The Bronx
Bronx III
Wichita
By Jose Fritz
Would you recognize the Bronx at a 7-Eleven waiting in line with a Big Gulp? I don’t think a band has ever been more cognizant of their own fame before they were truly famous. They aren’t lusting for their fifteen minutes; they fear the creeping suck that success brings to good music. Allow me to quote from “Knifeman”, the opening song on Bronx III:
“I wanna be original, I wanna be surrounded by art / But everything is digital, the formulas are falling apart. They riot in the streets because there's not enough money to share.
Is the burden of fame just a universal cross we can bear?”
The defense system appears everywhere. When an interviewer asked Matt Caughthran why they had bats on their shirts he responded evasively: “Nothing, I just like bats.” There are many kinds of lies, and these are lies of omission. There’s no intent to deceive, The Bronx just limits information, access, and entry so they can continue to be themselves.
The result is a rampant paranoia in their song craft that downplays every pop hook and upends every rough edge. Maybe Caughthran got his Black Flag ethos out of his system with The Drips. The Bronx feign a pure metal façade while masking their pop innards. Their posters and albums are dressed up with snakes, skulls, syringes, bats, blood, and duo-tone images of Anton LaVey. But the ugly truth is that, like Social Distortion, no matter how fast they play, how muddy the distortion, or how profane the screaming, there is a catchiness they cannot suppress.
Gilby Clarke, from the MC5, produced their first album and goddamn that made sense. It was an explosive un-tempered album. Michael Beinhorn did the honors on II and was a similarly solid pick, having worked with Soundgarden, Ozzy, and Social D. to name a few. On III Dave Schiffman seems to dial up the Led Zeppelin, a seemingly inevitable result if you revisit his RATM sessions. But the band also delves deep into their classic Brooklyn hardcore influences like Sick of it all, Gorilla Biscuits, and Kill Your Idols.
In 2007 they appeared in the movie What We Do is Secret. The band played the part of Black Flag circa 1985. It was a more than apt portrayal: I don’t think there’s another band alive today that could have pulled it off. They embrace a raw, reckless approach to punk that is heavier than hardcore and harder than metal. That natural rawness is the core of everything great that they are capable of, and all these maneuvers are a part of defending that turf.
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