The Next Big Thing (No.41) : Potty Mouth

“ Potty Mouth Often compared to Sonic Youth, this Massachusetts group deal in punk songs that reverberate with a DIY spirit… ”, that line automatically stole our attention to listen to their music, and they really are something fresh for an american!

By a glance, Potty Mouth seems like an all-female band that we already know (such as HAIM, Stealing Sheep, etc), but they are far more than that. Potty Mouth consist of four beautiful Massachusetts girls, they are Abby Weems (vocals, guitar), Ally Einbender (bass), Phoebe Harris (guitar), Victoria Mandanas (drums). The story of the band’s birth started by Ally, Phoebe, and Victoria who went to the same college and dragged Abby to join the band (because they already knew Abby had an interest to be in the band), what makes it very interesting is ; they were inexperienced with their own instruments. Going with the let’s-do-this philosophy, Potty Mouth were born.

Potty Mouth music might come across like Sonic Youth or somehow it has a bit of the Pixies. With punk sensibillities and raw guitar playing, they have made their sound like a well-shaped band’s practice, we can easily claim they sound like a junior version of Kim Gordon. However, this comparison thing with Sonic Youth doesn’t count as a compliment to them. Potty Mouth don’t think their music sounds like Sonic Youth at all, they would describe they are a pop band who get an influence of 90s punk musics, and that doesn’t mean they would like to be described as A Blink-182’s fellow as well. Abby told CMJ “I just really hate being pop-punk because it harbors such a negative connotation. That phrase kind of emerged from this uprising of bands like Blink-182, New Found Glory or whatever. I don’t think we’re like that. I think we play pop music that has a lot of punk influences and a lot of punk style and sound to it. So I just usually say punk-influenced pop music.”

Their debut album, ‘Hell Bent’, storms out like an expander of pop-punk music in the last two years. Potty Mouth’s songs tend to have pop lyrics that is covered with a political view, a bit of punk riffs, and a nice monotone tune. We totally agree that they have this 90s feeling, especially in songs like ‘The Spin’. Behind all of this bad ass thing that is surrounding them, we are hailing Potty Mouth since they don’t try to make themselves (or to be seen) as a riot girl group just because they are an all-female band who play a different kind of music. What they want to do is simply breaking the male’s domination in the punk scene, well, in that case, Potty Mouth’s music could be compared with the other all-male indie bands’ work.

With a political view, no sexist agenda, and the sublime pop-influenced punk music, No matter what people would like to label their music as, we have come to a conclusion that Potty Mouth are the ones to watch.