San Francisco musician Patrick Lew Hayashi seems happiest with rock music at its roughest. Working under the name The Later, The Better, he makes stripped-back, noisy songs that feel made for basement shows, dive bars and late-night slam dancing. Jagged guitar riffs meet sneering, nasal speak-and-shout vocals, with the scuffed-up sound drawing from ’90s grunge, garage rock and punk. Hayashi handles the guitars, bass, vocals and production himself. The project brings him back to his musical roots, leaving behind extra personas and AI-assisted elements in favor of spontaneity and the pleasure of playing loud.

That approach runs through “Not Dead. Just Punk Rock.”, a five-track EP that lasts a little over 21 minutes. The guitars are distorted, the basslines push hard, and the rhythms rarely let up. Hayashi’s voice cuts through the racket with a scrappy directness. You can hear traces of late-’70s garage punk, early-’80s street punk and the early-’90s grunge movement, though the appeal lies in how readily he embraces their rough edges.

He recorded and assembled the EP himself using a digital audio workstation (DAW). Modern tools, including the Moises app, helped him isolate and repair instrumental stems, but the recordings still sound heavily saturated and deliberately untidy. Hayashi has little interest in smoothing away every stray edge. Where AI-assisted music can chase a more polished finish, these tracks favor loose performances and the unpredictable energy that punk has always made room for.

“I Believe” is probably the easiest place to start. The song has a driving, melodic shape, and its comparatively clear mix gives the guitar riffs room to breathe. Hayashi’s nasal vocal delivery remains front and center, keeping the track firmly in garage-punk territory. There’s something of the early-2000s garage-rock revival in its momentum, and that familiar pull makes it a useful introduction to the EP’s less orderly moments..

“Shattered Glass” heads somewhere darker and more abrasive. Its thick guitar sound, heavy saturation and sharp instrumental textures make the track feel close to bursting at the seams. Hayashi’s urgent vocals add to that tension. The production leaves the pressure intact, giving the impression of frustration being worked out through noise rather than carefully arranged for a clean finish.

“Here I Cum!” goes for reckless swagger instead, leaning into the volume and attitude of a rock-star fantasy. Taken together, the five songs hardly pause for breath. They have the restless feel of a sweaty basement gig or a crowded San Francisco dive bar well past midnight, where the energy matters more than a spotless performance.

Even the project’s name emerged from a messy live moment. In early 2026, a malfunctioning PA and a failed laptop derailed Hayashi’s planned digital-punk set at The Knockout in San Francisco. He improvised a seven-minute performance instead. During the introduction, a misreading accidentally produced the name The Later, The Better. What began as a technical mishap became the starting point for a new musical identity.

With “Not Dead. Just Punk Rock.”, Hayashi reconnects with the things that first drew him to making music: guitars, experimentation, attitude and the freedom to make noise on his own terms. The EP carries punk’s enduring do-it-yourself impulse without getting stuck in nostalgia. There’s a simple conviction at its center: keep playing, keep it rough and turn it up.

“Not Dead. Just Punk Rock.” is available to stream now.

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