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- The band !!! danced to the forefront of New York’s dance-punk movement in the early 2000s. (Kelsey Bennet)
“Wallop” is the name of the new album by !!!, which means something like “spank someone”. This is how they want to react to the politically heated mood, explains the founder of the dance punk band Nic Offer – and process the slap in the face of the last US election.
The dance punks are back with a bang. “Wallop” is the title of the eighth album by !!! – read: ChkChkChk – from New York City. “Wallop” means something like “spank someone” – of course meant symbolically, after all we are dealing with art here.
“That’s a nice, concise and simple title,” says Nic Offer. “And it fits in well with the charged political mood of our time. We still haven’t recovered from the slap in the face of the last election. This album is an answer to that. Now we’re going to pop it.”
Protest against nightclub politics in New York
The singer Nic Offer has !!! Co-founded more than 20 years ago. With a mixture of funk, techno and indie rock, the artist collective danced to the top of the dance-punk movement in New York in the early 2000s.
Then turned !!! against the restrictive nightclub policy of their hometown and tried to lighten the mood in the Big Apple after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Bass and politics are still on the agenda.
Titles like “UR Paranoid” and “Let It Change You” deal with the standstill of the individual due to political and media overstimulation. Pieces such as “Domino” or “Off The Grid” are about living spaces in the big city that are becoming more and more narrow – spaces that an artist in districts like Brooklyn had helped to develop a decade ago.
“Times have changed and the album reflects that,” says Nic Offer. “Nowadays you don’t meet hipsters in clubs anymore, but in their children’s playgrounds, if they can still live in the city. We wanted to avoid overly obvious political issues on this album. But then they infiltrated through such stories. We see to us still as a band that has something to say about the New York of the present. “
Showy produced, inspired by 1990s pop
Try also on the sound level !!! not to lose touch. The song “Serbia Drums” marks a temporary change of direction. The dance floor style, which so far mainly drew on the post-punk of the late 70s and early 80s, is now audibly inspired by pop of the 1990s – Britney Spears instead of talking heads, swanky production instead of tightly cut funk.
“The recycling cycle in Pop works every 20 years,” explains Nic Offer. “An examination of today’s pop is always an examination of what happened 20 years ago. As far as the specific story of ‘Serbia Drums’ is concerned: We were on tour and played in Serbia. At the soundcheck, our drummer was from the sound of Halle was so enthusiastic that he made a recording with his smartphone. At some point, the file ended up with our producer Raphael and he used the beat as the basis for the song. “
Do not leave your own orbit far
“Wallop”, the eighth album by !!!, is a band’s easy-going attempt to stay relevant without leaving their own orbit too far. Nic Offer and his large troop succeeded in this attempt.
If the theory of the 20 year pop cycle is correct, then you can !!! quote yourself on the next album and enter the mode of eternal repetition. The Rolling Stones and other pop veterans have already shown how this works.
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