Blunt Bangs
Hometown: Athens, Georgia
Album: Proper Smoker, out September 17 via Ernest Jenning Record Co.
RIYL: Power Pop. Escapism. Hobbies.
Hard to believe, but writing for this esteemed— and very wonderfully put together— mag isn’t my day job, but it is arguably the one that brings me the most joy to my soul. Some might call that a hobby or a side gig, but I think we all have those skills or parts of our life that we adore but realize might not be the thing we can do forever. While I won’t speculate on the long-term prospects of supergroup Blunt Bangs, this power pop passion project gleefully reeks of the sort of cumulative creative joy from its collective members. Featuring members of Black Kids, Deep State, Woods, and more, there’s a sense that each member has had a long-standing adoration of this exact style, and has seemingly forever wanted to do something just like this. This outpouring of artistic love has been my favorite form of escapism in 2021, as Blunt Bangs write the sort of music I can only imagine hearing at a large outdoor venue (some fucking day, hopefully) with a drink in hand and friends nearby. It turns out that was just the plan for the band, as guitarist and vocalist Christian “Smokey” DeRoeck recalls:
“I met [drummer] Cash [Carter] and [guitarist and vocalist] Reggie [Youngblood] shortly after moving to Athens from Brooklyn in 2012. They moved here from Jacksonville around the same time, so we were all relative noobs to a scene that can seem a bit insular to outsiders. I remember the first time Reggie and I hung out, we bonded over our mutual adoration of Teenage Fanclub. We totally geeked out, and it was the first time since moving I’d met someone who I connected with over music like that. As we drove home, I excitedly told the girl I was dating at the time, ‘I’m gonna start a band with that dude someday.’ She just stared at me and scoffed, ‘Uh, I doubt it. You know he was in Black Kids, right?’”
Watch the video for “Decide” here:
For more from Blunt Bangs, find them on Bandcamp.
Photo courtesy of Blunt Bangs and Sean Dunn
