“Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that God sends her shitty men until she chooses me. Amen!”

That’s the universal prayer of Girlfriend From Hell, Savannah Georgia’s beloved, bratty, punk trio. Made up of Bassist Nat Durham, guitarist Jaida Maceyko, and drummer Alix Lemiere, the Sav locals are kicking off the month of April with their killer debut EP, Get a Grip. 

Girlfriend from Hell incorporates tongue-in-cheek lyrics similar to modern girl bands such as Dazey and the Scouts and Mommy Long Legs with the defiant outrage of classic riot grrrl groups like Bikini Kill. The songs showcase a mix of meaningful activism and dark humor, drenched in the band’s bombastic and fierce personality throughout the record as a whole. Durham’s verdriven bass lines, Maceyko’s deep, crunchy guitar riffs and Lemiere’s energetic drum rhythms create a classic, hardcore punk tone, while Durham’s shrieking vocals call a certain audience out on their bullshit (No Respect) as well as tell stories of drunk decisions (Shots) and forgotten birthday presents (Kitty Flask). 

While a comic tone is present in some of their songs, they’re not to be listened to through that lens exclusively. For example, take Bikini Car Wash, a tirade about the absurd cost of living, with a twist. The tune begins with grievances about paying bills and the overpricing of basic human necessities such as groceries. The band then proceeds to chant, “Overworked and underpaid, my hips deserve a raise!” encouraging the audience/listener to sing along. The chorus, “Capitalism has stripped me down, all I have is my bikini now,” is as thought-provoking as it is playful, a mere wink to the listener mid-mosh.

Before the release of Get A Grip, Girlfriend teased the EP with their first single, AMEN!, in July 2023. According to Girlfriend, the song is a rebellious reclamation of all the vulgar comments men have said to them. Every single line is drawn from some sort of misogynistic statement, resulting in a fed-up two-minute tune that any femme-presenting listener could relate to. The song features quick, engaging tempo changes between the verse and chorus, with a nasty breakdown kicked off by the clever line “rock, paper, let me watch you guys scissor.” What’s even more brilliant about AMEN! is that by singing along, not only are you releasing frustration towards the disgusting comments, you’re also participating in them. The song raises the question of how you, the listener, might contribute to the patriarchy, while simultaneously allowing you to stick your middle finger in its ugly, stupid, face. 

What’s most important about this EP, however, is the sheer volume of their voices when declaring, “We’re Girlfriend from Hell, and we want revolution Savannah style now!” in their song, To The Front. The song is fast and furious, and, in the fashion of Kathleen Hanna, invites traditionally less welcomed communities to get the fuck up to the front: queer folks, trans folks, anyone “punished by the police state,” those fighting against poverty or for sobriety. In essence, Girlfriend From Hell has everyone’s back, and if they must revolt, so be it. 

Get a Grip is bold, unapologetic, raw, and original. Girlfriend From Hell acknowledges the collective anger of queer, trans, BIPOC, and other marginalized communities, and makes art with it, while allowing themselves to have fun with their craft. So whether you’re whipping out your handle of Tito’s and jamming to Shots, or getting out your frustration to No Respect, there’s no denying Get a Grip is bound to connect with any punk rocker that stumbles upon it. Amen to that!

The post Say AMEN! to Girlfriend From Hell’s Debut EP appeared first on SCAD Radio.

Photo courtesy of Maya Eiben.

“It’s not the size of the dog, it’s the bite of the dog,” chants AJ Grey, prowling through the crowd at El Rocko lounge, piercing fans with an inescapable gaze. Self-described as “grunge with a kiss of metal,” The Maxines are a Savannah-based band bursting at the seams with love for their craft and devotion to their message. With an authentic approach to lyricism and organic method of composing their songs, they’re taking the local scene by storm, attracting a diverse cult of dedicated music fans. Consisting of singer AJ Grey, Emma Smith on bass, and twins Maddie and Coco Oke on guitar and drums, this headbanging quartet is full of femme rage and a call for change, whether you like it or not. 

The Maxines formed in 2021, a year in which “we all felt a little lost,” as described by Grey. “I had tried to form bands in the past, and they never worked. And I was like, okay, I’m going to try one more time, but this time, it’s going to be with all women.” Smith joined the band shortly after the album release bash in 2023. “Emma was always at our shows,” said Grey. “So she already knew all the songs.”

One of the band’s defining qualities happens to be their identity as a girl band. “In this world, we have to [support each other], because we’re always having to fight for our space and fight for our right to claim our space. And so to be surrounded by other women that are aware of that…that is really empowering,” Grey told me, describing the band as a singular ecosystem rather than a collection of separate entities. “When I’m on stage with these women, it is only support. Only this feeling of, ‘we’re gonna crush it. I support you, I believe in you.’” 

And the on-stage chemistry is impossible to miss. As Grey charges into the audience, Coco and Smith hold down the fort with a rhythm section comparable to clockwork, tied together by Maddie’s ethereal guitar playing. Each band member deeply engages with their individual instrument while staying in tune with each other simultaneously, producing a pristine sound that is true to the studio recordings of their debut album, Skin Tight.

Released on October 1st, 2023, Skin Tight is a heavy, grungy album dripping with anger, passion, and electric, masterful musicianship. Opening with the defiant tune Salmon Pants, the band unapologetically channels a collective outrage against the patriarchy and explores a broad yet universal truth: reflecting on how women face the audacity of men on an all-too-frequent basis, primarily in public spaces. The song doesn’t hold back: as the guitar builds up with fury and the drums louden, Grey sings, “Fuck your shitty integrity, fuck your condescending approval, it doesn’t mean anything to me.”

While The Maxines embody plenty of feminine fury, their lyrical subject matter covers more than just issues unique to women. “We’re not talking about specific gendered issues necessarily all the time. It’s just human issues,” said Maddie. 

