JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Iggy Pop’s 76th birthday.
Category: punk rock
New Video: PRIORS Shares Riotously Upbeat “Daffodil”
Led by singer/songwriter, creative mastermind, and producer, Chance Hutchinson, Montréal-based punk outfit PRIORS have been wildly prolific, dropping six releases, including three full-length albums since 2017. Each of those efforts have seen the Canadian punk outfit firmly cementing a melodic and dynamic punk sound. During that same period, PRIORS have developed a reputation for a wildly energetic live set that they’ve toured across Canada, the States and Europe, while sharing stages with The Mummies, Oblivians, Quintron, and Simply Saucer.
Adding to a growing profile across the indie and punk scene, the members of PRIORS have made the rounds of the international festival circuit with stops at Goner Fest and M for Montréal. (Their M for Mothland showcase set at last year’s M for Montréal was a personal highlight of a week-long trip of highlights.)
The Canadian outfit’s Max Deshernais co-produced Daffodil is slated for a June 2, 2023 release through Mothland. Serving as the band’s seventh release and fourth album overall, the album which features Sonic Avenues‘ Sebastien Godin (guitar), The Famines‘ Andrew Demers (drums) and Tabarnak’s Alan Hildebrandt (bass) is reportedly one of their most hopeful and uplifting efforts to date. Sonically, incisive rhythms serve as the basis for clever arrangements centered around fuzzy guitars, propulsive bass lines and analog synths are paired with Hutchinson’s punchily delivered vocals fed through a bit of reverb, and occasional sax blasts from CIVIC’s and The Steve Adamyk Band‘s Dave Forcier.
“I’d say Daffodil is a pop-heavy punk record with a lot of positive outlooks. I have spent the last six releases kicking the shit out of myself and it was time for a new vibe. A little sprinkle of positivity amongst the angst,” PRIORS’ Chance Hutchinson explains in press notes.
Daffodil‘s latest single, album title track “Daffodil” is built around a chugging and insistent buzzing electric guitar, strummed acoustic guitar, and blasts of wobbling Farfisa paired with an insistent backbeat and Hutchinson’s distorted and punchily delivered vocal. Although it’s more of a bounce and shout-along with the band sort of song, “Daffodil” manages to retain a feral yet joyous mosh pit friendly energy that’s infectious.
“’Daffodil’ is one of those songs that happened very quickly,” Hutchinson recalls. “All the parts just kind of wrote themselves including the vocal ideas. In the studio we opened it up a little more with the Vox Jaguar and acoustic guitar and Max added that wild ‘beach sound’ ending with the birds which I really feel pulls it all together.”
Directed by Studio Del Scorpio and featuring additionally photography by Billy Riley, the accompanying video for “Daffodil” captures a behind-the-scenes look at life on the road, including footage of the band playing sweaty, riotous shows across Canada, the incredibly same looking hotel rooms and roads and more.
New Video: Dream Wife Shares Tongue-in-Cheek Ripper “Hot (Don’t Date a Musician)”
Deriving their name from a pointed criticism of society’s objectification of women, the acclaimed London-based JOVM mainstays Dream Wife — Rakel Mjöll (vocals) (she/her), Alice Go (guitar, vocals) (she/her) and Bella Podapec (bass, vocals) (they/them) — can trace their origins back to 2015 when the trio started the band as a art project, rooted in a unique concept: a band born out of one girl’s memories of growing up in Canada in the 1990s.
The London-based outfit’s 2018 self-titled debut was released to widespread critical acclaim, and led to the the trio opening for Garbage, The Kills and Sleigh Bells, as well as playing that year’s SXSW. Building upon a growing international profile, the members of Dream Wife also went on a series of headlining tours across the European Union and the States, which included a Rough Trade stop with New York-based genre-defying artist Sabri.
