The Hospitals

• Genre: Noise Rock
• Hometown: San Francisco

About

Noise-damaged garage-rock band the Hospitals were formed by drummer Adam Stonehouse and guitarist Rod Meyer in Portland, Ore., in 2002. Following a promisingly sloppy 2003 debut on In the Red, Meyer and Stonehouse split up, with Stonehouse relocating to San Francisco and starting over with a revolving cast of guitarists until settling on a more permanent lineup in 2007. That year he enlisted guitarist Chris Gunn and bass player Dave Wave for the recording of third album (among many split, seven-inch and limited-edition releases), Hairdryer Peace, which the band self-released in 2008. Heavily influenced by the Cheater Slicks and the Horrors, the Hospitals apply mega-doses of abrasive noise to largely blues-based songs. They then set the reverb to "kill" with Stonehouse's trippily delayed vocal complaints about his job, hipsters, rich people and having "problems" riding over the top or bubbling up from underneath the caterwaul, as the case may be.

- Mike McGuirk