Since their inception in 2009, Present Me The Physique’s music has all the time been a spot of solace for individuals throughout many numerous backgrounds. Within the time that has handed since their critically acclaimed sophomore album, 2019’s Canine Whistle, the politically charged, progressive-hardcore trio had been confronted with a pandemic, the absence of reside reveals and a society that felt prefer it was on a continuing downward spiral. Whereas the world has undergone a sequence of adjustments within the final three years, vocalist, banjo and programmer Julian Cashwan Pratt is fast to say that for Present Me The Physique, this was enterprise as ordinary, even when they couldn’t pile lots of of our bodies right into a room for his or her chaotic but cathartic reside reveals.
“Though the world has been altering round us lately, the messages and the music have remained the identical and are nonreactionary,” Pratt says whereas rolling a joint on a patio in Los Angeles throughout an off day following their look at this 12 months’s Desert Daze in Southern California. “What we attempt to do and talk is ever current with these round us, whether or not that’s a powerful sense of household, community-building as direct motion, militancy inside your individual life and educating your self –– these are all of the issues we might speak about even in a post-pandemic world.”
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Present Me The Physique are certainly a lot greater than a musical undertaking –– it’s a community of creatives and a community-driven collective that enacts change in a world of injustice, financial despair and displacement all by the spirit of extremely participating punk music that pushes the boundaries of style and societal limitations. The band function as a collective often called CORPUS, and in the course of the pandemic, they had been nonetheless capable of interact with their group, particularly in New York Metropolis the place they’re based mostly.
“Our group shouldn’t be on the web; it’s actual life and in our metropolis. The pandemic allowed us to do weekly CORPUS conferences and have our initiatives on the forefront,” Pratt says when reflecting on the band’s pandemic-proof mission. Seated subsequent to Pratt is bassist and synth participant Harlan Steed, who admits that the absence of reside reveals might have performed a task within the sense of power that’s discovered on the band’s staggering new document, Bother The Water.
[Photo by Nick Sethi]
“Performing for us could be very a lot the oxygen that we thrive and reside on, and to not be capable of do this for 3 years was an intense feeling,” Steed notes. “All of us needed to get again on the highway, nevertheless it additionally served as ammunition in penning this document and making essentially the most refined Present Me The Physique document doable.” Pratt nods, including, “The document shouldn’t be finished till we get to make the ceremony with it. The reside present is for everyone within the room who participates.”
Lyrically, Bother The Water expands on the themes of the darkish aspect of capitalism “The document is a continuation of what we have now been witnessing our entire fucking lives with our metropolis being become a playground and other people being handled like they are often shipped round,” Pratt explains. “The hardlines of capitalism are there however we undoubtedly witnessed the pandemic, though terrible, giving us extra time to be within the streets. It was stunning for everybody to be collectively and develop into militant collectively.” Make no mistake, although: This document is “not reactionary” to present occasions however is as a substitute a results of a band that acquired “nearer to what they’re making an attempt to precise,” Steed says.
Although the band proceed to achieve wider audiences by their compelling mix of business, post-punk, hardcore and digital music, coupled with a significant document take care of Loma Vista, they’re conscious of the machine that’s behind the music business as an entire. When more cash and business fingers are available, there’s all the time the chance that these elements will take the spirit out of the music and develop into a direct battle of non-public morals. “It’s an odd actuality for us,” Steed says. “With Present Me The Physique, we replicate in opposition to these terrible issues, however it’s an impediment course for us.”
Pratt is admittedly extra outspoken on the subject of capitalism and the way it inevitably has an impact on the band’s mission, however he’s assured that their presence will finally result in widespread change inside an business that has been plagued with injustices and hanging energy imbalances. “Life is harmful, however as a punk band, we have now by no means had the mentality to vanish and romanticize not working exhausting. I wish to achieve success and get into the constructing so it may be rearranged. I don’t wish to be a loopy particular person exterior. I wish to be in there serving to to burn it down,” Pratt stresses.
[Photo by Nick Sethi]
Sonically, Present Me The Physique’s music is a protest in itself. Unconventional music constructions and a penchant for fixed evolution and experimentation permeate their sound, parts that the band have been diving deeper into with their newest album. “Because the band progresses, we experiment and alter our roles once we get into the studio and end one another’s sentences with new concepts,” Steed says. “Whether or not it’s a wailing, banjo or synthesizer, it provides to the fullness of our sound. We’re all the time making an attempt to surpass the very last thing we did.”
In fact, the band are absolutely conscious that following up the crucial acclaim and success of Canine Whistle was an infinite activity. In speaking to the band, nonetheless, it’s clear that they really feel they’ve completed their mission and stand by their work wholeheartedly. When requested in the event that they suppose Bother The Water is the head of their sound to date, the band unequivocally agree. “It was a labor of affection, nevertheless it’s essentially the most Present Me The Physique document to this point,” Steed says with assuredness.
On Bother The Water, the phrase “labor of affection” rings true, with the band going so far as constructing the studio that it was recorded from the bottom up. Talking on the DIY nature behind the recording course of, Steed notes, “It was much less time fussing about how issues sound however extra so how the songs needs to be. If we will imagine the sonics are what they need to be, we will make our concepts stronger than ever, and we had been actually lucky for that with this document.” As a result of the reside present is so paramount to understanding Present Me The Physique, the band had been adamant about capturing that riotous spirit within the studio. Actually, Steed says “WW4” is a real embodiment of that course of. “We had been all arrange in a room monitoring it reside, and, nearly seamlessly, an ambulance comes by with its siren on the excellent second, and now that’s in on the document. We acquired a photographic scene without spending a dime, and that was undoubtedly a lightning-in-a-bottle second.”
Whereas the recording course of for Bother The Water was a creatively stimulating expertise that allowed for continuous exploration of recent sounds, Pratt additionally reopened previous wounds and relived previous traumas. In the course of the creation of Bother The Water, Pratt primarily went to struggle inside himself to take advantage of susceptible and sincere assortment of songs doable. “There’s no celebration [during recording], and when it’s [finished], you’ll be able to have fun just a little bit, however not an excessive amount of,” he says. “It needs to be nice; it will probably’t simply be good. Good is filled with shit.”
Now that Present Me The Physique are getting into one other new period with Bother The Water, the band are wanting globally this time round to increase their mission, ethos and the work that’s finished day in and day trip by their collective CORPUS. “Now we have cultivated one thing in New York and even Los Angeles, however the entire aim is to offer shelter, whether or not bodily or a realm of an thought or thought, to anybody who wants it,” Pratt assures.