Take their title track, Skin Tight, a perfect example of everything The Maxines stands for: a call to action, specifically, a call to “go against it,” according to Grey. Skin Tight is more than an invitation to the listener, it’s a challenge. Challenging their listeners is one of the many things The Maxines do best, asking, “Don’t you cry for him? Don’t you moan for him? Don’t you bleed for him?” on top of a heavy, Alice In Chains-esque riff and a headbang-worthy rhythm. 

“We’re very prone to stay comfortable,” Grey told me. “And in order to stay comfortable, we keep our mouths shut. We put our blinders on. We protect our hearts by not exposing them.” 

While their lyrics are an important aspect of their band identity, it would be a sin not to touch upon what the band refers to as “The Maxines Sound,” a unique mixture of each member’s influences. Grey’s stage presence and vocal cadences stem from that of femme rock legends like Joan Jett and Gwen Stefani. The Oke twins credit bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and other alt rock legends, along with heavier grunge bands of the 1990s. 

“One of [the] biggest bands that I love is Stone Temple Pilots,” said Smith. She also credits Alice in Chains, alongside classic rock bands and contemporary rock. “I’m a ‘Rock Band’ kid. So, anything that was on there or Guitar Hero.”

“When it comes to the Maxines sound, I think that that kind of goes back to how we operate as a band…being like one ecosystem,” said Grey. Originally, Salmon Pants was a thrashy, eight minute long tune, until the band settled on toning it down to fit their grungier spirit. The band credits their instinctive chemistry as a group when it comes to their free-flowing songwriting process, which relies on their instrumental communication when building, changing and evolving their songs. This results in that authentic, raw, emotionally-driven feel.

The Maxines debuted a fresh new tune, Bloodstains, live at El Rocko lounge in early February. It’s passionate, gritty, and features a killer bass riff. “The idea behind that song is [that] I kind of have a problem with people jumping on a train just for the sake of jumping on the train,” said Grey. “My parents have always told me, do your own research, be inquisitive, ask your own questions…so I kind of just have a problem with things not being authentic, and things not being real.” 

Bloodstains is also one of the first songs written with Smith. “I’’ve never written anything before. So it’s really [great] to get creative with learning new things. And [Bloodstains] was very fun to write with them, because…everybody has ideas here and there for each other’s [musical] parts,” Smith told me.

In terms of what’s next, the band hopes to start branching out into other Southern states, as well as playing with some experimentation on their next album. “We’re doing some things that we haven’t done before, which is really exciting,” said Grey. With a debut like Skin Tight, it’s only natural to get pumped about what’s happening behind the scenes. You can catch The Maxines at local venues such as Lodge of Sorrows and El Rocko lounge for a hard and heavy theatrical performance, as well as Southbound Brewery on May 4th for the Hello Summer Fiesta. 

With that being said, The Maxines are bound to leave a legacy behind on the Savannah music scene, which is exploding with a variety of other hard rock, metal, and punk bands. An experience a live show with The Maxines is nothing short of special, and, most importantly, inclusive. “You can tell [the Savannah music scene] is a safe space for a lot of people,” said Coco. 

“For us to be offering that space where [everyone] can just come and they can just be their authentic selves and feel safe and loved and and feel like they belong,” said Grey, “that’s an honor.” The band is living proof that dedication to their cause doesn’t only benefit their image, but those that engage with the band. The Maxines are near and dear to Savannah, forming a bond with the city, the scene, and the music lovers involved, that is, for lack of a better term, Skin Tight.

The post Real Talk With The Maxines appeared first on SCAD Radio.

General Manager – Dylan Gutierrez : “Yer Killin’ Me” by Remo Drive 

Content Director – Vinay Ranganathan : “Fistful of Roses” by Rumjacks

Events Director – David Levy : “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen

Events DJ –  Negan Fu : “99 Problems” by JAY-Z 

Music Coordinator – Hailey Feller : “Crazy” by Makeout

Program Director –  Ell Pikor : “Let Me Drown” by Orville Peck

Production Director – Megan Atwell : “Welcome To Hell” by black midi 

Branding Director – Taylor Eby : “Flagpole Sitta” by Harvey Danger 

Social Media Director – Kshirja Raje : “Good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo 

Events DJ (ATL) – Caroline Moody : “Misery Business” by Paramore 

Assistant Content Director – Clove Morgan : “Rock Me” by One Direction

Assistant Events DJ – Christopher Chin : “Arrow” by Surf Curse

Assistant Branding Director – Logan Fitch : “DONTTRUSTME” by 3OH!3

Assistant Music Coordinator – Zach Nguyen : “Buttercup” by Hippo Campus 

Assistant Program Director – Tatiana Zavala : “Dangerous Animals” Arctic Monkeys 

Assistant Social Media Director – Avery Naylor-Johnson : “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus” by The Strokes

Assistant Production Director – Riley Samz : “Kingslayer (feat. BABYMETAL)” by Bring Me The Horizon 

Assistant Production Director – Mairyn McGilvray : “No Children” by The Mountain Goats

Listen now on Spotify Staff Picks 

Check out who’s who on “Meet the Staff” 

The post Staff Picks Week 5 appeared first on SCAD Radio.

General Manager – Dylan Guiterrez : “My Silver Lining” by First Aid Kit

Content Director – Vinay Ranganathan : “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” by Draft Punk

Events Director – David Levy : “AMAZING” by Rex Orange County

Events DJ –  Negan Fu : “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash

Music Coordinator – Hailey Feller : “Bad Dream Baby” by Hippo Campus  

Program Director –  Ell Pikor : “Don’t Matter” by Kings of Leon

Production Director – Megan Atwell : “Fases” by Tim Bernardes

Branding Director – Taylor Eby : “Make Me Feel” by Janell Monae

Events DJ (ATL) – Caroline Moody : “Another Love Song” by Ne-Yo

Assistant Content Director – Clove Morgan : “Love Story Short” by Taylor Swift

Assistant Events DJ – Christopher Chin :  “Nosferatu” by Vundabar

Assistant Branding Director – Logan Fitch : “Can’t Fight The Moonlight” by LeAnn Rimes

Listen now on Spotify Staff Picks 

Check out who’s who on “Meet the Staff” 

The post Staff Picks Week 9 appeared first on SCAD Radio.

