’60 Minutes or less’ – the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast – returns with one for the noise-heads, our eleventh episode featuring a particularly enjoyable chat with Matt Korvette, choice shouter in head-wreckers Pissed Jeans!
Notorious noise punks with almost twenty years in the game, Pissed Jeans first melted this particular brain over a decade ago with a kooky video for the insanely catchy ‘False Jesii Part 2’, a song that is weirdly a go-to shower song for yours truly.
From their second album ‘King of Jeans’, released in 2009, they’ve since followed it up with another four full length records, their latest – ‘Half Divorced’ – released in March 2024 via notable tastemakers SubPop. An invigorating ear-assault, there are songs about helicopter parenting, massive personal debt and finding the cons in every inch of the universe.
A month after releasing ‘Half Divorced’, we sat down with vocalist Matt Korvette ahead off a sold out show at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds to talk about their new album, sobriety, eating on the road and crossing the Canadian border when your band is called ‘Pissed Jeans’.
Tell your friends, tell your colleagues, piss your jeans – go nuts!
A handy Spotify player is embedded below, but you can find further ways to listen here.
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Tell you what – we love hearing from artists when things go right. We equally love hearing from artists when things go dreadfully wrong. A song that was a piece of piss, written in 20 minutes? Or years in the making and a bastard to write?
Whether it’s a song that came together through great duress or one that was smashed out in a short amount of time, we’re getting the lowdown from some of our favourites on the one song that they can’t stop thinking about – in their own words.
Randy Huth, bassist in Pennsylvania noise outfit Pissed Jeans, talks us through the track ‘Junktime’ from their new album ‘Half Divorced’(out now on Sub Pop Records). Take it away, Randy…
“‘Junktime‘ is a crusher, truly a stand out track on ‘Half Divorced‘. I don’t say this to take away from the other tracks on the album. Genuinely, my feelings are that this is the best music we’ve assembled as a band to date. That being said, this song is in its own lane. Sonically, lyrically… I’m not totally sure what to say other than that this particular track is fucking special.
There is a lot of bouncing ideas back and forth via text and email. The four of us are all creative people, unfortunately life is chaotic. Getting everyone in a room together at this stage of adulthood is no easy task. Sending riffs to the crew is a good way to get a jump on developing these ideas into actual songs.
Brad first introduced what would be ‘Junktime’ to the rest of the Jeans sometime in mid 2022. We referred to it as “The Slapback One” up until a few months before tracking. Brad had built the song up around this hypnotic, almost insectoid sounding guitar. He is really great at seeing the complete big picture of a tune. There is a lot of thought put into the length of a part, and how spacious and intentionally simple that part is. There is something compelling about the openness that really draws you in. Once you’re comfortable and consumed we are ready to give you an unexpected chop to the throat.
I initially struggled to find my footing with this one. The idea was that the meat of the first portion of ‘Junktime’ would be only guitar, vocals, and kick drum. It’s quite a long time to stand there holding my bass not using it. I fooled around a bit with some delay on the bass, I thought if I could match the tempo of Brad and Sean and use my bass as more of a percussive instrument it might be a nice layer. Ultimately it was too busy, and offered very little to the song, if anything it softened the blow of that throat chop.
It can be intimidating to rehearse a song that’s essentially the same chord 112 times. The best way to tackle a jam like ‘Junktime’ is by charting the song and breaking it up into sections. We put the song through the wringer, and after a lot of work the instrumental portion was complete. I can’t place exactly when we dove into this one in the studio, but we tore through it faster than anticipated. Brad took inspiration from guitarist Jim Campilongo for the end jam guitar solo. Campilongo does a lot of wild string manipulation during his solos. He might detune a string an entire octave mid ripping. It adds this tension, and it’s a bit of a mind fuck trying to compute what the hell is happening with the guitar.
Matt worked his ass off to get this song finished on his end. He had locked himself off in a spare room at the studio where he listened to the song and fine tuned the lyrics. This song was probably the only tune that didn’t have completed lyrics by the time of tracking. After a few hours with his head down he emerged ready to give the vocals a crack. We were floored. The lyrics and his delivery are top notch. I’m not ashamed to say I felt the tears swell when we heard his first pass. When Brad presented this song to the Jeans, it was just this kind of cool idea… but over time it grew into this really fucking powerful song… and we managed to capture it.“
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Eagle-eyed readers might’ve spotted the lack of a ‘Listening Post’ at the start of the year. We’ve been a bit busy launching a podcast you see – ’60 Minutes or less’ – live now, featuring interesting chats with Joe Casey (Protomartyr) and Paul Hanley (The Fall)!
That doesn’t mean we’ve had our ears closed to new music, mind. Alongside our bumper playlist for the year (bringing together everything great throughout 2024), the ‘Listening Post’ returns this month and it’s full of good stuff!
Ease out of January and into February with 20 tunes, old and new – be sure to tell your friends / family / pets too!
With a name that roughly translates as “music from the garbage”, Ugandan outfit Fulu Miziki look like superheroes from an early 80s Troma film series, decked out in eye-boggling attire, playing a number of instruments that they themselves have upcycled. Latest single ‘Pieteron’ is a heart-racing mover-and-shaker to get your body bopping!
Off the back of releasing brutal standalone single ’No Convenient Apocalypse’ last year (one of our Top 50 songs of 2023!), Pennsylvania’s Pissed Jeans look to 2024 with the release of their sixth album, ’Half Divorced’. Lead single ‘Moving On’ treads a little lighter than the last single, but still thunders ahead in chest-pumping fashion, the chorus becoming an instant earworm after just one go.
