Comprised of Isabel Reidy (who we’ll kindly refer to with the pronouns they/them when referring to the third person), their brother Silas Reidy and dear friends Angela DeVivo and Jon Samuels, Trumansburg, NY-based punk rock quartet Izzy True formed last year; however, the band can trace their origins much further back. The Reidys grew up in a rather music household as their farther has been active in the East Coast old time scene since the 80s — and as a result, the Isabel and Silas spent their childhood summers traveling to various summer festivals. Naturally, the Reidys were encouraged to pursue music; in fact, Isabel formed a folk punk band Fight A Scary Dog, which quickly developed a reputation within Ithaca, NY‘s DIY scene and that eventually lead to Isabel and the band touring as teenagers with a collective of older, much more seasoned punk musicians, frequently playing squats, DIY spaces and the Earth First Round River Rendezvous. Understandably, for Isabel Reidy these experiences cemented a connection between music, community and politics and when Isabel dropped out of college, they hooked up with their brother Silas and started a country band The Realbads, which eventually morphed to Izzy True.
Renowned punk label Don Giovanni Records released the band’s debut EP Troll last year, and their much-anticipated full-length debut Nope is slated for release on August 5, 2016. The album reportedly draws heavily from frontperson Isabel Reidy’s experiences dropping out of school, returning back home to deal with mental illness and a desire to find a cathartic and joyful way to combat them all — or ultimately, about loneliness, hating yourself and then leaning how to actually like yourself. The album’s first single “Total Body Erasure”is a scuzzy, classic rock-leaning song that sounds as though it owes equal debts to Marquee Moon-era Television, The Rolling Stones and Pretenders but with a bitter, self-effacing irony set around anxious confusion about one’s self — with the song’s narrator questioning who and what they’re supposed to be and desperately wishing for some sort of answer to the most important and deeply uncomfortable questions of identity paired with the sort of existential longing that the song’s narrator knows can’t quite be solved.
The band will be on tour throughout the Northeast and parts of the Southeast before heading across the border to Canada to end their tour. Check out the tour dates below.
Tour Dates:
8/4: Ithaca, NY @ Sacred Root Kava Bar
8/5: Brooklyn, NY @ Shea Stadium
8/6: Philadelphia, PA @ The Pharmacy
8/8: Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter
8/9: Virginia Beach, VA @ Back Bay Brewing
8/10: Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
8/11: Rockhill, SC @ The Courthouse
8/14: Asheville, NC @ The Odditorium
8/15: Nashville @ Charlie Bob’s
8/16: Louisville, KY @ The Cure Lounge
8/17: Bloomington, IN @ The Void
8/19: Madison, WI @ Williamson Magnetic Recording Company
8/20: Chicago, IL @ Pinky Swear
8/24: Providence, RI @ Aurora
8/25: Worcester, MA @ The Firehouse
8/26: Boston, MA @ O’Brien’s
8/31: Allentown, PA @ Consolidated Cardboard
9/2: Toronto, ON @ D-Beastro
9/3: Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