Listen to the audio and read the transcript below

Megan: Hello, everybody! This is Megan, your Production Director, and today we are interviewing a band from Athens, Heffner! Or at least two of them. How are you guys doing? 

Reagan: Great. 

Taylor: Yeah, we’re great. How are you? 

Megan: I’m doing great, just happy to be here. Stoked to be interviewing. So for the people, who are you guys? Uh, I already said where you’re from, but how did you guys meet? 

Taylor: Yeah. I’m Taylor, that’s Reagan and we’re two fifths of the band Heffner. Um, Reagan and I went to high school with each other in Kennesaw, which is north of Atlanta. And the other three in the band are McKendrick Bearden and Lars and Will Hefner, our namesake twins.

Megan: I actually wanted to ask you about that namesake, because if I’m not mistaken, I believe the twins, their names only have one F. 

Taylor: Yeah. I mean, yes. So the two F’s in the band Heffner, uh, basically there’s an English band from like the nineties and early aughts called Hefner that we didn’t know about until…

Megan: …Later into the career. 

Taylor: So we’re just, you know, it’s mostly like avoiding future lawsuit type thing.

Reagan: I liked it with two F’s as an homage to Foo Fighters. 

Taylor: We really want to make a t-shirt with like the Foo Fighters double F and then just like Comic Sans H-E–N-E-R on the either side. 

Megan: [laughs] That’s good. I think you guys should definitely do that. That reminds me of Dinosaur Jr. Do you know the story behind why they had to add Jr? There’s a French band called Dinosaur that sued them. Um, and so instead of changing the name, they just added the junior so that they were like, a follow up to the French band. 

Taylor: Lame that anybody sues anybody.

Megan: I know, right?

Taylor: Should just be a battle for…

Megan: …whoever comes out on top.

Taylor: Exactly. Dinosaur Jr. is way cooler anyways. 

Megan: Well, okay. So with that out of the way, how long have all of you guys been performing together? 

Taylor: Almost three years, but there was a big fat, like, 18 months off for COVID. So really like a couple of years. 

Megan: Have you found that there’s been a lot of band chemistry that’s kind of developed over the years or has it all been pretty solid from the beginning?

Taylor: I mean, we were all friends. McKendrick worked at the same bar and restaurant that Reagan and I work at, and then Lars and Will moved here from Mississippi in like 2018. So we all like, knew of each other and then knew each other. And then Reagan and I were trying to put a band together and Will and Lars are a package deal and McKendrick is… a bit of a secret weapon.

Megan: There you go. So speaking of that kind of gap for COVID, uh, I was curious, has it been a relief coming back to performing post lockdown or has it been a little bit nerve wracking towards the beginning? 

Reagan: I’ve definitely enjoyed it. You know, I think we all kind of do the thing to be out playing for people. So like as fun as being in the studio is, we definitely love being in the studio, we were in there as much as we can, you know, nothing’s as fun as playing a sick show. 

Taylor: Yeah. It’s a relief to be back doing it. And it feels really good just to be like seeing friends and hanging out at shows even when we’re not playing.

Megan: Nice. So kind of on the topic of being in the studio, your guys’ debut self-titled album came out in 2021. So that’s kind of a fraught time to be releasing an album. I was curious, how long was it in development before it got dropped? And how many iterations did it go through? Like, were you sitting on it for awhile?

Taylor: It was done for like eight or nine months before. Uh, we put it out and honestly, we just didn’t have a plan. We just wanted to make another one. So it just took us eight or nine months to shoot the album art, basically. I mean, we’re not that we’re not that precious about it. We really want to like, just record as much music and put out as much music as we can, so we’ve picked up the pace for this next one. 

Megan: Do you guys have a tentative release kind of window for the next one? 

Taylor: Yeah, I think it’ll be out by August. Barring anything…

Reagan: …silly.

Taylor: Silly.

Megan: No silliness. We have had enough silliness in the last few years. So I was curious about who in the band would you say tends to take the lead when making a new song?

Reagan: Kind of comes down to Taylor or I.

Taylor: Yeah, it’s pretty half and half it’s either Reagan’s song or my song. And we usually help each other finish each other’s songs and then we bring them to the band. And then if, uh, how do I say this diplomatically? Reagan and I are the filter, I guess you could say. But yeah, they’re amazing players and musicians, so they always end up on the song in one way or another. 

Megan: So when you are developing a song, what do you find comes first in the process? Is it the melody? Is it the rhythm? Is it the lyrics? 

Taylor: It’s different for us. Like sometimes it’s an idea or like a phrase that we think is funny or clever and then do it that way. Sort of like country music style. A lot of times it’s just like a nerdy guitar riff type thing.

Reagan: Yeah. 

Taylor: And sometimes it’s a little bit of both, but we rarely write a whole song, start to finish, and decide ‘this is how it goes.’ We’re usually putting our heads together to finish them.

Megan: All right. So I noticed that there were some interesting things on Heffner, like the song Golden Hour (An unsavory solicitation). There’s some kind of concept elements there, obviously, and a little bit of, like, sound collage with the idea of making the phone call a different kind of area of the track. So do you think you want to dip in a little bit more to like quirky production stuff like that? 

Taylor: Definitely, yeah. It’s not to be taken too seriously. We have lots of really fun ideas for the second [record]. And the third one’s pretty much written as well. We’re both big fans of a little bit of tongue in cheek humor in a song.

Reagan: Yeah. We’re usually trying to chase a production idea. That’s something that we maybe haven’t done before or go further down a rabbit hole that we’ve been down. You know, we’re always trying to kind of test the formula of what a Heffner song is. 

Megan: Never trying to box yourselves in. 

