!!! is a dance-punk band that grew out of the mid-1990s Sacramento music scene, formed when members of local bands Black Licorice and Popesmashers joined forces after a mid-'90s tour.[1] The band was founded in the fall of 1996 through the merger of members of the groups Black Liquorice and Pope Smashers while on tour.[2] The band's name is read as repeated triadic syllables, most commonly "Chk Chk Chk," though "Pow Pow Pow," "Bam Bam Bam" or any similar three-burst inference works.[1] The unusual punctuation name was inspired by the subtitles of the film The Gods Must Be Crazy, in which alveolar click consonants of the San people's Juǀʼhoan language were represented as "!".[3] Though most members relocated east over the years, the band's origin and identity remain rooted in Sacramento, with at least one member continuing to live on the West Coast.[1][4]
At a glance
- Origin: Sacramento, formed from the runoff of local bands Black Licorice and Popesmashers after a mid-'90s tour.[1]
- Genre: dance-punk / post-punk funk built on rhythm, bass and groove.[1][4]
- Active "all about the groove since 1996."[4]
- Geographically dispersed: members spread between Sacramento, Brooklyn (NY) and Pittsburgh (PA), with the majority in New York.[5][4]
- Frontman: Nic Offer; guitarist: Mario Andreoni.[1][5][4]
- Repeatedly headlined Sacramento shows on national tours.[6][7][4]
Origin and local status
!!! emerged from "a pretty tight downtown community" in Sacramento, the band having formed when the "collective runoff" of two ballyhooed Sacramento bands, Black Licorice and Popesmashers, combined after a mid-'90s tour.[1] Guitarist Mario Andreoni described the early period as being "around so many smart, supportive and open-minded music snobs."[1] The band's roots run even deeper in Sacramento hardcore: according to Trouser Press, upon disbanding the Yah Mos — a Sacramento hardcore band — several of its former members launched !!!, making the group's lineage part punk before it was dance.[8] When recounting the band's start, frontman Nic Offer noted "When we all lived together here when we started the band," confirming the group began as a Sacramento-based collective.[4] Submerge consistently identifies the group as a Sacramento band, e.g. "New York by way of Sacramento band !!!"[5] and "Sacramento's favorite dance-punks."[6] Under the local-status rule (origin, not current residence or fame), !!! is local: a Sacramento-origin act whose members later dispersed nationally.
Sound and approach
The band's focus has always been "about a feel and a groove," with songs usually starting from a bassline and/or a beat, per Andreoni.[4] Their early formation coincided with the members getting into Krautrock band Can, whose marathon jam sessions inspired !!!'s long-form jamming method; with the shift to computer-based recording the band could jam for extended stretches and edit the best moments into songs.[5] Andreoni emphasized a deliberate "sense of space" in the music, with bass and drums as the primary focus rather than dense guitar parts.[4] Submerge has described the live experience as roughly an hour of "non-stop groovy jams and funny dance moves" from Offer, whose signature move fans nicknamed "The Penguin."[5][6]
Members and lineup changes
Frontman Nic Offer and guitarist Mario Andreoni are recurring members across the coverage.[1][5][4] As of 2013 the band had six members spread between Sacramento, Brooklyn and Pittsburgh.[4] The band underwent significant lineup turnover around the time of its fourth album: bassist Tyler Pope (who lived in Berlin) exited during recording, while John Pugh and Justin Vandervolgen departed before writing began.[5] These changes were compounded by the death of drummer Jerry Fuchs in November 2009.[5] Fuchs died on November 8, 2009 after being caught in a broken elevator in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; he attempted to jump out of the stalled car, and fell to his death down the elevator shaft.[9] LCD Soundsystem's third album This Is Happening was dedicated to his memory.[9] Vandervolgen had produced the prior record and acted as an in-band producer and "referee," so his departure shifted the band toward using an outside producer.[5] A friend named Margo, credited jokingly as the band's "executive producer," influenced the tighter, poppier direction of the fourth album by criticizing the songs as too long and jam-y.[5]
Several original members of !!! were also central figures in the similar, now-defunct group Out Hud: vocalist Nic Offer, guitarist Tyler Pope, and bassist Justin Vandervolgen were all involved in that project.[10]
Releases timeline
- Self-titled debut — 2000 debut full-length, released on Gold Standard Laboratories.[11]
- Louden Up Now — released June 2004 on Touch and Go Records in the United States and on Warp Records in Europe.[12][1]
- Myth Takes — 2007 studio album, described as an "acid-punk/funk field guide."[1]
- Strange Weather, Isn't It? — the band's fourth album, recorded across New York, Berlin and Sacramento (at the Hangar) and released around 2010; produced by Eric Broucek, an outside producer.[5] The choice of Berlin was partly because then-bassist Tyler Pope lived there.[5]
- Thr!!!er — the band's fifth album, released on Warp Records in late April 2013, produced in part by Spoon's drummer/producer Jim Eno.[4] Submerge described it as "much tighter and more focused" than Strange Weather, Isn't It?, with standout tracks "Even When the Water's Cold" and "Station (Meet Me At The)."[4] The title plays on Michael Jackson's Thriller.[4] Thr!!!er placed No. 4 on Submerge's Top 30 Albums of 2013.[13]
- As If — released October 16, 2015 on Warp Records.[14]
- Shake the Shudder — released May 19, 2017 on Warp Records.[14]
- Wallop — released August 30, 2019 on Warp Records.[14]
- Let It Be Blue — released May 6, 2022; the band's ninth studio album.[14]
An earlier single, "Guiliani," is credited by Offer as the song that pushed the band toward a national audience; it was begun in Sacramento before the other members moved east.[4]
Touring and Sacramento shows
Despite the geographic spread, the band maintained itself largely through constant touring, rehearsing on either coast.[4] Notable career touring milestones include a 2006 opening slot supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers in the UK.[1] !!! regularly routed through their hometown:
- 2008: a brief West Coast tour stop.[1]
- April 12, 2011: headlined at Townhouse via Grimey Tuesday (a biweekly dubstep/bass night) partnered with Concerts 4 Charity, billed as a stop "on their way to Coachella."[6]
- February 26, 2013: scheduled to "hijack" Le Twist, the recurring Tuesday-night party that had just moved to LowBrau in Midtown.[7]
- May 31, 2013: headlined a night of Sacramento's free Friday Night Concerts in the Park series at Cesar Chavez Plaza, shortly after Thr!!!er's release; Andreoni said this hometown gig was one of the ones he was "most excited about."[4][15]