If you’re not grabbing people and telling them to “come with me if you want to live”, then your next line of defence is simply to shout at the robots. Erm. Maybe. Could this be how today’s Band of the Day got their name? Probably not, but read on to find out…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We all grew up in the very small town of Owego, New York. It’s a classic American small town that can make kids like us who turn into John Hughes characters that want to be in a band.
How did you meet?
As tiny children doing tiny child things. Somehow we haven’t killed each other.
How long have you been playing as a band?
The current four piece line up has been gigging together since 2015.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Ouija board, fever dream, the cry of a manic street preacher? We honestly don’t know, but Chewk was the first one to suggest it.
What are your influences?
We take influence from a little bit of everything. And all of us like a pretty varied amount of things. Jon likes to say we sound like a mix of Pavement and Fugazi which is a good starting point for our influences, but we’re equally influenced by hip-hop, old films and outsider art. There’s a lot, we’ll just go with that.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
The fact that we have so many wide ranging influences mean everyone is bringing something completely different to their approach to the band. And none of us really know how to do what we’re doing exactly right. Which we think is a strength. So our sound is an attempt to turn our love of music and need to express our misfit ideas into something more concrete. It’s noisy and lurches around in a heavy post-punk sort of way but it’s also exuberant and hopeful. It’s the sound of a bunch of drunken misanthropes trying to find a better world to mosh and waltz in.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
The new material we’re going to be putting out is a lot more direct and… confessional, I guess is the right word. From the beginning there’s always been elements of the things that happen in the everyday through the funnel of weird absurd bullshit that is modern life. Songs about cellphones and depression, apathy, the Berlin Wall, Saint Sebastian, highway rest stop food. All kinds of things really.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
People that come to see us are always saying that the current show is better than the last one which is a huge compliment. We’re always looking to improve. But you can usually expect us to try and express our awkwardness in any/every way possible and just try to have as much fun as possible so the audience knows we’re doing what we’re doing because we love it and most likely them. We’ve played less than a hundred shows in the past three years which is just not cool at all and we’re really trying to amp up that number, so we’ll see.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Being a weird band means weird things can happen at our shows. There was one night where in the span of a few minutes our friend Dave wrapped the whole crowd in a giant extension cord and then someone just straight up peed on someone else (nothing was exposed thankfully). Which is like very light G.G Allin territory but still.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Matt plays a Fender Tele through a modified Blues Jr. with Way Huge pedals and more.
Julian usually plays an Epiphone SG through an Orange 2X12 with a whole host of pedals including some by Reuss and Malekko.
Jon plays a Fender bass through an Ampeg.
Chewk plays a nice shiny Gretsch kit.
What are your plans for 2019?
To slowly take over the world by releasing a few EPs and a second album, tour some portion of the Eastern US and see what other trouble we can get into.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
That’s tough! We would have loved to tour with a band called Imperials out of Ithaca NY, but they’ve recently called it quits. Give them a listen anyway. Our friends just started a new group called Floodlands and we’d absolutely love to tour with them.
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