Taylor: Yeah, we’re just trying to amuse each other really more than anything else.

Megan: Yeah. I think that that definitely imbues itself into the music because there is a very palpable air of fun and entertainment throughout the album, so I had a lot of fun listening. 

Both: Thanks! 

Megan: And it definitely that weaves itself into your performances a lot too, because you can see when you guys are on stage, like I had the privilege of watching you guys at El Rocko recently, you can really see all the fun and all of the interactions between you guys.Even like, between the songs, the little monologues that you guys have,  they’re all very tongue in cheek and they feel, like you were saying, like you’re not precious about your image or making it too buttoned up or anything. That makes it really relatable and fun.

Taylor: For better or worse. [laughs]

Megan: What have your guys’ favorite performances that you’ve done been? 

Taylor: That El Rocko show we loved. I love Savannah so much and we always have too much fun there. I mean, we played El Rocko three times now and the first few times we played like absolute trash. So it’s nice to like, sort of get some revenge. Our album release show at the 40 Watt in Athens last fall in 2021… 

Reagan: It was a chaotic time.

Taylor: It was really amazing. We were DEVO. We dressed up as DEVO. 

Megan: Oh my God. 

Taylor: And um, yeah, Lars and his girlfriend, Val, made our DEVO hats. We did a DEVO cover at that one, and like, we had a costume contest and the three finalists came up on stage and smashed a piñata with a guitar.

Megan: Oh my God!

Taylor: It was– there were a lot of shenanigans that night.

Reagan: It was chaos.

Taylor: It felt really good. 

Megan: That sounds like a ton of fun. So speaking of DEVO and other bands, your guys’ music, when I was listening to it I got the vibe of alternative, indie and some post-punk kind of sensibilities. Where do you guys find that you have overarching influence from, and to follow up on that, do you find yourselves inspired by bands as a whole, or more like moments in tracks and vibes? 

Taylor: I mean, I think that we all listen to… 

Reagan: to vastly different things. 

Taylor: Yeah. Really different music, which is cool. And it helps us when we are writing. I think Reagan and I have really similar tastes and Lars and Will are twins. So they share some bands in common and McKendrick is totally out there. And he’s also a little bit older than the rest of us. And so he shows us things that we’ve never heard before, but it tends to work out for us. But yeah, Reagan and I will usually get into like a record at a time and sort of wear it out. 

Reagan: Almost like taking notes of what we’re going to be stealing from. 

Taylor: Yes. Always stealing, always stealing. Always be stealing. 

Reagan: Always be stealing.

Megan: Yeah. I mean, even like for visual arts, from my end, you think of yourself kind of as a sponge. You’re always taking in the best parts of what you’re looking at and you try and surround yourself with the best parts of art that you can so that you come out with the best stuff that you can yourself. So I think that there, you can definitely feel the kind of eclectic sensibilities on the album, which once again, kind of imbues itself with that fun aspect that you guys are so good at capturing. So to kind of cap off our interview, I was wondering; you guys are members of that strongly emerging Athens scene that’s happening right now, with your peers like Night Palace, who you played alongside at El Rocko, and bands like Hotel Fiction who recently played at Savannah Stopover. It’s kind of … it lends itself to comparison, I guess. So do you guys find yourselves influenced by your peers on that scene or do you kind of feel that it’s more just separate entities performing alongside each other? 

Taylor: I don’t know, the scene is small. Um, but it’s really solid and everybody’s really close. And everybody goes to each other’s shows and I don’t really feel like there’s much… I feel like because the scene is small and everyone is kind of doing their own thing, there’s not really any competition. 

Reagan: Pretty collaborative scene. Yeah. Like when you go to the studio, you’ll find the same crew of, you know, 20, 30 musicians. You’ll find some combination of those people in the studio, or you know, our friend, Tommy runs a studio out of his house and he’s, he’s had a Flagpole article written about him recently about how his hands are on like every single thing in Athens.

Taylor: Yeah. I mean, it’s just really collaborative and there’s a bunch of people that played on our first record that aren’t in the band and a bunch of people that we brought in to play on the second one that aren’t in our band. It’s kind of just like a spread the love situation. 

Megan: Yeah, very cool. So, I forgot I had one more thing I wanted to ask. So the two of you I see are mostly the writer credits on Apple Music and stuff like that. So I take it both of you are the lyrical kind of minds, right?

Reagan: Yeah, I guess you could say that.

Taylor: We’d like to think so.

Megan: So I noticed that on the album, there are a lot of references to sort of this ambiguous someone, or like you’re speaking directly to a person a lot of the time. So do those songs reflect like real experiences and relationships or do they more kind of come out of just a scenario that you’ve thought of? 

Reagan: There’s songs like James Kim, [which] is about my high school best friend, James Kim. So yeah, there’s definitely some moments on the record that come from personal experience. Taylor actually wrote that song about his friend and used James as the character.

Taylor: Yeah. Based in facts and elevated with fiction.

Reagan: Right. And there are other songs like Golden Hour that are purely hypothetical. 

Taylor: Yeah. I mean, maybe we were talking about someone, but uh…

Reagan: They’ll remain nameless, though. 

Megan: Sometimes I bet it’s probably a little bit more subconscious too. Like if a song comes out and you’re like, ‘wait a minute, this could be about someone, huh?’

Taylor: Oh yeah. And we love a diss track. 

Megan: Oh, I won’t dig into that! I don’t wanna start any drama for you guys. 

All: [laugh]

Megan: Well, thank you guys so much for talking. It’s been a joy. 

Taylor: Yeah! Thanks so much for having us. Thanks for spinning our record. 

Megan: Oh, of course. I’m excited to hear it on regular rotation too. We’re going to be having it playing during our 24 hour stream on the website pretty soon. And whenever the next record is slated, hopefully barring silliness in August, you’ll be hearing me talk about it again. Maybe I’ll post a little cheeky review. 

Taylor: I love that. Well, we’ll send it to you when it’s done. 

