We have been coddled. Our ears are used to the watered-down sounds of so-called hard rock, and our minds have been lulled by the apologetic lyrics. Some Awful Bridge, composed of Mark Reynolds, Michael Galante, Ari Rothland, Eric Filth, and Michael “Two Step”, bring us back to the experimental punk rock of the ‘80’s. They take the cultured approach of most great sounds, bringing a poetic justice to their song. Strong-handed chords accompany verses like, “knock-kneed and priceless/she had long legs or something/dancing on the highway/in the strobe of all new headlights”, and the vocals singing are just rough enough to make it all sound poignant. I sat down with Mark, Ari and Michael G. to have a talk before seeing their show this Friday at the Delancy (9:00 pm) in NYC:

Sherene Hilal: The band’s name, “Some Awful Bridge”, how did that originate?

Mark: Bibliomantically. I was looking for a name for a separate project, and it was at the time the concept for Some Awful Bridge was brewing. I got the book, opened it, pointed and ended up liking the name.

SH: And you guys went with it?

Ari: It sticks.

Michael: It works really well as a play on words because you can say, “we’re playing Some Awful show” or, “we have Some Awful pens to hand out”. It’s kind of like a Death to the Pixies thing.

MR: It sets a high bar because when you have the word “awful” in your name you have to really make sure you aren’t awful because you’ve already handed any detractors.

SH: You’re basically handing people an adjective.

MR: Exactly.

SH: So I’ve listened to all of your recording and there’s a lot of cohesion in your sound for a band that flirts with experimental. What is your music-making process?

MR: it’s somewhere between pretentious stochastic composition and a blend of everything else. Sometimes it builds, sometimes we hear things ready-made.

MG: Like hearing a chord progression and building off that.

Ari: Starting with some type of drum tempo, and create as we go along.

SH: What about musical influences?

MG: I was influenced by the 90’s alternative rock scene, The Cure, Pixies, Zeppelin.

Ari: 80’s alternative, 90’s alternative, The Chameleons.

MR: It’s something that’s more than us. Not to sound pretentious. I have a, “don’t introduce band members on stage rule” because it’s fine for others to do that, but it’s not us. If you’re looking for a genre, there are words that can be applied if it gets people to come out to shows.

SH: What are goals for the future? For the end of this year?. . .actually let’s say the end of next year since this year is almost over.

A: Definitely playing more shows. More out of town gigs.

MR: we’re still in a place as a group that we just finished forming the band. So we are comfortable enough, we’re developing more writing together, projects etc. and that’s really creatively useful because we can spend less time catching up new band members and create new stuff.

A: Any opportunity we’d jump on.

MR: A new band can’t be proud. If people want to see us, then we want people to see us anyplace.

SH: So since you guys met solely to play music, how do you get along on a friendship level? Any embarrassing stories?

MR: All I can think of are other peoples’.

A: What about Eric? He’s not here. He’s defenseless.

MR: I think it’s okay to pull his leg about it. We respect each other, but this is a good laugh. We were rehearsing in mid-town and Eric comes out of rehearsal and his car was gone. He said he has parked right across the street from the studio but his car was gone and he thought it had been stolen. So he called the cops, and it was cold. . .

MG: We looked at the signs on the street, and technically he was legally parked, which is why we kept asking him if he was sure it wasn’t parked on another block. But he said he was certain.

MR: Anyways we wait for him. The police finally came, and it turned out his car had been towed for unpaid parking tickets.

A: We really need better embarrassing stories.

MR: We aren’t calling it our, “Blood and Nudity Tour” for nothing.

SH: If you had to get a tattoo right this second what would you get and why?

MR: Does one that already exists count? The one that I have now is a “caustic” face (note to the readers: it looks like a smiley face). It’s not a smiley face, it’s caustic. It’s smiling because it knows something about you. One that I have in the works is a work by Salvador Dali on my back.

MG: I have the symbol for Radiohead on my upper arm. The next thing I want to do with it is get actual written music underneath from a Radiohead song. I don’t like them at all though.

A: I’m a big Pink Floyd fan so I guess I’d get the triangle from “Dark Side of the Moon”, and maybe get lyrics around it. Then maybe a picture of the band members all down my arm haha. If you’re getting a tattoo it has to be meaningful.

SH: So I guess those girls that get random stars all over their body aren’t really thinking things through. . .

MR: Exactly. You have to think that fifteen years from now when you’re sitting at a bar and the tat is faded and ugly what can you still be proud of. I’m neurotic so I think about that.

SH: What do you want people to know about your band?

MR: Anything I can say is going to sound so pretentious. We are working in a way that’s not contemporary, we do something that is beyond three minutes, and hopefully we do it in such a way that you want to stick with us through the whole thing. We are trying to embody the struggle of man’s inhumanity to man in life during the diurnal course of the day. The stars really influence our affairs and how that influences geopolitics and the nature of beauty and truth.

MG: That wasn’t too big was it?

A: That was supposed to be the pretentious bit. That made no sense, but if kind of blew my mind. We want people to respect us for the music that we play and to listen to what we are saying.

MR: We work novelistically creating different songs. We take a more writing approach to things.

MG: People can always follow, Some Awful tweeting.

MR: oh you tweeted!? You twat. You twit?

MG: I twatted.

MR: I’m not calling you a twit. I’m trying to figure out the past tense.

MG: I twatted? That just sounds dirty.

MR: We’re trying to do that whole social media thing, but it kinda detracts from the air of mystery that bands used to have. It used to be the more you read about a band, the less you would know and the more you wanted to know. I love that idea. I would love to be the mysterious people in the background. But you have to have people that want you to be mysterious to them to begin with.

Despite their fears of pretention, Some Awful Bridge is unaffected. They put thought and effort behind their sound because they their music is worthwhile, and it is. Final judgments remain reserved until I see them live this Friday, but I have a good feeling about this.

Long Legs Or Something by BestNewBandscom