“Funky punk with vocals,” “tight little songs that are dope,” “good pop songs with a punk rock edge,” and “sex rock” are all phrases the band Spill reluctantly used in an attempt to describe what they sound like. However, besides the “sex rock” tag (lyrics such as “when I’m high I wanna die/ would that be alright?” aren’t exactly fornication fodder) the Pennsylvania four-piece were actually doing a pretty good job in trying to pinpoint their genre-melding ambiguity.
Birthed from the ashes of the two DIY Lancaster, PA bands Placeholder and We Were Skeletons, the members of Spill- vocalist/guitarist Brandon Gepfer, bassist Rafael Diaz, guitarist Andrew Gelburd and drummer Marco Florey- came together in late 2014 after each of them decided they needed to keep making music.
“I quit We Were Skeletons in 2012,” Diaz said. He and his bandmates were stationed in their van outside of the venue The Low Beat in downtown Albany a couple hours before their show on Sept. 24.
“I thought I’d do real life and tell music to fuck off and then two years later I got the itch. At the same time, Placeholder was breaking up,” Diaz continued.
The three other members of Spill all played in Placeholder, a gritty pop punk band, whereas We Were Skeletons was a screamo band. Diaz explained how his once-noodly playstyle was beginning to change and that “Spill is the result of that transition.” Diaz’s influence on the group’s dynamic is apparent on the band’s self-titled debut EP which was released through Broken World Media in August. Each of the five songs has its own style, showing that Spill may be heading in a number of different directions with their future material.
“We’re not really concerned with having the Spill sound,” Florey said. “We just have these riffs and we make these songs out of them.”
“We’re not trying to be within a subgenre or niche,” Diaz said, noting that he and the band still aren’t sure what direction they’re going to take with their next project. “I feel like we’re spiraling towards some central something and hitting spots around it.”
Instrumentally, their songs are all over the place. But according to Gepfer, the lyricist, the EP has a consistent theme.
“The lyrics are about being stuck in something you don’t want to do but you have to do it,” Gepfer said. “You start living your life. You get a house, you get a dog, you get all these other things. And as soon as you [want to] try something different you’re like, ‘well I have to pay for everything I’ve accrued.’”
“Big Boss” starts off the record with thick riffs and an infectious, power-pop chorus. But after examining the lyrics, it becomes clear that the pop sensibilities are in no way reflective of Gepfer’s self-satisfaction. At the time he wrote it, he was working for a bank that foreclosed on homes and re-possessed cars. He was the guy who had to make the call and say, “if you don’t pay up we’re gonna take your stuff.”
“My boss was some sort of former musician and would try to relate to me. He would always talk about cheating on his wife and drinking,” Gepfer said. “I sadly saw myself in that. Like where I might be if I stay in that thing. ‘Big Boss’ is about a person who’s kind of an asshole but is the same kind of person, like anyone else, who just gets caught up in something and continues down that path.”
Gepfer resented his life as a working adult. However, the song “Sucks Either Way” talks about his struggle with finding happiness as a touring musician as well.
“[The song] is about hating your job and hating your life and the rut that you’ve created. But at the same time it’s about me doing touring and hating that too. Everything just sucks. And that’s my personal problem that I have to figure out and wonder what the flaw is internally. But for me, I don’t like working and I don’t like touring. But I like playing music and writing,” he said.
“I feel like that’s also what happens to anyone,” Diaz added. “The fun thing you try to do a lot turns into its own grind. Especially when you’re in a DIY band and it’s so hard to tour and have people give half a shit.”
The four of them have been doing this long enough now to know what needs to happen in order to be a successful touring band. Hopefully their tight musicianship and honest approach to songwriting takes them to the level that their past two bands couldn’t seem to attain.
They’re already off to strong start. Introducing songs about ex-lovers on stage with, “do you ever write something that you never expect anyone to hear?” is definitely an attention-grabber.
Check out Spill:
Bandcamp: http://brokenworldmedia.bandcamp.com/album/spill
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spillrock?fref=ts
-Eli Enis
