Who needs another rock band? Well, pretty much everybody, by the look of it—they just keep popping up in Brooklyn, the “Brooklyn sound” shows no sign of fading, and the kids moving here for college and starting bands show no sign of cutting it out, either. Which is by and large a good thing—most bands don’t make it, and almost none of them stay together long enough to produce more than a couple of good records, so keep ‘em coming.
The Britanys deliver simple, satisfying garage rock that properly pays respect to Iggy Pop, with vocals that are surprisingly mature, like singer Lucas Long must smoke a lot of cigarettes.
They were certainly one of the youngest bands around when they started getting attention a couple of years ago—being called the “new Strokes” by NME, which basically makes them officially a New York rock band.
With the lineup of Jake Williams, guitar, Lucas Carpenter, bass, Steele Kratt, drums, and Lucas Long, guitar/vox, they made their official SXSW premiere this week with a number of unofficial showcases. They’ll return to NYC to open for SKATERS on May 6 at Babys All Right.
Is your songwriting process collaborative or does someone carry more weight?
Lucas L: I usually come up with the rough draft and then we workshop it as a group for a while and come to the final product. But, varies song to song. “In Yer Time,” for instance, started with Lucas C.
Two years ago, Steele said, “I’m really tired of Bushwick. I think Bushwick has become such a thing.” Do you still live in Bushwick? What do you think of it now?
Lucas L: Yea, we do. A lot more coffee shops and restaurants have moved in since, but we have a good deal and setup on our apartment so don’t see moving anytime soon.
Steele: We do have a solid setup. We live next door to our super and he’s great, plus management is very relaxed about us playing music. Bushwick is still very much a scene, but I guess that’s the bulk of NYC nowadays. It’s all fucked.
How did this tour come together with Public Access TV and Splashh?
Lucas L: We’ve just known them from hanging out—Public Access TV mostly. We’d been trying to get a show together for a while, but everything had fallen through. Luckily the tour worked out, it was our first time on the road and a lot of fun.
How was London? Was that everyone’s first time there? What did you get into and what did you love or hate about the town?
Lucas L: Yeaaa- all mostly good, couldn’t have asked for more.
Steele: I had the best time over there. I’m really into British culture, so I was living it up. It was most of our second times visiting, first time for Lucas L. When we weren’t doing shows we spent our time hopping around pubs, going to Nando’s, and Jake and I saw a soccer match. It was tight.
Lucas C: I had a ball. I went once to visit family when I was 18 or so and have kept in touch with everyone I met then, so it was real treat getting to see old friends and make new ones. London music is funny, we were lucky enough to play to pretty much full rooms every night. Often times the audience were arms-crossed and stone cold, you’d be lucky to get a foot tap out of them, then after the show those same people would come up and hug you and talk about the show, maybe even buy you a pint.
This is your SXSW debut—how excited are you and why?
Lucas L: We’ve heard that it can be a bit of a shit-show, so we’re not going into it with any expectations. With that being said, it is exciting. Lots of friends/bands are going to be around. We’ll see if we make it out the other side, ha.
Lucas C: I’m stoked. I was scrolling through the bands trying to find shows I want to see but had to stop at C. So many bands! I’m looking forward to exploring and finding new music. Not to mention, I just found my bolo tie and recently got a bitchin muscle T. Probably super ignorant to say but, I kind of associate those two things with Texas, hoping to blend right in.
You’ve already been called the “new Strokes.” How do you feel about that comparison?
Lucas L: We take it as a compliment. It does automatically open the door for criticism, but we take it in stride. It’s fun proving people wrong.
Steele: It was kind of fun getting a bit shredded in the comment sections on the NME socials.
Bradley Spinelli is the author of the novels “The Painted Gun” and “Killing Williamsburg,” and the writer/director of “#AnnieHall.”