Dream Wife’s 2020 Marta Salogni-produced So When You Gonna . . . saw the JOVM mainstays writing and recording their most urgent and direct material to date. Thematically touching upon abortion, miscarriage and gender equality, the album’s material is fueled by a “it’s-now-or-never” immediacy. The album’s material seemed to be a call to action to the listener, to get up off their ass and do what they can to get things right. The album was a critical and commercial success, especially in the UK: The album landed at #18 on the UK Albums Chart, making it the only album in the Top 20 to be produced by an all womxn/non-male production and engineering team — and the only non-major label release to chart that high.
Dream Wife’s highly-anticipated third album, Social Lubrication is slated for a June 9, 2023 release through Lucky Number. Throughout their career, the band has managed to be remarkably adept at merging the political and the playful, and the forthcoming album continues upon that reputation. Forcefully vital statements are hidden within hot and heavy dance floor anthems about making out, having fun, staying curious. In the band’s words, the album is: “Hyper lusty rock and roll with a political punch, exploring the alchemy of attraction, the lust for life, embracing community and calling out the patriarchy. With a healthy dose of playfulness and fun thrown in.”
That sense of fun and openness about everything is central to the albums material. “There is a sense of fun and openness that is central to Social Lubrication, as well. “There’s a lot of lust in this album and taking the piss out of yourself and everyone you know,” Dream Wife’s Rakel Mjöll says. “It’s almost quite juvenile in that way.”
Interestingly, more than ever before, the live show is at the core of the album. “The live show is the truth of the band,” Alice Go says. “That’s at the heart of what we do and of the statements we’re making.” That energetic, pedal-to-the-metal sound explodes through the album’s material — and you can hear it through the loud, dirty riffs and choruses specifically built for dancing and shaking asses together in shared spaces. For the band’s Go, who produced the album, it was important to bottle this joyful, frenetic feeling within each other. “We wanted to get that rawness and energy across in a way that hadn’t been done before,” she says.
The live show is where the band and fans come together in shared moment of community. And to that end, the album is a celebration of community and a big ol’ middle finger to the societal barriers enforced to sever connection, playfulness, curiosity and even sexual empowerment. “Music is one of the only forms of people experiencing an emotion together in a visceral, physical, real way,” says Go. “It’s cathartic to the systemic issues that are being called out across the board in the record. Music isn’t the cure, but it’s the remedy. That’s what Social Lubrication is: the positive glue that can create solidarity and community.”
“The album is speaking to systemic problems that cannot be glossed over by lube,” the band’S Bella Podpadec says. “The things named in the songs are symptoms of f-ed up structures. And you can’t fix that. You need to pull it apart.”
Late last year, I wrote about “Leech,” an urgent, post-punk inspired ripper that saw the band’s Mjöll alternating between spoken-word-like delivery for the song’s verses and feral shouting for the song’s choruses. Mjöll’s vocal delivery is paired with an alternating song structure that features looping and wiry guitar bursts for the song’s verses and explosive, power chord-driven riffage for the song’s choruses. While the song is a tense, uneasy and forceful, mosh pit friendly anthem for our uncertain, fucked up time, “Leech” addresses the inherent double standards of power — while urgently calling for more empathy.”
“It’s an anthem for empathy. For solidarity,” the JOVM mainstays explain. “Musically tense and withheld, erupting to angry cathartic crescendos. The push and pull of the song lyrically and musically expands and contracts, stating and calling out the double standards of power. Nobody really wins in a patriarchal society. We all lose. We could all use more empathy. As our first song to be released in a while, we wanted to write something that feels like letting an animal out of a cage. It’s out. And it’s out for blood…”
The album’s second single “Hot (Don’t Date A Musician)” is a hilarious, Gang of Four-like, tongue-in-cheek ripper inspired by Mjöll’s grandmother’s sage advice — despite the fact that she herself, dated many musicians in her day — while wryly poking fun at musicians and the music adjacent, the band included. “Dating musicians is a nightmare,” Mjöll explains. “Evoking imagery of late night make-outs with fuckboy/girl/ambiguously-gendered musicians on their mattress after being seduced by song-writing chat. The roles being equally reversed. Having a laugh together and being able to poke fun at ourselves is very much at the heart of this band. This song encapsulates our shared sense of humour. Sonically it is the lovechild of CSS and Motorhead. It has our hard, live, rock edge combined with cheeky and playful vocals.”
