Getting Wild with Shitlist

by Mely Duong

Shitlist. A raw aggressive band hailing from Philadelphia who is not afraid to sling down voracious rifts and rhythms underlying vociferous vocals and lyrics. This is a band that holds no limits to the extremes that they will go to put on a show, with their energy entrenching itself into the already frenzied raging audience. It only makes sense that this band can be simply described as wild – after all they stand for human extinction, LSD, anti-theism, and mental and physical illness.

“We harness that and create a sort of pure evil vibe whenever we play, ultimately leading people to cause destruction…if we had to give any advice it would be to not follow any rules or bore yourself.” Just to give you an idea on the chaos that ensues, Shitlist’s entertaining escapades (shows) have gotten them banned from Brenda and Jerry’s in Allentown, Crocodile Rock Cafe, The Silo in Reading, Alexander’s in Fleetwood, and The School of Rock in Downingtown for outlandish reasons ranging from playing a set nude, cursing at the sound guy, to whipping people with Christmas lights, to smashing cactus pots over their heads. The band is that invested in their brazen ‘fuck the world attitude’.

Do not expect to come out unscathed from one of their shows. You will surely mosh your hearts out to the hardcore punk band that delves into thrash and metal as well, thus collectively appeasing a multitude of ragers who find music to be an outlet for their wrath, frustrations, and exasperations. Actually, their music is influenced by death metal bands to hip hop artists such as Integrity, Ringworm, Pulling Teeth, Infest, and Sabertooth Zombie to name a few. “Shitlist is the unwanted child of Integrity and Infest…however, Integrity also claims he was having unprotected sex with multiple partners around the time of conception.”

On the other hand, lyrically speaking they find churches, cults, hallucinations, nature, withdrawal, and humorous experiences to be inspiring. In fact, what makes this band so likable is that they truly enjoy raging to their music, so much so that it is infectious. Their energy and passion spreads like rampant wildfire during a show. It is evident that they love what they do, and that they create music for solely themselves.

The band originates way back in 2008 when they first bonded over a mutual hatred for their surroundings, living in a dilapidated apartment surrounded by so called assholes. At the time, they had no set direction for their sound and solely created loud noises to vent. They reached a high point relatively quickly when they released Godfucker, a split with Trasher.  However, the band was hit back hard and crashed. “Our bassist at the time got kicked out of his parents’ house and joined the Navy, one of us went to jail for selling mushrooms, another member developed epilepsy (probably from doing acid), and one more of us struggled with some addiction issues.”

The result of this dark time period was a culminating self-titled release which emanated a depressing and heavier tone. Around this time, a seven guitar string was also incorporated. In comparison to that material, the band hints that their new material is been faster, darker, and heavier if conceivable by the imagination all thanks to the writing assistance from their new bassist, Matt.

Having been together for so long, the band has cooperation down to a perfection. Their bassist has aided in defining their new sound through the addition of lyrical, vocal, and metal elements to their music, while Ed, the rhythm guitarist, pieces together essential base guitar rifts that become the foundation of the song itself. The lead guitarist is Tom, whose strength lies in structuring the song in new unexpected manners as well as throwing down some solid solos. Ricky, on drums, facilitates various parts of the songwriting process in conjunction with running band matters as vocalist Brendan tells tales with lyrics.

In terms of short term goals, we will be seeing Shitlist playing various shows this summer, one at Jr’s Bar on July 23rd starting at 8:00pm and another at Kung Fu Necktie on July 28th at 8:00 pm as well.  They will be hard at work recording new destructive material in August and consider extended touring. To learn more about the band visit their Facebook page.