The Next Big Thing (No.22) : Merchandise

We heard some people are asking for a recommendation of a good new punk band. Here we go, we nominate Merchandise, the punk breaker from Tampa, Florida. We haven’t seen much of punk movements from America lately, so it’s really great to finally get some fresh air from the swagger land. Merchandise are a punk band consisting of three-piece of American, they are Carson Cox (vocals), David Vassalotti (guitar/keyboard), and Patrick Brady (bass). Coming from Tampa, it’s definitely not the place where they are culturally grew up with a punk or hardcore scene. David explained how he was blown away by Bob Dylan and the Who, and some influences that the band takes from Mick Jagger cs or even Tony Bennet.

Merchandise were formed in 2008, which is five years ago, that’s the time they took to compile the idea from being a normal / typical punk bands that they had ever been before to the band like what they are now. In 2010, they released their debut, ‘In The Dark’, which Katorga Works called the LP as a revamped sound, harnessing the most goth elements of post-punk, and shoegaze. Then two years later, they released their latest LP, ‘Children of Desire’, the LP received many good critics for its content, and Pitchfork even frequently put their LP on their ‘rising’ articles. ” One of the smartest moves Merchandise make on Children of Desire is bringing Cox’s vocals to the forefront. There’s a delicateness in his voice that, by all accounts, should be crushed whole under the weight of how gigantic these songs can be, but there’s also a sturdiness in his baritone that brings a surprising but necessary balance.”  Wrote Pitchfork’s Zark Kelly. We really salute Carson, with the punk atmosphere in their music, he gives us a Morrissey’s vibe in his vocal. Children of Desire will bring you back to the 80’s era where post-punk and shoegaze echoed every where and lingered in everyone’s ears.

By listening to their amazing LP, Merchandise are just gonna hook you right away, especially if You’re into shoegaze, noisy pop, and of course, post-punk. If we can compare to their first LP and their latest, they truly outdid their best. From being just a normal band to a highly-praised band, we just can’t predict what they’ll do next for their music. As David said ” We still don’t really know what to do with the band. We’re constantly changing and I don’t think any of us know what it’ll be in six months, let alone the ‘grand future.’ That’s the way we prefer it, though. If we could predict the whole thing, we’d just as soon not do it.”