My name: Jay Zacarias. My mission: to\ninterrogate the band currently known as Priests (plural) on everything from their\nnew album release to their impeccable taste in films. It\u2019s a sunny Saturday\nafternoon when I manage to get a hold of them. \nMy arms are sore and my voice is all but gone because I spent a good\nportion of the evening gyrating and screaming lyrics aimlessly back at my\nfavorite rock acts during this year\u2019s installment of \u2018Savannah Stopover\u2019. In\nspite of the slight physical setbacks, I\u2019m in comfort. At the time of our phone\ncall, I\u2019m lounging on my worn-in futon and sporting the most fashionable yet\ncomfortable article of clothing known to man: a cow onesie, whilst my subjects\nare huddled in a van on their way to a marathon of shows at South by South West\n(Austin, Texas). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those of you who aren\u2019t in the know,\nPriests are an eclectic Punk-inspired outfit from Washington D.C. and for the\npast six years have put out some the best rock records in the American\nunderground canon. As a result, they\u2019ve garnered the attention of the biggest\nmusic publications in the country: Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR and the usual\ncrowd of pop culture aficionados. The group\u2019s musical output has covered a wide\nrange of different sounds, blending in elements of hardcore punk, noise, rockabilly,\nand even country. Lyrically, they\u2019re whip smart, a lot of the subject material\nespousing an observational and often times comical tone. Although they don\u2019t\nconsider themselves a political band, they have a clear ethical philosophy they\nsubscribe to. It\u2019s safe to say Priests don\u2019t care for capitalism. Or gender\nnorms. Also, to date they are one of the most exciting live bands to watch. I\nwould know as I was fortunate enough watch them from the entrance of the bar\nthat I\u2019m not old enough to enter. Their sets are a chemistry of urgency, tight\ninstrumentation and vibrant costumes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So,\nin case it hasn\u2019t already set in, these cats are really, really, cool and\nthey\u2019re preparing to drop an album this month, The Seduction of Kansas<\/em>. Sonically, it promises to tread new\nterritory. The singles thus far are radically different from the sharp guitar tracks\nof their former catalogue. They\u2019re taut, refined, more pop oriented even. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cObviously, we\u2019ve grown as musicians\u201d\nsays Katie Alice Greer, the band\u2019s vocalist. \u201cSome of the oldest songs on Nothing Feels Natural <\/em>were written six\nyears ago at this point. Whereas the songs on The Seduction of Kansas<\/em>, were maybe written a few weeks or a month\nbefore we went into the studio.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n About\nfive minutes into the conversation, I\u2019m forced to yell into the phone because\nthe connection in the van is less than substantial (did I mention earlier that\nI lost my voice?). They spoke at length about how the process of writing and\nrecording Kansas<\/em> essentially became a\ncoming-of-age chapter, accompanied by the usual laundry list of uncomfortable\ntropes such as relocating, separation, and of course, the anxiety of making new\nfriends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019d say that\u2019s a lot of change. But don\u2019t take my word for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\nwas kind of scary. I mean, to move down to this place where we didn\u2019t know\nanybody, in a studio where were totally unfamiliar and in a really different\nconfiguration of this band. Everything about this record was SO different for\nus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In spite of all these drastic changes,\nPriests acquired new coping skills, acclimated to their new climate, and\nbeneath the evident pressure did not succumb to it, but instead emerged a new\nband. One with experience and refined observations about the world and\nthemselves as individuals. This new state of being was achieved by as the\nmembers themselves stated \u201ctrying new things.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the \u201cnew things\u201d the band is\ntrying is to disassociate from the gratuitous number of labels constantly\nhurled their way. They\u2019ve found the overuse of the term \u201cDIY\u201d, which stands for\n\u201cDo It Yourself\u201d, in conjunction with their own efforts to be the most egregious.\nIn Priests eye\u2019s, it\u2019s evolved into something of a super-word. It\u2019s primary\nfunction not to champion the spirit of artists who self-govern and sustain on\ntheir own terms, but more of a catchall phrase that suggests redundancy and way\nfor corporations to commodify those philosophies and market them to the\ngullible youths. By the way, Priests never referred to anyone as gullible, that\nwas all me, man. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re also trying to escape the perils\nof comparisons and band modifiers, like \u201cRiot Grrrl\u201d <\/em>(the three \u2018R\u2019s are intentional). They\u2019ve gone as far as writing\nup a document for press inquiries that feature basic facts about the band and a\nspecial request that they not be referred to as a Riot Grrrl act. \u201cIf you don\u2019t\ntake that agency over your narrative, obviously others tell your story for you\nin the way they think it ought to be told. That doesn\u2019t need to happen. You can\ntell your own story.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the subject of comparisons, lead\nguitarist G.L. Jaguar certainly feels the band could make do without them.\nEspecially the more outlandish claims. \u201cI feel like a lot of people compare my\nguitar playing to Black Francis of The Pixies. But like, we sound nothing like\nThe Pixies. The only thing we have in common is that we\u2019re both short, fat, and\nbald. That\u2019s just a really lazy analysis.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s like what I texted you earlier,\u201d chimes in Greer, \u201cat this point if you want to call us something, just call us a rock band.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n We also briefly discussed the bands\nwonderful vocabulary of cinema. Mr. Jaguar himself being quite the film buff. One\nfilm that they\u2019ve unanimously agreed was made in poor taste was 2006\u2019s Charlie Wilson\u2019s War<\/em>. It\u2019s the subject of the album\u2019s second single\n\u201cGood Time Charlie\u201d, the lyrical portion dealing with the way in which\nHollywood films glamorize and mythologize shifty figures like former\ncongressman Charlie Wilson. Thematically, this album promises to dissect the\nculture of mythology that is so embedded in our DNA that we don\u2019t even recognize\nhow we\u2019ve built a national identity on what essentially is the illusion of\nfables, so entrenched in the narrative of our own victory that we can\u2019t\nrecognize its deluding properties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Critical examinations aside, Priests\nhope the new album will provide enough of a presence that it might galvanize\nyou, the loyal listeners, into possibly making something as vital on your\nterms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt 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\u2019re thinking ‘HOLY CRAP! I can do that!’ that would be satisfying.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My name: Jay Zacarias. My mission: to interrogate the band currently known as Priests (plural) on everything from their new album release to their impeccable taste in films. It\u2019s a sunny Saturday afternoon when I manage to get a hold of them. My arms are sore and my voice is all but gone because I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":5156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265,530,48],"tags":[50,737,96,576,129,668],"yoast_head":"\n