Does anyone else miss punk bands? In my teenage years they were everywhere, yet it came as a shock to recently find a punk album in our inbox – such is the current musical landscape. The band were Brooklyn’s The So So Glos, and I had to meet them. Luckily enough for me, they were in town supporting The Hold Steady.
Describing themselves as ‘the sound of buildings falling down’, the band embodies everything that’s great and interesting about punk bands. Just take their name for instance. Lead singer Alex described it to me as ‘a critique on the post-modern ego’, an apparent reflection on the ‘narcissistic culture we live in, a so so generation, so into the light from their own glow that they don’t see anything past that.’
As much as I love Matt Healy and The 1975, that’s a much better reason for a band name (theirs was found written in a book).
Brooklyn itself is home to a number of famous artists. Jay Z, MGMT, The National, just to name a few. This band however, doesn’t associate their location with success.
‘A lot of bands nowadays move to Brooklyn because it sounds like a Spike Lee movie or something. It doesn’t matter where you grew up, it doesn’t matter where you’re from as much as what you’re saying and where you’re trying to go. People get too obsessed over where you're from.’
‘I get more inspiration when I’m not stimulated, when I’m bored and angry. That’s why some of the best punk bands came from the suburbs, stagnation breeds angst, feeling like an outsider in your own place; we moved all over New York and always had that feel.’
Despite this, the band still put a lot into their community. As well as co-founding The Market Hotel, an all ages venue in Brooklyn, the band are involved with another all ages performance/recording space called Shea Stadium (Which recently played host to a band called Heeney, who we’ve been highly recommended to check out). All age shows aren’t as much of an issue in the UK, but in the US kids can have to wait till they’re 21 just to see a show. It’s a first world problem, sure, but some teenagers really benefit from having somewhere to deposit their angst-fuelled energy. As Alex puts it:
‘There would probably be less people shooting each other if there were more easily accessible outlets for young people to get their rocks off.’
Most importantly, the band sound great. They're raw and unpretentious and if there were more bands like this around, I'd be very happy.
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