Circa 2008, a handful of misfit punk dudes with keyboards and guitars in-hand formed to create Merchandise. They’re a 3-5 piece band – and I give those numbers because from what I’ve read, the line-up varies from time to time (these guys are mysteriously fluid) – but officially there are five members listed on their Facebook page, so let’s stick with that.
Near impossible to track down online are Merchandise, a probable 5 piece whose track Little Killer is much more complex than it may first appear to be.
Growing up these guys played around with punk and hardcore, thrashing in their high school and college days. However their Merchandise music didn’t come out until these guys had the courage to introduce it to these scenes. Originally from the home of Jenna Maroney’s acting institution, the Royal Tampa Academy of Dramatic Tricks (in other words Tampa, Florida) Merchandise make some very interesting music.
Their biography says it best; “It might be difficult to dig up information on Tampa, Florida’s Merchandise, due to their Google Nightmare of a name, but they are even hard to define”. The band like to keep their sound fluid ranging initially from krautrock, to punk, to progressive rock and other ambiguously named music genre descriptions.
I’m not sure if lead man Carson Cox gets this a lot but I’m getting an old school The Smiths vibe from him, especially in some of the riffs and guitar jangles and especially in some of his vocal expressions. Listen to the track Killer – one of their newer songs taken from their upcoming album – and you’ll get my drift. Although with that being said, other tracks such as Begging For Your Life/In the City Light capture a more abstract experimental and progressive sound. Merchandise are capable of exploring and pushing musical limits. Their hometown certainly gave them the isolation to do this.
They’ll release their forthcoming album After End sometime in August. These guys are also currently touring around America. If you’re in NYC, consider going to one of their few gigs. You’ll thank us later.
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