After fifteen minutes of drummer Liv Bruce locating guitarist Ben Hopkins by phone after a wild evening out, I am joined by both member of queer punk duo PWR BTTM to discuss their formation, their music, and their upcoming tour. "At Juilliard, they have a vending machine with lots of Mountain Dew in it," Ben says about his time at a play he attended in support of a friend. "I literally woke up, rolled over, and now I'm like, 'hey!'"
The band remains this comical and candid throughout our chat, even joking that they formed their band after meeting at a messy job at a mill and while working at NASA. In reality, PWR BTTM came into being while the two were students at Bard College in upstate New York. "I was a freshman, Ben was a sophomore. It was the first weekend of the year," Liv explained. "I just kind of walked into his place because I thought he was having a party. I kind of just crashed his chill hang out."
Party crasher or not, it led to the formation of a band.
Jokingly, they described their music as "terrible." Liv then added, "I've been listening to a lot of garage rock lately. In a way, that defines the writing process we have, in terms of the two of us going at it." They also described the music as "combative," where the instruments seem to be working against one another. They quote Jack White, saying, "Playing guitar should feel like a battle," however they "take it one step further," their personalities making their music sound like "a tsunami [crashing against] a cliff."
Last year, the band recorded and released their debut album "Ugly Cherries" in upstate New York. In the year following Ben's college graduation, they worked on writing the songs. Ben voiced his preference for their song "Nu1" because it reflects the "strange, more open chord" songs he is writing. During the process, Liv was in a play at Bard, as well, where he rehearsed for hours in the morning then went to work on "Ugly Cherries." "I would drive forty-five minutes to get to the studio then record till midnight," Liv said."I love doing too much." When they listen to the album, Liv still thinks about everything they saw driving down I-87 between recording sessions.
Liv also lists their email in the song "I Wanna Boi." The shout out was inspired by Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back." "I try to answer every message I receive," they said. "It's a cool way for fans to reach out." If you're interested in reaching out, Liv's email is ob8419@bard.edu.
The band lives in New York, so playing there will be a special show. "We did basement shows. It was always just PWR BTTM playing for our friends," Ben said. "We never thought it would be bigger than that experience. To play in New York is a big reminder of who we are."
PWR BTTM will be performing at Market Hotel in Brooklyn on February 26th and at Webster Hall in Manhattan on March 4th. You can find more information about either show on their website.