Directed by Bethany Fitter and featuring a concept by Fitter and the members of Dream Wife, the accompanying video employs the use of the classic, follow the bouncing ball to sing along technique, split with someone swiping on profiles on a Tinder-like app. It’s a send up on dating app life that feels — well, familiar.
New Video: The C.I.A. Shares Menacing “Bubble”
The C.I.A. are a indie all-star trio featuring Denée and Ty Segall and Emmett Kelly. The trio’s newest album Surgery Channel is slated fora a Friday release through In The Red. Written in 2021, the album was recorded Mike Kriebel at Ty Segall’s Harmonizer Studios, and is reportedly an astute observation and blunt critique — both inward and outward. It’s also an exploration into how harshly intimate that process can be.
Surgery Channel also sees the band crafting an electrified, pulsating, metallic playpen that will get listeners strutting and moving. Essentially, the album shows punks a new way to move while remaining loyal to the punk traditions of catharsis and social commentary.
Late last year, I wrote about Surgery Channel‘s second single, “Inhale Exhale.” Centered around buzzing and slashing bass attack, skittering beats and rattling thump, electronic pulse and Denée’s punchy shouting. Seemingly meshing elements of industrial electronica, classic punk and old school hip-hop, “Inhale Exhale” is confrontational and abrasive yet accessible — and mosh pit friendly.
Just ahead of the album’s release, the trio share the album’s latest single, “Bubble.” Featuring buzz and slashing dual bass attack, metronomic-like beats, malevolent atmospherics paired with Denée’s sultry cooing. The song tells a tale of dysfunctional, anxiety-driven desire — the sort that drives the song’s main character to self-destruction.
Directed by Joshua Erkman, the accompanying video features the members of The C.I.A. dressed entirely in white for much of the video — with Denée Segall appearing like a crazed Nurse Hatchett. We see the band in front of a white tiled wall, stuffing themselves with a messy and gluttonous abandon.
Throwback: Happy 76th birthday, Patti Smith!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Patti Smith’s 76th birthday.
New Audio: BODENBENDER Shares a Mosh Pit Friendly Ripper
Emerging punk outfit BODENBENDER — Matt Viscido (guitar, vocals, drums), Tyler Neilson (guitar, banjo, bass) and Jason Kaye (guitar, drums) — is comprised of a collection of guys, who just have a good time playing music with each other. The trio’s latest single “She Was Married” is a crusty, old-school, three-chord punk ripper centered around scorching power chords, thunderous drumming, shouted lyrics paired with mosh pit friendly choruses and a ska-tinged bridge.
Play loudly and start a mosh pit with your friends!
New Audio: The C.I.A. Share Abrasive Ripper “Inhale Exhale”
The C.I.A. are a new indie all-star trio featuring Denée and Ty Segall and Emmett Kelly. Their latest album Surgery Channel is slated for a January 20, 2022 release through In The Red was written last year and was recorded with Mike Kriebel at Ty Segall’s Harmonizer Studios. The album is reportedly is an astute observation and blunt critique — both inward and outward. It’s also an exploration into how harshly intimate that process can be.
Surgery Channel also sees the band crafting an electrified, pulsating, metallic playpen that will get listeners strutting and moving. Essentially, the album shows punks a new way to move while remaining loyal to the punk traditions of catharsis and social commentary.
Surgery Channel‘s second and latest single “Inhale Exhale” is centered around buzzing and slashing guitars, skittering beats and rattling thump, electronic pulse and Denée’s punchy shouting. Seemingly meshing elements of industrial electronica, classic punk and old school hip-hop, “Inhale Exhale” is confrontational and abrasive yet accessible — and mosh pit friendly.
