Pardoner cuts through the fuzz of hellworld on Came Down Different
We chat with the San Francisco band on tech bro fuckery, pre-pandemic anger, and their new album, out now on Bar None Records.
While there was always a certain and very strong inner anger I held about how the United States is run prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, that anger has shifted and continues to grow now through how we fucking (purposefully) bungled this and sent ourselves and the rest of the world (especially the global south) into a death spiral that we might have a chance to swirl out of.
So when Pardoner’s new album, Came Down Different, hit my inbox a few weeks ago and I listened to it out of curiosity while working, I came away incredible impressed and mad at myself for not discovering the band sooner, as it perfectly encompasses my musical obsessions over the past half-decade or so. Snarky lyrics are balanced with moments of cutting sincerity, powerful hooks backed behind walls of sound, and a drive that many wish they had make up one of my favorite albums of the year so far.
I briefly caught up with the band over email to ask them about what inspires their songwriting, making an album that perfectly captures the anger of the moment despite it being recorded over a year prior, and more.
There's a certain loudness/unhinged energy all throughout this record that I feel like is slowly making a comeback in the greater post-punk/indie rock scene, what inspires the band to reach these heights?
We are generally just fans of music that goes beast in that way. But in a way, sure, I think people in our age bracket look to the future and see nothing but worsening conditions on the horizon, so maybe thats a generational malaise type thing.
What was it like working with Jack Shirley on this album?
We have worked with Jack on all 3 of our full lengths. We contact him and beg him to let us into the studio and then he goes completely ape shit and makes us sound pretty good. He is awesome.
You all largely met while going to school in San Francisco and recorded this new album there. It definitely feels like there's a unique energy/anger that can only come from dealing tech bro fuckery, is that a correct read on the music? If so, how do you think the scene has affected your songwriting process?
There are definitely a lot of people who are affected by “tech bro fuckery” more than us. To native SF people, college students blowing into town and starting a rock band is probably a similar genre of “fuckery.” Kind of feels like the thing with the pot and kettle, but yeah the way that SF is operated is fucked up. It’s probably more of the “generational malaise” thing again.
The album was recorded right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US yet emotionally this record feels like it's lived through all this collective trauma we've gone through in the last year, do you think the pandemic is just a continuation of the issues in our country or a completely different beast that we've yet to understand?
The stuff we wrote about living in normal hell kind of just goes double for the pandemic. We’ve been lucky to be healthy and safe during all this but it is clearly a bad time to be a person working. The pandemic is just another brick of shit on the wobbly jenga tower of shit, I.M.H.O.
One of the surprising things about this album is that despite how loud and frantic it can get at times (especially with it being recorded in two days), this album is filled to the brim with some really catchy hooks, almost reminiscent of the early days of metal/hard rock, is this a conscious choice when writing or things just so happen to come out that way?
It’s fun to start with something more straight forward and build out with more “frantic” or weird and funny stuff? I think we’ve sort of grown into our writing habits with each other over the years and its also probably a reflection of our music tastes. Like if Colin is listening to Elvis Costello when we’re writing a record and River is listening to Discharge, those things kinda peek through a bit. As far as early metal/hard rock sounding stuff, we love a lot of 60s and 70s guitar music and probably tried to steal some riffs from our rock elders.
And finally what is everyone's favorite butt rock song and why?
Max and Trey’s favorite is Higher by Creed. Colin and River’s is Lips of an Angel by Hinder. The chorus riff on Higher goes pretty ham sandwich. Meanwhile the chord change and solo at 2:46 on the Hinder song go completely centaur mode.
Came Down Different is out now on Bar None Records. Stream and purchase the album on Bandcamp.