Art Official (Bruhders)
Liam & Brad getting radical
Origin: Philadelphia, PA
Members: Ron Carter (Bass), Liam Weinman (Drums), Jacob Buckley (Vocals), John Newton (Guitar), Brad Mackenzie (Guitar)
Influences: The Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Every Time I Die, Unwound, The Jesus Lizard, Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Botch, Champion, Black Breath, Dinosaur Jr.
Plagiarizing the Divine Comedy
Hey folks, guess this would be the point where a concisely edited, trimmed and PR approved biography for our band would go, telling you guys about how hard we’ve struggled to “make it” and how after being a band for a matter of months we deserve huge amounts of money and fame (PS. PICK UP OUR NEW HIT SINGLE, JUST IN TIME FOR THE NEW YEAR). Unfortunately, we aren’t musical prodigies; there isn’t any sort of dark horse/underdog success story to share, so this lame attempt to sound as intelligent as my University of Penn degree says I should will have to suffice. In case the generic header hadn’t tipped you off, we’re a band by the name of Art Official, from none other than the beautiful city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia; and yes, I can’t stand New York sports.
To provide what I’m gonna chalk up to being the “band history”, Art Official really came to being from a convergence of a number of locals within the Philadelphia “scene”. I was working on my English Major at the time at U. of Penn, where, between dorm room intermingling and a number of overlapping classes, I had formed a pretty close-knit friendship with Liam and Ron. Liam and I actually go back even further, having originally grown up just across the street from each other, in case anyone could ever be bothered to care. Needless to say, just like any number of other bull-headed college kids have done over the years, we hung out and jammed on occasion, and even worked up enough hype to land a couple shows at some real end of the line clubs. No one came to see us, most likely due in part to the fact that we sucked and had a real thing for shitty Black Flag covers (which I still abstain are the BEST kind of Black Flag covers).
Meanwhile, Jacob was in a band called Young Rushmore at the time, and they were the “IT” band, ya’ know? No matter what shitty B-side riffs we spit out, they were always like 10 levels beyond us and everyone else in the scene, Jacob being the real standout act, of course. Being the classy dudes we are, we were constantly pestering him to join our band. I’d come to Young Rushmore shows and bring pictures of guys like Jacob Bannon from Converge or Keith Buckley from Every Time I Die playing in front of these fucking insane crowds of hardcore kids, and I’d just point to them and say, “Ditch your band for us dude, and that’s gonna be you”. He’d always be pretty cool about it and pretty nonchalantly blow us off. It wasn’t until we had convinced John, who was at the time a notable local producer, to join our band that Jacob took us seriously at all. All I can imagine is that he figured if John Newton was comfortable sinking his career with us, that there must be at least SOME sort of plus to joining Art Official. Poor choice on his part…
As far as music goes, we always get asked to pigeonhole our band into a specific genre, which becomes progressively more difficult to do as time goes on. To be honest, there was never a conscious decision to play any specific style of music; we just started jamming and playing what we wanted to for the most part. Sure, you could say it’s “Technical Indie-Mathcore crossed with jazz infused metal and punk” or whatever. But that would really defeat the point. At heart, we are a very aggressive sounding band that I think loosely fits under the umbrella of punk or hardcore, and we aren’t afraid to write some super technical or experimental music should we feel like it. Some people who aren’t inclined to listen to aggressive music tend to label us as metal, which I don’t think is totally false, given that you can hear the faint Entombed and Napalm Death influences (the summation of my adolescent music library), but we really just try to push the boundaries of music in whatever ways possible, regardless of genre lines or rules. It doesn’t bother me that we’re an incredibly inaccessible sounding band, because if we had any sort of pop star dreams, this would be a pretty fucked up way of attaining those, eh?
I guess the identifying factor everyone tends to associate with us is our chaotic live shows, which almost always end in blood both on and off the stage. I just remember seeing bands like Converge as a kid and seeing so many people jumping off the stage and yelling the lyrics and how up close and animated the band was, and just thinking, I want my shows to be this insane. To me, there’s no better feeling then seeing kids beating the shit out of each other, and just freaking out in front of them and vibing off that mutual energy. We play these shows for fun, cause it’s not like we actually make any money from our gigs. We don’t approach things like playing 3 shows a day as a job or a challenge, we just look at it is a chance to go fucking nuts. I feel like if I leave the stage without having somehow self-inflicted damage to my body during the set, that I’ve let down the crowd and that I didn’t go hard enough. I mean, the only gear to my name is a pickup, the rest is either purchased last minute from pawn shops or borrowed from other bands, all of which inevitably ends up in pieces by the end of the night.
I just think there’s such a lack of real quality bands out there today that really strive to push the limits of music and performance. So many of these Top 40 Hit acts feel super choreographed and sterile, as if there’s a record exec with a gun off to the side running the whole show. I just want to go out there and be original and make a positive impact on some kid’s life, ya’ know? No number of records sold or #1 singles can make up for the feeling you get when you’re hanging out in a club after jamming with 150 crazy kids, and someone comes up and tells you that you’ve inspired them to start a band as well.
The whole idea of DIY ethics is dying, as you start to see brand name tours with carefully planned out stage shows and hours of preparation, cause heaven forbid an artist does something to fuck up the tour and piss off their sponsors….
Give me a break. I mean, there are still some really cool bands out there, but even the whole idea of the punk aesthetic is fading. Kids these days think punk is just another trend you can buy yourself into with the right clothes and the right lyrics. No. Punk isn’t saying, “I think I’m gonna fuck with the bouncer at our show tomorrow”, punk is throwing a monitor off the stage without a care for the bouncer simply because you’re caught up in the moment. We’ve tried really hard to preserve our artistic integrity as far as designing our own merch and writing our own music goes. We’re real people, and we’re gonna write whatever the fuck we want to, regardless of what’s selling. I wouldn’t be writing this letter in person if I didn’t truly care about what I’m saying. I’m sure some folks like Stephanie Fierce or the likes end up turning their album into the label thinking, “Well, I kinda like those 3 songs, so I’m gonna put them on there anyways, cause that’s what the label wants, and if I give them their hit singles, they’ll let me fill the rest of the album with music that actually matters to me”. How hyped do you thinking people like that get when they get to include one or two B-sides on their setlist? I can’t imagine playing a whole show thinking, “I gotta play these 15 songs that I’m sick to death of, but hey, Song X is in there too! I’m gonna be so pumped when we get around to playing that”.
For those of you who have braved my ranting out to the end, thanks. If you wouldn’t mind the shameless plugging, I’d like to quickly mention that as of now Art Official is playing any local basement or club on the East Coast willing to make the mistake of taking us. There isn’t much of any plans for touring or any record deals, but chances are we may get around to self-releasing some material sooner or later should the time adequately present itself. Until then, see ya’ kids.
Anyone who isn’t tweeting this isn’t alive.
-Brad Mackenzie
(OOC: Trying to get the old gears moving again, hope it isn't too bad. With any luck this'll stir stuff up a bit, ya'mean?)
Edited by user 05 January 2012 16:54:24(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