Megan: Thank you very much!

Reagan: We’re calling it Perfect Heaven.

Megan: Perfect Heaven! 

Taylor: Yeah, it’s called perfect heaven. 

Megan: Awesome! 

Taylor: Yeah, we’re shooting the album art tomorrow. 

Megan: Oh my goodness. It won’t take eight to nine months this time? 

Reagan: No silliness.

Taylor: No, no, no, no, no. We’re gettin’ after it.

Megan: Oh my goodness, hitting the ground running. Well, hopefully you guys are back around to perform sometime soon. I’d love to hear some of the new material, you guys were a very explosive set [at El Rocko]. It was a ton of fun to watch. 

Taylor: We’ll be back!

Megan: Very exciting. All right, I’ll be there. 

Taylor: Okay, nice to see ya!

Megan: Nice to see you too! 

Taylor: Bye! 

Reagan: Bye!

The post Interview with Heffner at El Rocko appeared first on SCAD Radio.

Harrison’s music has been rooted in the theme of encouraging the different, the crazy, the alternative, and the angsty. Weird! follows suit— it’s filled with a variety of sounds that still ring true to Dominic’s style of music.

The first single, “weird!” was released on April 22, 2020, at the height of the pandemic where the word “weird” rang a little too true for the entire globe. “Come hold my hand / Hold it tight / We’re in a weird time of life”–what would 2020 be if it was not a “weird time of life.” All around the world we have been stuck in our houses with little-to-no contact with people outside short interactions between grocery-store employees and constant Zoom calls. YUNGBLUD likely wrote this song before the pandemic, but similar to listening to a song about heartbreak when you are eight vs. when you are 22 and your partner just broke up with you, the lyrics have a different meaning because of the new context. A pandemic? Definitely weird. Mental health is disintegrating all over the globe; introverts are realizing they have been ambiverts the whole time. 2020 was the year of “weird” and having to remind ourselves that we need to hold on even if the entire globe is experiencing despair. I listened to this single so much when it first came out, it ended up in the top 15 of my top 100 playlist put together by Apple Music. That being said, that does not necessarily mean that “weird!” was the best single Dominic released to introduce his sophomore album.

“Strawberry lipstick” and “cotton candy” both felt like true YUNGBLUD songs. My absolute favorite part about these singles is how both are made to blast from your speakers and the lyrics are made to scream from the top of your lungs. It’s a lot of sex, drugs and rock & roll with lyrics like, “She’s such a tease… She’s gonna suck on my strawberry lipstick” and “So we just have sex, to solve all our problems, let’s do it again/And I wanna get stuck between your teeth like cotton candy.” The themes are reminiscent of the groupie-culture common in the early rock-n-roll and Woodstock eras. Free love, lots of drugs, no commitment.

Other songs like “mars,” “superdeadfriends,” “charity,” and “ice cream man” are full of angst, all honing in on the societal pressure to fit in, supporting those that go against the grain like YUNGBLUD himself. Many of Harrison’s songs tell variations of the same story: feeling like you are alone in the world, dreaming of a better life without judgment, and the overall theme of “f**k ‘em, who cares if you’re different.” While I think this is a powerful theme, I do hope that YUNGBLUD begins making some more politically-charged and controversial songs like his tracks “King Charles” and “Tin Pan Boy” from his first self-titled EP released in 2018. Internal acceptance is important. However, he could really flourish with more of the original-punk anti-establishment theme, it might even expand his demographic of listeners to more millennial and even older generations of punks.

What I found different about this album in comparison to Harrison’s previous endeavors was including more introspection rather than only outwards projections to his fanbase. “I’m lost in the supermarket/Shopping for my sense of self/I wander down the aisles/Trying to figure out/Where I disappeared to.” It felt like the perfect year to turn to introspection, especially since many of us have had to do more self-reflection than probably any of us ever wanted to during quarantine. Walking through the supermarket during the pandemic has felt aimless–there’s little interaction, and for some of us, it has given us the fortunate (or unfortunate) space to analyze our thoughts, considering who we were, are, and who we want to be–wondering where the “old-me” went. The face-value analysis is just looking inwards, but the context of the lyrics reminded me of my spacey-walkthroughs of the grocery store, forgetting what I even needed because I am too deep in my thoughts.

The lowkey songs on the album are peaceful, like a lullaby, but still harmonize with the rest of the tracks. I was actually surprised that “it’s quiet in beverly hills” was the penultimate song— it was so quiet and calm, it seemed like it would be hard to follow up it’s angelic tone. However, YUNGBLUD impressed again by somehow transitioning to the best song of the album, “the freak show”. The concluding song is reminiscent of Melanie Martinez’s “Carousel” on Cry Baby. Coming from someone who used to listen to that album on repeat in 2015, I can honestly say that YUNGBLUD’s alternative punk “version” won. The song is a mic-drop, and there couldn’t have been a better finale.

The post YUNGBLUD Releases More Anthems for the Strange appeared first on SCAD Radio.

I could sing the Black Parade album from heart and tell you all the trivia about every music video they had: in “Famous Last Words,” Ray Toro and Frank Iero both suffered burns from the bonfire scene. 

Since I grew up in Utah (i.e., Mormon), I was a late introduction to the “emo revolution”. I missed out on the height of the Black Parade era, and my closest interaction with the emo aesthetic was an off-the-walls friend who I definitely didn’t understand. Yet somehow, the “Famous Last Words” music video popped up on my YouTube dashboard one day, and these pale, skinny goths won over my restrained Mormon-girl heart with their punk rock vibes. I wanted to wear the Black Parade uniform and seriously debated dying my hair white.

Then they broke up on my birthday.

My brain has rightfully repressed most of my teen years, but what I can remember of my reaction was that I was extremely excited to meet Gerard Way at WonderCon in Anaheim later that week. He canceled the appearance five days after the announcement of their breakup. I was upset, to say the least, later going to Tumblr to rant and mourn as you do when you’re newly fifteen.

