In life, it’s easy to stay in the confinements of comfort, not wanting to branch out and push your limits. Show Me the Body’s most ambitious and foundational record to date, Trouble the Water, out now via Loma Vista Recordings, defies all boundaries. It all boils up to this moment as we hear the band flexing and extending their creative limbs to their fullest extent.
Trouble the Water is a thoughtfully constructed piece of contemporary musical literature. Its unconventional nature subverts expectations across all fronts. Illustrating themes of community, violence, love, loss, respect, and fuckin’ with the set. Can you unpack the title Trouble the Water a bit more for us in terms of what its significance personally means to you?
Julian Cashwan Pratt: Yes sir, I guess Trouble the Water means to upset, to irritate, to reconfigure, to inflame. And so, you know, obviously, it’s a common phrase in gospel music and stuff like that. But it’s also I guess, like, how we’re using it also in talking about, almost physical alchemy and change of person. And change of space.
A space can be changed, but easier, by like, fucking with yourself and figuring out what you can do and how you can progress how you can change your game, you know what I mean? That’s how you participate and change the game rather than focusing on the space around you like to focus on the switch.
Yeah, more like that spiritual kind of personal growth within the record. ‘Cause the sonics of Trouble the Water are genre bending alone to me. To me, like all your projects, Trouble the Water, is kind of like a symbol of growth for each of you in terms of in your own respects. How did you all discover your styles that led to what we’re hearing today, in Trouble the Water?
Harlan Steed: I think we’ve just been, you know, honing in on the Show Me the Body style with each record. When we started, we had never even thought about making a record; we were kind of just preoccupied with performing and playing shows. And when we were given that opportunity, we had to learn how to do it. And ever since then, every project since then has been kind of like synthesizing our own process and our own style. And I think this record has just gotten the closest to what Show Me the Body is so far because it’s the latest one.
Trouble the Water kind of serves as a motif to NYC in terms of its claustrophobic, yet rich and diverse environment. There’s off-the-wall moments of suffocating riffs (“We Came Here to Play,” “War Not Beef”) accompanied by screeching analog glitches (“Radiator,” “Boils Up”). Then there are moments of stillness and ambient soundscapes like (“Out of Place” and “WW4”). How has NYC helped shape the sound of Show Me the Body over the years?
Harlan Steed: We get asked a lot of times, when it comes to the conversation of genre, like, where do we belong? And, like, what type of music are we trying to participate in, and I think Julian has really kind of honed in on it as being like New York sound. Essentially a reflection of the culture of making music in the city and its rhythms, it’s like circadian patterns. It’s kind of like its energies that get passed down through general music, and we’ve always been inspired and trying to participate in that; I think we’re just again gotten closer to it.
Julian Cashwan Pratt: And then the term “New York sound” is not synthesized by me. It’s synthesized by Ray Orta of the band Eon, who’s also a promoter around New York and stuff like that back in the day.
Harlan Steed: Yeah, and I think, like, there’s songs on this record, that definitely navigate the city a little bit, but we recorded it at home. We recorded this album in our own studio. And that really allowed us to capture that, because we’ve often traveled or had to go to other places to do it and building your own space to like, you know, building your own factory is a huge part of this record.
Julian Cashwan Pratt: And I think also this—It kind of just goes unsaid because that’s who it is, you know what I mean? That’s who we are. And that’s what it’s gonna sound like regardless. But I think especially with this record, our goal wasn’t even necessarily like concerned with the city as much to express ourselves and make a message that could extend to the earth, you know?
Yeah, for sure, for sure. That’s well put. Even the cover art for this album is its most chaotic today. It’s a good representation of what listeners can expect from what they’re about to dive into. You even kept it consistent with the three coffins representing you three, but this time they’re scorched in flames. What was the direction for the cover art this time around?
Julian Cashwan Pratt: I mean, bro, we shot the last one out of a fucking helicopter. We had to make it better. ‘Cause that’s the goal. It’s not necessarily more intense or higher graphics. It’s like, how do you become better at what you do? ‘Cause like that is the whole goal of doing anything. Even you as a writer, like how do you make every piece a step closer to something that you could show somebody—You can be very proud to show that you did this to the earth. You know what I mean? Like what can you leave behind you that you can be sincerely proud of? And so to get to that goal, you always have to be doing better than you did the last time. Every single time has to be better than you did it the last time.
Yeah. Well, hey man, y’all fucking succeeded on this one, dude. For sure. You guys are rock stars. I love it. I’m not even just saying that. I’m just a big fan. I’m fanboy-ing over here (laughter). Even kind of what you were just saying, Julian, like in terms of writing, the writing on this album, is sublime and self-aware as it always is with its honest gutter imagery and personal storytelling. Trouble the Water, to me, is a great example of showing rather than telling— a technique used in every literary craft. Are there any methods, techniques, or routines you all do outside of music to keep your writing brain sharp or you just do it? Fuck it.