Early contender for single of the year, ‘How To Feel Uncomfortable’ is a riveting, Cate Le Bon style wonk-pop affair that’s had us hooked since it was released early last month. There’s a hint of LUMP in the mix too, which makes sense given that the new album from Dana Gavanski was recorded with MikeLindsay at his studio in Margate.
Rejoice – a new year comes with news of a new record from BODEGA! The new Yorkers have dipped into their back catalogue, putting together a new record of material originally written almost a decade ago. Anthemic lead single ‘Tarkovski’ is a joy, capturing everything we love about the outfit in a sparkling four minute package. TAKE ME TO THE ZONE!
PUMP! PUMP! PUMP UP THE PYRAMID! Ahead of releasing their fourth full length later this month (via Sub Pop), Atlanta’s Omni return with possibly their catchiest single to date. Featuring the fitting coolness of guest vocalist Izzy Glaudini (a first for the trio), ‘Plastic Pyramid’ is a swish post-punk delight and yet another addictive addition to their oeuvre.
Sounding very much like a ‘Rated R’ b-side, Californian cool lad Ty Segall once again shines with a groove-tastic, fuzzy number about his canine companions, Fanny and Herman. As a dog owner, I sing to my own dog constantly throughout the day, so I feel a kinship with Ty and the gnarly ripper that is ‘MyBestFriend’.
Following the release of their debut album ‘Audio Drag For Ego Slobs’ in 2021, Brooklyn’s Gustaf return this spring with its follow up, ‘Package Pt. 2’. Groovy new single ‘Starting and Staring’ is a stone cold bop, capturing some of the energy and intensity that vocalist Lydia Gammill and the rest of the crew bring to their live shows.
I love how as soon as the chorus hits in this one, it’s like – oh that’s one of the Savage’s! Switching out drums for guitar and taking on shared vocal duties, Max Savage (ParquetCourts) fronts the aptly named Maxband. Latest single ‘Nothing’s Changed’, from their forthcoming debut album, is a swish indie-rock number with some bite.
Sounding not too dissimilar to ‘Blowdry Colossus’, the latest solo album from Peter Brewis of FieldMusic, ‘Behind the Moon’ is a brilliantly wonky pop piece of the ‘Mother Earth’s Plantasia’ variety. From a recently “unearthed” self-titled debut album recorded in Rio de Janeiro in 1976 from progressive Brazilian instrumental musician Marcos Resende.
We were filled with utter delight upon waking up one morning in January to discover The Minneapolis Uranium Club had not only resurfaced, but that there’d be a new album on the way – their first since ‘The Cosmo Cleaners’ back in 2019. New single ‘Small Grey Man’ is a total trip, their quirky DEVO vibes making for a welcome return.
Oh we do love rapid-fire synth-punk gnarliness on Birthday Cake For Breakfast. Dig this from Los Angles outfit Diode, a super catchy speed-run that packs in so much, but is somehow just over a minute long (just how we like It!)
From Birkenhead with love, amazingly it’s taken me 20 years to discover the brilliant ‘She’s In Broadstairs’, but there’s no looking back now. Piss-funny and invigorating all at once, a top turn from Half Man Half Biscuit.
Psych-pop funkiness on this infectious cut from Jane Weaver, ‘Perfect Storm’ being the opener from her forthcoming new album ‘Love In Constant Spectacle’, out this April. It’s more than easy to get lost in this proper hypnotic, cosmic jam.
As a massive fan of Savage’s 2017 solo debut, ‘Thawing Dawn’, I was chuffed up to see the ParquetCourts vocalist return once more in a solo capacity with the release of new album, ‘Several Songs About Fire’. Closer ‘Out Of Focus’ is a heart-swelling slice of loveliness that sounds like the perfect soundtrack to a sunny Sunday jaunt in a sleepy European village.
Off the back of a few knockout singles these past few years, Leeds / Wakefield collective Drahla finally follow up their 2019 debut album ‘Useless Coordinates’ with a full length, due out this spring. As they so often do, Drahla knock it out of the park instantly, new single ‘Default Parody’ being a jagged post-punk head-wrecker, elevated as ever by the cucumber cool vocal of Luciel Brown.
Making their label debut with One Little Independent Records next month, USA Nails kick off new album ‘Feel Worse’ with the gnarly, chaotic ’Cathartic Entertainment’, yet another blistering ear-ringer that has had us making that smell-the-shit face all month. What a way to open a record!
Sounding like the sort of thing David Earl would cook up for a jingle on Chatabix, Donny Benét’s ‘American Dream’ is a total nostalgic funk-fest. With an aesthetic not too dissimilar to fellow countryman / weirdo Alex Cameron, it’s taken a sixth album for us to discover Benét, but with ‘Infinite Desires’, we’re happy to be on board.
It feels very on brand for Group Listening to open up their newest single ‘Frogs’ with – you guessed it – 60 seconds worth of frogs chattering away. The ongoing musical collaboration between Paul Jones and Stephen Black (a.k.a. Sweet Baboo), their forthcoming album ‘Walks’ will be their first collection of completely original compositions. With a hint of an Italian cinema score to it, ‘Frogs’ is a luscious pool to swim in.
Love an oddball vocal, me! On top of a moody but inviting, keep-you-on-your-toes instrumental, vocalist Katie Healy captivates on ‘It’s The Squeeze‘ with an almost theatrical performance. Freshly signed to Fascination Street Records, one gets the feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more from Londoners Dog Race!
A decade on from the release of their self-titled debut album, Ibibio Sound Machine have just announced a new album is on the way – ‘Pull The Rope’ – the news arriving via show-stopping, sultry dance-a-thon lead single ‘Got To Be Who U Are’. London-born Nigerian vocalist Eno Williams graces the records cover once again and rightly so, having put on the usual powerhouse performance as expected!
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