I can only speculate the cancellation was because hordes of heartbroken fans would ferociously murder him in the name of emo instead of asking him for his autograph for the newest issue of The Umbrella Academy. 

MCR? Whomst’ve?

My Chemical Romance (or MCR) hails from Newark, New Jersey, founded by lead singer Gerard Way, his brother, bassist Mikey Way, guitarist Ray Toro, and Matt Pelissier. Guitarist Frank Iero would join them later on. The band was formed not long after 9/11, when Gerard was so changed by witnessing the World Trade Centers fall, he decided to start a band. The name came from Irvine Welsh’s book Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. Mikey suggested the name after he spotted the book working at Barnes and Noble. Their beginnings were humble, and they fostered their initial fanbase on their MySpace profile and booking at the notorious Big Daddy’s venue.

Their real breakout was the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in the Summer of 2004. The album was incredibly successful, garnering punk rock classics such as “Helena”, “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”, and “The Ghost of You” (rip WWII-era Mikey Way).

While a triumph, this was later eclipsed by The Black Parade in ‘06. Anyone over the age of 18 has heard the well-known G note played at the beginning of the title track many, many times. The LP collected many accolades, debuting at #2 on the Billboard 200 (behind Hannah Montana), certified Triple Platinum, and being nominated for a Grammy. 

Their depressingly emotional lyrics, epic instrumentals, and rebellious subject matter defined them, albeit controversially, as an “emo” musical style. Gerard Way has publicly rejected the term, describing it as “F***ing Garbage”. However, he also described the band’s style as being “What-else-ya-got-emo”. Whatever the case may be, My Chemical Romance became a figure-head for the emo subculture.

The Breakup.

Now, why would a critically acclaimed and incredibly successful band break up, especially after doing a song for Yo Gabba Gabba?

Just listen to the Conventional Weapons album. 

Riding off the wave of The Black Parade and Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (which contained the hit song “Sing”), My Chemical Romance released their final and worst album ever. Conventional Weapons revolved (no pun intended) around 10 unreleased songs recorded prior to the Killjoys album. MCR released two songs a month for five months finishing in February 2013. It was in all honesty, unremarkable. If you’re thinking “Hm, that release sure is close to Kate’s birthday on March 22nd.” You are correct. Their breakup came soon after the final song was released. One can only assume that our near-and-dear goth boys had burnt out completely. In fact, Way admitted in an interview with The Guardian, “[that] it wasn’t fun to make stuff anymore.” The pressure from the world to keep creating bigger and better music, as well as the weight of The Black Parade’s success, crushed any enjoyment they had in producing music. It was time to stop.

The Reunion.

Here we are now, in the last months of 2019. While everything seems to be going up in flames in a giant landfill fire, we can at least expect more music from My Chemical Romance before the year is up. Rumors of a reunion had begun in 2016, but it turned out the teasing on the band’s website was because of the 10th anniversary edition of The Black Parade, much to the chagrin of every grown up goth ever. It was actually Joe Jonas that leaked the reunion. In June of 2019, the boy-bander claimed that My Chemical Romance were rehearsing next to them in New York. 

And then no one believed him.

Joe Jonas proved to be the ignored prophet of the goth religion, because on Halloween, MCR officially announced their return with a comeback show in LA this December. Goth Christmas had finally come to pass. No need to worry about tickets to the show, they sold out within the first few hours of going on sale November 1st. If you didn’t snag a ticket- because you didn’t sacrifice a few goats for the chance to buy one- you can follow their Instagram as they continue to post cryptic images pertaining to the pending releases. Or, while you wait patiently for December to come bearing angry violent gifts of punk-rock, you can take this time to re-listen or listen anew to the iconic discography of My Chemical Romance.

But have we forgiven them? We’ll see.

The post So Long and Goodnight to Emo? Apparently Not. appeared first on SCAD Radio.

Your songs definitely vary. Some are super hard rock and others are soft and melodic. I hear some punk, and maybe a little psychedelia? What is the process behind it? Where does your inspiration for your music come from?

Kyle- I usually am just playing guitar at home. I only play the acoustic when I’m by myself, and I’m really into music that’s got really good rhythm, so I tend to not finish an idea unless I’m bobbing my head. I never approach like “oh, I’m gonna write a punk song, I’m gonna write this song”. It’s kind of being creative on my own… I love to be alone in that moment because I can throw spaghetti on the wall ‘til something sticks. I grew up listening to The Beatles, and one thing I really respected about them was that none of their albums sounded the same.

You’re originally from Atlanta. Could you tell me what the rock scene is like there and what it was like to start there?

When I was young, I was in a band with my buddies in high school and we really loved Nirvana, we loved Oasis, we loved The Beatles… I lived down in Atlanta for at least 10-15 years. Growing up down there, there was all kinds of fantastic bands, especially in the early 2000s. So many wonderful bands that never really got off the ground. More unique and interesting than any band I played with from out of town. We’d play with bands from Chicago, New York, anywhere, and it was never the same. There was just something about Atlanta, something about the collision of R&B and hip-hop with rock & roll.

I know there’s a huge hip-hop scene in East Atlanta. Do you feel like you have to carve out your own little rock sphere living there or is it all collided and mixed?

It was never like “I gotta conquer this, I gotta fit in here”… I’ve known people that’ve made hip-hop, I know people that make metal music, and to me it’s just a really nice collage of sound down here.

Your videos are all very eye catching. What goes into the production and thinking behind them?

For me, I’ve been in 5-6 projects throughout the 18 years I’ve been making music, and those projects usually lasted two years. One album, a burst of really cool energy in the beginning, and then stagnation, and then the band breaks up. So I formed MammaBear in the hopes to never stagnate, never have an argument with anyone, make the music I wanna make the way I wanna make it… Since those bands would break up after two years we’d never make a music video, so there’s virtually no proof we ever existed because music platforms that exist now didn’t exist [then]. With Mammabear, I wanted to make music videos because I never got a chance to do that in the past… I do not EVER wanna be thought of as “sex, drugs, and rock & roll”, I think that’s such f*ckin’ bullsh*t. The biggest lie sold to young kids… I just wanted to make videos that resonated with me, that had a bit of humor in them.

