Petty War Club are a DIY rock band out of D.C. with gusto, vigor and enough grungy guitar to be sampled in a coming-of-age film. With their most recent release Ordinary, the band have presented an EP with all hitters, especially the track “Garner, Pt. 2” and their single “Quinton!”. Describing themselves as “weird as fuck”, the group have influences ranging from The Smashing Pumpkins to Paramore and Mineral. An eclectic blend of grungy emo with elements of math rock, Petty War Club are a band to watch as Ordinary is just the name of their release, the band are anything but ordinary. Check out a stream of their EP below and on Spotify. We chatted with the band prior to their release about their hiatus, Ordinary and how the city of D.C. (home of punk rock) has impacted their sound.
Tell me a little bit about Ordinary.
Ordinary is a totally different EP for us than I Don’t Want To Feel This Way Forever. Not only did we feel that we became so much more dynamic as a band with heavier instrumentation and a more unique sense of songwriting (a lot of which included new instruments for us), but I feel personally as if I’ve outgrown the old lyrics that I wrote. Our first E.P. was simply a breakup record because that is all I felt I had to say at the time. To be completely honest, this EP has been delayed since September so I’m not even sure what I was saying when we wrote this. I think it now has a totally different meaning and It’s probably pretty dark… But we want everybody to take out of it whatever they feel! Instrumentally like I said before, I think were getting more and more away from a sound that puts us in a specific genre or scene and hopefully it can rather just allows us to be a rock band.
D.C. is the home of punk rock, has the city helped shape Petty War Club in any way?
I think we all love and understand the history of D.C. and what it’s meant to music, but in full honesty, I think we can all say how much we hate D.C. and it’s music scene. We really do love a lot of bands people from our area, but generally speaking, D.C.’s music scene is full of some of the most disgusting, closed minded, and hateful people we’ve ever met. This isn’t to say “wow our band is great and were perfect people”, but thats just how we feel as a group. I think the dream is to remove ourself from D.C. and this toxic music scene as a whole and get a fresh start.
The band took a break last year for a few reasons, did the hiatus help the band?
Yes there were a few reasons… And if I were to list all of them, I think people would actually get dumber from reading it.
In all seriousness the main reason we took the hiatus we did was because we were struggling a lot with mental health and we just needed the time. I think all of us have taken a lot of time and steps to get ourselves better with all the problems we’ve been having and it was definitely for the best. All of us are in a better place now and we can’t wait to move on from the past and keep making music.
Petty War Club
I think that whole period had a huge impact on us which is why we are going to donate all our money from all band camp and store purchases, as well as our streaming revenue to “The Jed Foundation” which is a leading charity in mental health among teens and young adults. All money made from this EP will go to that charity.
Who or what are some of your influences?
We have so many influences between the three of us. If I had to produce a list, all 90’s alternative rock and mainly The Smashing Pumpkins have always had a huge influence on us (especially sonically). We are always playing old 90’s emo like Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, and American Football as well as pop-punk like Blink-182 and Paramore. Brett would hate me if I didn’t say math rock bands like Chon and Totorro… so them too. And honestly I’m rambling here because there’s just too much to say and we all listen to so much different music which is why we are so excited to finally write an album!! Also I have to shout out Free Throw and The World is a Beautiful Place because they had a huge impact on keeping my current music listening and search for artists alive.
If you could describe your sound in three words, what would they be?
Weird As Fuck.
For my own curiosity: how are you guys staying sane during this pandemic?
Writing music, watching movies, and other not so great habits.