Julian Cashwan Pratt: I mean we all do different shit sometimes, but I think also just write; we also all make music outside of just Show Me the Body all the time. So, like we said earlier, that is just constant practice, constant practice. I used to train Kung Fu with my master, David Kaplan, in Chinatown. He used to say that his master said to him, he said, “You train one day; you gain one day. Skip one day, you lose three days.” It’s kind of the same thing with writing.
Yeah man. Like, even with me, I went to… this isn’t about me, but just a side note. I went to school for literature and writing, and I found myself not even being able to write sometimes because I lost that muscle in my brain. ‘Cause I wasn’t doing it as much. And so now that I’ve been with New Noise talking to artists like you and writing up articles, it just kind of brought that back. And like what you were just saying, Julian, if you’re not practicing, you’re gonna kind of lose all that time that you spent putting into it. So that’s a great perspective to have. Keep working at it.
Julian Cashwan Pratt: Like, practice is good, but consistency is, like, in yourself, in your technique, you know?
Yeah. Most definitely like even regarding the writing of the record, we just came off a two-year hiatus from COVID that halted touring and a lot of artistic productions worldwide. How did the pandemic affect your process? Like, what was the head space you were all in during that time you were creating this?
Julian Cashwan Pratt: We built a studio.
Harlan Steed: We were kind of determined to stay active, and we basically, right before the pandemic, had ventured into building our own studio, but then with being grounded and not being able to travel, that was really the only thing left to do. So, we tried to be as creative as possible. Julian and I kind of in line with what he was just saying, like we actually started writing Trouble the Water right after Dog Whistle was finished.
There’s a couple songs, a couple riffs and parts of these songs, that we had already started playing because oftentimes when we make a record, we get into a really creative and, like, lucid head space where you’re able to make awesome decisions with the recorded medium that you don’t when you’re just performing all the time. So, we really have tried to in the last three years just to maintain that recording head space, that studio head space. And I think that that’s aided this record immensely.
Dude, that’s crazy. You guys were writing this back in Dog Whistle. And I was even so taken back when you dropped Survive EP during the pandemic, I was waiting for something from you guys, and you came out with that and I was like, “Hell yeah, dude, little three song teaser.” You know, I got the dice, you know, but so that shit’s hella cool, man. Hell yeah, you guys are rock stars. Fans and listeners alike always get to see the wins that artists achieve but rarely ever hear about the obstacles they face while creating. What were some of the struggle’s you guys endured while creating this piece?
Harlan Steed: There was some realigning. We had our old drummer leave the band, who we had been playing with for about five years. Then, fortunately, we had Jackie step in with us who we’ve actually toured with numerous times and have been a huge fan of his music projects since we were kids. When we auditioned drummers, he was, like, the obvious choice for us and the person we wanted to work with.
So since then, it was kind of in line with the MO of the record, of we’ve, like, rebuilt, reconfigured the engine of the beast, and it’s gotten, I think, better and stronger for it. I think one of the effects and one of the crazy things about what we do is that it kind of becomes like oxygen for us. And I think when we tour and when we make records, like, we really live and breathe that shit; that’s who we are. So not being able to do it in the capacity that we do, do it for two years was hard. There was no way around that. But what we’re doing right now is reconfiguring and coming back, I think.
Julian Cashwan Pratt: Also, time is a bitch. Like, for real, obviously a lot of people lost time and money and loved ones due to the whole thing. And so I think all we can do now is be time bandits and steal that shit back and try to get up on it.
Hell yeah. I like that. And you guys are going to! You guys are going to Australia soon, and you guys got, Desert Days coming up too in Lake Perris, CA. So, you guys are already back on your feet like nothing ever happened. I love it that you pick up right where you left off. That’s how you do, baby. So, on the flip side of that, whether it was musically, spiritually or personally, what was the biggest lesson you learned while creating Trouble the Water?
Julian Cashwan Pratt: What’s the biggest lesson. Jackie, what did you learn?
(laughter)
Jack McDermott: Don’t throw me the hard one.
(laughter)
Julian Cashwan Pratt: Right. You know guys…
It’s OK. You don’t have to answer it. That one’s kinda personal.
Jack McDermott: I mean, for me, it’s like, the lessons keep coming because I’m new to the gang. So it’s like been a beautiful and challenging journey of finding my spot in it. So that’s it for me, both learning how to bring what I do best to the table and also learn what I need to learn and improve what I need to improve to become a well-oiled cog in the machine.
Hey, and that’s good that you’re able to recognize that. Some people are like, “I didn’t learn shit. I’m just doing it.” (chuckle) And it’s like, “Dude, nah. That’s how you know you’re not learning anything.” ‘Cause you gotta always learn. So that’s cool that you at least recognize that in yourself. Good stuff. Kind of flipping off the record here for a bit, you guys are known for your DIY, community-building initiatives through the CORPUS Collective. Through the CORPUS music platform, you created the CORPUS Family in 2019. What brought the CORPUS Collective to fruition, and how has it helped shape, even change, the lives of the youth and artists you’ve recruited to it?