Can you tell us what we can expect from your new album SAY?

SAY is an attempt at trying to recreate something closer to what we’re doing actually live. We’re a three-piece band so I try to nix how much stuff I put in there, like we don’t need a fourth guitar line, who the f*ck is gonna play the other three guitar lines if it’s just me playing guitar on stage?

MammaBear will be performing live @ 529 Bar in Atlanta, GA on Friday, June 21st, 2019.

The post Interview With Atlanta-based Post Punk Outfit MammaBear appeared first on SCAD Radio.

Maya: Can you guys real quick just explain yourself and what you do for the band?

Erik: I’m Erik, a.k.a. drums. I play drums. That’s pretty much it. (Laughs)

Alex: I’m Alex, “Deepsoundz” is the descriptor. I play bass and backing vocals.

Erik: I do want to note that I do all the aux percussion, it’s not Gene Jacket.

Alex: He was wrongly identified on our last album as doing so.

Kevin: I’m Kevin. I’m lead vocal and rhythm guitarist.

Jack: I’m Jack, and I play lead guitar.

Erik: And Gene Jacket who isn’t here plays keys, glock, and synth.

How long have you guys been around as a band?

Erik: So we made an album called Witness back in the winter of 2014, beginning of 2015. Kevin was out in California. We hadn’t spoken in many years. He blindly texted me, it was a pretty rude text. He asked me if I wanted to play drums on this project he’d been working on. He did that with just about everybody except Alex.

Alex: I wasn’t a part of it at the time.

Erik: We recorded Witness in Whitewater, which is where I was going to school.

Alex: The band was known as Fitness at the time.

Erik: It was me, Jack, Kevin, and Gene Jacket, who played third guitar. He didn’t play keys yet for us. We were still trying to figure out our sound at the time. We made that and released it in 2015, and shortly after that Alex joined.

Kevin: We went through several options and he-

Alex: …was the only one who said yes.

Kevin: Don’t put that in.

(All laugh)

Alex: Kevin had made more songs and invited us all out to California…So we all learned the songs separately and flew out and recorded our second album Citrosis. That was the time that we finally became a “band” and started playing a lot of shows after that with that album.

Erik: It was originally going to be Citrus by Fitness.

Why the name change?

Kevin: There was another band in the same general area that was called Fitness that made similar music in description to us, so it was just way too confusing. So we changed the name and then instead of Citrus we called it Citrosis because the rhyme wasn’t there and we thought it was kind of a stupid name.

Erik: We cycled through a lot of bad names.

You went out to California to record the first album, which you did with your last album, The Grand Spontanean. How is that process of traveling to record instead of being more local?

Alex: Honestly, it’s pretty easy. It’s not something we would’ve done if we didn’t have a really good time with that guy [Jack Shirley]. We toot that guy’s horn a lot. But he totally deserves it. He’s, like, Grammy nominated.

Erik: He has everything that you need to record out there so all you have to bring is yourself.

Jack: Also, when you go somewhere else to record it makes you focus only on that and nothing else which forces you to throw your whole self into.

Erik: Which Modern Abrasive, the EP we just released last year, we recorded here.

Alex: Jack Shirley mixed and mastered it. I’ve kind of seen that it’s really hard to find a really cool audio engineer who’s nice and helpful and really good at what he does.

Kevin: And by now he just gets us…He’s almost like a 6th member of the band at this point.

Your last album was your 90-minute rock opera The Grand Spontanean, but your new album is not in the same vein at all. It’s a proper full-length. What were the challenges of transitioning back into that?

Kevin: Originally this was supposed to be another concept album… I was writing the lyrics as we wrote the music and about a month or a month and a half before the record was going to be made, I was not as far along on the lyrics side or the story side as I wanted to be. But at the same time I was going through a lot… So just for fun, kind of like a thought experiment, I started to rewrite the entire [album]- everything I had lyrically- just stream of consciousness, like my own head, and by the time I knew it everything was rewritten and the concept was scrapped completely.

Alex: Musically, the long concept album is just trying to throw everything together, whereas this album we focused on really honing in a shorter amount of songs. I think we all agree that this is our best and favorite album. The songs are way better and more developed than anything on The Grand Spontanean

What were the primary influences on this most recent album? What should we be listening to for hype?

Kevin: I did a tweet the other day with the albums that informed the record the most. It was, like, Motion City Soundtrack, Bruce Springsteen, Antarctigo Vespucci wasn’t on there but it should be, Wilco, Fall Out Boy, The Beths. Oh, and about the Beths. The Beths’ last album is 10 songs and 37 minutes long. Hard Pop by Telethon is 10 songs long and 37 minutes long. You do the math.

Erik: It’s a cover album (laughs).

Kevin: But it really did spiritually inspire the record a lot. At least for me. A lot of the songs are really transparent about the singer or the lyricist going through it and I was like “I want to write a record like this”. A record where it’s full on mental, stream of consciousness, poetry.

For songwriting is it primarily Kevin?

Alex: At this point we’ve got it down to a science. A lot of times Kevin will come to us with a sort of a nugget of a song. Where it’s some chords and melodies. Jack is really good at taking it and making it into something bigger and he’ll take it to the rest of us and develop it as a full song together. We’ll fill out how the rhythm will be. Gene Jacket will add keys and sometimes when he comes into it, it becomes a different thing.

Kevin: I think the majority of the songs were written by Jack.

You guys just signed to Take This To Heart Records from your old DIY label Halloween Records. Is this the next step for your vision for the band?

Erik: I wouldn’t necessarily say that…I see it as another person in our court, helping us out.

Alex: It ultimately is just somebody helping you get your music to more people and helping us connect with other cool bands. Yeah, it was difficult to feel like you’re relinquishing control.

