Militarie Gun chat debut album 'Life Under The Gun' • Neu • DIY Magazine

Ask Militarie Gun’s Ian Shelton what originally drew him to hardcore music and his answer is a simple one. “The anger,” he nods. “I’m a very angry person in all honesty, and I think that there’s a level of being able to say brash but true things in punk music that is not the case in a lot of other genres. I think it’s the ability to say truly whatever you want and it has a home - there’s a kind of preoccupation with being messed up, and that being messed up is all right.”

Take one listen to ‘Do It Faster’ - the lead track from the band’s forthcoming full-length debut ‘Life Under The Gun’ - however, and you might be surprised. Against a backdrop of razor-sharp guitars and taut drumming comes a glistening earworm of a chorus that transforms the agitated sentiment of its lyrics into an anthemic rally call to stop wishing life away and begin embracing it. And therein lies the beauty of the Los Angeles outfit; while their roots may grow from the more aggressive side of the genre, their mission statement - of blending vulnerability with melody via a punk guise - marks something of a departure from the norm.

“Now that Militarie Gun exists, I’ve just tried to find a way to make those messed up, crazy [lyrics] more catchy,” Ian explains, speaking midway through a UK live run that began at The Great Escape and will go on to Outbreak and 2000trees festivals, all before July. “I want to still say crazy things, but I want to get it stuck in people’s heads. That’s the goal: to find a way to say the most absurd and true things that I can in the catchiest way possible.”

Born in the midst of the pandemic, the project was first and foremost a way for Ian to keep busy after his other band - Washington outfit Regional Justice Center - were put on hold, and his work directing music videos for the likes of Angel Du$t and Drug Church dried up. “The anxiety of the pandemic was a huge force for it, because everything in life ceased to exist; there was no work, there was no touring, no nothing. And so the only thing I did was go and make a song each day. Some days, the songs were terrible; some days, the songs were good, but I had the time to learn.”

Instead of dashing off a few tracks, booking a show and starting to play them live - arguably the more tried-and-tested route for punk acts - he was forced to continue working, learning and refining as he went. “That resulted in writing 20 or 30 songs in a year, and then only releasing the best of those,” he says. “The songs came first.”

Putting in the time would soon pay off. When the band - completed by guitarists Nick Cogan and William Acuña, and drummer Vince Nguyen - played their first live show together months later, “people sang along”, Ian notes. “It was the best feeling on earth to know I didn’t waste the last two years. It was really reaffirming. Then on our first tour we did 50 shows,” he pauses for effect. So, back in at the deep end, then? “We wanted to get better,” he laughs, “and that was the only way of doing it.”

It’s this level of work ethic that’s bled into every corner of Militarie Gun so far. Even as the band worked in the studio on their previous release, 2021’s dual ‘All Roads Lead To The Gun’ EPs, Ian was looking ahead to what would come next, turning his attention to “cleaning up the vocals” in aid of creating their intensely catchy sound. “It was important for me. The music I love is catchy, so it was just like, ‘Alright, how do I do that?’ It was my obsession for a year-plus,” he says. “I started delivering weed during the pandemic and I drove around for eight to twelve hours a day, only listening to the music and singing along to the demos. That was a process of learning and getting better.”

On ‘Life Under The Gun’, their honesty-meets-earmworms mission statement rings truest. While the subject matter deals in unequivocally challenging topics, channelling the more vulnerable approach Ian thinks is so important, the tracks are backed by a melodic approach which gives even more power to his lyrics. “Emotionally, on the record, I really wanted to take an honest look at the culture that we’re coming from, which I think is very much a culture of unkindness surrounding the concept of making mistakes in your life.

“I’ve always been one to forgive, and I have definitely wronged others in life and others have wronged me. So, in a moment where it seemed like everybody was pointing the finger at other people, I wanted to look at myself and admit to shortcomings, and just unpack why I am the way I am,” he says. “Taking an honest look at the concept of interpersonal relationships and abuse was a very important aspect of the record to me, and I think I did that. I’m very proud of it.”

#AD