 "Photo: Courtesy of Tell All Your Friends PR")
The So So Glos, a new punk band hailing from Brooklyn, N.Y., have the energy and edge of punk-rock heroes of the past (like the Clash and the Ramones), but the band’s music isn’t “just punk.” The So So Glos’ sound is a fresh combination of the quintessential punk spirit with musical techniques echoing back to pre-punk psychedelic rock and catchy popular music from the ‘60s (like The Kinks and The Monkees). Heading into the last leg of the band’s second nationwide tour and facing the uncertainty of dealing with the recent injury of one of the band members, the So So Glos’ Matt Elkin took some time to chat with The Daily Texan.
Daily Texan: You’ve worked with Stephen Glicken, a notable producer of hip-hop acts including Ghostface Killah of the Wu Tang Clan and Ninjasonik, another New York band with hip-hop influences. Can you elucidate on this unique kind of cross-pollination between genres?
Matt Elkin: I don’t think it’s totally out of the ordinary. I feel like this is actually becoming a common trend in popular music, you know. Danger Mouse, who did The Grey Album, has been putting his foot in the door working with The Black Keys now. And Jon Brion, the film composer, helped produce Kanye West’s last album. I think this is the predominant trend these days ... and what I’m really taken by is that it’s sort of the post-modern blending of all genres, all eras of music and all cultures. American music is this wonderful hodgepodge of things, and it gets better realized, better developed by mixing people with different strains of experience.
DT: Can you tell me more about the DIY scene that The So So Glos has been involved in back in New York. Is that something new?
ME: It’s certainly not something new, but it is something that has become easier and easier to come by I think, or I would hope. Essentially there is a large faction of people in New York who organize in response to the ever-growing number of age-restricted venues and very corporately-tied venues in New York to create all-ages shows. The bottom line of DIY is all-ages. Places that were “official” and had all-ages nights are closing down or shifting to 21 [and older] and as that happens, bands start playing in more clandestine places in the city, predominately in Brooklyn ... like in our house, Market Hotel.
DT: Market Hotel has become a DIY hot-spot since you guys opened it last year. How did that idea start?
ME: It’s interesting how much singular recognition the Market Hotel has gotten. We went in on a larger scale and acquired this 4,000 square-foot space in Bushwick. It allowed us, and by us, I don’t mean our band, but like the whole community of people putting on these shows, to sort of up the ante and increase our capacity for having shows. We could bring more big bands in this space and fit like 400 people comfortably. This is happening all over the country and has been since the days of Minor Threat and Fugazi and that legacy lives on. When we go on tour we go all around the country. We’ve played in kids’ basements and places like that, and it’s a very well-developed network. I feel like it matters more, than it does in New York, in places where there just aren’t venues and kids are willing to open up their houses in like the po-dunk suburbs. And the bands are coming through, especially smaller bands that wouldn’t normally be able to get many shows, like us. I mean we are still really young, and we’re starting out. A lot of so called “official” venues wouldn’t give us the time of day.
DT: Some of your songs have lyrics that are pretty politically charged. Your album dropped on Election Day, and the album’s title, Tourism/Terrorism, in itself is loaded with political implications. Can you share a bit about the political impetus of the band?
ME: This is ... a challenging question. I mean we have this conversation all the time about what defines “political bands.” We all sort of have this knee-jerk reaction to getting that label slapped on us because I mean one could argue that all music is “political.” When the term is actually applied, it’s this really narrowing, sort of stigmatized statement. It comes off as dry or shallow, like very one-track minded, “bring down the government” stuff. What I was talking about before, that sort of blending of genres, is such a political thing unto itself. Songs about relationships can be like the most personally political.
The So So Glos will be hitting Austin’s Club De Ville this Friday at 8 p.m.
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