Erik: It feels like a mutually beneficial thing. It doesn’t feel like they’re sucking the life out of us or anything.

Alex: Yeah, there’s not a lot of money in Telethon.

(All laugh)

So what’s next? Obviously, this new album, but is anything planned?

Erik: I think we’re going to break up?

(All laugh)

Kevin: It’s over.

Alex: At this point we don’t have anything officially announced, but we will be touring.

Kevin: We’re not going to stop until we’re on my favorite show, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Alex: That’s when we break up. On stage. In front of Jimmy.

Kevin: No, no, we break up when we play the stage at Disneyland.

The post A Conversation With Telethon: Milwaukee’s Finest Power Pop Punk Band appeared first on SCAD Radio.

For those of you who aren’t in the know, Priests are an eclectic Punk-inspired outfit from Washington D.C. and for the past six years have put out some the best rock records in the American underground canon. As a result, they’ve garnered the attention of the biggest music publications in the country: Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR and the usual crowd of pop culture aficionados. The group’s musical output has covered a wide range of different sounds, blending in elements of hardcore punk, noise, rockabilly, and even country. Lyrically, they’re whip smart, a lot of the subject material espousing an observational and often times comical tone. Although they don’t consider themselves a political band, they have a clear ethical philosophy they subscribe to. It’s safe to say Priests don’t care for capitalism. Or gender norms. Also, to date they are one of the most exciting live bands to watch. I would know as I was fortunate enough watch them from the entrance of the bar that I’m not old enough to enter. Their sets are a chemistry of urgency, tight instrumentation and vibrant costumes.

 So, in case it hasn’t already set in, these cats are really, really, cool and they’re preparing to drop an album this month, The Seduction of Kansas. Sonically, it promises to tread new territory. The singles thus far are radically different from the sharp guitar tracks of their former catalogue. They’re taut, refined, more pop oriented even.

“Obviously, we’ve grown as musicians” says Katie Alice Greer, the band’s vocalist. “Some of the oldest songs on Nothing Feels Natural were written six years ago at this point. Whereas the songs on The Seduction of Kansas, were maybe written a few weeks or a month before we went into the studio.”

About five minutes into the conversation, I’m forced to yell into the phone because the connection in the van is less than substantial (did I mention earlier that I lost my voice?). They spoke at length about how the process of writing and recording Kansas essentially became a coming-of-age chapter, accompanied by the usual laundry list of uncomfortable tropes such as relocating, separation, and of course, the anxiety of making new friends.

For instance, around the time they decided to regroup and write new material, their bassist, the dashing Tyler Mulitz, decided to take some time off to focus on another project, Flasher, an equally as exciting post-punk trio. The band also made the executive decision to migrate to Texas for the summer, and bring a new producer along, John Congleton. Congleton himself has quite the extended resume, having worked with everyone from Andrew Goddamned Jackson Jihad to Lana f*cking Del Rey. Yeah, I’d say that’s a lot of change. But don’t take my word for it.

“It was kind of scary. I mean, to move down to this place where we didn’t know anybody, in a studio where were totally unfamiliar and in a really different configuration of this band. Everything about this record was SO different for us.”

In spite of all these drastic changes, Priests acquired new coping skills, acclimated to their new climate, and beneath the evident pressure did not succumb to it, but instead emerged a new band. One with experience and refined observations about the world and themselves as individuals. This new state of being was achieved by as the members themselves stated “trying new things.” 

One of the “new things” the band is trying is to disassociate from the gratuitous number of labels constantly hurled their way. They’ve found the overuse of the term “DIY”, which stands for “Do It Yourself”, in conjunction with their own efforts to be the most egregious. In Priests eye’s, it’s evolved into something of a super-word. It’s primary function not to champion the spirit of artists who self-govern and sustain on their own terms, but more of a catchall phrase that suggests redundancy and way for corporations to commodify those philosophies and market them to the gullible youths. By the way, Priests never referred to anyone as gullible, that was all me, man.

They’re also trying to escape the perils of comparisons and band modifiers, like “Riot Grrrl” (the three ‘R’s are intentional). They’ve gone as far as writing up a document for press inquiries that feature basic facts about the band and a special request that they not be referred to as a Riot Grrrl act. “If you don’t take that agency over your narrative, obviously others tell your story for you in the way they think it ought to be told. That doesn’t need to happen. You can tell your own story.”

On the subject of comparisons, lead guitarist G.L. Jaguar certainly feels the band could make do without them. Especially the more outlandish claims. “I feel like a lot of people compare my guitar playing to Black Francis of The Pixies. But like, we sound nothing like The Pixies. The only thing we have in common is that we’re both short, fat, and bald. That’s just a really lazy analysis.”

“It’s like what I texted you earlier,” chimes in Greer, “at this point if you want to call us something, just call us a rock band.”

We also briefly discussed the bands wonderful vocabulary of cinema. Mr. Jaguar himself being quite the film buff. One film that they’ve unanimously agreed was made in poor taste was 2006’s Charlie Wilson’s War.  It’s the subject of the album’s second single “Good Time Charlie”, the lyrical portion dealing with the way in which Hollywood films glamorize and mythologize shifty figures like former congressman Charlie Wilson. Thematically, this album promises to dissect the culture of mythology that is so embedded in our DNA that we don’t even recognize how we’ve built a national identity on what essentially is the illusion of fables, so entrenched in the narrative of our own victory that we can’t recognize its deluding properties.

Critical examinations aside, Priests hope the new album will provide enough of a presence that it might galvanize you, the loyal listeners, into possibly making something as vital on your terms.  

“It would make me very happy if someone listens to it and wants to pick up an instrument. If they feel compelled to do so, or do something else. Like if they’re thinking ‘HOLY CRAP! I can do that!’ that would be satisfying.”

The post Priests: If Anything, Call Them a Rock Band- An Interview appeared first on SCAD Radio.