Punk music is better live and that’s a fact. In that spirit, Grimy Goods favorites, Egg Drop Soup are about to drop a four-track EP recorded live at Golden Beat Recording Studio. It is rough around the edges, complete with questionable vocals and feedback—both from the monitors and the audience. Listen to it exclusively below and check them out at their residency at Bigfoot Lodge East tomorrow or any of the following Thursdays in December.
It’s not so hard to believe that the name of this nascent punk group is a euphemism for menstruation. Their band is two-thirds women, after all. Femininity is at the heart of the band, both in spirit and in practice; they released their first video as a battlecry against “people pleasing,” a phenomenon that plagues women. But feminism is about equality, and lead singer Samantha Westervelt acknowledges that some men face the same pressures, especially ones who do not fit into traditionally masculine roles.
The other obvious feminist track on their new release is “PMS.” It’s not as cut-and-dry as you may think either; aside from the audible irritability and fatigue of the music, there is a crisis of identity. Westervelt gives a more in depth explanation:
“PMS is about trying to fit in and losing yourself in the process. I’ve made some pretty interesting choices throughout my life to try and fit in with people I thought were cool or fun or intriguing or whatever, and when I was writing these lyrics I found myself very inspired by a rude awakening I’d had a couple years back where I got into a situation that I knew wasn’t good, but still did it anyway.
One of my favorite quotes from Socrates is “I know that I know nothing.” It’s stuck with me since learning it in a Philosophy class in college. And in looking back at who I could have become at that point in my life, it just popped in my head. Is it even possible to “know” something? To know someone? To know your “self?” These are the kinds of thoughts that run through my mind. And it’s really one of the most humbling, terrifying, perhaps depressing, and certainly liberating notions around, that none of us can truly know anything for certain.”
Egg Drop Soup will be playing every Thursday in December at Bigfoot Lodge East; this week they will be supported by DZR. The following weeks will include Lou Weed and SLAM PIECE. Find more info here.
Toss the band $4.20 (nice) to download the EP on Bandcamp. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
