Flatwounds: “The world slowly go to shit because a bunch of greedy bastards”
A changing sound for a changing world
The New York-based band Flatwounds is currently undergoing a sound shift. Formerly aligned with a pseudo-grunge style, the group is moving with the times, influenced by the political reality of the United States.
Flatwounds, pronounced as Flat-woonds, started in late 2022. The band was born out of a previous group that lead vocalist Colin O’Haire and guitarist Matt Degnan were in. After splitting with them, Colin brought in drummer Wade Coonrad who he met through the Albany scene, and Matt introduced bassist David Granger to the band.
Quite unexpectedly, Flatwounds booked its first gig before it was even a band.
“We wrote like six songs in two days,” Degnan said. “Yeah, we kinda had to like grind a little bit to make sure that we could even play the show. We didn’t have members,” O’Haire added.
This scrappy, off-the-cuff nature is also how the band would end up with their name. Flatwounds was chosen by O’Haire “simply because it sounded dope and chill.” It would be okayed by the rest of the band with no one realizing that it was spelled the same as flatwounds, the name of a type of bass string.
Another important person to the creation of the band is the late Ben Rowe, a friend of one of the members who helped book Flatwounds in its early days.
“He took us on our first weekender. […] He really believed in the vision I had for the band,” O’Haire said with Granger adding, “Everyone in the scene knew who he was because of his impact. Honestly, I don’t think Flatwounds would be where we are at all today without Ben, we kinda owe it all to him.”
Flatwounds – In The Sun
It is no secret that musicians, and rock musicians especially, are known to be radical. Long has it been the case that scenes are points of political tension, many bands from these scenes being left-wing anarchists and communists. This is a tradition that Flatwounds is carrying on. Their recent single In The Sun shifts into more explicitly political themes, such as government experimentation on innocent civilians, the band said to me in our interview that this is a change they, at least for now, plan to stick with.
“It’s definitely gotten a lot more politically driven since the election […] a lot more radicalized, and I think we want to move in that direction more,” O’Haire said with Granger adding “I am glad we’re moving more in this direction cause I felt this way for a really long time seeing the world slowly go to shit because a bunch of greedy bastards wanna do whatever they wanna do. And now it’s just so obvious, everyone can see it.”
It’s not hard to see why. Economic conditions in the US are bad, with people working very hard for meager wages that can’t support them. Many Americans are very isolated, with no real connection to their communities. This is a similar position to England in the 1970s, a decade known for it’s politically driven music, and one that produced some of the most popular bands to ever exist.
And this shift is not limited only to the band’s music. Even their social media presence has gotten more pointed. Though a meme posted on an Instagram story might seem a strange place to see a sound shift, I think this post means something, especially in the shifting political climate of the US.
Flatwounds’ post on Instagram
The themes of discontent with the profit-driven world were also present during our talk. At one point, we discussed alcohol, comparing how German beer is made with care to culture, whereas American beer is cheap and mass-produced. “Yeah, that’s ok because profit is better, of course,” O’Haire remarked sarcastically.
The band kept that ironic tone through the entire interview, with O’Haire joking later on, “Culture? Dude, profit is culture.” And as promised by the meme, the group has indeed released the new single Drenched, since our interview.
Links: Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | The Benjamin X. Rowe Project
