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The Murky world of Merchandise
t alnpa, FL band Merchandise has been around since
2008, but no one could blame you if you hadn't
heard of it until now. Up until about a year ago, band
members' punk ethos dictated that they do things
like record on broken equipment and turn down offers for long
features from tastemakers like Pitchfork. But, just as the band's
music has evolved from its punk and hardcore beginnings, its
philosophy has, too.
After years of sharing their music for free, culling fans
from around the globe and hitting many of the stops on the
punk life map laid out in that excellent history of the genre,
Our Band Could Be Your Life???working crummy minimum-
wage jobs, favoring non-traditional venues on tour, etc.???the
members of Merchandise have had to face the fact that a lot
of people think they're great. And in order to reach all those
people, they've made certain compromises with regard to their
claims about not wanting to be part of the big music indus
try machine. This year, they played the decidedly un-small
Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, and they're slated for
this weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.
All this, combined with Merchandise's tendency to blend the
palatable pop sensibilities of '80s new wave and a melancholy
that calls to mind early Morrissey with shrill noise and frenetic
saxophone makes the group a little bit puzzling. I say as much
to guitarist Dave Vassalotti, who's known for his decidedly
straightforward attacks on his instrument onstage.
"I think ambiguity is a beautiful thing," he says, "and I
think I'll leave it at that."
Thankfully, on other topics, he is more forthcoming. "It
was something different than we're used to. We're used to
playing basements and garages and stuff like that," he says of
Merchandise's recent spate of big gigs. "I feel like if you go
out there with confidence, you can make the best out of it.
We're going to be playing some huge stages."
The confidence the band needs to take on this next step
is something its members???singer Carson Cox, guitarist
Vassalotti, drummer Eisner Nino and saxophonist Chris Florn???
began developing in their punk and hardcore days on the
tight-knit Tampa scene.
"We've grown up playing punk, and it's how we all met
each other and how we learned to play our instruments and all
that," Vassalotti, who attribute's his band's fierce individual
ism to Tampa's "constructive insanity," says. "It seems weird
now watching punk and hardcore bands getting popular in
the indie-rock world, but I think it can say a lot, coming from
that place, because you have to do everything for yourself and
come up from nothing."
That sense of self-sufficiency permeates both Merchandise's
lyrics (from "Winter's Dream": "I'd rather kill myself/ Than to
be somebody else") and its public persona. Take this quote
from Cox, from a 2012 interview with Pitchfork: "With punk,
you count on no one but yourself. That is, to me, the most
important experience."
The band's decision not to step out into the limelight until
fairly recently has served it well in a way members didn't
anticipate???it gave them time to develop their sound, from the
downer-pop of their first proper LP, 2010's (Strange Songs) In
the Dark, to something rich, emotional and increasingly hard
to peg.
With this focus on a honed sonic identity, Merchandise is
racking up fans, especially abroad. The group recently made its
first trip to Europe, and is planning to return after a brief run
in the U.S. this summer. The Caledonia show this week kicks
off the first of only seven shows in the band's home country
before it crosses the pond for an extensive European jaunt.
Merchandise's most recent LP, Totale Nite, has been quite well
received there.
"A lot of the reviews in the UK and France have been pretty
stellar, but people in the States have not taken on to it," says
Vassalotti. "You can definitely see a divide there. I've noticed a
lot more enthusiasm from the European press. I think they are
a lot more open to new things."
And even at home, the band is enjoying a modicum of suc
cess. The members of Merchandise have finally been able to
quit the minimum-wage jobs that supported them through the
first five years of their career. ("I was the last to quit, and
I did so pretty recently," Vassalotti says.) Still, some of the
band's DIY tendencies remain. For instance, the band still col
lects donations through its website.
"Kickstarter [has] always left a pretty bad taste in our
mouth," Vassalotti confides. "I've just seen so many poorly
done ones, where people should just do the work themselves."
If this sounds a bit hypocritical, consider that all of
Merchandise's music has always been and continues to be
downloadable, for free, with the band's blessing. "That's how
we got into the music that we like???the first file-sharing gen
eration and all that," Vassalotti explains.
Merchandise continues to garner increasing name recogni
tion, but who its members are, what they stand for, remains
murky. They espouse punk virtues without making punk music.
They refuse to neatly tie up their identity in punchy marketing
material. They've railed against the music industry in inter
views, and yet they have increasingly become a willing partici
pant in it.
They also make quite lovely, often challenging music that
defies categorization. And in the end, that might be what
really matters. The ambiguity that surrounds it? It's a beautiful
thing.
Rachel Bailey
(??? \
WHO: Merchandise, Shaved Christ, RITVALS
WHERE: Caledonia Lounge
WHEN: Wednesday, July 17,9:30 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $6 (21+), $8 (18-20)
V )
JULY 17, 2013 ??? FLAGP0LE.COM 11