Julian Cashwan Pratt: I don’t think it’s changing nobody’s lives. (Laughs) We do a couple things that are, whereas we see ways that we can contribute to our community that we see the resources that we have and we try to use those resources to the best of our abilities and stuff. But also, CORPUS Family came about, CORPUS became an actual thing, when Asha was like, “Yo, make me a co-founder.” And Asha Maura was our manager. She said, “Make me a co-founder, and we’ll actually do this shit together. And then Naya Samuel came on to take over the CORPUS Family with us. And so that’s really the start of all the community initiatives really being up and running and not just when we can do it or if we can do it.
Harlan Steed: Also I think prior to the pandemic, CORPUS had kind of just served as like a promotion for our shows, like a way to like create amazing experiences and the shows that we wanted to perform and create in the city. When the pandemic happened, it gave us an opportunity to actually be creative with that platform in ways that did not just have to do with shows and venues and performing and stuff. I think it was about giving our people in our community the power to do what they thought was a good use of our platform.
Yeah, definitely. And everything you three have done is always backed with intention and delivered with passion. You don’t do music or anything you do for that matter for the pop noise fuck shit or the trends that come and go with the sands of time. You do it for your community to give back. So what does community mean to you?
Julian Cashwan Pratt: A couple of people, the homies.
Harlan Steed: Its where you are and the spaces you occupy, and one of the most exciting things about touring and being in our position is that we’re starting to see a lot of people be inspired by how we try to…
Julian Cashwan Pratt: …Conduct ourselves.
Harlan Steed: Conduct ourselves here and represent New York and represent how we do things. And I think, and that’s really it, that’s really how I think about community.
Julian Cashwan Pratt: It’s ovely to go to other places and other cities and be like, “Oh, like, where’s this person from CORPUS? Are they here?” Or like, ”Could you give them a message for me?” You know what I mean? It’s people who are not just fans of Show Me the Body, but they want something like CORPUS for themselves and where they are at, and it’s something that they should have, and it’s something that they can build. That’s the most lovely thing, I think, going around and seeing all this.
Yeah. And that’s good, man, especially over in New York. I’ve never been there. So, I would just assume there’s not really that many positive initiatives going on over there. So in a way, maybe you don’t think you have changed someone’s life, but I bet you—If you were to ask around, you’d be like, “Damn man, you guys really did give me a space and a platform that allowed me to me and be free in a world that’s filled with hate; we’re seeking for the truth.”
Julian Cashwan Pratt: Yeah. But you know that we just do the best that we can do, you know what I mean? That has nothing to do with about changing lives or anything. Just doing the best that we can…
Yeah, exactly, exactly. And you know, there’s so much to take away from this record alone, but what would you say is the most important message from Trouble the Water that you want listeners to take away from this piece?
Julian Cashwan Pratt: Spread love. Spread love; protect yourself, and protect your family, and spread love.
Harlan Steed: We are back, baby.
Julian Cashwan Pratt: Yeah. Always back. We are always back.
(Laughter)
They are always back. The boys are back! I got just one more question for you guys. Who are the people that you all wanna show some love to in this interview? Each of you have to say one person.
Jack McDermott: Just one?
Nah, you can say as many as you want.
Julian Cashwan Pratt: Shit. You gotta give us a second…
Yeah. No rush, man. No rush.
Julian Cashwan Pratt: I’m just compiling this. Or are we sharing with the homies, or are we doing something specific? Jack already texted me.
Harlan Steed: He said just one so let’s… Make it…
Julian Cashwan Pratt: No, just one?
No, you can say however many you’re feeling; don’t feel limited.
Jack McDermott: Probably just one.
Julian Cashwan Pratt: What did you say, Jack?
Jack McDermott: Just one is a good challenge.
Harlan Steed: Yeah, I agree.
OK. Keep it at one. We’ll keep it at one. And if you guys think of more, you can send me a list of it or have someone send me a list.
Jack McDermott: I’ll do Asha to get Julian in trouble. Mine’s Asha.
(laughter)
Julian Cashwan Pratt: Alright. That’s it! Yeah. Shout out to Asha.
(laughter)
Shout out to Asha. There you go. There you go.
(laughter)
Julian Cashwan Pratt: No, that’s it. There’s only one. Yeah.
That’s it. Shout out to Asha. Alright, gang. Well, I appreciate your time immensely, and thank you very much, and Trouble the Water is great. I’m not even just gaslighting you saying that. I appreciate you boys. You have a great day.
All: Thank you very much.
Get the Show Me the Body issue 64 cover version here.
Featured image by Senny Mau
