“The Belgraves will never sell out in any way shape or form. Obviously not or you’d be reading this in Seventeen Magazine. We will continue to write things that we’d like to hear.”
This is part of the statement that Ben, the singularly named Lead Singer of The Belgraves wrote in my notebook after interviewing the band in their unheated cabin on a cold December night deep in the woods of New Braunfels.
Having seen The Belgraves twice previously at Lucy’s, I was well aware of the intensity of their live shows which frequently involve Ben rolling around on the floor, burning himself with cigarettes, diving into the audience, and generally seeking destruction.
At one recent Lucy’s show, Ben broke a banister trying to jump from on top of the speakers to the banister. He ended up landing in the middle of a table full of people including one angry man who wanted to fight him.
Often the madness is not intentional, but merely a byproduct of the music. At one show at the Triple Crown, the band was rocking out a little too hard when Bass Player Danny Smith swung his bass around and knocked Ben out. Ben was convinced he had lost his eye and fell to the ground trying to conceal his disfigurement with his best Jim Morrison screaming impression. Ben added “The funniest part of the show was when people complimented me after the show while I was bleeding all over them.”
Being well acquainted with the craziness of a Belgraves live show, the most surprising part of the interview came afterwards when I took a copy of their new album “The Belgraves Vol. 1” home for a listen. In the next three days I listened to that album a total of twelve times. I was shocked at how good this band actually is beneath all of their insanity.
The Belgraves are hauntingly catchy but not in a poppy sort of way. They’re a band who genuinely succeeds in putting forward the kind of sound they intend to put out. As Ben describes it, “I like to write about real life horror stories from real experiences. I love The Misfits but I can’t write about Lizard Monkey children landing on the Empire State Building.” Although the band cites influences as diverse as Nick Cave, Roy Orbison and Patsy Cline, Horror-Punk band The Misfits are the band they are most frequently compared to simply because of the dark aura surrounding the band. However, they are very difficult to classify simply because like any great band, their sound is completely unique.
A lot of what is called “punk” these days tends to be weak and sappy, it’s basically pop music written by people who are too lazy to learn to play their instruments. Most of the bands out there that try and revive the old true punk attitude end up sounding merely like re-incarnations of older punk bands. Not so with The Belgraves, their sound is fresh and original and unique to them. Smith adds “Punk is a state of mind.”
The vocals are rough and distorted and sound as if they’re being shouted by a robotic drill instructor. The sound is very grounded but extremely intense, almost as if someone truly un-bottled all the aggression and attitude the band puts into its music, it would destroy everything in the room. The music is harsh, dark and heavy but clear and decipherable (unlike hardcore or metal). It’s the kind of music that makes you want to throw a garbage can at the bouncer and pick a fight with the nearest fraternity.
What’s hard to believe about The Belgraves is simply that they’re so unknown. I can say with a straight face that their album is the best punk album I’ve heard in years but they have trouble even booking shows in Austin because they don’t know the right people.
A lot of the reason for this is simply because they haven’t played many live shows outside of San Marcos. Also, their new album is their first decent release. Their prior demo “Activated” wasn’t very well produced and had a terrible sound quality. The energy was there but the music wasn’t complete like it is on this album.
The Belgraves have been around for three years and include brothers Brandon and Barrett Read (Brandon is an ordained internet Reverend. Bass Player Danny Smith adds “He’ll marry you, bury you, absolve your sins, whatever.”) who met Smith and Ben at New Braunfels High School.
The band has no immediate plans for glory on a major label with Ben explaining “I wouldn’t want to be on Fat Wreck Chords or Epitaph or labels like that.” However, Danny took care to add “But we’re kind of broke right now so someone give us a call. If someone wants to sign us, I’m an English Major so I’m not gonna have a job.”
Limited copies of “The Belgraves Vol. 1” are available at Sundance Records.