New Video: Bass Drum of Death Shares Scuzzy and Groovy “Head Change”
Slated for a January 27, 2023 release through Fat Possum Records, Say I Won’t, Bass Drum of Death‘s highly-anticipated fifth album marks three major events for the punk outfit founded and fronted by John Barrett:
- Barrett relocated from New York, where he had been based for much of the band’s run together, back to his hometown of Oxford, MS. “Moving back to Oxford was a much-needed reset,” Barrett explains. “When I started, I just wanted to play in a punk band and drink beers and travel around. I didn’t really think much past that. And I got really burned out. When I moved back home, I started writing songs again, just for fun. I realized I wanted this record to have more of a hometown feel.”
- Say I Won’t is the first Bass Drum of Death album that sees Barrett writing, demoing and recording with the touring band, rather than Barrett doing everything completely on his own. Barrett discovered a newfound freedom working with collaborators that just wasn’t available to him before, which opened different aspects of the songwriting: a process that featured live recording, layering on different parts and overdubs and then stripping it all back to the bare bones, keeping the raw, wild heart of the music intact.
- The album also sees the band returning to their long-time label home Fat Possum, who released their full-length debut, 2011’s GB City. “The switch back to Fat Possum was easy,” Barrett says. “It’s much better working with people I know and love and love everything they do.”
Recorded with The Black Keys‘ Patrick Carney at Audio Eagle Records in Nashville, Say I Won’t is a groove-oriented effort batch of songs indebted to 70s rock songs with scuzzy power chords and cruising tempos. The album seems Barrett and company at their loosest, scuzziest and most tuneful while rooted in a hard-won maturity and swagger that comes from a decade of playing music on the road and surviving to tell the story. “I had to relearn that making music is fucking fun,” says Barrett, “and you should have fun doing it. If it’s miserable, what’s the point?” He laughs. “But man, when a song hits, it’s the best feeling in the world. That’s what this record is about. Getting back to that good place and staying there.”
“Head Change,” Say I Won’t‘s third and latest single is a mid-tempo, cruise-ready ripper centered around scuzzy, power chords and a forceful motorik-like groove that sounds indebted to Led Zeppelin and T. Rex. Play loudly on your car stereo and rock out hard, y’all! “We kind of wanted a mid-tempo psych stomper, and really didn’t change a whole lot from the demo,” Bass Drum of Death’s Barrett explains. “We added the dueling guitar bridge in the studio spur of the moment, and it ended up being one of my favorite parts on the whole record.”
Directed by Joshua Canon, the accompanying video for “Head Change” is fittingly indebted to 70s horror films: a motorcycle riding bad guy stalks the video’s two female protagonists. as they meet up and get a ride from two dudes they hang out with. The video follows the cues and tropes of horror movies, with the four friends drinking beers and bullshitting in a cemetery when our stalker makes their fearsome appearance. But the video has a bloody and ironic turn.
New Video: JOVM Mainstays Dream Wife Return with a Tense Post-Punk Influenced Ripper
Deriving their name from a pointed criticism of society’s long-held objectification of women, the acclaimed London-based punk rock trio and JOVM mainstays Dream Wife — Rakel Mjöll (vocals) (she/her), Alice Go (guitar, vocals) (she/her) and Bella Podapec (bass, vocals) (they/them) — can trace their origins to when the trio met and started the band back in 2015 as an art project rooted in a unique concept: a band born out of one girl’s memories of growing up in Canada in the 1990s.
Dream Wife’s 2018 self-titled debut was released to widespread critical acclaim, and led to the punk outfit opening for Garbage, The Kills and Sleigh Bells, as well as playing that year’s SXSW. Building upon a growing international profile, the members of Dream Wife also went on a series of headlining tours across the European Union and the States, which included a Rough Trade stop with New York-based genre-defying artist Sabri.
