, dude,’” says guitarist and vocalist Ryan Neighbors. “If you didn’t know me…when I was playing in punk bands, you wouldn’t really know that I would scream and play guitar.” In fact, go ahead and count the other two band members among the ...
