Brooklyn’s The So So Glos have just released their third LP Kamikaze here in Australia. There’s some talent behind this one too, being recorded by John Reis (Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes) and mixed by Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley and Cursive).
The record dropped last Friday, and is a slab of hard hitting NYC punk rock, drawing clear influence from and pays tribute to America’s greatest punk bands from The Ramones to Black Flag.
Give this one a spin, and have a read of what the guys have to say about each track below.
Dancing Industry
This one is a call to action. Calling kids of all ages, come out, come out wherever you are. Come from behind your screens and on to the dance floor. Lets build a new army of empathic, peace seeking individuals. Lets churn out this feeling in an “assembly line” like fashion. This ain’t a party that we’re starting, it’s a movement that we’re blowing up. This song was written the day after we finished recording our previous album, Blowout. It’s the first track on the record, and the first words you hear are “BLOWN OUT”. It picks up right where we left off. The saga continues….
A.D.D. Life
There’s too much information and we’re all having trouble concentrating. We’ve got an entire generation with A.D.D. in a world that’s constantly connected but still isolated. This was also written a few days after the completion of Blowout and I was listening to a lot of Fiona Apple at the time.
Going Out Swingin’
This is a self-destructive “going out” party anthem. It’s an equally empowering & self-deprecating feeling. The use of the word swinging is a quadruple entendre. Going out swinging: either sexually swinging, or swinging a baseball bat (playing for the losing team), swinging from a noose, or swing dancing on the dance-floor. If you listen closely, you can hear Broadway’s own Danny Miller playing the cello over the requiem outro. Alex recorded the strings with Danny in a little apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Devils Doing Handstands
The hangover from last night’s party. The protagonist here has a momentary sense of clarity and is fully aware of the spiritual journey he is on. At this point in the record, we’re looking back at mistakes of the past and saying “next time around, I’ll do handstands on the ground” to change my state of mind. This one is for an optimist who see’s through a pessimistic lens. An ode to reincarnation.
Magazine
It’s an attempt to dispel the myth that on the cover of magazines girls must stay lean and boys must stay mean. This is another call to action by the protagonist who’s intentions are to burn down the beliefs that fuel the structural institutions which perpetuate the stereotypes between us & marginalize communities of people based on gender, race, class, you name it…
Sunny Side
Heartbreak opens the floodgates to climatic variation. It’s nothing new under the sun, but this is sarcastic one. This song came out when a hurricane hit Brooklyn and the power went out over Manhattan for a week. I wrote this song in a plastic bag.
Kings County II Ballad Of A So So Glo
In this song we’re talking about the self-obsessed culture in which we live. This is the story of two So So Glos lost in a world of celebrated narcissism.
A So So Glo is defined as: 1. A postmodern egotist whose devotion to themselves supersedes any moral, social or political cause (this can also be used as an empowering term for someone who works to combat this type of behavior). 2. The Glo that is emitted from a portable information device such as a phone tablet or computer.
Fool On The Street
A fool on the street who refuses to play the game. The fool witnesses people rising to power and takes note of the moral compromises that are made to make it to the top. The fool harbours feelings of disillusionment, directed toward the ones we put on a pedestal. This was written underground. I think it means absolute power corrupts absolutely, and all that jazz.
Cadaver
The feeling you get at the end of your rope. Our hero is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, shooting off at the mouth. This is a character who truly is beyond caring what people think. This song evolved out of an idea that we’d been kicking around for a little while but it wasn’t written until the day before we recorded it.
Inpatient
A glimpse into a stay at an inpatient mental rehabilitation center. Protagonist is institutionalized and removed from society. Lyrics on this one by Matt.
Down The Tubes
Using Kamikaze as a metaphor for taking someone in a human relationship down with you because of all that they’ve done. This one is also a comment on violence. It’s an ANTI violence song that plays with narrative prospective
Missionary
The feeling you get when you’re on a mission and you need to shout it out loud at the whole wide world. This particular mission is guided by peace, love and punk rock ethics. Picture a missionary using an extreme of explosive proportion to get though to the kids who need it. John Reis can be heard chanting along with the gang on the outro.
