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| Image courtesy of the band. |
Some people simply have vision. Some of these also happen to be very talented. Or at least talented enough to justify whiling aware their spare hours, toiling towards some creative end, instead of, I don't know, getting guilted into working unpaid overtime for your employer, or whatever "normal" people end up doing instead of making art. Now I don't know what the individual employment situations are of the four players in Union City, New Jersey's thisisthepartwhereyouhelpme, but after diving into, and splashing around in, their refreshingly diverse catalog, it's pretty clear that whatever time they do have to themselves, they devote almost entirely into their craft- burning hours like coal to feed their ambitions.
The group is presently made up of drummer Diego, bassist Edwin, the other bassist Ralph, and guitarist and vocalist Saedi, and the music they make together rivals just about anything else I've heard in terms of sheer ingenuity and dynamic assemblage. They seem almost honor-bound to break the mold they forged for their last single with each successive release. My introduction to the band may have been the dissonantly Craw-esque, hybrid hardcore of "Marred," but whatever impressions I had of them from that track were stripped, as a matter of course, like old wallpaper, to make room for the calculatingly cryptic, space-hop of their next single, "they didn't tell you it'd be okay to be worried." Hunting backward through their catalog reveals a band that is seemingly and uncontrollably allergic to their own past,. A group that is perpetually advancing- demonstrating new levels of originality at every turn to excite the sense of curious listeners.Interview was conducted via email on September 23, 2021. It has been edited only slightly for the sake of clarity.
Who is TITPWYHM, how did you all meet, and what is your origin story?TITPWYHM is a group of musicians that have been in each other’s lives for the past ten years.
We met through the constant cycle of building friendships through jamming locally.
How would you describe your music to someone who hasn't heard it before?
We are the answer to a question mark.
Romantic metal exploring what a song can be.
An esoteric pizza.
We listen to a lot of Dean Blunt, The Body, Touche Amore & Serbian pop. Sometimes together, sometimes on our own. We are all way depressed and used to make prog, post-hardcore, and emo.
Now it’s just like whatever comes out is what it is.
Lately, that has been on the grindcore/powerviolence side of things.
Our set will usually explore electronic, powerviolence, & city pop. But that’s all just labels that eventually get tired too.
In what ways does your music reflect on problems caused by corporate influence on society and inequality?
Lyrically, inspiration comes from work (the journey and being at a desk). Midtown Manhattan at 9am is always an experience of everything on all the time. All senses activated. A lot of distress. I don’t remember ever being able to tell that other people were crying on the street on the way to work until this year.
This is corporate. Trying to hide our lives in plain sight. Do we even get time to process loss? Remember every corporate COVID commercial? Who was unhappy in any of those? The high gloss finish smeared over the metropolitan area contains a high percentage of blood and tears.
The feeling in our music is the warning that you are living exactly how “they” want you to live.
We like to attempt to create this feeling of punching upwards and around us. Break free of the constant control. Share your information, share your love. Don’t hide it behind a paywall. Be grateful for the people that keep the wheels spinning.
Where do you see yourself fitting into the hardcore and emo scenes in New Jersey?
There are so many good bands right now.
It’s pretty nuts. The output of heavy music is so top tier.
Just 3 bands to name only a few: GEL, Massa Nera, & Hundreds of AU.
All very exciting and different types of heavy-ass shit.
That’s the energy we want to be around. That’s what we think is really important.
It doesn’t have to be hardcore or emo or indie or hip hop. Or whatever branding.
We want to be surrounded by the best of all of it. Stuff that gives you goosebumps.
It’s hard because we’ve been removed for a while so we’re just starting to begin to crawl out of the hole again.
Where are your favorite places to play in Union City and what do you like about them?
God Bless whoever tries to keep a scene alive in Union City.
The local government wants to keep the noise down and the streets very nicely paved for the condo owners. Very shiny parks. Our music takes a hard look at this environment and what people are allowing themselves to accept as normal.
Shout out to Greenhive on 45th Street. They’ve been very supportive of local artists in such a profound way in such a short amount of time.
You can walk in there and it’s a streetwear tee pop-up, an experimental hip hop show, a noisecore set, a painting lesson. Amazing really.
Arawax Records on 11th street is another place that’s doing a lot for the local music community. They always have sick-ass performances and DJ sets going on. Amazing record selection. Crate diggers pay attention.
Otherwise, there hasn’t ever been an established space you can call a “place to play”.
It feels like Footloose sometimes. Did we just age ourselves?
Which of your current singles do you think will be most representative of your sound moving forward, and why?
As for singles, that's kind of hard to pinpoint, perhaps our current single "Marred" as well as the "Fuck Up Song." We also have some electronic songs that dropped that are touching more upon our personal projects.
The future is always uncertain.
If there was one album you could see yourself covering, front to back, which would it be and why?
Demon Days by the Gorillaz- It’s an album with so many moving parts. It’s scary, it’s sensual, it bumps hard the whole way through.
This can be interchangeable with the Ark Work by Liturgy or With a Cape and a Cane by The Joggers
Are there any shoutouts you'd like to give?
Shout out to our mommas.
Shout out to GG for these new songs coming out.
We’ve lost too many friends to abuse and they deserve to share this space. It is what has set off this greater explosion.
Rest In Peace Andy.
Rest In Peace Angela.
Rest In Peace Raymond