The acclaimed London outfit’s 2020 Marta Salogni-produced So When You Gonna . . . saw the JOVM mainstays writing and recording their most urgent and direct material to date. Thematically touching upon “women’s issues” like abortion, miscarriage and gender equality, the album’s material is fueled by a “it’s-now-or-never” immediacy, with the listener being reminded that now is the time to get off their ass and start doing something right now to make a world a much better place for all of us. If not, we may all be doomed.
In the UK, Dream Wife’s sophomore album was a critical and commercial success: The album landed at #18 on the UK Albums Chart, making it the only album in the Top 20 to be produced by an all womxn/non-male production and engineering team — and the only non-major label release to chart that high.
The trio’s latest single “Leech” is the first bit of new material from the member of the London-based JOVM mainstays since So When You Gonna . . . is an urgent post-punk inspired ripper that sees the band’s Mjöll alternating between spoken-word delivery for the song’s verses and feral shouting for the song’s choruses. Mjöll’s delivery is paired with an alternating song structure that features a looping and wiry guitar bursts for the verses and explosive power chord-driven riffage for the song’s chorus. The song manages to be a tense, uneasy and forceful mosh pit friendly anthem for our uncertain, fucked up time with the song addressing the double standards of power — while urgently calling for more empathy.
“It’s an anthem for empathy. For solidarity,” the JOVM mainstays explain. “Musically tense and withheld, erupting to angry cathartic crescendos. The push and pull of the song lyrically and musically expands and contracts, stating and calling out the double standards of power. Nobody really wins in a patriarchal society. We all lose. We could all use more empathy. As our first song to be released in a while, we wanted to write something that feels like letting an animal out of a cage. It’s out. And it’s out for blood…”
Directed by Bethany Fitter, the accompanying video is centered around a concept and creative direction by the members of Dream Wife, and CGI effects by Amy Gough: The video features the band wearing outfits by East London-based designer Ingrid Kraftchenko, playing the song in someone’s blood stream with CGI leeches crawling around.
New Audio: Philly’s Vixen77 Shares a Gritty and Defiant Rocker
Philadelphia-based guitarist Caitlin D’Agostino has dreamt of playing in an all-women rock band since she was in high school. And after playing in the City of Brotherly Love’s punk scene for a handful of years, she decided to put in dream in motion in late 2018 when she started Vixen77, her latest band, which references female energy and the influence of the ’77 punk rock revolution. Fittingly, the band specializes in a loud, aggressive, rebellious and downright fun take on rock ‘n’ roll that’s nostalgia-inducing — and necessary.
The band re-emerged from pandemic-related lockdowns with a new lineup featuring D’Agostino, Elizabeth Cartwright (bass), Jaz (bass), Sarah Novack (drums) and Samatha Joan (vocals, harmonica), and since then have released a string of attention-grabbing singles, which has lead to packed, headlining shows in the Philly area and an opening slot for Wayne Kramer on his current MC5 tour.
Building upon a growing profile, the Philly-band punk outfit’s highly-anticipated full-length debut Easy Access is slated for a Friday release through Megaforce Records. Recorded in a breakneck 72 hour recording session at Retro City Studios, Easy Access‘ 12 songs navigate life through love and rock ‘n’ roll. And so far, the album has earned support from KEXP, Sirius XM, WXPN and others.
Vixen77 shared the last pre-album release, “Royalty” earlier today. “Royalty” is a gritty and defiant AC/DC-like rocker centered around D’Agostino’s bluesy power chord-driven riffage, a locked in and chugging propulsive rhythm section paired with Joan’s self-assured, snarl. The new single sees the Philly-based outfit adding their names to a lengthy and growing list of women-led acts who boldly and unashamedly kick ass and take names.
“‘Royalty’ is about feeling a sense of purpose in playing music and doing it on your own terms,” the band says. “It’s about loving and playing music your whole life and centering so much of your energy on it. It’s also a good memento mori and reminder to live in the moment because we’re here for a short time, so do what you love.”