The BK/Canada band offers a track-by-track breakdown of their brand-new EP, which tackles mental health themes with a punk POV
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As I wrote in my introduction when the group drew up a weekend itinerary for the BdBK SETLIST back in September, the first time I was blown away by Grim Streaker was at a show in the basement of Cape House (RIP) during Northside Festival (RIP?) in 2017—approx 200 years ago in NYC time, back when my brain wasn’t as fried, my cc debt wasn’t as high and my bod was way way more spry (RIP! RIP! RIP!!!!!).
Then I saw them at The Broadway that very weekend, an evening that probably took another year or two off my life but, ya know, in a def-way-worth-it way. Like all the best shows do. Now, six months later, I’m super pumped to share that the very songs that I and the~200 people that packed the room at the sold-out show danced and spilled our drinks and scrambled for little baggies of free I-think-weed (?) that were thrown into the audience to are now available for your raging-whenever/wherever pleasure via MIND—the new EP from the band, which is out everywhere TODAY!
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MIND delivers 14 minutes of the epic energy we love and expect from one of BK’s favorite art-punk bands with guitars and beats laced with unpredictable, def less conventional sounds of fax machines, heartbeat monitors and construction tools then topped with the integral thick-ass icing on this musical layer cake: lyrics alternately sung, screamed, sneered and spit out by Grim’s ferocious frontwoman/lead poet/person-I-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up Amelia Bushell, whose performance prowess is evident not just on the stage but somehow comes through full force even in recorded form (and whose writing skills are also very evident on Lazy About It, the debut EP from her solo project Extra Special, which I am obsessed with and will take every opportunity to promote until the day I die).
Of the EP, the band says: “The main theme for ‘MIND’ is mental health. Finding happiness and mental stability in a world full of socially constructed expectations. Being different and having one’s own unique views and preferences on society and its dwellers. Work and money, being a part of a machine.”
Written both right before and during the pandemic (over the internet), MIND was performed by the masked band and recorded at Diamond City Studios in Greenpoint. Ahead of the record’s release, Grim Streaker was cool enough to send over some intel on the EP’s four tracks, each of which “exists in its own world, pulling sonically from new places with a punk point of view.”
MIND —TRACK BY TRACK:
“Mind”
“The words for this song came from a feeling of being another cog in the machine. Working for a nominal amount of money. Always being told to shut up and take your place. And remembering to resist getting lost in a meaningless grind. It’s incredibly important to be with yourself, to take care of your body and mind. At the end of the day you are all you have.”
“Big Boy”
“It’s inspired by Amelia’s preferences when it comes to men and wondering where all the appropriate men for her are hiding!”
“Lover”
“The topline to this song was half written when Amelia was 18 years old. It was then adapted and added on to a decade later with the band. It was inspired by the lures of luxury, the sins of society and the spell that can put on you.”
“Typical”
“This song was inspired by the feeling that your perspective is “other” to what is typical. It’s about the repetitive thoughts of being uncontent about your current life and grind and finding happiness without having to leave your living room, if only you’re able to imagine it all.”
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MIND is out everywhere now. Hit play and get ready to lose yours.
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Follow the band at @grimstreaker, buy music on Bandcamp and add the songs to your Spotify playlists now!
Feature image (provided by the band): Kevin Condon